Obi-Wan Kenobi series: speculation

Yeah, that's dreadful. Some people are definitely not right in the head. It's just entertainment. If you don't like it, move on. 

Of course. Although Lucas began the series with a near-uniform sea of white-faced actors and extras. Carl Sagan was one of several people who pointed this odd limitation of Star Wars out not long after its release in an interview with Johnny Carson (original airdate March 2nd 1978):




You'll notice that later installments tried to make amends, first with the casting of Billy Dee Williams, then several actors of colour in the prequels, not to mention blue skin being represented by Watto, while Jar Jar presents as orange. Chewie also gets a medal -- albeit Han's, not his own -- at the end of Episode IX. Lucas also wrote in his original notes that some beings are born with a higher awareness of the Force. He later transformed this concept into the midi-chlorians and the Whills, which he intended to elaborate on in the sequel trilogy. The situation, therefore, isn't quite as simplistic as Sagan paints it above, although his points are still quite valid and perhaps had an influence on Lucas. Sagan was an extremely articulate and inspiring person who basked in the media spotlight and commanded a great deal of attention in the late 1970s and on into the 1980s. 

It's interesting to note that Sagan himself was working on his epic television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage at the same time Lucas was toiling away on the Original Trilogy. Both projects were charged with a certain Bicentennial confidence and faith in the human condition, and also took place against the backdrop of a new era in space exploration, including the launch of the Voyager space probes in 1977, heading to Jupiter and beyond, while Mars was successfully landed-upon and photographed for the first time by the Viking landers in 1976: our first glimpse, as Sagan would later write in the book accompanying the "Cosmos" series, of another world ("Mars was a place").  The "Cosmos" television series, first broadcast in 1980, would also unfold in thirteen episodes, and Lucas himself was fantasising about making Star Wars a thirteen-episode Saga at the time (see here).   

Sagan poetically describes the wonder of the universe in "Cosmos", explaining the universe at the most tremendous and the tiniest of scales: immense clusters of galaxies, thrumming with energy and teeming with possibility, and the world of the biological cell, a strange environment where the physical and chemical sciences overlap and fuse to create the life sciences. In the first episode of the series, Sagan memorably remarks: "The Cosmos is rich beyond measure -- in elegant facts, in exquisite interrelationships, in the subtle machinery of awe." Perhaps Sagan's stirring descriptions had an impact on George Lucas, to the point where he felt compelled to introduce the midi-chlorians in Episode I. Lucas indicated upon release of the film that he based the midi-chlorians on the endosymbiotic theory of life, which was first articulated by the Russian botanist Konstantin Mereschkowski in the first decade of the 20th Century, and advanced and substantiated with microbiological evidence by Lynn Margulis (the first wife of Carl Sagan) in 1967 (also the year that pulsars were discovered by the Northern Ireland astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell).

Now, what is my point in saying all of this? It's to remind fans -- and even Disney -- that Star Wars isn't meant to be propaganda, but it is meant to be an allegorical sandbox built on some bold and mind-expanding concepts. To chide non-white actors (and white actors) for not fitting into the Star Wars universe, just because they personally go against your sense of what Star Wars is, is ridiculous. Lucas set himself the task of developing an entire galaxy where many things ought to be possible, just as Sagan mused in "Cosmos". To harp on skin colour, when new tones and ethnicities appear, is to miss the point of Star Wars entirely. It is quite right that the Star Wars galaxy should be a pluralistic, diverse hub. If anything, Star Wars should have been leading the way on this from the start, rather than Disney making a big deal of it because Star Wars is flagging behind other franchises (though it can be debated if that's the case) in the diversity stakes. Everyone has the Force, after all.


Yeah, perhaps it's really that Prequel Trilogy DNA they have a problem with. Everyone was a kid once, including Darth Vader. That's the whole premise of the PT. What's more, the Younglings are slaughtered by Vader, bringing about the Dark Times Obi-Wan speaks about to Luke in ANH. It's pretty apt that Obi-Wan should protect Luke's sister years before he attempts to bring Luke to Alderaan. He is officially now the protector of Anakin and Padme's children. He's the only one of the original prequel trio left. The only one who can really be hired for this job and be relied upon. This review also makes a good point:



Exactly. The original film was a long list of fairy-tale cliches, but it worked because the execution was top-drawer. Yeah, it's good and necessary that Star Wars sometimes subvert a cliche or two, but it's also something of a storehouse of old storytelling tropes made new. People enjoy seeing these tropes brought to life on Star Wars' epic fantasy canvas. The point -- as always -- is to build decent characters and tell a compelling story; and to keep the world the characters inhabit lively and appealing.


Right. Star Wars should never forget its core fanbase. Yes, adults and twenty-somethings bring in the loot, and maybe constitute the bulk of viewers of anything new, but many parents and siblings enjoy showing Star Wars content to their children and younger brothers and sisters, who go on to become the Star Wars fans of the future. It's a spectacularly dull complaint. I mean, sure, there's nothing wrong with Star Wars getting a bit edgier and adult, but that probably shouldn't happen with a legacy character like Obi-Wan. Best to leave that experimentation for a new roster of characters in different circumstances. 


Yeah, at the end of the day, most of these trolls don't have a lot to say for themselves, do they? There isn't a perfect director for Star Wars, anyway. The closest, for obvious reasons, would be George Lucas. Star Wars has many facets and different directors fit the franchise in different ways. Having a female director, who happens to also be Asian, is a welcome development here, not to mention one who has a strong regard for the prequels and wants to get it right.


I guess they are complaining about Reva being the main villain and Obi-Wan presently escorting Leia, not Luke. However, if they also mean some criticism of Obi-Wan's sullen, out-of-sorts, beaten-down-by-the-world, all-by-himself portrayal in the first episode, then I guess directors like Darren Aronofsky ("The Wrestler", 2008), J.C. Chandor ("All Is Lost", 2013), James Mangold ("Logan", 2017), and Todd Phillips ("Joker", 2019) must hate men, too. 


Yeah, this rabble of QAnon complainers is pretty tedious. I'm not sure I completely agree with Carano's firing or the way it was handled, but that's a different series and happened at a time of enormous -- one might say: feverish -- political tension in the United States. A time when some of the basic checks and balances of democracy were being openly challenged in a dangerous and conspiratorial way. Lumping scorn on this series because of prior choices likely made by a handful of people reacting to pressure placed on the company to respond is misguided.


Obi-Wan in the first episode places most of his remaining hope in Luke. But this is something of a false, white-flag hope, which Bail makes a point of calling out when Obi-Wan uses the excuse of protecting Luke as the reason he can't leave Tatooine to rescue Leia. So, yeah, you can see this as a listless, miserable Obi-Wan if you like, but he was obviously battered into hopelessness and resignation by the events of ROTS. At least he gets a bit firm with Owen that Luke is his responsibility and does agree to rescue Leia when Bail urges him and says there's no-one he trusts more.

In fairness to Obi-Wan, there would be little reason to trust he still "has it", given his long years of isolation on Tatooine. This is a very fetching contrast with the arrogant, almost untouchable Obi-Wan of AOTC -- who, despite being frustrated with Anakin, planet-hops with calm swagger and acts like James Bond.

The logical coherency of this portrayal rests on the golden crumb of Qui-Gon. At the end of ROTS, Obi-Wan's face lights up like a child's when Yoda tells him that his "Old Master" has returned from the Netherworld of the Force and Yoda will teach him how to commune with him in his solitude on Tatooine. The implication there is that there is no need for Obi-Wan to fall into despair, because Qui-Gon will be there to guide him. However, the series shows that Obi-Wan calls out to Qui-Gon but receives no response. Thus, Yoda's promise has shrivelled into a vacant, naive hope, leaving Obi-Wan adrift on a bleak, remorseless world. He additionally faces resistance from Owen and is told to stay away from his family, away from Luke. Meanwhile, the remaining Jedi are wanted fugitives. It is a much more realistic portrayal -- albeit still dipped in fantastic, mythic overtones -- than simply portraying Obi-Wan, in a strange place with no support, for literally years, as still firmly committed to the Jedi path. Even Yoda acts a little crazy when Luke finds him on Dagobah. In a way, the series is showing that Obi-Wan must still learn the pivotal lesson Qui-Gon talks about at the start of Episode I: He must stop fretting about the future (a future that he can't know the outcome of) and concentrate on the moment, on the here and now, where he is needed, where he can still do good.   

It is also not weak to agree to go to enemy territory when you're past your prime and you know there's a good chance of being caught. This, I guess, would be why they made the premiere a double-bill, to try and cut off some of this complaining. Unfortunately, they receive it anyway. Still, outside of these sparse, angry YouTube comments, it appears the series is mostly a win with Star Wars fans; and even people giving lukewarm responses still seem at least mildly interested in where it's going to go. Whether the series become a smash-hit remains to be seen, but the potential is there and a lot of people seem to recognise it has something a lot of Disney Star Wars has so far lacked. It is probably a good idea to enjoy it while it lasts. We still have people like George Lucas and John Williams walking this Earth. Williams himself composed new music for this, Ewan and Hayden agreed to come back with much enthusiasm, and many of the major creatives still at Lucasfilm now were hired when Lucas had command of the company. Nothing lasts forever. It may "only" be televisual Star Wars, but it's a little slice of franchise history nonetheless.

Of course he is -- and, I think, being a tiny bit smug and joyfully self-righteous about it; as he educates the dumb, uncritical plebeians with his patrician eloquence. 

Anyway, I kinda see George Lucas and Carl Sagan as two-of-a-kind. One is just more on the artistic/creative side of things, the other more critical and scientific. But they're both misty-eyed dreamers, both astute social critics, both visionaries, and both extremely accomplished in their own fields. Just as the establishment never quite took to Carl Sagan, it has never quite understood or welcomed George Lucas, either.