'Obi-Wan' - June 7

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, but we will be talking about the marvellous Ms. Khan, and some other fictional topics, later this month, but now – we’re obliged to talk about ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ the TV series: what about it?

Nothing in particular, that is what. Whatever Disney does with MCU is one thing, whereas SW found itself in a bit of a hard spot after the ‘Sequel Trilogy’: it had released a trilogy of not-so-good movies, (and several that weren’t so bad, but still not so good, in the meantime), and it had split the fan base, which resulted in the latter wondering if they should bother with SW anymore or what. Since Disney had no intent of making a money loss this big, it did something about it – but what exactly?

…It abandoned the SW films, and instead focused on comics and TV series, subtly rebooting, redesigning, and twisting the already existing SW material to suit their values, that is what. It seems to be doing the same thing with the Marvel characters as well, such as Kamala Khan, but we will talk about her another time, right now, our topic is Obi-Wan Kenobi…

…Well, no, not so much precisely, as there is also ‘The Mandalorian’ to consider, as well ‘The Book of Boba Fett’. The former was praised, the latter not so much. Why?

Because the latter did not go anywhere, but rather just stayed in one spot: ‘The Mandalorian’ developed the SW universe further, while ‘The Book’ did not; in fact, these days most of SW TV series do precisely that – they develop the SW universe further. They also only bridge the gap between the prequel trilogy, (SW films 1-3), and the original trilogy, (SW films 4-6), leaving everything else open. More precisely, the Disney/SW conglomerate are playing it safe; they’re upgrading and tweaking old material, while not adding anything new; they are adding new characters, but they’re second fiddle to the already established ones, whether from the movies, such as Boba Fett and Obi-Wan, or from the older series, such as the characters from the ‘Star Wars: Rebels’ cartoon… So what?

So nothing. When Disney/SW made the sequel trilogy, they were authentically making something new; whether well or poorly is another story, but it was still new, through and through. Now, however, they’re just tweaking and updating the old stuff and playing it safe; working with what already is, or even was, not making anything of their own, of the what-there-could-be variety, because it is risky, and can – and has – result in money loss, both literally, (fewer fans paying fewer monies for the movies), and figuratively, (fewer fans means fewer people to spend monies for the movies). Disney, regardless of whatever its’ guise is – SW, MCU, and so on – is a money-making machine, first and foremost, and whether it is progressive, regressive, or anything else is secondary – but this is more of an MCU issue instead, so we digress.

Well, yes, but ‘Obi-Wan’ is not too different from ‘The Mandalorian’ TV series, or the ‘Rogue 1’ film – it is successful filler material, (unlike the ‘Solo’ movie, which was a decisively unsuccessful one), but nothing more. As such, I doubt that I will write anymore about it anytime soon.

Therefore, for now, this is it. See you all soon!