Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)
By this stage, it seems an exercise in folly to bemoan Disney for serving up yet more nostalgic Star Wars content. After all, this limited series always threatened to be little more than just that. But this might be the moment where I realised that Kathleen Kennedy and co. are destined to eek every morsel out of this once great franchise until it is little more than a parody of its former self.
The same can certainly be said of the legendary characters this show focuses on. Here, we get an Obi-Wan that is little more than a glorified babysitter with a knack for tediously trotting out catchphrases at inopportune times. You'd think that, given the show is predicated on him being hunted by the Galactic Empire, we'd see an iteration of the character that is a master in disguise. But no, he literally just changes his name to Ben and carries on dressing like a Jedi to the suspicion of absolutely nobody.
But surely Darth Vader is cool, right? After all, he looked great in Rogue One. Think again - here, we get a version of Vader that is easily outwitted and (spoiler alert) gets his arse handed to him in the final showdown his old tutor. This was easily the most disappointing aspect of the show for me and suggests that the creative team behind this current spate of Star Wars properties just don't understand the mystique that made these characters so special the first time round.
Alas, there are some pleasing elements to the show - Obi-Wan's relationship with a young Princess Leia (though often tediously irritating) does a good job of foreshadowing their reconnection in A New Hope. And it's great to see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprise their roles from the prequels - it's just a shame they weren't given better material to work with.
After the disappointment of the Book of Boba-Fett, it's hard to see where Star Wars goes from here on the small screen. Nostalgia sells so it's fair to suspect more of the same, but it feels like a real missed opportunity and a disservice to the source material.
