In the Expanded Universe (no longer canon, but still the best answer we have), it’s explained that Obi-Wan left behind a manual on how to build a lightsaber. The individual touches also help the world feel lived-in and individualized.Īgain, a replica of Alec Guinness’ lightsaber was created for Ewan McGregor to use in Revenge of the Sith. The differences between these designs – as subtle as they may have been to the viewing public – are part of the vast detail that made the Star Warsgalaxy immediately visually impressive. While there is a flash (the same type as Luke) and a calculator switchboard involved, the hilt wielded by the mighty Sir Alec Guinness also entails parts from a First World War grenade, a faucet/tap handle, and the balance pipe from a Derwent jet engine (we think that’s the gold bit, the “emitter”). As you might imagine, there’s a bit more at play behind the scenes with this one than cupboard bits, a camera flash, and a calculator. For starters – it’s got a gold bit on it. Obi-Wan’s lightsaber from A New Hope has a notably different design to the two Skywalker ones, despite being built by the same creative team. If only they had stuck with it… Obi-Wan’s final lightsaber Also, if you zoom in, the picture reveals that the brilliant term “laser baton” was banded about as an alternate name at some stage. The early concept art by John Mollo (above left) reveals just how far the design ideas came between inception and execution. Rumors say that Prowse actually carried a highly modified version of Hamill’s original lightsaber during Jedi, but that’s never been confirmed. Of course, the minutiae of old cameras doesn’t mean much to us these days, but that explains why the two weapons aren’t identically shaped.įunnily enough, Dave Prowse’s original Vader lightsaber prop was misplaced before Return of the Jedi, so they instead used one made from the same sort of flash attachment as Luke’s. Luke’s was built from the flash attachment of a Graflex 3 cell unit, while Vader’s was made from a different flash attachment – one from a British 3-cell MPP Microflash. There’s a key difference in the shaft, though, which is why they aren’t identical. The weapon glimpsed in the trailers certainly looks a lot like it…īefore we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, let’s get back to the Original Trilogy… Darth Vader’s lightsaberĭarth Vader’s lightsaber – the one he uses in the original film – was crafted in a very similar way to the heirloom lightsaber we described in the previous section. The pitch changes that occur when an active lightsaber is moved were created by playing this basic TV/microphone/projector humming sound through a speaker, and then recording it again with a moving microphone.Īll these ingenious ideas combined to create the original lightsaber, and the reused and recycled nature of the design has always felt incredibly appropriate for the depression-era galaxy of A New Hope.Ī very impressive replica of this lightsaber was made for Hayden Christensen to use as Anakin in the latter scenes of Attack of the Clonesand the main action of Revenge of the Sith…Īnd this lightsaber is rumored to reappear in The Force Awakens.
His other Star Wars brainchildren include R2-D2’s “voice” and the “peow!” sound of blaster guns.įor the lightsaber’s unforgettable humming sound, he mixed recordings of old movie projectors with the interference caused by sending the sound of an unshielded microphone through a television. The lightsaber’s incredible sound design was developed by Ben Burtt, who has since gone on to work on Indiana Jones, E.T., and WALL-E (among many other great films).
This wobbly effect was achieved by inserting one frame that was much lighter than the rest while printing the film, resulting in that iconic shaky look.
It was Nelson Shin who suggested that lightsabers should look ‘a little shaky,’ due to the fact that they’re composed from light.
Instead, Nelson Shin used rotoscoping, a time-consuming animation technique that involves tracing over footage frame by frame. He came in after Lucas was unhappy with the original effect (they had intended to use a spinning dowel on the blade during shooting, which would reflect light). The visual effects used for lightsaber blades were overseen by Korean animator Nelson Shin, who had previously worked on the 1970s Pink Panther movies. In Empire Strikes Back, the calculator buttons were swapped out for some bits from a circuit board. To this he added a collection of switches nabbed from an old calculator.