Obi-Wan Kenobi series: speculation

This one I believe I also made note of when the series was airing, but it's a really cool symmetry, either an accidental similarity or very good attention to detail. I'm kind of leaning on the latter possibility. Vader moves to the left of the screen, looking out of the window, just as Anakin does in RotS.




There's a special significance here. In RotS, Anakin was craving power by wanting the rank of master and to sit on the Jedi Council. The council chamber holds many chairs for the members, while Vader's throne room is all to himself. By that time in RotS, Anakin was already sitting alone in the chambers, with the other Jedi scattered across the galaxy. And once he became Vader and destroyed the Jedi, he became the master, as he boasts to Obi-Wan in ANH. There is also the stark contrast in the design of the Jedi Temple, having five spires, while Vader's fortress is a singular tower, as well as the landscape Anakin/Vader is staring at out the window. While the man-made visage of Coruscant can appear quite cold and inhuman in a way, in this scene it is bathed in a beautiful orange sunset and looks like a marvel of human ingenuity, the flying traffic moving tranquilly through the air. While Vader gazes out at the barren, hell-like wasteland of Mustafar. It really speaks to the change in the character and the difference he has caused in the galaxy through his actions.

I also like that in the final scene between Obi-Wan and Leia, there is a reprisal of the moment from TPM where Anakin asks Shmi, "Will I ever see you again?" This line now reverberates all the way to ANH, where Leia and Obi-Wan are only reunited for the briefest glimpse of a moment, before she watches him die, just like Anakin is only reunited for a moment with Shmi before she dies in his arms.

Somny
I don't buy it

Well, until the silver lining is blown up... 






The problem here, of course, and what I think Joe was recoiling against, is that Lucas' (alleged) approval of the Obi-Wan series has been communicated third-hand, not unlike the way his (alleged) approval was communicated regarding "Rogue One" back in 2016. I had a mammoth post about this on TFN in 2017. Quoting the relevant chunk:


Title: The Cast of Rogue One Visits The Star Wars Show and More! | The Star Wars Show
Channel: Star Wars
Uploaded: 7 Dec 2016

Time Index: 03:12

(The voice of John Knoll as heard through a smartphone in loudspeaker mode)

"I got off the phone about a half hour with George Lucas."

(Then there is definitely an edit in the sound/footage)

"The story was really emotional and it all looked great."

(And then another probable edit occurs)

"And just couldn't stop talking about how happy he was."





Do you ever ask yourself, how is it, we never hear Lucas praising anything Disney has done with his baby directly? If we do hear anything, it's always filtered through Lucasfilm employees, and it's always chopped up (the "Rogue One" video) or a bunch of qualifiers are thrown in (Pablo Hidalgo's comments, per your Slash Film link, below):


Not a word, more than a decade after George Lucas sold to Disney, from the actual creator of the entire franchise, as to what he thinks about any of their projects -- other than his half-hearted, back-handed endorsement of "The Force Awakens" at the European premiere in London, England that it's a film "the fans will really love" (and that's not the only barb he throws in -- check it out), and his complete roasting of Disney to Charlie Rose in 2015.  

A four-word expression of doubt ("I don't buy it") hardly constitutes extremism. But labelling such responses as extremism could be considered extremism. The PT has always been a rich source of quotes, themes, motifs, symbols, etc. As well as a warning. While you provide eloquent counsel, I don't think it's fair to imply that people are turning into monsters because a third-hand anecdotal relaying of George Lucas' feelings about Disney streaming content -- by, coincidentally, a Disney/LFL employee -- is not automatically greeted with enthusiasm. Especially when people within Lucasfilm (e.g., Kathleen Kennedy) have previously tried to pass off Lucas' utterances as some golden seal of approval, when it later turned out they were twisting his words and lying by omission.


...which there's nothing wrong with.

Disney-run Lucasfilm ≠ Lucas-era Lucasfilm.

I mean, we kinda have different sections here for a reason.


A Nietzsche quote is a bit of a heavy-handed riposte to another Star Wars fan shrugging off the words of a Lucasfilm employee, as circulated in a Slash Film article. I get the broader point you're making, but at least in the bashing days of old, there were plenty of authentic GL quotes that bashers would lay into and endlessly bitch about. These days, we get scraps, and even then, they aren't from the source, requiring interpretation and a degree of benefit-of-the-doubt-giving that, frankly, Disney hasn't earned. Remember, this damn company (Bob Iger) tried to get Lucas to sign a non-disparagement clause, and it even cancelled a "Making Of" book for TFA (by now-deceased J.W. Rinzler) that was ready to go to print. Nah, they can fuck off. 


I never said they were full-on lies, though, did I? But without any actual quotes from The Maker himself, it's reasonable to keep some critical distance. George has a mouth. He is fully capable of using it. Until he does, I think it's perfectly fine to remain cautious about anything coming from this agenda-driven dream factory, personally. 


That's a valid interpretation, of course. However, there needn't be any "conspiracy" involved, per se. It can just be the case that these people occasionally receive a private "Well done!" from a taciturn George Lucas, their former boss, and then they get a bit ahead of themselves, eagerly reporting his remarks to the wider media. Again, however, without the direct words of George Lucas to go on, there remains a membrane between "us" and "them", and I refer you back to previous examples I just cited, including the suppression of making-of material that was good to go before Disney gave the kill order. This is not an open and honest company. That all went away when George Lucas sold.

Ah. To be honest, I don't recall seeing much soft-handedness from you toward Disney/LFL (you say hyphen, I say slash!). I'm probably guilty of more. Don't worry, we have Artoo with us. I don't think any of us have our thoughts fully ironed out where the dreaded Disney material goes. If you haven't noticed, I have a mercurial attitude on this perennially contentious topic.   


Made love to the beast trying to kill you, have you? It probably is a simplistic view if one were to propound that all corporations are bad and bring nothing but bad into the world -- at times, perhaps, they are a necessary evil. On the other hand, as I think you've groked about you and I, we're temperamentally inclined, or have been inclined, to distrust capitalistic enterprise in its most vertical and oppressive guise; and, in my case, I haven't really backed down yet. I was even arguing with a bunch of managers at my workplace last week. It's all good. 


Me, too.



As you surely know, I've been fairly animated in my fascination with "The Rise Of Skywalker"; and, on balance, our hero George Lucas would probably find more to praise and be excited about in the "Obi-Wan" series. Indeed, the Sequel Trilogy doesn't really seem to have moved him much, at all.

So I guess there's some irony in me poo-poo-ing or calling into question the veracity of Lucas' positive remarks toward "Obi-Wan", while I have championed a film belonging to a set of movies he seems to care little for and may even despise.

Ultimately, the "purest" form of Star Wars is the original six films, and maybe "The Clone Wars". Everything after that means accepting some level of impurity. I suppose it comes down to the viewer as to how "impure" they're willing to be, or what level of "impure" they're willing to embrace and sully their fanboy brains with. 

I must be a pretty impure, TROS-inflatin', JJ-promotin', Kylo-lovin' bastard, then.   

I meant my soft-handedness over the course of our little spat. I don't opine on the boards about the matter with any kind of regularity. Perhaps because I still feel left in suspense since 2012. Maybe I still haven't come to terms with the fact that Lucas is definitely out of the game.


For me, it's either Stockholm syndrome or Promethean delusion. I grew teary-eyed multiple times reading Ray Kroc's memoir some months ago. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Or as James Cameron provided, "If you can't get out of it, get into it!" With as much integrity and principle as you can muster, of course!


I appreciated how fair you were to Obi-Wan during its release. It crossed my mind when I read Hidalgo's purported account.

The Original Six are inviolable. The PT even more so. How seldom our society (American, I mean) regards with any importance the fecundity of a pristine (or mostly so) body of work from an artist. What a shame.

Yep. They're 100% opportunistic and predatory. Lucas even said himself that the unceasing, day-and-night backlash to the prequels had made them "nervous" (Charlie Rose interview). Also, when J.J. Abrams came aboard, he was able to convince them to run a campaign centered on practical effects, with a lot of dogwhistle thrown in that the upcoming film (TFA) would be nothing like those awful prequels. Words like "tangible", "real", "authentic", and "quintessential" were repeatedly used, as well as direct allusions to the "magic", "simplicity", and "accessibility" of the Original Trilogy.

More recently, Disney has started singing a different tune, one that speciously seems more prequel-friendly, but it still sounds like a canary choking on its own feathers. Don't forget that the ultimate huckster's mantra is "There's something for everybody!"

Disney went in hard with its "vintage Star Wars experience" sell to fans to begin with, but now, a slightly wider market has been recognised. Gen Z-ers, after all, grew up with the prequels, having plenty of "feels" left to give (Jar Jar is practically their mascot, Anakin is hugely relatable, and ROTS is a masterpiece). And now, they are at fleeing buying age, just about ready to move into their first motorhome, and pop out 2.5 A.I. kids with a Virtual Reality version of their demi-mistress, Taylor Swift. The time has come.

Somny
Remember when Pablo made fun of SWT over his emotional reaction to Luke's Appearance in The Mandalorian?