Episodes I-III: Were There Too Many Lightsaber Duels?

[Mitch Henessey]

The lightsaber duels in the Star Wars film series can always be a treat to watch. These duels have brought us many memorable moments such as Luke losing his one of his hands in Episode V, and we were given a real shocker at the end, when Vader revealed himself as Luke's Father. And who could forget the emotional duel between Father and Son in Return Of The Jedi, where Vader had to make the tough decision to destroy Emperor Palpatine and save his Son from certain death. These duels can be memorable, but when it comes to the prequels, I always feel like they went overboard with the lightsaber duels. In Episodes IV-VI, we only saw one saber duel per film, but things changed in the prequels:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Qui-Gon Jinn VS Darth Maul- Yeah, I know this brief duel on Tatooine was pretty short, but it STILL was a duel.

Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi VS Darth Maul

Okay, that's two saber duels so far....

Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones

Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi VS Count Dooku

Count Dooku VS Yoda

Still two duels. Not bad, but here comes Episode III....

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Anakin & Obi-Wan Kenobi VS Count Dooku

Obi-Wan Kenobi VS General Grievous

The Jedi Council VS Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious

Mace Windu VS Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious

Darth Vader/Anakin VS Obi-Wan Kenobi

Yoda VS Darth Sidious

That's six lightsaber duels in one film! I loved Revenge Of The Sith, but did we really need six duels in one film?

In Episodes IV-VI, each duel felt special. There was a nice build to the duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, and you couldn't wait to see the battle between Jedi and Sith. The lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi were THE highlight of the film. In Return Of The Jedi, Luke struggled with the decision to face Vader again. He didn't want to give in to his dark side. But after some really intense goading by Emperor Palpatine, Luke grabbed his lightsaber, and he engaged Vader. It was gut wrenching, and Luke almost destroyed Vader, as he let a surge of anger overpower him, but he was able to control himself at the very end.

I'll always love the duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan in Revenge Of The Sith, but did we really need to see all of those other duels? One duel can be just fine, but when you throw in other multiple duels, everything just doesn't feel the same. It just feels like every other duel is trying to out do each other, and then when get into the battle of which duel has the better special effects. In Attack Of The Clones, we saw Yoda flipping around and he did perform some acrobatic moves, as he battled Count Dooku. This is one of things that always drives me nuts about the prequels. They were so obsessed with showing off the advanced technology. I do think the duels can reach the point of overkill in the prequels, especially in Episode III.

Thoughts?

 

[ABMorales787]

I'd say yeah. They really did help set down the theme of war and helped put some emphasis on the characters. Had we not seen the fight between Dooku vs Anakin and Kenobi, we would not have closure from the previous movie and we wouldn't have seen Anakin's outburst that foreshadowed the events of the film. While the fight between Grievous and Kenobi wasn't really needed, it was a nice treat to see a non-Jedi sport Lightsabers. Had the Jedi Council and Mace Windu be beaten by Palpatine, we wouldn't really understand just how strong he really was and why he was such a threat. Not to mention the death of Mace "Motherf*cking" Windu outside a Lightsaber fight would have been really lousy.With the popularity of Yoda going up after his first time fighting in Episode II, it shouldn't be such a surprise they had him in another fight given it was the last chance. And of course Obi Wan vs Anakin.

Each of the fights had a some purpose that in a way made them relevant. Had movie magic been on a similar level back when the original trilogy was being made, it would be a safe bet they would have been just as packed with these duels to expose the special effects.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I would say no. Lightsaber duels, for me, are the best part of Star Wars. I don't care about big armies facing off, etc. I can see that in any flick.

Also, each fight made sense, and each character was given the opportunity to show what he was made of. I cannot think of a single lightsaber duel in the first three films that didn't need to take place.

 

[Davi323]

I am going to say no as well, for the simple reason that there were more people who could duel in the prequels. The original trilogy was about rebels trying to overthrow an Empire, one of which becomes a Jedi. There were only four force users in the entire trilogy, compared to an entire Jedi order in the prequels. You had far less opportunity for duels.

The prequels however, are focused entirely on the Jedi and Sith, and the fall of Anakin. Its far more "force centric" with it's storyline, in comparison. With a lot more Jedi running around, how could you not have more lightsaber duels? The Jedi and Sith don't settle their differences playing rock, paper, scissors, they do it with the blade. The increased dueling makes sense, because of the focus of the storyline on Jedi and Sith. If the prequels were more about Padme, Bail, and the beginnings of the rebellion, rather than the Jedi/Sith struggle, I would agree that there were too many...but given the context, it makes sense.

 

[Dave]

Not enough, if I am honest with you.

Here's the thing about Star Wars, the light-sabre duels are the most iconic part of the franchise. Getting to see them on every occasion felt special and I feel that they managed to make them different enough on each occasion to be independently good. There wasn't a light-sabre battle in the prequel trilogy that I didn't enjoy and it was because of how good they were on an independent basis.

The Phantom Menace was the least light-sabre heavy film and I felt as though it was missing some more of it. Then again, I guess it just comes down to how much you like light-sabre battles and I personally enjoy them immensely. Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith were amazing and the batteles between Yoda/Count Dooku and Mace Windu/Palpatine made the series what it was. Getting to see Yoda battle was incredible and lit up the series.

Personally, I love the prequel trilogy and I actually prefer them to the original series in some ways. Just because they tried to show off the technology, it doesn't mean that the movies were bad or light on story lines. I thought they were amazing movies and the light-sabre battles added to that.

 

[Mac Attack]

There was never enough lightsaber duels in Star Wars. In all honesty. That was the one thing I hated about the originals in that they introduce the lightsaber but for the majority of the three originals they used guns. I never quite understood that. The lightsaber is one of the most bought Star Wars merchandise and yet never do we really have a movie withadequate lightsaber action. I think that Revenge of the Sith was okay at it however I want lightsabers and well the truth is the newer three just didn't have enough.

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

As a fan of not just Star Wars, but an avid fan of both animated series, one very short lived and one still going strong today, I'd say that they had it just about right. I'd personally make a few tweaks here and there, but overall I think they did a pretty ace job for the most part.

Looking back on Episode I, I almost find it hard to believe that there where only two light saber duels, but this movie was definitely about the build, and it makes the other two movies that much better. It also makes the final light saber duel where DM kills QG and Obi sliced DM in half (arguably killed DM). So I wouldn't of minded a little extra oomph in the form of another light saber duel, but overall I'm fine with the storytelling in its place.

Episode II sees Anakin wielding a LS from the beginning of the movie and we also see plenty of non dueling light saber action take place throughout the whole movie. From the opening scene, to when Anakin get revenge on Tatoonie, and also when they have to escape from Count Duku we say an all out Jedi war with lightsabers left and right. So even though both I, and II have only 2 duels, we see a whole lot more use of the lightsaber, preparing us for Episode III I suppose.

Onto episode III, which is pretty much considered by all to be the best of the beginning trilogy. This one seems to have really relied on the storytelling from the first two movies to set it up, and even with all that storytelling that went on in the first two, there was still a lot of stuff that was either rushed, or straight up left out. Even still, all these duels are extremely important to beginning story of Starwars.

The first duel is used to set up Anakin as a powerhouse amongst the current Jedi. Duku has to die to progress the story, and I personally think they make the count out to be a bit weak in this film, but it's a duel that needs to take place.

Next up is grievous, I don't remember off the top of my head, but I believe this is the first time we get introduced to grievous. He should have been introduced in episode II as he played a very important role in the clone wars and his character was never given the proper build that it deserved; but his death need to take place as well, as there would have been an uproar if they left him out all together.

The Arrest of Palpatine is yet another staple in the clone wars saga that wasn't given proper build, most people probably have no idea who any of those Jedi where besides Windu, (another Jedi who wasn't built properly) but they where all important to the clone wars story, and all play big roles during the clone wars. It's one of the things thats annoyed me more in recent years, the complete lack of build for any Jedi not named Anakin; and while I know it's to be expected, as practically all Jedi are eliminated during the clone wars, but this scene need to be here, and it should have been a bit longer. Those Jedi where squashed and buried like nobody's business, poor Kit Fisto, he deserved so much better.

Pretty much the very next scene is when Mace/Anakin/Sidious dance around and trade sides. Mace is made to look pretty weak during the whole clonewars series, would you believe he was considered to be the best lightsaber duelist, even better than Yoda? That how it was written in the books, not really shown the same way on screen; but obviously this scene carry's much importance as Anakin is officially turned to the dark side.

Anakin/Vader vs. Obi, this is the best scene, best duel, and pretty much the creme de la creme right here, and an obvious duel for many reasons. This is where Anakin get deformed and goes down to his master Obi, this scene carry's the most importance going forward into episodes 3-5.

... and finally, perhaps the one duel that really doesn't need to take place, and was probably only thrown in to get Yoda another dueling scene after people shat brix and the end of episode II. It's a cool scene, lots of special effects, pretty much the two most powerful forces of good and evil squaring off against each other. This is the only one out of all the duels that I would didn't need to be there, but I still very much enjoyed the scene, and it's not like the time from this duel could have really helped out the other duels which all could have used a little extra build.

 

[Fizzy]

I believe there should have been more. The lightsaber is the best weapon ever thought up and while the duels were far between to preserve the epic feel, I would have liked to see more. I fucking loved every duel in the series so maybe I am biased, but the lightsaber is such a badass weapon. It was hardly utilized in retrospect to the guns in the series. I would much rather see a battle of lightsabers than a battle of laser guns which everybody seemed to have terrible aim with. When the special effects were being utilized to their full potential in episodes I-III, we received some of the best battle scenes in movie history. I marked out for both duels Yoda participated in. I hardly have any qualms with the series but if I needed to choose one thing that should have been different, it would be the use of lightsabers.

 

[wrestlingfan]

In honesty it depends on the Lightsbaer Duels, there've been those lightsaber duels wherer it was more of "we jhave to defeat the villain" and others where therre was emotion put inside the battle. Obi-Wan vs. Anakin was probably the best out of all 6 movies in my opinion.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Were there too many Lightsaber duels? How can anyone even ask that? There weren't enough! Lightsaber duels ARE Star Wars! They are what the series is best known for! In my opinion the lightsaber duels are really the only good thing about episodes 1-3. Having more lightsaber duels would have helped 2 out a lot, in particular. I think if they took out Jar Jar completely from the story and replaced all of the newly opened space with more lightsaber fighting then the prequels would have been a lot better in retrospect because you can never have too many lightsaber fights in a Star Wars movie, you just can't.