Episode 8: (29 BBY) Obi-Wan and Anakin Miniseries (4-5)

I thought the Chancellor groomed me. This guy is weirding me out.

Old Ben. Old Ben coming out from the sand again.

That's what he calls an Old Ben.

In these final two issues, we see that art can save the world.

Obi-Wan lies about having gas.

And bullets beat lightsabers.

Today we finish Obi-Wan and Anakin issues 4 and 5 on this edition of the 11 Parsecs Podcast.

Hello and welcome to episode 8 of the 11 Parsecs Podcast.

My name is Eric. I'm here with my co-host Jon.

Hello. And today we're going to finish up issues 4 and 5 of the Anakin and Obi-Wan comic series from 2016

by Charles Sewell and the artist Marco Chiquetto.

I think I said that right. I hope I said that right. If you're listening, Marco, I hope I said that right.

Jon, how's it going?

I'm doing well. How are you?

I'm doing pretty good. You got a beer tonight or did you drink another bottle of beer and you already popped the top of it?

No, I am all set to salute, my friend.

Oh, nice. Okay, you want to do a little countdown and then pop them?

Yeah, let's do that.

Give me a second. Let me grab mine real quick.

Alright, we'll do a 3, 2, 1. Pop it.

Ow.

Oh, that was good. Yeah, I got a little bit of bubble-age too. I must have picked that up really quick.

Alright, well, what are you drinking, Jon?

Tonight I am having Tyrannosaurus Flex.

What? Who's this by?

A hazy Double IPA by New Realm Brewing.

Nice. That sounds really... you have piqued my interest.

It is fantastic.

Triples are like my last beer of the night kind of thing, like before I go to bed.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

But doubles are like a sweet spot for me because that's kind of like a, yeah, I'm going to be a little more partying after this. I like Double IPAs.

I had to look it up. New Realm is an Atlanta brewery.

They are? I did not know that.

Yes, down, down, closer downtown.

Oh, okay. Well, that's another one to add to our list for a drinking local. I am not, I don't think I'm drinking local.

I am drinking a Wicked Weed Coastal Love Hazy IPA. So we're both drinking hazies a little bit, but...

I've looked at that one. I've not had the Coastal Love.

Yeah, it looked fascinating. It had a little bit of a 70s vibe on it, on the can and everything, and I was like, I dig that. So I went ahead and picked it up.

Wicked Weed is not local. I mean, it's close.

No, it's regional.

Is it Florida? Where are they at?

Asheville, North Carolina.

That's right.

Well, that's where they originated.

Right, right.

And they were bought out by the man, so I don't know what the deal is anymore.

That's fine. It came from Asheville. That's the best way to say it, right?

Sure.

Yeah, so we'll say it's a Southern brewery. I like it.

All right, John. So last week when we covered issues one through three, we were both pretty high up on this comic book.

Yes.

You were very high. I remember you saying that you had to adapt a little bit to the art just because we were coming off of the Cullen Bun stuff, and it was a little bit different.

And I get it. I mean, that's a different thing that you got. I liked it a lot because it reminded me of kind of the 90s comics, The X-Men-ish type stuff.

You gave it a 90, I believe, last week. Does that number still hold now that you've finished it?

Not really, no. It faded at the end. I am not a big fan of Deus Ex Machina. I don't like that.

Yeah, okay.

And this was clearly that. It's almost like they wrote themselves into a corner and didn't know how to get out of it.

This is going to sound so William Ask, but I have not seen that movie.

What movie?

Oh, I thought you were saying Deus Ex Machina.

That's a Greek term for plays where God comes in and saves you.

Educate me. Educate me.

Yeah, Deus Ex Machina. God comes down and says, stop.

Wait, is this D-E-U-S?

Yes.

Okay, so I thought you were referring to the Ex Machina movie, which I have not seen.

I don't even...

Have I seen that? I don't think I've seen that.

It's got the Tomb Raider girl, Alisha, Avie or the initials, I forget what her name is.

I'm sure that probably is exactly what you're saying.

So give me English major background.

Well, it's tough. Do we want to jump to the end? Do we want to jump to the end?

Okay, we'll wait. So how low did it fall?

There's the thing. I still enjoyed the comic. I really did. The whole series I really enjoyed.

I thought it was a fun read. I did like the art.

It's just right at the end. It knocks it down to something like 80.

Oh, 80. Okay, so that's a sizable drop.

Yeah, it was.

So I remembered the ending.

And I can't wait to get back to some of the points that we made on the previous podcast.

I remember the ending and I remember the ending happening abruptly.

So we'll talk about that as we get further into the story.

Yes. But but overall it still sits pretty well with me.

I give it a 93 or 94.

I think I'm going to back down to about a 90 now that I've reread it.

I still love the art.

The art has some I mean there's some really cool panels where Obi-Wan just looks like a badass in this thing.

Like I don't know what it is the way he's drawn.

You know of course Anakin looks like a kid but or a younger a younger self that doesn't have as many like just kind of cool matrixy drops.

You know like like he'll fall off something and land like you get up like really cool.

Yes. So it drops a little bit in my eyes too after the reread.

But it's still it's still pretty good comic.

It's still a pretty good arc and I'm interested to see whenever we get to some other school stuff where you where you feel it fits in also number wise.

So it's always tough to when when you're looking at characters that you know from other media.

Yeah totally.

And I would say that I didn't I accept that that's Obi-Wan I accept that's Anakin.

They don't look like them to me.

I don't really buy that.

So there's a little bit of play.

I agree that there's a little bit of play.

I think that I'm not it's not really a criticism.

It's more of an observation.

They also look there's a there's a distinct look to Obi-Wan and it's not Obi-Wan ish.

I don't know if that's the best way to say it.

Yeah.

Like I like I don't know who he's modeled after.

It's like I feel like I've seen that person before but not in the context of Star Wars.

So I don't know if it's like a Brad Pitt kind of thing or something like that.

It's just kind of weird.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'll be one.

All right.

So let's let's let's jump into the fourth issue as a whole.

Obi-Wan and then go to this place where he heard the distress signal.

What's the what's the other guy's name?

Well, let's just let's let's be clear.

The cliffhanger we left on.

Right.

They they're betrayed and they're blasted out of the sky.

As is so often the case with cliffhangers, you pick up with that story and yeah, they're fine.

Not that big a deal.

And also you get Mother Prawn to be the one that's going to be the one that's going to be

the mother prawn, not caring about anything.

I mean, she's definitely a war hardened veteran.

And then you have Kalata just kind of like, oh, no, I can't believe you did that.

And of course, they fall and Obi-Wan grabs.

What is that guy's name?

Is it Grekis?

Grek Grek Greker?

Greker?

No, something like that.

And of course, you have Obi-Wan falling and grabs Greker and they're both OK when they hit the

bottom, which you knew was going to happen.

But still, it's kind of.

I know.

It's just, you know, over and over again.

And OK.

What else are they going to do?

You got to keep the comic moving.

Yep.

Yep.

Agreed.

And they got to kill the corpse Ravers or whatever they're called again.

This is not the type of Star Wars is not really the kind of thing where, let's say they landed

wrong and somebody broke his leg.

You know, that's just not really part of how these stories go.

So what did you think of the story after they Flash?

Well, I shouldn't say flashback, but whenever they Flash over to Anakin being brought in,

being brought in and tied up and like, oh, you'll do really well with us here, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah.

And he fixes the thing and they're all like, oh, we fixed it.

He's the sky.

What do they call sky gifts?

He's the sky gift that's here to fix everything.

And he does.

Yeah, he does.

Kind of everything.

I mean, it's he does.

That's his little stick from from building C3PO.

You got to you got to pull that through that little thread.

I love the mechs.

I thought the mechs were super cool.

The mechs were some of the best part of this story, in my opinion.

I love that introduction to the Star Wars universe.

And you've never seen that really anywhere other than just human ridden vehicles, you know?

Right. That's a good point.

I hadn't thought about that, but you're right.

But this is but they're using bullets and guns, right?

Well, so so Grecker and his men, there is a panel that I remember.

I'll find the page number in a minute where it does show them shooting Obi-Wan and there is red lasers going by.

I think it's supposed to be red lasers.

It's supposed to be bullets.

I'm sorry.

That's a that's a Gatling gun on the mech.

It's and it shows we are it's spinning up.

That that is that is meant to be bullets.

And I thought that was a wonderful point, because for some reason, blaster bolts have always been portrayed as slow.

They're not laser beams.

They are not instantaneous.

They're not speed of light.

Bullets travel faster and Obi-Wan can't keep up.

All right.

So you can't stop all the bullets.

So let's go to the panel.

Hold on.

Sorry.

Toward the end.

Yeah.

Ninety six.

That's that that's the that's the bullets shooting by.

Okay.

I took that as lasers.

Because it almost look like he was bouncing it back.

Look at the red barrels.

Look at the red barrels on the Gatling gun.

Later on, is the right when he's saved by Anakin flying in, there's a panel dedicated to her gun spooling up.

Oh, no, no.

No, I remember hers.

I remember hers.

Greggersmen had lasers though.

No, no. This is a quote-unquote primitive society.

With awesome mechs.

But the point is that the bullets are superior to the blasters because the bullets can take out a Jedi.

Yeah, I think one of the interesting things too, I guess you're dealing with lasers though when you're talking about like AT-ATs and AT-SATs and all that kind of stuff.

Those are blaster bolts.

Agreed, but I'm just saying it looks like whenever you're looking at the actual mechs, they look like they're more advanced mechanically than like an AT-AT or an AT-SAT.

And I don't know if it's just the fact that they're mechs, I'm used to seeing like Robocross, something like that.

But I feel like other than the fact that they're shooting actual bullets, they look like they would just take an AT-AT down, just wipe it away. You know what I mean?

It's a good... No, I disagree with that because the AT-AT certainly with its high-powered blaster cannons would destroy this thing.

And the bullets that it would fire would just bounce off the armor plating.

Yeah.

Right? Because it's an AT-AT. It's an armored transport. All-terrain armored transport.

You know, I never really thought about... For some reason I was just thinking that they were lasers.

But I mean, where are they getting all the bullets from?

I guess that is the one thing they know how to make.

Yeah, they're actually portrayed as not knowing anything. So that's a really good question.

Yeah, it's like, are they saving them up? And you got to think of this as generations that the bullets aren't going to work all that well.

Oh, generations. Absolutely. Yes. Tangenting off of that, I love the little message that art can save the world.

Yes, that was pretty good.

And that... Oh, okay. So first let's talk about what we're talking... Do you want to give like a little, like a 30-second brief about what the...

Oh, I forget what they call them. The gifts that each of the people have that they've captured from the kites.

Like, what is that all about?

Yeah, what's that lady's name? The scavenger, they call her?

Well, they call her... Yeah, go ahead.

She's sending out pieces of artwork and just various mementos of the past society.

She's sending them out into the world on balloons, right? It was balloons?

Balloons or kites. I feel like I saw a kite earlier.

Kites. Sorry, kites. And just whoever finds them and they just, they love them. They treasure them. They mean the world to them.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The younger generation does.

Yes.

I got the drift of the older generation with Grecker and Mother Prawn. They don't keep these things. Like, they forbid them.

They want to win the war. That's all they care about.

They don't want the younger generation to keep these pieces of art.

Get distracted, yes. That's right.

Because then you're like, well, wait, what are we fighting for? What was happening on this planet beforehand?

That kind of thing. They want only to destroy the other side.

Yes.

Yes, so the younger generation calls her the scavenger, I think is what the name... Her name is Sarah.

She's been there for... It actually doesn't really talk about how old she is. It just says that she's been collecting...

Well, she's portrayed as very, very old. And she keeps saying, I'm going to die soon.

Yes, and she's collected all the stuff that she wants to send up, and she somehow found a Jedi hologram or... It's not a holocron.

It's like a hologram picture painting type situation where she sees the Jedi.

It doesn't... It used to be in color, but it's faded and only shows a picture now.

But she knew somehow how to call using the communications mechanism, the Jedi on this odd frequency.

And she's able to call Obi-Wan of them.

Of course, that's the original trigger that gets Obi-Wan and Anakin to come to the planet.

Everybody... I'm actually fascinated that everybody portrayed here, everybody on this planet is awful.

Everybody's terrible.

Yes, it is. It's like...

Everybody wants to keep fighting everybody. She wants to kill off all of the older generation and mold the younger generation into her image of what people should be.

And the younger generation turn their backs and say, screw you, lady. These are my people.

So everything is awful. Everybody sucks.

Yes, it's like the Always Sunny in Philadelphia version of a Star Wars story.

You just can't find a character that you really like, other than of course the Jedi.

But maybe that's the point, is that you're supposed to feel so much for the Jedi and Anakin at this point.

Well, I got a sense moving through this that it's getting to a point where there's nothing they can do here.

They can't change, I don't know if you call it human nature or whatever these people are, open and closed nature.

What are two Jedi going to do?

Yes, it's more of an escape at this point.

I agree with you at this point. At this point, it's kind of hopeless.

So they're kind of like, what are we going to do?

And of course, Anakin's taken away, so they don't know if he's going to get back or not either.

So one thing I remember asking you in the last podcast was, you had mentioned that Anakin had dropped his lightsaber and Obi-Wan was handing it back to him.

And I told you, if you remember that podcast, I said, hey, make sure you remember these panels.

Because I wanted to bring up what I knew was going to happen, was that it's not exactly that, that he dropped it.

So part of that gets me to this point.

What did you think about the panel where they're talking and he's kind of like being the weird guy with the candy van being like, hey, let's not talk about this with anybody.

I love that little bit, especially what is this page 76. There's two panels there where Anakin says the first panel, Anakin says, you're trained to become a Jedi is all I've ever wanted.

And then there's this panel right below it with no words on it. That is fantastic. It's Palpatine just just staring at him.

It looks like it's the exact same panel. I think it's the exact same panel with no words on it. That's why it's perfect.

You know what Palpatine is thinking. Yeah, that's why it's beautiful. You know exactly what's going through his head.

Well, we think we do. Who knows the many layers of the Chancellor, but the Sith Lord.

But I think it's great that you can see him laying the groundwork to to get Anakin out of the Jedi Order.

And my question to you is, because we don't know based on what we've seen so far is Darth Maul is dead.

And always two there are. So does he have a apprentice at this point? A Sith apprentice?

No, I don't. As far as I know, which is limited to our scope because we haven't watched anything.

I do not believe he does. I think he is the next apprentice. He wants Anakin to be the next apprentice.

Yeah, he's grooming him to be the next apprentice. Yeah, yeah. And so that's that makes sense.

That's what I saw. And I thought it was that's great. It's a nice little nice little moment, especially that one panel.

Well, the next the next series, though, is that he's handing over his his lightsaber to Obi-Wan.

That was that was the first time I read this. It was definitely something that I did not see coming.

Like I thought the same thing you did that he had dropped his lightsaber whenever Obi-Wan was handing it back to him on the planet.

And then I was like, wait a minute. He wasn't. He was saying, hey, I need your help.

But you're a Jedi still. I need you back in this. You know, here's your lightsaber that you've already given to me saying you're going to quit.

He didn't drop his lightsaber. Did I misread that whole thing? Well, you didn't know it at the time.

Yes. So he so so you you mentioned that he dropped his lightsaber and you never going to never drop your lightsaber.

You know, that kind of it wasn't it was because he had given Obi-Wan the lightsaber saying I'm quitting the Jedi Order.

And Obi-Wan's like, no, dude, I need you here because this is our last mission.

We got to we got to figure this out, you know. Oh, OK. Yes, I did completely misread that entire sequence.

No, you did. You didn't misread it. You you used what knowledge you had at that time.

That's why that's why on that podcast I was like, hey, make sure you remember these panels.

OK. All right. Mr. Know-it-all. Well, no, I just I had read it before.

That's that's how I knew. I mean, I know that I knew this. I knew the movie.

I mean, you can't I'm glad I'm glad that you cleared that up because I missed that that bit.

I missed that. He had decided he had decided to leave and he had handed over his lightsaber.

Yeah, he's done. He was out. And so so Palpatine is trying to get Anakin out of the orders to turn him.

So when Palpatine was trying to get Anakin to leave the Jedi, we find out later that had Anakin left the order.

Obi-Wan would have gone to. Yeah, because he promised to.

That's right. And so Palpatine's plans wouldn't have worked out anyway or he would have had to do something.

Well, it depends. Yeah. If he would have made his move and suddenly Anakin's like, you know, I'm following this dude now.

What does Obi-Wan do? I mean, you know, yeah. So excuse me. That's my Padawan. What are you doing?

Which in the end kind of happens a little bit. I mean, you know, you know, I'm not jumping ahead too far, but, you know, you know, he does kind of go after him.

And not the same even after he's turned. Even after I know it's not the same way, but the arc is still kind of the same.

Well, we'll talk about it. Let's talk about that when we get to episode four or five.

So, yeah. So it's an interesting thing seeing like I remember right when I read this the first time I was like, does this happen?

Like I was like, I can't you know, I didn't know that much about Star Wars or that universe really.

Does this happen where a lot of people leave the order and just turn over their lightsaber and like I'm done?

I don't think it's not portrayed that way at all. It's portrayed as well in the original trilogy is portrayed as that's if you're a Jedi, if you're force sensitive.

Yeah, you train and you become a Jedi and that's that. And you're either light side or dark side.

Yeah. People leave the order, though. Like I get that part of it. But are you still I mean, yeah, but that's never addressed in the original trilogy.

And I don't think is that is that addressed? I guess it is addressed in the prequel trilogy because Doku has left. Right.

Yes. Left the order. Yeah. And if you remember back in Master and Apprentice when Rael was talking about Doku.

Certainly. I mean, yeah, he's like, you know, he's left the order. But he wasn't an enemy by any means at that point.

He was just doing his own thing.

Yeah, but he's still...

They're not jailkeepers.

They're, you know, which actually I could really understand that.

It would be a really kind of a darker side of the Jedi.

It's like, we're going to train you up and basically make you a super weapon.

You want to walk away?

I don't think so.

Yeah, no, that would be that would be kind of wicked.

But yes, I agree with you.

And Doku is probably the best example of it, where even Rael is just kind of like...

I think even if I remember right back in Master and Apprentice,

Rael Averroes was kind of like considering leaving the Order, too, at one point.

And then they kind of brought him back in by giving him...

After he killed his Padawan.

I mean, that type of character makes for more interesting stories.

So it's, of course, you know, we gravitate towards that.

But I really am fascinated by the idea that we make...

We hone you to a blade, a fine blade.

We're not going to let you go because then you're a danger.

Agreed.

Well, it's almost like we've we've hoped that we've taught you.

This is in my head. This is not actually what...

No, I know. I know. I know what you're saying.

But but I don't I don't know the backstory.

All right. So this is a great way to transition into talking about the

the hologram picture thing that they that she...

I love that. I love that.

I love that we just had a conversation with William about lightsaber colors.

And then you and I talked about it last time about, you know,

what's the deal with lightsaber colors?

And here it is.

What color was that lightsaber?

Yeah, it did come along at a perfect time

just because we were discussing that last week.

But you I mean, we all we always knew that red was, you know, the evil.

You know, and you kind of understood that.

But then also the other colors, I think, is what William was alluding to

more along the lines of like blue, green.

Right. Which I have no I still don't know what that all means.

You know, I'm not saying I don't I'm not saying I do either.

I'm just saying, though, that I think that the the

it was a very good use in this book.

Sorry, in the story to say, hey, you know, what color was the guy's lightsaber?

And she's like, oh, I think it was red if I remember right.

And I'm like, that's pretty good.

That's pretty good. A little like that.

And they so all all darksiders, all all Sith.

They use the the crystal.

It gives you a red blade. Why?

I know a little bit of the answer to this.

And we're going to I know.

Yeah, we're going to that's my question is why?

Why would I mean, it can't be purely aesthetic like I'm bad.

I get a red blade. It can't be like that.

Right. There has to be more to it than that.

Yeah. OK. Yeah.

And we'll we'll we'll get there at some point.

But that being said, though, I really like the I can tell it was like Riven

or like I don't know who the picture is that she sees in the hologram.

But it even I have no idea. Yeah, it looks it looks very dark.

It does not look like a Jedi.

You know what I mean?

Like, it looks very like just looking at the picture,

even though it's black and white, you're kind of like, that's not a real Jedi.

I mean, that's like somebody that's like not, you know, doing a good thing.

But I enjoy the way it brought into the story.

Sarah, who has no clue about the Jedi, who happens to read about them

in these things, and then suddenly is like, I got to call these people help.

See if they come.

And she's like, oh, I'm glad I called you.

I don't really get the part.

And maybe I skipped over it where she knew to call the Jedi.

But yet she was been looking at all the Sith pictures and holograms and stuff.

She wouldn't she would not know the difference.

That's all she had was that one little film that showed these Jedi people.

And actually, where did you get the term from?

That's what I'm saying, though. How does she know to call?

That's how does she know to call the Jedi? Yeah, right.

Well, no, no, no.

I'm not just saying call is in like name the Jedi, the name of the Jedi.

But I'm more along the lines of like,

how does she know how to use the communication device to call them?

Well, I think she talks about that.

It's just, you know, that's what it does.

And that's what it did. And it broke.

So she just said, you know, shiny button, call the Jedi.

But now you bring it up.

And my question is, please, how does she know they're called Jedi

if she was watching a video of the Sith?

Yeah. Where they don't even talk.

I want and I did have this question.

Why would the Sith leave behind a way to call?

Well, I didn't call them. I called the Jedi.

That's what I'm saying.

No, that makes any sense. It doesn't.

And that was a part that I was a little bit confused on upon the reread.

But I thought it was pretty good.

There's one panel that I really, really love.

It's on page 86.

The art on this thing is just amazing.

It's whenever she talks about war and it's got like these four

Robo Max and then like these five or six like awesome Cyberpunk ish balloons.

Yeah, I mean, it's so good.

It's such a cool.

That's probably one of my favorite pages of the comics that we've read thus far.

And that's a great ending shot, you know, like episode ending shot to issue four.

Yeah, agreed.

And that that was that was a really good

that was probably my favorite panel of the entire series.

All right. So we're on to number five.

It's the end.

I want you to go over your

deuce Deus Ex Machina theory here with me.

Yeah. And treat me like the layman.

Give me the give me the give me the breakdown.

So this theme contains Obi Wan Obi Wan, because Anakin has repaired the ship.

The communicator thing, Obi-Wan says, I'm going to change the system.

That's literally what he says.

And so we see in one panel, I'm going to change the system.

So he's sending the signal.

Okay.

And then it's implied almost immediately after that.

They break through.

Yeah.

Agreed.

Yeah.

The ships are there.

Now I'm sorry.

In Star Wars, there's not instantaneous transportation.

Right.

Yeah.

Agreed.

You go through hyperspace.

And they talk about how desolate this place or how out of the bounds it was to begin with.

Which is making it worse.

So, but somehow instantaneously, an armada of Republic ships shows up based on one Jedi

saying we have gas here.

No, and it's not just an armada that was hanging around that solar system.

There's Jedi that get off there.

Yes.

Like if you look at the following panel, like Jedi are getting off.

Like Jedi, you recognize Ka-A-Monday.

What's that big forehead guy?

Ka-A-Monday.

Ka-A-Monday.

Yeah, I think it's his name.

Okay.

But anyways.

So instantaneously, that's one huge problem I have.

Second is because, I mean, it's like a war for oil.

You know, we've got oil coming.

Yeah.

And the Republic's like, oil?

I want to show up for that.

That's our oil now.

Beep, beep, beep.

Who got oil?

It's a rock all over again, man.

It's flashbacks.

It's flashbacks.

No, that was a really weird way to end it.

And it has to be, you've established again, that everybody on this planet sucks.

They are committed to killing each other.

There will be no resolution to this.

So what do you do?

Deus Ex Machina.

In comes the Republic and says, we are not going to allow anybody to fight, which I think is a really curious thing, because how are you going to enforce that?

By fighting.

By stationing it, yeah.

So good luck with that.

Occupying force.

Yeah.

And Obi-Wan's kind of like, it was the best thing I could do.

Like, you're like, all right, well, I mean, I get it, but did you need to do anything?

Why didn't you just leave?

I mean.

Yeah, the only choice was just, bye-bye.

Yeah, see you guys.

This isn't a great place and we understand it and we'll leave you guys to do whatever you need to do.

So you have to think that this is a, because as he says, they're going to complete their survey.

They're going to find no Tibiana or Tibana gas or whatever it is.

And they're going to say, well, why are we here?

Right?

There's no, there's no treasure to plunder on this world.

And they're going to leave and it's going to be right back where they were.

Well, I think Obi-Wan's hope is that during that time, they'll find that peace was an easier option.

But they've established so clearly that there won't be.

Or maybe all the old people died off and it's all the younger kids now.

They flew off their little speeder bikes.

Who knows what the other side, the closed, I guess.

I think it's a condemned world and that's the last you see of it.

Yeah.

I would, I would agree with you there.

I don't think that there's going to be any further progress.

It was a, it was a, a temporary fodder for a story.

Yes.

Yeah.

And, and it's almost like it would have been a more satisfying conclusion had in that hangar, let's say they found an old ship.

And Anakin says, I can fix it.

And, and Obi-Wan says, we, we, okay, go ahead and repair it.

And we're, we're going to leave.

And Anakin having made some friends, right.

With the open people, open kids says, but, but what about the people?

We can't just abandon them.

And Obi-Wan has to teach that lesson.

You can't save everybody.

They're too committed.

We're two guys.

See ya.

Yeah.

I, I, I probably would have liked the ending just as much.

So you're okay with the Republic teleporting in basically.

No, no, no, no.

I didn't know.

I did not say that at all.

I thought, I remember whenever I read it the first time, I mean like, wow, that was really quick.

Like, I don't understand how they got there so fast, but I think the overall ending to the story felt rushed.

Like not just them coming in, like just the entire kind of like very rushed last, last half of the fifth book or the fifth issue.

Yeah.

Like it just felt, it just felt like, like panel after panel, you're like, oh, I was supposed to recognize that they did this.

You know what I mean?

Like, it's like a, like Anakin being able to fix the thing in like a minute's notice.

Like, don't get me wrong.

I get that the guy's mechanically inclined and you know, and he can fix things really quick, but he's like, I just saw this thing.

It's old and I'm going to fix it for you right now.

And you're just, and he's like, I've got parts all around here.

We're good.

And I'm like, this lady's been collecting shit from all over the time.

Yeah, they have that comment.

There's parts everywhere.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This lady's been collecting stuff.

I'm like, I'm not going to fix it.

Yeah, this lady's been collecting stuff from all over the planet.

Who knows what it is?

It's all pretty.

It's just Lego pieces.

Yeah.

And he's like, okay, let me do this real quick.

And we'll beam some messages up.

It's not like you have a micro circuit circuitry board, you know, that has a fault in it that you have to trace.

No, no, no.

You just plug this into that and you're good to go.

Also, let's talk about power.

Let's, how do they have power?

Like, how are they doing anything?

The panels where they're with Kolata is talking to Anakin like I'm sorry we had

to kidnap you blah blah blah. They have like lights on and all the windows and

all this stuff and I'm just kind of like what's the deal with the power like I

know Anakin did his little thing to the fusion ball or whatever to get the mechs

going and everything but they can light up the windows but not figure out how to

power the things like I don't know that was a kind of an odd thing to me.

That is a Star Wars conceit at least until freaking episode 8 came along.

Gas and power are not a concern. Well also a conceit that you have to do too

is that well I guess Anakin did build them so the bike things that the younger

kids fly off on like I'm kind of like all right so you've been flying around

in airships all this time but yet but I think that you're supposed to concede

that Anakin can fix them because he talks about how I built them. That's right yeah yeah

yeah that's what he does because he can build Protocol Droid and a pod racer.

So do you think the overall theme for this entire comic is to show that Anakin

can be swayed a bit that he does feel like he still wants to be a Jedi from

point A to point B in the comic and then also that he can fix things amazingly

fast? Certainly the the it's like a like you know you have a sweater and it has

that loose thread and and you just kind of start pulling on it out of habit and

it starts to fray that that's what that was meant to be is he's friends with

Palpatine and Palpatine is just kind of tugging at that thread a little bit

seeing what can come out. I'm depending how much I want to lower my score now

after this conversation. I feel like I'm hovering around 85.

I agree with that and there's conceits that I'm definitely

willing to make you know in comics and all that kind of stuff but that is a

pretty big one where it's just kind of like well and I'm not just talking about

them appearing so fast I'm talking about him being able to signal them so fast

also. Yeah and then okay so let's let's talk about this where he says being a Jedi is

about being part of something larger you know and more so okay so being a Jedi is

about being part of government. I didn't know that I didn't think that was the

case. Well you got to remember where Yoda's at at this point though too he's

all in on the on the Republic. Yeah but this is Obi-Wan talking to you know

find the page. It's where they show up it's 103 and and Obi-Wan says

being a Jedi is not about power or lightsabers or even skill with The Force.

Now if you asked most people what's the deal with being a Jedi? I think they

would say superpowers and they use a lightsaber and they're good with the

force. His point is it's about connection to this part of something bigger which

in this case he's referring to the Republic. To the government yeah. So not

not a libertarian. Well is it more along the lines of the something bigger

being The Force as a whole or is it you're reading it very strongly as the

government? Very straight. Well that's what he's... yes the Republic did

not come here because of Obi-Wan. This is him talking again. It's because a Jedi

called them and that's what it's about. It's about being part of something bigger.

That's the context. He's saying you know we've got the government on our

sides the Galactic Republic on our sides. I still say he's using them as pawns

though almost because he's trying to get he's trying to get them to do what he

wants because Anakin even says like like he said don't believe you and he's like

and he's like yeah I'm a Jedi. Yeah exactly I'm a Jedi. I hate this ending. I

hate this ending so much. It's so funny that we've like we've walked I've walked

myself in a circle of this comic because I'm like now I'm just in there kind of

like you know it could have been better. It's a good comic. It's got good action. It's got good visuals. It's just that now that I've

thought through how powerful it would have been if he had said no Anakin we

must leave them to their fate. That's powerful. But does that go along with

Obi-Wan's character though? Could you honestly feel it? Yeah it tied in with

Phantom Menace where Qui-Gon says you know we're only Jedi we can't fight a

war for you. Yeah it ties in with Master Apprentice too.

To change the planet. Because you remember Master Apprentice he's the rule guy.

He's the guy that goes back to the council and does the phone call behind

Qui-Gon's back. Yeah they were there to find out what the distress call was. They

found the distress call is some old lady with a grudge just like everybody else

on the planet has a grudge. Okay we're done here. Yeah.

I'm just gonna go drink another beer about this comic.

This is in my opinion one of the better ones. I did not do

analysis on the ending as much as we are today.

But this is a good comic in my opinion.

I can't know. I say it's a good comic.

I still think it's a good comic.

I say it's a good comic.

That being said, it's lowered itself.

I'm actually enjoying discussing. It's making me think a lot.

And I appreciate that, even though I'm disagreeing with where it went.

I really wonder more and more, why didn't they go with that ending?

That would have made so much more sense.

Well, maybe it's the payoff though.

Like whenever they get back with Yoda, Yoda's sitting there like,

you know, if he would have left, you would have had to leave too, you know?

Or you would have left. No, he doesn't say you would have had to have left.

He says you would have left too, wouldn't you?

And he's like, yeah, because I made a promise to Qui-Gon that I would train this kid.

Do you have to have the Republic coming in and the kind of happy wrap up of that planet

so that you can have that panel?

No, I think that last scene there with Yoda does not change one bit.

Unless they decide to, unless Yoda would say, you know,

no choice did you have, or however he would say it.

But I think he would absolutely agree that Obi-Wan did the right thing.

To skip town?

Yes.

To go buy cigarettes?

Change the world you cannot.

Cigarette buying you must.

I think that's exactly what he would be totally on board with that.

Okay, now here's the second part of that question, though.

The final scene, or the final page, where Anakin is like, I want to be back in.

I made a mistake.

Would he have had that same thought if they had left?

I don't know.

Okay, you got me on that one.

Yeah, I think he would have been like, wait, there were like four or five kids down there that I helped out.

Like, you suck. Yeah, you just left them to die.

Yeah, we can't do that. We're Jedi.

You know what I mean?

Or maybe that's another chink in the armor, you know, for why he deflects.

Because he's kind of like, you know what, you guys just leave people here.

You act all high and mighty.

Something has to, some thread has to tie Anakin's fall together.

And we seem to see that it's power.

Yeah, I agree.

He likes power. He's attracted to power.

And the way it was ended showed power.

So just tucking your tail in the running.

You're saying I'm going to continue my education because I want to become more powerful.

I want to be part of this really powerful thing.

I mean, he just sent out a signal and an armada showed up.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah, and that does, yeah, the ending does lead him to seeing how powerful the Jedi are.

I thought, I got the fact that Obi-Wan was teaching him an entire lesson in this whole thing.

It just happens to turn out that they don't have to, that he doesn't have to lead the order at the end of it.

But I never looked at the power aspect of it or him being like, man, I like this.

I like that I can call these Jedi and ships down in a heartbeat.

Well, I think that's illustrated by you asking me the question.

If they had just left the planet and left all these people to die,

would Anakin have that final page there where, OK, yeah, I want to be a Jedi?

Yes, you can interpret it multiple ways.

That's, all right.

That's a credit to the writer, I think.

I think that you're saying that I took that entirely.

It's possible that they had the same conversation and they said, well, they just leave.

And well, then Anakin would have left the order.

So we can't have him do that.

So something has to entice him to stay.

OK, Obi-Wan calls in the Republican.

They show up and so Anakin's like, wow, that's cool.

Obi-Wan fools the Republican to show him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There might be gas there. You don't know.

There might be tequila gas or whatever it's called.

Tequila gas.

There's tequila here.

Yeah, it's it's it's I'm like going over my head right now, like it's a very interesting ending or way that they could have ended it.

I still contest that if they would have just skipped out that I don't know if Anakin would have joined back.

But maybe I'm wrong. I don't know.

I don't think you know. I think you would have said this is this is this is not for me.

I have decided.

Not my thing.

Yeah, of course.

You could use that as a setup for another series.

Anakin comes back to the order because I don't think any of that's established.

Right.

So I'm going to be interested to see if I don't think that has anything to do with the series, but the new Obi-Wan show where that slots in with him because it's played by Ian McGregor.

So it's that's about the same place as the characters on this on this.

So I wonder if you're just going to get it.

How could it be?

Well, how could that be?

What do you mean?

You and McGregor is how much older now than when he last portrayed.

OK, 20 years older. But I'm just saying we've got the beard and everything in this thing.

You could you could he could play some he could play some.

How does it not take place?

Mentorish. No, he could do a show about this, right?

They can do a mentorish type situation.

No, they should. It'd be great. But yeah, it's he's older now.

He's a decade and a half older.

Shouldn't his looks set the tone?

This in the really boring section where he's just hanging out and tattooing.

I guess he's playing chess all day.

Avengers?

Yeah.

Just playing chess, chewing on things.

You see him, yeah, you see him vacuuming the floor.

It's just episode after episode.

Is he using The Force?

Is he, is he doing the hand wave thing?

Using The Force with the vacuum?

Or is he just...

The season finale is him poking around a wall, kind of looking at Luke.

And then poking back and that's it.

Grumpy old man.

Yes.

I thought the Chancellor groomed me.

This guy's weird me out.

But, uh, Old Ben.

Old Ben coming out from the sand again.

That's what he calls it, Old Ben.

Yeah, it's a very, I don't know.

I'm interested to see where that the timeline fits in there.

They probably released where that's going to be, whether it's going to be between like...

Yeah, it's got to be pre-fore...

Yeah, I don't know.

It's gonna be interesting.

It's gonna be interesting to see where it's going to be.

Well, they've earned...

Who's doing this?

Is it the same people that did The Mandalorian or...

No, I don't think so.

I don't think Falon is.

I was going to say...

Because they changed writers on it.

Like it was being written by somebody.

And I don't know if it was McGregor that had a problem with it or something,

but they kind of scrapped the written stuff that they already had.

And they said that they were going to do a rework on the scripts.

So I don't know.

I don't know how it's going to work.

Well, I was going to say, if it's the same organization in some way

that had something to do with Mandalorian, they built up a lot of cred

because it was so fantastic.

Or I'll tell you what, they built up that set.

I mean, you could use that set for something like Obi-Wan.

And man, that set is amazing.

Have you seen any of the back of the engineering videos about the set?

I have not.

OK, we'll save that for next episode or after

maybe the episode after Queen's Shadow, because I've got a lot of reading to do

this weekend.

OK, so I think overall, we thought that the Obi-Wan Anakin comic series

was pretty good.

Kind of ended maybe a little too fast, but

should be interesting to see the TV shows coming out.

Well, how that slots in there.

Be sure to join us next week for EK Johnson's Queen's Shadow.

After that, we've got two more comics, and then after that,

we are on to the second movie.

So take care, everyone.

This is the 11 Parsecs podcast, episode number eight.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe

and leave us a good review.

And be sure to check us out at 11 Parsecs.com and Discord.

I'm Jonathan Smith with the well-groomed Eric Thompson.

Thank you for joining us.