The first Star Wars film I ever sat down and watched as a kid was The Empire Strikes Back on television. The second one I saw was its follow-up Return Of The Jedi. Now, this was before the Special Editions of the original trilogy was released in theaters back in 1997. So before I got to see the Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time on the big cinematic screen, I already knew the plot twist about Darth Vader being Luke and Leia’s father, but the impact of first experiencing A New Hope on the big-screen made me a permanent fan of the Star Wars franchise. (And no, I don’t care about the Han not shooting first, or Greedo shooting first debate. SHHH! with that malarkey.)
Now the fact I first began watching Star Wars in a peculiar order — in my case Episodes 5, 6, then 4 — puts me in a particular category of fandom, because I am peculiar compared to the mainstream of fans with the loudest voices on the internet. First I’d like to admit, I love the Special Editions of the original trilogy released in theaters back in the 1997, because I got to witness George Lucas’ original, passionate vision on the big-screen. There were things he wanted to do in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s he could not achieve. The thing is, at that particular time in the 1990’s the Star Wars franchise was the only series that could get away with it, and make a great financial profit at the box office. Afterwards, Steven Spielberg did it with his film E.T. but it’s remastered re-release in theaters was a failure. There was news of him and George Lucas doing a Special Edition of the Indiana Jones films, but ultimately that never happened. Due to the special effects techniques achieved in creating the Star Wars franchise made it succeed in a way no other film series can, and will never succeed in again.
The success of the Special Editions, of course, amped everyone up for the release of the prequel trilogy. Good thing I didn’t have internet access when those films originally came out, because to this day, I still don’t understand all the criticism those films got. I loved each one, from The Phantom Menace to Revenge Of The Sith, and no one can convince me otherwise. I even watch the prequels along with the originals once a year just to see if I can ever dislike George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels. And nope, still love them. (Because I don’t care whether Han shot first, okay.)
Since the Walt Disney Company bought Lucasfilm I’ve had a love/hate relationship with everything new that has come out of the Star Wars franchise as a fan. I did not really like the Episode 7 film. What’s it called again? I’ll have to Google it. The Force Awakens, that’s right. You see, that’s what I thought of it. I don’t want to get into my personal criticism’s of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, and how Disney messed up George Lucas’ vision. I’ll mention what good has come from the Disney produced projects: Rogue One was amazing, and an invigorating bridge between the prequel and original trilogies. It exemplified what great cinema can be. The other good thing is The Mandalorian series that streams on Disney+. I myself have not seen the entire show, only a few episodes when I go hang out with my nephew; I don’t have Disney+ at my own home, because I have yet to be convinced to pay for the service…. that is until now.
The teaser trailer for the highly anticipated series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi has finally arrived on the internet. Like Rogue One, it’s a prequel story that seems to not only bridge the prequel trilogy with the original trilogy, but bring together the divisive nature of all of fandom and critics alike. I may be expressing a bit of hyperbole, but I wish all of Star Wars fandom be happy with what they get.
Ewan McGregor is back as Obi-Wan Kenobi living on Tatooine, watching over a young Luke Skywalker growing up on a moister farm from a distance. That image of young Luke pretending to fly a spaceship atop of the Lars home almost brought a tear to my eye. I really liked Jake Lloyd as the young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace, so to see Luke as a child brought warmness to my heart. In the teaser we also hear the voice of the Emperor ordering Inquisitors to hunt down the remaining Jedi throughout the galaxy after Order 66.
What truly sent tingles of excitement up my spine for this new series was seeing Joel Edgerton return as Owen Lars. It would be interesting to see what role he has to play in this new series since he basically had only 4 lines of dialogue in Attack Of The Clones (2002), but since then Joel Edgerton has become a bigger star with more important roles, not only in front of the camera, but behind it. I highly recommend people see his film The Gift (2015). Bonnie Piesse will also be returning as Beru Lars (“Aunt Beru!”) who only had one line in Attack Of The Clones. I think it basically was an amiable, “Hello.” Come on, Disney, let the Lars family see some action in this series as they protect their nephew Luke Skywalker from being exposed to the dark forces in the galaxy.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi will be streaming on Disney+ this May 25th, which is 45 years to the day of the original release of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).
As much as I love Star Wars I wish Disney would stop making spin off series that don’t actually add anything to the story. They’re just milking this thing now.