Is Darth Vader's saber blade painted (ANH) & blade flexing.

[Anakin Starkiller]

I don't think the OWK v2 emitter was modified after anh. Since they had given up the spinning by then.

But, I see what you're all talk about in the video.

My guess is that the set screws that hold the emitter to the nipple might have occasionally loosed up causing the nipple to spin while the emitter got stuck in place. This might explain why sometimes it's spinning and sometimes it isn't.

 

[kurtyboy]

I've yet to see it spinning in ANH.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

The more I think about and see the videos, I think the V2 is just broken.

Don't I recall pictures of the V2 utilized in The Empire Strikes Back lightsaber practice sessions? If so, then this hilt might have had a lot of wear and tear on it over those years. A thin hollow necked hilt could easily break under the circumstances.

I think the V2 has a nipple because the old blade mount and inner rod core was needed to help keep the emitter in place and not because they were trying to create a design element.

They may have gone inside the hilt and tried to secure the rod within to help the emitter in place (If you have Anakin Starkillers V2 with rotating emitter, you know what I mean). But I would not be surprised if they simply relied on the tape around the neck to keep the emitter from sliding off. I guess Brandon would know exactly what held the emitter in place.

I think the tape on the neck was there to secure it, not to keep it from rotating. I don't think anyone on set would care if it rotated. Based off the lack of continuity of props such as blasters, and hilt from movie to movie and even within the movies themselves, why would they care if an emitter rotated?

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Have you never seen the "making of", where he's holding the stunt hilt, blade detached, they yell *cut!", and the effects dude runs in with the blade and shoves it down the emitter hole? (I guess one could see it another way, I haven't watched that in a long time

.

The crew member comes in holding the entire stunt saber with the blade attached, takes the Hero saber from Alec and hands him the stunt saber, connects the wires, and then goes off-screen

 

[Dann]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. Like I said, haven't seen it in a long time.

I seem to remember the dude fiddling with inserting the blade, though.

 

[thd9791]

Yea - even looking at kurtyboy's video "Wires" or something, you can see he holds the hero and the wires are still hanging there. Snap to the lit stunt and the wires are plugged in and positioned differently

 

[Dann]

The more I think about and see the videos, I think the V2 is just broken.

Don't I recall pictures of the V2 utilized in The Empire Strikes Back lightsaber practice sessions? If so, then this hilt might have had a lot of wear and tear on it over those years. A thin hollow necked hilt could easily break under the circumstances.

I think the V2 has a nipple because the old blade mount and inner rod core was needed to help keep the emitter in place and not because they were trying to create a design element.

They may have gone inside the hilt and tried to secure the rod within to help the emitter in place (If you have Anakin Starkillers V2 with rotating emitter, you know what I mean). But I would not be surprised if they simply relied on the tape around the neck to keep the emitter from sliding off. I guess Brandon would know exactly what held the emitter in place.

I think the tape on the neck was there to secure it, not to keep it from rotating. I don't think anyone on set would care if it rotated. Based off the lack of continuity of props such as blasters, and hilt from movie to movie and even within the movies themselves, why would they care if an emitter rotated?

I wasn't saying it was a design element in ANH, I think it served the purpose of being attached to the stunt blade, and would center it in the emitter hole when it was inserted into the hilt.

I'm saying they left it there in Jedi, and it ended up becoming part of the design of Luke's hero lightsaber, whereas Ben's hero obviously has no nipple/collar protruding.

 

[Mouse Vader]

Have you never seen the "making of", where he's holding the stunt hilt, blade detached, they yell *cut!", and the effects dude runs in with the blade and shoves it down the emitter hole? (I guess one could see it another way, I haven't watched that in a long time)

The making of star wars - 36.06.

At 37.13 we get fairly good view of Vader's barbican saber. Vafer strikes OB1's cape with a rather droopy looking blade but it stays in one peice.

At 37.27 we see a crew member handling OB1's saber by the blade.

 

[matty matt]

Has this memo been discussed before? It mentions the lightsaber blades.

 

[steven giunta]

I remember reading a story about the blades breaking because they spun to fast,to stop this obi wan would keep his hand on the emitter to control how fast it would spin. Watching the videos he does keep his hand high up on the saber so I always assumed it was a true story. If that is the case then that proves the emitter is defenatly spinning. The question I would ask is when did they decide on rotoscoping the blades?maybe they still had a few scenes left to film when they scrapped the spinning blade idea.

 

[Mouse Vader]

more interesting stuff in Making of Star Wars Original Trilogy Part 1 Of 2, from 11.00, Vader with shared stunt (plugged in) - also weird stuff at 12.07 A fixed blade light-broadsword vs early(?) motorised light saber ( that needs a power supply trolly...).

to control how fast it would spin.

but we can now see the emitter isn't spinning at all & the blade is going faster than usual.

 

[steven giunta]

Couldn’t that be the v3?that one doesn’t have a nipple so maybe the emitter didn’t spin on that saber,just the nipple spun.it would explained why they didn’t but gafer tape on the v3.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

I wasn't saying it was a design element in ANH, I think it served the purpose of being attached to the stunt blade, and would center it in the emitter hole when it was inserted into the hilt.

I'm saying they left it there in Jedi, and it ended up becoming part of the design of Luke's hero lightsaber, whereas Ben's hero obviously has no nipple/collar protruding.

Yes, I knew you were not talking about the A New Hope hilt. I was saying that by the time of Return of the Jedi, they did what they had to to keep the hilt together. But yes, as a result, it became a design element.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

In offer proof that Vader’s ESB stunt blade was, indeed bent, and was colored red by a material that strongly resembles plastic. Strangest of all, the MPP variant that was used was like nothing I have seen before. The prop makers went so far as to apply labels to the saber, including (as an in-joke, no doubt) the movie’s title:

 

[Mouse Vader]

Has this memo been discussed before? It mentions the lightsaber blades.

I presume they hadn't even started thinking about filming yet but have functional rotating swords (plural) & are now looking at tapered round ones.

see my ref above & link here (12.07min);

Just watched the 1st duel sequence on this, at 11.00 min, with the sound on - very interesting blade clash sounds esp at the end where the blades slide up one another, sounds so like composite ie golf club shaft. I'll crack on with the balsa as soon as I can to find out if this sounds the same.

 

[thd9791]

Which film is this from?

Has this memo been discussed before? It mentions the lightsaber blades. View attachment 999894

curious as to the month of january, where it fits into filming - may suggest this is the first/second/third try for lightsaber tech

 

[matty matt]

Which film is this from?


curious as to the month of january, where it fits into filming - may suggest this is the first/second/third try for lightsaber tech

It’s from January 1976.

 

[Mouse Vader]

It’s from January 1976.

Thanks for the date.

Given that they're still talking about fittings for the C3PO costume in the preceding paragraph I'm assuming they hadn't really got much done filming wise & certainly none of the early saber scenes as C3PO is or around for the hut, cantina & falcon scenes.

Also the word 'round' is used specifically to differentiate from square/triangular, & clearly tapered round is under investigation at relatively early time.

 

[Mouse Vader]

I think I've found footage of a square blade/s in action !

It's the making of star wars trilogy pt1 in my above post at the 12.07 min mark. Go through it frame by frame esp. the green & white blades. Green appears to have adjacent sides blacked while red & white has alternate sides blacked, all have the missing/extra reflective material at the ends of the blade. On the red blade you also get white light reflecting off the upper flats in some frames. Only the last 1/4 of the blade looks tapered.
All match perfectly this quote :

The problem of getting the Light Sabers to work fell upon
Special Production and Mechanical Effects Supervisor
John Stears.

(Snip)

The 'blade' part of the Light Saber is actually a four-sided
blade attached to a small motor in the handle. The motor
is used to quickly rotate the blade.

Two sides of the blade are coated with a highly reflective
material similar to the material used on motion picture
screens. One of those two sides is painted four inches
higher than the other side. When spinning, this gave the
blade its flashing effect.


Post #75 from; ANH Stunt Lightsaber "Blades"--Triangular??? Gil Taylor sez so...

 

[vadermania]

I think I've found footage of a square blade/s in action !

It's the making of star wars trilogy pt1 in my above post at the 12.07 min mark. Go through it frame by frame esp. the green & white blades. Green appears to have adjacent sides blacked while red & white has alternate sides blacked, all have the missing/extra reflective material at the ends of the blade. On the red blade you also get white light reflecting off the upper flats in some frames. Only the last 1/4 of the blade looks tapered.
All match perfectly this quote :

The problem of getting the Light Sabers to work fell upon
Special Production and Mechanical Effects Supervisor
John Stears.

(Snip)

The 'blade' part of the Light Saber is actually a four-sided
blade attached to a small motor in the handle. The motor
is used to quickly rotate the blade.

Two sides of the blade are coated with a highly reflective
material similar to the material used on motion picture
screens. One of those two sides is painted four inches
higher than the other side. When spinning, this gave the
blade its flashing effect.


Post #75 from; ANH Stunt Lightsaber "Blades"--Triangular??? Gil Taylor sez so...

Makes sense to me, too.