Why don't people like the idea of Yoda with a lightsaber?

I am 22 years old and I did watch the new films before the old ones. I recently discovered that there was much fuss about Yoda having a lightsaber. What is this fuss about? Some people even wrote that Yoda should not have a lightsaber and that they were surprised that he did have one. Why? Isn't it logical that a jedi has a lightsaber? I have never heard about jedi who don't have lightsabers. And Yoda is not just any jedi. He is one of (if not) the best jedi out there. Wouldn't it be weird if only the "worse" jedi had lightsabers? Wouldn't it be hypocritical (considering that Yoda taught most jedi, even in lightsaber combat) that all of the other jedi had lightsabers? If Yoda did not value the lightsaber as a weapon, why would he have taught Luke (and many other jedi)to use one?
I personally would have been more surprised if Yoda did not have a lightsaber. Maybe because I expect the best jedi to be able to master a lightsaber, and Yoda did it fantastically well. I have heard people calling Yoda's lightsaber scenes comical and/or unrealistic. Wouldn't it be even more unrealistic if Yoda was made grand master of the jedi order if he was bad/unusable in lightsaber combat? He was considered one of the best jedi for reasons, and one of the reasons was that he had exceptional lightsaber combat techniques, as well as great knowledge of the force and the ability to use the force better than most jedi.

I think Yoda's lightsaber scene with Dooku was exceptional. I was not disaappointed at all. Just excited. And I loved the way the movie showed us that size does not matter and that Yoda was a complex character. Although peaceful, Yoda was also a fighter.

 

First of all-- awesome name, Hyrule. I wonder if anybody's coined a name like that before here, but it's a really cool one. I've got the music in my head now.

Anyway. People got used to Yoda as a master of the Force back in ESB and ROTJ (briefly). Obviusly, back in the 80's you wouldn't even dream of making Yoda hold a lightsaber, but given the context of the films it all worked rather well. Lucas and Kershner played up the Zen angle of him, portraying Yoda as a kind of Bhuddist monk on the fringes of the galaxy, a pacifist with a deep connection to the Force. That line "war does not make one great" was a big factor in this, despite the fact that he really is training Luke for a coming battle with Vader and the Emperor. There wasn't any frame for thinking of Yoda as a fighter, and audiences for years were set up to think of him as this kindly peace-loving Eastern religious kind of muppet.

If Obi-Wan had an air of the samurai about him, then Yoda was seen as the Dalai Llama, and Lucas basically decided to put an AK-47 in his hands.

Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea, a wonderful inversion of how we were raised to think of this character. It's a great mining of the pop-iconography that Lucas himself invented-- it'd be like seeing Walt Disney turn Mickey Mouse into a Rambo-style action hero. Actually, what it reminds me of most of all is this:

[image=http://www.moviepropking.com/GREMLINS_2_THE_NEW_BATCH-3.jpg]

Or, to take it further back, there's all of the WWII era cartoons featuring the likes of Bugs & Daffy going to war against Hitler. Lucas is using Yoda as a propaganda symbol in the opening battles of the Clone Wars in the same register as those cartoon characters, which it the same kind of territory that Joe Dante was mining in his Looney Tune homage Gremlin films. What's savvy is how Lucas is portraying all of this propaganda-toonery in a war that's leading to the Empire.

Really, in-universe it makes perfect sense that Yoda has a lightsaber-- he's a damn Jedi. In the movies, it makes sense too, because he can now be CGI. On a more meta level, however, there was always the expectation that he'd be physical, and pacifist, and that's what makes it a brilliant post-modern gesture. War drags everybody down, makes everybody lose their moral high ground. Even Yoda.

 

I really liked seeing Yoda fight with a lightsaber. It was very unique. However, it did not work as well in AOTC as it did in ROTS.

 

Because Jedi aren't supposed to be all about lightsabers. The Force is the true ally of a Hedi, the lightsaber is but a tool (for defense, among many other things) and a symbol. I have no problem with Yoda having a lightsaber but the thing is, he and the emperor were portrayed as being strong enough with the Force to not necessarily require one. Each Jedi has their strengths, and like in the real world, not everyone is meant to be a badass saber-wielding duel master Jedi. It's not that he'd be bad at it, just that it wouldn't come down to that.

Although I suppose a battle using only the Force would stray too far into Dragon Ball Z territory, from what little was shown in the films...

and this wasn't demonstrated well enough in Empire?


Anyway, I just thought it was silly. Both times.
Yoda =/= ****YEAH COME AT ME BRO *ignites saber*

 

Yes, it was demonstrated well enough in Empire. But I find it weird if Yoda did not have a lightsaber. I think he was an epic fighter. I know that each jedi have different strengths, but even the jedi healers and the jedi librarians have lightsabers. And I kinda see Yoda as a multi jedi: a good diplomat, a good healer, a good jedi historian and a good lightsaber fighter. Yoda was indeed considered one of the best light saber fighters. Why would he not have a lightsaber? I've never heard of jedi who use only force alone to battle enemies. It might have been risky. Even though Yoda was exceptionally good at handling the pure force, he might not have been able to defeat enemies only with the force. It might have been easier for him to fight with the help of a lightsaber than with pure force.

I know that Harry Potter has nothing to do with Star Wars, but I will draw a parallel. Magic wands channel magic from the wizard/witch's body, and some people are more skilled in wandless magic than other. But wandless magic requires a lot more concentration and when you are fighting a deadly enemy, you don't have time to concentrate and think. Albus Dumbledore is extremely talented in wandless magic, but he stall had and used a wand.

I do not think that everything can be solved with the force alone all the time. Even the most flawless jedi master has flaws.

 

From Leigh Brackett's 1978 draft of The Empire Strikes Back ('Minch', obviously, is Yoda):

There's some debate about just how much of the Brackett draft was taken directly from GL's treatment, & what was her own invention, but there you go.

 

Thanks for liking my name XD I chose the name because I love both Zelda and Star Wars (of course I love The Hitchhiker's guide! ). Your name is awesome too. Jedi Ford Prefect! XD I was wondering if I would call myself Darth Ganondorf, Jedi Zelda, Hylian Jedi or just Jedi of Hyrule.


As mentioned earlier, I saw the newer movies before the old ones, although I love all of them. It's really sad that I didn't get to see the old classics
Maybe Yoda's role as a pacifist icon didn't have as strong impact on me because I saw the new movies first. I was introduced to Star Wars when I was 13 (I think) by my cousin and it took really long time for me to get to like Star Wars. I didn't fall in love with it at first sight, but the interest for Star Wars grew stronger and stronger as I saw more and more of it. I started to look upon myself as a fan when I was 16, when I bought the movies, started reading SW cartoons and SW books.
The first time my cousin pointed out that Yoda was a jedi, I seriously thought he was joking with me. I first thought all jedi were so called "tall strong human men". One thing that I love with Star Wars is that there are jedi females (I'm female) and jedis of all kinds of colours, sizes and species.

I also think it makes perfect sense that Yoda has a lightsaber. Is it possible to be a jedi and be 100% pacifist? I think it would be creepy if Yoda had let himself or his fellow jedi die just because he was a pacifist.

 

We shouldn't forget that in TESB, Luke is looking for "a great warrior". Yoda saying that "wars not make one great" doesn't deny that he was once a great warrior. In fact, it even makes sense, as if he acknowledges a past event.

They aren't. And Yoda having a lightsaber doesn't deny that. It only reinforces the fact that the lightsaber is a Jedi's weapon.

 

In some situations Yoda doesn't require a lightsaber. An excellent portrayal of this is in the first episode of TCW, "Ambush".

At the end Ventress pulls her lightsabers on Yoda and exclaims "I don't fear you, Jedi".

Yoda responds with "Strong you are with the dark side, young one...but not that strong."

He then casually yanks her lightsabers out of her hands with the Force.

But Sidious and Dooku aren't kids and Yoda can't just Forcepwn them.

 

I like to think that when Yoda steals Luke's little lamp in TESB he does so beacuse it reminds him of his lightsaber

 

I think it's basically what's been already posted here, and people don't like Lucas demonstrating that their pre-conceived notions are irrelevant.

 

We shouldn't forget that in TESB, Luke is looking for "a great warrior". Yoda saying that "wars not make one great" doesn't deny that he was once a great warrior. In fact, it even makes sense, as if he acknowledges a past event.


May I also add that it would not make sense if Yoda had never held a lightsaber. Who else taught Luke how to fight with a lightsaber in his duel against Vader in ESB? Certainly not Obi-Wan, who only had the time to give Luke less than an hour of training in ANH.

 

I was going to mention that, even though the lightsaber training scene was cut.

 

However powerful Yoda might be he too can simply burnout as he does against Palpatine in ROTS.

Why didn't Obi Wan hit GG with more of the Force Pushes like the one that launched him into the ceiling?

Because it takes energy. I think there is more going on during lightsaber duels and deflections...using sense powers, minor telekinetic pushes and guiding, foresight...and those might take less energy to use. But how long can one go deflecting blaster bolts with their hands? Why bother when you can use a lesser amount of energy guiding your lightsaber to deflect the bolt.

 

I was quite excited to see our little green friend pull out his little green lightsaber. However, I was disappointed in the result of the battle as it appeared on screen. I felt that Yoda looked like Sonic the Hedgehog bouncing around.

In retrospect, I would have preferred to see the zen master Yoda who has no need for physical weapons.

 

Again, who said the "zen master Yoda" has no need for physical weapons? And how would "zen master Yoda" work when Dooku ignites his lightsaber?

 

It's just how many of us old school fans viewed the Yoda character, as explained above by others.

As for the Dooku scene... I'd change it around such that Yoda does not use a saber, or better yet, I'd scrap the scene altogether, or better yet, re-write the whole movie, or better yet, re-write the trilogy.

 

One could say many of us old-school fans viewed Yoda as a great warrior once. Nothing in his character negates a past use of a lightsaber, which, as many of us old-school fans knew, was a Jedi's weapon.

 

I think it would have been cool if Yoda blocked Dooku's lightsaber with the Force. Total pwnage after Dooku declares he is more powerful than Yoda. The Force battle was working well up to then.

I don't have as much issue with Yoda having a lightsaber as some. He should have one if indeed he was once a great warrior. I just would have liked to see him using other Force powers instead unless the lightsaber was absolutely needed.

 

It's just how many of us old school fans viewed the Yoda character, as explained above by others.


I'm an old school fan and I have never viewed Yoda in that way. Luke's comment about Yoda being a great warrior made me realize that Yoda may have been one before the events of the OT.

 

First, that was Luke's assumption. Second, Yoda would still be a great warrior if he could defeat an enemy without the use of a lightsaber. In fact, he would be an even greater warrior. No?

 

Bahahaha that is priceless.

 

I wonder-- what kind of footage was shot for the scenes where Yoda teaches Luke lightsaber technique? Maybe with CGI you could complete that stuff, as with the Jabba scenes. It'd be a nice draw for people who were raised with Yoda as an action-hero.

 

For doing TESB scenes completely digitally-yes, it's possible. Go watch the AOTC extras DVD; they have a feature on how they re-created Yoda; part of that was digitally re-creating at least part of the Dagobah scenes, and it's practically impossible to tell the difference. And this was in 2000/2001-ish.

 

I'm not even really talking about doing the whole thing CGI (although frankly, I'd kinda like it) but just seeing if that "Luke and Yoda lightsaber" moment could be brought back. At least as a deleted scene, maybe, with full Special Edition treatment (just like the Anchorhead scenes-- at least put some Rontos and Dewbacks in there, to make it "official").