New Roger Christian Interview
- Thread starter SethS
- Start date
This article was just posted in another section of the RPF. #1 on the list is the ANH Skywalker lightsaber. It features some quotes from Roger Christian. In this brief interview he says the grips were rubber.
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/greatest-movie-props
Personally, I don't think there is any debate about what material the grips were made from, but I just find it interesting how the story changes sometimes.
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/greatest-movie-props
Personally, I don't think there is any debate about what material the grips were made from, but I just find it interesting how the story changes sometimes.
matty matt
Sr Member
I don't think Roger Christian has any idea what they were.
russellsch
Master Member
I enjoyed this . A good read.
finally got to read it! great seeing the graflex in the #1 spot. poor roger... wish he had more accurate information.. but i think father time has caught up with him..
at one point where the grips cast? wasn't that a topic for awhile? hamill said the grips would cut his hands so they made rubber ones? or is that something I'm making up?
at one point where the grips cast? wasn't that a topic for awhile? hamill said the grips would cut his hands so they made rubber ones? or is that something I'm making up?
He did say that-- but he could have been talking about a cast stunt from ESB or something.
For my money, the t-track was rubber. The way it bends on the ANH E-11 is all the evidence I need. Rubber can do a lot of things as it ages depending on its make up. It can harden, it can flake apart, it can warp... that explains most of what we've seen.
That said, I think that the post ROTJ sabers made by Bies used metal grips. Whether they were a metal version of the same draft excluders or something else, he won't say!
For my money, the t-track was rubber. The way it bends on the ANH E-11 is all the evidence I need. Rubber can do a lot of things as it ages depending on its make up. It can harden, it can flake apart, it can warp... that explains most of what we've seen.
That said, I think that the post ROTJ sabers made by Bies used metal grips. Whether they were a metal version of the same draft excluders or something else, he won't say!
From what I've read and discussed with folks on here the gafder tape covering the clamp saved his hands. The t track were also hard enough to bother him I guess. Thing for me is we've found cabinet strip, a few folks have seen or held them within the last decade and have confirmed the hard plastic. I could believe the prototype used soft weatherstrip and either wouldn't stay on or didn't look impressive enough. That's conjecture though
kalkamel
Master Member
I had a chat with Roger via Messenger a couple of nights ago, and as always, the topic would revolve around his iconic creation. I asked what he thought of the TFA Graflex and he mentioned: "What was sad was adding rivets to hold the T-Strips. I would never have done that as it belittles a Jedi weapon to something ordinary." I told him about the rivets vs screw debate (with the ESB version) and that recent HD screencaps seem to show it to be black Philips screws. I'm guessing the addition to those in the ESB saber weren't his input as he wasn't involved in that movie.
This is where it gets interesting. He said "my lightsaber was the original and all I used was superglue to disguise the way the T-strips were mounted. I did have to screw the D-Ring on the end to hang it on Lukes belt. I made several for a New Hope and each are really slightly different as I scrambled to find materials. Once I had made the original that Obi Wan Kenobi gives Luke I had to make more for production. Most I found more bubble strips and had to use a harder T-Strips as ran out of the Stormtooper blasters one. Roger Shaw my prop maker placed the D Rings and used whatever he had in his boxes of junk, he did that as I didn't have a drill in my office. The generic used and organic look of everything I think helped make Star Wars a familiar look for everyone as if an old and used universe."
"Had to use a harder T-Strips as ran out of the Stormtooper blasters one"??? I found this to be very interesting. So I asked if he meant the t-strips used on the blasters were different than the ones he used for the Graflex? Rubber perhaps? Because I remember him mentioning they were draft excluders once. To this he replied "Yes, for blasters my buyer told me it was car draft excluder he thought, and other T-Strips came from what I presume was cupboard sliders. I was just using whatever he could get me or I found in scrap from breaking down objects."
I also asked him the source of the D-ring holder for the ANH Graflex, whether it was from a Graflex camera carry case and he replied, "Don't think the DRings came from Graflex case as I bought all the handles & Roger Shaw had boxes of odd supplies he'd dive into and use. So after my two for Luke to start I made more for the SFX dept and spares for the floor for rehearsals and to use for fights. All are slightly different. I was scrounging pieces to make them look the same."
Do we know if the original blasters for ANH had rubber tracks? I know the ones they found at Bapty's had newer plastic tracks installed because the old ones had deteriorated badly. If they were rubber, that would put to rest the whole draft excluder as t-tracks mystery.
This is where it gets interesting. He said "my lightsaber was the original and all I used was superglue to disguise the way the T-strips were mounted. I did have to screw the D-Ring on the end to hang it on Lukes belt. I made several for a New Hope and each are really slightly different as I scrambled to find materials. Once I had made the original that Obi Wan Kenobi gives Luke I had to make more for production. Most I found more bubble strips and had to use a harder T-Strips as ran out of the Stormtooper blasters one. Roger Shaw my prop maker placed the D Rings and used whatever he had in his boxes of junk, he did that as I didn't have a drill in my office. The generic used and organic look of everything I think helped make Star Wars a familiar look for everyone as if an old and used universe."
"Had to use a harder T-Strips as ran out of the Stormtooper blasters one"??? I found this to be very interesting. So I asked if he meant the t-strips used on the blasters were different than the ones he used for the Graflex? Rubber perhaps? Because I remember him mentioning they were draft excluders once. To this he replied "Yes, for blasters my buyer told me it was car draft excluder he thought, and other T-Strips came from what I presume was cupboard sliders. I was just using whatever he could get me or I found in scrap from breaking down objects."
I also asked him the source of the D-ring holder for the ANH Graflex, whether it was from a Graflex camera carry case and he replied, "Don't think the DRings came from Graflex case as I bought all the handles & Roger Shaw had boxes of odd supplies he'd dive into and use. So after my two for Luke to start I made more for the SFX dept and spares for the floor for rehearsals and to use for fights. All are slightly different. I was scrounging pieces to make them look the same."
Do we know if the original blasters for ANH had rubber tracks? I know the ones they found at Bapty's had newer plastic tracks installed because the old ones had deteriorated badly. If they were rubber, that would put to rest the whole draft excluder as t-tracks mystery.
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It actually makes sense, and I had been thinking lately that there were likely different versions of it-- that explains why his answers have changed, why the E-11 ANH t-tracks bend like rubber while Mark Hamill said the grips were hard, and why people have been able to source it a few different ways. The fact he says that they specifically went looking for one material to match what they had and everything was scrap, it all starts to make sense now.
What strikes me is the fact that he is so anti-rivet, and says the d-ring was attached with a screw! The rivet on the d-ring has always been a guess based on rivets being used on the kobold for ESB. We may never know what kind of screw it is-- and now EVERYONE'S ANH saber is inaccurate!
Heat up t-track and they'll do that easily.
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