Let’s get to the point from the beginning. Obi-Wan Kenobidespite closing its first season with an episode that has several epic moments and very well achieved visually, fell far short of expectations. Certainly the always demanding fandom of starwars had the hype to the clouds, as it was the return of the legendary Jedi Master and Ewan McGregor. However, much of the season is dull, predictable, and held in a fan service that you don’t mind ignoring canon.
The way Disney has treated the canon of starwars it is quite curious. When they added the Lucasfilm licenses after disbursing just over 4,000 million dollars, one of the first movements was discard any story or character from novels, comics, and video games. Thus, those directed by Mickey Mouse only recognized the narrative contribution of the existing films at that time.
Why did they do it? Firstly, because they wanted to have full narrative control of starwars. It is undeniable that the canon, over the years, received contributions that were no longer even meticulously inspected by Lucasfilm. At a certain point, the control of so much content got out of hand. However, this also allowed for really entertaining stories to be born and, dare I say, far more interesting than the Skywalker Saga.
Despite the above, Disney did not think twice and discarded Star Wars Legends —as licensed stories beyond feature films are known—. The fans evidently disagreed. But that disappointment did not matter to the company, because from here they had all the creative freedom to create their own stories and characters just by respecting the two film trilogies.
This gave rise to two spin-offs and a third trilogy that functioned as a continuation of the Skywalker Saga. We all know the end result: three disappointing films, inconsequential and that at times give the feeling of not being connected to each other. Although Disney does not recognize it, the wave of criticism of these productions caused them to rethink their strategy, thus giving rise to a new rampage that goes against their own previous decisions.
On the one hand, despite the fact that they said that the first two trilogies would be the only basis for their future projects, it did not take them long to notice the stories and characters of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Y Star Wars Rebels. I’m talking about the animated series that have the support of the entire fandom.
Yes ok The Mandalorian triumphed thanks to two completely new faces, he did not miss the opportunity to, once again, lean on old acquaintances for him fandom. This is how Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze, Boba Fett and even Luke Skywalker himself —with low-budget CGI— had their moments of prominence in the Din Djarin and Grogu series.
Disney takes up and discards elements of the canon of starwars
This demonstrated two things. First of all, that Disney did find elements of value in the non-film canon. So, what for a moment seemed insignificant for the future of starwars, in the end it became a fundamental pillar. Needless to say, Ahsoka will have her own series and some of the characters that accompanied her in Rebelsincluding Sabine Wren.
From another angle it became clear that, no matter how many times they promise to do so, Disney is unable to leave the Skywalker Saga behind. And if necessary, they will step on the canon of the movies to extend the tired history of the Skywalkers.
The confrontations between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the homonymous series shouldn’t have happened. The reason? the canon established that these characters, after their first fight in Star Wars: Revenge of the Siththey did not see each other’s faces even once until A new hope.
If we side with Disney, it was hard to resist the idea of bringing together two legendary characters that still exist in the timeline. Yes, at the cost of not respect the canon that they themselves preserved. The same debate can be generated around the moments in which Obi-Wan meets Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker.
Although these decisions and turns do not make sense in the plot field, the least we can do is get angry about the decisions that Disney is making in relation to the canon of starwars. To begin with, no matter how many fans we are of the franchise, their stories and characters do not belong to us. Mickey can do whatever he sees fit to keep making money from this universe, and they’re not going to ask you if you agree or not. They don’t have to.
So that, we better get used to the idea that Disney doesn’t care about the canon of starwars. Either by contradicting themselves by taking up stories that they originally tried to throw away, or by altering the facts that George Lucas proposed so many years ago.
But the most significant thing is that we too let’s downplay the canon we know. Is anyone going to say that it wasn’t exciting to watch that duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Of wanting to continue consuming the contents of the universe starwars, the only option is to allow ourselves to be carried away by the contradictions that come soon, because surely more will come. And how nobody forces us to consume a certain entertainment productyou can always step aside, which is also respectable.
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