Obi-Wan Kenobi (Part 3)

Welcome back, everyone. Finally, we have reached the true beginning of our journey.

If you haven’t gotten acquainted with Parts 0 through 2, I highly encourage you to jump back and give them a read before we dive into this.  Otherwise, let’s begin our journey with Episodes 1 the rewritten Kenobi.

EPISODE 1 – THE DRAGON OF THE DESERT

(Yes, I am titling the episodes.  I don’t think it’s necessary for every television show, but Star Wars is a franchise that benefits from that extra flair.)

Before we go into the scene by scene, I will simply note that we won’t be getting that extended “Previously On” montage of Prequel footage.  We’re cold opening into this.

Opening Scene

We begin the episode with the Lars homestead in the evening.  Young Luke is going about his evening chores.  As the suns set, Owen or Beru call him inside.

Then we cut away from the homestead to a rocky ridge (the one Obi-Wan uses to monitor the homestead in the original show).  A raiding party of Sand People with three banthas studies the homestead through macrobinoculars.  (I realize that Legends has them hating the technology of the off-worlders, but The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett have canonized tribes that are more moderate about this.)  A twilight enfolds the desert, they leap down from the ridge they were using to spy upon the homestead, mounting their banthas and lurching into action.

The cry of a Krayt dragon fills the valley.  The banthas panic.  As they do, a robed figure springs from the rocks, leaping across a vast gap to knock the riders off the lead bantha.

What follows is a furious battle in the deepening shadows.  The robed figure has no weapons, instead incapacitating the Sand People one at a time and using both their slugthrowers and their gaffi sticks against their comrades.  At one point, a Sand Person lines up a clean shot and fires.  The robed figure simply throws up a hand, and the bullet deflects, hitting another Sand Person in the head.  Within a minute, every Sand Person but two is dead or motionless, and one of these survivors is on the ground.  The robed figure goes to smash the downed survivor’s head with a gaffi stick.  The remaining survivor intercedes, shouting in the Tusken language.

SAND PERSON [speaking Tusken, with subtitles]: Mercy, Dragon!  We did not realize we’d entered your territory!

The robed figure halts, the club of the gaffi stick mere inches from the other survivor’s skull.  After a long pause, it throws the gaffi aside, picks up the fallen macrobinoculars, and answers in Tusken.

FIGURE [speaking Tusken, with subtitles]: Gather your dead.  Next time, you will all die.

The surviving Sand People scramble to gather up their fallen warriors while the robed figure watches.  They and their banthas limp away into the gloom.  The robed figure watches them until they disappear, then leaps up to the ridge to study the Lars homestead through the macrobinoculars.  He pulls down his mask to reveal that he is, in fact Obi-Wan.

Cut to title cards.

Daily Routine

Our next scene comes at dawn.  Obi-Wan is meditating in his hut.  (We’re skipping the cave-dweller phase.)  His lightsaber lays on the floor in front of him.  His brow is furrowed in concentration – and frustration.

Here we get flashes from The Phantom Menace, showing scenes of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, along with a voiceover from Yoda from Revenge of the Sith to remind the audience about his training.  However, then we are shown flashes of the moment where Qui-Gon introduced Obi-Wan to Anakin.  The flashes change to Obi-Wan with Anakin, rapidly accelerating to their final altercation on Mustafar.  Prominently featured here will be the moment where Obi-Wan declares his allegiance to the Republic and that he will do what he must to stop Anakin.  The meditation will end with the clip of him telling Yoda that he will take Luke to Tatooine until he is ready to be trained.

(These scene shouldn’t last more than two minutes.  The goal is merely to establish Obi-Wan’s struggle to connect to Qui-Gon and to set up his character journey for the series.)

Having failed again to connect to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan goes about his day.  We see him flying across Tatooine in his skyhopper, delivering packages.  As part of his tour, he’ll visit a cantina which is linked to the Holonet, and there catch a glimpse of a news broadcast featuring Vader. He’ll also visit that Tibidon sand whaling station.  This montage includes various scenes of injustice.  Much like in the show we got, Obi-Wan turns away from this, but not from shame or fear.  Instead, it’s clear that he’s hardened his heart against what he’s seeing.  We also see him bartering for equipment and the skyhopper toy with the Jawa Teeka.  At the end of his day, Kenobi drops off the skyhopper toy at the homestead, then returns to his hut, where we see him practicing lightsaber forms with a staff before he sleeps.

At the end of the scene, the audience should come away with an understanding that Kenobi is still outwardly a Jedi, but that something is very wrong at a spiritual level.

Princess of Alderaan

We then cut to Bail and Breha Organa on Alderaan as they prepare for their big party.  The function of this party will be a little different from what’s in the original show.  Rather than celebrating a visit by royal family members, they will instead be receiving the Moff responsible for Alderaan’s sector.  Again, we get the bait-and-switch of Leia’s alien friend impersonating her when Breha goes to fetch her.  However, this time, Leia will not be hiding in the woods.

Leia will be out on the landing platform, waiting for the Moff’s arrival.  This Leia still has a rebellious spirit.  However, since she is committed to being a princess of Alderaan and sees the Empire as allies, her rebellion will take the form of inserting herself into official functions that her parents would want to keep her far away from. Her parents learn of her location and catch up to her before the Moff arrives.  They reprimand her for coming out to the platform without them.  However, when Leia asks of they’re going to send her back inside, the Organas exchange a look and glance at the witnesses on the platform, then Bail will make an offhand remark about how they’ll make an exception this one time, since it would be rude to Leia to walk away now.

As the family watches the Imperial shuttle (let’s make it a Lambda-class) descend, we see figures lurking on the hills above the palace, studying Leia through macrobinoculars.

Anchorhead

Obi-Wan is making a delivery in Anchorhead when he finds Owen waiting at his parked skyhopper.  Here we get the scene from the conversation from the show.  The only major change would be that Owen would start the conversation by referring to Obi-Wan as “Ben” but then shift to “Kenobi” once he confirms no witnesses are in earshot.

Party & Abduction

The party is full of not only Alderaanian nobles but also Imperial diplomats, including the Moff.  (I’m not sure who was canonically the Moff of Alderaan’s sector in either Canon or Legends, but I don’t want another unnerving Cushing deepfake, so it won’t be Tarkin.)  Here we see Leia’s intelligence in action, though not her sass – she’s smart enough to know not to do that to a governor, and she still respects his authority.  A sippet of their dialogue goes something like this:

LEIA: Governor, I heard that the Emperor is moving more power from the Senate to the Moff Council.

MOFF [chuckling]: I see you keep up on your politics, Your Highness!  Yes, it’s true.

LEIA: Why?

MOFF: Why, to address unrest. Have you heard of the terrorist cells across the galaxy?

LEIA: Yes.  I know of the Partisans, the Sicmoo Order, the Hidden Path, and about eight others.

MOFF: Well, fighting this threat requires a lot of moving parts.  The Emperor doesn’t want to bother the Senate with such logistics, so he gives us Moff the power to take immediate action.  That way, we can restore order as quickly as possible.  When the crisis is dealt with, we can all relax and put things back the way they were.

LEIA [confused]: But … didn’t the Emperor say the same thing, back before the Clone Wars?  When he was still Chancellor?

MOFF: So he did.

LEIA: The Clone Wars ended, and things didn’t go back to how they were.  When will he give power back to the Senate, then?

[Moment of tension in which MOFF is evidently caught off-guard and BAIL looks anxious.]

MOFF [laughing to defuse the tension]: Your daughter asks a lot of deep questions, Organa.  She’ll make a fine Senator someday.

BAIL [laughing]: I’m glad you think so, Moff.  Before I forget, have you had the opportunity to speak with … [Steers the Moff away from Leia.]

As the party winds down, Leia wanders out and into the palace gardens.  She pauses at a statue of Padmé Amidala.  (I can’t recall whether it was in Canon or Legends that this statue was established as existing, only that it was in a story about Leia’s childhood.) As she studies the statue, an Imperial officer and his attendants approach her (the camera will only show their backs).  The officer asks Leia what she knows of “Senator Amidala”, and Leia provides a few bullet points about Padmé being a friend of her father (referring to Bail, of course).

The camera pans as she speaks, revealing that the “officer” she’s speaking to is an old ma whose uniform that is threadbare and doesn’t properly fit him.  He stares down at Leia while she stares up at the statue.  Eventually, the officer makes the following comment.

OFFICER: It’s funny … you remind me of her.  Her, and another man I once knew.

Leia looks up, but the officer waves his hand over her brow.  It’s the Force sleep technique that we saw Kylo Ren using in The Force Awakens.  Leia crumples to the ground.  One of the officer’s attendants procures a large bag and hides Leia inside it.  They then stride out of the gardens through a side entrance, passing unconscious guards.  The officer pauses to plant a card with an unfamiliar symbol upon one of the guards before he and his associates disappear into the night.

A Chance Encounter

Obi-Wan is flying home one evening when he spots the Lars landspeeder, broken down on the way back to their homestead.  He circles the site, spying Luke poking through the engine with Owen, before landing and offering to tow the speeder home for them.  Owen (who is careful to call Obi-Wan “Ben” throughout the scene) is not on board with this, but Beru points out that she’s not having any luck calling a repair speeder on the commlink, and it’s getting dark.

The skyhopper cannot fit everyone.  Owen will insist that they’re fine to ride in the speeder while Obi-Wan drags them.  However, Luke, displaying knowledge of these vehicles (the Lars family does have one, after all), points out that Obi-Wan will need a co-pilot to monitor the tow cable and serve as a spotter so that the speeder doesn’t hit anything.  Again, Beru will be the voice of reason.  We’ll then get a scene split between the skyhopper and the speeder.

In the speeder, Owen and Beru will discuss his hostility towards Obi-Wan.  Owen will give a handful of reasonable arguments for why a Jedi is a bad influence, while Beru points out that Luke needs him and that they had all agreed to this.  However, even she will get unnerved when Owen tells her that he’s seen Obi-Wan watching the homestead from the ridge and the stories he’s heard of a mad hermit, the Dragon, who’s been preying upon bandits and Sand People in their area.

Up in the skyhopper, Obi-Wan will attempt a teaching moment for Luke.  He’ll tell Luke how the T-16 skyhopper controls are nearly identical to Incom military starfighters and allowing Luke to take a few practice shots with the skyhopper’s pneumatic cannon.  At no point in the discussion will there be any Jedi wisdom, because that’s not where Obi-Wan’s head is at.  He only provides tools for war.

The scene will end at the homestead.  Luke waves happily as Obi-Wan flies away in the skyhopper, while Owen and Beru look on with concern.

Bounty Hunter

Bail is shown in his office, conversing with the Moff via a holo call.  As they conclude their business, the Moff politely inquires as to Leia’s health.  Bail’s expression grows pained, but he smoothly replies that she is still in quarantine, and the doctor says she is making a steady recovery.  The Moff will make a sympathetic comment and end the call, at which point Breha enters the room.

BAIL: What does the doctor say?

BREHA: That two weeks is too much time to blame Leia’s disappearance on Klatooinian flu.  He’ll fabricate test results for something else.  Has the bounty hunter called yet?

BAIL: No.  I was just about the check in with her.

The Organas then contact the bounty hunter whom they hired to find Leia and bring her home.  (This could realistically be any ruffian.  However, I want to use a Mandalorian for this, as I think their reputation and popularity will make the next part land a bit harder.)  They begin to question this hunter, but rather than answer, she speaks in a flat monotone.

BOUNTY HUNTER: The Hidden Path left you warning, Organa.  You knew the mark.  You understood who you were dealing with.  Your daughter has been claimed for a higher purpose.  Interfere, and there shall be consequences.

At this point, the hunter removes her helmet.  Her arm shakes as she draws her blaster and presses it to her temple.  The camera cuts to the Organas’ reactions as the blaster is fired.

The Inquisitors

We then cut to a forested world, where stormtroopers are assaulting a rebel cell that is holed up in a cave.  This will be a brutally one-sided engagement.  The rebels outnumber the stormtroopers, but their blaster pistols can only scar the armor.  When all hope seems lost, a Jedi (we’ll recycle Nari from the show for this) bursts forth and begins to scything through stormtroopers.

That is when a pair of Inquisitors reveal themselves: Third Sister (I know we all know her name is Reva, but we’ll save that for in the story) and Fifth Brother (who has much better makeup / effects in this version).  They’ll come at Nari with lightsabers.  While it will be clear that Nari is far more skilled than either of them, their fury and their spinning lightsabers catch him off-guard, and after a furious battle, they cut him down.  Third Sister begins to search Nari’s body while the stormtroopers continue their advance into the rebel holdout.

We cut to the aftermath.  Third Sister and the Fifth Brother call the Grand Inquisitor.  He will be fully CGI (with the grainy hologram covering up flaws in the TV special effects), and preferably voiced by Jason Issacs.

THIRD SISTER: We’ve searched the Jedi and the compound, Grand Inquisitor.  It appears they had no connection to the Hidden Path.  Just more scum.

GRAND INQUISITOR: Disappointing.  Did you at least recover the Jedi’s lightsaber?

FIFTH BROTHER: Here.  [He holds up Nari’s lightsaber.]

GRAND INQUISITOR: Fifth Brother, escort his corpse back to Fortress Inquisitorius.  Lord Vader has demanded that all available Inquisitors assemble.  He has a lead on the location of Quinlan Vos.

[Fifth Brother grins.]

THIRD SISTER [scowling]: And what about me?

GRAND INQUISITOR: We’ve received another tip about the Hidden Path on Diayu.  Report to the garrison there.  I trust you’ll be able to handle the matter while we’re occupied with Vos.

THIRD SISTER [slowly smiling]: Then I have permission to do as I see fit?

[Fifth Brother’s smile fades; he sidesteps away from Third Sister.]

GRAND INQUISITOR: Yes.  You have my permission to … express yourself.

[Third Sister gives a feral grin.]

The Call

Obi-Wan is performing his morning meditations.  As usual, he is making little progress.  His hands shake as he strains to connect with Qui-Gon.  Then, suddenly, he hears a voice.

ANAKIN: Having trouble focusing on the here and now, Master?

He opens his eyes to see an apparition of Anakin before him.  Obi-Wan gapes at him.  Before Obi-Wan can speak, though, a chime emanates from the corner of the hut.  His eyes dart towards the sound.  When he looks back, Anakin is gone.

The chime sounds again.  Obi-Wan seeks the source of the noise, revealing the emergency commlink that he uses to keep in touch with Bail.  He activates it.

What follows is the conversation that, while similar to the one from the show in structure and outcome, will have a very different tone.  Bail will explain to Obi-Wan that Leia was abducted nearly a month ago by the Hidden Path: a radical rebel cell that has broken off from the Alliance.  When he asks Obi-Wan to rescue her, and is then refused, he’ll explain that he can’t turn to the Empire without exposing Leia as Force-sensitive, and relay that the bounty hunter was mind-tricked into killing herself.  He needs a Jedi to rescue Leia, and Obi-Wan is his only hope.  Throughout all of this, Obi-Wan will not be broken and dejected.  He will be curt, insisting that his mission is to defend Luke.  He will deliver this final line before hanging up on Bail.

OBI-WAN: We had an agreement, Bail.  Leia is not my problem; Luke is.  You’ve failed your duty to the galaxy.  I will not fail mine.

With this, Obi-Wan will shut off the commlink, and we cut to end credits.

CONCLUSION

I had initially intended to complete two episodes per post.  However, given the word count for Episode 1, that may not work out.  This series could well stretch to as many as ten parts (not counting Part 0).  We’ll have to see as we go along.  I apologize for the overly optimistic release schedule.

Still, next time, we will absolutely cover at least Episode 2, “Walker of the Hidden Path”.  I thank you all for bearing with me, and I hope to see you all next Monday.