The Ultimate Guide to Lightsabers eBook

Hi SethS
Greetings from the city of Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico.
After seeing The Last Jedi twice, I started looking for information to create a replica of the lightsaber that Ray gives Luke Skywalker.
I've had the fortune to find your book that you share.
I have nothing but words of thanks for this impressive work.
I am only a 43-year-old Padawan who has started the path of the Jedi by creating his first lightsaber.
May the force always be with you
 
Hi all,

This PDF gives a great overview and I enjoyed reading it. I'd like to share some thoughts on OT lightsabers, especially as the specific history of them is such a frequently discussed topic. I am hoping that at some point in the next few years there will be an opportunity to do a book on OT SW props (similar to my book SW Costumes: The OT, released a few years ago.) But until then, some comments:

ANH Graflex Hero: most likely there was only one of these (serial number on sideclamp) and it most likely did not move on to ESB -- missing after ANH, which was the reason the Holiday Special featured a non-continuity lightsaber prop.

ANH Skywalker motorized (bladed) saber - this was used at some point as a Vader bladed lightsaber, with the emitter painted black. Probably there were issues with the main Vader motorized saber (with square hood.) As per the doc it was used as a rehearsal prop in ESB and ROJ. It's seen with flat grips in ROJ BTS photos. It exists in the Archives collection today - see the video with Roger Christian from the new BluRay set a few years ago.

ANH Vader motorized (bladed) saber - the one with the square hood and thick emitter seen in several production photos *is* the "Barbican" saber. The front of the square hood was later turned down and possibly other mods made. In BTS stills you can see a piece of T-track near the short side of the Emitter. Looks at the ROJ "severed hand" resin Vader saber. It was molded from the Barbican. It has that same T-track in place. (note: that resin saber would not have been made by Freeborn, but by the prop department.) I don't think this was ever used again as a dueling saber prop, though it was likely prepared for that purpose.

ESB Skywalker Graflex - very difficult to pin down how many were used here, but my guess is 3. I think the "short blade" ones simply had a rod clipped into their bulb holder clamp. The "long blade" dueling saber had allen head bolts and became the Vader ROJ Graflex. This may have been a belt hanger before a bladed saber. Note the image center bottom of slide 12 in Seth's deck is the dueling saber (allen head bolt visible in the center of the top of unit), with the blade removed, now being used again as a belt hanger.

Slide 15 of deck - center photo of slide 15 - there's nothing to suggest this piece (with the rivets) is actually authentic, IMO. I believe the other 4 photos are all the same prop, which became the ROJ Vader with allen heads. Note the bulb holder clamp is missing its outer ring (so is a "C" shape only) and in lower right photo note the clamp is wrapped in gaffer's tape, like the ANH Skywalker bladed is in the Archives now - clearly done for ease of handling. Also note flat grips in lower left photo.

ROJ Vader lightsaber - there are definitely photos showing it on Vader's belt from production

Slide 24 - would you mind updating the photo credit to "Prop Store" so it is accurate?

Vader MPP bladed stunt - there was one in existence after ROJ, with allen-head bolts in the top of the body, similar to the Vader ROJ Graflex. Location today is unknown. Most likely there was only ever one.

Slide 32 - thrown lightsaber - most likely a rubber stunt rather than the Vader ROJ Graflex. Rubber stunts still exist today.

ROJ Severed hand stunt - as above, this is a casting of the ANH motorized/bladed saber (aka "Barbican") and was not made by Freeborn.

ANH Obi-Wan motorized stunt: I don't believe there is evidence of the "V3" (NASA saber) actually being used in filming. I believe all shots including the death scene are the "V2". Note the square washer visible on the sidebar-less Graflex clamp in the "Death scene" shots (as per V2.)

Graflex in ROJ - there's no question they intended to use the Graflex until the first day of filming (see photos from contact sheets I unearthed and shared on Pop Culture Quest.) Also note resin Graflexes were produced for ROJ to be fired out of R2D2.

Slide 55 - this saber is not original to the OT. Possibly a touring piece made much later.

Slide 58 Ranch Saber - the textured tape was added in preparation for ROJ. Unknown what other mods were made then - it likely traces to ESB in some way but doesn't match the main ESB belt hanger.

Slide 60 - the Barbican saber was not built by Don Bies. It is the motorized dueling prop from ANH.

Slide 61 - I don't believe Lucasfilm ever made copies of OT lightsabers specifically for display. The only things made were the Don Bies promo lightsabers in the 90s and they were made for touring, not for exhibition use. It's not clear what the resin copy of the ILM-made "Yuma" lightsaber was made for or used for, but it does seem to be original to the time period.

Slide 63 "Wired" resin ROJ Luke - cast off the "V3" lightsaber. Several of these were made - some sleeved for use on the R2 air-cannon rig. Some not sleeved; used for the shot where Luke throws it down in the throne room, and tucked into the fabric belt when he swings off Jabba's barge.

Slide 69 upper right - I believe that mystery stunt is the same as the center lower photo on same slide - motorized Skywalker prop from ANH.

Slide 71 upper right - this is Luke's bladed saber from the Cloud City duel with Vader, so pretty significant. Also used by Vader in a few shots in ROJ.

I hope that helps inform the deck and future research on lightsabers -- I certainly enjoyed reading the info here.

Best
Brandon
 
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Brandon-- I can't thank you enough for dropping by to help out with all this great info!

This is beyond awesome!
 
Brandon thank you so much for you contribution!! This is some awesome info!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Y'know, Brandon's comment about the Ranch Graflex makes me wonder about something. Sometime last year I posted a theory (after seeing those Graflex ROTJ set pics) that the Ranch saber could've been that same one and potentially made up of parts they could find. Then you guys have been recently discussing about the reasoning behind why the kobold was flipped. Here's a theory: It was deliberately done so to show minor differences between 'Luke's Graflex' and 'Anakin's Graflex'. You know that line in the final script of ROTJ comparing Luke's lightsaber to his previous? Of course I could be reaching here.

With that said, I do have one minor correction to make here. It's regarding this portion of the Prequel lightsabers part:
"The EU tried to cover this with the concept of “clan sabers” but in reality, it was lazy film-making to give lightsabers to the rest of the Jedi council with relative ease."

You're both right and wrong about this. Right that yes it was lazy film-making that lead to them doing that. They should've taken the time to give each Jedi a unique lightsaber. Where you're wrong at is the EU portion. I thinking you might be getting confused with the fact that in the old EU, the Jedi Temple divided younglings up in clans for their first 12 years or so of their lives before they were chosen as padawans by a master. There were never 'clan lightsabers'. They eventually explained away in a book called 'Star Wars: Lightsabers: A Guide to Weapons of the Force' why there were so many Jedi with similar hilts. Basically there were three ways in the EU how Jedi constructed their lightsabers: either their own unique design, basing their design on their master's lightsaber, or the third option: basing their hilt design on a lightsaber from a famous Jedi as a sign of respect. That's how they justified so many Jedi in the films having the same lightsaber design: because they decided for some bloody reason to emulate another famous Jedi's design. I also just found out that they're releasing another version of this book in a few months, now canon compatible so I wouldn't be surprised if they import the same explanation.
 
ANH Obi-Wan motorized stunt: I don't believe there is evidence of the "V3" (NASA saber) actually being used in filming. I believe all shots including the death scene are the "V2". Note the square washer visible on the sidebar-less Graflex clamp in the "Death scene" shots (as per V2.)


Thanks for everything Brandon! Do you happen to know what prop Mark did use for the duel? (to fence) The "V2" is mostly black and I swear I saw a brass and silver saber.
 

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