This is not the time to relitigate why or how much The Phantom Menace sucks. You know it, I know it, we all know it. This is, however, the time to talk about young Obi-Wan Kenobi’s rat’s tail. While the look of every Star Wars movie is mostly a product of its time, the 1970s haircuts and fashion of the original films had a major influence over the look and feel of the subsequent movies — this is particularly evident in the moustaches, sideburns, and beards of Rogue One, all of which helped make the movie feel continuous with A New Hope. Not so much with Obi-Wan’s hair in The Phantom Menace:
While we can all agree that Ewan McGregor himself is a timeless snack, the look they gave Obi-Wan in this movie seems to be modelled on how a 14-year-old gamer in 2003 would style themselves if they didn’t have their parents around to good-naturedly intervene. Thankfully, this was rectified in the subsequent films, when he became a Jedi Knight, then a Jedi Master, and, more importantly, Daddy.
While I, clearly, am not particularly enthused about the rank-signifying rat’s tail they decided to give him, it appears that at least a few people out there are. The actual, genuine prosthetic Padawan braid that McGregor wore in the film is undergoing auction as I type this, and is currently sitting at £1,200 (about $2,200).
Forgotten what the thing looks like? Here you go:
On a head, for reference:
Next to a ruler, for scale:
If this isn’t a heavy-hitting reminder that a lot of people have a lot more money than you do then, hell, I don’t know what is.
