If you were afraid that the Obi-Wan Kenobi series would do anything even remotely different to every other Star Wars property in existence, fear not. The fact the trailer was filled with washed out desert beige and glowing red lights took everyone by the hand, held them close, and whispered sweetly into their ears "Don't worry darling, Star Wars is here."
Maybe it's written into the Disney contracts that Star Wars things have to be safe, repetitive, unambitiously boring, and have all the cinematography of the young Wes Bentley filming a drifting plastic bag in American Beauty. Actually, that's harsh on Bentley. At least he was trying, in his own trite way, to be poetic and create something new. Instead, Star Wars has all the cinematography of your dad taking the family photo. Just put all the important people right in the middle of the shot, and that's it. You're done. See you next year at the barbeque/Ahsoka spin-off.
When you're Star Wars, you don't need to do anything that different. In fact, doing so often earns you the ire of the fans – just ask Rian Johnson. The Mandalorian was something of a new direction, but the fact we all called Grogu 'Baby Yoda' for a year shows it wasn't exactly reinventing the wheel. Plus, it was basically just a Boba Fett show – then they went and introduced Boba Fett anyway, gave him his own spin-off, and crammed a de-aged Luke Skywalker into both. Even though The Mandalorian was a new idea in that it focused on a new character (however Bobaish his inspirations were), it still looked very much like Star Wars. Purists would argue you shouldn't change the look too much, but if you're not doing anything new, what's the point of you?
Here's where Obi-Wan comes in. Ewan McGregor had previously sworn off Star Wars, but one divorce later and he's back in the saddle. Those two facts may or may not be related. Is there really anything new we can learn from Obi-Wan? And even if there is, is Disney going to tell it? Or are we going to get a bunch of generic hero stories we've heard time and time again, setting up a sequel, crossover, or spin-off? I think we all know the answer to that.
Tatooine might not be the cause of those problems, but it's the biggest symbol of them. Star Wars has an entire galaxy to explore, and yet every interesting thing happens on one single dusty rock. It's like how the bad guys always conveniently attack New York in Marvel stories. Good job they attacked the place Captain America, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Defenders live, eh? We'd have been in the shit if they struck Bristol first instead.
Just moving off Tatooine wouldn't solve many, or perhaps even any, of Star Wars' issues with repeating itself and fixating on old glories, but it might at least let the reins loose a little. Even if we went to another old planet, like Hoth, we'd get completely different environments, palettes, and the chance to do something different.
I have no idea if Obi-Wan will be good. My sneaking suspicion is it will start slowly but have enough Star Wars stuff that everyone sticks with it, then pick up other characters (as Mando did with Boba, and then Boba did with Mando) to make it better television, but less of an Obi-Wan show. But hey, it's Star Wars. Who cares? Just put the most famous character in the middle of the frame, push record, and get your lightsabers out for the lads. Job done. See you at the barbecue.
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