Star Wars News Round-Up

Television

Over the past week, several Star Wars developments have hit the news. A fan named Kai Patterson edited the 4.5-hour Obi-Wan Kenobi series into a 2.5-hour feature film in an attempt to rectify pacing issues. Meanwhile, Jon Watts’ Star Wars series Skeleton Crew has reportedly begun filming. Finally, composer Natalie Holt discussed her process in scoring Obi-Wan Kenobi in an exclusive interview with The Resistance Broadcast. 

Patterson had this to say about his Kenobi re-edit:

“The Obi-Wan show, in my opinion, suffered from things that were easily fixable in the script and in the edit. Awkward pacing, whole scenes that ultimately amounted to nothing, goofy dialogue and directing choices, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and change what I could. I want to be very clear, this is my own artistic interpretation of how these scenes could be strung together to make something that works better for me personally.”

And here’s Holt on how her Kenobi score differs from her work on Loki:

“Just for me, personally, it was a big time difference. I got Loki [while] they were still shooting, and then there was lockdown. So we had all this extra time in the middle to develop a suite and when we went back to shoot again after the lockdown, Tom was playing the Loki theme as he walked out on set… So I got like a year on Loki, while for Obi [-Wan Kenobi] I only had three and a half months.

I don’t know, both companies, they are so different and I think the tone is very different. Sometimes I would write a tune and they’d be like, ‘No, this is too funny’. I think there’s a more serious… Well, certainly, Loki is kind of a comedy villain. But Obi… It felt like a very emotional project, because he’s lost in the desert… So for me it was just like a tonal shift between those two characters as well. They feel very different creatures in terms of my approach.”

Skeleton Crew is expected to hit Disney+ in 2023. Despite Kenobi being produced and marketed as a miniseries, Kathleen Kennedy, Deborah Chow, and the stars have discussed continuing the story in a second installment. 

Skeleton Crew has been described as Stranger Things in space, I love Jude Law and liked Jon Watts’ Spider-Man movies, so I’m looking forward to giving it a shot. However, as I’ve said multiple times, Obi-Wan Kenobi was not satisfying or narratively necessary. I don’t think cutting it into a film would fix all of its problems, but I agree that the series has significant pacing issues. A movie would at least be written and edited tighter with less flab in the middle. 

As for Ms. Holt’s work on Kenobi, I think the lack of time shows. The best music in the show is classic Star Wars music they recycle, much like in the sequel trilogy. I didn’t like Loki, but her score for that show was unique and rather beautiful. I’m not quite sure why they recruited Ms. Holt for the Star Wars series, but they didn’t give her a fair shake at it, from the sound of it.