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PT A missed opportunity with lightsabers in the PT?

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by Darth DoJ, Apr 28, 2016.

  1. Darth DoJ

    Darth DoJ Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2016
    I always thought that it would have been great if Padawans or the lesser qualified/lower ranking of the two Jedi on a mission together were to use a blue blade, and the knight who is training a Padawan, or the highest ranking of the two on a mission, should use a green saber. Since we hadn't seen a master or council member use a lightsaber before Mace had already been given the green light to have a purple blade, the purple blade could have been for masters, or council members, or perhaps the specialised force users such as grand masters and such, creating a way to identify the ranks during battle.

    At first, I thought that perhaps this isn't a good idea as this would make it easier for enemies to either focus on and kill the weaker fighter, or it could be used to take out the stronger/higher ones first and dishearten the weaker/less trained (or to try and convert the weaker/less trained to the dark side), but Padawans are already identifiable by the hair and braid, and there are other ways to tell Jedi apart by rank, so it isn't like they try to hide their status.

    What do you think; lightsaber colour by rank?

    It would make Luke's transformation from Padawan to Jedi more apparent as he loses his blue saber and then builds a green one later on, too.
     
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  2. {Quantum/MIDI}

    {Quantum/MIDI} Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2015
    That would have been interesting.

    Depicting ranks by the blades owner...
     
  3. darkspine10

    darkspine10 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2014
    The green saber is already used to link Luke to Qui-Gon. Both are slightly renegade Jedi, with Qui-Gon's flouncing of the Jedi code, and Luke's use of attachments to help him overcome Vader. Both use mind tricks in a leader's palace, only for it to backfire later.

    I do like TCW's yellow sabers for Temple Guards only, as a small explanation for why we never see any in the films.
     
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  4. zisme

    zisme Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 19, 2016
    i sort of thought it was a missed opportunity to have the jedi pretty much only use blue and green sabers. imo it would have been cool to have a wider spectrum of colors like you see in some of the video games/eu (jedi knight/outcast/academy, kotr, force unleashed).

    kotr's explanation of the colors for class/style (blue: guardian, green: consular, yellow: sentinel) was pretty cool for example. and i liked how in kotr ii the exile's saber was red even while he/she was on the jedi council.

    i've always imagined lightsabers being extremely individual devices since they are only constructed by the user. the films nailed this in terms of the hilt designs. by extension the color choice would be an integral part of that process and would reflect the jedi's personality/style/beliefs/motivations, etc. so i've always liked how mace's saber stood out and gave you the opportunity to contemplate the meanings behind it. another good example is ahsoka's grey lightsabers in rebels

    i can see how this could become a can of worms for the EU; and i know in the films it makes it easier to distinguish the light/dark side users by making all sith use red and jedi mostly blue and green. but i remember when i first saw the battle of geonosis i was thinking in the back of my head how it would have been cool to see more variety in terms of colors and saber types

    i've always wanted an orange saber :)
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Darth DoJ

    Darth DoJ Jedi Padawan star 1

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    Mar 13, 2016
    What's interesting, as depicted in the image there, is that the orange saber almost comes off as brown... Murky... That could say a lot about a Jedi's personality, right there.
     
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  6. zisme

    zisme Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 19, 2016
    precisely!
     
  7. DarthAnakin96

    DarthAnakin96 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2016
    How exactly in canon or whatever is color's chosen? Is it based on one's connection to the force?
     
  8. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2009
    No, thankfully Lucas stuck with RGB (primary colors of light).

    Not by Lucas.
     
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  9. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012

    And purple.
     
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  10. darkspine10

    darkspine10 Chosen One star 8

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    Dec 7, 2014
    I suppose it's more of a subtext.

    I always took the view that Qui-Gon's view of the Jedi was free from the bueracracy of the council, and he believed in Anakin more. When it come to Luke, his view of the Jedi also combines the emotional attachments forbidden in the old Jedi, along with the skills taught by Yoda. Luke essentially completes Qui-Gon.

    The choice of them both having the green sabers is simply a hint towards the concept. So in TPM we see one Jedi who eschews the normal rules, and in ROTJ we finally see another, bringing the saga full circle.
     
  11. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2009
    A single exception at the request of Jackson.

    What about Yoda? And didn't Anakin bend the rules as well? I don't think we can make that interpretation without ignoring some notable facts.
     
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  12. sbk1234

    sbk1234 Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2014
    As Zisme mentioned, I'd have loved to see just a wide variety of colors. It would have been visually stunning. After a while I got tired of blue and green light sabres.
     
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  13. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2013
    As I understand, it was originally going to be just pretty much a glowing sword. Perhaps it's because the footage is old and in poor quality, but I recall some of the earliest SW trailers showed the lightsabers as glowing bright white - that is, both Obi-Wan's and Vader's. It was only later on it was decided they would each get their own colours

    And even after this, GL's idea was "blue for good guys, red for bad guys." Only problem then was that Luke's new saber was difficult to deal with against Tunisia's vibrant blue sky, so they greenified it. It was then that it became "blue OR green for good guys, red for bad guys"

    Come AOTC and Samuel L. Jackson likes purple. I've always wondered how much conflict GL had with that

    But let's not forget - TCW was giving GL's blessing. And there we see yellow sabers, a frigging black lightsaber/sword thing, who knows what else. I think Rebels has white lightsabers now too
     
  14. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    After I'd seen TPM, I was under the impression that green was the color of Jedi Masters. I figured Obi-Wan would be using Qui-Gon's lightsaber in EpII, lose it in EpIII and then build his future blue one inbetween Episodes III and IV (having only a blue kyber crystal in his possession).

    Alas, 'twas not to be.
     
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  15. Straudenbecker

    Straudenbecker Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 2015
    It would have been interesting to see different colors. GL original had them as white, then when he was editing Star Wars, the sabers would blend into the background, so he had Blue for the good guys and Red for the evil Vader. It was the basic conception of good verses evil. When he got to ROTJ, he hit a snag again with the background and chose Green. When he was was doing TPM, Jackson wanted a Purple color. However that went down between them, bottom line is that it is Samuel L Jackson. Many say that it happened on set AOTC, but I think that was GL last attempt to have Jackson wield a Blue or Green saber. I remember when my nephew got a Mace Windu action figure after TPM just came out, that figure had a Purple lightsaber. When KOTOR, came out we were introduced to a new color, Yellow.
     
  16. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    colors have nothing to do with rank.
     
  17. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    Ric OliƩ is in da house! :cool:
     
  18. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2009
    Note quite. The yellow sabers in TCW are not there because of Lucas. The temple guards were meant to have green lightsabers. But Filoni wanted yellow and hoped Lucas wouldn't notice or care enough to change them back to green.
     
  19. ConservativeJedi321

    ConservativeJedi321 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2016
    I always preferred the Green and blue for Jedi and Red for sith motif. I just feel it creates a nice sense of uniformity. I know i'm in the minority.

    I was a bit miffed when the yellow one showed up in TCW, and those comics too annoyed me a bit.[face_not_talking] I just preferred them that way.

    But meh, what could I do. [face_dunno]I just ignore them now. Not happy, but not going to bother whining about it either.
     
  20. Oissan

    Oissan Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 9, 2001
    This got me a bit confused. I don't think the Exile ever was on the Jedi Council in KOTOR II. He/she had a meeting with the Council after returning from the war, and the lightsaber you see in that scene is based on what you say your lightsaber looked like a bit earlier on, meaning it can be of any colour.
     
  21. zisme

    zisme Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 19, 2016
    It's been a while since I played it, so it's a bit fuzzy. I just remember mine being red

    My point is red (and only red) = dark side seems a bit arbitrary to me
     
  22. DarthZ07

    DarthZ07 Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 11, 2005
    I always thought it was odd seeing General Grievous using blue and green sabers, (I don't need Captain obvious to point out the sabers were from Jedi he killed or that he wasn't a Sith.) because after five movies I was so used to the bad guys only using red sabers.

    But the blue vs. blue with Anakin and Obi-Wan duel doesn't bother me.
     
  23. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    In the first draft of ANH, the sabers were all red. In the second draft, they became pearl white. In the third and fourth drafts, they were all blue. Vader was given a red saber during post production of ANH.

    But as you noted, green was only because of technical reasons. In fact, it was used because of the sky and not the sand. In AOTC, you can see the blue of Obi-wan's saber disappear when he's in front of the door to the landing pad and again while fighting Dooku.

    [​IMG]

    Qui-gon's use of the green saber was because of his fighting Maul on Tatooine. As to how Lucas felt about the purple saber, I'd wager it didn't bother him that much.

    To the OP's post, Obi-wan maintaining a blue saber in AOTC was to keep the connection to his having used a blue saber in ANH. Just as Anakin has a blue one throughout, but we get a nod towards green being something a Skywalker uses.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  24. Pyrogenic

    Pyrogenic Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 2006
    I figured out that Mace Windu's violet/purple lightsaber signifies his unique rank as leader of the Jedi Order...
     
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  25. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    Not really. He's just a senior member of the Council. He's no more unique than Yoda. The explanation is that the crystal that he choose came out purple.