From Jedi to Marvel

[setsuled]

Last night Disney premiered a new Marvel series and a new episode of a Star Wars series, Ms. Marvel and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Surprisingly, Ms. Marvel turned out to be the much stronger of the two, but maybe that's just because my expectations were so low for it.

But first, I want to talk about Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think the hard truth we have to face is that this series, quality-wise, is about on par with The Star Wars Holiday Special. Think about it. It has the big stars in their famous roles but written by people who don't really seem to understand the characters, being more intent on just hitting the bare minimum necessary dramatic beats to tell something that can be called a story. The hair and makeup look odd, the music's not nearly as good, and there's an overall lack of a sense of grandeur that's one of the cardinal virtues of the Star Wars films.



I guess it was kind of nice that Obi=Wan (Ewan McGregor) wasn't the only one making stupid mistakes this time. Tala (Indira Varma) accidentally leaves her comm turned on when she was trying to bluff Reva (Moses Ingram) and a sudden call from Obi-Wan spoiled the whole thing. Obi-Wan was having similar trouble trying to hide from Stormtroopers with the thing. Come on, people, even C-3PO knew how to switch off a comm.

Vivien Lyra Blair as Leia came off a little better in this episode, I suspect mainly due to creative editing that made her look appropriately nervous and frightened for her situation. Though Moses Ingram is still only coming across as about as sinister as Harvey Korman on the Holiday Special.



After Obi-Wan Kenobi, I struggled with whether or not I wanted to watch Ms. Marvel. I hated Captain Marvel so why would I want to watch a show about a Captain Marvel fan girl? Well, as it turned out, Iman Vellani as the titular protagonist of the series outshines Brie Larson in every way. She's sassy with the audience and has better access to her own emotions. She has a sense of comedic timing and the ability and courage to seem really wounded.

A lot of people have pointed out the plot of Ms. Marvel is oddly similar to Pixar's Turning Red. That's true but I found the parents on Ms. Marvel to be much more threatening and realistic. My own experience may have prejudiced me. I work at a junior high school in Japan and I hear plenty about how strict the parents are, especially the parents of the kids in the art club where I tend to spend a lot of time. These parents on the show who think their kid obsessing over fantasy are on the path to doom--they're so true to life and I felt all kinds of concern for Kamala Khan.

The show makes some stylistic choices I mainly found more distracting than effective, namely the choice to make all illustrations, everywhere, animated. But mostly I have to say Ms. Marvel gets thumbs up from me. If only Star Wars were willing to experiment like that.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ms. Marvel are available on Disney+.