Posted on 12/03/2015 8:27:50 AM PST by C19fan
Star Wars did not invent the concept of a magic blade, or even a laser sword—those pop up in Asimov's Lucky Starr series, among others—but as with many of the series’ pulp influences, George Lucas refined and reduced them to their essential elements, creating the series’ ultimate addition to the pop-culture canon. Think of the otherworldly glow, the distinctive hum, the (illogical, but who cares?) weight of the blade. For the Jedi, a lightsaber is a symbol of their innate exceptionalism; for Luke, it’s a connection to his father; for the Sith, it’s one more way to assert their dominance over the weak. But of all the lightsabers we’ve seen in Star Wars so far, which one is the best? To answer that question requires an elegant listicle, for a civilized age. Cue up “Duel of the Fates,†and meet us below the jump.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
1: Darth Vader. Enough said. Think about the scene in the Cloud City when Vader activates the saber to confront Luke.
2: Darth Maul Light Staff. That was a bad ass weapon yielded by a real martial arts expert in Ray Park.
3: Kylo Ren Light Broad Sword. I was drooling when that was unleashed in the first trailer.
4: Count Dooku Light Saber. Luved the curved handled and Christopher Lee was an expert swordsman and it showed.
Notwithstanding how much as the prequels were vilified — the Phantom Menace duels were “light years” ahead of those in Episode V
I went back to see the duel between Vader and Obi-Wan and it looked like two punch drunk fighters going at it compared to Darth Maul duking it out with 2 Jedi. The charm about that first duel was it was slow enough so kids like me were able to reenact the whole thing with wiffle ball bats.
Bump
Nice article. I prefer the simple ones - Anakin’s, Luke’s, and Vader’s.
My theory about why the light saber has a fixed length blade, is that the blade is created by squeezing a plasma ball with a forcefield in the handle. If that’s true, then it should be possible to just fire an unsqueezed plasma ball out of the handle, creating a projectile weapon. Its a bummer they never did that.
the worst one is the version with the beam hilt. I prefer the basic originals
The best ones are those that are still in their original packaging. :-P
Count Dooku’s lightsaber. Truly an elegant weapon for a refined swordsman.
I'd agree; as choreography, they were over the top. But over the top sword duels, or special effects for that matter, can't make up for a poor story line. Add a dash of Jar Jar to the mix and it pushes the movie into a 'Y' rating for "Yikes".
George Lucas had said that, in the prequels, he wanted to show what Jedi who were at the ‘top of their game’ looked like when fighting. If nothing else, he knocked it out of the park with that.
But as far as the best light saber duel goes, the best was Vader vs. Luke in Empire Strikes Back. We rooted for Luke, but he was completely outclassed by Vader. Vader was just toying with him and was never in danger. Then in Return of the Jedi, they were literally fighting for each other's souls.
The Jedi kid in Star Wars Rebels has built a blaster into the hilt of his lightsaber.
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