Original Lightsaber Creator Comments On 'The Force Awakens' Saber

By: Benjamin Hart

Roger Christian has been with Star Wars from the very beginning, having worked on Episode IV: A New Hope as the set decorator, and subsequently joined the productions of Return Of The Jedi and The Phantom Menace as second unit director. But in addition to that, Christian's most notable contribution to the Saga was creating the hilts of the very first Lightsabers used in A New Hope. After being tasked by George Lucas to create a prop to hang on Luke Skywalker(Mark Hamill)'s belt, he used a camera's flash attachment handle as the basis for the weapon and applied other various materials, such as pieces of windshield wipers, to create the Anakin/Luke Lightsaber seen in the film.

Roger Christian

Now, over thirty five years later, we're anticipating the seventh installment in the Saga with The Force Awakens. The new "broadsaber", seen in the recently released teaser trailer for the the film, raised questions among fans about the practicality of the three bladed Saber. Roger Christian recently spoke with the BBC and gave his thoughts on the design:

"Looking at the lightsaber in the trailer it has to be a found, older one as the blade is rougher, it's flame-like, so not as smooth as the newer blades. The snowy environment would hint that someone has found an ancient saber so I surmised this is an older laser sword. For sure there is a lot of debate going to be blogged now about the little blade protection side flames. They look cool, but aren't practical, and that was the original Star Wars mantra, everything had to look used and real. George wanted it that nothing ever stood out as designed, just a used universe that was real. So there has to be a reason coming for this laser sword. J J Abrams would have considered every visual in this first teaser."

So there you have it, take it from the man that built the first Lightsaber, the new creators behind Star Wars know what they're doing. The trailer left us with a great deal of questions, and most won't be answered until The Force Awakens hits theaters December 18th, 2015. So, as a wise Jedi once said: "Patience!"

Source: BBC

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