• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

News Obi-Wan Kenobi series premiering on May 27

Kor said:
Yeah this live-action depiction of the Grand Inquisitor doesn't even look like the same species. Besides the head shape, he has regular human eyes and human looking teeth. Even doing the eyes like the animated version with yellow irises on black eyeballs would have gone a long way in making him look more alien. There shouldn't be any whites on those eyes!

Kor
Click to expand...
If you look at the picture of Bruce Spence's character, he has solid black eyes, so they could have gone that route too.
It's just weird, I could see not being consistent with the animated versions, since there tends to be some changes made when changing from animation to live action, but they aren't even staying consistent with the live actions versions we've seen.
EW.com has posted a fairly long and in depth article on the series.
So far the picture and the comments in the article all have Haden in the Vader suit, but I find it hard to believe we won't see his face at some point. I find it hard to believe they'd go through the trouble of bringing him back, if we aren't actually going to see his face at some point.
 
Is it weird that my main take away from that teaser is that Obi-Wan's Jedi issue macrobinoculars finally show up in live action after being deleted from both AotC and RotS? (The Rooh cameo was a close second, of course!)

Yeah the Grand Inquisitor looks a little on the puffy side, and his eyes are just wrong, but I'm not massively bothered. I'm much more interested in Obi-Wan in the Obi-Wan show. If it was the Grand Inquisitor show, I might care more.
 
Last edited:
JD said:
If you look at the picture of Bruce Spence's character, he has solid black eyes, so they could have gone that route too.
It's just weird, I could see not being consistent with the animated versions, since there tends to be some changes made when changing from animation to live action, but they aren't even staying consistent with the live actions versions we've seen.
EW.com has posted a fairly long and in depth article on the series.
So far the picture and the comments in the article all have Haden in the Vader suit, but I find it hard to believe we won't see his face at some point. I find it hard to believe they'd go through the trouble of bringing him back, if we aren't actually going to see his face at some point.
Click to expand...
#BANNED!:biggrin:
 
This series could a great op to bring back Mace Windu; I'm on the side of the fence he's still alive.
 
Reverend said:
it weird that my main take away from that teaser is that Obi-Wan's Jedi issue macrobinoculars finally show up in live action after being deleted from both AotC and RotS? (The Rooh cameo was a close second, of course!)
Click to expand...
I had a Mandela effect because I watched the deleted scenes and played the ROTS game so much I thought they were in the movie.
 
fireproof78 said:
I had a Mandela effect because I watched the deleted scenes and played the ROTS game so much I thought they were in the movie.
Click to expand...
Must be the game (which I never played) since I don't this those cut scenes have ever been released with the dvds or blurays; just a still image or two in the Insider mag or the comic adaptation. They're pretty minor scenes; just a few shots, so there was a good reason why they were cut (though arguably, the RotS one could have helped what I found was a somewhat confusing geography on Utapau on first viewing.)

They did however show up in Clone Wars at least once. Which after looking it up highlights a weird blindspot in SW trivia. In a universe where every random background character gets a name and a backstory, and blaster seems to get a model number and manufacturer, not a lot of fluff has been given over to the electro/macrobinoculars, despite them arguably being a signature piece of the SW aesthetic since the beginning, and there being literally dozens of design over the years. I think one or two have actual names, but the rest just have generic descriptors.
 
Reverend said:
Must be the game (which I never played) since I don't this those cut scenes have ever been released with the dvds or blurays; just a still image or two in the Insider mag or the comic adaptation. They're pretty minor scenes; just a few shots, so there was a good reason why they were cut (though arguably, the RotS one could have helped what I found was a somewhat confusing geography on Utapau on first viewing.)
Click to expand...
Odd. Because the DVD set I had had about 8 deleted scenes, including Obi-Wan's reconnoitering the Genosian landscape. I might be conflating some scenes though.
 
OK, I resisted analysing the teaser shot-by shot since I just wanted it to sit for a while before looking at it with an eye for the details. Now I'm going going to go through it shot-by-shot and call out anything that seem worthy of note.

  • Appropriately starting of a haunting, lonely shot of Vader's old nemesis: Sand!
  • Ben and Rooh walking through the set of 'Book of Boba Fett', though redressed to look very run-down and dirty compared to either Mos Espa or Mos Eisley. Anchorhead seem like the logical choice?
  • Can't quite tell what Obi-Wan is working on here. Cutting a slab of something, but in that lighting it could be anything from meat or stone. I'm guessing the latter as it gives off a similar vibe as the workcamp stations Rey worked at on Jakku. Maybe he's doing some masonry work for money?
  • More sand, and Ben, and Rooh, and sand.
  • A rare look at the rocky ridge to the north of the homestead. (Seriously, the camera almost never points in that direction!)
  • And the homestead itself looking very ANH accurate (yes, there's a few tell-tale differences between it and RotS.) Speaking of which, the second pit's location still makes no sense for the internal layout. Oh well!
  • Zoom in on young Luke clearly looking off the the horizon, dreaming of being a navigator on a spice freighter.
  • Weird that it only just now occurred to me that we might also be getting a young Biggs, Tank, Fixer & Cammie. (I lowkey want them to make Tank a girl, both because it'd be nice for Cammie not to be the only girl in the group, and it'll send *those* kinds of fans into a rage, and it's always worth poking them.)
  • The mythical Jedi macobinoculars! Don't know why, but these things really appeal to me. I even spent a hour last night building them in blender for funsies (I'm increasingly finding the best way to understand an object is to try and build a replica! I may have been watching too much Adam Savage on the youtubes . . . )
    IGupCbN.jpg
  • And with that music cue I'm instantly transported back to 1999, spending ages downloading the "high resolution" 640x360 Quicktime version of the Episode One Duel of Fates trailer on dialup . . . and watching it over and over again.
  • Not sure how I feel about this new Inquisitor ship. Up until now they've always just flow around in fairly standard looking (if high-end) Imperial military ships. Various TIEs, Sentinels etc. This thing looks less Sienar and more Incom, if you follow me. Not that that's a problem in and of itself, it just feels odd.
  • Speaking of Imperial ships, I spy a Lambda on the deck, TIE/ins up in the racks . . . and a bunch of stuff I can't identify. Some of them may be the Stormtrooper landers from the Tython scenes in Mando S2 (which would make sense), one of them *might* be a LAAT/le, but it's hard to be sure, or it might just be equipment and not ships at all!
  • Weird thing to note, I know, but Nur's oceans always seemed freakishly calm to me. You'd think that close to a gas giant and another moon that it'd be in for some serious tidal forces . . . I guess it could be tidally locked? But on the other hand: it's a space fantasy fairytale: don't overthink it!
  • Two Inquisitors walk into a bar. . .
  • Is that insignia on his Gran High puffyness new? Do we noe have a logo for the Inquisitorius, or is that his personal badge of office?
  • Overland transport to a city that again, doesn't look like either Mos Espa or Mos Eisley, and might be a little big for Anchorhead. Also, where would he be catching a transport *from* if he's going to Anchorhead? If he's leaving it would make more sense he'd be headed away from Anchorhead and to Mos Eisley, no? Bestine perhaps?
  • Suddenly wondering if Fortess Inquisitorius is a similar kind of installation as Skystrike and the Colossus . . .
  • Hung by rope, or by Force? Hmm . . .
  • Owen being taciturn and grumpy. Seriously though, I hope this show gives he an Beru something significant to do. I think their role in the saga is often overlook, especially considering they were in every way that really mattered; Luke's actual parents.
  • My first though here was "Nar Shadda!?" but no, apparently according to the EW article it's a new planet.
  • "ER"? "Milk"? So a clinic by a dairy? Weird.
  • Oh yeah, those are Incom engines. Also, I don't think you're supposed to land there. Very inconsiderate.
  • The SE-14 seems to be getting a lot of play since Rogue One/Rebels. Not a bad comeback for a blaster that was originally mostly only used in promotional images for ANH (and one brief appearance in the cantina scene.)
  • The species of this new Inquisitor feels new, though something about the design rings a bell. Unused concept art maybe?
  • Ned? Needle noseless Ned? Ned the droid head!?
  • Even though you can tell these shots were done in the volume, they look SOO much better than shot you can tell were done on greenscreen, with I imagine, a lot less finessing in post.
  • Yes, yes. Head too fat. Not Jason Issacs etc. etc. But you're missing the point; who's this cyborg he's menacing with his glowstick helicopter?!
  • Just now noticing, but there seems to be zero non-human extras in any of these shots.
  • Now here's a rare sight indeed! Probe droid hyperdrive pods! Getting accurate reference for these things was a nightmare for the longest time. Even the official publications used drawings that looked like they were sketched down from freeze-framing a VHS (and probably were!) Curious how they appear to be flying *away* from a planet though . . .
  • Hmm. More crowds and still all human. Not sure why that's jumping out at me.
  • Inquisitor touching a hand-carved Jedi symbol. Is someone regretting switching sides? In fairness she was probably only a padawan when it all went down, so probably didn't have much of a choice other than "death by Vader."
  • Obi-Wan being very uncivilized. The yellow blaster bolt jumped out at me though. A mandalorian mayhaps?
  • Very colourful pigeons. Probably means that planet was a lot more rainforest before they turned it ino the set of Blade Runner.
fireproof78 said:
Odd. Because the DVD set I had had about 8 deleted scenes, including Obi-Wan's reconnoitering the Genosian landscape. I might be conflating some scenes though.
Click to expand...
I'll have to give it a look, but when I was looking for reference for the build, it didn't turn up anything (and most of it seems to be up on youtube.)

ETA: Apparently not in the videogame then!
 
Last edited:
Reverend said:
Yeah the Grand Inquisitor looks a little on the puffy side, and his eyes are just wrong, but I'm not massively bothered. I'm much more interested in Obi-Wan in the Obi-Wan show. If it was the Grand Inquisitor show, I might care more.
Click to expand...
Despite my last post, I'm not that bothered by it, I'm not one of those obsessives who's going to boycott or hate the show because he looks different, I just find it an odd choice to so drastically change his design. I felt the same about the Klingons in Discovery, which was even more drastic, and I still ended up loving the show.
 
JD said:
Despite my last post, I'm not that bothered by it, I'm not one of those obsessives who's going to boycott or hate the show because he looks different, I just find it an odd choice to so drastically change his design. I felt the same about the Klingons in Discovery, which was even more drastic, and I still ended up loving the show.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree, but at the same time: meh . . .
fireproof78 said:
Man, my memory is failing.

I'll see what I can find.
Click to expand...
I had a similar reaction. I'll try digging out the old DVD and see if that turns up anything (never bothered to get the old movies on blu ray, so no clue if there's anything new there.) Probably buried in some random featurette.
 
JD said:
Despite my last post, I'm not that bothered by it, I'm not one of those obsessives who's going to boycott or hate the show because he looks different, I just find it an odd choice to so drastically change his design. I felt the same about the Klingons in Discovery, which was even more drastic, and I still ended up loving the show.
Click to expand...
You know, another thought, the shape of Vader's helmet was noticeably different in Rebels from what it was in other canon, hearkening back to its shape in McQuarrie's pre-production art. That doesn't mean that Vader or anybody else in-universe redesigned his helmet for that period (* heads exploding all across the Internet *). Maybe they feel OK treating the character visuals in Rebels and more broadly in all of the animated shows as simply stylized.
 
CorporalCaptain said:
You know, another thought, the shape of Vader's helmet was noticeably different in Rebels from what it was in other canon, hearkening back to its shape in McQuarrie's pre-production art. That doesn't mean that Vader or anybody else in-universe redesigned his helmet for that period (* heads exploding all across the Internet *). Maybe they feel OK treating the character visuals in Rebels and more broadly in all of the animated shows as simply stylized.
Click to expand...
This isn't really a question of stylistic interpretation though, as the Pau'an make-up design originates in live action, and the Rebels interpretation of Vader was deliberately skewing towards early concept art. In the venn diagram of what Tion Medon looked like and how the Grand Inquisitor design stylistically interpreted that look for Rebels, this execution back into live action feels like it only barely lands in the intersection. Combine that with the different voice and physique and it's hard not to find it jarring.

At least with Ahsoka it felt *close enough* that the only bothersome detail for those familiar with her Rebels look, was the lekku and montrals.

And hell, the live action Cad Bane was executed damn near flawlessly, so it's hardly impossible!

One may justify it however one chooses (I've chosen apathy) but it's impossible to credibly deny that there's a fundamental aesthetic disconnect here.
 
Reverend said:
Not sure how I feel about this new Inquisitor ship. Up until now they've always just flow around in fairly standard looking (if high-end) Imperial military ships. Various TIEs, Sentinels etc. This thing looks less Sienar and more Incom, if you follow me. Not that that's a problem in and of itself, it just feels odd.
Click to expand...

The main body seems to be based on Krennic’s shuttle, except flattened and shorter wings.
 
I'm going to withhold judgment on how well the Grand Inquisitor works until I've actually seen him in action. Radical, I know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top