I have access to Disney+ now, through a very kindly donated login. This is how I’ve watched Obi-Wan. This is how you won’t be reading mindless drivel with copied and pasted thoughts.
I’ve watched the instantly dismissive videos on Geeks & Gamers. I saw the “I’ve heard it’s woke” – minus any context whatsoever.
But you know what, I WANTED to sit and watch this thing, so, I did. I went into it without any expectations, but coming out of it and then looking around the internet again, left me with a very very nasty taste in my mouth. But not for the reasons you might expect.
It was a disappointing first episode that’s for sure. From the cheap looking special effects of the Third Sister ship arriving and landing, to the poorly written dialogue from the Jedi in the bar (cantina..?) saying “they’ll come looking for me you know that right?” – which sounds more like a line you’d expect to hear in one of those endless generic angsty teen dramas that Netflix like to churn out as filler content than in anything Star Wars.
But once that disappointing opener was over, guess what : I carried on watching!
Yes that’s right because unlike seemingly half the unthinking pile-in, bot-like people in the group-thinking Geeks & Gamers comments section, I wasn’t determined to hate it. And I actually liked it – even in spite of young Leia appearing to be slowest running 10 year old I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
The Darth Vader and Obi-Wan lightsaber dual was a bit like watching 2 geriatrics with mobility issues go at it in the back garden of a care home though. Especially weak when you consider when the timeline is of this thing, and also consider the fact that the final Darth Vader and Obi-Wan in the very first Star Wars film was MORE energetic, and the actors themselves were also older – as well as the characters they played. Evidently Disney forgot to source a competent fencing advisor for this sequence.
But I actually found Darth Vader’s dialogue to be more Darth Vadery in Obi-Wan than it was in Rogue One. This was a very pleasant surprise. And they got James Earl Jones roped in to voice him. Short of a really, really good impersonator, could there really ever be any other option…? And at the age of 91 they better get all the use out of James that they can, here!
I also actually liked the NED-B droid design – it’s a sort of combination of a Shore Trooper and K-2SO (look all 3 up and then try to dispute that).
The thing grates, though, is stupid shit like this:
Ohhh well done Disney, clap clap clap clap, etc. You’ve specifically posted on Twitter, defending: 1 actress.
I didn’t see you posting to defend Gina Carano when she was relentlessly attacked all over Twitter. I didn’t see you posting in defence of voice actor Cameron Monaghan, who voiced Cal Kestis in “Jedi: Fallen Order”, when all those ‘gamers’ were whining about “yet another white guy protagonist in a video game”. I didn’t see you posting to defend any other Star Wars actor at all, in fact, when they came in for criticism.
And sure, I’m sure there are the tiny minority of actual racists sending her fuckwitted comments about the colour of her skin but here’s the fact: NO ONE FUCKING CARES WHAT ACTUAL RACISTS THINK ABOUT ANYTHING.
And so there was I watching Moses on screen, bizarrely thinking to myself “I don’t have a problem with her cos she’s black though…I definitely …do I..? No I don’t have an issue with her cos she’s black”. The truth is, this irrelevant shit would NEVER EVEN HAVE CROSSED MY MIND had it not been for the stupid division causing posts of the Star Wars account and others!! It’s like it’s poisoning my mind now. Surely this would be the exact opposite of what they thought they were ‘achieving’ with that post.
I wasn’t watching Lando in Return of the Jedi and thinking about what colour skin he had!! I was just thinking “well he’s a smoothie if ever there was one”. The calls for “unity” and “support” and “stop being mean” and “stop thinking bad things” are only serving to plant divisive seeds where before there were none.
But having said all that, I’m not going to let the Star Wars account let my enjoyment come off the rails here.
I think overall it comes down to the realisation: no, George Lucas isn’t coming back. Probably none of the writers of the original trilogy if they’re even still alive will be writing anything for Disney Star Wars. So your mind needs to allow for some sloppy dialogue now and again. If you know the timeline, and the shows more or less stay true to the timeline, your mind will settle. I know some will instantly dismiss ANY nuanced thoughts like these as “oh so you’re just going to accept any old shit that Disney gives you, then!!!”. No, because if I genuinely can’t enjoy something, be it a game, I will just stop playing, or a show, I’ll just stop watching.
I personally think that you are stupid if you enter into watching this, as a Star Wars fan since 1983 when I first saw Return of the Jedi at the cinema (thanks mum), either determined to like it, or determined to hate it. You need to actually SIT AND WATCH a thing, and decide based not on what ANYONE else says – whether that’s a person you love or a person you hate. You need to base it on one viewpoint: your own.
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I don’t hate it, up until this last episode I was mostly just bored. It was just “rescue Leia, lose Leia, find Leia, chase Leia”. This last episode just want off the rails. So much that just didn’t make sense. The sparring between Anakin and Obi-Wan was good even if they did a terrible job of de-aging Hayden-if they even did.
I will say though that the people that praise Favreau and Filoni (ie Stephanie Janiczek) as saviors regardless are just as bad as the one that automatically dismiss it. She might be worse, actually. She will insult people who don’t agree with her.
This will probably be the last D+ Star Wars show I watch. I’ll watch the next season of The Mandalorian but not interested in the slightest in the upcoming series’.
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If you’re referring to the same duel I was, where Darth does the old lighter fuel trick (cos lightsabers aren’t interesting enough on their own, apparently) I thought that was rubbish!! It baffles me when you throw that much money at something, how you can come away with choreography that weak and forgettable.
As for the rest, and who said about what – that was my point all along – I dismissed any and all of it when I was watching it. No, it’s never going to be the original trilogy. But in and of itself, I find that I can enjoy it. 🤷🏻♂️
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No I meant the flashback on Coruscant or wherever they were when they were sparring while Anakin was a Padawan before he lost his arm.
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