Star Wars is coming up to 50 years old. Back in 1973, George Lucas wrote the first two-page synopsis for what would become A New Hope, with the wonderful final product hitting theaters in 1977. Five decades later and it’s still going strong, though the VFX necessary to bring a galaxy far, far away to the big screen has dramatically changed.
But has its evolution always been for the better? One fan on r/StarWars has held up the single most iconic weapons of Star Wars and argues it was better in the past. Yup, we’re talking lightsabers:
Responses agree, saying Star Wars on Disney Plus can look like a fan film, that it’s obviously a prop, and that they simply look “clunky”. So what’s going on here?
Lightsaber VFX has dramatically changed over the years. In A New Hope it was overseen by Korean animator Nelson Shin, who painstakingly rotoscoped the lightsaber blades frame-by-frame onto a reflective ‘blade’ prop shot on set.
By the time of the prequels, the on-set sabers were aluminum or carbon fiber tubes, and the blades once again rotoscoped, albeit now on computer rather than by hand. The sequel trilogy accomplished the effect through ‘3D match move techniques that automatically tracked the prop’s position in space and allowed for more correct perspective shifts.
Things changed by the time of the Disney Plus shows, with Obi-Wan Kenobi using a practical on-set light stick that can cast the right blade color onto actors and scenery. This is then enhanced with CGI, but though having a prop that casts light grounds the saber in the scene, it doesn’t look so otherworldly as previous effects.
We’re with the fans on this. Whatever your opinions on the sequel trilogy the lightsabers there looked great, with some special love for Kylo Ren’s fizzing and burning overclocked crossguard blade. RGB LED light sticks are clever and likely save on some VFX work, but it’s just not quite the same.
Let’s hope Ahsoka nails it.