Kenobi Series Thoughts

[Lord_S_Gray]

So what are people’s thoughts on ‘Kenobi’?

Have to say I’m quite impressed so far, story is moving along at a good pace, an excellent variety of locales showing the breadth of the galaxy, all the characters arcs and issues make sense, e.g. Kenobi himself with lingering trauma and admitting openly he is not the man he was - certainly more inclined to use a blaster! the backstabbing ambitious inquisitors, notably Third sister making her own deals behind the Grand inquisitors back/going over his head, but subsequently demure once the real boss is on the scene, and the Galactic situation itself, the bullying presence of the Empire.  And although we know of course which characters survive there are still some suitably tense moments.

[mrg149]

Agreed that we're at "so far, so good". There have been some really nice moments visually. However I thought the sets for episode 2 (the urban place) looked a little like a set. The music has been mediocre (I'm a music teacher) & could use some more punch as the JW nods are a little too embedded. I guess when you get nitpicky like this, things ain't that bad :-D. I'm also treading lightly as there was no spoiler warning posted for this thread…& there be plenty fun to spoil.

favorite part so far: *CENSORED* and I also liked when *REDACTED* with the **SPOILER*

[DarthRondoudou]

I enjoyed the first episode, but then the chase in the second one (cartoonish) and the people starting to teleport without reasons or explanations really took me out of the show... I haven't seen the 4th one yet. But the third was a good contestant for facepalming of the week.
That being said, it was heart warming to see those characters again. Aliens variety is far superior to the disney trilogy of shame. there are really good points to this tv show. But I wish they did a better job at being logical.

[KaiserSosay]

I enjoyed the first episode, but then the chase in the second one (cartoonish) and the people starting to teleport without reasons or explanations really took me out of the show... I haven't seen the 4th one yet. But the third was a good contestant for facepalming of the week.
That being said, it was heart warming to see those characters again. Aliens variety is far superior to the disney trilogy of shame. there are really good points to this tv show. But I wish they did a better job at being logical.

I didn't comment because  "If you can't say something nice  don't say anything at all."

Thank you @DarthRondoudou

Point to you because I can't talk about this series without using prohibited vernacular. 

 "No creativity ice holes. Sons of bunches"

[DarthRondoudou]

It wouldn't be too complicated either IMO.
For the tunnel, just say that it is a maze. That way people can take a longer time than others figuring where to go, and people could theoretically cross each other without knowing... Or show different galleries, or... I dunno. Just stop teleporting people in front of others.
or the laser barrier of sort that he shot to deactivate... I mean... if they were going on foot, he could have just circled the outpost. I mean... we can see it's possible from the shots they put in the episode... Damn it. WHY

So far it appears to drop in quality and intelligence by the episode. I haven't seen the 4th one yet. Kinda dreadful.

[Lord_S_Gray]

Well having seen episode 4 even my patience wears thin. I can accept some level of incompetence on the part of the bad guys so the heroes can win, and of course some impeccable timing and being in the exact right place...but its becoming a bit much now. The Empire now appears as utterly hapless (can't prevent/detect ships leaving a planet, or an air strike on their own secret base!), even the heroes pretty stupid (no attempt to even put on a disguise). I know we can point to A New Hope for a parallel but I forgive more in a movie as there is less runtime so situations have to resolve easier for the heroes. Here its a bit galling.

Over all I still enjoy the overarching narrative and characters themselves but yeah its getting harder to overlook lazy set peices and tense moments resolved so easily and illogical behaviour on both sides.

[Maestro Jones]

Obi wan is my favorite Jedi.  That said, this is my third favorite live action SW show.  It seems as though they just slapped together a plot and didn't think things through.  There are serious plot holes being created in regards to established canon (whether it is from the movies or other shows).  The character seem nothing more than plot fodder and there is no real element of suspense since we know the history of the three big characters, and the other "main" characters are not compelling.  Overall, I'm disappointed and a little worried for the future shows.  Mando season 1 was great.  Season 2 was really good, but not as good as season 1.  BoB was pretty good, but not with out it problems.  Now we have Obi Wan which is another step down in quality (not in production, but overall story).  Anyways, back to my cave to wait for my next delivery from Jawa Prime. 

[Darth Tepes]

I concur...it really does seem slapped together and with all the hype and time put into it it shouldn't be.  I don't have an issue so much in the direction its going just the execution.

[TheDutchman]

First off: Obi-Wan Kenobi is my absolute favorite Star Wars character.  Next, Ewan McGregor is fantastic in the role, both now and then.

OK, having said that, I also have to state that I WANT to like the Obi-Wan series...

...But there are just so many instances of lazy writing, derivative occurrences, & banal scenes.  Why didn't Vader just walk through the fire (his suit can withstand lava)?  How did Reva/3rd Sister get ahead of Leia?  Why bother with the contrived & convoluted comedy of errors JUST to plant an obvious tracker (when failure was a very real outcome)?  How is it that the Fortress Inquisitorious has seemingly NO defenses/early warning systems/ANY electronic frontier to counter exactly what Obi-Wan did?  And you're telling me that NOT ONE PERSON saw through Obi-Wan's & Leia's "disguise" to even passingly think "That's a little odd..."?

There are too many instances of "THIS had to happen SO then THIS would happen!"  I know that when I'm writing, I TRY to not fall into such pitfalls (one of the reasons that I so appreciate the feedback from everyone, but especially from LSG, Karm, and TR) BUT the entire flow of the series has been terribly derivative.

Reading everyone's posts, I see that what I'm feeling seems to be the general consensus.  Like everyone, I'm disappointed because I believe that this could have been a spectacular project.  Yet--aside from the wonderful Ewan McGregor and the surprisingly enjoyable Vivien Lyra Blair as Leia--I find myself having watched each episode feeling left with an overwhelming sense of "meh" afterwards. 

I hope that this will change because there ARE good things: Ewan, Vivien Lyra Blair, Hayden as returning characters, the production values (as previously mentioned) are outstanding, and there are good ideas embedded within the story (for instance, I'd love to see a live action Quinlan Vos).  Yet everything just seems...average. 

And I think that's the worst of it: nothing truly spectacular, nothing memorable, nothing shocking.  A.  Very.  Middling.  Show.

Again: hopefully the last two episodes will redeem the series.

I'd really like to hear what other people think^^

[Lord_S_Gray]

How is it that the Fortress Inquisitorious has seemingly NO defenses/early warning systems/ANY electronic frontier to counter exactly what Obi-Wan did? 

This!!!!


One of the keys to any fiction is the suspension of disbelief, I think the essence of the complaint we seem to share is this has been stretched then broken.  > NOTE SPOILERS in a detailed break down I’ve spilled out below of my opinions>

The ambitious third sister, looking to gain Vaders favours scours some archives and intelligence reports find a link between Organa and Kenobi, then takes a gamble by hiring some disposable mercenaries to kidnap Organa’s daughter (presumably at a distance so if things go bad she can’t be connected to the kidnapping of a Senators daughter).  And it works, Organa, as he does in a New Hope, rushes to Kenobi due to his characters trust in the Jedi over the Empire. Kenobi himself is haunted by what he did on Mustafar, disconnected from the Force in many ways and just existing, this forces him to come out of his, quite literal, cave.

This set up, from the first episode I thought was a really good one, plausible, interesting and introduced a genuinely intelligent/aggressive antagonist willing to take risks to further her goals. Second episode was fine too, the rooftop battle a little meh, some teleporting characters but all forgivable, Leia uncertain who to trust until Kenobi uses the force was a good touch I thought, solving two tensions in one action, he needs to embrace his Jedi training to save her in my interpretation, and again Third sister ups the game by stabbing the Grand Inquisitor opportunistically (presumably blaming Kenobi, though given the Inquisition is a den of vipers I doubt anyone cares as they are all just jockeying to take his place). 

Escaping the planet was a bit ‘easy’ but I assumed the Inquisition hadn’t time to fully lock down the planet yet.

Much of the third episode too was fine for me, a backwater world, unlikely the troops in the sticks (as opposed to probe droid linked to the Imperial Network) had the memo on needing to look out for a Jedi and little girl…but The Inquisition is hot on the heels, Vader comes down, finds an out of practice, weak, conflicted Obi wan, and then….Then for me the Suspension of Disbelief broke.

He was 10-15 meters from Kenobi, had dozens of troops, presumably a Star Destroyer in Orbit…and somehow Kenobi is lifted by a droid and shipped off world? Vader couldn’t toss his lightsabre through the flames at the droid, didn’t ensure every ship leaving the planet was searched (regardless of the spies Officer Credentials?).

The moment with Vader and Kenobi in the Bacta tanks mirroring each other as episode 4 opened was excellent…the infiltration of the Inquisition fortress fine until Kenobi didn’t bother to don storm trooper armour to disguise himself, even the scene with Indira Varma’s character using her credentials (presumably a last gambit before she is uncovered) intimidating the junior officer to get in was fine for me given the culture of the Imperial Army/Navy especially around the Inquisition where life even on your own side is cheap….some very convenient moments being in the right place at the right time are forgivable, but two rebel ships attacking the Fortress without any aerial response or defence at all? A transport waiting in the clouds?   That broke the suspension for me again, that fortress should be one of the most heavily defended Imperial bases in the galaxy, nothing should get in or out without either being taken in by an Inquisitor/Vader or without massive scrutiny.

For me everything else was forgivable in the regular ‘good guys plot armour’ context, but those two moments….

It’s a shame, as I’ve said, so much of the rest of it was very good, the scene between Kenobi and Leia when she asks is he her father was very touching, it’s so very close to being really great for me, but each time just makes errors that you can’t look past.

And this is before even touching on Canon issues, I am assuming some canon inconsistencies will be tidied somehow in the later episodes...though honestly, I'd rather them leave the inconsistencies than jam in an embarrassingly obvious 'fix' like a head injury to make Leia forget Obi-Wan or something. 

[DarthRondoudou]

First off: Obi-Wan Kenobi is my absolute favorite Star Wars character.  Next, Ewan McGregor is fantastic in the role, both now and then.

OK, having said that, I also have to state that I WANT to like the Obi-Wan series...

...But there are just so many instances of lazy writing, derivative occurrences, & banal scenes.  Why didn't Vader just walk through the fire (his suit can withstand lava)?  How did Reva/3rd Sister get ahead of Leia?  Why bother with the contrived & convoluted comedy of errors JUST to plant an obvious tracker (when failure was a very real outcome)?  How is it that the Fortress Inquisitorious has seemingly NO defenses/early warning systems/ANY electronic frontier to counter exactly what Obi-Wan did?  And you're telling me that NOT ONE PERSON saw through Obi-Wan's & Leia's "disguise" to even passingly think "That's a little odd..."?

There are too many instances of "THIS had to happen SO then THIS would happen!"  I know that when I'm writing, I TRY to not fall into such pitfalls (one of the reasons that I so appreciate the feedback from everyone, but especially from LSG, Karm, and TR) BUT the entire flow of the series has been terribly derivative.

Reading everyone's posts, I see that what I'm feeling seems to be the general consensus.  Like everyone, I'm disappointed because I believe that this could have been a spectacular project.  Yet--aside from the wonderful Ewan McGregor and the surprisingly enjoyable Vivien Lyra Blair as Leia--I find myself having watched each episode feeling left with an overwhelming sense of "meh" afterwards. 

I hope that this will change because there ARE good things: Ewan, Vivien Lyra Blair, Hayden as returning characters, the production values (as previously mentioned) are outstanding, and there are good ideas embedded within the story (for instance, I'd love to see a live action Quinlan Vos).  Yet everything just seems...average. 

And I think that's the worst of it: nothing truly spectacular, nothing memorable, nothing shocking.  A.  Very.  Middling.  Show.

Again: hopefully the last two episodes will redeem the series.

I'd really like to hear what other people think^^

Have a point for this well said piece of opinion. I agree. I would add Reva as a good point. I like the character.

[TheDutchman]

This!!!!


One of the keys to any fiction is the suspension of disbelief, I think the essence of the complaint we seem to share is this has been stretched then broken.  > NOTE SPOILERS in a detailed break down I’ve spilled out below of my opinions>

The ambitious third sister, looking to gain Vaders favours scours some archives and intelligence reports find a link between Organa and Kenobi, then takes a gamble by hiring some disposable mercenaries to kidnap Organa’s daughter (presumably at a distance so if things go bad she can’t be connected to the kidnapping of a Senators daughter).  And it works, Organa, as he does in a New Hope, rushes to Kenobi due to his characters trust in the Jedi over the Empire. Kenobi himself is haunted by what he did on Mustafar, disconnected from the Force in many ways and just existing, this forces him to come out of his, quite literal, cave.

This set up, from the first episode I thought was a really good one, plausible, interesting and introduced a genuinely intelligent/aggressive antagonist willing to take risks to further her goals. Second episode was fine too, the rooftop battle a little meh, some teleporting characters but all forgivable, Leia uncertain who to trust until Kenobi uses the force was a good touch I thought, solving two tensions in one action, he needs to embrace his Jedi training to save her in my interpretation, and again Third sister ups the game by stabbing the Grand Inquisitor opportunistically (presumably blaming Kenobi, though given the Inquisition is a den of vipers I doubt anyone cares as they are all just jockeying to take his place).  

Escaping the planet was a bit ‘easy’ but I assumed the Inquisition hadn’t time to fully lock down the planet yet.

Much of the third episode too was fine for me, a backwater world, unlikely the troops in the sticks (as opposed to probe droid linked to the Imperial Network) had the memo on needing to look out for a Jedi and little girl…but The Inquisition is hot on the heels, Vader comes down, finds an out of practice, weak, conflicted Obi wan, and then….Then for me the Suspension of Disbelief broke.

He was 10-15 meters from Kenobi, had dozens of troops, presumably a Star Destroyer in Orbit…and somehow Kenobi is lifted by a droid and shipped off world? Vader couldn’t toss his lightsabre through the flames at the droid, didn’t ensure every ship leaving the planet was searched (regardless of the spies Officer Credentials?).

The moment with Vader and Kenobi in the Bacta tanks mirroring each other as episode 4 opened was excellent…the infiltration of the Inquisition fortress fine until Kenobi didn’t bother to don storm trooper armour to disguise himself, even the scene with Indira Varma’s character using her credentials (presumably a last gambit before she is uncovered) intimidating the junior officer to get in was fine for me given the culture of the Imperial Army/Navy especially around the Inquisition where life even on your own side is cheap….some very convenient moments being in the right place at the right time are forgivable, but two rebel ships attacking the Fortress without any aerial response or defence at all? A transport waiting in the clouds?   That broke the suspension for me again, that fortress should be one of the most heavily defended Imperial bases in the galaxy, nothing should get in or out without either being taken in by an Inquisitor/Vader or without massive scrutiny.

For me everything else was forgivable in the regular ‘good guys plot armour’ context, but those two moments….

It’s a shame, as I’ve said, so much of the rest of it was very good, the scene between Kenobi and Leia when she asks is he her father was very touching, it’s so very close to being really great for me, but each time just makes errors that you can’t look past.

And this is before even touching on Canon issues, I am assuming some canon inconsistencies will be tidied somehow in the later episodes...though honestly, I'd rather them leave the inconsistencies than jam in an embarrassingly obvious 'fix' like a head injury to make Leia forget Obi-Wan or something.  

LSG brings up some excellent and salient points: I can forgive the "good guys plot armor" for many things...but for the above criticisms, I--like LSG--can no longer suspend disbelief.  My wife, bless her, then gets an earful.

And sorry not to give warning last time, but <<<SPOILERS!!!>>>

I TRY not to be pedantic (often failing in these cases , but the ENTIRE scene with Vader & a defeated Obi-Wan where our favorite Sith Lord HAS our favorite Jedi in his grasp, intent upon torturing him for all of the pain, rage, and loss (not to mention his own convictions against the Jedi as a whole)...

...Just stares as the loader droid (*sarcasm some great foreshadowing there *sarcasm) picks up Obi-Wan and walks (not runs...in fact, more like "ambles") away.  Didn't Vader demonstrate a moment before that he could EASILY pick Obi-Wan up in the air, rendering him helpless?  Why not just do the same before the droid grabbed him?  Or: wait until the droid did and THEN lift them both up (after all, "Size matters not" so doing so should be cake for a powerful Sith)?  Again: poor writing IMO.

I absolutely agree with LSG that there ARE several VERY good scenes as well--excellent example with the juxtaposition between Obi-Wan & Vader in the bacta tank--so I'm not quite ready to give up on the series yet (like how I did for the entire Sequel Trilogy  ).  Here's to hoping that the final two episodes are superior to episodes 3 and (especially) 4.

Have a point for this well said piece of opinion. I agree. I would add Reva as a good point. I like the character.

Thank you, DR^^

And I also think that Reva/3rd Sister is a good addition.  In fact, I believe that there is more to her than just what we've seen on-screen (although she plays the "villain" role perfectly  ).

Glad to hear others' opinions regarding this series, regardless if you agree or not^^

[Taegin Roan]

Somehow just seeing this thread now, but I agree with what y'all have been saying. So much potential, some brilliantly executed stuff, phenomenal acting from Ewan and a surprisingly good Leia.

It's just that each episode gets worse. *insert Lando meme here*

Episode one was so good. We truly see a broken and destroyed Kenobi. Seeing his daily routine, his relationship with Owen, Alderaan (my second favorite planet after Naboo), and so much other great stuff (minus the chase scene), basically a perfect episode and introduction to a wonderful series about Obi-Wan. 10/10

And then episode two hits. It's not bad by any means. Its just a step down in many ways. 9/10

Episode three, and you have to somehow try and reconcile all the stupid decisions being made (I love that someone else already pointed out that they could've walked around the laser barrier). 8/10

Episode four, and still some good things, but the issues are starting to outweigh the positives. 6.5/10?

I'm still hopeful for the last 2 episodes, but my optimism has been dimmed a bit. The saddest part is that there are so many writers who could've told this story exponentially better. Just look at this forum, Karm, TD and LSG have all become wonderful storytellers (and I haven't been caught up with their works for probably about a year now. I need to fix that). Not to mention the many writers actually working in the industry.

I also feel like as amazing a piece of technology as The Volume is, it is actually inhibiting the creativity of the SW shows at this point. They've become too reliant on it, and it shows.

I also don't like how everyone at Lucasfilm seems to have forgotten that travel time exists. You cannot teleport through space (yet. Maybe at some point after TROS it would be possible), you can only travel at very very high speeds. It is not instantaneous from one place to another. It's also no instantaneous from space onto the surface of a planet. It's fast, yeah. But not immediate. And it gets me every time, because it doesn't make sense.

Part of what always made Star Wars so incredible was that it felt real. Yeah, it is very much fantasy, but there's a level of realism to it that most sci-fi, fantasy, and even non-fiction stories don't have. I want it to be better, and I know it can be, because I've seen what it can look like from someone who knows and loves the world. Star Wars Theory (whatever you may think of him) made a FANTASTIC fan film. Karm, TD, LSG and several others have written stories outside of the Skywalker Saga that feel as true to Star Wars as anything that came from Lucas himself. So why can't the professionals? I don't know (actually, I have some idea, but it doesn't belong on this forum).

Sorry. Ramble/rant over now.


EDIT:
But who's ready for Episode 5 tonight!

[DarthRondoudou]

I watched the 4th. I wasn't ready. The stupid is strong in this one. from obi hiding when he's in sight of the troopers... to the disguise... I mean. What's wrong with their helmet? They have bad resolution? Things pop up at a fixed distance and is blurred further? Like in old video games? This was painful.
Still a fan of Reva though. Can't believe the actress is being harassed. What's wrong with people nowadays?
Points for everyone that tried to warn me about this episode xD

[Taegin Roan]

Alright, well after Ep.5, I'm once again excited for this show! Holy cow was that a good episode!