...I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Does anyone know if Lucas originally had other plans for the character of Obi-wan, rather than have him stay dead for the rest of the saga? I don't know about anybody else, but I always got a potential "Gandalf the White" resurrection vibe from that line. If I hadn't seen TESB first, I would've expected him to do more than pop up as a force ghost and offer bits of story exposition every now and then...
It's because he'd inspire Luke to become what he did. Notice that he doesn't give up until he sees Luke, then gives a half-smile and raises his guard.
Oh, typo-police! Will it ever get old? I say no. It will never old. It just keeps being clever. I thought I had heard/read before that at one point the plan was NOT to kill off Obi-Wan, but something changed Lucas' mind. I don't recall what the story is behind that.
^^ Lucas changing his mind? Does it have to be more involved than the changing of one day to the next?
I read that Alec Guinness requested that Obi-wan get killed off for some reason I can't recall. I've no idea if that's true though.
the story is, Obi-Wan was supposed to live through the entire OT, and would've filled Yoda's role in ESB and ROTJ, but Lucas realised he was hanging about doing nothing after the Vader-Obi-Wan hangar bay fight, so he instead opted to off the Jedi.
Ben telling Luke to use the Force over his radio headset just wouldn't have been the same. "Use the Force, Luke" "Shut up old man, Luke do NOT turn off your targeting computer." "Use the Force, Luke" "OK, security! Will you please escort our guest back to the barracks?"
as a side note, star was follows the mythic sequence very closely for the first 3 movies. (and rabidly departs it for the prequels...) In that sequence the old sage has to die because otherwise the young hero never gets to be THE hero. Aside from all else, its dramatically necessary for obi wan to die. or, at least be captured- etc.
That would have been lame. Obi-Wan dying is much more dramatically satisfying, it ups the ante and leaves Luke alone to find his own way.
^for about the last quarter of the first movie, than he returns as a ghost at the beginning of return, and is replaced by yoda
Well, keep in mind that at the time, there was no guarantee that there would be anymore movies after Star Wars.
true, but it wouldn't have made a difference story wise if it were Yoda or Obi-Wan takeing Luke to Dagoba or another planet to complete training
Yes, but as I recall, Lucas did have a plan for a larger saga, should Star Wars succeed. In fact, wasn't the whole idea originally to be a TV serial? Thankyou catpcalhoun, I remember a similar tale. It nevertheless seems odd to me the comment that Obi-wan makes - seems it should be indicative of something grander than simply becoming a ghost and (essentially) "sitting on the sidelines and cheering Luke on.."