The Resistance Broadcast – Episode 99 – What Is The WORST Lightsaber Battle In Star Wars?
On this episode of The Resistance Broadcast, we discuss….
Poll Results; Giveaway Winner; Rian John Explains Luke’s Powers In The Last Jedi; Rebels Season 4 Midseason Trailer; TLJ Nominated For Awards; Reed Morano Possible LFL Involvement; Why No Knights of Ren?; Tweeting With The Resistance; Final Thoughts. In this week’s Star Wars War we have quite the battle over what is the WORST lightsaber duel! Things get a bit ramped up as we each make our case! The question is, what do you think is the worst lightsaber battle in Star Wars history?
Leaders of the Resistance: John Hoey, James Baney, Bill Sheehy, Patric Covey
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I wasn’t a particularly enthusiastic fan of Yoda and Dooku’s lightsaber duel. Yoda’s spinning of the lightsaber into his hand seemed to sniff of bravado uncharacteristic of the character. And I found him jumping around and grunting as he fought Dooku to be somewhat comedic and silly.
At that point, Yoda was a tad arrogant.
But shouldn’t he be pretty much a known quantity at that point? He’s essentially the same age as he is in the OT.
It’s not about age; it’s about experience.
The entire Jedi Order is arrogant at that point, hence their downfall.
After ROTS, when Yoda realizes fighting is not the key, when he goes into exile and hides, after being humbled by the destruction of everything he knew and believed, then he becomes the Yoda we know.
That’s his arc.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one that saw it that way.
There are some who still walk in the light.
I agree with this for another reason, and raise you Yoda vs Emperor. Honestly, I always thought they could have used this battle to explain Yoda’s need for a staff. It would not have jostled me so much as when he tossed his staff aside to fight Dooku, with no real hindrance physically.
Good point
The worst are the ones of the new ST trilogy. The best are the ones from the prequels!!!
Rey vs Kylo is great.
PT is good, but some are too overchoreographed.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned Alec Guinness and Darth Vader. (Did either guy even move their arms and wrists?)
One of the podcasters did.
Yeah that would be my vote or AOTC, Anakin vs Dooku was kind of lackluster.
Did you listen to the episode? one of us DID argue that was the worst one.
Oh yea, check this out 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOBMJJSe66g
No! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/12c80551a4f3e7b82f9d319b523a92a52b607df6274025de3f62fd3400c56df7.gif
She would have totally cut her legs off pulling that maneuver with no light saber training. What’s the point of it anyway? She ends up in the same stance after that ridiculous flourish. And what’s up with the curtains? Is Snoke hanging out in his home theater like Howard Hughes? They don’t have flame retardant textiles in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away?
She’s basically pulling the maneuver that got fancy swordsman shot by Indiana Jones.
Kumar, I award you a gold star for cultural literacy and sense of humor!
Kumar, I award you a gold star for cultural literacy and sense of humor!
and the barroom ,um the throne room is on fire
She’s pumping herself up, and showing us that she has a bit more training now. Personally I really liked how ferocious Rey got during this fight, it added a lot to the comparison between her and Kylo Ren.
A weapon is just an extension of the body. Her years of dedication in wielding a staff will have left her perfectly attuned, and having a higher awareness to the relationship between her body and any weapon she flails in her hands.
She’s clearly getting herself in the right mindset, and psyching out her opponent before they duel.
his comments are precisely the things you never ask as kids.
OK, I’ll buy that. Now explain the curtains. I don’t want to wait for the comic book.
Austerity. First Order budgetary constraints.
Its like Phantom Menace when Obi-wan flips his lit saber around hands free, whaaatt???
Its like Phantom Menace when Obi-wan flips his lit saber around hands free, whaaatt???
love this scene
Somewhat agree. I really didn’t like Rey vs. Kylo in TFA. Mostly because of Rey’s choreography, it didn’t seem like she was any more skilled with her lightsaber after her “awakening”, yet was somehow she was now winning using the same terrible thrusts as before.
While some of the choreography in TLJ’s big fight was a bit iffy (Rey’s single kick somehow pushing back 3 guards at the same time?), I thought that overall it was very inventive and did a great job of showing us more of who Kylo and Rey were from their fighting styles. It was the culmination of their bond, and it brought together how alike and how different they are from each other.
I think it could be possible that Rey and Kylo could beat those guys in red. We, as the audience, have no idea who they are, what they are capable of, or how tough they are.
We are left to assume they are bodyguards of some kind, but they suck really bad at their job. Besides everybody forgot about the Force in that ballet
Maybe she force kicked lol
Rey has never struck me as being a very convincing Jedi Knight.
The mega-lightsaber battle from Attack of the Clones, where it seemed like everyone and their monkey’s uncle had a lightsaber.
I get what you’re saying, but I actually kind of liked the initial scene when they show all of the Jedi ignite their lightsabers. If only because it shows the sheer size of the Jedi order in its day versus its extinction by the end of ROTS.
Regrettably its the Anakin vs Obi-wan in RotS, there is some stunning moves and visuals, but its overlong and gets a little silly at least for me.
The best will always be Luke vs Vader in ESB.
A man after my own heart Lewis. Do you listen to our show? That was my pick as well. Thank you.
On occasion – depends if the kids are being good and get to sleep. 🙂
I respect that!!!
Caught most of the broadcast and totally agree – its the one lightsaber duel we all knew was coming at some stage in the PT, which makes it the more tragic it wasn’t done well. Others, even with flaws, were something new and different, so though many didn’t like for example Yoda vs Dooku it did display his use of the force flowing through his body. Anakin vs Obi-wan was overdone on so many levels.
Yeah. That battle got awkward. I could also have done without the little droids flitting everywhere and the dueling on the lava hoverboards.
The battle between Obi Wan, Anakin, and Dooku at the end of AOTC. Obi-wan is dispatched way too easily, especially for someone who Yoda “holds in such high regard,” Anakin barely does anything and the film has already shown us that he’s headstrong and brash so it comes off like the entire fight is just an excuse for Anakin to get his arm cut off . Production wise the choreography isn’t that great because they have to cheat a lot of stuff out due to Christopher Lee’s advanced age. So instead of showing us how BA Dooku/Tyrannus is it just comes off as boring and over too quickly, especially after the nearly orgasmic melee action that the audience just got in the arena battle. It also diminishes the heroes while not increasing the threat or the power of the villain,
dooku was considered the best duellist, so yeah he dispatched Obi Wan and Anakin very easily. this makes sense sorry
and dooku cut his arm to work his anger and need of revence. he was in bad position since the start. then Dooku could have killed Obi-Wan when he wanted. He played with like toys but his purpose was not to kill them.
While that may be true Dooku was not SHOWN (capitalized for emphasis, I’m not keyboard yelling) to be the best duelist in the context of what was shown on screen.
And while I know that the novel adaptation and other ancillary materials talk about Dooku’s abilities as a swordsman it was never shown on screen to the degree that it felt like his easy victory over Obi-Wan and Anakin made sense given the fight itself.
In the context of the entirety of the Star Wars lore surrounding these characters it may be justified, but when the fight is taken on it’s own, in the context of the film itself, and then also compared to the lightsaber battles in the other films, it is the weakest.
i can see how you are looking at it. though you are a bit contradicting with yourself. you say they didn’t show how good Dooku was at lightsaber but that duel was the point of seizing Dooku authority. then confirmed by his fight on the same level with Yoda. Dooku was just a too big fish for the young Jedis, from my point of view. ro be fair this duel is one of the duels i found meh.
Every fight in AotC and RotS.
Some completely ridicule the character (when Yoda fights) some are just wrong till the very core for various reasons (the rest).
For me the worst was Yoda v Dooku in AOTC. Just found it ridiculous. The best by a mile is definitely Luke v Vader in TESB.
Easy – the short fight in the desert between Darth Maul and Qui Gonn. The editing was terrible – they should have just cut it out.
Easy – the short fight in the desert between Darth Maul and Qui Gonn. The editing was terrible – they should have just cut it out.
ph I loved that one !
Yeah, that should be extended, or cut. In 1999, Right after that fight I felt bored for the first time during a SW movie
this was amazing. the way he starts and Maul fighting style. i don’t understand you don’t like it.
this was amazing. the way he starts and Maul fighting style. i don’t understand you don’t like it.
In the entire saga of films, there has been only one lightsaber duel that I did not enjoy. That would be between Obi-Wan and General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith. I thought it was over too fast, and I thought the way Obi-Wan disarmed Grievous was a bit strange to watch. I was also a big fan of the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoon mini-series that aired before the film’s release. Grievous was first introduced in that series, and he was a badass. He was trained by Count Dooku to personally dispatch Jedi Knights. I thought he was a cool concept, and I was hoping for a bit more in his film appearance and duel.
Grievous only use the ameliorations he has from his cybernetics to defeat Jedis. Kenobi was more clever.
ESB (Luke vs Vader) is the best simply because it brings out every emotion from Luke to getting his butt whooped physically, to get his butt whooped mentally when he finds out who his father is.
The worst is probably ROTS (Obiwan/Anakin vs Dooku). It starts off bad with Dooku doing a Gymnastic Flip (such a misuse of CGI by Lucas), then that bad CGI Kenobi when he gets thrown under the rail. I actually liked their battle in AOTC as I’m not a Prequel hater, but this was just bad.
Agreed, TESB dual has no comparison, with Jedi right after with a close second. This wasn’t two combatants but Father and Son, Each one pulling their punches so to speak.
And each having a secondary motive in each dual, damn Empire is a good film!
I’ve seen ESB hundreds of times in my life and still marvel at how great the movie is everytime I watch. It’s about as perfect a film can get as I honestly can’t think of anything I’d change. ANH is just as great, but because it was made in the context of a standalone movie in 1977, it didn’t try to delve into the characters like ESB does. ANH is the ultimate crowd pleaser and ESB just breaks your heart, but in a good way. TFA and TLJ attempted this as TFA is a crowd pleaser like ANH, but i will need a few more viewings of TLJ to see if it’s a heartbreaker, but in a good way like ESB.
re: Empire – yeah, I really don’t get the recent revisionism about that film. I’ve seen over and over again people say “yeah, it has problems, it’s not as great as everyone remembers”. That’s…insane. Agree with you – Empire is damn near perfection in every way.
Agree that the best fights are in Empire and Jedi, being Jedi the most emotional part of the saga.
In fact, look at the Jedi duel – the climax is Luke just whaling away without any style on Vader, driving him down to the ground. The lesson here for everyone involved with these movies SHOULD have been that at the end of the day, it’s just two guys banging sticks together – what’s important is what’s going on in their heads, not the choreography. Lightsaber duels, no matter how good they look, should be the climax of conflict between characters, not “well, I guess we haven’t had an action beat in 20 minutes, so…..”.
The ones in TESB and ROTJ are the most emotional for me. But that Anakin Vs Obi Wan duel man. Fuckin great. Two Jedi in their prime during the height of the Order going at it! Craziness.
^ Someone here hates CGI.
While I don’t hate any lightsaber fight in SW, my least favorite(s) would probably be any involving Dooku. The choreography was decent enough, but I never liked how Dooku replaced the bad ass that was Darth Maul.
The best choreographed I think was Maul vs. Ginn/Kenobi. The most emotional would have to be ROTJ Vader vs. Skywalker.
Also, as important as Kenobi vs. Vader was in ANH, their fight looked like my friends and I with our hasbro sabers when we were 6.
Yes,I love the prequels, but the only thing i would definetly change is keep Maul in the role of Dooku, no need for so much villan change. BUT GL maybe couldn,t imagine that face design and actor performance would make a secondary character so memorable, sad. Hate the fact Maul ressurrected miraculously, hope the same doesn’t happen to Snoke
Lmao
I really found flat the climax duel in Clones, both Anakin Obi vs Dooku and froglike Yoda. Palpatine vs Windu was weird with the face replacement in some shots.
ha ha yep, what was Lucas thinking?
I agree the duels in AOTC are a bit flat. I think it’s mainly to do with the close up shots and the moving light effects you see around their faces. Best duel hands down for me is Anakin Vs. Obi Wan. It’s just so grand in scale because I’m sure they thought it would be the last duel for Star Wars ever. I hope we can get something in the ST that can top it for me.
I agree the duels in AOTC are a bit flat. I think it’s mainly to do with the close up shots and the moving light effects you see around their faces. Best duel hands down for me is Anakin Vs. Obi Wan. It’s just so grand in scale because I’m sure they thought it would be the last duel for Star Wars ever. I hope we can get something in the ST that can top it for me.
My only complaint is that some of them are too much short. Palpatine x 4 jedis could last longer. Rey and Kylo x red guys is the most beautiful—we were trying to digest the consequences of Snoke premature death, and Kylo and Rey help each other, veery emotional, very universe changing, that scene made me fell like free falling, anything can happen, wonderfull
Worst duels? Sidious vs 4 Jedi and Reylo vs guards
>wut
>wut
Rey and Kylo was actually one of the better ones. The worst was without a doubt Anakin vs Dooku in AotC.
Reylo vs guards was amazing. But yeah, Sidious vs the Jedi was god-awful.
best for me….ESB! I’ll watch that over and over! Sidious and the jedi is bad and it’s a shame because in the novel it was amazing, wish they could have gotten that right. but still enjoyed it once it was just sidious and Mace.
The one that didn’t happen in The Last Jedi…..stupid film
I think I’m alone here because I don’t see much in the comments about it, but the RoTS Anakin/Vader vs Kenobi was not good in my opinion. Sure, it was flashy and long, but damn I found it boring. I personally never felt any connection between Anakin and Kenobi for the fight to feel desperate or impactful. They to me didn’t feel like close friends. It just wasn’t an emotional scene for me with the exception of when Kenobi said “You were my brother” and such.
Contrasting with that, the ANH Vader / Kenobi duel wasn’t flashy but had feeling. It could be called boring, but was still a more meaningful duel. I think one of the better ones was ESB Vader / Luke. This is all my only my opinion of course.
PT has the best lightsaber duels, OT has the worst. ST is in the middle.
Worst duel is Obi-Wan vs Vader in ANH, and Luke vs Kylo Ren in TLJ.