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Bob Anderson, the Man Behind Vader's Lightsaber, Dies at 89

Posted by timothy on from the sad-news-for-the-new-year dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Australia's ABC News: "Bob Anderson, an Olympic swordsman who staged fights for films including the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died at the age of 89. ... Anderson donned Darth Vader's black helmet and fought light-saber battles in two of the three original Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but his role was not initially publicized." The accompanying video clips are great; I never thought about anyone being in the Vader suit besides David Prowse.

9 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Did some great work by RogueyWon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I loved the lightsaber fights in the original trilogy (particularly RotJ). They were perfectly paced; fast enough to be exciting, but slow enough that you could read a pace and flow to them. They were supported by those wonderful sound effects and music that matched the action perfectly.

    By contrast, the lightsaber battles in the prequels left me absolutely cold. It felt like Lucas had watched the Matrix and decided that he wanted that bullet-time wire-fu in his film whether it actually worked or not. The Darth Maul fight in Ep 1 gets a better press than it deserves on the basis of Duel of the Fates (which is a great piece of film music), but other than that, I couldn't see any of the Ep 1-3 battles as anything but soul-less exercises in camera trickery. They're too fast and there's no drama to them. There's just a lot of flailing about and then somebody wins.

    Bottom line, talented performers and traditional effects outperformed modern CGI and wire-fu.

    1. Re:Did some great work by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the main problem with the duels in the new films was the decision to make the Jedi so cold and monk-like. With the exception of a very few choice moments from Ewan McGregor, there is very little emotion or soul in those fights. They come off as more academic exercises than "I'm fighting for my life here" battles.

      --
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    2. Re:Did some great work by Tanktalus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree with AC. However, there seem to be good reason for the difference, just in story-telling.

      In eps 1-3, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of jedi. Plenty to practice and hone your fencing skills with. I would expect fast swordplay if only because the goal of any military action (and that's what a sword fight is) is a quick decision, not a prolonged battle. The quicker you dispatch your enemy, the sooner you can move on to the next action, and the less likely an ambush.

      Meanwhile, in eps 4-6, Vader, Obi-Wan, and Luke really don't have anyone to practice with, at least not in the previous 16-20 years (yeah, yeah, I don't really know what the timeline between 3 and 4 is). I would expect their actions to be a bit clunky. Especially Vader, being "more machine than man." And I'm not sure he ever really embraced his cyborg nature the way that General Greivous did, making it somewhat of an internal battle just to move.

      That said, I agree that the sound effects are definitely key - they take good scenes and make them great.

  2. Not just Star Wars by NorbrookC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He was the swordmaster behind LOTR and the Princess Bride. His skill was not just being able to do it, but to teach others to do it so it looked right on screen. RIP, Bob Anderson.

    1. Re:Not just Star Wars by YttriumOxide · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Princess Bride has absolutely some of the best swordplay I've ever seen on screen. Obviously the "famous duel" between Inigo and Westley gets a bit silly, but it's intended to be so (and is still really good anyway).

      For reference, I'm pretty handy with a sword myself, so I do know what I'm looking for in "realism" when watching films - most do pretty woefully.

      --
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  3. I disagree. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The light saber fights in the first 3 (eps 4,5,6) were clunky and slow and looked planned. It looks like they rehearsed once and then filmed.

    Whereas the last 3 (eps 1,2,3) were wonderfully choreographed - they looked real - the choreographed "mistakes" looked great. The last 3 actually looked like the actors spent many many hours practicing (they did) and it showed.

    The first part of the Trilogy did the saber fighting much better than the second part of the Trilogy (eps: 4,5,6)

    1. Re:I disagree. by Morty · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The light saber fights in the first 3 (eps 4,5,6) were clunky and slow and looked planned. It looks like they rehearsed once and then filmed.

      Whereas the last 3 (eps 1,2,3) were wonderfully choreographed - they looked real - the choreographed "mistakes" looked great. The last 3 actually looked like the actors spent many many hours practicing (they did) and it showed.

      The first part of the Trilogy did the saber fighting much better than the second part of the Trilogy (eps: 4,5,6)

      As a former fencer, I completely agree on the fight quality. During the lightsaber battles in the original three movies, the actors' movements were relatively slow and often didn't actually threaten their opponents. They're somewhat painful to watch: I keep thinking "stop thrust, stop thrust!" The actors in the newer trilogies look like they're mostly actually trying to fight each other. Although even in the new series, there still are plenty of moments when someone leaves themselves open to do something showy (i.e. swing their saber backwards) and their opponent doesn't press the advantage.

      That said, in terms of fight choreography, what looks good isn't always what's most realistic.

    2. Re:I disagree. by Endo13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wish I could mod you up.

      So many people seem to forget that Star Wars (original trilogy at least) wasn't action film, nor sci fi - it was space opera. The drama is the real point of the films. Realism in small details is pretty much irrelevant. That's what they lost in the prequels, which is why so many Star Wars fans despise them.

      --
      There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
    3. Re:I disagree. by Kurt+Granroth · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I hear this theory quite a bit and I believe that Lucas himself has said this to be the case. I don't buy it. The entire Jedi mythology holds that it's the Jedi's mastery of the Force that gives him the ability to fight with a light saber. They made it very explicit with Yoda's fight with Dooku -- Yoda was hundreds of years old and practically disabled, but his immense mastery of the Force gave him incredible fighting abilities. If anything, Obi-Wan and Vader's age should have increased their skills, not decreased them.