I (finally) watched the third episode. It had some great moments. I agree with all the “Vader can’t walk through fire?” and “inquisitors foiled by awnings” comments. But I could see how maybe the bad guys wanted to use them as bait to capture the bigger fish/network of people helping them. I’m not stoked about the characterization of obi wan at this point, but we’re only at the halfway mark, and maybe his story arc in this series will end where we want it. That being said, he’s an old dude and has sacrificed literally everything (probably including practicing his skills, etc) to protect Luke (as the only hope for the Galaxy). I actually have sympathy for him. What a horrible life. And to watch another Jedi die just to not blow his cover? I see that as more of a heroic sacrifice than sign he’s a wuss.

No doubt. Not much creative plot twists as people like today, but good characterization throughout in all of them. Kurosawa's films really echoed honor, which is lost nowadays. The other thing I noticed was the use of the Force; not in it's power, but the concept. The original trilogy (especially IV) is full of it, but that also seems lost in these new series....although Mando contained some of it....

Season 2 confirmed
Reva was supposed to be killed off but the ending is now changed to keep her alive and the complete 6 episode story is now opened up to allow more money.
I mean more story…

This is either going to be horrible or REALLY horrible

Hope I’m wrong

Naah, easy equation. Enough people watched, they will add more story. Would you rather have a series about random cantina patron #3. ?

That said, I really would love to see at least an episode about snaggletooth and Dr Evazan!

... maybe?

Like others have said, there's a whole universe out there to explore and somehow the show still had to loop in kid Leia.

The show is suffering from what I like to call "the small scale effect", which can jar the viewer out of the story.

Awnings stopping a chase. 10 year old outrunning adults. Characters in one place, then jumping to another place on the very next shot edit. That type of editing is just inexcusable. And then there's the poor overall action sequences. If I'm going to complain about one thing so far, this is the type of stuff that makes me groan. I place the blame squarely on Chow. I really thought she would be doing a better job than this.

I was going to complain about the lame choreographed Vader/Obiwan duel, but I'll take it with a grain of salt so far. That was first time Obiwan turned on his saber in years. He's clearly not at the top of his game & very rusty. He hardly spoke to Vader, he was pretty traumatized just being in his presence. Quite a lame head-scratching escape as well, but the show must go on. They will meet again by the end of the series, and I hope Chow handles it better. They are treading on some pretty fan holy ground here.

But overall I've enjoyed many small moments so far.....

Seeing Obiwan as a mentally defeated & broken man. Continually calling out to Quia-Gon for help & getting no response. Not even being upset with the Jawa who was ripping him off. Actually seeing his poor relationship with Owen Lars. Seeing him dig up the iconic lightsabers in the desert. Helping the down-and-out clone trooper. Straining to use the force. The shock of realizing Anakin is still alive. Hallucinating. The calm moments with Leia, discussing the force & his cloudy youth. He's going to connect with Quia-Gon & get his shit together at some point.

Loved seeing Vader being assembled, with the helmet coming down on Christensen's head. Loved seeing him sit on his throne in the castle. Even more impressed that ALL of James Earl Jones' speech for Episode 3 was created using deepfake audio. It was spot on, had the appropriate inflections & was really remarkable to pull off. Loved the "fail me....and you will not live to regret it" line. And I still like the constant tension between the Inquistors, no matter how weak the 3rd sister's acting is.

I loved seeing Vader dragging Obiwan into the fire & his desire to inflict long lasting pain upon him. Vader has no intention of killing him right now. He wants Obiwan to suffer as he has. So I'll let the poor narrative choice of an easy escape slide, as long as they meet again by the end of the show.

So Chow has done some things right when it comes to the drama. She's just failing at the action scenes, some really poor acting direction, and lousy editing. Hopeful the best of the show is yet to come. I'm sure more surprises are on the way.

Episode 3=Epic

Love-love-love that they got James Earl Jones back for Vader voice

Popcorn will be popping tonight-I found a new popcorn I like...Jolly Time-The Big Cheez, and then I add extra cheddar seasoning powder-mmmmmm yum

The Big Cheese PC (resized).jpg

EP 4 is out now

They didn't though. They used Respeacher tech to create new dialog for the Obiwan show. Pretty remarkable.

That's why Vader sounds exactly like his original trilogy voice in the Obiwan show, and not like JEJ's 80+ year old voice when he recorded new dialog for Rogue One. Really makes all the difference.

https://insidethemagic.net/2022/06/star-wars-changes-darth-vader-respeech-al1/

Thanks for that link - I had read they used Respeecher again, but could not find verification. He sounds EXACTLY like the ROTJ Vader to my ears

edit: It's unclear whether or not James Earl Jones recorded the lines as Hamill did in Book of Boba, or if they just matched it to Hayden Christiansen's delivery. My money is on james Earl Jones actually performing the lines, and they touched it up with Respeecher and had Christiansen match up. The delivery is just too spot on

My lord, there are some lowlifes on that site.

In a series that has already been disappointing, episode 4 sinks to new level of lameness. Feels like they are just cos-playing Star Wars now.

My expectations are so low now for anything new in the Star Wars universe that I actually enjoy watching the show.

Sure I can pick apart the lazy writing, story line, character development, etc. etc....., but I just enjoy viewing the spectacle, and brilliant special effects with characters I grew up with.

The personal investment of thoughts, and deep feelings is a fool's errand at this point, and is a choice I made not to make.

It's now a fun show to watch.

-Paul

… yep, I’m out. This thing is boring. It’s unfortunate. Very sloppy writing… things just always sort of fit and work. Same ol’ same ol’

Not bent … just not interested

Call me sir?
Leia 100% knows he’s Obiwan so A New Hope has a new plot hole it didn’t need.
Even probe droids miss their shot from 10ft away?
This is so f’n dumb.
I’m so sick of the “Leia and Friends” show. They were smart to avoid showing any of what this show was actually about in the trailers.
So far its a 10 crappy things to 1 kind of cool thing ratio.

What a dud.

It makes Boba Fett look good.

Well I really tried to stay positive. I really did. But this last episode was just terrible.

The comment above is correct. It should be called “Kiddie Leia & Female Badassery Show, featuring Obiwan Kenobi”. This episode absolutely had Kennedy’s fingerprints all over it. The writing was weak, filled with more head-scratching escapes & convenient plot moments. Yet another rescue? A snowspeeder that stops mid-air? Outrunning a wall of water? Easy escape surrounded by an entire legion of troops? Sure why not. If you complain, you’re just a toxic fan.

And my main gripe: What is this bait & switch shit? They hyped the shit out of Hayden Christensen’s return, then have him in less than 10 seconds of footage. It’s like Obiwan has become a guest star in his own show. Focus all on other characters. Not what I expected. They had FOUR writers & this is the best they could come up with? The main story focus should have been on the deep character development dynamic between Obiwan & Anakin. Not rescuing kiddie Leia in EVERY episode! 2 episodes left. The ship has sailed now IMO. The story is a bust.

I really enjoyed 4 it was suspenseful and entertaining. I have learned to overlook the nitpickers and ignore criticism. Not much content being made currently that peaks my interest, can't wait till next week. This series is growing on me now

I wish I could see it that way, im jealous of people that can watch this crap and be happy, youre probably going to live longer. Meanwhile Im stuck over here seeing a horrible show pissed off at the world again because Disney is destroying another amazing opportunity with Star Wars.

I actually think Disney does a decent job and has the assets to attempt this great feat. Lucas Films with today's technology has impressed me and not many series can capture my attention. Someone said the other day-Name a Marvel movie that is good? I thought are you kidding me? I guess you have to be a Marvel fan to really appreciate the efforts and films. I thought to myself-Name a DC film that is good(besides Batman TDK) while laughing in my head. Everyone has an opinion and it is not a matter of are you a true fan or not. Just has to do with what you personally are able to connect with.

Yep, episode 4 didn’t do it for me. Every series has one or two of these “treading water” type episodes. Hopefully the last 2 episodes will be better.

On the flip side, we also watched “Ms Marvel” which was EXCELLENT. Sooooo creative. I think it may be hard to find as huge an audience since it initially comes off as a “teenager” show, but it very much was not. I was almost shocked they were both produced by Disney.

I am amazed at how poor the writing is on this show; Reminiscent of late series Game of Thrones, fan fiction quality.
I will say, quite happy Obi Wan is given power and ability finally.

Why is there a plot hole in A New Hope? She sends a message to him asking him to take the droid to Alderaan.... she also never actually interacts with him, she is in her cell, and he is shutting down the tractor beam, then dies fighting Vader.

How would any person who has ever watched Star Wars ask this?...
The whole way that she reaches out to him now doesnt make sense, go back and watch a new hope and try to tell me that the ask for help as it is in the movie now makes any sense after watching the new show. (You know, the WHOLE ENTIRE KICK OFF TO THE SAGA)

In the movie shes like "Hey guy I never met and I only heard rumors of your existence from my dads old stories, I hope youre alive and are real because we need you."

After this show it would be like "Obiwan its me Leia you know that girl you saved like 15 times from the empire 8 years ago, well get your light saber cause I got a doozie for you."

Ep. 4 I'll say one thing . They sure are saving a ton of money on lighting ! Even the end credits = Black - nothing !

Agree on Ms Marvel. Really was prepared to dislike a kid's show and instead felt it was fresh, fun, well written, well acted, and a new take on a pretty stale genre.

Part of the star wars problem is so many of corners of the story have already been written and now they are trying to fill in the missing parts and still make a compelling free standing emotional journey; it's an almost impossible job. Starting more or less from scratch and finding creators that actually have something to say is really an easier challenge.

Wow... here is the message:

"General Kenobi. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope. "

You are reading WAY too much into the R2 message. She sends a formal greeting to a former general in the rebel army, and calls him by his proper name (ie not “Ben”). At no time does she give away that she either does not does not know him, AND she never meets him in the first movie.

Now I want to go back and see how upset she is when he gets killed LOL. We all know this is a retcon and it’s not making the show any better, but this take is an unearned assumption.

I just looked up the screenwriter’s credits, and … yeah they are bad. I have no idea what Disney was thinking

exactly, this Joby Harold seems to be a total hack who has written nothing of significance... Awake, King Arthur Legend of the sword, and Army of the Dead... WTF? who would turn the world's most valuable franchise over to this guy? The problem is Kathleen Kennedy apparently.

Spoilers.

..

..

..

I'm still trying to be positive... my kids like it, and it's way more enjoyable than the other shit they watch. The writing is bad, and the acting is bad. The set pieces have been cool, but I wish there was more time spent in that futuristic cityscape.

The biggest issue I think (and I also thought this with mando) is that they try to encapsulate an entire story into an episode. We don't need there to be a capture AND rescue in every episode. If captured Leia is part of this, then fine, make that her arc, but you can't expect to pull that off every episode. What we get then is some really lame escapes. Vader and his troopers getting stopped by the fire he had just put out, in an area that didn't look to be especially bottlenecked. Speeders coming at the exact moment they were needed, and targeting only baddies while pulling off maneuvers never used before. Tie fighters we had shots of from the base were never scrambled to pursue a single planetside speeder.

It's a shame it's so lazy and uninspired. I didn't have high expectations to start, and McGregor's Kenobi has never been a very interesting character to me. I'm still hoping that there's a darker series on the horizon. The one I've been most excited about was the Squadrons series. The space battles are some of my favorite SW moments.

I think this is some of my favorite SW content since the original trilogy. It's so well done, and it was created for just a video game:

Theres a lot of really trying to shoe horn in this Leia relationship.
If you want to drink the Disney Writer's Kool Aid and act like for the last almost 50 years we were supposed to know from the get go that Leia knew who Obiwan was then you go ahead and enjoy that world.
She never met Obiwan prior to this new show existing, if she did why would she start a message off to an old friend with a back story that is completely redundant, regardless if its formal. She could careless that he died in a New Hope. The whole point of her even bringing up him knowing her father was a way for her to explain who she was to make the request legit.
A month ago if you asked anyone in the world, hey did Leia know Obiwan personally, 100% of your answer would be "No, she was going to find him and things went south"
Even when Luke bails her out and says hes there with "Ben Kenobi" her reaction is not like "Oh my old friend, thats great!" its more like "Ben Kenobi?!!! Hes real???? Take me to him!"

Just another example of Disney not thinking it through.

Yes, maybe. But it could also be interpreted that this is a peer of her father and said father is the one actually in charge and asking for help. She would keep it formal. She is a princess. But yes, if they had all these adventures and she is under attack while making message on R2 for Obi-Wan, she would have just said “Obi- it’s me Leia. Dad needs you.”

During escape, she doesn’t ask if he is real. She asks “Where is he?”

Favreau and Filoni aren't involved with this and it shows.

Its got Kennedy's stink on it.

Her reaction "Ben Kenobi, where is he?!" is completely believable in that she might have known him from before. Plus Luke calls him "Ben" which I always took to mean she knows him informally as well

I know she doesnt ask if hes real its an embellished point its in her body language and reaction. Just adding to the point that they are complete strangers.

Ok so I watched episode 4 and, as usual, I can’t believe I’m watching the same stuff as some of you. Saying this is worse than Boba Fett is crazy to me. That was actual garbage most of the time. I’ll admit I think this series started slow and the edits have been terrible, but this episode finally felt like real Star Wars. I do think sometimes we’re prisoners to what we invented in our minds about the original trilogy (speeders can’t hover… it felt foreign to me too, but then I was thinking, they didn’t have wheels. How do they land if they can’t hover? And didn’t Luke and (hobbie?) kinda hover as they were taking off?). But overall I REALLY liked this episode. Even the acting felt a lot better to me.

Although I felt like they absolutely ripped off the water scene from Jedi Fallen Order. I couldn’t believe they would plagerize from other recent canon like that. I guess it could be a callback like episode 7, idk. Anyone else play that game and think the same thing?

Sorry to end a little negative because I really felt like this was some actual good Star Wars content.

Your comment reminded me of this ol' trope, when the Inquisitor said "Destroy them!" instead of "stop them!" or "Kill them!"
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NeverSayDie

Reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons.

Yeah, not really a fan of the MCU either. I figure with so many movies, there will eventually be one I like start to finish but, eh? I've found a few of the shows fun though. Obi-Wan feels really uninspired.

Uff e4.

I'm actually impressed by how each episode has been worse than the one before it. I think I'm done. Disney+ as a whole is falling off a cliff.

So...how many people can fit in a snowspeeder?

pasted_image (resized).png

As illustrated! Lol

Exactly--so where was everyone during the rescue?

Those speeders looked even smaller than normal...but that whole sequence was pure garbage

Yea that was absolutely ridiculous with what they did with that rescue.

Boryega was just plain annoying in his character in the last three episodes. I hear you with Disney and it’s only to get worse imo.

Can we all at least agree that “Ben Kenobi” is probably the laziest alias ever.
I feel like when Luke hears his name the line might as well have been:
“Obi-wan Kenobi?…. I wonder if she means OBI-WAN Kenobi?…”