Obi-Wan Kenobi tv series (SPOILER ALERTS)

[Twin30mm]

Very much a mixed bag for me. From the sublime to the ridiculous over the two episodes.
Just about gets a pass so far, but will wait to view the series as whole before getting a final reaction.

One thing is obvious, Disney has a real problem filming chase scenes. It's getting beyond a joke now.
That Leia kidnap scene was hilarious. All that was missing was the Benny Hill music.
And if see another Parkour chase sequence, I'm gonna puke.

Ewan and Joel are very good, but I'm afraid the Reeva character really isn't doing it for me.

 

[Palifan]

Very much a mixed bag for me. From the sublime to the ridiculous over the two episodes.
Just about gets a pass so far, but will wait to view the series as whole before getting a final reaction.

One thing is obvious, Disney has a real problem filming chase scenes. It's getting beyond a joke now.
That Leia kidnap scene was hilarious. All that was missing was the Benny Hill music.
And if see another Parkour chase sequence, I'm gonna puke.

Ewan and Joel are very good, but I'm afraid the Reeva character really isn't doing it for me.

Can't argue with any of your points there and it was a little ridiculous that those grown villains couldn't catch a small child who's not even moving that quickly (i know she said she's 10 but my 11 year old son was really questioning that and thought she was around 6).

You should see the amount of LOLA droids Disney is releasing as well, such a cash grab!

Let's see what happens though, after all we did get Attack of the Clones after Phantom menace

Ian

 

[Cazza]

I loved it! However, that chase through the woods was truly embarrassing Know what you mean about the young actor thing too, Ian. It can be slightly jarring and throws you out of the story. I do think it's probably just a case of getting used to her...

 

[Michael Sith]

Enjoyed it for what it is, looking forward to watching where it goes.

 

[_Lee_]

Loved it, better than the 3 films of the ST which to me don't exist.

Fair play Disney.

 

[Snaketibe]

It's a case of wait and see for me really. Some bits I loved, others less so. I generally dislike child actors and actresses as they're rarely any good or convincing IMHO (exception: Carrie Henn as Newt in Aliens. Hands down the best child acting performance I've ever seen). Having said that, I think the personality they've given the young Leia fits with the character we came to know and love. I never did imagine Princess Leia as a shrinking violet at any age . I'm in total agreement regarding the chase through the woods though, which was offensively poor! As was Reva's ridiculous roof shenanigans, with flips and moves every bit as necessary and convincing as a spare wheel on a Formula 1 car.

And speaking of Reva, I hate her. The character is not only extremely annoying, insubordinate and over-powered, but just as convincing as her roof flips! Are we seriously supposed to believe that she's the BESTEST Inquisitor EVER, even going so far as to kill (or at least try to kill by impaling) the Grand Inquisitor?! How could anyone as unruly, hot-headed and incapable of following orders ever become one of Vader's elite? How does one become an Inquisitor exactly? Is it a bit like Father Dougal: collect 10 crisp packets and become an Inquisitor? And how come the other Inquisitors have very white and pasty ghostly faces, regardless of their original ethnicity, yet Super-Strong and Bestest Reva keeps her original skin colour? I don't pretend to be an Inquisitor expert, but shouldn't she look equally ghost-like? I was never really much of a fan of the Inquisitors in Star Wars Rebels, but if they're going to be used here then at least try to do them right.

And in case any idiots out there think I'm making some kind of racist dig about either Reva or Moses Ingram who plays her, I'm not. I don't mind the character existing or Moses Ingram playing her, but I do want the character to be convincing and consistent with the other Inquisitors, rather than some paragon of inexplicably insubordinate, over-powered Inquisitorial perfection which simply doesn't ring true.

And speaking of things that don't ring true, why is Obi-Wan suddenly a rubbish Jedi / Force-user? His main reason to be on Tatooine in the first place is to protect and watch over Luke. To do that properly, he would need to maintain his Jedi abilities, so as to be ready to leap into action at a moment's notice if called upon. What it doesn't call for is to bury his lightsaber in the desert (extremely shallowly in loose sand where the wind could easily expose it) and become so weak in the Force he can get caught and beaten up by some rubbish rent-a-thugs, and just barely save a plummeting little girl from splatting on the ground!

Why do I get the feeling Obi-Wan is going to be another 'Last Jedi Luke' in his own show, becoming weak and feeble, wallowing in extremely un-Jedi-like self-pity, and being upstaged by some Jenny-come-lately Inquisitor?

 

[Mini99]

I must admit that I'm slightly on the fence with it at this point although I loved the way it started. I think it's that young actor element that's hard for me to get past but it's still very early days (although I thought it was 6 episodes so we could already be a third through it?!), and I'll wait until I see the whole thing before passing any real judgement.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes next as this was very much shots from the trailers and I'm guessing the next episodes will be all new to us.

Ian

I totally agree @Palifan, Leia just annoyed me…

 

[UKS]

I am really liking this, and I am not normally forgiving for dodgy SW spin-off material. It just "felt" pretty authentic in the prequel world. The Leia chase was naff but I accepted that as part of this being a TV show without the budget and time to do actual proper cinematic chases. (Boba Fett had it much worse with it's terrible final battle)

I really like cheeky young Leia, and her knowing "Ben" suddenly makes sense of her reaction in ANH. I can accept that (just about). I loved seeing Bail et al again and Alderaan was really cool and just what I would have imagined. (Based off the McQuarry work from the mid nineties I assume) Having Bail and wife be real characters and even bringing extended family was brilliant and what I have wanted to see in SW.

My big downer is Reva is terrible. And not terrible in a good way. Badly cast, written, acted and filmed. Her attitude/approach is kind of the level of "Bully of Leia on Alderaan". She does not feel in any way threatening and her "swagger" comes across as out of style of the rest of the Inquisitors. They are pretty much the Gestapo. And she is playing primary school bully. If she was supposed to play it so angry - then she should have played it with a near insane edge. She just seems pointlessly angry and thus Instead she just seemed a bit fake. And the parkour nonsense of her running across the roofs and turning up late... was embrassingly bad. They spent a lot of time trying to build her as the major antagonist, when in fact the other three Inquisitors just seemed more dangerous and interesting because of her.

If that was intentional in the world building ("she's not really bad, her parkour was a sign of her complete childishness") then I think it went over my head.

Anyway she sucks, in an "go away" heat they call it in wrestling. I do not want to see that character. Rather then "real heat" in wrestling, where you want to see the villain get there just desserts. They could just get away with it, if they had cast well like a Naomie Harris style actor, who could add that brittle, near psychopathic rage.

Anyway, lets see if this is all clever writing - Or whether we will all cheer when she gets her head cut off by Hayden in the last episode*

(My fear is they will try and make her some form of "break out character", and push her hard. "You are my favourite Inquisitor, Reva, and I, Darth Vader and my master Darth Sidious bow to your amazing amazingness.") **

*If this is true, the Next lottery numbers are 1,11,38,4,2, and 3.

**If this is true, at least we have Andor...

 

[Michael Sith]

I think we do get a bit to tied up in the ethos of the original trilogy, don't get me wrong the OT for me is the quintessential SW, there will always be opinions and different perspective on what is produced outside the OT
BUT
we have to appreciate that time moves on a new guard come into perspective

for me,new SW viewing is something to take at face value without getting to tied up in canon, story perspective etc I'm just so glad that there is a continuity of the SW universe out there that's giving us viewing experience of something we love….good bad or indifferent it's there for us to watch, and have continuity of something we have loved since it coming into being on our screens since 1977,think about it 1977! Wow the franchise and the films that have had …. For me anything SW we can look into with a microscope and criticise this doesn't follow canon that doesn't sit right …. We have an ongoing scenario giving us amazing content that we can sit and watch that has a heartbeat and content that we all are wanting to watch… it's testament to how good the whole ethos of the SW franchise, films and content and what we love …good bad or indifferent keep giving us more….my opinion only …don't flame me!

 

[Cazza]

Totally with you, Mike.

 

[Wald]

Hyped!

 

[Wald]

Hyped!

 

[lejackal]

 

[Pomse2001]

I think it was fine, not amazing but fine. I have expected a little more action. But then again kenobi has retired as jedi master. Maybe more will happen in episode 3 to 6 I think the kid who play leia did a great job

 

[Cazza]

Great episode. Obi-Wan is clearly an almost broken man, but is having to use his powers and get back on the Jedi horse. He was obviously extremely shaken to learn Anakin was still alive and then throughout his encounter with Vader. Vader just toyed with him and revelled in the fear. I think there's more to Reva than we think. She obviously has some deep beef with the Jedi/Kenobi, that we haven't been made fully aware of yet and Vader seems to be playing some games with the inquisitors, testing them.

Re: inquisitors- the Second Sister is Asian and the Ninth Sister is a big green alien (both in Fallen Order), so there is scope for variation.

 

[Cazza]

I despair https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...cism-sent-to-obi-wan-kenobi-star-moses-ingram

Appalling, embarrassing... words fail me...

 

[lejackal]

I despair https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...cism-sent-to-obi-wan-kenobi-star-moses-ingram

Appalling, embarrassing... words fail me...

Disgusting. Utterly horrible

 

[Twin30mm]

Devils Advocate time.

Regardless of what you think of the character or the actors performance, there is simply no excuse for
that type of abuse and should be rightly called out. If true, these morons are simply not Star Wars fans.

But.....

I have to say, something feels very off with this.
Please be wary of falling for Disneys playbook, as we've been here before haven't we (accusations of racism, misogyny etc. to deflect valid criticism).
Disneys pre-emptive warnings of abuse before Kenobi even aired was odd to say the least and smacked of manufactured controversy.

I'm not saying online abuse is a complete fabrication, of course it exists. I'm just saying that it might be blown out of proportion to serve a narrative.
Have we had any evidence provided of this online abuse? I haven't seen any.
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran were supposedly hounded off social media.
Happy to be corrected, but was there any evidence provided. Again, none that I saw.

If the abuse is so widespread, where was the pre-emptive warnings for Ming-Na Wen, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Ackie, Thandie Newton, Samuel Jackson, Forest Whitaker, Sasha Banks, Rosario Dawson, Giancarlo Esposito, Donald Glover etc.
I don't remember any warnings or subsequent abuse (again happy to be corrected).

Finally, I would be cautious of accepting accusations of racism from a company that willingly reduced a black characters image on a poster to placate the Chinese market.
A company that also seems happy to mock fans enjoyment of legacy characters appearances (the SW Theory/Pablo Hidalgo debacle).

Hypocrisy at its finest.

 

[Cazza]

I don't believe for a moment that she or Ewan McGregor are making this up, especially after hearing them speak and seeing some of the Instagram screenshots. I know Disney aren't perfect to say the least, but I also just can't see this being some sort of conspiracy. I think there's a LOT of horrible people out there, who are empowered by the ease and effectiveness of social media, a lot of whom have been 'stirred up' in recent years by the whole Trump mentality. They don't like something or someone, often because they find themselves 'challenged' by them in some way, or simply just don't like them and just hit out in the most hurtful way they can think of. It's a really sad indictment of the modern world we live in. Hate seems to have really found a voice these days.

 

[lejackal]

Devils Advocate time.

Regardless of what you think of the character or the actors performance, there is simply no excuse for
that type of abuse and should be rightly called out. If true, these morons are simply not Star Wars fans.

But.....

I have to say, something feels very off with this.
Please be wary of falling for Disneys playbook, as we've been here before haven't we (accusations of racism, misogyny etc. to deflect valid criticism).
Disneys pre-emptive warnings of abuse before Kenobi even aired was odd to say the least and smacked of manufactured controversy.

I'm not saying online abuse is a complete fabrication, of course it exists. I'm just saying that it might be blown out of proportion to serve a narrative.
Have we had any evidence provided of this online abuse? I haven't seen any.
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran were supposedly hounded off social media.
Happy to be corrected, but was there any evidence provided. Again, none that I saw.

If the abuse is so widespread, where was the pre-emptive warnings for Ming-Na Wen, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Ackie, Thandie Newton, Samuel Jackson, Forest Whitaker, Sasha Banks, Rosario Dawson, Giancarlo Esposito, Donald Glover etc.
I don't remember any warnings or subsequent abuse (again happy to be corrected).

Finally, I would be cautious of accepting accusations of racism from a company that willingly reduced a black characters image on a poster to placate the Chinese market.
A company that also seems happy to mock fans enjoyment of legacy characters appearances (the SW Theory/Pablo Hidalgo debacle).

Hypocrisy at its finest.

Disney are far from perfect but if you think people make this **** up you need to take a look around and wake the **** up to the world we live in. Look what happened after the Euros and Englands missed penalties. Look at the abuse those three got. Look at a teenage gunman livestreaming massacring black people in the ****ing supermarket