The rumours of a season 2, or some other kind of Kenobi story be it a movie or a spiritual sequel in any way, have me very worried. Surely they can’t involve Vader or have Obi-wan leave Tatooine again, once was already pushing it. And it also means a return to all the people asking for Maul to appear, even for Rebels to be de-canonised.
I don’t like how this episode looked (as well as other scenes in the previous episodes) but I don’t want to blame the crew members because I think it’s more than likely a budget issue. Deborah Chow and Chung-hoon Chung have proven themselves to be fantastic in their field in the past. I just don’t think this series, which was always going to be a big deal, has a big enough budget to make it work.
For example, I love the idea of travelling to a once-beautiful planet which has been ruined by the Empire and I think that’s a great, grim setting for an Obi-wan vs Vader duel. However it feels like they didn’t have the budget to really make it imaginative or expressive enough. Compare it with Corvus from The Mandalorian, which might be my favourite location from the Star Wars Disney+ shows so far. It’s particularly jarring since we were just at Daiyu, which mostly looks great.
The one draw this show had the saber dual and they botched it.
There will definitely be another duel, and I’m totally confident it’ll be better than that one, to be fair.
They’ve talked about intense choreography and it’s safe to say that duel wasn’t what they were referring to, I think they might have overcommitted to making Obi-wan look weak and out-of-practice.
Also, Vader’s desire to inflict prolonged suffering on Obi-wan is a good reason for why the duel goes on longer than a few seconds, but it does mean there’s a confusing end to it. Vader and Obi-wan are separated by a fire Vader put out moments before, not to mention he could use the Force to pull Obi-wan into it again, so I’m gonna assume the intention was that Vader just wants to postpone their final duel so he can… inflict even more pain? That makes no sense otherwise.
This series has moments of greatness but I can feel it beginning to lose me.
I honestly think the writing is mostly very good. The way this episode LOOKED on the other hand…
So, a while back a video showing Vader fighting Obi-wan was leaked online. The costumes looked great. The stunt shown in the video definitely required a complex rig and seemed legit. But I still had a feeling it was fake, because Lucasfilm would never set a duel of such massive importance in such a bland looking location.
Well.
That sounds right to me!
Revan spinning and twirling her way through it
You know what the disappointing thing about this part of the episode was? She could have just taken out the ol reliable helicopter lightsaber and avoided all the rooftop parkour by just sailing off into the sky. The opportunity was right there and they didn’t take it.
All I’ll say before moving on is it’s wrong to conflate valid criticism and racist remarks. That is not what Disney is doing in any way, and opinions on the writing/acting are not the most important issue at hand here. I’m very glad the Star Wars social media account made a post to make it clear racist fans are not welcome. That should be common sense, and should certainly not earn them any backlash.
As for the series itself, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Reva now she’s committed high treason. Presumably she’ll attribute the Grand Inquisitor’s ‘death’ to Obi-wan, but we know he’s not actually dead, so she might be in trouble soon.
I’m also looking forward - since we’re mostly now past the trailer footage - to see what planet(s) Obi-wan might be visiting next. Deborah Chow has said she enjoys when a story has variety and visits multiple locations so there may be some more imaginative and expressive locations coming up.
I regret to report that certain people are being racist knobs towards a black actor in Star Wars. Again.
One of the best sequels ever made, Top Gun Maverick. What a ride.
Once Qui-Gon appears and converses with his student, it changes everything for him.
I bet that’s what will happen maybe in the final episode of the series, since Obi-wan has already tried to contact Qui-gon twice
One thing that seems incongruous to me, is Kenobi’s general demeanor. In the OT, Guiness played the role with an upbeat personality, leading a quiet but seemingly contented life, and more than willing to reveal his Jedi skills, even on Mos Eisley. Ewan, by contrast, is really dour and bitter (unsurprisingly), and afraid to mention anything about his past even to those close to him. I wonder if the producers will make any effort to transition ObiWan from a broken and bitter middle-aged man, to the sprightly and even upbeat old wizard.
I believe this is a big part of why they made the show. He’s actually going on a character arc.
https://youtu.be/upr53fQKVIE
Dave Filoni Tells Us Where Ezra Is…
Well, it looks very promising. Glad to see the younglings from their Clone Wars arc, as well as hearing that Cody will be in the season (he was in the version of the trailer shown exclusively at Star Wars Celebration) and am hoping there’s better work on the characters this time around.
If it weren’t for 2000s nostalgia being in right now, ATLA would be seen as just kind of above average.
I have no nostalgia for ATLA because I watched it for the first time fairly recently. It is one of the most perfect pieces of fiction I have seen in my life.
Looks like they’ve changed Sabine’s mural art a little, most likely to make the characters look more like their live action actors.
Moderator note: Link and image removed.
I’m a little disappointed that it’s only prequel era, since an anthology series has the potential to visit multiple eras. The shorts sound very good though. It gives me hope that since Lucasfilm are determined to give us more Clone Wars content, they’ll do another season of Lost Missions and animate unfinished Clone Wars arcs, adding them to The Clone Wars as a whole. That would be a dream.
When Vader shows up in Rebels, none of the characters have seen or heard of him before. It seems he’s very much been hidden from the public eye.
Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka!
I really liked the episodes. My biggest gripe is the Grand Inquisitor’s ‘death’ scene. I’m sure he’ll be in a bacta tank getting resurrected by the next episode (or maybe paying a visit to the Tatooine mod parlour to get a new stomach), but they really make it look like he’s dead. There’s even a shot of his motionless corpse on the ground. I loved the moment where Obi-wan finds out Vader is alive, but suddenly I was just taken out of the scene, confused and worried that Rebels just got retconned.
(Also, this is a spoiler thread right? It’s gonna be annoying having to spoiler tag every message posted in here if not)
They’ve made Ahsoka’s head tails longer for her series and I am very happy about this. I really didn’t think they’d do it.
I seriously cannot wait to see how this looks in the show.
Moderator note: Leaked images and video are not allowed.
Yeah honestly the special effects for this look better than those we’ve seen for Obi-wan so far, imo. Great to see Coruscant again and both the story hints and the cinematography we’ve got for Andor just makes me think it will be a truly incredible series.
Really nice work!
A friend just spotted the ‘Faces’ OT boxset in a charity shop for 10 quid and picked it up for me! O joyous day.
Gonna have to dust off my family’s old VHS player. I hope it still works otherwise that’s 10 quid for a shelf decoration…
https://gizmodo.com/obi-wan-kenobi-interview-star-wars-darth-vader-anakin-s-1848951914
In this interview Deborah confirms that Obi-Wan thinks he killed Anakin. So I wanna know, just how big was the rock he was living under that he hasn’t heard that Darth Vader was still active?
He wasn’t living under a rock, just on a rock. The furthest planet from the bright centre of the universe… where, presumably, holonet reception isn’t great.
Also I know in legends Obi-wan finds out Vader is alive shortly after Revenge of the Sith when he shows up on the news, but it feels like in canon most of the public aren’t aware Vader exists. He’s more like a shadowy enforcer.
