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I know you lightsaber, Jedi, and Sith fans out there will get upset at this subject: The second lightsaber duel in The Phantom Menace looked fake to me. I have studied several swordfighting arts and staff fighting arts for years. I know the second lightsaber duel could have been choreographed alot better. Some parts were cool like Darth Maul kicking Ben and Master Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul setting up and executing his "lucky" killing strike (I hated to see Master Jinn die) and when Master Jinn elbowed than then punched Maul off the platform and Maul slammed down on to his back (my favorite part of the duel). However, the majority of the duel (especially when Master Jinn and Ben gang up on Maul) was silly. Those clowns were DANCING, NOT FIGHTING! It was so obvious the duel was choreographed. Watch the whole duel in slow motion and you will see what I mean. Notice that Maul keeps using the same moves over and over again. He hardly moves his double-bladed lightsaber back and forth (with a few fancy twirls and a fancy flip) while Master Jinn and Ben slashed directly at Maul's saber blades! How stupid is that! C'mon Master Qui-Gon and Ben! All you had to do was just try a few thrust strikes and Maul would have killed! I hope the main lightsaber duel(s) in Episode 2 are much better choreographed.

"Do you know how to use that thing?"

"... Pointed end goes into the other man."

I agree with you here Darth Heinous. Although I really loved the duel I still think it was rather unrealistic. There were times when Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon would lunge at the air, not aiming for Darth Maul's body. And I still find the end unsatisfying, the way Obi-Wan just jumps up and "takes Maul by surprise."

Not to be mean or anything but this was by far the best duel. In the OT the duels were poorly done. Jedi are supposed to be excellent fighters and Luke and Vader looked slow and very sloppy. In TPM the fight was awesome in comparision, by I do agree with one thing, I hope the fights in the next two movies are better

Nick Gillard explained that the reason that the fights are so much faster than in the OT is because we are seeing Jedi Knights in their prime. These are properly trained young healthy men.
Whereas in the OT Luke was very unexperienced, Ben was very old and Vader was made mostly of machine, so he couldn't use the Force as much as he could before. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul are all very much the opposite.

Master Qui-Gon Jinn was older at the time of his death than Master Ben Kenobi was. he real reason why the TPM duels were faster than ANH,ESB, and ROJ duels was because George Lucas had more of a budget. Bigger budget = more money = more time = better choreography = better fight scenes.

Cheers!

Are you sure that's emtirely the right reason? Lucas had loads of money by the time he reached Return of the Jedi, so why were they so slow still?
Qui-Gon was an active Jedi Knight who had been training and fighting before his death.
Obi-Wan had been stuck on Tatooine for twenty years without going on the usual missions that Jedi Knights would, so that is why he is slower than Qui-Gon.

I think special effects also played a major role. Who knows what limitations Lucas had when filming ROTJ. Perhaps the sabers couldn't move certain ways or at a certain speed. Also, <I can't believe I can't remember who played Vader> was not exactly the athlete Ray Park was.

Yes but then Ewan MacGregor wasn't exactly an acrobat or a gymnast himself, yet he was the fastest of the lot.

Lucas says that Qui-Gon was supposed to be 60 in TPM,opposed to Ben being in his mid 50's in ANH.So why was Ben slower than Qui-Gon in ANH?

And why does Qui-Gon look so young, yet Ben so old?

Lucas should of never said that.Neeson was 45-ish in TPM and Guiness was 55-ish in ANH.

I know, that's what I've always said.

Very stupid.

Does anyone here actually think that Ewan MacGregor looks anything like Alec Guiness? I think I may be the only one who thinks he doesn't look like him. Even with the beard I think he won't be very convincing. If you see pictures of Guiness in the 40s when he was about the same age as MacGregor he doesn't really look like him that much.

Because they are not the same people.They did the best they could,which I think was a very good job.

I know you Americans probably don't notice it much, but his British accent wasn't too good either. It didn't sound much like Guiness'.

I agree with that Daft. By the way,did you get my mail?

I'll say this one last time ... more money means better choreography. Anyway technological advances made it possible to "speed up" the fake dual. Character ability has nothing to do with it. If George Lucas remade the ENTIRE original triology, the lightsaber duals would be even faster than the fake dual in The Phantom Menace.

EJ I just read it. Sorry if I posted too many topics. Like you asked, I'll tone it down to 3 a week.

JUST until we get more posts by others.

Okay. Whatever you say boss.

No no no!..no speeding up..*remembers the "bad" Bond movie with George Lasenby's stupid fight scenes and shudders*

Well they did it in the Matrix didn't they? That looked pretty cool to me.

Cool but some what fake.

Yes of course, but then it wasn't meant to look real. The actual Matrix itself isn't real anyway. Its a computer program.

Yes but SW is supposed to be real..not a massive computer illusion (plotwise)..so no sped up fight scenes...

Well its still sci-fi, so I guess anything can happen, especially when Jedi are involved. But still I would prefer it with no speeded up fights. I like them the way they are.

Have you seen OB1 in the dual???
I mean, he twirls his lightsabre every time he sees a camera filming him, if he DIDN'T do that he had a lot more time fighting Maul (and perhaps killing him in a BETTER way)

Actually, yerss, to save me the effort, there is a better thread abouit all this somewhere. It's called 'X (where 'X' is some weird japanese term)- the art of sabre fighting.' It was one of the earliest threads I posted in.

I thought the fight was good.....it wasn't fake looking.....( which fight we talking about his time.....TPM or ANH or ESB or ROTJ???)

well, according to the TITLE it's the second duel in TPM...

Sorry Ush, haven't found them...
or you it's still here?

I'll take a look for it later. It will save us having to go through everything again.

Whoever looks at titles anyway????....and I though the 2nd duel was great....very fast and energetic with a health spark of energy to it....Fake it was NOT!

you are looking at the speed, you have to look at WHERE they hit the other

Yeah. and it is STILL good... the original poster is wrong. I must find that bloody thread.

it was indeed a good fight, but some moves weren't that good!

Trust me, Nick Gillard knows the works. There were no moves that were actually technically bad- Ewan McGregor gets a bit over flashy, though.

ow yeah, sabre-boy again

I bet I can defeat him in a swordfight

hmmm the question is....would I pay money to see that fight.....heck Yeah!

it's not everyday you see Ewan get wacked