"No Luke. I am your father." "Ooooooh! THAT'S why people kept attacking our house while I was growing up."

This was absolutely brutal. I loved every minute of it. The thing is, your take is cleanly and clearly obvious. Watching Obi-Wan I thought of most of these plot and continuity problems. I'd think to myself after each episode, "What am I missing that this feels so disconnected? Am I being a bad fan? " So, in this case, what you uncover in the video is patently and pathetically obvious, and it is your delivery of those facts that is brilliant. Thank you!

My interpretation of "I wish I was." line to Leia was that he wanted to spare her from her true paternal parentage rather than alluding to an attraction to Padme. That's just how I read it. The ambiguity is a problem with the script.

Your ability to logically examine and dissect a property is truly astounding. I had extreme problems watching the Obi-Wan series. However, you brought up concepts that I hadn't even considered. If we could only get Disney to hire someone with one-third the intellectual prowess that you possess to be a consultant, we would be relishing in the continuation in one the most cherished film series in history instead of face-palming ourselves into mashed potatoes. Bravo!!!

Michael, regarding the Leia and Obi-Wan story arc, there’s another piece to it that breaks, and this is the one that ruined it for me: In “A New Hope”, Leia’s entire holographic message she plants in R2 for Kenobi is done in a way that explicitly shows she only knows of Kenobi through reputation alone. Like Luke forgetting all about the lightsaber attack on his home, it doesn’t make sense Leia would forget a long adventure with Kenobi. Star Wars has gotten as bad as the numerous Terminator sequels.

I really enjoyed your videos it's so much common sense it's very refreshing

What if Obi-Wan thought that Leia died when they destroyed Alderaan since that's where he was heading to meet her

I watched the Patterson cut a few weeks ago, it does a sterling job of washing over all that nonsense but as you said those cracks are already too deep to paint over. Disney really does need to take on new bold writers and sidestep from what we already know. It's really refreshing to watch you critique such failures without getting wrapped up in agenda politics and unfathomable hatred. Well done Michael for your level headedness. Goddammit, your good. Would I lie to You clips work a treat too. I'm standing up and clapping you Sir 👏👏👏👏

A skilful dissection of the Obi-Wan corpse, by Michael French for the RetroBlasting Channel. It's a shame that Disney don't hire any scriptwriters as intelligent, or as knowledgeable of Star Wars, as Michael, to work on their Star Wars franchise.

wow...you nailed this!! the plot holes you bring to light are astonishing...great work.. I knew it was bad....but wow!!

Another well thought out and great commentary - thanks for putting all of our thoughts into a well summarized video! Closing in on 100k subscribers - congrats on your great success!

Almost all of the prequelization of STAR WARS (1977) has only served to assassinate Obi-Wan's character from the original movie. He was tasked with hiding away Luke to safeguard him from Vader and the Emperor, and does so by leaving him with Anakin's step brother on Anakin's home planet, all the while continuing to dress as a Jedi and only bothering to change his first name to Ben. In the original movie, Obi-Wan was only dressed in beige robes because that was desert clothing, Tusken Raiders also wear them, but then the prequels retconned them into official Jedi robes. I guess you could argue that Vader would never want to step foot on Tattooine again, so hiding Luke there is actually clever, but there has to be a pretty big bounty out on Obi-Wan Kenobi by the Empire. Just imagine Vader, in his pod, getting news of a Ben Kenobi who only ever wears Jedi robes, living on Tattooine. It all just makes Obi-Wan look like a huge dumbass.

Nuff said. Right on the spot as usual ! Cheers !

Completely agree. Michael your patience to go through this step by step is incredible. Amazing work. I am truly amazed at the grade school level of writing Disney seems to continuously hire. Incredible. Inconceivable we are at this point in Star Wars World.

Michael you took the thoughts right out of my mind on this and brought it to light in another over the top video presentation! Well said, excellently transcribed and 100% factual! To a tee!

I think I've moved on from indifference to star wars to actually hating it. I have respect for the film makers of the original for how they pushed special effects so far forward, and respect for George Lucas for his phenomenal business sense, but I think I hate the actual franchise now.

To me, the one thing that makes the Patterson Cut SO much better than the series was one simple line added. Qui-Gon's voice telling Obi-Wan that Anakin is still the Chosen One. It just blows me away how clueless the writer's of the show would not think of that. I figured if there had to be a rematch, something would happen out of Kenobi's control that would prevent him from killing Vader and has to leave him there beaten. But nope. They just do Mustafar again and Obi-Wan does what he must and leaves. Another thing the writers should have done, and I know it probably wouldn't make that much of s difference, they should have made this show maybe 5 years after "Revenge of the Sith" or less. Have it be closer to the fall of the Republic. That way, it makes sense that Vader is still obsessed with finding Kenobi and maybe there are some few remaining Jedi that are being hunted.

Wow, that was a very well put together, cohesive synopsis of everything that is wrong with the current situation of Star Wars. Your best video to date on the subject. Great video Michael!

Great video, the problem is as always the risk averse way they approach the property. I'm sure there's lots of stories you could tell in the Star Wars universe some of the video games did this without a problem, but they will not take the risk which is a real shame as there is plenty of room in the sandbox for all kinds of stories to be told.

The cuts to David Mitchel ranting on "Would I lie to you?" are brilliant

Great video and a excellent interpretation of the mistakes that star wars has. And it all starts with Lucas.

I've had the utmost respect for RetroBlasting since I first discovered your channel. After watching this video that level of respect has only grown. The propeller hats at Disney should assemble a Quality Assurance focus group and have them watch this upload. They could only better their future body of work and themselves by doing so. Kudos to Michael and Melinda and everything RetroBlasting!! 👏👏

Great video Michael. Very well thought out and researched. I enjoyed it

Oh my god that cut to Luke saying “I’m with you too” was so hilariously perfect 😂- haven’t laughed that hard in a while :)

In all of your video essays, your top-tier, meticulous choice of words to convey each and every one of your purpose-filled and righteous statements... is never lost on meeee!!! ♥️

As usual RB gives form to those of us who can't articulate why we don't like the new direction

Awesome job RB!

God damn man! Good stuff. Love these.

Flawless analysis. Thank you, Michael, for summing-up our collective soul crushing sadness of what Star Wars has become.

This is why I enjoy RetroBlasting "review" content. Thorough, intelligent takes with respect to the material in all it forms (books, shows, movies). A refreshing change from the usual suspects whining about wokeness and other tired topics in their surface-level analyses. Thanks, Michael!

Death by a thousand cuts. . . The forensics on this is pretty spot-on! 👍🏾👍🏾💯🔥

Always love your in-depth reviews. I feel the same and have had many an discussion with friends about Star Wars and other properties when it come s to their respected universes.

This was an amazing assessment into a baffling Star Wars TV show. Great video!

Amazing video truly such an under rated channel

I think all of the great sci-fi properties(SW, ST, WHO) are well beyond saving. Because those who own those properties, either do not care. Or do not have the understanding of what needs to be done to save those properties. Even if they did, finding the people who can see the changes through. Left Hollywood a long time ago, like you say Michael. "The fans do the best work", it will be up to some of them out there who will one day create original sci-fi IP's for us to explore.

Yes Michael Star Wars has spiraled downward since 2015 so lets make something fun like BIONIC SIX!!!!

Thank you so much. On point as always.

Thank you Michael! I have tried making these points to friends of mine but you have done it in such great detail I will be sharing your video. Why do other fans not see what we see?!

There is this KZfaqr named Magog who said a few weeks ago about IP's that we've grown up with and love that we should just let them go. Let them go in the sense that they will never be what we'd like them to be. Disney has no great plan for Star Wars, we all know that way too well these days. Sadly I don't think Disney will ever let the Star Wars IP go because if they did eventually sell it off, they'd have to admit defeat when the next person who owns it actually makes it great. And Disney's ego is too big to ever allow that to happen.

Outstanding job brother

I don’t really agree with the idea that prequels need to go off on its own thing due to a lack of narrative tension otherwise. With prequels, the main interesting thing in the story is how we got to that point, the journey being the interesting part. So while we know how it ends, how we got to that ending is what makes us curious. Of course, that very much does depend on whether said journey is of any interest to begin with. Only certain stories are worth having their backstories fully elaborated upon.

The inquisitors in Rebels do not bother me. I see them as force sensitive pawns being used by Vader and the Emperor. It is only natural to have survivors with so many force users in the galaxy. If you have a problem with other force users during the Rebellion era, you are probably not going to like the old Expanded Universe. Where do you think Mara Jade came from? She was a force sensitive Hand of the Emperor. Honestly Michael, Obi-Wan is not bad because of characters like the inquisitors and other force sensitive survivors. The issue with the Obi-Wan show is how poorly the writers utilized the Inquisitors and the terrible direction they took with established old trilogy characters. Rebels did its own thing and only occasionally had appearances by known characters like Leia or Vader. Rebels also made efforts to establish action away from places like Tatooine. When they did involve Tatooine, it was a very small affair with Ben Kenobi, Maul, and Ezra. Very self contained. Disney has made MANY mistakes with Star Wars. The Rebels show is not one of them. I would argue Rebels is the best achievement under Disney's ownership of the brand.

Very well stated and I completely agree with everything you said here. Thanks for making this video!

SW enthusiasts who understand the OT need to let go of the brand and stop acknowledging shitzney products. Those people don't understand the IP they purchased, and they do not respect the audience, nor the lore. Let it go, friends, let it go...

Great stuff!!! You nailed it. I know Redlettermedia will be proud! Please, can you tell us how to find the Patterson cut? Or the Maple Films Hobbit cut? Thanks!!

Preach Michael...PREACH!!!🤚🤚

I really enjoy your movie analysis videos

Spot on with you analysis of that mini-series. I was difficult to watch, as it destroyed already established canon from the OT.

14:10 / 31:07 you know that in comics other jedis survived and also what about palpetines hand Mara Jane, there were more like her under palpetines order, the iqusitors are just a new version of it and all dead when episode 4 starts. think the retcon if it even is one with Tarking is okay its nothing major and when all inquisitors are dead at this point in time its actually no retcon and even when some small retcons like this are okay

Spot on video. I’m OK with Jedi existing between the prequels and the OT provided that those characters maintain a very low profile on the outskirts of the galaxy where their presence was sparse to begin with.

This is awesome Michael and well said as usual.

28:41....could NOT have said it better myself!! I tapped out when Vader used the Force to stop an escaping spaceship in its tracks (why didn't he do that to the Falcon at Echo Base?!?) All logical sense is out the window.

Excellent video essay! I greatly enjoyed it. As much of a curveball as ROTJ’s “Leia is Luke’s sister” twist is, what’s done is done. Moving forward after that film, Luke and Leia are brother and sister. I personally don’t care if Leia becomes a Jedi after ROTJ, as she was much more interested in politics anyway. JJ Abrams continuing her story/character trajectory as a political/military leader was completely fine with me. That being said, Luke and Leia are now brother and sister after ROTJ, and I can’t believe Luke would abandon his sister and completely give up hope on his nephew. To never adequately explain why Luke would completely give up hope on Ben Solo and abandon his family to clean up the mess he created is, in my opinion, one of the sequel trilogy’s primary failures.

Amazing work

Great video.

Very, very, very well said!

Predictability isn't a bad thing. If you know a character well enough, you can predict what they would do in a given situation. If what they do makes sense with who they are, then that's good writing.

Agree, I do! Thanks for this, bud x

Star Wars was 6 movies. No more, no less.

While I commend the Patterson cut for the attempt and enjoy most of the changes he did, the flaws with the series run way too deep. Just make more original stories and stop allowing this franchise to remain creatively bankrupt.

Great video. Well structured. I might have to try and find and watch this cut of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Disney one was a bit of a comedy with the laser fence he could walk around or Storm Troopers telling him to getting down on his knees and he has his pistol pointing at them. Disney wanted the re-match they talked about when it was first announced. It would have been better to have them constantly miss each other and various locations. Or have two separate stories that relate to each other at certain points. Either how Obi-Wan or Vader handle certain situations or some flashbacks. The early part of the Empire would be an interesting time frame to write stories but think new characters would have been the way to go. Revenge of the Sith put everyone in place for A New Hope so each season of Obi-Wan needs to keep doing that.

Thanks. After watching the full Kenobi series I knew I didn't like it but as you have pointed out, there were 'so many' inconsistencies my mind couldn't pin them 'all' down, ending with me not being able to put my finger on any specific thing.

Is doesn’t read to me that Kenobi was forgetful regarding Leia but that he had no faith at all in her abilities and Yoda did, or perhaps that Yoda may have sensed her latent abilities where Kenobi could not.

I'm certain that Reva was supposed to die in the penultimate episode with her failed attempt on Vader's life ending her story arc. Someone must have sent down word to keep her alive (for either a potential spinoff, a recurring character in their other shows, or just out of fear of killing off the strong black woman they'd hyped up so much), and that's why the finale felt so tacked on and inexplicable. How did she survive? How did she get off planet? How did she do all that and get to Tatooine while Ben is still trying to escape the orbiting Star Destroyer? Who does she think Luke is? Is she trying to get revenge on Vader by killing his son (how does she know this??) or does she just know he is important to Ben so wants to have revenge on him (for what reason?).

gotta watch the whole thing, but stopped by for a like and comment ;)

‘Obi Wan: Into the Dark Years’

Jesus, what an amazing video! Good to see the frequent nods to WILTY, David Mitchell's angry outbursts are the best! :)

Always had a difficult time getting through the Brian Daley Han Solo novels for some reason having to do with the prose style, but loved both of the EU trilogies focusing on Solo. Anyone else have this experience?

Damn, was planning on watching his cut, guess Kenobi will remain a Disney supported fanmade, thanks for your sacrifice

Obi Wan was really good folks. I've watched like 4 times, Loved it.

As ever, well researched, argued and presented. The inter-trilogy years used to be something of a narrative void in terms of the Jedi/ Sith conflict. The Jedi are crushed at the end of episode 3, then basically in hiding, until Luke comes of age in episode 4. Disney’s continual need to revisit this period and probably some worry that it won’t be ‘Star Wars’ enough without force users, lightsabers, etc. makes it seem that this era is now full of rogue Jedi being hunted by semi-Sith. Return of the Jedi? They’ve hardly been away...

I truly think it was cool to see ice cube Jr in the show. His character was enjoyable for what we saw him. As for the inquisitors, they aren’t real sith as I thought. Very much like how Dooku trained an assassin.(ventress) Also the whole tarkin thing makes sense. Do not forget the inquisitors all get bodied by Ashoka, Cal, Vader, Kanan, Ezra, and Maul by the time Star Wars began. After they’re all dead Vader just said what Thanos said(I’ll do it myself) and did away with ALL of them after all the best died. Then began hunting Jedi himself.

I’m so excited for this. 😀

So does one download these fan edits or do you stream them? I'm kinda curious now thanks to your once again excellent videos 📹 👍

I’m going to try something different. I never saw this new obi wan show…so I’m going to watch the fan edit without knowing what’s been changed or cut. That way I can judge it with fresh eyes without any contrast to the official it’s fixing.

Fantastic examination Michael!! I have a Question for you as I think many a fan has pondered the question...what would be your Star Wars story to tell? Describe what ideas may have popped into your head, like character concepts, the whole nine yards if you have it. Just for shits and giggles you know! I don't care if it's even a Self Insert story where it's like Your character you may have played with the Roleplaying game. Perhaps you DM'd a game or it's one you came up with while just Organizing one of your shelves, who knows, nobody but you bub! Anyways it was just a silly idea and maybe it would be one good enough for a video for you! Me, I'm still writing mine for my fan series, making sure everything works as intended. I'm 48, soon to be 49 and I'm doing it because I want to, I enjoy it, I love it and it's one of the few things keeping me Caring for what happens to Star Wars. And my story is off the beaten path, a different story taking place in the Star Wars universe as yet Unexplored. I'm just curious as to what Your story would be. Anyone else like to hear a Star Wars story by Michael French here? *raises hand

Perhaps the "...other" Yoda mentioned is Ben Solo!🤣🤣🤣🤣

To be honest, the line "Now the Jedi are all but extinct..." was always a problem, and symptomatic of the biggest issue with Starwars that cropped up as soon as they started trying to make sequels to the first movie. The background information given in the Original Starwars to explain how the landscape we see in that film came about was not supposed to be thought about too much. It was meant to establish the stakes of the adventure to come, and build up the threat of the antagonists in a single stand-alone adventure story. So you're telling me a single handicapped man, not only managed to eliminate every single force-user IN AN ENTIRE GALAXY, but also did it in less time than it takes for a cut of trousers to go out of style? Everyone? Seriously? How in hell could Obiwan and Tarkin have been so certain about that? You might argue that Jedi are so super special that even in an entire galaxy they would still be a manageable number but then you have to ask how Vader managed to find them at all? Space is big! You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is! I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space! The only way this line isn't an absurdity is if you dismiss it as the limited perspective of one old man, and not the canonical state of the universe... Oh shit, here come the Prequels, never fucking mind!

Also, “I will do what I must!”, said by Obi-Wan. So yeh, he spoke an absolute. Soooo, “Only Sith deal in absolutes.” 🤔

29:07 Harrison Ford has facial expression of a man who's thinking ' I am too old for this shit '.

I am sorry I upset you, great show Blessing to you and yours

Here here well spoken sir !

Exactly!

After more consideration I’ve realised I was wrong so never mind my prior comment, awesome video BTW

No one expects the imperial inquisition.

Amazing. Period. 😁👍

"You, my friend, are all that's left of their Religion..."

I have no opinion on this as I checked out on Star Wars during the new movies, but man, you know a lot about this stuff. Well Researched and backed up with facts that make sense.

The British comedy scene is strong with this one…

I remember having distinct moments where I just felt completely disconnected from the show. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but, this video really brought to light what I unconsciously was feeling. Something just felt off about it. The more I think about the show, the more I seem to dislike it, sadly

I really can't argue with anything in this video, however I do think Disney has redeemed itself with Andor, which might be the best writing/acting/storytelling in the entire Star Wars brand (and this is coming from someone who was completely burned out on anything and everything Star Wars). Andor could be and should be a model for all Star Wars shows going forward -- let a great writer/filmmaker like Tony Gilroy assemble his team of writers, actors and directors, and let them do their thing.

Obi-Wan: The Final Insult.

"Sith Lords are our specialty" but that doesn't mean inquisitors 🤣. Anyway I heard the Emperor had a few Snokes in a Jar and Michael Burnham on speed dial if Anakin got big blue ghosted.

2:50 "There are probably more fan edits of the 3 Star Wars Prequels than any other film series." 💢✨💨AURALNAAAAUTS !!! 💫💨💥

Superman #82 was pretty rad in 1993 when I was 11.

Well said.... I guess I need to go watch The Patterson Cut. Thanks Michael. Oh while I have you here.....any Star Wars Follies on the new wave of Retro Line on the horizon?

I said it once and I'll say it again, they should have optioned and made The Thrawn Trilogy as the first cinematic trilogy. Then followed it with Lucas' final trilogy treatment. Hiring him as a consultant. Instead Kathy Kennedy wants to prove to the world that Lucas and Spielberg were wrong about her lack of creative talent by reimagining the entirety of all the Lucasfilm productions she was co-producer on.

Like another comment said, every prequelization has messed up Obi-Wan's character in the long run. Aside from the nonsense of Obi-Wan hiding Luke on Tatooine (a planet which Vader not only was familiar with but also knew about Owen and Beru's whereabouts) and clearly not changing his name, he has been made more of a liar given how much he said in the OT has been contradicted. He was sidelined in TPM for Qui-Gon to discover Anakin (not helped with Obi-Wan and Anakin having no interaction between their introduction and Qui-Gon's funeral), made more strict and uncaring in AotC with him and Anakin bickering instead the film showing the two working well together (as seen with the pair only ever sharing a smile in the elevator scene and when Obi-Wan said "Good job, my Padawan!" after Anakin directed the clones to shoot down the droid tower or whatever) directed the clones to show, and even more callous with how he didn't try to bring Anakin over to the good side in RotS' final fight (a fight in which Obi-Wan left Anakin to die screaming in pain from being burned alive).

I agree with just about everything you said. However in the original trilogy I never saw it as Obi-Wan not knowing that Leia is Luke's sister. And Yoda knowing something Obi-Wan didn't about their relationship. I more saw it as Obi-Wan not believing that Leia was powerful enough to take on Vader and the Emperor. In return of the Jedi Obi-Wan clearly tells Luke that Leia is his sister. And when Luke claims that he can't kill his own father Obi-Wan says then the emperor has already won. I always took it as Obi-Wan never thought Leia had what it takes to destroy the emperor invader but Luke did... That was my interpretation of it and that's kind of still my interpretation of it I could be wrong though but that's how I saw it.

That Rogue One meme was spot on.