OLD BEN: An Obi-Wan Kenobi Fan Edit [ON HOLD]

TLWR: A TV-to-movie edit of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) that is more tonally consistent, utilizing storytelling sensibilities unrestrained from Star Wars’ typical conventions, more in line with a grounded character drama.

Obi-Wan Kenobi as “prestige television” and not a mass appeal Disney+ blockbuster.

SO.

People liked my opening mock-up.

Basically, I liked the creative team behind this show a lot prior to release (Chow did “Something Stupid” from Better Call Saul, Kelley Dixon is/was a Breaking Bad/BCS editor, Oldboy’s Chung-hoon Chung on cinematography). I was expecting something comparable in caliber for Obi-Wan. At the very least, I would see some of that DNA peeking through.

A bit misguided in hindsight, what can I say?

So, I cut together that opening, approaching it through the storytelling language inspired by the best of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul montages, as a way to creatively articulate what I really expected for this show based on the team behind it. What I wanted.

With some support, I figure I can give the rest of the series a shot.

I’ll post any updates and brainstorming in this thread as I go along, and explain some of sensibilities for this. I’m not trying to make it some kind of BB-verse styled edit, but I think taking lessons from its storytelling is how I’m going to make the most out of the material. I do think Chow’s sensibilities as a director, at least for the character stuff, has been conducive to being arranged in this way. It’s a terrible name, I know - worse than “New Canon Cut” which was already so bad - but part of me wants to give her some credit I know many fans won’t.

Anyway, as far as some goals:

• Tighter, streamlined pacing. Really carving this baby up. I hope to get it down to more or less feature-length, and I think it’s doable.
• De-scoring/re-foleying scenes to really give this some [illusion of] subtlety and depth. It’s not that music is inherently showy and unsubtle - I love music for storytelling - but in this case, it distracts and muddles some of the directing. Additionally, it’ll provide a lot more freedom for me to re-arrange and recontextualize individual shots and entire scenes. Using these to create some more…
• Tonal consistency. The show goes back and forth between being goofy as hell and attempts at emotionally sincerity. There’s a lot of forced “hopefulness” that I also think needs to be earned over the course of the narrative, and not just whenever the show feels like it. The de-score helps a lot with this.

Still very tentative, still very experimental.

I just think it’d be fun to work through this with some of you, just don’t expect much haha. It wouldn’t be an NFBisms edit if it wasn’t needlessly ambitious and inevitably too specific to appeal to anyone

Will edit this post with a cut list and more information once it starts taking shape.

OPENING

Obi-Wan’s Vision of Leia

CUT LIST / SEQUENCING FOR FIRST 20-30 MIN

• Open on logos, ALTAIAGFFA, fade into Obi-Wan riding to his perch point overseeing the Lars homestead. De-scored, and removing any shot with his face until right before the title drop, where he expresses brief endearment and then sadness.

• Title card.

• Music-less montage of Obi-Wan’s daily routine, sparse monotony becomes frantic anxiety as he recalls Anakin and the prequels. Obi-Wan wakes up to ask for Qui-Gon’s guidance.

• From there, Obi-Wan visits the farm to drop off the starship toy. Directly off the back of the montage, Obi-Wan’s attempts at being in Luke’s life is more economically conveyed as a symptom of his being haunted by the past.

• Cut from shot of toy in the night to toy being thrown at Obi-Wan’s feet. Owen and Obi-Wan have their discussion.

• As Owen leaves, recontextualize Obi-Wan looking up from his momentary reflection as a reaction to the Inquisitors landing at Anchorhead from the beginning of the first episode.

  1. Shots of Obi-Wan’s reactions to Reva from [the removed] scene of Owen’s interrogation, are re-spliced into the scene where the Grand Inquisitor explains how they hunt Jedi to the bar.
  2. Shots that too clearly establish geography are removed so that the suggestion Obi-Wan is across the street lands better for a hypothetical first-time.
  3. All shots of the Inquisitors leaving the ship and walking down the street are removed until the the GI is first revealed, using a shot where the camera pans from behind the barkeep’s shoulder. Shots of the crowd watching them walk down the street, as well as the sound of their footsteps remain, to build tension.
  4. Nat sound and diegetic music foley’d in place of the bombastic score.
  5. Trimmed speech.

• Nari doesn’t escape, the scene cuts as Reva swings her blade to the pedestal shot up to Nari’s hanging legs. Obi-Wan looks up at it in despair, close scene with spliced in closer of the [removed] later scene where Owen is standing next to Obi-Wan watching the Inquisitors leave. Instead of Owen saying “I didn’t do it for you” (which no longer makes sense in this context) he instead says “Keep your distance.” The GI just explained how they hunt Jedi, and they both witnessed how those teachings got one killed - their conversation about Obi-Wan’s “mistake” is immediately relevant and directly connected in the sequence.

• Cut to Obi-Wan in the desert digging up the lightsabers. Whatever he’s being introspective about in this scene is now tied to his PTSD, the Inquisitors, and Owen’s cutting remarks. Rescored with more melancholic music from Jedi Fallen Order.

• Using shots from episode 6, unused color corrected shots from earlier scene, and a Star Wars Rebels shot through the binocular effect, Obi-Wan revisits the perch to look at the homestead at sun-up[/down?]. Scene closes with Luke in bed.

• Cut to Obi-Wan walking through town towards the shuttles. Rescored with a more bittersweet Jedi Fallen Order track, Obi-Wan hesitates and reflects before walking to the ship. In sequence, Obi-Wan is leaving now because he sees Owen’s side of things. Because the Inquisitors have now come close and if hunting him may come even closer. Because teaching Luke the Jedi way like he wanted might be dangerous.

• Cut to Mustafar, Vader hears Obi-Wan and Padme, opens eyes. This establishes Vader’s headspace and puts it parallel to Obi-Wan’s. Everything that happens here is borne of their relationship.

• Cut to Obi-Wan’s arrival to Daiyu.

• Obi-Wan meditates, trying once again to contact Qui-Gon. Instead, he receives visions of a girl getting ready, at a party, running through the woods - then being kidnapped. (Shots from Leia’s cut subplot on Alderaan.) It comes into focus that this is Leia. Obi-Wan’s duty to protect the children he helped bring into the galaxy is evoked with a shot from ROTS.

• Cut to the kidnappers’ ship, Leia is tied into a chair, the door closes.

• Cut all references to Obi-Wan tracking a specific ship

• De and re-scored entire Daiyu sequence to evoke a darker more seedy city.

  1. Jayvar’s Cantina + other Galaxy’s Edge tracks bass-boosted and reverbed as diegetic background.
  2. Spice Den brawl de-scored and re-foleyed.
  3. Replaced score with tracks from Jedi Fallen Order, Star Wars Visions, and the prequels.

• Trimmed Haja

• Cut all instances and references to this being Reva’s orchestration, or Bail’s involvement. Obi-Wan and Leia escape the spice den and only deal with bounty hunters until they arrive at the port and see the Inquisitors. Trimmed much of Leia’s running away tangent.

…TO BE CONTINUED…

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to know or understand what Deborah Chow was trying to do with this show, nor do I think what I’m doing here is some kind of “fabled original plan”. Nor do I have any sort of handle on her personal style.

I’m a huge fan of the direction you’re taking this! Can’t wait to see it!

I really loved the thought process you had with your ROTS edit, so seeing you get back into editing a little bit makes me really happy, even if you just play around with it a little and never release anything official.

Having just caught up with Better Call Saul, I’m really inspired by the vision you have for the series. I’m definitely here for brainstorming (that’s all I feel like I do on this website), but if you ever need help with any rescoring or refoleying, I’d be happy to lend a hand however I can.

The first 5 minutes looks really interesting. I’m interested.

I have to admit that although I loved the series as is, I thought your mock-up opening was brilliant. I am looking forward to what you do. I do hope that when you finish, you do kinda come up with a kick-ass name for it, though and just use THe Deb Cut as the forum title name.

That’s a terrific opening and really made me wish that there were more creative stylistic choices in how these things (franchise shows and films) were filmed and edited. There’s something so workmanlike about the filmmaking in Boba and Kenobi that just makes everything a bit bland.

Very excited for this edit

Alright, name change and a cut list of the first 20-30 minutes I’ve broken. I’ll try to post a preview tonight.

CUT LIST / SEQUENCING FOR FIRST 20-30 MIN

• Open on logos, ALTAIAGFFA, fade into Obi-Wan riding to his perch point overseeing the Lars homestead. De-scored, and removing any shot with his face until right before the title drop, where he expresses brief endearment and then sadness.

• Title card.

• Music-less montage of Obi-Wan’s daily routine, sparse monotony becomes frantic anxiety as he recalls Anakin and the prequels. Obi-Wan wakes up to ask for Qui-Gon’s guidance.

• From there, Obi-Wan visits the farm to drop off the starship toy. Directly off the back of the montage, Obi-Wan’s attempts at being in Luke’s life is more economically conveyed as a symptom of his being haunted by the past.

• Cut from shot of toy in the night to toy being thrown at Obi-Wan’s feet. Owen and Obi-Wan have their discussion.

• As Owen leaves, recontextualize Obi-Wan looking up from his momentary reflection as a reaction to the Inquisitors landing at Anchorhead from the beginning of the first episode.

  1. Shots of Obi-Wan’s reactions to Reva from [the removed] scene of Owen’s interrogation, are re-spliced into the scene where the Grand Inquisitor explains how they hunt Jedi to the bar.
  2. Shots that too clearly establish geography are removed so that the suggestion Obi-Wan is across the street lands better for a hypothetical first-time.
  3. All shots of the Inquisitors leaving the ship and walking down the street are removed until the the GI is first revealed, using a shot where the camera pans from behind the barkeep’s shoulder. Shots of the crowd watching them walk down the street, as well as the sound of their footsteps remain, to build tension.
  4. Nat sound and diegetic music foley’d in place of the bombastic score.
  5. Trimmed speech.

• Nari doesn’t escape, the scene cuts as Reva swings her blade to the pedestal shot up to Nari’s hanging legs. Obi-Wan looks up at it in despair, close scene with spliced in closer of the [removed] later scene where Owen is standing next to Obi-Wan watching the Inquisitors leave. Instead of Owen saying “I didn’t do it for you” (which no longer makes sense in this context) he instead says “Keep your distance.” The GI just explained how they hunt Jedi, and they both witnessed how those teachings got one killed - their conversation about Obi-Wan’s “mistake” is immediately relevant and directly connected in the sequence.

• Cut to Obi-Wan in the desert digging up the lightsabers. Whatever he’s being introspective about in this scene is now tied to his PTSD, the Inquisitors, and Owen’s cutting remarks. Rescored with more melancholic music from Jedi Fallen Order.

• Using shots from episode 6, unused color corrected shots from earlier scene, and a Star Wars Rebels shot through the binocular effect, Obi-Wan revisits the perch to look at the homestead at sun-up[/down?]. Scene closes with Luke in bed.

• Cut to Obi-Wan walking through town towards the shuttles. Rescored with a more bittersweet Jedi Fallen Order track, Obi-Wan hesitates and reflects before walking to the ship. In sequence, Obi-Wan is leaving now because he sees Owen’s side of things. Because the Inquisitors have now come close and if hunting him may come even closer. Because teaching Luke the Jedi way like he wanted might be dangerous.

• Obi-Wan meditates on the transport to anywhere, trying once again to contact Qui-Gon. Instead, he receives visions of a girl getting ready, at a party, running through the woods - then being kidnapped. (Shots from Leia’s cut subplot on Alderaan.) It comes into focus that this is Leia. Obi-Wan’s duty to protect the children he helped bring into the galaxy is evoked with a shot from ROTS.

• Cut to the kidnappers’ ship, Leia is tied into a chair, the door closes.

• Cut to Obi-Wan’s arrival to Daiyu. How did he know to go there? How did Luke know to go to Bespin

• Cut all references to Obi-Wan tracking a specific ship

• De and re-scored entire Daiyu sequence to evoke a darker more seedy city.

  1. Jayvar’s Cantina + other Galaxy’s Edge tracks bass-boosted and reverbed as diegetic background.
  2. Spice Den brawl de-scored and re-foleyed.
  3. Replaced score with tracks from Jedi Fallen Order, Star Wars Visions, and the prequels.

• Trimmed Haja

• Cut all instances and references to this being Reva’s orchestration, or Bail’s involvement. Obi-Wan and Leia escape the spice den and only deal with bounty hunters until they arrive at the port and see the Inquisitors. Trimmed much of Leia’s running away tangent.

…TO BE CONTINUED…

I have to emphasize that this is all still very fluid. I don’t know what the last 2/3 of this will look like yet. It can still change if I find something difficult to get around, but for the most part this feels like an appropriate set up for the remaining pieces I’m interested in using.

Obi-Wan’s Vision of Leia

This sounds absolutely genius. It’s not quite the direction I wished this show would have gone (in my opinion, baby Leia should never have met Obi-Wan) but the way you’ve trimmed the fat and worst of the excess in establishing why Ben leaves Tatooine is incredibly creative. I can’t wait to see the results in action.

That opening sequence is fantastic. Everything I’ve seen tells me this is definitely going to be an edit to check out.

Have you put much thought into your plans for the Anakin flashback scene? I even thought that it could make an interesting cold open to the edit, similar to the Whites buying their home in BB. Show us a glimpse of the good times before bringing us into the crushing reality. I’m not sure that the scene ends in such a way where that type of spin could be accomplished, but it was just a thought.

Thank you so much for doing this.

Just watched the first twenty minutes. As you said, there are a few spots to clean, the most notable one to me being when Obi-Wan is confronted by the bounty hunters. For the most part, I have only small things to say. The biggest one I feel would make sense is to keep some of Leia’s lines during Kenobi’s Force vision, specifically the “My father will rescue me! He’ll send a whole army!” part, since you’ve kept her lines about the army later.

Another scene Id suggest keeping is Obi-Wan getting the toy from the Jawa. I think it’d slot nicely on the last day before Owen throws it back at him, like in the original show. As is, the toy feels kind of random.

Apart from that, other than some choppy editing here and there (the Inquisitors scene, some transitions), it mostly works and it’s far better than the actual show Disney gave us. Definitely looking forward to more.

Yeah, definitely have some cleaning to do, just wanted to get the structure into place here and receive some feedback before going forward. Every decision I make for this is accompanied with some considerable time rebuilding the sound design of a short minute, so I figured I didn’t have to have everything polished if I’m just testing iterations. you can tell when it starts falling off lmao

Which, I did have the Jawa scene in the edit a day ago actually. I go back and forth on it honestly. While I see its value in verbalizing some of Obi-Wan’s feelings about the Jedi’s “extinction” - I’ve really been going for a sparse, minimalist atmosphere and these things are communicated later [and] visually anyway. It’s really just a tone thing. I wanted Obi-Wan’s opening grief to carry into the next few scenes to tie it all together, and I felt a somewhat humorous interaction sandwiched between the relevant bits broke with it a little. 🤷

As far as the Leia line, I agree. I did make an effort to use that line muffled behind the door right before he walks in, but I do think I should have more specific sound clips from the excised Alderaan stuff in that Force Vision to better establish the situation.

EDIT: Took down the preview to revise a bit more

I want to say first of all that I actually loved the OWK show. After TM, it’s my favorite of the D+ show and I loved it lots. With that said, your description and revisualizing so far sounds absolutely brilliant. I can’t wait to see the finishing product. (I plan to watch your ROTS cut tonight. Very excited to watch that.)

Damn, it’s crazy how much the descoring and rescoring has changed the tone of this series. I’m sure all the foley you’re having to do can be exhausting, but I promise you it is paying off. I think a lot of your new music selections are an improvement. The only one that stood out to me was hearing the Across the Stars motif during Leia’s rescue. I know the idea is probably because she is Anakin and Padmé’s kid, but I’ve just always associated the song with romance, so it doesn’t really work for me there. Could Leia’s motif potentially fit there instead?

I wonder if it would be possible to imply that more time has passed when we see Ben meditating on the ship, and not that he got an alert that Leia was in danger as soon as he was off world. Perhaps fading out as he walks toward the ship rather than a hard cut could help suggest that. And/or potentially a shot of a transport ship flying through space? Or maybe a brand new shot to show he is chilling in a warehouse on some totally different planet. Just something to show that a little time has passed.

I think using a shot from Rebels is interesting, and I think you could potentially get away with it (especially if the footage was more shaky and scratchy, perhaps, through the view screen). I do think you might need VFX to address how we don’t see the sun in one shot, then see it in the binoculars, but then don’t see it in the next shot. I do like what you’re trying to do with this scene though.

I don’t think you need the scene with Obi and the Jawa. It flows nicely as-is imo.

What you’ve done with the Inquisitors showing up on Tatooine is really cool! I have some notes I could give on that to maybe help make it work more, but I can hold off on that for now. I think this is a cool direction to go in though. I wonder if you cut the close up shot of the Jedi hanging. With his new “death” and the shot of his feet hanging combined with the new creepy Inquisitor music, I think not seeing the damage is better than seeing his body hanging there relatively unscathed. I think you can get away with the wide shot of their ship flying off though.

I wonder if in Obi’s Leia vision, one of the last shots we could see is Daiyu or something, or hear one of the kidnappers say, “Set course for Daiyu.” I agree with your Luke/Bespin comparison, but Luke did still see Bespin at least. But I guess Obi could’ve seen it off screen too? Idk just a thought.

I think the overall structure is working well so far. A part of me does wonder if I miss a bit more of Leia’s introduction, but I may be biased a little bit. I did realize you run into a question of why the kidnappers set up a dummy hostage, if there plan was no longer to capture her rescuer, but maybe that was just a safety measure they take with all of their hostages? I personally think the muffled Leia line works by the way.

I also wonder if it is fine that Obi and Bail have no contact after he senses Leia in danger. Like, could you potentially have voiceover of Bail as Obi-Wan arrives at Daiyu, implying they communicated after Obi-Wan sensed Leia.

I might have more thoughts later, but pretty cool so far!

Love the tone you’re going with NFBisms. I agree with RogueLeaders comments above. Ben leaving Tatooine and having the vision of Leia right after felt off. Some time needs to pass between the two events if it’s not going to be the motivation for him leaving in the first place. Also had the same thought when the Jedi was hanging. In the previous scene it appears that Reva is going to strike him down. Just showing the feet dangling would imply that what isn’t shown is very gruesome.

Excellent work so far and I’m excited to see how this progresses.

Thank you so much for doing this. Amazing work so far!

RogueLeader said:

The only one that stood out to me was hearing the Across the Stars motif during Leia’s rescue. I know the idea is probably because she is Anakin and Padmé’s kid, but I’ve just always associated the song with romance, so it doesn’t really work for me there. Could Leia’s motif potentially fit there instead?

I was thinking the same thing, actually. I was going for a “This is Anakin and Padme’s daughter” kind of emotion, but the scene doesn’t really pause for us to take in Leia from Obi-Wan’s POV like that. And yeah, it is quite romantic which is odd here. Was inevitably going to be removed. I think I wanted to save Leia’s theme for later.

The first half of the cue in that moment is from when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan save Padme on Naboo, I just faded Across the Stars into it, so I could just easily let that play out instead. It works in a similar way, I suppose. (Let me tell you, turning full tracks into appropriately timed incidence is a whole other thing that might be harder for me than the foley.)

I wonder if it would be possible to imply that more time has passed when we see Ben meditating on the ship, and not that he got an alert that Leia was in danger as soon as he was off world. Perhaps fading out as he walks toward the ship rather than a hard cut could help suggest that. And/or potentially a shot of a transport ship flying through space? Or maybe a brand new shot to show he is chilling in a warehouse on some totally different planet. Just something to show that a little time has passed.

Been working on that but shots from other media or are recognizable to me have been taking me out of it. I’ve got some options for good nondescript nebulas and planet footage, but then it feels odd to suggest Obi-Wan took a shuttle to just… float in space? I’ll try to post a clip later, but at least for leaving Tatooine, the fade out does a little better IMO.

Short of doing a “# Days/Weeks Later…” subtitle, I can accept Obi-Wan got the vision pretty soon after leaving Tatooine anyway. It’s not like in the original show, Reva didn’t put her plan into action to catch Obi-Wan the same few days she was on the same planet as him.

I think the overall structure is working well so far. A part of me does wonder if I miss a bit more of Leia’s introduction, but I may be biased a little bit. I did realize you run into a question of why the kidnappers set up a dummy hostage, if there plan was no longer to capture her rescuer, but maybe that was just a safety measure they take with all of their hostages? I personally think the muffled Leia line works by the way.

I miss it a bit too, especially no Bail, but with the project as a tonal exercise, the whimsical Alderaan stuff was a real pain to try and make fit. The material deserved to be presented in all its whimsy anyway, if it was going to be. I think Leia’s endearing disposition as a contrast is going to work later in the cut, but not this early on where I’m trying to set the tone.

I also wonder if it is fine that Obi and Bail have no contact after he senses Leia in danger. Like, could you potentially have voiceover of Bail as Obi-Wan arrives at Daiyu, implying they communicated after Obi-Wan sensed Leia.

This was also something I played with and is trivially easy to implement as VO, but kind of felt at odds with the storytelling language I’m going for. I don’t know to articulate it atm, but I’d prefer to truncate the plot than I would what should be an important character interaction. I’d rather it not be tackled than given a handwave

Besides, there was an element in the old EU I remember liking where Obi-Wan was so off the grid that he had to go to internet cafes or something to keep up with the galaxy’s goings on. The idea that he had something to even be communicated with, was already kind of a shock to my expectations. Obi-Wan going on his own accord I think sells his commitment to the children a lot also. I kind of like that.

Here’s another pass through from the Toy to Departure.

• I re cut the Inquisitor scene, maybe it’ll feel a little better this time - removed the saloon BG music, used more silence and howling winds, and tried a different song/transition at the end.

• Removed the shot of Nari tied to the arch to imply more gruesomeness

• Removed the sun in the binoculars shot

• Used the fade out as Obi-Wan leaves Tatooine and tried out a [flipped] shot from BOBF to imply more time passage

Editing is much tighter on the Inquisitor scene, though I do think there should be an establishing shot of them exiting the ship before we just cut to them in the bar. Especially when Reva comes into play a bit more later in the show. I get why you edited them walking out because it just highlights how ridiculous they look, but it did feel a bit rushed, almost like they teleported to the cantina.

The editing on Nari and him getting strung up is good, as is the last time Kenobi goes to the Lars homestead. Very impactful. I’m enjoying this so far very much.

I’ll have more feedback later but maybe more prominent footsteps could be added as they are walking to the saloon. I like the idea of keeping them mysterious, building up their reveal through the reactions of the crowd. And we can hear the heavy footsteps halt in the shot before the Grand Inquisitor reveal. I do think the transition between those two shots feels a little noticeable, but maybe that would help.

Is the transition from Reva “killing” the Jedi and then seeing his feet strung up the same as the last version? The transition felt a little quicker than I recall it being. But yeah good job on not showing a close look at his face!

Might want to get more feedback on the new establishing shot you chose for Obi’s meditation scene, but I think something like that shot could work well.

I’ll give more feedback later when I have more time, but it is looking good!

I did change the transition, but I actually like the older one more. Weirdly, this one is longer but it does feel quicker.