Did Ben Kenobi Mess Up Everything In 'Star Wars'? An Investigation

I was watching the original Star Wars the other day and a line between Han and Luke on the Death Star hit me a different way. Han asks Luke, "Where did you dig up that old fossil?," referring to Ben Kenobi. Luke fires back, "Ben is a great man." Han says, "Yeah, great at getting us into trouble." I always kind of took that line as Han just being annoyed that he didn't have any answers for their current predicament. It certainly wasn't directly Ben's fault the Millennium Falcon got caught in the Death Star's tractor beam. And Ben was at least making himself useful by volunteering to disable said tractor beam. And once Luke suggests they rescue Princess Leia, Han changes his tune about Ben and says, "The old man says to wait right here." Though, the more I thought about it, Han is completely right, Ben is great at getting them into trouble. It's actually comical how many times Ben Kenobi messes up during the events of the first Star Wars movie.

I started writing about this, then I got a nagging feeling I had written it before, but I was almost positive I had not. I searched Google and nothing came up. But then remembered about 80 percent of what I had published at Uproxx over the course of just under ten years is no longer on the internet. I looked through my old Word documents and there it is, from Jan 8, 2020. I truly think I memory-holed everything from the early part of that particular year.

When I write about Star Wars, I find it both funny and entertaining to approach it from the character standpoint, but only what was known at the time the scene was filmed. If the actor or filmmakers could not consider a piece of information as they were filming it because it was added much later, then it's irrelevant to me. A good example of this is, "Why didn't Obi-Wan Kenobi recognize R2-D2 on Tatooine?" The answer is "That plot point was introduced in The Phantom Menace, which came out 22 years after Star Wars." When Alec Guinness filmed that scene, no one knew these two characters would have already met. Nor did anyone fill in Guinness or Peter Mayhew that when Obi-Wan and Chewbacca meet, they both already know Yoda, a character who didn't exist yet. (Though, that retroactive plot point should be pointed out more often because its so absurd.)

If you want to submit questions to The Hard Pass reader mail, those are the kind of Star Wars questions I like. (Email those to mike@thehardpass.net.) If I use your question, I will send you a The Hard Pass logo sticker. Honestly, if you want one anyway I will send it to you if you ask. If you do not want one, you will not be forced to accept it. There is no law.

So, ahead, from 2020, with some new commentary, here's how Ben Kenobi truly is great at getting everyone into trouble and messes up everything. Every single decision he makes at the cantina is wrong, to the point it's hilarious. Once again, Han Solo is right and is not stupid, at least not yet.

(This is a free post for "free tier" subscribers. But, The Hard Pass truly only exists because of paying subscribers who can read the story I was told about Tom Cruise that is now my favorite Tom Cruise story, risking humiliation by approaching Philip Seymour Hoffman to ask him about Along Came Polly, and asking cast members from Ocean's 12 if their characters all know they look like famous people since Tess knows she looks like Julia Roberts.)