As a seasoned Star Wars fan who’s spent countless hours immersed in the galaxy far, far away, I must confess that the recent release of Star Wars: Padawan’s Pride has left me both elated and perplexed. The tale of young Anakin Skywalker’s apprenticeship under Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi is a tantalizing prospect, set as it is in the decade-long gap between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Yet, the relative scarcity of stories from this crucial period leaves me yearning for more.
On a thrilling Thursday, Star Wars enthusiasts (particularly those with Audible memberships) were in for a treat as Disney-Lucasfilm Press unveiled the new audiobook titled “Star Wars: Padawan’s Pride“. This book marks the beginning of the Star Wars Adventures: Audible Originals collection. Interestingly, this book was released without any preliminary publicity or fanfare, which made it all the more surprising. The story unfolds 29 years before the Battle of Yavin, making it a tale that falls between “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” and “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones“. During this period, we find ourselves in the time when young Padawan Anakin Skywalker was under the tutelage of Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It might be surprising to note that “Padawan’s Pride” is one of just a handful of tales that unfold during this specific era. Although ten years separate “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones”, those years are crucial for the bond between Anakin and Obi-Wan, yet apart from the 2016 Marvel Comics series titled “Obi-Wan and Anakin”, only one other substantial story focusing on their relationship during this period exists. Interestingly, “Padawan’s Pride” takes place earlier in the same year as this comic series, creating a notable void in the Star Wars chronology.
Star Wars is known for delving into every minor detail and filling the gaps between movies with additional stories. For instance, a comic book was published to explain C-3P0’s red arm in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Similarly, Marvel produced five years’ worth of comics during the year between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. One could argue that Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series was primarily created to address why Obi-Wan refers to Darth Vader as “Darth” instead of “Anakin” or “Vader” in A New Hope. In other words, they don’t leave any stone unturned when it comes to storytelling.
It seems strange that there has been relatively less focus on revealing Anakin’s pre-Clone Wars training to fans, considering more attention has been given to the relationship between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn, as depicted in novels like “Master & Apprentice” and “The Living Force”. However, this doesn’t fully explain the significant focus on Obi-Wan and Anakin in stories from “Attack of the Clones” and beyond. Despite this, the early years of their partnership, which are crucial to their development, appear to be somewhat underdeveloped.
Given all these points, it seems unusual that Star Wars hasn’t explored in depth a significant decade in young Skywalker’s life as thoroughly as one might expect. While there are some youth-oriented comics and standalone stories set during this era, they often don’t hold much weight within the broader narrative and, more importantly, rarely delve into the critical master-apprentice relationship that was forming at that time.
In just three years, Lucasfilm Animation produced a full seven-season series called Star Wars: The Clone Wars, sandwiched between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. While there was certainly no shortage of battle tales during that period, it might have made a more profound impression on fans if they had a better grasp of what daily life in the Republic resembled before the war, as well as the role the Jedi played during peaceful times.
This makes it even more odd that Lucasfilm has been seemingly reluctant to tell the story of Anakin and Obi-Wan’s early years. The influence of Japanese samurai films on Star Wars has been long chronicled and made even more explicit in some of the streaming series produced under Dave Filoni. Tales of samurai training and stories about samurai transitioning from the war-torn Sengoku period of Japanese history into the era of the “Shogun’s peace” that followed could inspire and form the basis for a series (I’d suggest an ongoing comic or anime-style animated series) following Obi-Wan and Anakin. Such a series — which could be more or less episodic, structurally — would allow readers to get to know who these characters were before they became fully swept up in the tides of history and destiny, as seen in the Skywalker saga films.
Despite varying opinions about my proposed concept for an Obi-Wan and Anakin-centric story set in this era, it’s peculiar that the ten-year gap between “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” has not been explored extensively. Could it be that there are plans for this period that have yet to materialize? Or is it possible that the scarcity of stories during this era might stem from a belief among executives like Kathleen Kennedy that fans would reject any actors other than Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen in these roles, given the limitations of digital de-aging techniques? It could also be a mix of both factors that have hindered Marvel and Lucasfilm Publishing from producing comic books or prose stories set during this era. However, this lack of exploration seems unusual for the custodians of the Star Wars franchise.
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2024-09-22 23:10