Sword Fighting in the SW Universe

*sighs*

Haven't you heard of precognition?

 

That's one way of eyeing, true.

 

hehe so there are a few martial artist/sword fighters on here....

I do Kung Fu, in the Choy Lay Fut style, where I've learnt forms in Chinese broadsword and various staff forms. However I'm also a fight choreographer for the local amateur theatre groups, and have really developed my sword fighting skills through that.... the last big show I did was based off the Battle of Troy. I had to choreograph the battles in it as well as the big Achilles - Hector fight. Me and the guy who played Achilles, used to practice our improvisation skilss with the blades..... (since we were using real metal swords, this proved painful in the beginning stages - I lost a thumbnail) but we got profficient enough at it to the point where when we had a float in the christmas pageant the two of us brought up the rear of the shows float, improvising a sword fight that lasted 2 hours..... that was physically exhausting.

although I'm trained in a Chinese broadsword I must admit I prefer the katanas, they are closer to your lightsaber size I think... and much more fun to muck around with.... me and the Achilles actor last summer were at the beach every other day with weapons (spears, staffs, swords and others) stuck in the sand while we sparred, training for the show. I miss those days.

 

sounds like good times..

 

I didn't realze how many ppl actually did martial arts. How many diffrent styles do we have? Jedi-sith does kung fu. skywalker does tang soo do and escrima. I do jujitsu, tang soo do and arnis. Anyone else?

 

I'm studying Yi family Internal Shaolin and Cheng style Ba Gua Zhang. Looking to get into some I Chuan and maybe a more general boxing or sanshou thing too.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Stryfe

This guy is a swordfighter an according to a preview he is Darth Krayts new Hand.

 

Hello! Author of Sword Fighting in the SW Universe, here.

Hello, Excellence, Katana_Geldar. We?ve posted before on the Lightsaber Forms thread.

Just to let you know, SFSWU is a revised edition of Shimmering Sword, so it has most of the original content and extra chapters on the Force, the Sith, and EP II, III.

Sorry, there isn?t much on Vaapad in the book either. You?ll have to go to the ?lightsaber combat? entry in wookipedia for that. The book deals with historical sword combat and choreography in SW and only mentions Vaapad twice.

You?ll have to go to Shatterpoint and the EP III novelization for Vaapad. Stover incorporated the ?mechanics? of the Force into the lightsaber battles in EP III. Since his mechanics don?t explain (but merely reflect) the physical choreography on screen, I don?t address it in the book. The new chapter on the Force does include a critique of evil in the SW universe, but it is not formally compared to Stover?s concept of Vaapad as the ?thrill? of the fight on the edge of the dark side.

You think foil looks silly; you think Matrix-speed is unrealistic. What would you consider good sci-fi fighting?

I kind of like the blur motion from the Sci-Fi re-make of Dune.

Shimmering Sword was published by me, the new version is published by McFarland Publishing. BTW, there are plenty of "independently" published books of quality and worth; there are even more "dependently" published (i.e. books of major publishing houses) books of lesser quality.

 

Hmm....I may be wrong but it sounds like this book doesn't have just a TON to do with SW?

 

I think a Master has entered the room...

Thanks for coming in Nick, I guess the sword-buffs in here who have kept the thread going without my help would like to quetsion you.

Oh, and don't mind Excellence, he's like that but we love him just the same

 

I also like the Sci-fi channel Dune's take on the weirding way/prana bindu. Pretty close to mark and tastefully done. I'm glad that they didn't go overboard with it and make it look silly..

 

Wow thanks for coming in. I've been meaning to get Shimmering Sword... guess I'll try to get my hands on the revised edition!

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. I printed out your Vergere essay (20 pp) and will give it a read today. It looks interesting. Interesting that you boycotted Del Rey on principle too. There is definitely a lot of emphasis on consumerism when it comes to SW products.

I have to admit that I?m not a fan of most cinematic wushu, though the martial artist in me means I?ll always watch the fight scenes. Having created the choreography for SW: Revelations, I know how had it is to pull of good footage. You can have the best choreography, but what appears on film is what everyone comments on. Dune had a visual style that was aesthetic without the over-the-top acrobatics.

I checked out your sw.com blog and liked your article on lightsaber colors. I don?t ascribe any significance to colors in SW (and I hate the love-fest with crystals). Red in Japan represents celebration, not the color of blood. So I liked the connections you made to the chakras. My book is about comparing SW Jedi/Sith culture with historical martial culture. Your essay on the balance of the Force was also interesting, though I?m not so familiar with the history of the EU.

My book also goes into detail about the question of evil and the balance of the Force, though it take a more Christian philosophical perspective more than a taoist or Buddhist one because I see Christian philosophical influences in the saga more than others. Have you read SW and Philosophy? It seems like the kind of book everyone in this thread would enjoy (and like to critique).