Obi-Wan Kenobi should have been a movie.
A lean, mean, two-hour story that was squarely focused on Obi-Wan’s journey of accepting
the fall of the Republic and coming to terms with his guilt at killing Anakin Skywalker.
A movie that made full use of Ewan McGregor’s considerable acting talent, and helped bridge
the gap between the prequels and the original trilogy.
Unfortunately, what we got was a slow, overly convoluted and repetitive series stretched
out to fill six episodes of TV because it’s all about streaming now.
So because I think this story would have been far more effective as a movie, I have made
Kenobi: A Star Wars Story.
A two-hour feature film that tells the story of the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series in a way that
hopefully does way more justice to these characters than the full series did.
Because I didn’t just cut out scenes from the TV show to tell this story.
No, I re-structured the narrative, streamlined characters and storylines, added better music
and even a de-aged Hayden Christensen to make what I think is a much more cohesive Star
Wars story than what we got in the show.
And you can watch it.
Because I didn’t hate the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
In fact, there were some moments that I genuinely loved.
But I’m a fan of quality, not quantity, and in the case of the Obi-Wan series I felt
that its quality moments were overshadowed by the quantity of unnecessary filler.
Whatever flaws the prequels may have, they tell a compelling and cohesive story, and
I genuinely think there is an untold story between this moment and this one.
I hoped Obi-Wan Kenobi would be that story.
And you know what?
It sort of was.
Buried in there amongst the bloated plot, the convoluted side-quests, the tiny, dimly
let sets, and the myriad side characters is a real story of this phase of Obi-Wan’s
journey from guilt to acceptance, carried by Ewan McGregor in the role he was born to
play.
The best moments of the series are the ones where we see these moments shine through all
the noise.
But rather than go on about things I liked or didn’t like in the series, I think the
best thing to do will be for me to just walk you through the edit I have made.
If you are after a really detailed breakdown of how the show failed to live up to its potential,
I have put some links in the description for you to check out.
But in this video, I’m going to show you what changes I have made to make this story
flow better as a movie focused on Obi-Wan’s journey.
The final cut is 124 minutes without credits, which puts it at the shorter end of Star Wars
movies.
That’s compared to the 227 minute runtime of the TV show, and that’s without the recaps
or the credits.
Now, this next bit feels a bit weird to say because if you’re watching this you already
know the story of the show, but if you don’t want my edit to be spoiled, you can stop this
video now – after liking and subscribing – and find some information in the description
about how to get the full edit.
As a final disclaimer, I obviously couldn’t do anything about production design decisions.
So if your problems with the show were about its setting or casting or major story beats
then I can’t fix that.
But what I can change is the pace and focus of the narrative and for me, these were by
far the biggest flaws the show had.
So with all of that out of the way, we begin like the other Star Wars films – with a
long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
But we skip the recap of the prequels because we pretty much get that exact same thing a
few scenes later in Obi-Wan’s nightmare.
We also cut the Jedi temple scene and instead begin with the Inquisitors landing on Tatooine.
Most Star Wars stories begin by establishing the antagonists, so we do that here too.
On that note, one thing I wanted to do with this edit was to make sure this feels like
a Star Wars movie.
So sometimes I have done things like add establishing shots of planets where the show had none,
included some screen wipes, music from the original films, and I even added a Wilhelm
Scream.
Where is it?
You’ll have to watch it to find out, but I can tell you right now it’s not here.
So this opening shot is actually from Attack of the Clones, but I included it here because
Star Wars movies all start in space, and Kenobi is no different.
Now, I said before that I didn’t just cut scenes out of the show but I re-structured
the overall story.
I’m not going to go through every single change in this video, but I will give a detailed
breakdown of the changes I made to the first episode to give you an idea of the sort of
thing I have done throughout the whole show to turn it into a feature film.
So episode one of Obi-Wan Kenobi has about 25 scenes, and it does four things: establishes
Obi-Wan’s isolation.
Establishes Reva specifically hunting Kenobi.
It introduces us to Leia, her getting captured, and her parents asking Obi-Wan for help.
And it ends with Obi-Wan deciding to leave Tatooine to save her.
This is basically act one of a feature film.
You have the status quo, the inciting incident, and end with a decision by the protagonist
to act.
You also set up the antagonist.
So in my edit, this all pretty much happens in the same way, but in a way that I think
flows much more neatly.
So we already know the prequel recaps and the Jedi Temple scenes are gone.
As I just said, we instead start with the Inquisitors scene, which besides tweaking
the start to connect it with the establishing shot of Tatooine is unchanged.
Now, let me just remind you of how this episode carries on from this point scene by scene
because crikey it’s a mess.
Are you ready?
OK.
We see Obi-Wan at work witnessing the altercation with his colleague and boss.
Then he goes home and cooks dinner, meets the Jawa, has a nightmare flashback, watches
Luke the next day, drops off the toy that night and meets the Jedi on the way home.
Then we have Leia’s fakeout, her in the forest, and her talking to her mother.
Back to Obi-Wan being confronted by Owen, the Inquisitors showing up, and Fifth Brother
arguing with Reva about her obsession with Obi-Wan.
Back to Leia on the landing platform, then at the reception, then at home, then in the
forest again with the terrible chase.
40 minutes into the episode we get the inciting incident of the Organas asking Obi-Wan for
help.
He says no, then we see Leia on the ship with the mercenaries, then Obi-Wan sees the dead
Jedi, is confronted by Bail in his home and convinced to go.
Literally three minutes ago, he said no.
He digs up his lightsaber, we see the mercenaries talking to Reva, then Obi-Wan gets on the
transport and the episode ends.
So that’s 48 minutes with about 25 scenes or location changes.
Yeah, no.
Act one should be no more than a quarter of the runtime so let’s bring this down to
about 25 minutes, ideally without sacrificing too much of the character stuff.
So in my edit, Obi-Wan is at the factory, but we cut the altercation.
He just gets on the transport.
Then he goes straight to watching Luke.
In this scene I added the early bars of the Force theme from the twin suns scene – parallels
of Luke dreaming of a world beyond Tatooine.
It sounds obvious, but the Star Wars TV shows need more Star Wars music.
From Luke, we cut to Leia.
Almost as if Obi-Wan is thinking about her as well.
Leia’s introduction is cut down from about eleven minutes to five, and is all told in
one sequence.
We cut the fakeout, the forest, and her conversation with her mother.
Instead, this is her getting ready, and we go immediately to the landing platform, then
the reception.
I wanted to keep her conversation with Bail to show their relationship, which meant including
the annoying cousin, but it works fine enough to establish her character, but both scenes
have been shortened.
She runs away into the forest and encounters the mercenary.
But then we cut there.
No need for the stupid chase, which is truly one of the worst choreographed sequences in
all of Star Wars.
She’s a ten-year-old girl up against trained adult mercenaries – she just gets captured
straight away.
Done.
Here is where I moved the scene of him coming home, but instead of the Jawa he’s reacting
to, it’s the communication from Bail.
He refuses, but that night we see him having the nightmares.
See, he’s guilty about failing Anakin, but also about not helping Bail.
After waking up that night he delivers Luke the toy and meets the Jedi on the way home.
The next day Owen confronts him, but we cut the Inquisitors showing up because this scene
just repeats what we established in the first scene – that they’re hunting Jedi and
Reva wants Obi-Wan.
No, it’s gone.
Instead we cut from the moment Owen leaves to another day at work for Obi-Wan.
It is here he sees the dead Jedi, then he comes home to find Bail.
So now, since he was asked for help he has seen the consequences of his refusal to act,
has been told to stay away from Luke, and we have also seen him face his guilt in a
way that directly tied it to his refusal to help Leia.
So in this version his change of mind has much more weight and consequence, rather than
happening literally three minutes after he first said no.
I cut all the stuff with the mercenaries on the ship with Leia but kept the scene where
Reva explains why she ordered them to capture Leia, because we need some plot.
We then cut straight into the next act, which is Obi-Wan landing on Daiyu.
So here’s how act one looks in my new structure – the clipped corners represent a scene
that has been shortened.
I think you’ll agree that this is a much more efficient and effective way to tell act
one of this story, and actually does more justice to Obi-Wan’s character than the
show does because by re-ordering the scenes and selectively cutting filler, we have focused
the storytelling and narrative on the key scenes that matter – namely Obi-Wan’s
motivation for choosing to help Leia.
Now, I’m not going to talk through the full edit in this level of detail for the other
five episodes because we’d be here all day, but this should be enough to give you a good
idea of how I have approached editing the full thing into a movie.
Because it’s not just about cutting stuff – it’s about the order in which the story
is told.
So now let me walk you through how the rest of the movie plays out in a bit less detail.
After Obi-Wan agrees to helps he flies off into act two of the movie.
On Daiyu, he is more or less immediately taken to Haja.
Then he breaks into the lab and rescues Leia first time – the mercenaries haven’t set
up the trap for him.
We keep most of the Leia / Obi-Wan character building from the start of the episode, but
cut a lot of Inquisitor stuff.
I also cut the scene of Leia running away from Kenobi because it’s stupid and pointless.
In this version they are just on the run and then the main story beats play out the same
way just without the chase.
Haja saves them, they go to the cargo bay, Reva kills the Grand Inquisitor and reveals
that Anakin is still alive.
Leia and Obi-Wan escape, and we see Obi-Wan reflecting on the revelation that Anakin is
alive using the montage from the start of episode three.
Landing on Mapuzo and this whole segment also plays out more or less the same as the episode,
just shortened.
I cut the scene with storm troopers on the truck, but kept the conversation about Padme
because it’s good character stuff and sets up Obi-Wan’s final speech to Leia.
I cut most of the Inquisitor stuff from this episode as well – we just have one scene
of them confirming Obi-Wan is on Mapuzo, which explains how Darth Vader knows he is there.
After the fight at the checkpoint, Tala rescues them and brings them to her hideout.
I cut the stormtroopers searching the workshop but the ending of this episode plays out the
same way as the show.
The only change is that Reva doesn’t find Tala’s hideout or capture Leia.
We can assume Leia followed Tala’s instructions and met the pilot, while Tala goes and saves
Obi-Wan.
With the close up of Vader watching Obi-Wan escape, we then cut to Mustafar because it
is here that I have put Vader’s Zoom call with Palpatine from episode six.
If you listen to the conversation I actually think it works much better at this point in
the story, because it sets up Vader for the rest of the film by showing he, like Obi-Wan,
has not let go of the past.
Obi-Wan being rescued from Vader happens just after the midpoint of the film – about 75
minutes into the runtime.
Fun fact – 75 minutes into the original version of A New Hope Vader is this exchange:
He is here.
Obi-Wan Kenobi?
How can you be sure?
The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master.
The Princess?
Seal the detention level.
Obi-Wan is here!
Second fun fact – 75 minutes into Revenge of the Sith is this moment:
Henceforth you shall be known as Darth…
…Vader.
This wasn’t intentional, but it’s a happy accident.
Anyway, in the Kenobi movie so far, we have established Obi-Wan’s guilt and isolation,
his fear of Vader, and his relationship with Leia.
We’ve shown him that there is a wider rebellion out there, and he has seen the consequences
of his non-interference.
We’ve also shown Vader as a terrifying force of evil, hell-bent on capturing Obi-Wan, with
Reva helping him do this in order to enact her own plan of revenge.
At the halfway mark of the movie, Obi-Wan is at his lowest point.
Moving on, and besides the bapta tank, episode four is cut entirely.
This episode is by far the worst of the show, and adds absolutely nothing except making
some vague attempts at fleshing out some supporting characters, and it’s painfully repetitive
watching Leia get rescued a second time in two episodes.
Plus this scene is just…like…whose idea was this?
Yep, Episode four is gone.
Instead, we have Obi-Wan heal at the rebel base where he, Tala and Leia escaped to.
We then use scenes from episode five to develop Tala’s character and the rebellion in more
depth.
These scenes show Obi-Wan the importance of doing his part to fight the Empire, not just
hiding away from it all.
It gives meaning to his decision later on to confront Vader and allow the others to
escape.
So a lot of episode five remains but has been edited down and some scenes have been swapped
around to make it flow consistently or to maintain continuity in this new story edit.
For example, we cut Bail’s message to Obi-Wan because we are also cutting the entire sequence
of Reva hunting Luke from episode six, so we don’t need this plot device.
But the assault, Tala’s death, and Obi-Wan’s conversations with Reva all remain.
Also, because of the cuts we’ve made so far, this moment is the first time in the
movie we see Obi-Wan use the Force, and isn’t that a way better payoff than what we got
in episode four?
After enduring his lowest point, then being given hope by Tala and the rebellion, Obi-Wan
begins his redemption by choosing to help.
It’s the turning point in his character.
It’s the moment he becomes a Jedi again.
The escape and Reva’s confrontation with Vader are also unchanged, except we cut away
before she finds the communicator because again, the story line with her hunting Luke
has been removed entirely from this edit.
In my head canon she dies, but I’ve left it ambiguous enough that it won’t break
canon if she appears in a future Star Wars property.
That’s also why I kept the Grand Inquisitor in, even though I disliked the fact that somehow
he returned.
But Reva’s arc in this story ends here.
Her hunting Luke adds absolutely nothing and is one of my least favourite thing in the
entire show for reasons I won’t bore you with here.
To be honest, I think the only reason they included it was because they needed to include
Reva in the finale, and for pacing reasons they needed a parallel storyline to cut away
to during the showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan.
So Reva and the Tatooine showdown is gone entirely.
So what do we cut to in order to pace out the final duel?
Well obviously we use the flashbacks to Coroscant.
I truly think this was how both scenes were first written because they just edit together
so well.
Intercutting them also reminds us of how these two characters were once brothers.
We see the light and humanity of the past against the darkness of the present, and it
just makes this final battle so much more emotive.
Also, I have to acknowledge two far more talented editors than me for this bit.
Firstly, for the flashbacks I have used the incredible de-aging work done by Darth Porg
to make Hayden Christensen look a bit more like his younger self.
Second, I have used Cinevore’s amazing re-score of the final duel to set the fight to Battle
of the Heroes from Revenge of the Sith.
Links to the original versions of both those videos in the description – seriously, check
them out, they’re way better at this stuff than me.
Anyway, with the dual over, we wrap things up more or less how the show does – Obi-Wan’s
farewell with Leia, and his reconciliation with Owen.
But here is where I have made a change that will be controversial.
I have cut Obi-Wan meeting Luke, and the line “hello there.”
[cries of protest] I know, I know.
I love it too.
It’s a great meme and is synonymous with Ewan’s Kenobi, even though it’s also the
first line Alec Guinness has as the character.
But the way the show used it here was just far too self-referential, bordering on breaking
the fourth wall.
The framing of the shot, the build-up of the music, holding on Ewan’s face after he says
it - they gave it way too much reverence, as if the entire story was building up to
him saying this line.
It’s classic Disney Star Wars fan service done wrong.
So I cut it.
But fear not, the line has instead been moved to when he meets Bail on Tatooine.
So in the story world, its just a casual greeting between the characters, but one that the audience
will recognise and love.
I kept Qui-Gonn in though, because even though I think Liam Neeson was totally wasted with
such a short appearance, Yoda explicitly says Qui-Gonn’s Force ghost will train Obi-Wan
at the end of Revenge of the Sith, so we need to explain why he wasn’t there until this
point, even when Obi-Wan was reaching out to him for help at the start of the story.
And with the Star Wars theme playing over the credits, this is how we end Kenobi, a
Star Wars story with a runtime of just over two hours.
This was a complicated project, but I really like the final product, and I hope you do
to.
If nothing else, it has confirmed for me that this story would have worked so much better
as a feature film, and I really hope Disney and Lucasfilm take a long, hard look in the
mirror and bring us another feature length Star Wars Story, rather than yet another streaming
show.
Star Wars deserves the big screen, and the TV format is leading to stories that feel
small in scale, as well as bloated and convoluted storytelling.
Bring us another Rogue One.
Please, I beg of you.
If you’ve made it this far, I really hope you check out the full edit.
There’s links in the description with instructions on how to do this.
This is entirely a fan project, I am making no money off this whatsoever – even this
video is definitely going to get claimed.
But fan edits are still a bit a of a legal grey zone when it comes to copyright, so I
ask that you please only watch my edit if you have a full Disney+ subscription and legally
purchased hard copies of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith because I lifted some
scenes and audio from those too.
If you liked this video, or the edit, the best thing you can do to show your support
is to share this video around and spread the word – I’d really appreciate it.
So that’s it.
Thanks for watching, enjoy the movie, and may the Force be with you.