Obi-Wan Kenobi series: speculation

Right. So there's no need to police people over a bit of mild sarcasm. Plus, Star Wars is a very funny set of movies -- lots of quirky humour and the like. I understand the appeal of treating the films seriously, because there's a lot going on and they deserve a robust examination. But a strong thread is one in which discussion encompasses a wide range of tones and sensibilities (like the films themselves). And a bit of lightheartedness is the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down.

One thing I hope that results from this series is a making-of documentary featuring PLENTY of Ewan and Hayden BROMANCE.

My opinion? You probably won't like it, but:

He's being a patronising douchebag again.


No, Ewan -- piss off. I've had it up to here with the insulting platitude "the prequels were made for children". It's passive-aggressive bullshit (and not the first time he's said it).

I mean, look, I get what he's saying. Star Wars is basically a franchise for kids and young adults. But older people can and do enjoy the films and even become fans beyond the primary target age. There's never a word about that.

Notice, also, that he never talks about the political allegory of the prequels, how they tell a tragedy, or how they link with the original three as one complete twelve-hour story experience. He's still dishing backhanded compliments the same as he always has.

True. I suppose he's linking the OT movies to the original film, which is also the decade he was born in.

He's excluding a lot of people with his comments, though -- including OT fanboys who often stated that his portrayal of Obi-Wan was one of the highlights of the PT.

2000s is more accurate in the case of the prequels, since two of them came out in the 2000s, and the other was released at the lip of the new millennium, in 1999. And "The Clone Wars" were kind of a sequel/commentary (the biggest canonical production sanctioned by GL outside of the films) that followed three years after ROTS (ceremonially taking the place of another film or trilogy and indirectly fleshing out existing ones).

Saying the original films were of the 1970s, on the other hand, is a sly (perhaps unconscious) rhetorical trick that implicitly links those ones with an historically well-regarded filmmaking decade, in which many dark and complicated movies emerged -- as if Star Wars, or the Original Trilogy, shares some of their grit by chronologic association; vis-a-vis the prequels, which emerged in a decade of digital experimentation and the rise of mega franchises. Via this frisson, it is being hinted that the OT movies are raw and pure examples of vital filmmaking from a time when filmmakers really cared, while the prequels are backhandedly suggested to be ambitious but troubled cash-ins; or compromised franchise-builders. But hey, kids liked 'em! 

If you think I'm reading too much into that, so be it. However, I'd just like to point out that Ewan has bemoaned the modern era of the big blockbuster before, stating that big fantasy films loaded with effects and spectacle aren't really to his taste and don't challenge him as an actor; and so, outside of Star Wars, he has generally avoided them. Thus, when he refers to "the original films of the '70s", he is indirectly saying: "Before cinema went bad" (and the corollary: forced him to be more discerning). Now, a lot of us may have some kind of misgivings over the modern era of studio-dominated tentpole movies (including filmmakers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg who are at least partly responsible for bringing this era about), so we may even sympathise with Ewan's viewpoint. The problem is, from his wording, he seems to think the prequels were a bit of a misfire and were caught up in the sins of this new era; unlike the original films, safely confined to a "better" time (and which, yes, he is implicitly nostalgic for). But he never comes out and says it directly. He instead hides behind the shibboleth of "greenscreen" and goes around saying, like a mantra, "they were for children".


Well, Lucas has repeatedly said that all the films were made for children, yes. But notice that Ewan doesn't specifically say the original films were. He makes a point of emphasising it only in the case of the prequels. Indeed, Lucas made several clarifications in the prequel era about the target demographic only because people with Ewan's mindset (i.e., fans wedded to the originals) seemed to discount or deny all the childish (or child-like) elements in the earlier films.

The sticking point was Jar Jar. Back then, and still to this day, people went around protesting that nothing in the OT, or the sainted ANH and TESB, was as extreme as Jar Jar; who, in their estimation, was the first time (at least: outside of the Ewoks in the "lesser" ROTJ) that Lucas directly pandered to small children. Lucas' own personal life was sometimes invoked (Lucas became a father between trilogies; starting during preproduction of ROTJ), and people frequently pointed to the merchandising juggernaut Star Wars had become, in order to buttress their argument that Jar Jar was only there to please little ones and move toys -- Jar Jar's story purpose, to these people, was null and void, because it was "obvious" that Lucas "no longer cared" (about making a good film or crafting a good story).

Lurking in the soft loam of Ewan's remarks is the same concealed critique -- or at least a soggy version of it. I'm not sure he seriously thinks that Lucas was only trying to shift merchandise with the prequels or build up the Lucasfilm empire, but he certainly doesn't stick his neck out in any discernible way and has never gone to bat for Lucas' choices in the prequels. Maybe, just a tad, when the films came out; but after? The annoying and regrettable implication is that Lucas made many questionable or poorly-calibrated decisions. Contrast Ewan's rather icy regard with Ian McDiarmid's glowing approval of, for example, the political subtext of the prequels, and the difference could hardly be more glaring. If Ewan said, "The prequels were made with good intentions, but they aren't my thing", that would be more honest. Instead, he tends to skate around his real feelings, deploying evasive platitudes that have become extremely old and tired. Weak-tea approval, let alone tactical gaslighting, have never been my thing; especially from the lips of a sometimes-abrasive and overpaid actor that keeps being handed the media bullhorn. 

I do love that Eeopies make a return tho.

I can see that 'n' all...

I mean, those washed out digital colour palettes, the blare-y "Based on John Williams" choral/percussive trailer music, and all the standard trailer beats, and yet...

This thing gave me a buzz. 

First off, that voiceover is frikkin' awesome! Great lines.

Second, it looks like this series may yield some interesting visuals, and -- for better or worse -- the line is clearly blurred between TV and cinema now (how reminiscent of "Rogue One" and especially "Solo" was this preview?).

Third, while that Inquisitor fellow looks a bit "Robocop without his helmet"-esque, he seems to have a menacing presence. I haven't really touched base with "The Clone Wars" or "Rebels" like some people have, but the idea of remaining Jedi being carefully sniffed out and hunted down is pretty neat, and I think it'll be cool to see a live-action version of this stretch of post-prequel lore pivoting around Ewan's Obi-Wan.

Fourth. One other thing I'd just like to add, as far as this trailer goes, is how much I appreciate them using that little snatch of music at the end, from when Obi-Wan tells Padme about Anakin having turned to the Dark Side, and then it cuts to Anakin watching the lava flows on Mustafar after his murder of the Separatists. A very underrated piece of music is that. It's a cool little Easter Egg that helps round out the more obvious musical deployment of "Duel Of The Fates" (and also "Battle Of The Heroes") that they went with here.

Fifth, well... That's all I got. I've never been big on spinoff material, so I'm fairly easy about this series either way. That said, when it comes out, I think I'm going to try and see this one; if only to say I have.

Okay, I actually do have one more thing to add. On the official Disney channel, these are the stats:

Views: 7,312,215
Comments: 25,525

In less than 24 hours. There's clearly some big anticipation for this thing. Nice to see.

"But nobody wants to see anything related to those awful prequels." 

And also the LUCASFILM logo being in GOLD.

Gold, motherfuckers.