Obi-Wan Kenobi - Disney+ Series

[Circa]

Watch the new teaser trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and start streaming the limited series May 25 on Disney+.

The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The series stars Ewan McGregor, reprising his role as the iconic Jedi Master, and also marks the return of Hayden Christensen in the role of Darth Vader. Joining the cast are Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi” is directed by Deborah Chow and executive-produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Deborah Chow, Ewan McGregor and Joby Harold

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So hyped for this! Haven't been this excited since 2005. My favorite character finally returns.

[Lancelot]

I'm excited for it as well. It's so awesome to see Obi-Wan again.

For years, I was hoping for something that would break the tension between various types of Star Wars fans (especially between those who love the new Star Wars continuity and those who oppose it). Maybe this show could be it, because Obi-Wan Kenobi is a character everybody loves.

[Bubbles]

He was by far the best actor in the prequels excluding Ian Mcdiarmid.

I'm looking forward to it. This is a period of time we know very little about.  I hope Vader is not just used at the end but a constant presence throughout the film.

I also hope to see the Emperor himself return for the show, that would be awesome.

 

As for the Sith Inquistors... I never really liked them, because it kinda messes with the rule of two.

[OCD2]

11 hours ago, Bubbles said:

He was by far the best actor in the prequels excluding Ian Mcdiarmid.

I'm looking forward to it. This is a period of time we know very little about.  I hope Vader is not just used at the end but a constant presence throughout the film.

I also hope to see the Emperor himself return for the show, that would be awesome.

 

As for the Sith Inquistors... I never really liked them, because it kinda messes with the rule of two.

The advertising keeps saying it will be the rematch of the century - maybe Palpatine vs Windu lol?

 

[Lancelot]

15 hours ago, Bubbles said:

As for the Sith Inquistors... I never really liked them, because it kinda messes with the rule of two.

That was probably the point of the Inquisitors. They were not supposed to be the traditional "Rule of Two" kind of Sith, just a group of fighters making sure that Palpatine's plan to purge all the Jedi will be successful. And there was nobody who could've prevented Palpatine to bend the rules of the Sith to his liking. And from his perspective, it makes more sense to send multiple Sith across the galaxy than having only two Sith doing the job. Vader on the other hand was only sent out for very special operations.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see the Inquisitors in the show. Maybe they will be even better than in Rebels or Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

[Bubbles]

3 hours ago, Lancelot said:

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see the Inquisitors in the show. Maybe they will be even better than in Rebels or Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Ye maybe.  The Sith Inquistors were pretty crap in both of those.  I always got the impression they were not strong. For example Vader at the end of Fallen Order. Or Ahsoka Tano in rebels vs Inquistors.

Also phantom menance soundtrack....

[Circa]

7 minutes ago, Bubbles said:

Ye maybe.  The Sith Inquistors were pretty crap in both of those.  I always got the impression they were not strong. For example Vader at the end of Fallen Order. Or Ahsoka Tano in rebels vs Inquistors.

Right, Inquisitors are mostly just agents of the dark side trained by Vader to stand a chance against any remaining Jedi. They aren't Sith and I think the logic is Vader never allowed them to be more powerful than a certain level, to keep them from attempting to rise against him. They're like Reborn in the Jedi Knight games, dark side soldiers. Some more powerful than others. Their main purpose is to find the remaining Jedi, not necessarily kill them (though some probably did). As long as they were found, Vader was the one that would come in and deal with it.

Spoiler

I'm sure that will happen in this series as well, judging by the official confirmation that Vader and Kenobi are going to duel in some way.

 

[Lancelot]

As the (season?) finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi was released yesterday, I think it's time to finally talk about it here. Still have to process the series, as there was a lot going on, but here are my thoughts so far:

Spoiler

Okay, where should I start? First of all, I'm absolutely impressed. I expected a series that explored what Kenobi was doing between 'Revenge of the Sith' and 'A New Hope', and I thought it would mostly be set on Tatooine. But that it would also bring the saga further by not only introducing new and interesting characters, but also fleshing out familiar ones, was something I didn't expect.

Obi-Wan's story was expanded perfectly. It's a good transition from prequel Obi-Wan to Ben Kenobi from the classic trilogy. It also added much more depth to his appearance in 'A New Hope', especially during the scene in which he is seeing Luke and Leia one last time before he gets killed by Darth Vader.

And even though Beru and Lars were mostly absent in the show, the way how they were portrayed in the last episode, and how they faced Reva, was awesome. I've read a speculation that they probably kicked some ass when the Stormtroopers arrived at their home during the events of 'A New Hope'. I don't want an entire story about it, but just imagining it is enough for me.

Another scene that is worth mentioning is the one with the Clone Trooper veteran who is living as a homeless man. Tis scene shows that, just like in reality, not all war veterans are treated well once their job is done. It was a necessary scene that really added realism to the Clone Troopers.

The Inquisitors were a good addition to the show. Out of all, Reva was definitely the most interesting. Every time she appeared, you could somehow see an inner conflict. As her story unfolded and her motivations became much clearer, it really increased the quality of the character by far. And Moses Ingram was the perfect choice for Reva.

I also loved Tala. The first time I saw Indira Varma in the trailer (I know her from shows like 'Torchwood' and 'Patrick Melrose'), my first thought was that she would definitely play an excellent Imperial officer. That she was actually one of the good ones was a surprise reveal to me. Compared to the other characters, we may have gotten only pieces of her background story, but that was enough for me to like her. I'm certain that we will see more of her in the future.

And as for the Obi-Wan and Darth Vader rematch, I was more than impressed. It was a perfect blend between the aesthetic of the prequels and the classics, with the raw style of the sequels. And the tragedy that was added to Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader made this scene perfect. Instead of only focusing on both characters duelling, the opportunity was taken to add more depth to them. And that is worth a lot.

This show has displayed the biggest strength of modern Star Wars yet again: Telling much with little means, rather than feeding the audience with too much information. The great thing is that if you pay attention, you will notice that many moments are connecting well to moments of the films.

That's it for now. Maybe I will add more later.

[Circa]

Absolutely loved it. It wasn't perfect. It had its flaws. But same can be said basically every piece of Star Wars ever made. Overall it was incredible. Great to see Ewan back in the saddle with Kenobi's character. Loved seeing Hayden back.

I do think the pacing was odd, and by the end I really think it should have stayed a 2.5 hour movie like originally planned. I love that we got more but some parts just felt a little like filler content to get it up to 6 episodes.

I loved Ewan's performance every step of the way. Its really no debate that he was the best actor in the prequels but I feel like he just went above and beyond in this series, especially the last fight scene with how emotional it was. Mad props to Ewan for that. Even Hayden's was extremely good, especially that last scene, but also his Vader performance was spot on. The walk and head movements are harder to accomplish than some people might think, but he nailed it all.

Spoiler

I'm not a big fan of the Inquisitors in Star Wars in general, and this series didn't change that, however I did like Reva's character. I just didn't think it was overly necessary to the plot. It was interesting that she was a youngling from order 66 and she only became an inquisitor to get closer to Vader and take him out, but the scene where she actually tries is exactly how anyone would have expected that to go. I'm a little bummed he didn't just kill her though. Which brings me to my main gripe: stab wounds and wounds in general are nearly meaningless in Star Wars these days. The Grand Inquisitor survived (which I can buy since it was part of a ruse) but then Reva survives Vader's stab AGAIN and the next scene we see her in is basically 100% fine. Those things really bother me because the constant "fake out death" got old after Maul came back, and with the like 3 occasions it happened in TROS, it really needs to stop. We need to have some kind of sense of closure and risk in Star Wars again in that sense.

Anyway, I'm not really sure where a season 2 would go from there, but there are rumors they are going to try. I think a more logical step would be to do a Vader series spinoff of him doing missions for Palpy. Would be epic. We could see some things mentioned in this show like a certain Jedi character that was name dropped and the whole Jedi Path organization.

I have a new podcast that we covered a lot of Kenobi stuff on as it went along if anyone is interested in that.

[NumberWan]

The first half of the series seemed good to me. I really enjoyed the references and the new planet Dayio, which reminds several locations from classic EU Star Wars. Too bad this theme wasn't explored any further. I'm still puzzled why all the planets in new SW look like a grey dirty desert, why nothing exotic like crystal trees or cities made of organic matter...

I don't like the new inquisitors in the stories, but here Reva was truly good. I do like her character.

Spoiler

Although I believe she should have died in the end.

While it was interesting to see the whole path of Kenobi, some things looked unbelievable or even stupid.

Spoiler

The duel between Obi and Vader somehow didn't work for me. Not sure, but I do believe that there Black and White in their struggle – Mustafar and Death Star I fighting, there is nothing in between... Well, that how it worked for me. When I watched A New Hope, I always enjoyed the idea, that before 2005 we all were just like those stormtroopers and Imperial officers with no idea of Vader's background, and after 2005 we were like the true witness to what transpired in a barren, lava-filled darkness – nothing like the embodiment  of galactic-scale battle station where Vader and Kenobi meet for the last time.

The duels themselves could have been much-much better – on a factory with coolant reactors or freezing gas of some sort. The fire fight in an industrial canyon looked too far-fetched, even more unrealistic was the second encounter among the dark rocks. How convenient, that there is a whole misty planet for Jedi and Sith to battle each other.

Indira Varma is a brilliant actress, I absolutely love her Ellaria Sand in GOT. She is also quite good in Carnival Row.

Spoiler

But here I hoped she would be a much more interesting character. I guess it was reasonable to make her one of the good guys, but as a villain she looked so much more menacing!