At the very end of the video, the panel says that the Holiday Special Graflite saber was used on Luke's belt when he destroyed the AT-AT-with a grenade, and that it was a pick-up shot with an ILM-er and not Mark hamill. I've gone back and watched the scene... It's Mark Hamill the entire time, and it's obviously a Graflex saber.
 
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Say what you will on the cinematic front (and I do think she's made some pretty big mistakes), but it sure seems like Kathleen Kennedy has made bank for LFL.

And personally, I love the focus on television, which seems to me to be a more natural fit for the kind of storytelling that I think works best for Star Wars (i.e., serial storytelling that allows for more development over time, and which can't just rely on whiz-bang f/x and rollercoaster sensibilities to carry the day the way a film can).
 
Say what you will on the cinematic front (and I do think she's made some pretty big mistakes), but it sure seems like Kathleen Kennedy has made bank for LFL.

Nickelback has sold 50+ million albums too.

Imagine how much more money Disney would have made if they had managed SW responsibly.

I don't think the financial damage really shows in the first 5+ years. It takes the better part of a decade for the public to quit giving a much-loved franchise more chances.

How much of Disney's SW profit can be traced back to 'The Force Awakens' alone? That movie sold $2b in box office and plenty of merchandising. And nobody is gonna convince me that Galaxy's Edge is popular because of the Disney-era movies.

I bet Disney's SW income from the 20-teens was a lot higher than the 2020s. They haven't put out a new SW movie since 2019 and we all know why. In 5+ years they haven't come up with a new SW movie idea that looks like a net profit.

And personally, I love the focus on television, which seems to me to be a more natural fit for the kind of storytelling that I think works best for Star Wars (i.e., serial storytelling that allows for more development over time, and which can't just rely on whiz-bang f/x and rollercoaster sensibilities to carry the day the way a film can).

There are pros & cons to each format (long episodic vs short big movie).

Is SW really better suited to episodic TV form? Or is it just that George Lucas did the movie-form really well, and Disney has not?

I think part of the reason why SW is playing better on TV these days is because the short-term expectations are inherently lower with TV. When you tally up these TV shows as a whole (like, the storyline over several seasons) they are still disappointing IMO. They are just more satisfying on an individual episode basis.

It's sort of like a movie that has some good individual action sequences but the larger story craps the bed. That movie probably seems a lot better if you watch it 15 minutes at a time and skip certain sections.


Looking to the future, I'm in favor of SW doing the TV format because it's different. There are already about 5-8 good SW movies and they have made a huge imprint on the culture. The TV format is just fresher ground. There have been dozens of TV episodes in the SW universe by now but they haven't made big impressions yet. There has not been a SW series comparable to 'Game of Thrones' or 'The Wire' or 'Deadwood' in terms of quality & cultural impact. That's how big the OT and PT movie trilogies were.
 
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Hasbro is releasing a four pack of Black Series figures from the old books with Luke, Mara, and the two villain characters. But I think I'm going to attempt to find a regular Black Series Mara. The four pack isn't for me.

E-BLACK-SERIES-STAR-WARS-THE-LAST-COMMAND-4-PACK-4.jpg
 
I'm tired of the Anakin/ESB saber being retrieved in every SW canon.


The EU had sort of a rationale, with a maintenace worker on Cloud City finding it and Vader retrieving it. But the Disney canon seemed to ignore the issue.

If it fell out the bottom of Cloud City then forget it. It wouldn't be found. There might be some magical/conscious Force stuff going with living creatures but that saber is just a small piece of machinery. It's not going to call out to anybody.
 
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I'm tired of the Anakin/ESB saber being retrieved in every SW canon.


The EU had sort of a rationale, with a maintenace worker on Cloud City finding it and Vader retrieving it. But the Disney canon seemed to ignore the issue.

If it fell out the bottom of Cloud City then forget it. It wouldn't be found. There might be some magical/conscious Force stuff going with living creatures but that saber is just a small piece of machinery. It's not going to call out to anybody.
I see that less as "Disney" and more as "JJ." His instincts, both with this franchise and with Trek, is to be all self-referential and "'memba this?!"

I appreciated some aspects of it, like the use of McQuarrie style X-wings and such. But all the "We have to bring Palpatine back because Star Wars movies have to have a Palpatine showdown at the end of the trilogy" is exactly the kind of fan myopia that I'd hoped we could move past with the sequels.

The past is a foreign country.
 
I'm tired of the Anakin/ESB saber being retrieved in every SW canon.


The EU had sort of a rationale, with a maintenace worker on Cloud City finding it and Vader retrieving it. But the Disney canon seemed to ignore the issue.

If it fell out the bottom of Cloud City then forget it. It wouldn't be found. There might be some magical/conscious Force stuff going with living creatures but that saber is just a small piece of machinery. It's not going to call out to anybody.
I agree with you. If you just take the original dialogue of that saber, it becomes very clear the purpose.



  • Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi : I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did.
    Luke Skywalker : What is it?
    Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi : Your father's light saber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire.

    Notice i highlighted "you" and "your". The whole intent of why Anakin's lightsaber was used was to call Luke into the destiny that awaited him as a Jedi and to bring him full circle to his father(I understand Lucas had not yet made that decision yet but in the end, that's what happened).

    Once Luke faced Vader , Anakins lightsaber did its job and it was no longer needed. (Lukes hand gets cut off holding Anakins' "his father's" lightsaber). It falls, never to be retrieved again...doesn't need to be. To me, it no longer plays any significance in the rest of the story barring a non-direct reference by Vader in ROTJ when he says, "I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete"
    which further drives the nail in Anakin's lightsaber's coffin. It would never be used by the force or anything else to "call" out to someone again...especially Rey, i might add ...lol. At this point, Luke cutting off Vaders arm in ROTJ is more about repeating the sins of the father, turning to the dark side, than it is about "Anakins lightsaber".

    Anakin's lightsaber served it's sole purpose for the sake of the commision, revelation and consummation. Nothing more, nothing less.(Taking the OT as the complete and finished work)

    Obviously, if the Prequels enter your mind, you will see symbolism with Anakin losing his arm(twice) then Luke losing his arm, then Luke taking Vaders arm off with the lightsaber he constructed(third time) which to me, becomes overkill because the explaination is crafted perfectly within the OT itself anyways...We, as the audience, didn't need to know that Anakin lost his arm with his lightsaber and that's how Obiwan got it(according to the PT). Just goes to show you that with each attempt to try to make something more significant than its' original intent just reduces the significance in the end and devalues its importance.


    ***I would just also add that some might say, "Obi-wan was trying to manipulate Luke into action by giving him Anakins lightsaber". My response to that is whether or not that was his intent, the force, which is living and penetrates yadda yadda, used it for its intended purpose anyway. I personally have experienced situations in my own life where someone was secretly trying to lay a trap for me but in the end it all worked out for the better. I believe Obiwan knew that everything was happening by the will of the force and that he was just being obedient unto his role in it all...when it was time for him to depart, he knew it.


 
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I have to nitpick about the ANH/ESB saber being referred to as "Anakin's". He wanted Luke to have it, it was kept for Luke, it's Luke's and should always be Luke's. Don't even get me started on it being referred to as "Rey's" lightsaber now.
I agree, i only used that term for the sake of the readers and previous comments related to it. We know that Luke couldn't handle every detail of what happened being dropped on his shoulders at once. He was already sorting through the fact that what his Uncle Owen had told him was now contradicted by Obiwan. For the sake of argument, it was his father's lightsaber but no longer in his possession, it was destined to be Luke's for a short time to fulfil its' purpose and then be gone...Luke needed to construct his own. Obvious symbolism there. Notice in ESB when Vader sees Luke with "his" lightsaber he really never addressess it...obviously, that would give the most dramatic part away but besides this, it's not revealed until after he loses his arm/saber. Imagine if Vader said, "hey kid, that's my lightsaber"...lol. The "aura" of that lightsaber was really never a thing to begin with. Like i stated before, it was meant to serve a purpose and it did.
 
If Jedi are trained to not have attachments, wouldn't that make the saber just a tool with no emotional attachments? If you break or lose your saber, just make another who cares you have no attachments or emotional value in it.

Well from the Prequels the Jedi obviously hold it in more regard than that. We saw Obi-Wan chastise Anakin for dropping his lightsaber during the speeder chase with the "this weapon is your life" speech. It's a symbol, the only little bit of individuality they can have, and a weapon.
 

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