David
Delaney wrote:
"My
fervent hope for the new movies will be that they are geared toward
an
older audience. Please no more Disneyesque Ewok fluff! I know
the
lure
of those licensing dollars for the pre-teen audience is a powerful
temptation,
but how much more money does George Lucas really need at
this
point? It seems that Mr. Lucas ratcheted down the intensity of the
movies
from ANH to RTJ. e.g. I don't think you would have Uncle Owen's
and
Aunt Beru's charred and smoking skeletons in the same movie with
Ewoks.
In addition, the SE revision of Han's shootout with Guido was
also
"kinder and gentler." Han is no chivalrous idiot who would give up
the
opportunity to waste Guido. Lucas reworking the shot so that Han
lets
Guido fire at him and miss at point-blank range is unrealistic and
stupid.
Given
that background, and my uncertainty about which way the prequels
will
go, an area that the prequels should really develop is how Obi Wan
became
so spiritually broken that Uncle Owen would say "I don't think he
exists
anymore," and that he would be sitting on the sidelines in his
Tatooine
hut while the Republic goes to hell. Maybe he was just biding
his
time for the right convergence of events such as Luke showing up
with
the droids. But it seems that if he weren't diddling around in
seclusion,
maybe he could have done more to stop the tremendous loss of
life
on Alderaan, or at least be aware that the budding Empire was
capable
of such an act.
A final
thought, maybe Vader had really done such a fine job of
butt-kicking
to the Jedi that Obi Wan was forced into seclusion to
protect
himself. At the beginning of ANH it would appear that the only
2
jedi in the galaxy are Obi Wan and Yoda. Both of whom are completely
out
of the game in backwater worlds. Did Vader become so powerful that
this
was the only way to keep the good Jedi flame lit? If so, this does
not
sound like a Disneyfied/made-for-6-year-olds series of movies. At
least
I hope." |
This
was mostly a reaction to James McFadden's May 1st comment in the Birth
of Luke and Leia discussion, but it is posted here because the emphasis
is on Ben Kenobi.
Joel
Frangquist wrote:
"I
really like James McFadden's description of how he imagines the end of
Episode
3. I think it would be great to see Ben dissapear off into the
desert.
Imagine what happens he arrives on Tatooine and Luke is stashed
with
Owen and Beru. "Where are you going now?" Beru asks, and Obi-Wan
realizes
he hasn't given the matter any thought. So he stares sadly out
at
the twin suns (we've got to see those suns again) and says,
mournfully
"I think I'll just wander off and find a place where no one
can
find me." Then he gestures to the baby Luke and says "Maybe I'll
be
back
in twenty years." Then imagine Kenobi putting on his hood and
walking
off, Ten Commandments style, towards a distant, empty horizon.
All
of this might rekindle the meaning in Owen's line at the beginning
of
ANH: "I'm not even sure he exists anymore." Then the next time we
see
Kenobi is in the same hood in ANH, only when he takes the hood
off...bingo,
it's twenty years later. What better way to establish the
time
differential? And after seeing Ben so demoralized at the end of
Episode
3, seeing him in ANH will really bring out the meaning of the
words
"A New Hope".
By
the way, the ROTJ novel notwithstanding, I think it would make the
most
sense if either Owen or Beru were related to Anakin (not Ben), so
that
Obi-Wan ends up taking Luke "back home." The other possible
explanation
is that Kenobi and Owen are also originally from Tatooine.
Also,
Ben might sense that Anakin/Vader would avoid the place of his
childhood
memories, so Luke would be safe on Tatooine. The screen play
for
ROTJ had Ben sharing a lot more of this back story with Luke on
Dagobah,
but I think that Lucas cut this stuff out because he wanted to
keep
his options open, and therefore we should expect anything in the
prequels." |
Greg
Spenser wrote:
"This
trilogy will not only be the down fall of Vader, but the downfall of
Obi-Wan.
I think for most of this story Ben will be some cocky, reckless,
know-it-all
kid who is very powerful with the force. ("You are
reckless!...So
was I if you remember." ) Maybe his attitude toward the
force,
and what he did with it was a clumsy. He could be overconfident,
and
had bad judgement with his decisions.
With his cocky attitude he decides to train Anakin Skywalker...and fails
miserably.
Maybe this failure, seperates him from his family (Owen), and
he
then is deeply sorry and he hangs around to make sure that he helps Luke
repair
the damage he's done.
I think this makes sense, because in Ep. 4-6, Obi-Wan is a calm, patient
man
who would rather not fight forcefully. His character would have then
come
full circle, from a reckless Jedi, to the wise Jedi Master, who
sacrifices
himself for the sake of the galaxy." |
