More Star Wars, more Tatooine. I say yet again, this planet is so important in the galaxy that I don’t know why the Republic or the Empire don’t keep it constantly staffed with masses of troops.
And Disney+ brings us back, this time to follow in the footsteps of Obi-wan Kenobi in order to fill in the gap between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One, because the company is sure we don’t want any NEW adventures in the galaxy, just an ongoing attempt to fill in any possible gap in the Skywalker narrative. What did Obi-wan get up to while waiting for Luke to grow up?
More Star Wars because more is better
Ten years down the road from the rise of Darth Vader, Obi-wan is living in a cave in the desert and making ends meat by working at the local Hormel meat processing plant where they are stingy with wages, but don’t seem to mind him cutting off a slice at the end of the day to feed his mount. Maybe it is in the union contract. He doesn’t really hide what he is doing.
He tries to keep an eye on Luke, but uncle Own isn’t too keen on that, so Obi-wan becomes a creepy middle age guy with binoculars.
Then there is Leia, a precocious 10 year old on Alderaan, who is living the good life while her twin brother helps eke out life on a moisture farm in the desert.
And, finally, there are the inquisitors, under the command of Darth Vader, who spend their time tracking down Jedi because, as I have suggested elsewhere, the success of Order 66 seemed to be mostly imperial propaganda.
All three of these intersect and Obi-wan has to dig up his lightsaber, leave Tatooine, and get mixed up with the empire again. He and Darth Vader meet up, Obi-wan discovers that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker, which I guess could have been a thing… though Anakin getting left for dead and a week later the Emperor has a powerful new Sith Lord by his side seems like it would raise at least a few “so where did he come from?” question in the tabloids… they fight, and then part ways because the beginning and end states of the stories were already set in stone.
Some interesting characters pop up, a few people die, but in the end Obi-wan is back on Tatooine hanging around waiting for Luke to grow up while desert life changes him from 51 year old Ewan McGregor into 63 year old Alec Guinness… I guess that age gap kind of works, which kind of worries me because I am the middle of those two ages… while Darth Vader… I guess completely forgets this whole episode? I don’t know. Again, in his place I might have kept a closer eye on Tatooine going forward given how much shit seems to just happen there.
Was it any good?
Sure, it was fine. I enjoyed it. There were some very good performances. It was originally slated to be a movie, which is how I suspect it got such a good cast… though maybe just being in a Star Wars series is enough. The story kept my interest despite being bound within the constraints to the overall story arc. There were a few insights into the characters that might have been worth the effort.
It didn’t grab me like The Madalorian, where a new and interesting character led us through a different aspect of the Star Wars universe.
But it was much better than The Book of Boba Fett, where we spent four episodes being force fed a dull, and eventually inconsequential, backstory before The Mandalorian came in and dragged the story away from bacta tank flashbacks into the present day.
Anyway, if you’re into it you’ve probably already watched it as well. I mean, the next season of Westworld didn’t even start until the last episode was already live. But, if you decided to give it a miss, you can get the summary with some good visuals from the Honest Trailer.
And, if you’re like me, you’ll watch the commentary for that as well, where they dive into discussing the series. I wasn’t engrossed enough to watch the weekly episode discussion videos, but an overall run through I was good for.
Related:
- Going Commando – The Obi-wan Show
The Ancient Gaming Noob 