Latest / Most Things Kenobi - A Star Wars Podcast / Episode 144: Part 1 of our new series on "The Obi-Wan Actors" - Admiring the Subtleties of Alec Guinness, the Original Obi-Wan Kenobi
Transcript
- 0:00Hello there, it's Most things Kenobi.
- 0:03This is the podcast you're looking for.
- 0:18Hi everyone, Welcome to another episode of Most Things Kenobi, A
- 0:21podcast about Obi Wan Kenobi in all things Star Wars.
- 0:25I'm your host, Leanne. And I'm your host, Lauren.
- 0:29And before we get into this week's episode, Lauren and I
- 0:33would like to extend a very We're just filled with gratitude
- 0:40over the fact that James Arnold Taylor, Obi Wan from Clone Wars
- 0:45himself, decided to crash our party and come to our Patreon
- 0:49hangout, and words can't express.
- 0:53And we've already thanked him enough.
- 0:54The group thanked him. He's just so gracious and lovely
- 0:58and kind and funny. I laughed so hard during his
- 1:02stories, yes, but you know, you never know who's going to show
- 1:06up to our Patreon Hangouts, so. Yes, it it pays to be Most
- 1:12things can be Patreon. Really.
- 1:15And it was. It was actually unplanned.
- 1:16It was seated. What is it?
- 1:18Fly by the seat of your pants Moment.
- 1:20Yeah, yeah. Fly by the seat of your Jedi
- 1:24robes, perhaps, in this case, but he he came and he answered
- 1:28questions, and he was lovely, and we thank him for it.
- 1:31Yeah, he was so gracious and it was his idea 100%.
- 1:36We try, we try not to pester him or over contact.
- 1:40We we don't want to take advantage of the friendship he's
- 1:42extended to us, but out of the blue, he just DM Ed me on
- 1:46Instagram. I was like, you wanna send me
- 1:47that zoom link and I'll come right out.
- 1:50It was so cool. It was.
- 1:51When Obi Wan wants to come to your get together, you don't
- 1:57deny it and you think he genuinely likes us, which is
- 2:02such a compliment. Well, and right back at him,
- 2:05he's just. Like, absolutely.
- 2:07So sincere, so funny, so gracious, just can't say enough
- 2:11nice things about him. So we feel very truly, very
- 2:15grateful and lucky to have him as our patron St.
- 2:20Our, our, our gratitude cup spilleth over Yes.
- 2:27And you know what? We're actually going to talk
- 2:29about James Arnold Taylor. Not this episode, but I don't
- 2:33know which episode. But we're doing all of the we're
- 2:35discussing all of the Obi Wan's and what they bring to the
- 2:38table. So that brings us full circle
- 2:40back to what today's episode is about, which is the Obi Wan.
- 2:44'S a. Series about each of the actors
- 2:49that have done Obi Wan in the sense of the character of voice,
- 2:56live action, etcetera, and what they bring to the table as their
- 3:00version of Obi Wan. Yeah, what do you think?
- 3:04Each one brings something totally different.
- 3:08And this week we're focusing on Alec Guinness the Obi Wan.
- 3:13Yeah, it's like the the, the one and the one who started it all.
- 3:17The one who started it all. The the, the one that was good.
- 3:25I like that. Which now, having done research
- 3:28on Alec Guinness, I feel kind of guilty doing an episode about
- 3:31him since he hated attention and didn't want to be acknowledged
- 3:36for Star Wars. Really.
- 3:38I mean, too damn bad he ended up being one of the most iconic
- 3:41characters ever and spawning a a multitude of fans and stories
- 3:48and and head cannons and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
- 3:52Yeah. So sorry Alec, but fate writes
- 3:56itself, right? Yeah, and honestly, I can't
- 4:02think of a better actor from that era to play Obi Wan.
- 4:08What was it? It was the early 70s, right?
- 4:10Or is it 70s, late 70s? Mid 70s, Whatever.
- 4:13I can't remember because my brain is fried right now, but.
- 4:17Well, you said it before when we were getting ready for this
- 4:19episode. Is that this, this genre of
- 4:23actors is like, almost damn near gone.
- 4:27Yes. Yeah, it's a thing of the past
- 4:30this this generation of acting. And there's like the especially
- 4:35these British actors like Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing,
- 4:39Christopher Lee, they had this. The Brits have this great
- 4:43storytelling skill where they tell a story and they keep you
- 4:47on the edge of your seat, even just doing a regular interview.
- 4:50And Alec Guinness was such a gentleman and so charming, but
- 4:55had a very dry wit and you could tell he was extremely
- 5:03intelligent and really observant and I think that's what made him
- 5:07such a good actor. Yes.
- 5:10He was kind of known for his miniscule performance well.
- 5:15I also, we talk a lot before we even get going.
- 5:19We press record. We don't plan out our episodes.
- 5:23We just BS before we while we're getting ourselves together and
- 5:26getting this little things up, our notes and things.
- 5:29And I was saying, oh, my mom just adores him as an actor,
- 5:33Loves every movie he's been in or most.
- 5:35I don't know what one she's seen, but I have to be
- 5:38completely honest, I haven't seen many of his movies.
- 5:42I know of him. I'm aware of him.
- 5:45I've seen him in the old movies, but I've never.
- 5:48I was in a film class in college, and it was actually
- 5:53awesome because they forced us to watch the classic films, some
- 5:57with subtitles because they were in different languages.
- 5:59And I I loved that. And he was in.
- 6:04You know, it's weird because, you know, you're watching like
- 6:08Obi Wan, but it's not because he's so much more.
- 6:11He has a history, you know, and these actors and actresses tend
- 6:14to be like labeled once they hit it big with these mainstream
- 6:18films. And it's no wonder he kind of
- 6:22like SHIELD away from no attention, no Star Wars
- 6:25attention. I mean, I Harrison Ford's kind
- 6:27of the same, although he's got, he's got a little chip on his
- 6:29shoulder about it. But you know, it's Harrison Ford
- 6:31and it's Alec Guinness. Yeah, I mean, Alec Guinness.
- 6:35I saw a great interview with him where he talked about how he
- 6:38received. I mean, actually, you can find
- 6:40this story multiple places. He's told it over and over, but
- 6:43he received the script on one of his last day shooting in Los
- 6:46Angeles. It arrived in on his dressing
- 6:48room table and he recognized the name George Lucas, like it was
- 6:52delivered by George Lucas. And he knew American Graffiti.
- 6:56He knew he was an up and coming director.
- 6:58And he said it was really disappointed to open the script
- 7:00and see it was sci-fi. And he was just like, oh, I
- 7:04don't, I don't do that. But he started reading it and he
- 7:08hated the dialogue. He hated it, but he said the
- 7:15story was so good he couldn't stop reading it.
- 7:19And he said, OK, I like it, but if we could change some of the
- 7:23terrible writing, I'll agree to do it.
- 7:27I mean, he won. He won an Academy Award for Best
- 7:31Actor in what, 1957 Bridge Over River Kwai.
- 7:35Which is the only other Alec Guinness movie I've seen and I I
- 7:38did not enjoy that movie. No, I think mine was Lawrence of
- 7:43Arabia. That's the one I saw in college
- 7:45I. Forgot he's in that then I I've
- 7:46seen that also but I which is not.
- 7:48Bad, I mean. Yeah, I mean, Peter O'Toole also
- 7:51another one from that. Generation.
- 7:53Yeah, I I was probably too young to really appreciate Bridge Over
- 7:58the River Kwai. I might appreciate it more now,
- 8:01but. Well, I'm saying like, you go
- 8:03from winning an Academy Award to be, like, handed this script of
- 8:08the old man in the desert, you know?
- 8:14Yeah. Seriously.
- 8:16But he I as I was reading more about alegness he's known for he
- 8:23didn't want to be a big like over performer.
- 8:27He was the opposite. He actually, and even says this
- 8:30in his lifetime achievement Academy Award that he won.
- 8:33He says that he learned to do nothing at all and that's what
- 8:37he's been doing his whole life as an actor and hit.
- 8:40His performances are really miniscule and he was really big
- 8:46on personal mannerisms. So his Co star Peter Yusinov,
- 8:53who I freaking love, He is an amazing actor, 50s, sixties,
- 8:5870s. I adore that man.
- 9:00He said that Alec would like push his own personal mannerisms
- 9:06down and bring new ones out for the character so that Alec
- 9:11didn't even exist. He was moving his hands and his
- 9:14body like another person. That's true acting.
- 9:18That's good acting. That's hard to do, I think.
- 9:22Yeah, And he said he, he, Alec Guinness said that he didn't
- 9:26feel he had a character until he felt like he was walking like
- 9:30that character. Oh, wow.
- 9:33And think of, OK, now we'll apply that to Obi Wan and think
- 9:38of like the little jaw, you know, beard scratch and certain
- 9:42little mannerisms he has. The ponderous arms.
- 9:46Yes, that his now. Yeah, it's made.
- 9:50Its way into animation like it's.
- 9:55You know the ponderous arms, how he's always crossed and like
- 9:59he's got one up. It yes, it's a thing, he tucks
- 10:03the other under the elbow. Yes.
- 10:05Yeah, we're both doing it. No one can see it.
- 10:12But there's so much about his performance, his understated
- 10:15performance, that I think indicates still Waters run deep
- 10:20that because the it's not in the dialogue.
- 10:24I mean, it's there a little bit, but it's really about like Alex,
- 10:27the way he uses his eyes and the way he like you can tell he's
- 10:30kind of holding back, saying something to Luke that you
- 10:32realize there's more to the story.
- 10:34And we're not really getting to know Obi Wan completely because
- 10:38he's keeping his like, inner world to himself and he's just
- 10:43telling Luke what Luke needs to know and think of like where
- 10:49that gives Ewan and James and everyone else like space to
- 10:54play. It's actually really cool.
- 10:57It it, I was just thinking how it set the stage.
- 11:02We'll say for Ewan, because Ewan actually has been quoted saying
- 11:07he studied Alec, his mannerisms, his performance for all of its
- 11:12subtleties and tried to respect the actor, #1 and #2 respect the
- 11:17character that was a result of the actor.
- 11:20And then here comes James and you know on down the line we go,
- 11:25everyone's trying to mimic everyone, but they're all trying
- 11:27to mimic Alec. Yes, what a compliment.
- 11:31And and it really is subtle, I think of the little smirk and
- 11:35the the little sideways eye he gives when right before he gives
- 11:38up himself to Vader and Vader vote kills him.
- 11:43The subtle, that little tiny smirk.
- 11:45We now can see that in you and in animation, in stories
- 11:51written. Yeah, yeah, like.
- 11:54Set the bar. It's so cool.
- 11:57It is cool. And it says here I'm, I'm just
- 11:59looking, He started in theater, which makes absolute sense.
- 12:04Yeah. And it was a non speaking role
- 12:07was his 1934. Wow, so young.
- 12:11Playhouse Theater in London. Amazing.
- 12:14I I just those kinds of First of all, I have such a mad respect
- 12:19for theater. Oh, I do too.
- 12:22I participated in theater when I was younger.
- 12:26Same. Never on stage cuz wow, I can't
- 12:30hold a tune. This man voice of mine can't.
- 12:37I'm just saying I have 0 presence when it comes to the
- 12:42musical arts, but I was a good, pretty good director, if I may
- 12:46say so myself. But you know, I, you know all
- 12:52the moving parts, the grips, the everything, you know, sets and
- 12:55stage management. And then I just love theater,
- 12:59and I bet he was fantastic. Oh my gosh.
- 13:01I'm sure. I'm sure you could feel his
- 13:04presence on stage from. Times, yeah, he's a very refined
- 13:09gentleman and it really plays out well for the for the
- 13:12character of Obi Wan. Yes, I think he brings a lot of
- 13:15dignity to that character, despite him being a hermit in
- 13:18rags in the desert. You know, you've got to believe
- 13:21that he was once, I don't know, a diplomat, a Jedi knight,
- 13:26somebody of stature. And he's just wearing a
- 13:30covering, you know, to hide that.
- 13:32But you believe with his refined accents and the way he presents
- 13:37himself, and you believe that he is a general, like you could
- 13:42really believe, yeah. Yeah, yeah, They carry
- 13:45themselves different and that kind of shows.
- 13:49And what a great example. Now we all have you and I have
- 13:53the issue of why didn't he just tell Luke.
- 13:56Right, right. You know that moment from a
- 13:58certain point of view, which is now very famous.
- 14:02Right. Despite anyone's varying opinion
- 14:05of the moment, it's still very Obi Wan, you know.
- 14:08Yeah. To kind of speak in riddles
- 14:11almost, or become more into Riddle speak as he gets older
- 14:16because he becomes more guarded, I think.
- 14:18Yeah, for sure. Learns to hold his tongue.
- 14:22Which they're showing in the Kenobi series, you know, they're
- 14:26like connecting those dots a little bit more for us.
- 14:30I I think that well, I I saw this really great quote about
- 14:36him. A critic, Kenneth Tynan.
- 14:40Tynan I don't know how to pronounce that.
- 14:43He said that Alex best roles were quote iceberg characters
- 14:489/10 concealed whose fascination lies not in how they look but in
- 14:53how their minds work. I.
- 14:57Was like very Obi Wan. Yeah, right.
- 15:00Yes. We think we know him, 'cause we
- 15:04we're looking at what's on the surface, but there's so much
- 15:06going on underneath that character, which we say all the
- 15:10time. Well, James Arnold Taylor said
- 15:13it last night on our Zoom call. That's.
- 15:15True, We did he. Actually said that or a version
- 15:20of it about how he thinks that Obi Wan was more insecure than
- 15:24he lets on, which I thought was was actually quite brilliant
- 15:28because. Yeah.
- 15:30I don't know. Just seems like he he could have
- 15:33insecurities. Well, think of all the
- 15:35vulnerabilities that he that character has and how they all
- 15:39ended badly. Yeah.
- 15:42But he's learned to present himself like the general, like
- 15:45you said. And then by the time he's the
- 15:47age of what Alec Guinness was in the original trilogy, well, he's
- 15:54a force ghost so maybe he has no age.
- 15:56But you know that lasting the the the wise old elder, if you
- 16:01will. It makes complete sense as to
- 16:06how we got to that point. You know it.
- 16:08Yeah. It's it's kind of Hindsight's
- 16:112020 'cause we know the UN after the Alec, but if all we had was
- 16:18Alec, we could still discern the type of character that Obi Wan
- 16:22is, just from those moments in the three films, very clearly.
- 16:26Yes, I I agree. I totally agree.
- 16:29He's clearly got a complicated inner landscape because of the
- 16:33way he talks to Luke. And we find out, like you said
- 16:38hindsight, that maybe part of that is trauma driven, that he
- 16:42doesn't want to talk about what really happened or now he's got
- 16:45a new perspective on it so that he could like remove himself.
- 16:48But either way, you get this sense that it's like a subject
- 16:52he's dancing around the truth with.
- 16:55And they never gave us anything. If the original trilogy was all
- 17:00we got, We just get this unresolved sense from this
- 17:04character. You know that that.
- 17:05Yeah, we don't know anything about his and Anakin's
- 17:09relationship, how deep it was, how far back it went, how it
- 17:13started under the circumstances it started and.
- 17:17Right. Alec was the starter of this,
- 17:19and it gave so much room to play.
- 17:21Like you said, there was room to expand upon that.
- 17:23I mean, it was all in George Lucas's head anyway.
- 17:26But if we never got the prequels, the sequels, and
- 17:29everything in between, and we only got the original trilogy,
- 17:32we would only know that there's this mysterious friendship that
- 17:37Obi Wan had with Luke's father. Luke's father turned to the dark
- 17:41side. And here we are like, that's it.
- 17:44Bullet points, right? That's wild.
- 17:47And that that mystery adds to the story.
- 17:50Yeah. And now that we have the whole
- 17:53truth, it's painful as fuck. Star Wars is pain.
- 17:59Star Wars is. Officially pain.
- 18:01Officially. I think it's kind of cool, too,
- 18:05when you think about the very first movie, just Star Wars,
- 18:09it's all from one line, he just says.
- 18:12And he was a good friend. And the way he says that, you're
- 18:15just like, oh, there's a story there.
- 18:18Yeah, it's it's very bittersweet in the past, he acknowledges it,
- 18:24doesn't want to harp on it. Something happened there that
- 18:28was deeper than he's letting on with just his words.
- 18:31Prob #1 to protect the boy, #2 to protect himself from past
- 18:34hurt. Right, exactly.
- 18:36All delivered in one line. Can you imagine going back and
- 18:40like being able to watch the first movie with no Star Wars
- 18:44knowledge? Again, I would.
- 18:46I would love to try that, but only and I think that's only
- 18:49possible if I get dementia, so hopefully that.
- 18:52Doesn't Let's not. No, no, let's not go there with
- 18:55that. Ever.
- 18:57We want to hold on to all these memories.
- 18:59Yes, please. But it'd be so cool to get that
- 19:01surprise again, you know, remembering that the first time
- 19:05you hear about Luke's father, he was betrayed and murdered.
- 19:09Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you don't know anything
- 19:11about it. Like, yeah, that's horrible.
- 19:14Yeah, but very intriguing. Oh, it's much deeper.
- 19:21Yeah, it's way worse than you thought.
- 19:23It's way, way fucking worse. And it's actually that moment
- 19:27now that I think about it. When he's mentioning it, isn't
- 19:29Luke kind of like standing there and holding the life Saber?
- 19:32And he's and it's this child, not child, but this childlike
- 19:36energy versus this lived, experienced.
- 19:40Yes. Traumatized, in a way.
- 19:43Lived through some shit. Yeah, it's really awesome.
- 19:49Yeah, it is. It really is.
- 19:51I don't know. He's a good fucking actor.
- 19:54He's really good. It makes me want to go and watch
- 19:56a whole bunch of his other movies because he he did so much
- 20:00more than Star Wars. Star Wars was like the small.
- 20:03I know he he kind of was grumpy about it and he ended up
- 20:06actually making a ton of money, like a living off of it, even
- 20:10though it was like grudgingly he did the sequels, you know, But
- 20:16it's a small part of his career compared to everything else.
- 20:20I'd love to go back and kind of. Get more familiar, you know,
- 20:23with his other work. He's been nominated for
- 20:28countless, countless awards from different, you know, different
- 20:34societies, Golden Globes, Academy Awards, film critics,
- 20:38New York film critics, etcetera, etcetera.
- 20:41The thing is that he played I need to see this.
- 20:44I have to. I can't call myself a Hamlet
- 20:47fan. Oh yeah.
- 20:49He's in Hamlet over and over and over.
- 20:51And he's in Macbeth and also Romeo and Juliet.
- 20:57So he's done many theater renditions of characters from
- 21:01these stories. I love me some Hamlet and
- 21:05Macbeth. Really, they're the two twisted
- 21:07stories. But.
- 21:09I know. Macbeth is.
- 21:11Oh my God, Macbeth is so good, and but certain renditions of it
- 21:14I can't bear to watch because it's so upsetting.
- 21:17Oh yeah, Macbeth is upsetting and I love it because of it.
- 21:19The more twisted the better. Yeah, absolutely.
- 21:26Well, can we talk about Obi Wan from this era in terms of like
- 21:30the Hero's Journey for a second? Yes, please.
- 21:34Do tolerate me going down this rabbit hole.
- 21:36Listen, you are the Hero's Journey expert on this show.
- 21:41I would love to do a whole episode of several on the Hero's
- 21:45journey in Star Wars Cause regarding Luke specifically.
- 21:48Yes, yes. Oh my.
- 21:50God, it's so good. Yes.
- 21:53But Obi Wan's really important in these original trilogy's
- 21:56because he is the wise old man or the wise old wizard, or he's
- 22:01the mentor character that comes in and he meets the hero on the
- 22:07edge of the forest, right in the forest.
- 22:09It's like this threshold between the known world and the unknown
- 22:13world for Luke is who we're talking about.
- 22:15And Obi Wan, the mentor, helps you transition from the known
- 22:20world into the unknown world. And then you're kind of like on
- 22:25your own once you get there and you learn a bunch of horrible
- 22:28painful lessons. But.
- 22:29Gandalf and Frodo, everybody. Yes, exactly.
- 22:35Just saying. So like this, this archetype,
- 22:39this old man is specifically responsible most of the time for
- 22:45giving the hero an enchanted sword, like when he hands Luke
- 22:50the lightsaber. And this magical sword
- 22:53represents the power, the larger world and the next phase of the
- 23:00hero's past. So it is the lightsaber, a
- 23:03weapon of a more civilized age. But now we also know it's tied
- 23:07to the Force, which is the magic that you know, quote UN quote
- 23:11that Luke needs to learn to master.
- 23:14And if you're not good at it, it can be a really destructive
- 23:17power. So it's like you're being handed
- 23:21ticking time bomb and if you use it right, it can be used for
- 23:23good and if you use it wrong you can destroy everything around
- 23:27you. Yes.
- 23:29Which is I love the Hero's journey so much.
- 23:33Don't mind me over here in Lord of the Rings Land, but now I'm
- 23:36thinking of Bilbo and Frodo. Frodo had a lot of helpers, I
- 23:39mean. Yeah.
- 23:41He had a lot of helpers, but Bilbo gave him the enchanted
- 23:44sword. Just so many similarities.
- 23:47I want to do a We're going to do an episode.
- 23:49We will, I promise. The Lord of the Rings
- 23:51comparison, Yeah, we. Yes.
- 23:53But like the fact that that Luke's sword is tied to his own
- 24:01like family, that's a pass down thing.
- 24:05It's a lot of smart symbols to do.
- 24:07That because it already invests you in that character's unknown
- 24:13past. He has a choice following his
- 24:16father's footsteps, but the complication is his father's
- 24:19footsteps were good for a time. Right.
- 24:22So which of his father father's paths will he choose with this?
- 24:28I fucking love this shit. Sorry.
- 24:33I'm. I'm supposed to be letting you
- 24:35talk? I'm sorry.
- 24:36No. This is it's a conversation.
- 24:38I love it. Oh, I love it.
- 24:40It's like a period of the hero's journey called Separation and
- 24:44it's it's sometimes called Departure.
- 24:46But I think Separation is better because the hero starts to
- 24:49realize he's in his normal life and he is kind of, like not
- 24:53super comfortable. But he's doing what he has to
- 24:55do, which is exactly what Luke is doing.
- 24:57And there's a refusal of the call.
- 24:59Somebody says you must go to Alderaan.
- 25:03I'm getting too old for this, and Luke says I can't.
- 25:06And this is all part of the hero's journey.
- 25:08And then something else happens. An external thing happens, like
- 25:11Stormtroopers setting your family on fire.
- 25:14Yes, pushes you over that threshold.
- 25:17Exactly. And so Obi Wan is present
- 25:21through all these stages. And you like at that point, you
- 25:24separate from the life you knew and go into a life you don't
- 25:29know, But you never come back into that.
- 25:31Like you return to the known world, but you never return to
- 25:35who you are or that space that you began.
- 25:38Oh, because you know things now that you didn't know then and
- 25:41there's no turning back. One of the great things that I
- 25:44love about Hero's Journey, which I'm sure is it Lord of the
- 25:47Rings. So tell me if it is because you
- 25:48know better than, but that knowledge is also a huge burden.
- 25:54Absolutely. 100, 1000% correct. Yes.
- 25:58But if you knew that at the beginning, you wouldn't start.
- 26:00You just start your fresh eyed, bushy tailed.
- 26:02You're like, I'm going to go and have an adventure and right.
- 26:06It starts as an adventure and in the end of act one you're
- 26:10victorious, which is what happens with the Death Star.
- 26:14But then act Two terrible things happen.
- 26:18More players are involved. It gets the stakes get crazier
- 26:22and and higher and more detrimental and.
- 26:27That's where you add enemies and allies.
- 26:30That's a specific moment, so more people come into the story
- 26:34exactly. It's so good this.
- 26:36Is classic and wonderful, and it's the baseline for good
- 26:41storytelling. If you can be creative about it
- 26:46while also writing it out in this form, you know and.
- 26:51Once you know the form, you can move it around and and mess with
- 26:54it. But like starting with the form
- 26:56I think is important to understand the arc.
- 27:00So if you break that arc, you're doing it for a reason and it
- 27:03adds more meaning you know, to to the story.
- 27:07But I think it's it's so great that a great actor like Alec
- 27:12Guinness got to play this part because it's so important.
- 27:15It's like the foundation of everything that comes later.
- 27:19And it would never have happened if Obi Wan didn't give Luke the
- 27:23Enchanted Sword. Yes, yeah, it was in that
- 27:28moment. Yeah, it's the crux of all the
- 27:31rest of Star Wars that comes even bad badge and all acoly
- 27:34everything that's coming now. All of it.
- 27:37Yeah. That's wild to think of,
- 27:40actually. It's crazy.
- 27:41Right. No pressure, Alec.
- 27:45Oh no, no, no. I mean he's a Force ghost now.
- 27:47It's fine. Like we always say, he is tied
- 27:50to those damn Skywalkers for the rest of his life.
- 27:52Force ghost and. Everything, for better or worse.
- 27:55Man, oh. Man.
- 28:02You're so right though, it it all kind of pivots right around
- 28:07Obi Wan in A New Hope. Yeah.
- 28:11A New Hope. Those words.
- 28:14I know that's the beginning of a whole ass journey.
- 28:19What has brought us all here right now to this moment?
- 28:22Crazy. Yeah.
- 28:24God, I love a good fucking story.
- 28:26I just. It's making me want to go back
- 28:28and watch the films and then reread Lord of the Rings.
- 28:31Which summer's coming? Summer is coming and I read it
- 28:34every two summers and this summer's the time.
- 28:38I was gonna say, is this the scheduled?
- 28:41This is the scheduled summer. I read like 1/4 of it last year,
- 28:45just just to have just to have a moment.
- 28:48You're allowed. I know.
- 28:51Like, that's like watching, you know, half of Empire Strikes
- 28:55Back. You just got to get a taste,
- 28:57'cause you're craving some, Lord, I'm sorry, some Star Wars.
- 28:59And you, you want to watch a little bit.
- 29:01And so, you know, OK, I'm good, you know?
- 29:03Honestly, any time I put Empire Strikes Back on, then I like
- 29:06roll right into Return of the Jedi.
- 29:08I'm like and I just go back and start A New Hope also, you know.
- 29:11What I We're here. Yeah.
- 29:14Exactly. You're always turning.
- 29:16You're always turning on Rogue One.
- 29:18Shit, it all connects. It all connects.
- 29:22Cause the Hero's journey is in all of these things.
- 29:26Yeah, and even if it's not not the full, and it doesn't, you
- 29:29don't always have to write the full journey.
- 29:30Like I said, A New Hope only goes up to the part called
- 29:35Crossing the First Threshold. And Return of the Jedi doesn't
- 29:40even finish the full Hero's Journey.
- 29:43It stops it. I can't remember the the section
- 29:46anymore, but it doesn't fit like and I know that the new trilogy
- 29:50is tried to resolve it and I I would love to do an episode
- 29:54explaining why it was unsuccessfully done, but that's
- 29:57just another time. Well, we're focusing on Alec
- 30:01here in the in the original trilogy, so you know, exactly,
- 30:03exactly focus. I love that every time we bring
- 30:07up The Last Jedi, we just, like, we can't talk about that right
- 30:10now. We want to keep good energy here
- 30:14and also respect the people who do like it while also
- 30:17complaining about it, because that's what we do.
- 30:20We don't complain about it, we critique it.
- 30:22Right. And that's why I think if you
- 30:24use the Hero's Journey as a critique, it is a yes, a rubric
- 30:28that shows why it didn't succeed personally.
- 30:32Correct our opinion only. Yes.
- 30:34Be offended. It'll be all right, folks.
- 30:40We have Hello there because of Alec Guinness, actually.
- 30:45It it really, that's the utter truth.
- 30:50There would be no continued everlasting redone hello there
- 30:56if we didn't have Alec Guinness Original Line, his first line as
- 31:03Obi Wan. And it was the last line in the
- 31:06Kenobi series. Full.
- 31:08ARC. Full arc.
- 31:12Well, maybe it wasn't. You know, it's not the last
- 31:15line, cuz. Quagon comes after that.
- 31:17And then there's that scene. But.
- 31:19Okay, but you know for, for, for.
- 31:21Close. Episodes sake close enough?
- 31:22Okay. So after discussing Alec
- 31:29Guinness and his portrayal, the original portrayal of Obi Wan
- 31:34Kenobi, what is your favorite line that he delivers?
- 31:39So many to choose. From I know.
- 31:43Honestly, every line, I feel like it's.
- 31:46Classic. That everyone ever speaks, no
- 31:48matter who plays it, is my favorite.
- 31:50That's. True.
- 31:51That's true. OK, but pick one from the
- 31:55original trilogy if you must. I mean, if you can, yeah.
- 32:00And join us back here next week for Part 2 of the series.
- 32:03We are going to talk about Ewan McGregor playing Obi Wan Kenobi,
- 32:07which I know a lot of people are so jazzed about, to use an old
- 32:12fashioned phrase. Yes, there's a lot to delve
- 32:16into. Instead of just three films with
- 32:19limited dialogue, we've got so much material to cover.
- 32:23No, and he's it like Alec was in the movies for maybe a few
- 32:27minutes. Ewan is in all of the the.
- 32:33The so television series now oh. My God.
- 32:39Don't forget, Yeah, right. So we'll be here next week
- 32:43talking about the amazing Ewan McGregor and what he brought the
- 32:47performance of Obi Wan, so join us back here.
- 32:51And thanks so much for joining us here on the Most Things
- 32:54Kenobi Podcast. If we haven't said it enough
- 32:57already, we do appreciate every single one of our patrons and
- 33:00are grateful for your support and yours too.
- 33:03James, If you'd like to support the podcast and become a patron
- 33:06as well, head over to The Most Things Kenobi Patreon.
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- 33:31Twin, may the Force be with you. Always.