First of all, this is totaly subjective and my own perosnal opinion.
I have been a fan of lightsabers since the original trilogy, however prequel era sabers are my favorite. In the first move (ANH) the lightsabers had motors in them to make a rod (with reflective paper) spin and reflect light, so it was ideal to have a hilt that could house it. I believe this is part of the reason they went with the graflex and such. Saber sizes were in the line of 11 to 11.5 inches long and about 1.5" thick
Eventually post processing was better at lighting the saber so by the next films the rotor mechanism was no longer needed. Thus sabers didnt need to be thick (large). for example Luke's ROTJ saber.
When the prequels came along all was going to be done in post so Sabers became more stylized, slimmer and smaller (except for Maul's hehe). This is why I love prequel era sabers. All the sabers used in the films were non functional, some had metal rods for the choreographs but non had electronics (please correct me if im wrong here).
One saber that makes me think that the hilts should be more like the prequel era is the Anakin Episode 2 hilt. When you look at this, it is essentially a light side Vader MPP. It is a lot smaller than the normal MPP; granted this might be because Hayden has smaller hands than Prowse. But still Prequel era hilt sizes are closer to the original Ralph Mcqaurrie concept art.
Saber sizes in the prequel era were more varied in size but let say the average hilt size was between 10 to 11 inches long and about 1.375" thick
Then comes the Disney Era. In this period both the Sequel trilogy and the Live action series have started using props with lights in them, this is great for lighting effect purposes in scenes. Like them or not it certainly makes more sense that the light the sabers emmit can be reflected in the characters and such.
However I think this comes with a price, a larger hilt. You can clearly see how much larger Kylo and Rey's hilts are compared to Luke's hilt. Saber sizes in this trilogy seem to be more like 11.5 to 12 inches long and over 1.5" thick
Recently with the Disney+ shows Im seing the same trend, sabers like Ahsoka's and the Darksaber they also make use of leds on the props making them a bit on the large side. However none of these bother me because these are all unique style sabers. My gripe come with the Order 66 flashback scenes. All of these scenes from etiher the Mandalorian, Book of Boba and Kenobi series show larger than normal prequel era sabers. These look more like over 11 long and between 1.375 and 1.5 inches thick. Im almost certain the size has to do with the incorporation of the illuminated blades.
I know, I am probably exagerating a bit here, but well its something my OCD can't let go. I still love them anyways and cant wait to see the ones in the Ahsoka show.
I have been a fan of lightsabers since the original trilogy, however prequel era sabers are my favorite. In the first move (ANH) the lightsabers had motors in them to make a rod (with reflective paper) spin and reflect light, so it was ideal to have a hilt that could house it. I believe this is part of the reason they went with the graflex and such. Saber sizes were in the line of 11 to 11.5 inches long and about 1.5" thick
Eventually post processing was better at lighting the saber so by the next films the rotor mechanism was no longer needed. Thus sabers didnt need to be thick (large). for example Luke's ROTJ saber.
When the prequels came along all was going to be done in post so Sabers became more stylized, slimmer and smaller (except for Maul's hehe). This is why I love prequel era sabers. All the sabers used in the films were non functional, some had metal rods for the choreographs but non had electronics (please correct me if im wrong here).
One saber that makes me think that the hilts should be more like the prequel era is the Anakin Episode 2 hilt. When you look at this, it is essentially a light side Vader MPP. It is a lot smaller than the normal MPP; granted this might be because Hayden has smaller hands than Prowse. But still Prequel era hilt sizes are closer to the original Ralph Mcqaurrie concept art.
Saber sizes in the prequel era were more varied in size but let say the average hilt size was between 10 to 11 inches long and about 1.375" thick
Then comes the Disney Era. In this period both the Sequel trilogy and the Live action series have started using props with lights in them, this is great for lighting effect purposes in scenes. Like them or not it certainly makes more sense that the light the sabers emmit can be reflected in the characters and such.
However I think this comes with a price, a larger hilt. You can clearly see how much larger Kylo and Rey's hilts are compared to Luke's hilt. Saber sizes in this trilogy seem to be more like 11.5 to 12 inches long and over 1.5" thick
Recently with the Disney+ shows Im seing the same trend, sabers like Ahsoka's and the Darksaber they also make use of leds on the props making them a bit on the large side. However none of these bother me because these are all unique style sabers. My gripe come with the Order 66 flashback scenes. All of these scenes from etiher the Mandalorian, Book of Boba and Kenobi series show larger than normal prequel era sabers. These look more like over 11 long and between 1.375 and 1.5 inches thick. Im almost certain the size has to do with the incorporation of the illuminated blades.
I know, I am probably exagerating a bit here, but well its something my OCD can't let go. I still love them anyways and cant wait to see the ones in the Ahsoka show.