What was the best saber duel in the prequels?

I think the best PT duel was either Anakin vs. Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul. The former for all the obvious reasons: the emotion, dialogue, and importance to the rest of the saga, not to mention its outstanding choreography and sheer scale. The latter because Ray Park is spectacular, the choreography again, and I really love Obi-Wan's energy throughout the whole thing (but especially once they go one on one). I also like the fact that both of these duels use the principal actors for most of them. I have nothing against stunt performers or special effects, but getting to be closer to the action and seeing the expressions of the characters as they fight puts me more in the moment.

One of those two is also probably my favorite, but I can't say for sure because I've seen TPM many more times than ROTS and feel I need to see ROTS more before I can judge it in the same way I judge the other films in the saga.

One last note: Mace vs. Palpatine is high on my favorite list simply because Mace is my favorite Jedi and I enjoyed seeing the progression of his character's activity, from sitting around talking to fighting against blasters and the like to lightsaber dueling.

 

Anakin, Qui-Gon vs Darth Maul in Episode 1
Yoda vs Count Dooku in Episode 2
and Darth Vader vs Obi-wan in Episode 3 are my favourites.

 

yoshi - gotta agree with you about the beginning of the TPM duel. It starts off with a lot of spins and saber spins, although just watching Maul move is pretty cool.

As they get into more, the choreography becomes tighter - especially after Qui-Gon dies.

How about this: best moves of the prequels?

TPM - Qui-Gon taking out a battle droid and then quickly "sheathing" his saber. Obi-Wan's behind the head block of Maul.

AOTC - Dooku stabbing Obi-Wan's arm. Mace decapitating Jango.

ROTS - Anakin taking off Dooku's hands. Obi-Wan pinning the IG-100 Magna Guard's staff against the wall and then decapitating the droid.

 

Once again, I sense that people are judging the "Obi-Wan vs. Anakin" based on other reasons besides the fight itself. the emotion of it, the feeling it brings them, the "importance" of it, etc. etc, and yet, not on how the fight itself looks.
I think the best fight is still QGJ and Obi vs. Maul -- even though the end could have been better, it was well done, well choreographed, lots of good ideas, and some amazing moves.
Obi-Wan vs. Anakin was actually rather disappointing. It should have been longer, and it was somewhat difficult to see exactly what moves they were doing. Not at one point, did either of them get hit, or seem to show any strain. The fighting is just too clean. Yes, I know, the Jedi are at the top of their game at this time, but still.... some slices or glancing blows would make the fight more realistic..... some grittiness would have served the fight well.

 

Toss up, Palps and Yoda or Obi Wan and Anakin.

 

I liked Anakin vs Dooku in ROTS because it looked so similar to the Luke/Vader duel in ROTJ. And the Mace/Palpatine battle since it's just cool to see that the Chancellor wasn't so helpless after all.

 

Maul vs. QGJ and OB1. I'd even say it was too good: it set the bar so high nothing else could top it.

As for other nominees:
-The duel: probably could never have met expectatons, but fell way short. terrible ending ('I have the high ground') and some dead parts in the middle (OB1 looks silly doing his balancing act.
-Yoda vs. Sids: #2 behind my winer. who wins is up in the air the entire time (well, not really, but you know what I mean) and it was believable that Yoda would be forced to escape and live to fight another day going in, gven that Palps is the key to the whole thing, I couldn't understand why Yoda wouldn't fight to the death to stop him. Actual fight addressed this concern quite well). Only downside: beginning. How could Yoda let himself get knocked down like that?
- Dooku vs. Anakin & OB1 (both): Makes me wonder how OB1 is doing anything for the Jedi except cleaning the bathrooms. Gets taken out way too easily both times.
- Yoda vs. Dooku: surprise element of seeing CGI YOda do his thing for the first time was great, but that was really all this had to offer.
- Mace vs. Sids: Great at ltimes, but terrible beginning (Mace could have taken 3 folding chairs with him instead of 3 Jedi Masters) and too vague as to what's going on. Is Sids just toying with him waiting for Anakin? How sure is he that Anakin will even come? Does he have a plan B? So many elements contradict themselves.

 

I agree. The Maul vs. Qui Gon and Obi Wan is the greatest and it made us fans very greedy in terms of expectations for the next two films, especially Clones which doesn't really have a duel in comparison to that. At least Sith has a lot of great duels worth comparing to the great Maul duel.

 

Totally agree QuiGonHrafn and yankee8255.

Duel of the Fates was leaps and bounds (pardon the pun ) above every other duel in the saga.

It's my favourite scene of all films, not just Star Wars.

 

I concur, those were the best figts in my eyes. AOTC had the weakest duels, but then again, maybe thats good because it only made the ones in ROTS that more spectacular.

 

Why would you say that? I agree, it was good.
But when it comes down to it, the ROTS duel was the most epic of them all. It showed the final transformation for the young Anakin from the prequels to the evil () Darth Vader we see in the original trilogy.

 

I agree it was epic (I think it's the longest duel in film history), and it is technically the best, but it's just not as stunning Duel of the Fates. The RotS duel is fun to watch, but Duel of the Fates takes my breath away every time I watch it.

 

It's really a matter of preference.

The ROTS duel covers the most ground, but it's also very gritty, and ranges from intense close-ups to epic long-to-medium shots.

The TPM duel is fairly consistent, both in terms of terrain and camera angles/shots.

The Duel just had too many cool parts: the sabers whirling so fast at the beginning it was like a blue saber pinwheel, the sparks flying in the corridor, the simultaneous Force pushes.

 

I agree with Garth Maul.

The duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan was epic to the maximum possible sort.

Good Vs Evil

Awesome moves.
Awesome dialogue.
Awesome background.
Awesome shots.
The duel is just plain AWESOME.

 

Yeah nothing beats Ani v.s. Obi-Wan


Though I do like how Dooku is dealt with..... alot.

 

Vader vs Obi Wan

 

The TPM duel was good, lots of action and emotion, but the ROTS duel, I think beats all. It had lots of emotion between two men, that were as close as brothers. And I quote, "You were like a brother to me!" -obi-wan It was sad to see Anakin turn to Vader.



Also, I know some of you already did this, but why did you choose the duel that you did. What made it the best over the other ones?

 

I've probably gone into why I didn't like the others as much rather than what I did like about the Jinn&Obi vs Maul. Thought it was the one with the best moves (people falling down ledges, jumping back up severa levels at a time, OB1's move at the very end), but more importantly the most realistic and best paced. The combatents get tired. The advantage swings back and forth. OB1 and Jinn fight well as a team (in stark contrast to Mace and his posse of folding chairs). I know alot of people hate the whole force field gimmic towards the end (admittedly it is a device with no 'real world' use, only there to create tension in the story), but it accomplishes this goal exceptionally well, plus the contrast betwenen the Jedi Jinn meditating as waits in contrast to the pacing Maul, who you can almost see summoning up every last bit of hatred i him, was brilliant.

As for Yoda vs. Sids, I really like the fact that alot of the fighting takes place after they lose their light sabres. The idea that they're both so powerful that the sabre is just a tool, but not the only one at their disposal.

As for the rest, they all seemed too rushed, especially the two Obi&Ani vs. Dooku. And the level of realism is no where near as good.

 

^ I think it was Obi-wan & Qui-Gon vs Darth Maul, but I agree completely.

 

Anakin vs Obi-wan

 

The best sword choreography is the one that took 11 months to master- Anakin vs Obi-Wan.
It is closely followed by the duel of the fates.

The most realistic fencing in the movies, the actual way you would strike an oponent is best shown in the Ben/Vader duel. Because every swing and cool move would lead the opponent into slaying you.

 

Duel of the Fates by far.

Yoda vs. Palps was very cool.

Anakin vs. Obiwan was epic but anti-climatic IMO.

 

I agree. If somebody swinged the saber 5 times to both sides and their back to another person who did the same, another could just fly in 2 sabers ignited and the moment these two were rolling both of their blades behind their backs, cut them in half.

 

TPM - Qui-Gon taking out a battle droid and then quickly "sheathing" his saber. Obi-Wan's behind the head block of Maul

Actually Maul's spinning at the same time from one side to the other of Obi-Wan was even better Incredibly fast.

1)Maul VS Qui-Gon + Obi-Wan
2)The duel
3)Yoda VS Sids

I hope they add some duel action back into ROTS for the DVD.

 

Best Duel: Maul VS Qui-Gon + Obi-Wan