Discussion Light Saber Duels - OT or PT style?

Agreed!

 

Prequel style.

They had a lot more style and flair to them.

Original trilogy's was practical but not really my cup of tea. I never get tired of watching the battle between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan vs Maul.

 

Definitely need to go with the Prequels style. In particular, the Obi-Wan vs. Maul fight and the beginning of the Vader vs. Obi-Wan fight in ROTS.

 

As long as the saber duels are not Gangnam Style I'm good. OT style, PT style, no problem... you introduce Psy into the mix then there's issues.

Yancy

 

PT

 

I don't quite know about fencing - but the fight between Inigo and Westly is bombastic.
I'd like to see them go the route of amping up the intensity through changing styles, in a similar way to the aforementioned Inigo/Westly duel.

 

Prequel style, this is when the Jedi were in their hey dey.

Secondly most of you don't get it. In ANH, Obi Wan was just trying to stall Vader so Luke, Leia and Han could get away with the droids. Obi Wan didn't know exactly where they were but he did know Anakin's aggressive fighting style so basically thats why you can say that fight was fought the way it was. Suppose Obi Wan started with all the back flips and nonsense of an older Jedi, he could have gotten himself killed in like 3 seconds, Luke and the others would have gotten cut off before they got on the Falcon.

The Empire Strikes Back. It drives me crazy that this movie has been around 33 years and people still don't get it. In Empire Darth Vader is a TRUE SITH LORD, he's lusting for more power like a teen age boy lusts for the hottest chick in his class. Vader is all about power and totally corrupted by the dark side by the time of Empire. The lightsaber duel in cloud city, VADER IS NOT, let me type again, VADER IS NOT trying to kill Luke. First he isn't sure Luke is his son, secondly when it likely Luke is his son he wants to see how strong Luke really is. Vader could have easily killed Luke the second he lost his lightsaber the first time on top of the steps. Vader easily disarms him and casually swings at Luke, then takes his time and jumps down the steps like Batman. He really knows Luke is his son after he escapes the carbonite chamber. "IMPRESSIVE, MOST IMPRESSIVE". After that, its all mind games from Vader because he's not trying to kill Luke, he's trying to seduce Luke to the dark side. A lightsaber duel will be totally different when you're trying to seduce your opponent to join you as opposed to just trying to out right kill them. Its why Darth Maul and Obi Wan didn't have squat to say to each other.

Now fwd to the end of the Bespin duel. Vader was getting irritated with Luke but still didn't want to kill him. Only when Luke got in a lucky glancing blow, Vader took his hand. That duel was never about killing Luke. Luke got owned and toyed with. It was never Vader's intent to kill Luke because he was so corrupted by the dark side he only wanted Luke to help him over throw Sidious.

ROTJ, the same. Vader was conflicted by 2 things. His attachment to his son but he's still a sith lusting power to over throw the emporer. At this point Luke doesn't want to kill his dad & Vader doesn't want to kill Luke. Partly because he still has hopes Luke will help him over throw Sidious and partly because Luke is a Skywalker.

The ST duels shouldn't have these conflicting factors involved. I want to see all out intense duels ala Windu vs Sidious, Dooku vs Yoda, Obi Wan vs Maul. Good old fashion free style saber dueling, Jedi vs Sith.
But one really has to wonder, who will the weilding lightsabers vs the jedi in the ST? Thats the big question.

 

This is certainly true in the novel- in which we get to see what Vader's actually thinking during that duel.

 

I don't know if he's 'not trying to kill Luke". you take a look at the swings he was taking, particularly later in the fight and if luke had made the wrong move he'd have been dead.

 

I would love to see a mix. I love the acrobatic stuff up to the point where it starts looking too choreographed. I think the fighting in the OT is reminiscent of what you would see in a samurai movie and a little more true to actual combat where two people are trying to be patient, gain advantage and stay alive. Still, these are supposed to be people with super reflexes so I don't mind if they speed it up a bit. If Luke fights, I hope he uses the slower style and they make him appear more patient and humble while kicking someone flashier's butt.

 

A mixture with a bit more PT than OT. I loved the martial arts influenced style of the PT lightsaber duels but it definitely crossed the line a number of times where everything just seems really unnatural and choreographed. One moment that comes to mind is during the Palpatine/Windu duel in ROTS. That's a pretty grounded fight, no crazy acrobatics or ridiculous moves, except for one point when Palpatine just does two flips off his desk while moving backwards for no reason. It literally serves no purpose and was just included because nobody had done a flip yet. Not to mention it's done with awful CGI.

The OT duels are better paced and are more tense. In contrast to a lot of the twirls and spins in the PT the combatants actually seem like they're trying to hit each other. So keeping the brilliant martial arts of the PT while restraining themselves on the CGI and choreography and not being afraid to slow down things like in the OT would be great.

 

Lightsabers are too violent. They should pull a Ninja Turtles 2 and just have Jedi fight with garbage can lids and mops and stuff.

 

My vote is OT style which actually conveyed emotion and strength. The PT duels were absurdly choreographed and plain boring.

 

I will take the emotion of the OT and the skill of the PT.

 

I've always wondered. What would've happened if Luke had accidentally struck Ben with the lightsaber or stared directly into the blade emitter?

 

What would have happened? The end of the movie. The protagonist is dead.

 

PT. Because OT is just badly choreographed fencing with occasional bad dialogue. At least in the PT the choreography is better, and there's less of the stilted trash talk.

 

"Because I know something you do not"
"Oh really? And what is that?"
"I am not left handed!"
easily one of Bob Anderson's best fight choreographs ever

 

I would say they should go with PT style. I think the reason they didn't do it that way in the OT is because the technology wasn't advanced enough.

 

I agree. Although I think sometimes older movies are better because the lack of technology forced them to focus more on the character aspects of the story.

 

I suggest you watch this, especially the last quote at 1:10. I am convinced George Lucas was killed by the CIA and replaced with an impostor somewhere between 1983 and 1995.

 

The credits would have rolled.