Duel of the Fates vs. Battle of the Heroes (excluding Yoda vs. Sidious)

This is a pretty tough decision. I don't know which is better.

The only thing that I hate about the Darth Maul fight is that it was too short. It had so much potential to be better. On the other hand, I thought the Battle of the Heroes was somewhat too much when they started going on the droids and all that lava started bursting out.

 

Linking to SW footage on youtube is not allowed

 

To compare; I'd honestly say Battle of Heroes is better. It has much more emotion and intensity behind it.

Duel of Fates was intense cause it was 2 vs 1 and they still had a hard time taking maul down. Also, the surfacing of the double lightsaber made some fanboys crap their pants. It was the first lightsaber duel of the PT and therefore pretty exciting. Also the score is just amazing and syncs well.

However, Battle of Heroes is the last lightsaber duel of the PT and has much more meaning behind it. It's the birth of Vader and it's longer and better choreographed. Here's two bestfriends who've fought side by side for over a decade. They consider eachother family and have saved eachothers lives countless times. Anakin's turned to the sith and is now trying to kill Obi Wan after exterminating a whole order they've followed for a long time. Obi Wan has to cope with going to kill his once apprentice while Anakin is coping with being betrayed by his 'brother' so the emotion is alot more present.

Plus the twirls of the sabers in BOH is alot more visually attractive.

 

That sucks. Since it's too late to edit my post, I don't suppose a mod can do the job?

By the way, I thought the twirling was ridiculous.

 

It is kinda ridiculous and unneeded, seeing as if actually fighting you wouldn't be swinging it around it circles cause you'd be stabbed right on.

But visually it just looks better and more intense.

 

I think DotF has better choreography, but I prefer Battle of the Heroes due to the emotion behind it and it's place in the plot, similar to how in the Original Trilogy I think the ESB fight is better solely as a fight, but the RotJ duel is my favorite.

 

I had to wait 28 years to see that fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader and Lucas made it worth the wait. It was exactly the right length it needed to be.

DotF had better acrobatics and it was more brightly lit. Ray Park really is the centerpiece of that fight; he, Neeson and McGregor really do a great job.

BotH was a personal fight and more intense and though beautifully done, had more cuts and was very dark and so it's harder to see everything the fighters are doing. However, I don't think that the Sidious/Yoda fight can be excluded because it's part of BotH, and just as personal.

 

Good call.

 

I concur also. I feel as though Battle of the Heroes is more emotional and personal. After seeing them both a number of times I'm still left with the "wow" feeling.

 

And I must add that the choreography from B.o.H. was superb, but it was the emotion of the moment that made it great.

D.o.t.F. had no emotion, but was perhaps the greatest duel we ever saw onscreen. I mean it broke from tradition on more han one front, from muliple combatants to multiple saber blades...

When combined with the time between the films, D.o.t.F. was destined to reach epic proportions.

 

I have to go with the DOTF. There was a ferocity in Maul's fighting that stood out to me.
Battle of the Heroes would be second...The emotion and what follows with the OT make it intriguing to me. IMHO

 

Agreed.

 

Personally I prefer Duel of the fates, I just wish it was a bit longer

 

BOTH was incredibly emotional, due to the deeply personal nature of the duel and the position of it in the story. So it had more impact on me in that regard.

As a fight, though, I'd have to give it to DOTF. The music, the choreography ...

... the lack of lava surfing!

 

The DotF was a surprise, unexpected. There was not plot build-up to it. The elevator opened, Maul appeared and the duel just launched upon us as we went along for the ride. Because of this surprise element to the duel, the length worked. Its ending was also totally unexpected, the master/teacher of Obi-Wan skewered by a lowly Sith apprentice! And Maul's death was almost just as improbably and unexpected as Qui-Gon's -- for Maul had the "high ground" and Obi-Wan was unarmed and in a rather bad way. Yet Obi-Wan's surprise sommersault slice and dice of Maul is bitter sweet considering the death of Qui-Gon.

The BotH had much more palpable tension leading up to it. It was the climax of a long and tortuous plot sequence building up to a much anticipated moment of good versus evil, brother versus brother. We saw the pieces coming togther and sort of knew what was coming, just not how intense the battle(s) would be (it proved a masterful touch splicing the Yoda/Sidious duel into the front end of BotH). The Mustafar location was representation of Anakin's descent into hell -- perfect. The unspoiled did not know that a pregnant Padme would try to pull her husband out of the hell that he had created form himself (and get abused by him while doing so). As noted above the sequencing and choreography were simply awesome. Because of the long build up the length seemed just about right, especially because of the BotH's importance to the overall saga. We knew (or thought we knew) how it had to end based upon the novelization of ROTJ. But Anakin's immolation scene, like Qui-Gon's death, was a seriously marvelous shocker. Magnificent.

BotH holds the high ground. It is, simply stated, the way the PT should have climaxed -- in an orgy of emotion and violence with evil put in its place, albeit temporarily.

 

You Sir, are both a Gentleman... and, a Scholar.

 

As someone stated, BotH was amazing because it was a personal fight and had a lot of emotion.

DotF had magnificant choreography.

I'm a sucker for emotion. I'm not into mushy-gushy love stories (like at all) but when brothers start hating each other when they were best friends, that is what gets me. BotH gets me upset every time I watch it because of the emotions and the actual story behind it. I LOVE Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship and teamwork but when they began to fight, it broke my heart. And Anakin's immolation was very upsetting and it completely took me by surprise.

DotF also took me by surprise but I don't remember my first reaction because I believe that I was only 9 or 10 years old when I saw it in theaters. Seeing it now, it still wows me. The choreography is great and Qui-Gon's death was unexpected.

Overall, DotF is my favorite duel because of the action. BotH is definately a very close second. I love the story, the emotions, the setting, everything...but DotF is my favorite.

 

Yes, yes, same here.

By the way, are the sound effects for the lightsabers in DOTF like, stronger? I felt like they tuned it down in BOFT. Or maybe it's just me?

 

I think the saber effects are more digitalized in AOTC and ROTS, than in TPM. This is why cracking sounds from ANH on through TPM are almost non-existent for the last two films, save for a brief moment in ROTS, during the first duel. When we see the close-up of Palpatine just before Dooku takes Obi-wan out of the fight. There the audio is different, almost like Threepio's sound effects in ROTJ, when he's telling the Ewoks their story.

 

BotH

 

I prefer DOFT as a piece of music, but as an overall duel I prefer BOTH for its emotion.

 

Ditto. Well stated Obi-Chron.

 

Thanks Sx3 and 'Bed Head' -- I responded as I did because the more I looked at the two duels, the harder is was to make a call. My 'heart' went with BotH and I didn't quite know why. My post was my own attempt to justify an emotional preference (as G-FETT and others have also stated).

Still, within the context of each of TPM and ROTS, each duel fits in very well to the overall flow, standing as an unexpected testimony to Lucas' planning and directorial abilities.

So as Paul Harvey says: "Now you know the rest of the story."

 

I think I prefer BOTH not only because of the emotion but because of the fact that the fight was entirely unedited -- meaning it wasn't as broken up with other points of view throughout the sequence so we really got to feel the emotion more, though I did think the thing on the droids and the hanging from ropes Tarzan style was a bit ridiculous.

DOTF was also not as personal as BOTH but it was nonethless visually stunning. The double blades and how fast things moved...When Maul skewered Qui-Gon it took a few minutes for my brain to catch up and I was like "Did he just die???" If DOTF had been without so many point of view shifts, it would probably come out on top. Seeing Jar Jar in the middle of the duel just irked me and threw me out of some of the emotional intensity that I would have gotten otherwise.

 

Duel of the Fates.

Darth Maul was a treat. This is the only fight which I class as a "true" lightsaber duel. Battle of the Heroes has too much of a "street fight" feel to it. It's just too men throwing their lightsabers at each other and hoping for the best. Duel of the Fates is pure technique and skill.