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Bob Anderson, the Man Behind Vader's Lightsaber, Dies at 89
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.
What would Star Wars have been like if James Earl Jones also did the stunts? RIP, they don't make guys that can do all the special effects without green screens like you anymore.
Monstar L
Anderson donned Darth Vader's black helmet and fought light-sabre battles in two of the three original Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
The epic duel between Vader and Obi-Wan was apparently so bad they had to hire an Olympic swordsman just to make things 'OK'.
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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.
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.
the real guy behind Darth Vador
-5 Nerd points
the real guy behind Darth Vader
FTFY
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)
There is another man behind the suit. He did all the public appearances and its his prints that are at Mann's Chinese Theater. Starwars.com did a piece on him back in 2006 but its no longer there.
Here's a repost of the article: http://com2.runboard.com/bstarwarscollectorreplicapropboard.f7.t109
I work with him and he's a pretty cool guy. With a little Macallan he'll even reenact some of the scenes.
You say that as if it were a bad thing. To have played a significant role in a universal epic of our time? Whether you liked the films or not, if you were born prior to ~1990, you have probably seen the films. Using that as a frame of reference allows of us who don't really pay attention to the credits to understand who this "Bob Anderson" person is and was, and thus understand his significance in our lives (even if that is "none, really").
It would be interesting to know what he considered to be his greatest professional achievement -- something he did in films, or representing Britain in the 1952 Olympics (where he finished around the median in the Men's Individual Sabre competition, and was on Britain's Men's Sabre Team, which finished tied for fifth place). Or maybe something else.
Did he view his cinema work positively (e.g., in that he was "bringing fencing to the masses, who otherwise would never see it," or some such), or did he view the work as corrupting a purer art form, that he had to do to support his family? It would be interesting to have heard his thoughts on the matter.
Youknow I think that Dick Cheney is more like Palpatine than Vader
The makes of the original episodes were doing what they could with what they had. I still enjoy the Luke/Vader fight in Ep 5, even though it's fairly slow paced and some of the moves are silly. ESB and RoTJ both have short clips during fights wherein someone is beaten (on the ground), yet the victor continues to pound away his lightsaber at the opponents lightsaber as if he hasn't won yet. This actually looks quite retarded to anyone who knows fighting, and should look so to anyone with critical thinking skills.
OTOH, the choreography in Ep 1,2,3 is much improved. With the huge exception of the Palpatine/Sam Jackson fight in Ep 3 (which was a f-ing disaster), they look much more like real fights.
BTW, have you ever seen a fencing match? They've VERY fast. Swordfighting isn't for grandma.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
Bob was a gentleman in every way. A hard working individual that gave much to the Canadian Olympic teams and individuals. A modest man that taught more than sword play and contributed much to the growth/maturity of many young people. Forever his film legacy will entertain and be enjoyed by many, but also many will remember his other gifts.
My condolences to his wife and family. May he rest in peace.
No matter what your other achievements, if you appeared in Star Wars that is what gets talked about when you die.
I wonder if reports of Alec Guinness' death talked about "the actor who immortalised Obi-Wan Kenobi".
Yes, extensively the obits I read for Alec Guinness at the time of his death in 2000 focused on his role in Star Wars. I often wondered what he would have thought about that given his later distate for the role and the attention it brought on him.
When Luke is pounding on Vadar in Ep 6. he isnt thinking, hes filled with emotion and rage. This should be obvious to anyone with emotions.
Good-bye
First, RIP Bob Anderson.
Some of the critiques are justified for each side, old and slow v. new and fast.
I always saw Vader v. Obiwan as 2 masters greatly respecting/fearing the ability of the other (15+ years in the making), like two master samurai carefully testing one another near the end of their time. Jedi fighting driods and much lesser skilled foes should be faster paced, or an emotionally driven battle (not very Jedi). A "slower" fight between 2 equal combatants should not be too fast or have Michael Bay style cuts; there's more drama (appropriate for a climatic battle in a space opera) with a fight where the action is easy to follow and EACH strike can make you a bit nervous. However, there should also be modulation within the pacing of the fight; all one pace can make for a very flat, mediocre fight.
Fun tidbit: in French, Darth Vader is named "Dark Vador", R2D2 is "D2R2", C3PO is "Z6PO"
JigJag
"The hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs" - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Just out of curiosity, what didn't you like about it? I can see how, from a technical sword fighting perspective, it wasn't that realistic - it was more of an "artistic" fight. But this did not cheapen the emotions of what was at stake during the duel.
Xenon, where's my money? -Borno
Mr. Anderson's family was reportedly mortified when he reappeared at his own funeral as the blue sparkly ghost of Hayden Christensen.
Fun tidbit: in French, Darth Vader is named "Dark Vador", R2D2 is "D2R2", C3PO is "Z6PO"
JigJag
With the strict language laws, shouldn't it be "Vader noir" ? /. )
(And all the other main characters un-postable on ASCII centric
Youknow I think that Dick Cheney is more like Palpatine than Vader
Except for the breathing.
The power cord was not for illumination - It powered a small motor that spun the blade, which was not round but triangular in shape. The wooden 'blade' was covered with 3M reflective material similar to what is used on road signs. The blades reflected available light from the studio key lights.
And yes, they broke like crazy. Beginning with Empire they used aluminum rods that could take more contact.
RIP, and thanks for all the fun. He spent well his time.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
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VINCENT: ...You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
JULES: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
VINCENT: No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
JULES: What'd they call it?
VINCENT: Royale with Cheese.
JULES: Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac?
VINCENT: Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.
JULES: What do they call a Whopper?
VINCENT: I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
I see the invisible wink at the end of your question; true, there are very strong language laws... in Quebec! Other french-speaking countries are way more relaxed about it. For instance (one amongst thousands), Toy Story is called "Toy Story" in France but "Histoire de jouets" in Quebec.
Translation is a challenge. When and how do you translate proper names? Why is the country whose capital is Berlin called Germany by the English, Allemagne by the French and Deutschland by its natives? And then why isn't Berlin translated three ways too?
I recently did some independent translation for a popular '90s computer game (very heavy in dialog), and that was a serious question we asked ourselves. Do we translate names of places and people? We agreed that not all names ought to be translated but it was almost always based on a personal feeling.
When it comes to movies, there is an added impetus: since the movies are dubbed and not voiced-over (like it was the case in Poland for so many years), the name chosen as a translation must be easy to pronounce yet they more or less must match the lip movements. The french can't pronounce "TH" properly, so DarTH is right out. On the other hand, the target audience is sufficiently sophisticated to know the word "Dark" and even have an idea of what it means (paradoxically, they get it wrong since they think "noir", like you pointed out, instead of "sombre"). Since his wardrobe matched the name, it made sense to use Dark in this case. So, there is aggregate of: 1) pronunciation, 2) ability to relate, 3) mental imagery that led to choosing "Dark Vador".
Translation is more an art than a science. You need flair, inventiveness along with technique and rules.
To me, the absolute best translation was that of Lady Jessica Atreides in Dune when examining the servants with Dr Yueh. In English, she says "When you said Harkonnens, I didn't know you had so much reason to hate them." In French, the translators used a verb tense rarely used in speech amongst commoners, but that perfectly embodied an educated and noble person like Lady Jessica: "Quand vous avez dit : 'Harkonnens'.. j'ignorais que vous eussiez tant de raisons de les haïr."
You have to know French to be floored by that rendering. Not only the meaning was properly conveyed but as an added touch they established her rank through her language and it also coincide well with the lip movements. Grandiose.
JigJag
"The hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs" - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
It's a little eerie: I just watched the documentary "Reclaiming the Blade" with my friends last night. Bob Anderson was very interesting in it.
"The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games." - Eugene Jarvis
He's not pounding on Vader. He's pounding on Vader's lightsaber for no reason, which is the equivalent of kicking a wall next to the the guy you're really angry at instead of punching him. The emotion is lost in the stupidity of the action.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.