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

So now having seen the entire series in totality, my opinion is largely the same as it's been for the past few weeks. While the show has a number of tremendous character scenes, I was just never sold on the narrative stringing them together.

There were essentially two sets of stakes at play: plot stakes (endangering Luke and Leia's safety) and character stakes (Ben and Vader's changing dynamic, and Reva's arc). When the series honed in on the latter, it gave us some of the strongest Star Wars moments of the current era. But so much of the narrative propulsion regarding Leia (and Luke later on) often felt contrived, twisting itself into pretzels to create dramatic tension where there was none. And technically, the overuse of handheld photography hurt the series visually more than it helped. That's not to say it should never be used, but I wish Chow and crew were a bit more restrained.

I won't say this show has been a disappointment, especially because of the aforementioned strength of those handful of individual scenes. But for a series that was arguably the most anticipated Star Wars project since The Force Awakens, I wish I had more overall enthusiasm for it.

 

As a whole. I enjoyed the show. there is alot of fun fan service and it was great to see Ewan back as Obi Wan and Hayden as Anakin/Vader. It was certainly worth it just to see them again. The story was hit and miss. But i think the biggest issue for me is that it looks like a very impressive fan film. And i don't think it should look like an impressive fan film. There is no reason under the resources of Disney that this should look like a fan film.

I would like a series 2. I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't get a series 2 and they just put Obi Wan in another show like a Reva spin off. But id like to see a series 2. Maybe a different director? Probably not.

 

Qui Gon: "obi-wan i have returned to find out why i died from a lightsaber strike to the gut and everyone else lives from that"

 

Sadly we never really got a moment between Kenobi and Qui-Gon where they talked about Anakin. I thought this would be a moment to have Qui-Gon tell Kenobi that no matter what happened with anakin he is proud of him.

A nice little moment like that.

 

Nope we got basically a homeless guy with his thumbs up saying are you going this way lol.

 

This sow gets a 10/10 from me and it doesn't even cover my kind of star wars.

 

I give the series an 7.5 overall. Some really outstanding eps, great acting and duels, loved seeing the flashbacks, and some minor criticisms, but nothing that gets in the way of enjoyment. I think the heart and concepts are in the right place. And the magic works.

I will say however, I do really wish Disney figured out a consistent episode length. Some of these eps were like 33 minutes. Just go for the hour long format. Flesh things out. It's not a race to the end credits.

And I don't think a second season is needed at all, given that Ben is now in a place ready to learn more from QGJ.

 

For me, this series is a 8/10, it has very good moments (the fight moments), some ok, and some bad ones, but in the end, the series itself is good, yeah not that incredible that i was expected, but hype, as always, destroying people's reactions.

 

I had no specific expectations going into this and was pleasantly surprised for the majority of it. I don't care about what cartoon did what first, doesn't matter to me so it doesn't affect my appreciation for things like the broken helmet. The duels were great and there were scenes that hit the right emotional tones and others that were missing it entirely. Leia was a welcome surprise and I loved her. The first episode and the last are my two favorites.

The short run times on those couple episodes was disappointing. The music didn't move me as much as it normally does.

The acting was great for the most part. O'Shea Jackson wasn't convincing in line delivery and I wasn't sold on the character of Haja.

Plot armor, lightsaber injuries that defy death, and Reva walking away, knowing who Luke truly is, not to mention the idea that killing a kid as revenge on the father who doesn't know the kid exists just doesn't work for me. Reva thinking that Vader wouldn't sense her intentions made her look naive.

It's definitely re watchable for me but with writing issues that pull me out immediately because of previously established character history and story beats that don't line up, I can't give it more than an 8 overall.

 

Obi Wan Series Review:
1. It was fun.
2. A tale worth telling.
3. Good storytelling and direction.
4. Cinematography was terrible.
5. Production quality (probably due to budget) took a sizeable step back.

 

Overall, I feel that Kenobi was ok at best. I still feel like they should have never included Leia in this show because I feel it muddies up the canon water tremendously for A New Hope. It also occurs to me after having now seen the show, was it even necessary to have this show at all? Did we REALLY need to see Vader and Obi-Wan fight again? I just don't think it served any purpose because it felt like both characters ended up in the same place where they began after the end of ROTS. Vader is still a Dark Lord of the Sith that wants to kill Jedi, especially Kenobi. Kenobi is still in hiding protecting Luke and communing with Qui-Gon (which we all assumed he was doing after ROTS anyway). Luke and Leia are in the same situation they were in before with the exception of Leia now knowing who Obi-Wan is, which is stupid IMO.

As for Reva, I don't necessarily hate the character like some do but I do think she was very poorly written and performed. For one thing, I don't think her story should have been included in this show. They should have just made a separate show/story about her altogether. I think that a story about a youngling that survived order 66 is interesting but the way they introduced her was done poorly as a part of this show. It was just messy from the beginning IMO. And yes, I think it's bad writing that she knows who Vader is AND it's especially stupid that she knows Vader has a child. It just doesn't fit with the overall Star Wars story. Oh, and how in the heck is she still alive after being skewered by a lightsaber twice in her life? Talk about plot armor. Not even Qui-Gon had that kind of armor.

So yeah, IMO this show is a 5 out of 10.

 

9.99/10 - only real issues I had was

• There were only six episodes
• Some of the special effects were'nt up to snuff with other products.
• I kinda wanted Reva to not get redeemed, but rather be consumed by her revenge (that being said, I really liked the way they handled her coming to her senses - they sold it on me much more then, say, Kylo).

None are big deals that do anything to take away from the actual quality of the series. I really don't understand all the complaints leveled agianst it; especially since, not only was it enjoyable, but I came out of the end of it feeling like it actually added new context and meaning to elements of ANH that further strengthen that film*

With the exception of the duel; kinda even more of a "wah, wah, wah" then it already was in light of their most recent fight; but hey, at least there's always SC 38!

Literally anyone who was in the temple during the massacure and saw Vader was part of it - including all the hundreds of Clone Troopers - could have/would have known that; them being different people did'nt become an unknown fact until *after* he got put in the suit.

If anything, bad writing would be if a Jedi survivor of the attack saw Anakin taking part in the massacure and then later did'nt realize they were the same person.

 

Overall I give the show a 7/10.

Biggest strength and one consistent point through all 6 episodes: Ewan McGregor's performance. Guy was killing it every second.

High point for me: ep 5 and ep 3

Character moments and emotional beats worked a lot. Plot was weak, though.

 

I'd give it around a 7.5/10.

Overall it was pretty good, but there was not a single episode I actually would consider great (and even The Book of Boba Fett managed to have one, even if that episode had nothing to do with Boba Fett). Some great moments spread throughout the show, and no really weak episode, but overall very little that actually wowed me. It mostly moved at a solid level, sometimes dipping a bit, sometimes rising above it, but rarely far in either direction. Since the high points tend to have risen higher than the low points have fallen, it gets bumped up a bit.

Of all the live-action seasons we had so far, I'd put it ahead of The Book of Boba Fett, but quite significantly behind both seasons of The Mandalorian.

 

Can't even rank it. The only thing that I liked was Temuera Morrison's cameo in the second (?) episode. Nothing else, really. And even then, I think they got the 501st color scheme wrong , but I digress, whatever. That's a nitpick.
I really did not enjoy my time watching this, sadly.
The Book of Boba Fett was boring at times and had its cringe moments, but I felt it was at least competently made on a technical level, the Mando episodes that they got in there were outstanding, even if they did not belong to the show. The music in that series was also very good.
This show, however, looked like a fan-film. Shaky cam, ridiculous CGI, awful choreography, awful action sequences, awful direction and bland photography all around. It is just so schlocky. The music was basically generic royalty-free score, background noise. Don't feel like I want to get into the story/writing/acting. I did not enjoy any of it. Well, I am glad if other people did. Onto the next one.

 

People are honestly still talking about bad choreography and action sequences after that final duel? Legit really?

Come on, that **** was dope as hell! They turned my boy Vader into a motherkriffin' earthbender!

 

I used to feel that this series, short though it was, was kind of slow or "unnecessary" at times. Things really picked up significantly for me with episode 5, and now episode 6 has further built on that so much that it really justified the whole series for me. And not just that, but I think it has probably now moved Kenobi past The Mandalorian, to now being my favorite SW TV series. And yes, when I say series I am including both live action and animated.

 

I think I agree with a lot of people here, in that as a whole the series was enjoyable, with some great moments, but it could've been better. The writing and visuals were lackluster at times, but the characters and performances were decent, and it had it's heart in the right place, and for that reason I'll always be more positive than negative about the series as a whole.

 

In preparation for this show, I started watching the prequels, starting on Sunday and ending yesterday with Revenge of the Sith. I started binging tonight and finished the show with my Star Wars beanie and Jedi Robe on. I felt appropriately dressed

I have to say, that overall I loved the show. Thought it was very good.

However, there were some things that really bugged me.

How does Vader not kill Reva with a lightsaber going in her ? And then she continues on ? Typical SJW crap. Can't stand it.
Reevas story was too much and her backstory was a typical unnecessary shoe-in. I don't mind her as a character, but she almost took over the show.

The first episode was a bit slow, but it's passable. And then with episode 2 the show really kicked off. Loved episode 2. It was really intense throughout the show. The two Obi-Wan, Vader fights were really good. Vader engulfing Obi-wan in flames was awesome, but Obi-wan should've burnt a lot more. There were some things Vader did that was awesome, and their last fight with Vader's mask being blasted off, was awesome, and his lines were chilling. His half face/half mask was something out of a horror movie, and it was great to see.
The little girl playing Leia was amazing, so cute and adorable and did a wonderful job.

Absolutely loved Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor. He was awesome. Sung Kang was also great in his role. Loved the Tala character.

Ewan as always is great in everything he does. I'm glad Obi-Wan met Luke at the very least. Would've liked them to have a conversation.

There was some really nice tie-ins to the future movies. And it's great that they did not break canon with the Vader fights. I wish we saw more of Qui-Gonn. Afterall, Kenobi called on him a few times.

I will definitely be buying the blu-rays of this show, and proudly own it.

 

Maul and Vader I get because of the dark side sustaining them. The rest of your examples are just more poorly written characters created by Disney.

 

And...that reasoning does'nt work for Reva, whose injuries were far less severe then either of theirs were...why, exactly?

Palpatine is a poorly written character created by Disney? Interesting, I did not know that. Okay, what about Darth Sion? Jao Assam? K'Kruhk? Ponda Baba? Are they all examples of poorly-written Disney creations as well?

 

The only place where the budget showed itself was really whatever happened with Palpatine.

 

I just wanted to take a second and call out my favorite moments from this series. I may not have been hugely enthusiastic about it on the whole, but these scenes made it worthwhile:

- Ben's daily life on Tatooine
- Owen confronts Ben
- Ben recovers the buried lightsabers
- Ben learns from Reva that Anakin is alive
- Ben tries communing with Qui-Gon intercut with Vader's assembly
- Ben's mistaken vision of Anakin on Mapuzo
- Ben talks to Leia about Padme and remember's his own family
- Ben and Vader's intercut batca tanks
- Obi-Wan and Anakin's sparring flashback
- Reva vs Vader
- Ben vs Vader
- Qui-Gon appears

 

I loved Palpatine in this. So much more so than ROTS, and infinitely better than TROS. He looked like an actual character, a person. And not some silly cartoon evil force god thing that we get later on. This looks like a guy who's already got himself hiding away, allowing the bureaucrats doing the real work, while he slowly gains more central power.