The Phasma Menace

Some fans have compared Captain Phasma to Boba Fett, in that she is a well-designed villain without much screen time. Yet fans still feel connected to her because of the potential for her character. We don’t quite know what is under the mask, and that can sometimes be a good thing. Some fans note that she is the first female villain in the Star Wars film franchise (unless you count Zam Wessel).

The funny thing is that “she” was very nearly a “he”. In fact the only reason that Phasma is a woman at all is that Gwendolyn Christie campaigned so hard to be part of “The Force Awakens”. She nagged her agent for weeks until finally he got her a part, only three weeks before principal photography. Phasma was originally designed to be male, but was changed to female during the casting process. Of course, this didn’t stop fanboys from crying “forced diversity”.

Many, including Christie, note that the character of Phasma is breaking new ground for blockbuster Hollywood films, in that she is a strong female that is not sexualized in any way. One male fan even complained that it was “hard to tell” that her armor was designed for a female to which Starwars.com responded: “It’s armor. On a woman. It doesn’t have to look feminine.”

Word from the cantina is that Phasma has a much larger role in 
“The Last Jedi”, which seems to be supported by the fact that Lucasfilm just released a novel and comic series devoted entirely to Phasma.

The novel “Phasma” was written by Delilah S. Dawson. It focuses on Phasma’s origin story and if there is an overall theme to the book, it is this: Empathy is not one of Phasma’s strong suits. Nor is sympathy. Nor is kindness. Phasma is smart, strong, and will do anything to survive. And this book chronicles the choices that Phasma makes to continue to survive on her apocalyptic home planet and the choices that Phasma makes to thrive in the First Order. 

The four part comic series, written by Kelly Thompson, focuses on Phasma’s story immediately after she was thrown into a trash compactor by Han & Finn in the Force Awakens. As far as I know, it is the first Star Wars story to be set in a post-TFA timeline.

Going in to “The Last Jedi” one has to wonder if we will see Phasma without a helmet. On one hand it would be amazing to actually see Gwendolyn Christie flexing her acting muscles without the chrome mask. On the other hand, could it represent something stronger if the audience never saw her face at all? Think of every time Star Wars has been ruined when we found out what was beneath the helmet: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Jango Fett. Maybe sometimes it’s okay just to leave the helmet on.

The Ben Kenobi Film

The Ben Kenobi Film

It is all but set-in-stone that we will see an Obi-Wan Kenobi film in 2020. The film will apparently see Stephen Daldry direct a middle-aged Ewan McGregor. I think the most interesting question we have about this film is this: Will it take place entirely on Tatooine? We have never had a Star Wars film take place entirely on one planet, but it seems right that this one would be.

         When we leave Kenobi in “Revenge of the Sith” he has brought Luke Skywalker to Tatooine, and conventional wisdom states that Obi-Wan spends the next two decades watching Luke closely. This period of his life is explored in various media- some of which is canon and some of which is “legends”

Rebels

         Recently “Old Ben Kenobi” was seen dueling with Darth Maul in Season 3 of Rebels. It was phenomenal to see Alec Guinness' "Ben Kenobi" brought back to screen after years of the younger McGregor Kenobi stealing the spotlight. David Filoni and the rest of the Rebel’s team handled this scene with so much grace, even though it could have easily been a laughable farce.

John Jackson Miller’s “Kenobi”

         The 2013 book “Kenobi” is probably John Jackson Miller’s finest Star Wars novel. It takes place in the first few months that Kenobi has brought baby Luke to live on Tatooine . Miller’s novel shows Kenobi trying to lay low, but not quite succeeding. Quickly Kenobi finds himself at the center of a feud between a clan of Tusken Raiders and some Jundland Waste settlers. This book proves that a great Kenobi story can be told without leaving Tatooine. I would love to see a film that matched the spaghetti-western tones of this overlooked Star Wars novel.

The Ghost of Kenobi

         The soon-to-be-published anthology “From A Certain Point of View” features a short story called “Time of Death” by Cavan Scott. It is probably the first piece in the Star Wars universe that is written from the point of view of Obi-Wan’s force ghost. Actually, I can’t remember a story told from the point of view of any force ghost. Obviously force ghosts are sentient, or at least they seemed that way in “Empire” and “Jedi”. So I guess, what’s the difference between a story about a living Obi-Wan and a dead Obi-Wan? Instead of answering a question that probably should remain rhetorical, I’ll leave you all with this sample preview-passage:

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi and I am dead. I know how that sounds. Crazy old Ben with his crazy old stories. But this isn't crazy. This is happening. At least, I think it is."

Our Only Hope

It is a testament to Alec Guinness that a character that was killed onscreen 40 years ago, would still be so significant going into the year 2020. Can this Kenboi film be the great spaghetti-western that we all hope it will be? Like so many aspects of this strange new Star Wars multi-verse... only time will tell.