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Epic Lightsaber Duels

Ventessel

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Ventessel

Ventessel

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The image of Anakin and Obi-Wan with their sabers locked is an iconic one. Luke clashing with Vader, or Kenobi facing down Grievous.

 

Lightsaber duels are perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of Star Wars, and can be the turning point in each film.

 

Which duel was the greatest one of them all? Consider anything we've seen onscreen, from the original films to the Clone Wars series to the cinematic trailers for TOR.

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TalonVII

TalonVII

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5 best in my favs.

 

1. Obi-wan vs Maul

 

2. ROTJ Luke vs Vader

 

3. Obi-wan vs vader on mustafar

 

4. Yoda vs Palpatine in the senate building

 

5. Vader vs Obi-wan on the D-star. Nothing was more epic seeing that for the first time as a child.

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Kameki

Kameki

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The duel that got me most amazed was Yoda VS Count Dooku during the aftermath of the Battle of Geonosis. I had never seen Yoda fight before that, and I loved his dexterity (I believe it is called Ataru-stance/form in cannon lore)
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Ventessel

Ventessel

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The duel that got me most amazed was Yoda VS Count Dooku during the aftermath of the Battle of Geonosis. I had never seen Yoda fight before that, and I loved his dexterity (I believe it is called Ataru-stance/form in cannon lore)

 

Yes, it's called Form IV, or Ataru. Yoda was impressive the first time he fought, although I felt like it altered his image from the wise, powerful Force Consular into a slightly less serious character.

 

The way Yoda dealt with Ventress in The Clone Wars was far more in line with the originals, I felt. He just took both her lightsabers out of her hands with the Force, looked at them, and then levitated them back over to her and said, "Surrender, you should." I was laughing myself to death.

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Bird_of_Thunder

Bird_of_Thunder

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1) Tie between Vader vs. Obi-Wan (Mustafar) and Yoda vs. Sidious. Amazing duels right there; the Vader/Obi-Wan duel was just a powerful moment after I've seen the development of both charcters in TCW. And Yoda vs. Sidious... need I say more?

 

2) Obi-Wan and Qui-gonn vs. Maul. It was an epic duel.

 

3) Luke vs. Vader (ROTJ). Father vs. son, just the emotion in that duel was amazing.

 

4) Yoda vs. Dooku. Yoda was a flippin' little green ninja (as always).

 

5) Anakin vs. Dooku (just that segment without Obi-Wan). It was Anakin's vengeance moment; and he took full advantage.

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Kameki

Kameki

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The way Yoda dealt with Ventress in The Clone Wars was far more in line with the originals, I felt. He just took both her lightsabers out of her hands with the Force, looked at them, and then levitated them back over to her and said, "Surrender, you should." I was laughing myself to death.

 

I remember the scene, quite hilarious indeed. I think it was also the very first episode of season 1.

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Ventessel

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I remember the scene, quite hilarious indeed. I think it was also the very first episode of season 1.

 

That early, eh? I guess I'll have to double check.

1) Tie between Vader vs. Obi-Wan (Mustafar) and Yoda vs. Sidious. Amazing duels right there; the Vader/Obi-Wan duel was just a powerful moment after I've seen the development of both charcters in TCW. And Yoda vs. Sidious... need I say more?

 

2) Obi-Wan and Qui-gonn vs. Maul. It was an epic duel.

 

3) Luke vs. Vader (ROTJ). Father vs. son, just the emotion in that duel was amazing.

 

4) Yoda vs. Dooku. Yoda was a flippin' little green ninja (as always).

 

5) Anakin vs. Dooku (just that segment without Obi-Wan). It was Anakin's vengeance moment; and he took full advantage.

 

The problem with Anakin vs. Obi-Wan is that you have to deal with the fact that you know Obi-Wan wins somehow. So every time you see Anakin gaining an advantage, you are excited and intrigued, but know he's doomed. That duel was too long and "evenly matched" to be interesting to watch. The same effect, of showing how they are balanced, Kenobi's defense matching the torrent of anger that Vader is throwing out until Vader makes a mistake, could have been achieved in a much shorter and more intense time frame.

 

Also, as originally written by Nick Gillard, Vader's defeat was way more epic. He disarms Kenobi and starts choking him, then as he closed for the kill Kenobi called his lightsaber into his hand and strikes off Vader's limbs before Vader kills him. That would have been a far more intense conclusion to the duel, playing off the fact that you know Kenobi wins somehow, but leaving it until the last moment.

 

Kenobi vs. Maul was boring until the last few seconds after Qui-Gon died, then it got real. Although I would have preferred more physicality and anger on Kenobi's part, as we saw when Maul taunted him in TCW. Especially as a padawan, seeing his master die, Kenobi should have become enraged and possibly wounded Maul before the more experienced saberist disarmed him.

 

I liked Anakin's rematch with Dooku, it was interesting in context of their previous duel, and Anakin's flirtations with the Dark Side (although let's be honest, that kid was already Dark Side by then, he'd shown a willingness to murder people, disobey orders, had dreams of fascist coups, and wanted unlimited power.... uh, anyone else see a problem here?)

 

As always, Luke vs. Vader reins supreme. That duel essentially made RotJ for me, nothing else compared. From the moment the Emperor begins tempting Luke to the Dark Side, threatening the rebels, revealing his trap, to the moment Vader throws his sorry *** down the reactor shaft, the tension and excitement was there.

 

Luke and Vader's initial blows, giving way to Luke's refusal to fight Vader, until taunted by Vader's knowledge of his sister, and then Luke's very aggressive beatdown of his father, severing his hand. It was a duel that progressed and had emotional depth as well as an interesting shift of scenery and terrain. The mustafar duel really had none of that, it was much too long and repetitive to carry the same weight that the original finale did.

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TalonVII

TalonVII

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That one did prove to be just long enough to be impressive, without going overboard.

 

Actually the last 45 minutes of the movie from the point you see Vader leading the 501st into the jedi temple till the end, i think made up for the rest of the first 3 movies of the prequil.

 

And I know many hate on Hayden, I think if he'd had the intensity, or that focus of acting he had when he was going back and forth with Ewan about the sith and jedi, if he'd put level of acting into II and the rest of III, i think the movie would of been much better.

 

But those lightsaber duels made the movie. Plus it's always sad but the book scenes, explained so much more. Particularly the final fight between Dooku and Anakin. So much more was shown that wasn't shown in the movie, and it's a real shame it didn't.

 

I wouldn't of minded another 3-4 minutes of that fight and to the length of the movie to see that fight develop more before it ended.

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Ventessel

Ventessel

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Actually the last 45 minutes of the movie from the point you see Vader leading the 501st into the jedi temple till the end, i think made up for the rest of the first 3 movies of the prequil.

 

And I know many hate on Hayden, I think if he'd had the intensity, or that focus of acting he had when he was going back and forth with Ewan about the sith and jedi, if he'd put level of acting into II and the rest of III, i think the movie would of been much better.

 

He wanted to, you see in interviews how excited he was to do the third film because Lucas kept telling him to rein it in and play a more restrained role.

But those lightsaber duels made the movie. Plus it's always sad but the book scenes, explained so much more. Particularly the final fight between Dooku and Anakin. So much more was shown that wasn't shown in the movie, and it's a real shame it didn't.

 

I wouldn't of minded another 3-4 minutes of that fight and to the length of the movie to see that fight develop more before it ended.

I'm not sure what details were lost from the fight with Dooku, or what else might have been added. The one thing that might have been explained more clearly was how Kenobi was incapacitated and recovered so swiftly.

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Spartanik

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Which duel was the greatest one of them all? Consider anything we've seen onscreen, from the original films to the Clone Wars series to the cinematic trailers for TOR.

Well Luke vs vader on bespin is épic and iconic as star wars can be.

That said i find this and its series awesome.

Edited by Spartanik
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TalonVII

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He wanted to, you see in interviews how excited he was to do the third film because Lucas kept telling him to rein it in and play a more restrained role.

 

I'm not sure what details were lost from the fight with Dooku, or what else might have been added. The one thing that might have been explained more clearly was how Kenobi was incapacitated and recovered so swiftly.

 

Well there was at the beginning, Anakin and Obi-wan were downplaying their fighting skills. Obi-wan was using Shi-cho and Anakin was using Shien until Dooku taunted them. Then Anakin shifted to Djem-so and started beating down Dooku. Well dooku did a quick move to knock anakin back then tried to get obi-wan to go into an ataru flip and Obi-wan showed he'd master Soreseu and then you see dooku go "Oh crap".

 

Then the fight moved more into what we saw in the movie.

 

It's just i think the fight could of opened a bit better and been longer and shown more of the sloppy fighting in the beginning and then Obi-wan and Anakin shift into their prefered style of fighting.

 

You kinda saw it in the movie, but it was too brief. There was no connection from the book to the movie, or it was not done very well.

 

Kinda hard to explain it unless you've read the book then watched the movie.

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Ventessel

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Well Luke vs vader on bespin is épic and iconic as star wars can be.

That said i find this and its series awesome.

 

Wow, that was really good! I was impressed with the camera work most of all. The visual effects are getting to be so anyone can do them on their laptop, but the pacing and camera angles were outstanding. Most of the entries I've seen in the Lightsaber Choreography Contest run by theForce.net have atrocious camera work, very static.

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Themanthatisi

Themanthatisi

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The image of Anakin and Obi-Wan with their sabers locked is an iconic one. Luke clashing with Vader, or Kenobi facing down Grievous.

 

Lightsaber duels are perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of Star Wars, and can be the turning point in each film.

 

Which duel was the greatest one of them all? Consider anything we've seen onscreen, from the original films to the Clone Wars series to the cinematic trailers for TOR.

 

I agree wtih many about some of the movies scenes and how epic some are...

 

However,

 

IMO, for how sith and Jedi actually do fight, I love the TOR Intro movies... (Return "Intro" and the Sith Introduction one). I think the fighting is so good, I would love to see a movie made that way with only real actors voice acting. To me, the fighting makes the real SW movie scenes boring in comparison... I watch "Return" over and over, the best few minutes of SW action ever! Not only is the fighting between Sith and Jedi totally Epic, the Smuggler is also awesome... so is the voice acting!

 

The video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdCdRPESps

Edited by Themanthatisi
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Spartanik

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Wow, that was really good! I was impressed with the camera work most of all. The visual effects are getting to be so anyone can do them on their laptop, but the pacing and camera angles were outstanding. Most of the entries I've seen in the Lightsaber Choreography Contest run by theForce.net have atrocious camera work, very static.

 

Yeah as i understand They work in audiovisual line of work, on live tv shows and stuff like that they did this stuff with spare time if i recall, there are vids on youtube talking how they made it etc. I think they loaned a professional camera at the time of the first video.

 

This one is the latest i think,

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Ventessel

Ventessel

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I must say, the talents of the guys who made RvD2 are readily apparent in their work. They have a great understanding of cinematic storytelling, and good visual stunts. Their behind the scenes videos and FAQs are great to watch.

 

Also, the duels in TOR trailers are, in my opinion, the best examples of lightsaber combat we've seen in Star Wars. As far as really skilled, deadly duelists go, those guys take the cake.

 

A close second is the duel between Sidious and Maul in TCW, which was remarkably well done. A few segments were somewhat theatrical rather than practical, but overall that duel came off exceptionally well.

 

The duels in the original trilogy carry the most emotional weight, while the ones in the prequels provide the most visually impressive displays (although not the best examples of tactical duels, but still fun to watch. RvD2 is right up there in terms of amazing visual displays, while not being strictly technical swordplay).

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