A fan-made recut of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show made waves on the internet recently. Dubbed the “Patterson Cut”, young filmmaker and Star Wars fan Kai Patterson took it upon himself to recut Obi-Wan Kenobi from a six-episode series to a two-and-a-half-hour movie. The series was meant to be a standalone movie anyway so why not, right?
“The Obi-Wan show, in my opinion, suffered from things that were easily fixable in the script and in the edit… awkward pacing, whole scenes that ultimately amounted to nothing, goofy dialogue and directing choices, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and change what I could,” explained Patterson. Check out his explanation on TikTok.
The “Patterson Cut” of Obi-Wan Kenobi got a number of things right however there are a few elements to it that just did not quite stick the landing. Before I get to it, just a word of warning for those who have yet to watch the Obi-Wan Kenobi series (why haven’t you?) as there are a few spoilery elements that will be touched upon down below.
SERIOUSLY THOUGH DON’T PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED OBI-WAN KENOBI.
What the Obi-Wan Kenobi “Patterson Cut” got right
The music
The music in the Obi-Wan series is one of its main weaknesses in my opinion which the “Patterson Cut” largely improved upon. Not to say that series composer Natalie Holt did a bad job but there were a lot of instances where I felt that the music lacked energy and oomph. The lack of familiar Star Wars musical themes and beats was also a point of critique for me as its inclusion would’ve been great to tie in the series with the movies that came before it.
Patterson weaved in a lot of John Williams’ familiar scores into the Obi-Wan Kenobi series which added a bigger sense of gravitas and punch that the original series lacked. This lends itself particularly well during action scenes and fight scenes. Case in point, Patterson included the Anakin vs Obi-Wan theme from Episode III during the final climactic showdown between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader.
Tighter focus and better pacing
Patterson cut a lot of filler content or ‘fluff’ as he calls it from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. This resulted in the movie having a tighter focus with fewer distractions taking audiences away from the main plot of the story. This also improves the pacing of certain scenes as cut fillers meant that scenes unfold a lot faster.
Some of the scenes in question involved the kidnapping of Leia from the forest near her residence in Alderaan. The original episode had the 10-year-old Leia somehow outrun a group of fully grown hoodlums. The scene was widely criticised for its editing and for being incredibly unrealistic. The “Patterson Cut” remove the chase scene altogether in favour of a quick cut to black, implying that the young princess had been kidnapped.
Patterson also removed most of the scenes from the much-maligned Leia rescue mission from episode 4 of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Though the movie’s version of the story is still quite clunky, the edited-out scenes mercifully gave us a shortened version of the plot and removed much of the awkward and downright stupid elements found in the original episode.
I also appreciate the fact that Patterson managed to include a few fan-favourite cameos introduced in the show while Obi-Wan was in Daiyu. This includes the appearance of Ewan McGregor’s daughter, Esther-Rose as Tetha Grig, a spice seller as well as an unnamed 501st clone trooper played by Temuera Morrison.
Better villains
The tighter focus also meant that certain characters get to shine better. One of Patterson’s goals with his cut of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show was to make Reva a lot more menacing here than she was in the series. Removing much of her filler content and instead focusing more on her conniving actions really improved her character a lot. Patterson also extirpated Reva’s ridiculous ill-placed hunt for Luke Skywalker during the last episode of the series.
The “Patterson Cut” also shines a bigger focus on Darth Vader as the main baddie by removing the other Inquisitors almost entirely save for a few scenes in the beginning. The larger screen time makes Vader a scarier boogeyman than he was in the original series. The cuts Patterson made, particularly with the Reva/Luke subplot, allow for a better build-up towards the final showdown between Obi-Wan and Vader thus making the fight a lot more impactful.
Patterson didn’t only remove scenes from the series but he also added certain scenes and elements that made the overall story more cohesive. As revealed on his TikTok, Patterson added a brand new shot which he made on Blender where a stormtrooper asks Vader for instructions as Obi-Wan escapes from their first encounter on Mapuzo. Then Vader replied, “No. Not yet.” Patterson also spliced in this particular exchange from lines he took from the old Star Wars movies.
This particular addition is quite significant as it offers a bit of exposition as to why Vader bafflingly let Obi-Wan escape without so much as a response. Huge respect for Patterson to even think of putting that in.
Some critiques with the Obi-Wan Kenobi “Patterson Cut”
Although for the most part, the “Patterson Cut” made Obi-Wan Kenobi a more enjoyable and cohesive story, there are certain edits he made that resulted in certain scenes feeling a little stunted and somewhat rushed. This is quite prevalent in the first 25 minutes or so of the movie.
Some of Patterson’s cuts also resulted in certain scenes becoming a little confusing while others simply didn’t work at all. One of the more confusing scenes involved Bail Organa having a heartfelt conversation with young Leia whereby he asked Leia to apologise for something. Why this is confusing is because, in the original episode, there was a scene where Leia handed her cousin a verbal smackdown after he insulted her. This scene was completely removed from the movie.
Another scene which I felt didn’t work involved a minor character, a Jedi named Nari. In the original episode, Nari narrowly escaped the Inquisitors after they discovered him hiding out on Tattooine. He then finds Obi-Wan in the Tatooine desert and asked for his help which Obi-Wan refused. Nari was then found by Obi-Wan hanging from an arch in town, killed by the Inquisitors.
Patterson completely rearranged this scene which starts with Nari finding Obi-Wan in the desert and asking for his help first. After he gets rejected by Obi-Wan only then was he found by the Inquisitors the next day and killed off by Reva. As in the original episode, Obi-Wan finds Nari’s grisly remains in town.
I also felt that the way Patterson dispatched Nari was a little too nasty as he was brutally decapitated in the movie while the show didn’t explicitly reveal the details of his death. The nature of his death was a bit uncalled for in my opinion.
Though mostly successful, the newly added music isn’t exactly perfect as Patterson had to edit in new, existing music over scenes that already had existing sounds to them ie dialogue, foley and sound effects. This meant that in some scenes, the stops in music can be quite abrupt and jarring especially when characters start talking in certain scenes.
Is the Obi-Wan Kenobi “Patterson Cut” an improvement over the original?
Yes and no.
By removing some of the weaker aspects of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series Patterson largely succeeded in proving that the series can absolutely work as a standalone movie. The edits that he’s made are highly commendable and the resulting “Patterson Cut” is something that I would recommend to people only if they have watched the original show.
For all its successes, the Obi-Wan Kenobi “Patterson Cut” falls short in a lot of areas that can come off as awkward and confusing. In the end, this is a fan-made re-edit of a Star Wars show, this movie can only be fully appreciated by those who have actually watched the series and are looking for a way to rewatch it without having to slog through the show’s weaker segments.
So, should you watch the Obi-Wan Kenobi “Patterson Cut” then?
Yes only if you have watched the original series because there are certain elements that you’ll appreciate only after you compare scenes from the “Patterson Cut” to the original. There’s also the fact that the “Patterson Cut” has some confusing scenes due to edits made that would translate better to viewers who have watched the show.
Don’t watch this movie if you haven’t seen the original Obi-Wan Kenobi series. You will understand the whole show with little to no problems however there are certain nuances and meanings behind the cuts made by Patterson that would be lost to those who are not familiar with the source material. Not to mention that this whole cut is only two and a half hours of a six-episode show so there are hours of content to be experienced at least once.
So, to put it simply, think of the “Patterson Cut” as the theatrical version of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the one Disney put out is the Director’s Cut. Just like how movies tend to leave plot holes and can even confuse viewers, something like BvS did, the Patterson Cut sure did that but it did bring out the right elements well enough for me to still appreciate the work and the time that Patterson has dedicated to making the “Patterson Cut”.
Respect. Even he encourages you not to watch it if you have not watched the original show. So, it’s safe to say that we too respect his words and stick to them. Unless you want to be a rebel scum and go about your way really.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is available right now on Disney+ Hotstar.
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