LIGHTSABER - GRAFLEX - LUKE ESB - Grips - Broken T-Strip in ESB Promo Photo

R

Ridire Firean

Sr Member
Hey Gang!

I was going through photos here and on Google looking for a closeup of the original GRAFLEX Luke Skywalker lightsaber in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope trying to find a good view of the end of the grip to determine what the original grip strip profile really was, and I saw this...

LIGHTSABER - Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in STAR WARS Episode V The Empire Strikes Back - crac.jpg

For the longest time I always believed that the strips were sections of truck windshield wiper blades. I don't remember where I read that, it's just what I remember from years ago. I've been going through posts here and on other forums about lightsabers and viewing what others have chosen to use in their replica builds and the data that manufacturers of 'T-strips' have used to create their version of the grip material. There are theories about wiper blades, hard plastic cupboard T-strips, metal cupboard T-strips, etc.

The interesting thing about this photo is that the 'T-strip' below the left side of the D-ring appears broken at an angle where the screw goes through it. Rubber wouldn't snap off like that, and metal would've most likely just bent if the end of it got caught on something. But, hard plastic, that could well have snapped off at an angle if the end of the T-strip got caught on something, or pinched under that belt buckle or the like.

If you want to see the original image, I got it here...

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/luke-skywalker-mark-hamill.jpg

duplicate but slightly less KB here...

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...ukeESB1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070711234111

I know this debate will only come to an end when the original lightsaber's current owner lets it see the light of day again, or provides an in depth photo book of the prop along with detailed accounts of it from Roger Christian, Mark Hamill and whoever else had their hands in producing the original prop(s) or even simply had their hands ON the original prop.

And I know this revelation only pertains to the GRAFLEX Luke ESB lightsaber, (or at least the lightsaber used in this Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back promotional photo), and not necessarily the ANH lightsaber, but it may give further insight into what they had used for its grip strips.

p.s. If this has already been discussed or brought to light before now, I apologize for bring it back up, but in all my research I haven't seen anyone point this out before. I searched this forum and others and with Google and couldn't find any mention of broken/cracked/snapped grip/T-strip boolean combo.
 
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The one time I've seen it come up here on the forum (the seemingly broken grip in the ESB promo photo), someone pointed out that there are other photos out there that were taken during the same photo shoot, and they show said grip to be intact. So it is thought that the "broken grip" is actually an optical illusion due to some blemish, or edit, or trick of the light, in that one photo. See the two shots below.

esbluke22-vi.jpgLukeESB1.jpg


Also it has been well established that the grips are plastic, as opposed to rubber or metal.
 
Jedi Reali said:
The one time I've seen it come up here on the forum (the seemingly broken grip in the ESB promo photo), someone pointed out that there are other photos out there that were taken during the same photo shoot, and they show said grip to be intact. So it is thought that the "broken grip" is actually an optical illusion due to some blemish, or edit, or trick of the light, in that one photo. See the two shots below.

View attachment 605863View attachment 605864


Also it has been well established that the grips are plastic, as opposed to rubber or metal.
Click to expand...

this makes sense now, i couldn't believe i never spotted that before with the whole buttons vs rivet research
 
Another interesting thing only seen in ESB promo photos is the very visible glue along the edges of the T-track. It's not present in the best ESB screencaps. By that I mean these two:

swempire_saber.jpgzkhoth.jpg
 
O.K. with a little help from the 'Similar Threads' suggestion box below, and a little bit of reading and a different boolean "Wampa Cave Saber" on Google, and watching a couple of video interviews with Roger Christian, and a whole lot more reading ( I found three other threads where this is discussed ), now 3 hours and 45 minutes later, I can safely say everything is conjecture, and I'm going with, "Yep, they're plastic. Definitely broke during the photoshoot. Roger Christian says he super-glued the strips on in A New Hope. I'm siding with Organic Mechanic and I'm gonna amend it a bit and use Stainless Steel Hex Head Bolts even though I believe the original props used Phillips Head Screws on screen and rivets in promo shots. I had no idea there were deleted Wampa attack scenes in the Hoth Base. And it's well past time for bed."
 
The broken grip in that photo is likely some kind of photographic defect. It's the only photo of that saber that shows a broken grip, including photos taken during the same shoot. On another note, the wampa cave saber has strange deformed grips only seen in those snow shots.
 
Maybe the cold weather caused whatever adhesive they used to weaken and caused the grips to fall off? Hence the addition of the screws/rivets.
 
ANH had seven grips whereas ESB only had six and a Kobold D-ring clip ... I think they made a complete new lightsaber from a vintage G R A F L E X for ESB . . . the same as they did with ROTS (newly custom designed) and TFA . . . . and yes it's very possible the extreme cold at Finse made the super glue adhesive brittle, thus the grips came loose or even fell off, hence they grabbed some x-screws to double secure them with an added gap. You can also see the extra added red button so it's not the same lightsaber as in ANH :)

Chaim
 
thd9791 said:
Yep! Chaim is right, there's a whole thread discussing that topic. I think I started it actually..
Click to expand...

thd9791 So what is your opinion about the model Graflex that was used for the Luke ANH lightsaber? In other words because of the thin lip around the bottom of the Graflex that is the ANH model do you have any idea if it was a Made by the Folmer Graflex Corp. with NEW YORK spelled out and no patient number or the Made by the Folmer Graflex Corp. with NY initials with patient number?
 
Sym-Cha said:
ANH had seven grips whereas ESB only had six and a Kobold D-ring clip ... I think they made a complete new lightsaber from a vintage G R A F L E X for ESB . . . the same as they did with ROTS (newly custom designed) and TFA . . . . and yes it's very possible the extreme cold at Finse made the super glue adhesive brittle, thus the grips came loose or even fell off, hence they grabbed some x-screws to double secure them with an added gap. You can also see the extra added red button so it's not the same lightsaber as in ANH :)

Chaim
Click to expand...


BUT Chhhhhaaaaaaimm, did they use rivets or screws?!?!? :p
 
Couldn't we also surmise that perhaps it was broken *during* the photo shoot? There's no way to assign a chronology to the shots, if in fact they were all taken at the same shoot.

I don't buy the "optical illusion due to some blemish, or edit, or trick of the light/photographic defect" idea - look at how large the missing chunk is... there's no way that's a "trick of the light."
 
Less a trick of the light and more of a spot on the film/negative of that particular shot.
 
Yeah, "trick of the light" was a poor choice of words. I didn't mean it literally. There's no way to know what the explanation is, but what we do know is it only appears in that one shot, out of many shots. Does anyone wanna replicate an inexplicable defect that only appears in one shot, among many shots that were taken at the same time? That would be like building a C-3PO with "extra appendage".

c3poboner.jpg
 
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