Obi Wan Kenobi

Star Wars is a timeless story. The magic woven by the original creative genius George Lucas holds a fascination for me as acute today as it was the first time I saw a Star Wars film: Rogue One, in theaters. Soon, the original trilogy and the second trilogy were added to my list of favorite films. The choice of word here is intentional – “film”, not “movie.”

Star Wars is Great because of its inspired vision and its brilliant cast. Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, then Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman. Exciting far-off lands under strange sun(s) and moon(s), planets with strange names like Tatooine, Alderaan, Naboo, all became part of common language.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is brilliant because it is a part of that universe and that world. They brought back the original actors, those incredible scions of what I thought was a bygone age of cinema – from James Earl Jones, the original voice of villain Darth Vader, to Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen – along with some talented new faces. But it depends too much on the rest of Star Wars. Rogue One, The Mandalorian, and other parts of the series could stand alone, had their own plot that fit into the grand plot, and had interesting characters of their own. And yet, I had to wait an entire season for the iconic music of the original series to play in Obi Wan Kenobi! There was one enormous loophole, and the primary conflict from the first few episodes just sort of petered out.

It’s just Star Wars with more advanced graphics. I think too much depends on what already exists. Too much of it catered to what the public might have wanted to see. The reckless, story-soaked filmmaking, which is what allowed so much to happen in the films and shows preceding this one, was not there. Navin and I were able to predict many lines that characters said. Sure, we were surprised sometimes, but not really as much as usual, considering Star Wars. We were awed sometimes, but only because we were reminded of the story from before.

It was exciting to see Obi Wan Kenobi meet twins Luke and Leia, once they’d grown up a bit. He’d rescued them as babies after all, and their parents were his dearest friends. It was moving to see him describe the qualities of Padme and Anakin that he saw still in the kids.

Obi Wan Kenobi starts out where we left off with the aforementioned character (i.e.: after Episode III and before Episode IV among the movies) and ends where we ended with the aforementioned character (i.e.: after Episode III and before Episode IV among the movies). In short, not much that is significant happens – it doesn’t contribute to the overall plot of the series. All this show does is bring back a bit of that original Star Wars spirit – the music, the setting, even the actors – and, because Star Wars is already awesome, that’s enough. 💫