Cheap Lightsaber combat in OT?

As quite a few have already said, I'll take Luke's duel with Vader in RotJ over anything I've seen thus far in the PT. Don't get me wrong, I like the duels in the PT, but that final duel just feels more real to me somehow, plus the emotional aspects of it. The sound, the lighting, the angles, and most notably, the music all make it the most compelling and entertaining battle in the saga for me.

As for why the fights in the OT don't hold up to their PT counterparts in terms of style, the answer is because that's just the way it was. People can try and make up in-continuity reasons for why the fights are the way they are, (such as Luke being inexperienced and Vader being an old man who's half machine) but if fights were choreographed in the West back then as they are today, I guarantee you Lucas himself would've taken advantage of it. As it is, they're perfectly fine the way they are in my opinion.

 

Luke might also want to disarm Vader first before killing him. In ESB, it might be due to Luke being afraid of his opponent knowing that Vader is more powerful than him so he thought that it would be easy to defeat him if Vader would be disarmed. In ROTJ, he doesn't want to kill his father, therefore tryng to disarm him s Vader couldn't fight.

 

Look, tastes and technology have changed. Look at Kung Fu movies. They have always been fast and furious, but one made this year is much more intense than one made 20 years ago because that's what people want to see, and it is technologically possible.

The slower pace of the OT combat can be attributed to the story, old men and young inexperienced kids, but it is also, and mostly, because GL wants to appeal to younger audiences, and younger audiences want to see crazy sword battles.

 

If I had to the pick the best fight combining swordsmanship with emotional content the ESB fight would win in my book. The best looking fight up to this point in my mind is either Jinn vs. Maul on tatooine or Obi vs. Maul.

 

Storywise, a logical explanation of why lightsaber combat is less pretty in the OT is:

In the prequel era, the Jedi have been in power for over a thousand generations, and over that time, sophisticated styles and techniques were developed. The Jedi had the luxury of time and not having to hide to perfect their lightsaber skills.

During the OT, Obi Wan is an old man and is physically weaker (and possibly a little rusty). Vader is part machine, so what he gained in raw strength he lost in finesse. Luke is the first Jedi in training after about 20 years of Imperial rule and has only the bare basics of what Yoda could teach him, so you can?t expect him to bust out with fancy moves