Yeah, not exactly the same story at all. In ANH they rescue Leia because they happen to be there, and they botch it and Leia has to get them out of the mess. I really don’t see a lot of parallels other than Leia got rescued from an imperial facility.
That’s worth noting before we get too far in the weeds on finding comparisons and similarities that are completely unintentional. As Yotsuya points out, they weren’t going to rescue her at all. In fact, they weren’t even going to the Death Star. All of that was happenstance. Just as an unrelated, remote system, farm boy even being part of the story was happenstance (before Lucas had writer’s block a few years later).
That said, there are plenty of things to criticize about this series and I’ve done so myself. However, I don’t see any of that Ring or Rhyming bullshit that some factions swear exists. If anything, this series telling a new story is one of it’s strengths.
As to its conflicting with the 1977 film, I don’t care. As an original fan from 1977, I’ve never let anything conflict with that film. I either ignore attempted connectivity or skip films entirely. Star Wars is a movie from 1977. Obi Wan Kenobi is a TV show from 2022. I have no problem whatsoever separating the two. If anything, I’d struggle to connect the two.
Okay, but it’s not just one thing, even though some of the details are different.
- It’s Leia getting rescued from an imperial facility, by Obi Wan Kenobi.
- Obi Wan sneaks around and uses noises with the Force to distract exactly two stormtroopers (one of my favorite parts in the original movie so I loved this but w/e)
- The camera focuses very directly on a shot of Tala’s comlink being left on the table while Obi Wan can’t contact her, in a direct parallel to the same thing happening in the original movie with C3PO and Luke.
- Leia is interrogated and about to be tortured for information, just like in the original movie she’s already been interrogated and tortured, and is about to be executed right when she’s saved. She resists of course.
- There’s some disguise going on, which of course works much better in the original movie because it’s full body stormtrooper armor and not a hastily slapped together imperial officer costume with a big obvious trenchcoat.
- And the biggest one, the Empire lets the heroes escape on purpose so that a tracking device on their ship can lead them to the rebel base.
Intentional or not.