Hello There!
I was at work, going about my normal duties when one of my coworkers asked if I’d seen the new Obi-Wan trailer yet. It’s rare that new Star Wars news squeaks by without my hearing about it, so I was a little surprised that I hadn’t heard that it had dropped. In my defense, it had been an extremely busy work week, so I hadn’t been paying a lot of attention. The news hit me with equal measures of hope and trepidation.
I decided not to watch the trailer there – I wanted to watch it on my home equipment instead of a computer screen, so I put off watching until after work.
Fans have wanted an inter-episode Obi-Wan story for a long, long time. While the prequels at the time of release endured a lot of criticism, Obi-Wan was never a part of that conversation. While he was given little to do in The Phantom Menace, Ewan McGregor shined in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
I think a lot of this had to do with the twinkle in his eye. While the Jedi of the prequel era had grown dour and staid, there was always a hint of mischief in Obi-Wan. This was especially true in Revenge of the Sith – as Anakin had reached Knighthood, Obi-Wan could let go of the Master/Apprentice relationship that never truly fit him, and embrace Anakin as an equal.
By the end of Revenge of the Sith, that relationship is seemingly shattered, and it has been left to our imaginations how Obi-Wan would handle the fall of the order, the rise of the Empire, and the stunning defeat that was dealt to the galaxy at large and the loss that he felt personally.
It’s for this reason that the opening lines of the trailer set the mood perfectly:
“The fight is done. We lost.”
There are a lot of ways that this line could have been delivered, but the fact that it was said so matter-of-factly points to the despair that Obi-Wan feels. Time has not been kind to him, and he has spent the last 10 years questioning everything about his training of Anakin and the level of responsibility he bears for his fall.
A quick shot of Luke fantasizing about a pod-race gives us a brief glimpse of hope, before Obi-Wan recalls what he is supposed to do: “Stay hidden.”
The trailer picks up with the opening to “Duel of the Fates”, and I don’t think a better musical decision could have been made. This still remains one of John Williams greatest contributions to the musical language of Star Wars, and points to the conflict that Obi-Wan will find himself embroiled in. “The key to hunting Jedi is patience….”
We see our first shot of the Grand Inquisitor, and this is where my excitement started to falter a bit. I’m very happy to see that the Inquisitors and the Fortress Inquisitorius are going to be involved in this series, but this is one of the places where I feel animation has not translated well to live action. I don’t think it’s that these characters couldn’t translate well, it’s that small but important details seem to have been dropped entirely.
As an example – The Grand Inquisitor in Rebels was tall and very thin – the live action version seems far shorter and stockier with a much smaller head, and his voice doesn’t sound anything like Jason Isaacs. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that his eyes don’t appear to be yellow – a striking feature that doesn’t seem like it should be hard to replicate, and the character loses something by not having that feature. (Too soon to tell if the live action version still has sharpened teeth!)
A similar example came when the Fifth Brother was onscreen. While I love his character design, both in the rejected concept art for The Force Awakens and Rebels, here I felt I was watching someone in a lizard mask wearing a pleather onesie.
“Jedi cannot help what they are…their compassion leaves a trail. The Jedi Code is like an itch! He cannot help it!”
Outside of the physical characteristics of these characters, the story beats they’re setting up sound very exciting. I love the idea of the Inquisitors working hard to flush out hidden Jedi, and committing acts they know a Jedi would be unable to ignore to force them to reveal themselves. I hope this is something that is played up heavily in the series, and that it’s a slow burn for Obi-Wan – as tortured as he sounds at the beginning of this trailer, I want to see him hurt more as he wrestles with competing duties.
Into this mental anguish and turmoil will come dreams and reminders of his past with Anakin, and the rumors reaching his ears of Vader – and their eventual “rematch.”
Much has been made of whether Obi-Wan and Vader should meet again, with some purists suggesting that Obi-Wan and Vader should not see one another again until Episode IV. I’m not real hung up on this point, because of an exchange between Luke and Vader in Jedi – Vader:
The Emperor has been expecting you Luke: I know, Father.
Vader: So – you have accepted the truth. Luke: I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father.
Vader: That name no longer has any meaning for me.
Luke: It is the name of your true self, you’ve only forgotten. I know there is good in you! The Emperoer hasn’t driven it from you fully. That was why you couldn’t destroy me. That’s why you won’t bring me to your Emperor now.
Vader: I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete. Indeed you are powerful, as the Emperor has forseen.
Luke: Come with me! Vader: Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don’t know the power of the Dark Side! I MUST obey my Master! Luke: I will not turn, and you’ll be forced to kill me. Vader: If that is your destiny.
Luke: Search your feelings,
Father. You can’t do this! I feel the conflict within you, let go of your hate!
Vader: It is too late for me, son. The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your Master, now.
Luke: Then my Father is truly dead.
Obi-Wans guilt at what happened will compel him to abandon one duty to try and make right what he feels he once made wrong, and also possibily provide an explanation for why Vader never did search for him on Tatooine, which serves to provide Luke with greater protection. In many ways, I left the Obi-Wan trailer feeling much the way I did before I saw it – with equal measures hope and trepidation.
I think there’s a very good story that can be told here, but some of the production values left me questioning if I was watching an ILM production or a fan film. The story can definitely overcome these issues, and I hope a future trailer will give us some better looks at the Inquisitors.
But what do you think? Are you excited about the Obi-Wan series, or do you think this story was better left to the imagination?
