Mini Series Official "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Series Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Guess I'm kinda somewhere between Bor & Chiznuk on this.

It's not that there's no window of opportunity whatsoever to stretch what we know and find a little daylight to have Obi-Wan leave planet. There is, if you want to. It's just not a good idea, and doesn't seem in the spirit of the character or the situation.

Yeah, the Rebellion not being much of a thing just yet isn't a deal-breaker, Obi can theoretically be involved in the very early proto-resistance movement, sure. But why would he be? Seems more of an unnecessary risk than anything. Bail & the politicians and rebel ex-clones or whateverthehell can handle those responsibilities, having Obi-Wan be their on-call "muscle" to help secure sites or off Imperial obstacles or whatever can only draw unwanted attention on the rumor mill. Bad for Obi, bad for the burgeoning Rebellion.

More to the point though - yeah, Luke & Owen/Beru might be okay for a few days while Obi-Wan's lightyears away stomping bucketheads. True.

But why would he risk it? I wouldn't.

 

I really have a hard time figuring out how to do an Obi-wan show that takes place entirely on Tatooine. Believe he should stay there. That is pretty much what should happen but it's just not going to be very exciting. That's okay, it could be done as a Slice of Life type thing where we follow Obi-wan Kenobi's daily life for a couple of days and what it lacks in action the show makes up for by getting cerebral by dealing with himself and with his interactions with various individuals. Maybe we could do a Mortis/ TCW Yoda arc type thing right there on Tatooine. If you're going to actually drag Obi-wan off Tatooine. I don't think you can do it with Bail calling him to fight Stormtroopers. Bail has too many other options even then at that stage before dragging Obi-wan into something. There are friends, groups, allies, and contacts already there for him to use. If he needs a force wielder there are a few options out there.

Besides inventing an OC to actually be the protagonist and making Obi-wan a decoy. I think if you were going to try to do something like this, the best way would be to invent a character just for the purpose. There is no existing character in the drawer short of maybe Satine being the next character to miraculously come back to life I think would pull Obi-wan off Tatooine. Now you could maybe force him to leave if something bad enough temporarily turned up headed for Tatooine he decides to meet it head-on. He could even send Owen, Beru, and Luke away to hide somewhere else disrupting their lives which might make Owen dislike him. It would be more reasonable for Bail to contact Obi-wan to warn him something bad is coming his way, even send a messenger like Jar Jar. He might even send misguided help (bonus ensemble cast...). That could get some action going on Tatooine or if we must, take it off-world in a preemptive way. As long as OCs are invented and none make it out alive everything should be fine.

 

I think that's kind of my point: this shouldn't necessarily be "exciting". Intriguing, interesting, introspective, but of all the Star Wars stuff an exile-years Obi story should be way less wham-bam-pew-pew-pew than anything we've seen so far in the GFFA.

Just lean into the ronin-slash-monk thing. The meat of the story being Obi-Wan starting down that path to wisdom & serenity, walking those first steps to being the guy we see in ANH with Alec. I'm sure we'll see a saber busted out a couple of times, but honestly that's not even necessary. Just have the plot here be the learning-from-Qui-Gon, communicating with Yoda and forming their long game. The seeds of the Owen-disapproval stuff (although that kinda seems it stemmed from Anakin anyway, rather than anything personal - he just doesn't want Luke getting dragged into that life). Maybe saving a farmer from a desert brigand or two along the way, or sandpeople or whatever.

Plenty to keep people occupied there for a miniseries. Just keep it really self-contained and episodes-light, rather than an ongoing Mando type of thing.

 

Maybe Bail Organa has been sending Jar Jar to Tatooine, to give Kenobi the low down on events in the galaxy. Jar Jar wears a fake beard, to disguise himself from people who might remember him hanging out with a certain other Jedi, 20+ years earlier on Tatooine.

Seriously though, I would rather Obi-Wan be stuck on Tatooine, with Clone War flashbacks as the vehicle for big action moments.

 

I truly do understand and respect those who want an introspective Kenobi story. I just personally don't see the need for it when we just got that with Luke. And really, Yoda's story is the same. Why do we want to watch Kenobi going through psychological turmoil in the desert alone? What's the point?

I think this is actually too cliche to be interesting -- what something new can it tell us about Kenobi?

What we really need, and what would be more fun, is something totally unexpected but logical. And that, my friends, is Kenobi going off planet to do interesting things. And he risks Luke because he believes he can handle it, and because he understands he's needed elsewhere too. I really think this idea that Kenobi has to be on Tatooine all the time ignores technology and feels unnecessary and outdated.

Kenobi saving a farmer. Hm, how many times will we have to see that between him and the Mando?

Kenobi meditating and talking to Qui-Gon. We've already seen Yoda do something like that on TCW, but it led to an adventure to another planet and plane of reality. Here it sounds like people literally just want to watch him meditate. I'm sorry, but that seems like a waste of Ewan.

 

Catharsis, I guess. But yeah, this was already done well with Yoda.

This is the real crux of the core problem with this series concept. What is the big unanswered question about the character? What story needs to be told here? What planet it takes place on isn't really the issue.

As some have said, I think the real protagonist of this story has to be someone we haven't seen before.
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This is why I keep saying we need to see something surprising and new about Kenobi in the show, or else it's just more of the same. The only new thing we get to see about Kenobi is his suffering? His meditation? The show has to do more than this.

If he doesn't leave the planet externally, maybe he can leave internally, or spiritually, and hang out with the Whills. Something new is needed here.

 

Well, I think a lot of people really do seem to want to see him suffering for some reason. I'm not sure why Kenobi would feel guilty about Anakin though, since Palpatine seduced him and all that. Guilty for maiming him maybe, but even then, it was necessary.

However, I'll say this -- if it's a story of suffering people want, then they should imitate Flaubert's The Temptation of Saint Anthony. If you haven't read that, it's crazy and surreal. Saint Anthony is tempted by all the different religions and devils who have ever existed, and nearly gives in.

If they went this route, at least we wouldn't have scenes of Kenobi sulking as we did with Luke.

 

Because that's the natural progression of what we see in the prequels, as an in-between of who we see in A New Hope?

Because he's just had to turn his best-friend-slash-little-brother into a charcoal torso and pledged himself to a very-narrow, very-specific, very-lonesome purpose/calling in protecting a defenseless kid from the shadows?

Because...why in the hell wouldn't he be going through internal turmoil in the desert alone? I never got the impression from A New Hope that he was out there socializing & jolly & going on adventures.

 

Probably a miserable drunken Old ben Kenobi bickering with jawas, walking among Banthas , milking Dewbacks , riding on an Eopie & the lifting of an EU storyline was all they had come up with. Or maybe their show was too close to Star Trek Picard and The Mandalorian,lol. From all the rumors and last minute delays and tossing out of both the showrunner and scripts it simply sounds like internal turmoil and very bad scripts/storyline was ordered shutdown and rebooted from someone higher up.

 

We know that Obi-Wan feels guilty about Anakin - he tells us in ROTJ. He feels guilty because he believes he wasn't up to the task of training him, and concludes that his arrogance in believing he could train Anakin from scratch as a Jedi is what led to his downfall. Of course, its not clear if this is his outlook at the end of ROTS - he may come to that conclusion later. That could be something addressed in this show: Obi-Wan trying to come to terms with Anakin's fall, trying to understand what led to it, and trying to figure out what his own roll/responsibility was to what happened to Anakin.

 

Yeah, haha, whaaa? Of course he feels guilty about Anakin.

That doesn't mean it's not Anakin's fault, of course it is, but that's not mutually-exclusive for Obi-Wan feeling guilty. He's that type of guy, taking the burdens himself, feeling he's failed the guy. Whether that failure is perceived or legitimate is irrelevant, he's going to feel it anyway. He's Obi-Wan, Mr Stoic & Selfless & Paternal.

 

Besides wanting to see how he deals with what happened to Anakin and all the other jedi I think in the first year/s of "exhile" Obi Wan would go out and do stuff as it was hard for him to just sit there and do nothing. then something big happens i.e him almost losing his life perhaps facing Darth Vader again and the emperor. He might even be saved by the other surviving jedi or even Mace Windu who could sacrifice himself to save Obi Wan.
He returns on Tatooine understanding the risk that he was in, decides to permanently settle there watching carefully over Luke.

 

Exactly. Part of what makes the ending of ROTS so rough is that Obi-Wan clearly feels guilt, even though we know it's ultimately not his fault.

 

For those who are worried about Obi-Wan just sitting around crying in his Jawa Juice, they can always give us plenty of Action Scenes through Clone Wars flashbacks (TV Series LOST style), that parallel with what he is doing in the present on Tatooine. Obi-Wan could be helping local moisture farmers from land grabbers and pirates. He could even battle a certain krayt dragon, whose bones we see in ANH.

If this isn't enough for you, then relax, this is only a reportedly 4 episode mini-series. It won't be long (hopefully) after that, until the next Star Wars Series comes along, that grabs your interest. That is the beauty of the Disney+ Live Action Star Wars. The ability to give us a wide range of Character, and genre types.

 

OK, Here's my plot/arc for this show:

Since we can hear the voice

Spoiler

Ahsoka Tano

alongside other Jedi at the of TROS, comes the following question :

Spoiler

how could she have learn to preserve herself after death and become a Force ghost ?

The only answer is

Spoiler

that someone finisses her training.

And who could be the one to do so ?

Spoiler

What about that Jedi at the end of ROTS told Yoda his master had returned from death and made contact with him ?

If you remember that Jedi was Kenobi.
So here's the deal:

Spoiler

Ahsoka is running for her life and hides in Tattoine; Obi wan senses her and make contact; then he explains who he is wacthing over there and says she cannot stay or at some point Vader/Anakin would"feel" all of them ( his master, his padawan and his son) at the some place. But he offers to finish her training. And that's what he show is all about.

AND I HAVE SPOKEN !

 

Yeah but then how did

Spoiler

Windu’s voice make it in there too?

 

Spoiler

cause it's more the force really then it is about force ghosts.

 

The thing about guilt as a internal character problem is that it doesn't create drama or plot unless it's somehow stopping the character from doing something. With Luke, his guilt made him stop being a Jedi and abandon everyone.

But Kenobi is in exile for a different reason: to protect Luke. To be active, even in a sort of exiled context.

So if his guilt isn't stopping him from his mission, then what purpose does it do for the plot of the show? It's not enough to just show him depressed, but there must be a story purpose deeper than just "look at how sad the man is."

For example, if Kenobi were to start to have a hard time getting out of bed each day and essentially stops keeping track of Luke. That could create some good drama and story momentum. But just showing him sad to no end would be a waste of time.

 

Darth Chiznuk already mentioned the story purpose above:

Obi-Wan discovers a higher purpose in life on Tatooine, one that is not just material, but almost spiritual. If the life of a hermit is the price he has to pay to still attempt to bring balance to the Force, then he will gladly do it, and what seems like "infinite sadness" to the viewer won't even feel like that to him. This is the personal sacrifice that Jedi Knights commit themselves to, in its most extreme form, and the greatest act of Light in the galaxy is brought about by it. But the path to spirituality often begins with confusion or some sort of deep sorrow. Guilt is one of the things that can spur one on the path to spirituality.

 

I don't think this still needs spoiler tags but...

Spoiler

The same one that supposedly taught Aayla Secura, Master Luminara and Kanan Jarrus. Or for that matter, Anakin Skywalker.

In other words, it wasn't Obi-Wan or any other Jedi Master, it was the Grand Master of Fan Service.

Filoni has already implied strongly in a recent interview that that's all that Jedi Voices stuff was about and not to read any deep story meaning behind it. It's not going to affect what he does with his characters. He literally said "The film, to me, is like a different area."

 

Spoiler

Ahsoka she is literally the daughter, i mean her spirit lives inside her. And she seems to be wise wizard now then warrior. I bet she learned more off mortis during the OT. I think she could have been granted the force ghost ability without the force ghosts guidance, with her expierience on mortis and what she learns off them. And if she still lives post TROS, she can teach Rey a few things as well, maybe why we don't see mutch of her during the ST or before is because she is teaching teenage Yoda. Ashoka might end up as this old wise sage Rey gets wisdom from on how to rebuild the jedi order.