obi-wan kenobi – Cinematic Slant

In honor of the original grumpy old Jedi

For those of us who grew up with *only* the Original Star Wars Trilogy, no character more epitomized the Jedi Order that was then Obi-Wan Kenobi as played by Sir Alec Guiness. He was nearly the sole connective thread between the era of Luke Skywalker and the Clone Wars, offering a handful of tantalizing hints about what happened before the rise of the Galactic Empire.

All of that was expanded in the Prequel Trilogy, when Ewan McGregor took on the role of a much younger Obi-Wan who evolves over the three films from confident but still obedient Padawan to seasoned Jedi Master.

Now, in honor of the release of the trailer for the upcoming Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” that takes place between Episodes III and IV, here are some of my personal favorite Kenobi moments from the movies. (For the purpose of conciseness, I’m not delving into the “Clone Wars” series, but it has a great number of outstanding Obi-Wan moments.)

It’s also worth noting that Guiness was 63 when Star Wars came out, and McGregor is currently 50. “Kenobi” takes place ~12 years before the events of A New Hope so…the timing kind of works out.

Ben’s Not Telling Us Something

From: Star Wars

Guinness leaning back and stroking his beard in the middle of telling Luke about his father and the Clone Wars hints at there being a *lot* that’s on his mind but which he’s choosing to omit from the story. But why?

Sassy Obi-Wan is Sassy

From: Revenge of the Sith

There are a number of moments, particularly from RotS, that could have fit in this category, but this is one of the first in the movie and sets the tone for how the character has grown more comfortable with himself and his partner Anakin over the course of the Clone Wars.

Amused at the Subterfuge

From: Phantom Menace

First let’s stipulate that the most amusing part of TPM is tracking which shots were part of principle photography and which were pickups based on McGregor’s hair. That being said, the look he gives after Padme reveals herself is fantastic, a counter to the continued stoicism of Qui-Gon Jinn, who doesn’t do much more than raise an eyebrow.

Ooo…Burn, Ben

From: A New Hope

“These guys are idiots.”

Also, even with his hood down he still out-acts everyone else who appeared in any movie that year.

One With the Force

From: Revenge of the Sith

This moment perfectly epitomizes how skilled Obi-Wan has become as he leaps into a situation with impossible odds stacked against him, fully knowing he has the abilities to win the day.

There are more, of course, but these are the ones that jump out as being representative of just what kind of character Obi-Wan is and how, over the course of six movies, he both grows and remains the same.

News broke last week that that Disney was beginning to move forward with yet another installment in the “Story” arm of the Star Wars films, this time a stand-alone movie for Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are no details as to the story because there’s no script yet, only early conversations with a candidate to direct the film, though the lack of details like that hasn’t stopped Disney or other studios from announcing release dates and more in the past.

Kenobi is, of course, no newcomer to the big screen. In the original Star Wars trilogy he was played by Alec Guinness as the wise mentor who helped Luke Skywalker learn more about his Jedi abilities and, reluctantly, his true parentage. In the prequel trilogy Ewan Mcgregor played Obi-Wan in his early years, growing from a sometimes brash young Jedi apprentice into a roguish General during The Clone Wars.

With so much of Kenobi’s story already told, what gaps are there to fill in?

The Tatooine Years

This is the era most people seem to be focused on and guessing the story will come from but to me it’s the least interesting of the available options.

Based on where Obi-Wan is left at the end of Revenge of the Sith and where we find him in A New Hope, he’s spent the intervening years hiding out in his simple hut on Tatooine, living a hermit’s life. It’s this era that is represented by a new Sideshow Collectibles statue that shows a grizzled Kenobi who’s older than Revenge but not yet as old as in Hope carrying a pack and obviously braced for survival on Tatooine’s unforgiving wastelands.

The problem I have with this approach is that it necessarily throws the premise that Ben has remained undetected all those years into question. Anything interesting enough to warrant our attention would, it would seem, also be enough to make the Empire take a look and completely blow his cover. Yes, he sliced a guy’s arm off in the cantina, but he was heading off-world and knew the end was near, so was throwing caution to the wind. It’s hard to believe word of a lightsaber-wielding old man wouldn’t stay confined to Mos Eisley if he were doing this all the time. And any adventures that took him off-world would mean he was essentially abandoning Luke, which doesn’t fit with anything we know about the character.

That’s why I’m just not that interested in this period. This is a span of years that’s alright being left unexplored because we know more or less what he was up to. Going beyond that risks upending some basic character and story points.

The Padawan Years

This seems like much more fertile ground to me. The Obi-Wan that we meet in The Phantom Menace is at the same time completely devoted to the Jedi Order and to his master Qui-Gon. But even there we get the sense he’s a bit of a rogue, someone willing to go to the boundaries of what the Jedi will allow while not breaking the letter of the code, even if the spirit of the guidelines is a bit bruised. That also fits with the evolution of the character through “The Clone Wars” animated series and both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

So how did that begin? What was he like while training with Yoda? What kind of hell did he raise with the other Younglings? Going back to the days of the teenage Obi-Wan and seeing him learn the extents of the Force and what it meant to be a Jedi, including maybe being scolded and brought back into line, would show us where he began.

Not only that but it doesn’t provide as many opportunities for cheap nods to the Original Trilogy. There’s no chance of referencing Vader or anything like that because we’re still in the years of the Republic, when everything was good and pure and the Jedi were the shining guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. The character can be shown aspiring to being part of that noble order, not making throwaway comments that allude to his eventual fate that are meant only to make the audience knowingly chuckle.

How about you. What do you want to see in a standalone Obi-Wan movie?