The best choreographed lightsabre fight in Star Wars?

[Gunhead]

ESB takes the day, the fight has feeling in it. RotJ also scores highly.
I think the key here is the background music, specially in RotJ the emperors throne room, gloomy. Duel of the fates for instance did nothing for me.

-Gunhead

[wolveraptor]

Neither. The #1 lightsaber duel in all of Star Wars is the Grevious-whoops-all battle in Clone Wars chapter 20. That outdid even the movie battles.

You're kidding. Though that actually IS a highlight of the Clone Wars cartoons, the BEST duel has gotta be a toss up between Anakin vs Ventriss, and Obi-wan vs... that... weird thing that eats him, and he Force-explodes him from the inside. I just liked that for sheer Obi-wan Kickass points.

you mean Durge? dude, Durge kicked ass. way more ass than Obi, cause he was actually a cool alien, and had connections to the mandalore wars (yeah, he's an old man).

[Stofsk]

you mean Durge? dude, Durge kicked ass. way more ass than Obi, cause he was actually a cool alien, and had connections to the mandalore wars (yeah, he's an old man).

Was that his name?

Durge sucked, and not because he was a cool alien or not, but because he took out AT-TEs with a LANCE. Whilst on a swoopbike.

And are you seriously telling me Obi-wan is no badass, after he exploded Durge? From the inside out?

"It looks like I created quite a mess."

"Yes, General."

General BADASS by the sounds of it.

[Chardok]

You know what? Yoda Vs. Dooku was the best thing ever. I think it's awesome how he appears all frail and then *BLAMMO* he explodes into a frenzy of motion and flips. I mean, for all we know the whirling dervish technique kept dooku from fully using his force powers on yoda to "Suppress" (sp?) him, you know what I mean? Anyway, I'm not afraid to admit that I was one of the many in the theatre who stood up and cheered when Yoda opened up that can o' whoopass.

[Stofsk]

If it was a can-'o-whoopass Chardok, Dooku would have had his face sliced off, like what happened to that black guy at the end of Equilibrium.

I must admit, I cheered when they had that whole "We cannot solve this dispute any other way than with the lightsaber" and then they had that close up shot of Yoda getting his 'saber, with the ominous music rising, letting us know some Serious Shit is about to go down. That was nice.

But then he started jumping around and flipping and so on. That was the part I disliked, and many others too. It's not the fact Yoda fought Dooku which people disliked, though to be honest I don't really expect Yoda to be Warrior King of the Jedi; it's the WAY in which he fought which looked stupid.

[Crown]

Luke vs Vader in ESB, and Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon vs Maul in TPM.

[Eleas]

Wouldn't it have to be one of the flashier or more complex fights in order to be the best "choreographed?" Zam getting her arm chopped off didn't seem to require all that much choreography.

No. But what choreography it did have was good, and it wasn't fucked up by idiotic choice of techniques.

[Eleas]

IIRC it's mentioned in the AOTC novelization that yoda would have flattened dooku in one hit if the other hadn't been a force user as well.

And that's my complaint. It turns the focus from him as a sword-weilder and emphasizes that Yoda, with his Force powers, can simulate the efficacy of a good swordsman. In other words, that he uses the Force as a crutch, rather than needing real skill.

[Freeman's Trigger-Finger]

Luke vs. Vader in ESB was my favourite, but I think it's fair to say that the Obi/Gui Gon vs. Darth Maul sabre duel is the most impressive in terms of technical presentation and choregraphy.

I prefer the ESB duel more, because it's a subjective favourite, but there is no denying that the TPM battle was more technicaly impressive in terms of choreography.

As for the Yoda vs. Dooku battle...well...I liked it. I can see why some people wouldn't, because it does manage to introduce some comic-releif into an otherwise serious situation, but I think it would have been a whole lot more worse if we'd seen a Dooku trying to fight Yoda at his level, rather than vice versa.

[neoolong]

Wouldn't it have to be one of the flashier or more complex fights in order to be the best "choreographed?" Zam getting her arm chopped off didn't seem to require all that much choreography.

No. But what choreography it did have was good, and it wasn't fucked up by idiotic choice of techniques.

True, but since I would think it wouldn't be that hard to get the choreography right, it wouldn't be fair to label it the best. Even if the other fights weren't that great logically.

[Praxis]

Neither. The #1 lightsaber duel in all of Star Wars is the Grevious-whoops-all battle in Clone Wars chapter 20. That outdid even the movie battles.

You're kidding. Though that actually IS a highlight of the Clone Wars cartoons, the BEST duel has gotta be a toss up between Anakin vs Ventriss, and Obi-wan vs... that... weird thing that eats him, and he Force-explodes him from the inside. I just liked that for sheer Obi-wan Kickass points.

That was also an awesome fight, but the sheer scale of the Grevious one is unmatched in Star Wars. In no other fight (YET) do we see 7 Jedi in one massive duel.

[Stofsk]

That was also an awesome fight, but the sheer scale of the Grevious one is unmatched in Star Wars. In no other fight (YET) do we see 7 Jedi in one massive duel.

It's not a duel, in the classic sense of the term (ie one on one) until the very end, when Ki Adi Mundi is the only one left, and he's facing Grievous with a single lightsaber while his opponent has three. Then it ended just as it was starting to get interesting (which seems to be the main theme of the CW cartoons). Now THAT would have been a kickass duel.

[Elheru Aran]

Wasn't the Sabre Duel between Yoda and Darth Try Anus all CGI?

No. Yoda was CGI, and Dooku's face was pasted on the stuntman (who had a similar beard and hair). They had a real stunt guy fighting...nothing...in a real hangar.

Impressive job he did there.

Umm... I remember in the extras, seeing Christopher Lee doing some of the swordfighting against a bluescreen? It was definitely Lee, not a stuntman... of course, it's been awhile back since I saw the DVDs, but I still think 'twas Lee, not a stuntman.

[Stofsk]

Lee couldn't move that quick, so in all the longshots where you see Dooku move quick on his feet, that's really a stuntman with Lee's face grafted on digitally. The closeup shots of him are unchanged. And of course he's going to be practicing with a bluescreen: that's how the prequels are filmed, with the occasional sojourn to Tunisa or Lake Como.

[Crazedwraith]

Ah ha! found it!
Art of the saber.(Right click save as)

By the Ho Brothers

Sweet! Only probs were lack of marks when the guy gets killlded and a slighty to big flashs when the sabers collided.

[Lord Pounder]

Best choreography and best are 2 very different thinks. In terms of best execution the Theed Reactor scene in TPM does take the cake. Set up and executed by one of the worlds top martial artists.

However after a few views it seems too polished. A sword fight isn't supposed to be polished, it's supposed to be dirty and nasty. Which is why the Vader/Skywalker duel in RotJ is superior particularily from the point where Luke goes nuts, it wasn't about fancy flips and asthetics.

[Pablo Sanchez]

I usually compare movie swordfighting to Kurosawa and his derivatives, because IMO those are simply the best depictions on film. From that perspective, the original trilogy fights are pretty much garbage. The TPM fight is aesthetically pleasing, but stupid, with too much saber-twirling and acrobatic nonsense. The final scene in the reactor room, when Maul defeats first Qui-Gon and then Obi-Wan, is much better. In AoTC, Dooku's fights with Obi-Wan and Anakin are excellent, because he takes both of them down in a rapid no-nonsense series of moves. The Yoda fight is shit.

The original trilogy fights are pretty good, and they have much more emotional content, which can be important. They score major points over the prequel trilogy because they carry the impression of men trying to hurt eachother much more than the sword-dancing bullshit in TPM and AoTC.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Bob Brown always seemed to imply that the OT fights were technically more sound and conservative, (esp. TESB and ANH).

[SirNitram]

For sheer storytelling, the ESB saber duel is the top of it. The brutality of Vader's technique against the wild, emotional swings of Luke, the apparently unstoppable nature of Vader's onslaught, the desperation of Luke(And of course, that one little line at the end of it).

For sheer fun to watch, I'm gonna break with the crowd and go for Maul's fight in TPM. It was just so much fun to sit back and enjoy. While the OT films have superior storytelling through the duels, the duels in the PT are much more fun to watch.

[Praxis]

Wasn't the Sabre Duel between Yoda and Darth Try Anus all CGI?

No. Yoda was CGI, and Dooku's face was pasted on the stuntman (who had a similar beard and hair). They had a real stunt guy fighting...nothing...in a real hangar.

Impressive job he did there.

Umm... I remember in the extras, seeing Christopher Lee doing some of the swordfighting against a bluescreen? It was definitely Lee, not a stuntman... of course, it's been awhile back since I saw the DVDs, but I still think 'twas Lee, not a stuntman.

Lee did some, and a stuntman with his face decorated to look just like Lee did the rest. I remember Lee telling us about his amazing stuntman on the extras.

[Praxis]

That was also an awesome fight, but the sheer scale of the Grevious one is unmatched in Star Wars. In no other fight (YET) do we see 7 Jedi in one massive duel.

It's not a duel, in the classic sense of the term (ie one on one) until the very end, when Ki Adi Mundi is the only one left, and he's facing Grievous with a single lightsaber while his opponent has three. Then it ended just as it was starting to get interesting (which seems to be the main theme of the CW cartoons). Now THAT would have been a kickass duel.

Yeah, but it was 6 vs 1, so it was technically one fight. The other jedi battles (Geonosis) had all the jedi fighting different opponents. While not technically a duel, it was vs one opponent taking them all, and was quite sweet.

[Mark S]

You guys can say what you want but I thought the Yoda/Dooku fight was great. Watching the little guy go nuts was highly entertaining. Personally, I don't think Yoda should have had a lightsabre at all. He should have been too much of a master to need things like that.

As for the best duel, I'll go with TPM. It may be more flashy but it was great to watch.

[Praxis]

You guys can say what you want but I thought the Yoda/Dooku fight was great. Watching the little guy go nuts was highly entertaining. Personally, I don't think Yoda should have had a lightsabre at all. He should have been too much of a master to need things like that.

As for the best duel, I'll go with TPM. It may be more flashy but it was great to watch.

It's actually cool that he has a lightsaber. He was fighting his Padawan. However, I think that if he's fighting someone who's really tough he should toss the saber aside and fight with raw force powers.

I'm hoping thats whats going to happen vs Palpatine.

[wolveraptor]

"Durge sucked, and not because he was a cool alien or not, but because he took out AT-TEs with a LANCE. Whilst on a swoopbike."

exactly why he was the best. he had enormous strength, and therefore, kicked ass.

and he actually doesn't get killed by a dumb little lightsabre slash like everyone else.

"It looks like I created quite a mess."

"Yes, General." ("yes general"? ?!?! what kind of line is that?!?!)

[wolveraptor]

yoda should've just controlled his light sabre from afar, while simultaneously throwing objects with the force at dooku, while simultaneously blocking force lightnings with his hand and sabre, while simultaneously flying with the force. same with dooku. it should've been an entirely different kind of kick-ass fight.