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- Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi - The Spence Edit
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi - The Spence Edit
Featured
Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2022
Original Running Time:
261
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
145
Time Cut:
116
Time Added:
1
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
The Kenobi show, trimmed down to a movie length. This series started life as a movie script, and the show just feels like a movie stretched to six hours. This keeps most of the main plot point, but makes it fit as an easily digestible Star Wars film.
Intention:
I liked the concept of bringing back Obi-Wan to see what he was up to between Episodes 3 and 4. However, like Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this was clearly originally conceptualized as a movie that was stretched to a 6-part series to provide content for Disney+. As a show, it's disappointing. It's inert and oddly paced, and lacks that swashbuckling adventure vibe that makes Star Wars Star Wars.
By trimming the story down to a more manageable 2 hours and 25 minutes (admittedly still a bit long for a Star Wars film, but cutting it further would've been to the detriment of the project) the story comes to life.
By trimming the story down to a more manageable 2 hours and 25 minutes (admittedly still a bit long for a Star Wars film, but cutting it further would've been to the detriment of the project) the story comes to life.
Other Sources:
4K83 (for the opening fanfare and Lucasfilm logos)
Star Wars soundtracks by John Williams
Star Wars soundtracks by John Williams
Special Thanks:
ArtisDead
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
The big stuff:
- The edit runs roughly 2 hours 25 minutes.
- Reva is still there, but the last we see of her is getting stabbed on Jabim. It’s implied that she’s dead, but left ambiguous enough that she could show up for further adventures. The whole Lars farmstead sequence is excised.
- I cut the training duel flashback, and many other instances of seeing Vader out of the suit. The only time I kept was when he and Kenobi are both in their bacta tanks. I think holding off on showing Anakin makes the broken helmet moment stronger. It also screams of “scene that was cool that we cut that we can now add back in because it’s a series”
- I removed the initial Order 66 flashback, keeping Reva’s motivations less obvious.
Smaller details:
- I didn't keep a detailed cutlist while working on this, but basically every scene has been edited in some way.
- I kept my eye on pacing and making this feel like an actual movie with a three act structure. There are huge chunks cut, but also more subtle changes that just trim a line or even a few seconds from a scene.
- A few, very selective scenes bring in some original Star Wars music. I didn’t want to go too heavy on this, but Leia’s theme, Imperial March, the Force theme, and Battle of the Heroes make appearances.
- Selectively added some Gradient wipes as scene transitions.
- Episode 2 probably gets the most cuts. The entire rooftop sequence is excised, and Reva never puts the bounty out on Kenobi. It can be implied through other dialogue that the Inquisitors put the city on lockdown and have people looking for them. Almost every scene in this section got a little trim.
- The first Vader duel got some trims for pacing, and to minimize the silliness of Kenobi running away a bunch of times.
- The rescue from the castle is also heavily trimmed, and Kenobi does not find the frozen bodies. I thought that was cool, but it doesn’t go anywhere with regard to the rest of the plot.
- Tala’s scene with Reva is also much shorter. She doesn’t try to play the double agent card.
- The battle on Jabim is much tighter. It doesn’t feel like the Stormtroopers miss a million easy shots anymore.
- Kenobi’s decision to leave the rebels and lure Vader happens a bit faster to keep the pace high.
- There are some trims to the big duel. But they were mainly to make the scene flow together well after cutting Reva stuff.
- I added the standard Star Wars end credits music.
- The edit runs roughly 2 hours 25 minutes.
- Reva is still there, but the last we see of her is getting stabbed on Jabim. It’s implied that she’s dead, but left ambiguous enough that she could show up for further adventures. The whole Lars farmstead sequence is excised.
- I cut the training duel flashback, and many other instances of seeing Vader out of the suit. The only time I kept was when he and Kenobi are both in their bacta tanks. I think holding off on showing Anakin makes the broken helmet moment stronger. It also screams of “scene that was cool that we cut that we can now add back in because it’s a series”
- I removed the initial Order 66 flashback, keeping Reva’s motivations less obvious.
Smaller details:
- I didn't keep a detailed cutlist while working on this, but basically every scene has been edited in some way.
- I kept my eye on pacing and making this feel like an actual movie with a three act structure. There are huge chunks cut, but also more subtle changes that just trim a line or even a few seconds from a scene.
- A few, very selective scenes bring in some original Star Wars music. I didn’t want to go too heavy on this, but Leia’s theme, Imperial March, the Force theme, and Battle of the Heroes make appearances.
- Selectively added some Gradient wipes as scene transitions.
- Episode 2 probably gets the most cuts. The entire rooftop sequence is excised, and Reva never puts the bounty out on Kenobi. It can be implied through other dialogue that the Inquisitors put the city on lockdown and have people looking for them. Almost every scene in this section got a little trim.
- The first Vader duel got some trims for pacing, and to minimize the silliness of Kenobi running away a bunch of times.
- The rescue from the castle is also heavily trimmed, and Kenobi does not find the frozen bodies. I thought that was cool, but it doesn’t go anywhere with regard to the rest of the plot.
- Tala’s scene with Reva is also much shorter. She doesn’t try to play the double agent card.
- The battle on Jabim is much tighter. It doesn’t feel like the Stormtroopers miss a million easy shots anymore.
- Kenobi’s decision to leave the rebels and lure Vader happens a bit faster to keep the pace high.
- There are some trims to the big duel. But they were mainly to make the scene flow together well after cutting Reva stuff.
- I added the standard Star Wars end credits music.
User reviews
14 reviews
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
9.9(14)
Visual Editing
9.7(14)
Audio Editing
9.9(14)
Narrative
9.4(14)
Enjoyment
9.4(14)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Kenobi the show is ok but feels long and a little bloated. This edit fixes some of those problems and makes for a better viewing experience. It definitely benefited from being in movie form as apposed to tv form. The narrative cuts were smooth and worked well, although you can slightly tell that some stuff is missing it doesn't detract from the overall experience or narrative as a whole. I agree with some of the other reviews about the cuts but given what they had to work with I think it's great. Worth a watch for sure.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
H
Overall rating
8.5
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
8.0
Kenobi is a series that has a lot to like in it, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't pad things out a bit. Spence does a good job at distilling the series to it's most basic elements into feature-length, which is commendable. Unfortunately, so much is stripped away that the fanedit feels more like a time killer rather than something additive to the franchise.
Like many, I thought the end of the second fight between Obi-Wan & Vader was weak, because it ends with Obi-Wan letting Vader go more or less because neither of them's supposed to die yet, as opposed to an in-story reason that's satisfying. I respect Spence's decision to save the AotC-era & Order 66 flashbacks for his prequel edits, but it robs Kenobi's story of texture that would be vital in crafting a better reason why Obi-Wan let's Vader go, whether it's Obi-Wan still seeing some Anakin in Vader or turning down the chance to kill Vader in order to save Luke (which I surprisingly missed the assault on the Lars holmstead, otherwise it seems Owen's just fine with Ben showing up now).
All, a herculean task, but it's just not for me.
Like many, I thought the end of the second fight between Obi-Wan & Vader was weak, because it ends with Obi-Wan letting Vader go more or less because neither of them's supposed to die yet, as opposed to an in-story reason that's satisfying. I respect Spence's decision to save the AotC-era & Order 66 flashbacks for his prequel edits, but it robs Kenobi's story of texture that would be vital in crafting a better reason why Obi-Wan let's Vader go, whether it's Obi-Wan still seeing some Anakin in Vader or turning down the chance to kill Vader in order to save Luke (which I surprisingly missed the assault on the Lars holmstead, otherwise it seems Owen's just fine with Ben showing up now).
All, a herculean task, but it's just not for me.
User Review
Format Watched?
Digital
N
(Updated: September 15, 2023)
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Though there were a few sequences from the show that I quite enjoyed that were removed-- like Obi-Wan haggling with the Jawas, Leia’s interaction with her adopted mother in the forest, and of course the Prequel sparring duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin-- the narrative was fine and the pacing was improved without them. Other than a few janky cuts (like when Leia was kidnapped) the editing was nearly seamless.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
Overall rating
9.9
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This is the closest to a perfect score I've ever given. Honestly, I struggled to identify where things were cut as the edit is so seamless and tells the complete story without many compromises. The only reason I took a point off of the visual editing was due to a couple of harsher-than-normal cuts. Otherwise, it's very difficult to find flaws. Thanks for the great edit, Spence!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
C
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Already one of my favorite Star Wars properties, Spence went out of their way to turn it into something even better: a cohesive, easily digestible storyline that maximizes "Star Wars" and minimizes everything that was basically just filler. This is my favorite SW fan edit so far and I always look forward to seeing more of Spence's work!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
W