At best, pointless – and at worst, paving the way for a dumber OT reboot.

I imagined (hoped) that, by the end of the Obi Wan Kenobi series, a coherence to it all would emerge, my thoughts would be better-informed, and my live tweets would form the basis of a write-up from a better overall perspective. It’s clear, however, that, just as with other Disney–Star Wars TV series (from the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian to the embarrassing The Book of Boba Fett), Marvel TV series (most egregiously The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and of course the fill-in-every-gap, explain-every-single-prop-with-its-own-feature Star Wars films, these stories are driven by the most boring and short-sighted “fan” service, written and re-written by committee, and edited on the fly in response to concerns at odds with telling lasting or even cohesive stories.

These studios need to learn that giving the “fans” (in actuality, only the most obnoxiously vocal and bigoted online faction of the viewership) what they think they want ultimately leads to embarrassing content, painting themselves into narrative corners, and diminishing the appeal and value of the original intellectual property (plus, those bigots will ultimately and inevitably turn on the studio anyway, forcing Obi Wan himself to issue a rebuke on Twitter). Until the studios understand this, we all lose.

A personal message from Ewan McGregor. pic.twitter.com/rJSDmj663K

— Star Wars (@starwars) June 1, 2022

Sadly, my as-it-unfolds tweets haven’t been made to look short-sighted in retrospect by what we’ll laughingly refer to as the resolution of the series:

Ewan McGregor sure acts the hell out of it, but the only way '#ObiWan Kenobi', 'Rogue One', 'Solo' and the prequels work is if they lead to a (much dumber) reboot of the original #StarWars trilogy. https://t.co/o7lq9Zc4Xk

— viewinder (@viewinder) June 8, 2022

Amazing that they can still play their 20-years-younger selves.

But, while it may not *technically* break canon, #ObiWan #Kenobi sure does undermine an awful lot of the spirit of #StarWars Ep IV, just because they simply can't resist giving these two a pre-rematch rematch. pic.twitter.com/CXnZ5FC8Ws

— viewinder (@viewinder) June 17, 2022

I spoke too soon. Two pre-rematch rematches. 🙄 #ObiWan #Kenobi https://t.co/X070k3u6va

— viewinder (@viewinder) June 22, 2022

Further Viewing

Tbh, i didn’t even get to the end of this – not because I don’t think Savage Books offers interesting suggestions, but because the idea of somehow rehabilitating this series feels exhausting. Anyways, have at it:

And in case you haven’t seen it, this is basically the Ur text, the beginning of the slippery, kamikaze descent of canon Star Wars media into the morass of fan service – the beginning of where the line between fan films…

… and studio films began to blur, to the detriment of all: