The Lightsabers of the Prequels

After getting my first ForceFX lightsaber (Obi-Wan Ep1), I got into a little research of the prequel lightsabers. What I found to be very interesting is how few lightsaber models were actually created, considering the amount of fairly prominent Jedi we had in those films. It borders on ridiculous how many different Jedi characters have to share the same lightsaber (or at least, the same lightsaber design).

I looked at that scene from the Ep1 documentary, where Ewan McGregor gets to chose his lightsaber, and in that small case we actually have pretty much all the Jedi lightsabers of the prequels. With the exception of Yoda's, Anakin's and Mace's second one.

<img src="http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8092/sabres.jpg">

I identified the lightsabers from official pictures, mostly from the Visual Dictionary.

- Of course, this was done to speed up the film production. We never really get to see most of the Jedi's lightsabers up close, so it doesn't really matter. But what does that mean in-universe? If the lightsaber is such an important thing for the Jedi ("This weapon is your life"), why are so many Jedi content to walk around with either Standard Model A, B or C? Could it be that for some Jedi the lightsaber is indeed just a weapon, and they have no qualms about sticking to a tried and true model?

- Am I the only one who thinks it's crazy that Ewan got to choose his own saber? Shouldn't this have been a pretty well thought-out design choice by George Lucas? I mean, what if Ewan had chosen the Plo Koon saber, the one that looks just like half of Darth Maul's saber? Wouldn't that have been very weird?

 

Perhaps there are some designs that are 'classics' within the Order. They may have been used by revered Jedi of the past, and so in the PT era there are many Jedi who choose one of those designs as a way of honouring those masters rather than coming up with a totally new design of their own. Perhaps many Jedi build their first saber after an existing design of a master who has inspired them, but later on in their career they may make their own unique design - eg Mace Windu has a design shared with other Jedi in Ep I but then he has a more unique design in Ep II. And then maybe Jedi always have more than one saber anyway, and its just a case of which they choose to use at any given time.

With Ewan choosing his saber, there may be more to it than is seen in the documentary. He may already have seen some of the designs and made certain decisions about which he liked - possibly in consultation with George - and what you see in the doc is him seeing the completed props for the first time and making a final decision.

Even so, perhaps that is just an aspect that George was happy to leave up to the actor to decide. He had several designs of saber made which he okayed for use with the main characters and then let actors like Ewan pick the one they liked. Perhaps George felt that in doing so the prop would be something that is more personal for them and the character, since someone like Ewan was going to actually have to use the saber all the time, unlike some of the other Jedi in Ep I.

 

I also think it's funny how all of the lightsabers look quite the same, except for Yoda, Anakin, Obi Wan and Qui Gonn-all the MAIN characters.

I will say I didn't realize Mace Windu had two different lightsaber styles. I thought it was always this one: [image=http://www.thesabervault.com/files/masterreplicas/items/mace_mini.jpg]

 

For Episode I Mace had the same saber as Plo Koon and Luminara. I'm glad he got a different one for Ep2, though.

 

Interesting, that's some good research. I've always thought it was weird that they would let the actors choose their lightsabers (at least for Obi-Wan and Anakin towards the end of the PT time period, for continuity reasons), but maybe the process wasn't really as open as the documentary makes it look; maybe their choices were really limited to just a couple very similar options or something.

 

I don't know, the documentary makes it pretty clear that Ewan could have picked any of the 6 sabers in the box above. He discusses with Nick Gillard that the Qui-Gon one is the one with which they had been practicing, and that it felt quite good (it's probably got the best grip of all, being so thin and featureless). However, Ewan probably decides it's a bit too bland. We also see him fiddling with the Plo Koon and Ki-Adi sabers, before settling on the Obi-Wan model.

I just can't believe we could have ended up with Obi-Wan going against Darth Maul with these sabers clashing:
<img src="http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8092/sabres.jpg">
When Obi-Wan sliced Maul's saber in half they would have been nearly identical, only turned upside down.

I have to say, Ewan chose wisely. His saber is without a doubt the most well designed of that bunch. And it was also great that it had a kind of brother-saber in the Qui-Gon model. I wonder if Liam Neeson got to chose his own saber afterwards or if it was decided that he should have the one that resembles Obi-Wan's. In the video we see him training with what looks like a beta version of the Kit Fisto model.

And even the spare lightsabers that Obi-Wan and Anakin get in the Geonosis Arena are not much different. Anakin's is just like Ki-Adi-Mundi's, only with different buttons; and Obi-Wan's is like Adi Gallia's, but again with different buttons.

 

I guess if he was picking for Episode I it's not too big a deal, because he could have (and obviously did) lost that Episode I saber soon enough anyway. I'm thinking more of the sabers that he and Anakin end up with at the end of ROTS... and their continuity similarities to the sabers that ANH Obi-Wan (same saber) and Darth Vader (new saber obviously, but a similar, albeit darker, design) have. And of course the fact that Anakin's ROTS saber has to be the same as the one that Obi-Wan gives Luke in ANH.

 

Well, yeah. For the Episode 3 sabers George had to exercise total control over the designs, because the hilts had to match up to Episode 4. I just think it's weird that he exercized so little control over the lightsaber that Obi-Wan would use for Eps 1 and 2.

And by the way, I always thought it was weird that for Ep2 Obi-Wan rebuilt an exact copy of his lost Ep1 saber. Wouldn't it have been much cooler and symbolic for him to hold on to Qui-Gon's lightsaber? The one he grabbed from his dead master's hand and used to vanquish the Sith menace? Do you think they went back to his original saber just because George didn't want Obi-Wan with a green blade?

 

A point which is usually conveniently overlooked by those who insist Lucas "forgot about the whole thing" because a certain scene didn't get done in principal photography...

 

The green blade thing makes sense, but additionally I think it's appropriate that Obi-Wan doesn't do the sentimental thing and hold on to his master's blade for the film where the Jedi Order's no attachment doctrine is introduced.

 

I guess he was because he had to pick one that would be comfortable to use in the 3 films. Or something like that.

 

Yes, I agree... it's pretty annoying to see people attempt to make that claim. There is no way Lucas forgot about the need for that connection.

I agree that the green blade was probably a big part of it, but I also agree that the no sentimentality/attachment factor is present too. It was symbolic enough that Obi-Wan killed Maul with Qui-Gon's lightsaber.

 

Are you talking about Lucas forgetting that Obi Wan gave Luke Anakin's Lightsabre?

Lucas seemed to have stopped caring that much about Lightsabres.

For instance he let Samuel Jackson have a purple blade and during the making of the original trilogy he used to insist to the actors that the lightsabres were extremely heavy but in the prequels they don't seem to have that heavy weight.

He seems to have forgotten a lot of stuff, he reshot the Emperor/Vader scene in ESB and apparently forgot that Vader knew that the "young rebel" had the name Skywalker earlier in the movie.

 

He originally says "young rebel?"

I never knew that....

But somewhat random, does anyone notice that the lightsaber's look somewhat Pristine in EP III to the point where they remind me of candy that i wish to eat?

 

He did? I know in ROTS Obi Wan takes Anakins lightsaber after their battle. Was that not the Saber he gave to Luke?

 

Like other posters have said, those designs are probably just "common". I don't know aboutt all the other Jedi, but I know at least Luminara "customized" her lightsaber differently than Plo Koon by adding gold plates to the bottom.

 

I think a reason why Jedi would use the same model is because a Jedi is also spposed to be modest. So perhaps those Jedi felt that a personel design is "no big deal." Ulyimately it may come down to comfort as well. Your lightsaber can be as unique as it gets, but if you can't hold it with any comfort, why bother?


I do like this documentary and the ensueing question.

 

More like "Hey lets give these guys old props, no one cares about them, and no one will care about their sabers."

 

No, Lucas didn't forget. People like to claim he did because the scene was not done during principal photography, but that is likely irrelevant; they could have been planning already to pick it up later for whatever reason. It was the lightsaber that Obi-Wan gave to Luke in ANH.