I get that, but I still like it.
These inconsistencies are the latest in a long line of these things, from a New Hope, and particularly in relation to the Obi-Wan Kenobi character.
Despite George Lucas's claims he always had a trilogy/saga in mind (and he hasn't been consistent about that) the first movie was always intended as a one-off. It was a science fiction version of Kurosawa's film "A Hidden Fortress". The extraordinary success of Star Wars (A New Hope) meant that the studios, and Lucas were interested in more.
For all of the subsequent movies, Lucas had co-writers that wrote, much (if not almost all) of the stories. When it came to the prequels, and there were writing meetings, and the writing teams wanted to know about Jedi and the Force, Lucas regularly pointed to Obi-Wan Kenobi's character in New Hope. On a side note, I don't think Sir Alec Guiness ever got enough credit for making Lucas's rather clunky dialogue and improbable space religion so believable.
There are some obvious illogical consequences from this reference to the original movie character. The uniform of the jedi in the prequels is based on his costume in that movie. With where the Star Wars universe has ended up, by the time of the events of A New Hope, Kenobi, in particular, and all other jedi more generally, are in hiding having been hunted down (whether by Order 66 in the prequels or otherwise). Meanwhile on Tattooine, one of the most wanted men in the galaxy, Obi-Wan Kenobi is going about his daily business dressed in the uniform / robes that he and his fellow jedi, were galaxy famous for wearing. What is worse, is that given the events in the prequels, he was a galactic hero, and would have been famous, and yet on Tatooine, without any change in his appearance (other than getting older) he's just "Old Ben Kenobi".
There are more.
In the confrontation with Vader on the Death Star, and the dialogue you mentioned, "When I left you I was but a boy. Now I am the master", Obi Wan responds "only a master of evil, Darth". Darth was clearly a first name at that point. In later movies and novels, every Sith was called Darth this or Darth that. A justification was later made for this in canon, that "Darth" was a sith title, but Vader already had a title. He was
Lord Vader. It was lazy writing, but it's stuck.
I could go on, but I won't.
Star Wars was deeply damaged, in my view, by The Last Jedi, and despite JJ Abrams best efforts in the last film, it remains deeply damaged. However, the writers of the Mandalorian and the other recent spin-offs have made solid positive contributions to the franchise. I think Kenobi is a positive contribution as well.
That's not to say it is perfect. Rather than cannibalising A New Hope further, I would have much preferred them to embrace it and honour the content. There is still hope for that.
Leia may yet be told by Bail Organa that the reason he asked for Kenobi's help is that Kenobi had served him very effectively during the Clone Wars. We've seen otherwise in the movies, but to paraphrase Kenobi in RotJ, the truth often depends on one's point of view, and that would then be Leia's.
Another, more practical matter to consider, is that there were plans for a Kenobi movie / mini-series for a long time, more than 10 years, IIRC. Scripts were written, McGregor was contracted and agreed, but they have been repeatedly put on hold for one reason or another. Some of these reasons include not wanting to draw attention away from / undermine Episodes 7, 8 or 9, as Kenobi was a key Original Trilogy character, and the Original Trilogy has been put on a pedestal by the fan-base (a significant target market for any new Star Wars venture).
I don't pretend to know all of the reasons for the delays, but you will understand from my choice of avatar / forum name, that I took an interest in them. One of the last reasons for the project being delayed was the TV show Mandalorian. IIRC, they'd got as far as being on location with principal photography being about to begin on a show called Kenobi, but production had to suddenly stop.
The reason production was halted was that the plot line for their show was too similar to that used in the Mandalorian re "the child", so significant re-writes would be required. One of the unintended consequences of strict secrecy around Star Wars projects is that different parts of an organisation don't know what colleagues are doing.
We have one more episode left in this show, and I'm still looking forward to it, but I do understand your point of view
@kramerdude
