Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Season 1: Part 4

The Crawling Chaos

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Not sure what to say about this latest episode, other than after the nod to Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel in episode 3, I loved the reference to Austin Powers in this one.

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Star Wars always had its fair share of silliness. It's hard to say the musical number in Jabba's Palace was anything but silly. But there's fun, harmless silliness and there's suspension-of-disbelief-obliterating silliness. And Disney's Star Wars is plagued with the latter. At this stage it's like they don't even care anymore.

Oh, yeah. And then there's this (spoilers for episode 3)

From my perspective, if you're going to write a show about a beloved, established character, the minimum requirement should be that you are a fan of this character. Another requirement should be that as a fan of this character you can quote any of his lines from the main saga's movies by heart. Another requirement should be that you know more about this character than the average moviegoer or even the average fan.

So when that guy just plainly states that he had to ask the guys in charge of in-universe consistency whether (highlight to read spoiler) Obi-Wan knows that Anakin is now called Darth Vader... Well that's the moment he should have been replaced by someone else who actually knows what the hell he's writing about.

Other than that I love Moses Ingram more and more. She manages to do great in spite of the material. Which speaks volumes about her acting abilities.
 
While I'm really glad @Phyrebrat is enjoying this, I'm left wondering if I should even watch episode 4. I will, of course! And I do really want to like this. I'm sure that it will be visually fantastic, but I need to believe the story too. What @The Crawling Chaos uncovered about Obi-Wan Kenobi writer, Joby Harold, above, might explain a lot. I personally know someone trying to get the breaks as a scriptwriter. It's not easy to get a gig, never mind becoming a staff writer on a project. Being a partner in a production company, and getting a huge project like this, well then, you would expect them to know their game through and through. I can only echo what was just posted.

No problem with the acting here either. Moses Ingram is great. Even Vivian Lyra Blair is a good casting. I'll be looking for much more droidspeaking droids though, rather than the dumb load lifter in episode 3. ;)
 
I personally know someone trying to get the breaks as a scriptwriter. It's not easy to get a gig, never mind becoming a staff writer on a project. Being a partner in a production company, and getting a huge project like this, well then, you would expect them to know their game through and through. I can only echo what was just posted.
You know, if this Harold fellow were just some 'mercenary' hired to do the job and/or looking for his big break, I could let that pass.

But if I'm reading this correctly he's the guy who pitched the story to Disney. How cynical do you have to be to pitch a project orbiting a character you only vaguely know about?
 
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So, when Leia said in the hologram, "Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars..." but she forgot to mention, "Hello, it's only me again!" was she covering up their personal connection in the same way that Ben tells Luke that Darth Vader killed his father? Apparently, this fixes the plot-hole when she is broken out of jail, that
SPOILERS present.

I should start by saying that this was my favourite episode of the 3 so far, but that wasn't much. Discussing it with my son on the way to school this morning, I was struck by just how un-memorable it was. The first meeting of 2 of the SW universe's most famous characters in 17 years (or 10 years in the show timeline) and was just... there. Twenty seconds of a rather underwhelming lightsaber battle in a very un-Star Warsy quarry, and then some force grip

I said it last time: Star Wars was always colourful, the iconic sounds and music, and a real sense of awe and wonder. This continues to look flat and pale, like a lot of modern digital TV. Add to this the mundane music, average script, basic plot, and ordinary direction, and what are you left with? That horrible, horrible modern word.

Content.

Yes, this might be SW for a modern audience, and the elder fans can just get lost and keep worshiping what they already got over the last 45 years.
But I would respond to that the same as I would to a similar point about latest-era Doctor Who: why can't it just be good as well as new? The Mandalorian is, again, the perfect example; fresh characters in a familiar world; a look that is recognisable, but also tweaked and modern; music that suits the show, even if it is a departure from the usual style; quality stories and decent scriptwriting (SW was never King Lear); experienced, enthusiastic directors with an eye for brining cinematic stylings to the small screen.

I will keep watching, nonetheless, but I am honestly more looking forward to Andor.

And yes, @Parson, it is soul destroying to continue to hear about this kind of racist abuse. But I maintain that these idiots only do it because they can and because they know they are protected by the ridiculously lax social media rules. Anyone posting racist / homophobic / etc. messages should instantly have their details given to the police of the country they hail so that they can press charges. The media platform can then report back to the person that was abused to report this. The abuser then has a black mark against their name and will, depending on the severity of the abuse, be banned from X, Y & Z for an certain period.

It seems so simple to me, so it is genuinely baffling why this hasn't been implemented already.
 
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It seems so simple to me, so it is genuinely baffling why this hasn't been implemented already.

I don't mean to derail the thread too much, but it's actually a lot harder than it looks, to the point of being practically infeasible: Too many jurisdictions not designed to work together, too many contradictory laws from one country to the next. Some countries allow total, unrestricted free speech, others don't. Some countries place the right to anonymity of their citizens online above any abuse they might find themselves guilty of... And I'm sure there are also countries where racism isn't legally reprehensible in the first place.

And even if all the big tech companies somehow agreed to put such a system in place, there'd be the matter of enforcing this across all jurisdictions worldwide. People wouldn't want to or be able to press charges. How convenient would it be for a Guatemalan victim of racist abuse to press charges against someone in Singapore?

Bottom line: If it were that simple it would already be in place.
 
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I'm sitting here trying to decide what it was about episode 3 that made it seem, hm, "flat?" to me. The best I can come up with is that the production values were not as high as in The Mandalorian. Or, maybe it is that being with this group of chronners I look and think about stuff I didn't before. When I comment about something not looking right or not stacking up in a film or TV show, my wife will often say something like "Only you would notice that." --- But, why are long hallways almost always devoid of people? Why doesn't someone wonder why a supervisor is lying dead? unconscious? in the hallway? How long must guards float in a tank before someone suspects something's wrong? How can a light saber slice through ten inches of steel but do no noticeable damage to a stormtrooper, while taking him/her completely out of the fight? How come a fire fight can go on for a fair amount of time with no damage to the glass walls until one ricochet cracks it? ---- It seems to me that if all these things have percolated to the top of my awareness it probably indicates that the story was weak. I really like "third sister" and usually like "Lia" in the story. Most of the rest are starting to wear thin already.
 
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@Parson I'm with you. My wife also sometimes thinks that I criticise TV shows to much, and maybe I do. However, while I want to like this show, it just irritates me (and I can't understand why it doesn't irritate everyone else just the same.) Apart from the things you already mentioned, and the inability last week to walk around force-fields and flaming pits to get to the other side, we had Darth Vader suddenly appear to berate his staff just immediately after our protagonists had left. Where was he for the last 30 minutes while all hell had been let loose? Didn't he feel the presence of his old master again? He feels his presence on the Death Star and that is a huge enormous thing. He felt him in the street last week, even if he couldn't locate him.

This could have been explained if Vader had just arrived there on his ship, except that we know he didn't because we were just there in the landing bay while it was getting shot up. And the rebels shot everything that moved in it, except for our three protagonists. How is such accuracy possible, you don't ask? It isn't obviously, but once again, this might have been explained if Obi-Wan had created some kind of Force cloak shield around them, instead of trying to use an actual real cloak to hide them in the "Austin Powers" way.

As for the attack itself, there were no defences because no one would be stupid enough to attack. Sorry? What?

Then again, this is the same Empire later defeated in a forest battle by stones from catapults, tree trunk traps and Ewoks. :confused:
 
I don't mean to derail the thread too much, but it's actually a lot harder than it looks, to the point of being practically infeasible: Too many jurisdictions not designed to work together, too many contradictory laws from one country to the next. Some countries allow total, unrestricted free speech, others don't. Some countries place the right to anonymity of their citizens online above any abuse they might find themselves guilty of... And I'm sure there are also countries where racism isn't legally reprehensible in the first place.

And even if all the big tech companies somehow agreed to put such a system in place, there'd be the matter of enforcing this across all jurisdictions worldwide. People wouldn't want to or be able to press charges. How convenient would it be for a Guatemalan victim of racist abuse to press charges against someone in Singapore?

Bottom line: If it were that simple it would already be in place.

How depressing! Part of me would argue that anyone accessing the social media platform should immediately agree to prosecution forbreaking rules, no matter where they are. Enforcement, as you say, would be the hardest part. But if we can't play by the rules, surely we shouldn't be allowed to play at all. At the end of the day, I would be very surprised if it were people in non-Western countries dishing out the abuse. It would be privileged fans in UK, US, Australia and the EU posting these racist messages. The least Facebook / Twitter could do is track down the people in 'permissible' jurisdictions and forward their details to the authorities.

We are breeding an entire generation with zero boundaries because they have been brought up in an era where you can say anything you like behind a keyboard and face zero repercussions.

I'm sitting here trying to decide what it was about episode 3 that made it seem, hm, "flat?" to me. The best I can come up with is that the production values were not as high as in The Mandalorian. Or, maybe it is that being with this group of chronners I look and think about stuff I didn't before. When I comment about something not looking right or not stacking up in a film or TV show, my wife will often say something like "Only you would notice that." --- But, why are long hallways almost always devoid of people? Why doesn't someone wonder why a supervisor is lying dead? unconscious? in the hallway? How long must guards float in a tank before someone suspects something's wrong? How can a light saber slice through ten inches of steel but do no noticeable damage to a stormtrooper, while taking him/her completely out of the fight? How come a fire fight can go on for a fair amount of time with no damage to the glass walls until one ricochet cracks it? ---- It seems to me that if all these things have percolated to the top of my awareness it probably indicates that the story was weak. I really like "third sister" and usually like "Lia" in the story. Most of the rest are starting to wear thin already.

I similarly find it hard to sometimes pin down, @Parson. And it's definitely not just you. I would be worried myself about becoming an old grouch if I didn't actually enjoy movies and shows, including modern products that are fast, contrived, and not especially deep. But I do (the last three movies we watched - Coda, The Martian, and Interstellar - were all superbly written and well made).

The problem is the entertainment model and the demographic these 'products' are being made for. All Disney really need to do to make money is, essentially, give enough people enough of a reason to keep their streaming subscription for another couple of months. That's it. If they churn out a 5 or 6/10 show, who cares, as long as people stay subscribed in the hope the next one is better. They are not too concerned about continuity, plot holes, or finding the right creative team to deliver the best possible show.

Sadly, this 'content' is being created without the essential filter of 'will this actually make money at the cinema'? Essentially, we are already crowfunding the next 2 or 3 years of streaming shows. The only way to signal our discontent and 'stay at home' is to cancel our streaming subscription for a few months. If enough people decide to ditch one particular platform for a while, it will be sending a message to that company about how they need to work on quality, not quantity from here on (as Netflix just discovered).

Whether that works on not, I don't know. But I've discovered that there are a large number of people that really don't care about the finer details. They just want something on the TV screen to switch off their minds to.

Equally depressing.
 
I'm sitting here trying to decide what it was about episode 3 that made it seem, hm, "flat?" to me. The best I can come up with is that the production values were not as high as in The Mandalorian. Or, maybe it is that being with this group of chronners I look and think about stuff I didn't before. When I comment about something not looking right or not stacking up in a film or TV show, my wife will often say something like "Only you would notice that." --- But, why are long hallways almost always devoid of people? Why doesn't someone wonder why a supervisor is lying dead? unconscious? in the hallway? How long must guards float in a tank before someone suspects something's wrong? How can a light saber slice through ten inches of steel but do no noticeable damage to a stormtrooper, while taking him/her completely out of the fight? How come a fire fight can go on for a fair amount of time with no damage to the glass walls until one ricochet cracks it? ---- It seems to me that if all these things have percolated to the top of my awareness it probably indicates that the story was weak. I really like "third sister" and usually like "Lia" in the story. Most of the rest are starting to wear thin already.

I had the exact same feeling watching the episode. 'Flat' indeed. A filler episode through and through. Its entire purpose was to have Moses Ingram's character plant a tracking device on Leia's droid. Other than that, the plot hasn't moved forward one bit. Something we could all have easily forgiven if they had at least given us a compelling rescue episode, with our characters deftly avoiding tough security protocols and overwhelming forces to sneak into the base and find Leia, but no. There was never any sense of threat, everything seemed too easy, the enemies were either blind, stupid or AWOL... and what of the security probes who apparently no longer have 'probes', since they can only detect an intruder if they point their big red glowing eye at them?

I'll not flog a dead horse and list all the things wrong with it, but I'll add to that that the closer they bring Obi-Wan and Leia, like they did at the end of that episode with that touching little scene of the both of them holding hands, the less I'll be willing to accept her message to him in A New Hope as making sense.

General Kenobi. Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

All... right? How about "Obi, old chum! Long time no see, how's it hanging? Dude, the last ten years haven't been kind to you, you really ought to wear a hat under the suns."

But now that I think about it... This message already no longer makes sense. Her father "begs Obi-Wan" to help him? She "regrets she cannot present the request in person"? The show established that Bail has a direct line to Obi-Wan since he contacted him himself across space to ask him to find Leia.

"My father will know how to retrieve the R2 unit if you bring himto Alderaan"? Just beam him the files yourself since apparently people can now communicate from one planet to another. Or haven't you seen the Disney + show you were in?

Urgh. Yes, those are nitpicks, but the lack of care on the part of the writers and showrunners is irritating. It's not as if it was impossible to write a good story (I'd argue the story they went with isn't even good) and maintain consistency with the saga.

This is in a nutshell the problem with the show and Disney's Star Wars in general. They're just not trying hard enough. They throw whatever they think will look cool at us, then rake in the money. Nostalgia and the hype that surround any new SW project are enough to bring in viewers and keep them hoping for more - and better. Here we all are I'm sure, disappointed in the show so far, yet already hoping the last two episodes will somehow be worth our while and redeem the first four... and beyond that, hoping the Andor show will give us what Kenobi didn't... and beyond that, that Taika Waititi's film will be better than Episode IX... etc.

Essentially, Star Wars has become too big to fail, no matter how many times it falls.

BT Jones said:
All Disney really need to do to make money is, essentially, give enough people enough of a reason to keep their streaming subscription for another couple of months. That's it.

Hit the nail on the head. That also explains why these projects, that could easily be condensed into tight, two-hour movies, are now stretched way too thin over six 40-minute episodes released weekly. The Mandalorian has the same problem, with too many filler episodes and a plot that doesn't progress quickly enough during the first few episodes to have all the plot points resolved in the last two episodes. But The Mandalorian has a few advantages over Kenobi: The monster-of-the-week episodes make sense with a bounty hunter protagonist and give the show a nostalgic Wanted: Dead or Alive feel, and the story is set in a time and place that minimize the risks of contradicting the established storyline, with -mostly- brand new characters.

@Dave , I think it's possible Vader arrived after the escape. I didn't watch Rebels but a friend who did told me the Inquisitors' base is located on a moon of Mustafar, the planet where Vader has his castle. So it's just a short hop away for him and he could have arrived half an hour after the Rebels had gone.
 
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I think it's possible Vader arrived after the escape. I didn't watch Rebels but a friend who did told me the Inquisitors' base is located on a moon of Mustafar, the planet where Vader has his castle. So it's just a short hop away for him and he could have arrived half an hour after the Rebels had gone.
During the 'briefing' they mentioned that the Inquisitor's Base was on a moon "in Vader's system." I've no problem with Vader being on the same moon but elsewhere, however he walked into the same room as our protagonists did from the same direction they did earlier i.e. from inside the base where floods and explosions abound, towards the shot-up landing platform. He may have arrived and then gone to take a look first before getting really angry. There may be several different landing platforms and the rebels just got lucky to hit the correct one. I could make up all kinds of excuses (and actually put them in) if I was writing this but I didn't get my screenplays and ideas sold to agents and producers.

Maybe it just wasn't the same room. I'll go with that. It isn't like they had great interior decorators. The black minimalistic theme is very retro.
 
Maybe it just wasn't the same room.
It isn't indeed. The Vader scene is set in what I assume is the Inquisitors' office, with a large black desk throning in the middle of the room and bay windows all around. It wasn't the hangar.
 
Oh to be a Star Wars fan these days… so complex. So partisan.

I don’t go into any sw project with any expectations — just excitement — about the plot or story because sw came out in 1978 for me. As a fifty year old man expecting the plot to go the way I imagined it forty odd years ago seems a little ?

I just love being in that universe and my perhaps-low-standards mean I have more content to enjoy. I do feel sympathy for the amount of joy some of you guys are missing.
 
It was good to see that, despite any other inconsistencies in the Star Wars Universe exhibited by the TV shows, Stormtrooper legendary marksmanship remains true to form.

Of course,
The Third Sister had a vested interest in aiding and abetting the escape because she had planted a tracking device. Hmm. Where have I seen that plot before? :)
 
My father always said, always begin any criticism with something positive to break the ice: the rescue scene in the torture room when the power gets cut and OB1's blue lightsaber is the only way the stormtroopers have of seeing him was spectacular. A shame about the rest of it. A 4.5/10 episode for me.

Unfortunately, the scene where Obi-Wan tries to walk out of a high-security military intelligence facility CRAWLING with soliders, officers, and security with a 10-year-old girl walking under his coat is seriously one of the most laughably ridiculous scenes I've ever witnessed during my time on this planet. It seems to me that the makers are truly taking the proverbial here, and seeing just how much unintentional comedy they can get away with before people start asking questions. I could literally have re-written every single one of these scenes with far better dialogue and plot choices that respect the characters and don't insult the viewer's intelligence.

I just love being in that universe and my perhaps-low-standards mean I have more content to enjoy. I do feel sympathy for the amount of joy some of you guys are missing.

The key word here, @Phyrebrat, is 'content'. The Mandalorian is a cracking story, well made, filled with fresh characters and a new spin on a familiar universe without losing any of the magic. OB1, on the other hand, is content.

I definitely don't mean this as an insult to you, but my point in all this is that streaming shows are happy to just produce content now because a huge amount lot of viewers are happy to settle for that. And I more than respect people that feel that way. An American friend of mine is a devout Star Wars fan, same age as you, and he enjoys every minute of these shows.

I just think for $ 10-20 a month (depending on the value of your $), we deserve more (especially given this last episode was only 32 minutes long, excluding credits).
 
Agreed on all counts, BT Jones. More and more it feels like Disney has taken the cynical approach to releasing content: Swarm people with it so they don't get a chance to cancel their subscription from one month to the next. It doesn't matter how good it is because SW fans, no matter how upset they get with the latest release, always want to believe that the next movie, the next TV series, the next cartoon, the next off-world anime can be better and rekindle whatever it is that used to make Star Wars feel special to them.

Look at how close new releases are to each other. Look at the way they stretch thin all their projects to turn them into TV series when they could (should) be standalone movies. Look at their outdated release model that says we only get one episode weekly rather than dropping the whole series on us: To me it all screams "Let's make sure the fans pay another month's fee rather than pay a one-off, binge everything and cancel."

I'm not saying they're wrong. It works and I'm part of the problem. After the disappointment of The Book of Boba Fett, I didn't cancel my subscription. I knew Kenobi was not far around the corner and Disney + had other things to offer to keep my mind busy. In the interim I rewatched both seasons of The Mandalorian to remind myself of why I like that show, and I still do. I always thought Kenobi would be the last thing I watched because I had zero interest in Andor, but now I find myself wondering if after Kenobi's disappointment and Andor's somewhat promising or intriguing trailer, I shouldn't give that one a chance if only just to avoid leaving Disney + on a sour note. And after Andor there'll be another. And another.
 
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