Obi-Wan Kenobi series: speculation

I would, perhaps, in many respects, agree with you. Ironically (given some of my other stances on Disney), I can't locate the same level of cynicism that you seem to display for it. I appreciate you claiming you're "neutral", and I don't not take at your word; but I'm not quite as detached from my fanboy excitement for this as you seem to be, is basically what I'm saying. You know, this series grabs me a little, tugs on something inside. Even though I still recognise it's sort of this "factory" thing as you put it. Suddenly, I'm in awe of the droid factory and its mode of production??? Could be, Ingram. Could be. It's fun battling through the machinery, creating chaos, and trying to give myself an upgrade, like a giant, ungainly anime-Anakin robot arm. Pew-pew-pew. I have no idea what that metaphor is intended to mean. It's just: even commercial shittery can be fun. 

What you lament, I think, is the loss of the personal. Before, the mad tech-auteur, yet coolly composed business-man/anthropologist, George Walton Lucas was in charge of it all. He decided what was in the frame, what was out of it. What lived, what died (or was consigned to the fringes). He defined the look, feel, flow, and velocity of the films, and the overall climate and comportment of very franchise itself, top to bottom. Even if he agreed to things he wasn't keen on in the "Expanded Universe", he was the one agreeing to let those things slide. The games, the books, the comics, the toys, everything that was Star Wars then, versus what is Star Wars now, was all in orbit of his genius (I guess it still is), obeying his command (well, broadly speaking: "You mean it controls my actions?" / "Partially. But it also obeys your commands."). 

Now it's all tightly curated and controlled 'n' shit. There is no imagination, only repurposing. Star Wars is not what it once was. Disney+ is full of glossy, repetitive content. There is no interest in the artistic good.


Back to the series:


Does Anakin even remember Qui-Gon Jinn? He never talks about him in the prequels after his death (Episodes II and III), and by the time he confronts Obi-Wan on Mustafar, he seems to blame all Jedi equally for turning on him. Qui-Gon would probably be responsible, in his mind, for convincing him to leave his mother behind in slavery, thereby precipitating the events of AOTC and his mother's capture and torture at the hands of the Tuskens -- and Anakin's own fall to the Dark Side (which, in a Gollum-esque way, he both loves and hates). I don't think Anakin ever gained a strong sense of who Qui-Gon was and was probably thrown by the Jedi Council's rejection of him, even though Qui-Gon insisted he would train Anakin personally (but was denied). Qui-Gon was just some wacky hippie who never challenged the orthodoxy of the Jedi directly -- never countered the poison and lies of the Jedi as Anakin thinks he did. I just think it would maybe be a little out of character for Anakin/Vader to use that taunt against Obi-Wan. It would imply a certain fondness for Qui-Gon in Anakin's mind, but that would require him making exceptions when thinking back to his experiences with the Jedi of the PT, which I doubt he is willing to do. 

Oh, yeah. In poking fun at Rey, Luke is really castigating his earlier self, back when he was wet behind the ears and very "green" to the ways of the world, unlike Leia. He loathes his earlier ignorance and how sentimental it made him: how soft and misguided he became. That's why he's really hiding from himself on the island above all else. He blames himself, but above all, secretly fears he was never good enough to become a Jedi in the first place. It's a mid-life crisis mixed with impostor syndrome. And his release-valve is to pretend the Jedi as a whole are fundamentally flawed and need to go. It's a pretty complex characterisation.

In the Obi-Wan series, we are getting something similar, yet not entirely the same. Obi-Wan obviously feels guilty and responsible, and like Luke, is living a contradiction. On the one hand, he protests to Owen that when the time is right, Luke must be trained. Yet he tells that other Jedi to get lost and go lead a normal life. He says he's protecting Luke, but initially refuses to go save Leia. His old life is dead and buried to him, but he is haunted by flashbacks and calls on Qui-Gon for guidance. He insists he's just "Ben", but shows relief and happiness when he sees a marking indicating that Quinlan Vos is still alive and shepherding people to safety. 

On the other hand, he already said to Anakin's face that he failed him on Mustafar. He still carries that burden. And, of course, in ROTJ, he tells Luke he thought he could train Anakin as well as Yoda, but he was wrong (and in a cut line of dialogue, he says, "My pride has had terrible consequences for the galaxy."). The series is clearly working with those pieces, but a lot of it is subtextual. Even Obi-Wan starting off processing meat has a certain symbolism to it. Anakin basically became a fried piece of meat on Mustafar. And he turned into Vader because of death by a thousand cuts. By his flesh becoming eviscerated, Anakin also became much weaker in the Force, much less than he could have been, as Lucas has said. Obi-Wan as butcher, cutter, despoiler of midi-chlorian-imbued flesh: turning luminosity into flesh for a pittance every day. 

That's right. Bane is even blatantly the most Darth Vader-ish villain of the Nolan trilogy. And a dark-hearted version of Qui-Gon Jinn haunts Bruce in the pit. Proof that Liam will appear in Obi-Wan? I think Mustafar could be realised with a TV budget, but it depends what they do. Roiling lava across a drawn-out hellscape is out of the question, I think, and would only dampen the singularity of their duel in ROTS. However, they could duel in a "lesser" part of Mustafar, in a facility somewhere, which wouldn't blow their budget. It could be reminiscent of the Cloud City duel between Luke and Vader (and would kinda make sense, in a rhythmic sense, as "Encounter No. 2").

It's pretty bold that they've dropped all that reliance on punning. This is Obi-Wan without his swagger. People are hyper-familiar with that version of Obi-Wan, and the makers are obviously aware of Obi-Wan's Meme Lord presence online the past half-decade. In fact, that very crystallisation of Obi-Wan as a cool, swaggering baddass is probably, in large part, what got the project greenlit in the first place. Maybe they are running the risk of turning Obi-Wan into a bland, damp soul. However, there is a pleasing steadiness and underrated intricacy to Ewan's performance here, and we will probably see Obi-Wan rediscover some of his underlying mischievousness and lust for life toward the end of the series.

They would probably have never met again (before their Death Star confrontation) in the Lucas continuity, yes. I guess, to many, that gives the measure of the difference between Lucas Star Wars and Disney Star Wars. But it's also a little weird that Obi-Wan just lets the Emperor and Vader terrorise the galaxy for nineteen years without ever attempting to intervene or reason with Anakin (or the remnant of Anakin within Darth Vader). Fans complained endlessly that Luke throws a pity party and is a pathetic coward in TLJ, but Obi-Wan and Yoda run away and just let the Empire take over and tighten its group for two decades. Obi-Wan had such a personal stake in Anakin, he's just gonna s(h)it in the sand for twenty years and not do anything? Not even try to see if a) he can get through to Vader directly, or b) pull off a bunch of shit that destabilises him in some way and improves the odds of the Empire eventually being defeated? "I'm watching over Luke, do not disturb" is basically his alibi? I like how the series uses that in the first episode and exposes it as a fallacy when Bail visits Obi-Wan and calls him out on it. No, he can still do a thing or two, and more people need his assistance than just Luke. 



I think you're being too literal-minded there. Feel, don't think. You're right that the start of Leia's message is formal and detached, but that isn't how it ends. It morphs into much more of a personal plea at the end. The message has always implied that Leia and Obi-Wan have some kind of history. 



This is what the tweets say:



If you want, you could look back to the prequels, where Leia's mother uses an alter-ego and a bevy of decoys. Even when Anakin goes to say his goodbyes to Padme on Coruscant (the first time they go there, all young and afraid), affirming that he might never see her again, Padme is dressed as Queen Amidala and doesn't break out of her formality to express her true emotion. She instead wishes him well and offers him a coded farewell: "We are sure her heart goes with you."



We have to give this series some room to bend continuity a little bit. Otherwise, really, there's no story. As Arch Duke pointed out, Lucas didn't rigidly adhere to the stark canonicity of the OT, or there probably would have been no Qui-Gon, no child Anakin, and (potentially) a different relationship between the Jedi and the Senate:

Did you read about that situation with Moses Ingram? It happened a few days ago. Ewan and the official Star Wars account came out in support of her against these trolls...

Well this is disappointing
preview.redd.it/wgfpkfnqu9391.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3f22ebf02bd69017254315b08d259698742f017f

Very roundabout way of saying, “Yeah Hayden really didn’t do anything except some 3-4 second face shots”