ST Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) in Episode VII

When Alec Guinness and Dave Prowse shot their duel for ANH GL and Peter Diamond didn't fully reallise where a Jedi vs Sith duel was going to go. I believe that Peter Diamond wanted the actors to use more powerful strokes but at that time the lightsabers were far too brittle for that, especially with big Dave Prowse who tended to smash the h*ll out of the sabers.

Ive no doubt that had the technology and the sabers we have today been available and GL had developed the fighting style with previous films then the ANH duel would've been more or less similar in action and pacing to Dooku vs Anakin/Obi-Wan. In respect to Mark, it was never Alec Guinness' age that lead to such a slow and ponderous duel but the fact that Dave Prowse was so heavy handed.

Given adequate training time, i'm 100% sure that Mark could out fight any of the actors who we've seen so far with the exception of Ewan McGregor. And seeing as he's had over a year to prepare, there should be absolutely zero excuse why Mark couldn't put on screen a convincing and truly awe inspiring lightsaber duel.

 

As an aside, I wonder why Mark's acting career didn't take off like Harrison's? I think right after the success of SW in 1977, he was offered lots of roles- which he turned down. He's had success as a voice actor, but apart from SW, not much of anything on the silver screen. I think Mark was offered a lot of 'Luke Skywalker' type roles, which I think in his contract for Star Wars prevented him from pursuing them. I saw him in the Big Red One the same year that ESB came out, thinking- 'That's Luke Skywalker!'. I thought that same about Harrison with Raiders- Han! And Fisher in the Blues Brothers. As I a 7-year old kid, I only knew them from their Star Wars names.

 

Luke's wife - "Octo-Mara"...

 

Nobody said 8 at a time although we already had Padme give birth to twins and Shmi give birth to an experiment, so anything is possible

 

So I haven't seen this idea posted yet but I'm sure it has. Star Wars likes to repeat themes in the movies. What if Luke isn't rebuilding the Jedi order. Or held captive for the last thirty years. What if he is actually playing the Obi-wan role in this movie and he is hiding/protecting someone or something else? These islands and ruins look like a good enough place for something like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

What a gorgeous locale.

Is Skellig the Gaelic word for Saint? Now I'm curious about the history of the place.

 

I'm sure CairnsTony can confirm that for us, as he can speak Gaelic.

 

Can always count on you Irish.

 

I'd be down for Luke having a huge family

 

I'm sure I read somewhere that the monks who retreated there in the past, used it as a place of solitude to meditate and try and become closer with God? Could this history have some kind of resonance as to what meaning it has for Luke in VII? just a thought..

 

Turns out Episode VII ended up being about Luke Skywalker revisiting his Irish heritage. The opening credits panned down to the opening scene to reveal an X-Wing with Luke logging onto his "ancestry.com" account. Thus our epic story began...

 

KED that's two hearty laughs you've given me today. Thank you

 

Ive just Google Earthed Skellig Michael and there doesn't look like theres much room to land an X-Wing.

 

They're always after me lucky saber!


(I just groaned at myself)

 

he is still an elite saber duelist. he was athletic, remember when he jumps out of the carbonite machine on vader, or when he did those flips?

 

or when he ran 40 yards to score the touchdown?

 

He made a few leaps, but it wasn't something that he did on the regular. He also was not as fast/aggressive like the style that Obi-Wan and Anakin had. He is more of a classic swordsman.

 

Exactly. Everyone is forgetting that the OT was filmed 30 years ago. They chose a samurai style for saber fighting. Mark was also fighting a guy wearing heavy armour which of course then slowed down the fighting style. I remember someone saying in behind the scenes stuff (maybe it was Bob Anderson) that Mark was capable of so much more when it came to saber fighting.

Yes Mark is older now. But again - if Abrams and co. choose to have Mark be a bit more flashier, I am sure he can do it. Mark doesnt seem like a guy plagued by old age and injury - with the right training I am sure he could do anything they want him to. But i am sure they will give all the flashier stuff to the youngsters.

 

Luke has no need to be a flashy fighter. Flashiness is beneath him.

 

Terrific lol. Anyway, I was alluding to the possibility that it isn't Luke's new training academy, but a place of solitude he has been using for a long time to meditate and truly study all aspects of the force. But hey, I'm just a prequel hater/empire fanatic who hasn't got anything interesting to post :-( (LOLOL)

 

I guess most people don`t think he has Ford`s charisma.

 

More like he wasn't lucky enough to be cast by George and Steven in another blockbuster