The sword should’ve looked like this:
Hey, I just fly the things (in my dreams). I don’t design them!
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
He also used it to free himself from hanging upside-down in that ice-creature’s cave.
[/QUOTE]
I considered counting that as a throw-away use, but decided not to because it’s part of a scene where Luke uses the force to telekinetically pull the light saber back to him. It’s an important inclusion in the story because it demonstrates Luke has been working, on his own, on his command of the Force in the years that passed between the destruction of the Death Star and the Battle of Hoth. A little touch, but it imparts vital information to the audience - remember, Luke does not demonstrate any such ability in “Star Wars,” so we need to know he’s picked that up. It informs of of his skill and his ongoing determination to be a Jedi, even with his master long dead and gone.
I did a count and, depending on how you define “scene.” I believe the original trilogy has only thirteen scenes in which a light saber is drawn;
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Star Wars: Obi-Wan shows Luke his father’s light saber
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Star Wars: Obi-Wan uses the light saber to slice up the jerks in the bar
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Star Wars: Luke trains with the target droid about the Millennium Falcon
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Star Wars: The duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader
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ESB: Luke uses the light saber to escape the wampa
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ESB: Han uses the light saber to cut open the taun-taun
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ESB: Luke uses the light saber to take down the AT-AT
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ESB: Luke draws his light saber to battle “Darth Vader” in the cave of darkness
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ESB: The final battle; I admit this may be more than once scene, though
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ROTJ: Luke fights off a horde of minions on Jabba’s yacht
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ROTJ: Luke uses his light saber to take down the Imperial speeder pilot
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ROTJ: Darth Vader energizes Luke’s light saber to admire it
13: ROTJ: The final duel, again arguably more than one scene
In every case but, I’d argue, #7, the use of a light saber advances our understanding of the characters in some way. Even Han’s use of it has meaning - he is clumsy and obviously frightened of the weapon, which (esp. given Han’s immense bravery in basically any other circumstance) says a lot about the weapon’s power and, perhaps, near-mythical status in the eyes of a non-Jedi. Furthermore, by limiting the use of the light saber, it just seems a lot cooler when they do get drawn.
I haven’t done a count of light saber scenes in the prequels and I’m not going to but they’re ridiculously commonplace, even in circumstances where it makes no sense, like the kids training with what are apparently the real deal. There are few scenes where it MEANS anything, save maybe Palpatine’s first use of it. Because of the structure of the movies we are, stupidly IMHO, never shown Anakin learning to use one. Instead he just starts lightsabering everything in “Attack of the Clones” at the slightest provocation, not that his fellow Jedi are much better. Granted, it’s an era when Jedi are more numerous, but whether you accept that was unavoidable, or feel as I do that the movies really should have been totally different and could have cut down on it (Yoda should never have drawn a light saber) it really detracts from the impact of it.
Too sensible, too much protection. I think Jedi actually like to like on the risky side. Remember the Jedi chick in the prequels that had the large tentacles on her head that would seemingly be hacked off during a simple maneuver?
Or Darth Maul? Really, how dumb is a 2-sided lightsaber? I’m guessing predecessors lost a few kneecaps before perfecting those.
Nothing is as dumb as the spinning circle of death the Inquisitor uses.
Thanks, RickJay. That was very interesting.
RickJay, great analysis, I completely agree.
In RotJ, Palpatine speaks derisively of Luke’s “Jedi weapon.” Vader, having been a Jedi, has an excuse to use one. It’s arguable that they were never originally intended to be a Sith weapon.
I’m not sure when the EU started talking about the Sith in an “extended” way, but I think it made more sense for the Emperor just to be an evil force user and Vader to be his protege. The whole “rule of two” and master/apprentice thing became really stupid.
“There are always two” is like saying there are always two Jedi: a master and an apprentice. The Jedi are just less murdery. Usually.
I would argue that #10 (and maybe 11) on RickJay’s list is pretty much identical to the circumstances that lightsabers are used in the prequels. Those are also pretty much the only times in the OT we see a full-fledged Jedi in his prime, in action, vs. enemies that are not in his league. For me (and apparently the makers of the prequels) that’s what I imagine Jedis did, back in their glory days, when they kept order in the galaxy.
I always thought a light saber would be particularly useful in trimming hedges and tree branches.
I’m trying really, really hard to keep my expectations down. I was raised on the original trilogy and was 13 when TPM came out. Dad saw ANH opening day and he’s always said what a memorable experience it was. I was 13 when TPM came out, we saw it opening day, and I was really hoping for that sort of amazing experience. Instead, it was…okay, I guess, which meant it was actually very disappointing.
So I’m trying not to get too excited, but that teaser is very nicely edited, because when the score kicked in and the Millennium Falcon went zooming by, I got really excited, and I thought “This could well be my ANH.” If nothing else, it had all the right ingredients: lightsabers! Zoomy spaceships! Robots! Speeders! Mystical nonsense! Hopefully, they’ll put them together the right way this time.
What I’m really excited for, because I know it’s a safe bet, is the score. I absolutely cannot wait to see what Williams is cooking up for this. His scores were the only aspect of the prequel trilogy that held up to the first, so I’m really looking forward to whatever he comes up with for this.
sigh I sort of hate that I know this, but there is in fact a term (I take solace in the fact that I can’t remember it) for “cutting your opponent’s arm off in lightsaber combat”. It’s seen as a more noble way of ending a fight, as the Jedi believe that the less harm you inflict, the better.
Disarmament?
I don’t know if its confirmed, but IMDb says Ben Burtt is back for the sound design. He actually left Lucasfilm after the prequels so I did wonder if he’d return. I’m sure the new regime was an exciting prospect.
In fact, it seems there’s a different term for chopping off several limbs at once…
…he said, sadly.
And you can cut your bagel and toast it at the same time!
I’ll give Disney credit. They really have tried to get the top talent for this project as much as possible. People may critique JJ Abrams heavily and I also am not a gigantic fan of his movies, but Disney went out of their way to get him. My understanding is he resisted switching from Trek to Wars, but they more or less gave him a gigantic open budget, major creative control, and I would assume a large salary. They are pretty much going “all out”, so to speak. In fact, I would not be surprised if the final budget ends up being quite larger than almost any individual movie we’ve seen.
Additionally, they let him build sets and props extensively instead of going the crappy prequel CGI-set route. They found a way to convince Lawrence Kasdan to return to the writing team(I think he’s doing VIII as well). They got John Williams to score a movie not directed by Spielberg. They were able to cast the old actors, even Harrison Ford(who I really thought would resist the most). Guys like Ben Burtt are apparently coming on board again.
Really, I’m just impressed that not only is it happening, but it at least a really good attempt to make it as good quality as possible.
I think they realize that if this first film is good (really good), then the huge investment they made in acquiring Star Wars will payoff.
If the movie is anything like the dreadful prequels, then lots of people will stay away from subsequent offerings.
Of course, the prequels made quite a bit of money, and were quite successful. And, I personally didnt think they were “dreadful” at all. Mind you, nothing will match the magic of watching what is now Epi IV for the first time. Oddly the epi rated the worst on RT which is a not terrible 57%.
1- 57%= $1,007,044,677
2- 67%= $656,695,615
3-80%= $848,998,877
4- 93%= $797,900,000
5- 96%= $534,171,960
6-70%= $572,700,000.
Note the inverse ration between earnings and ratings.
Under no circumstances could Epi 3 be considered “dreadful” with a 80% RT rating and a $848MM box office.