Many elements from the Star Wars universe have become so popular that they have transcended these barriers and have become part of pop culture. Such is the case of the lightsabers, the preferred weapon in the Star Wars universe and which have gone through some changes throughout the Skywalker saga – and here’s how they are different in the original and prequel trilogies. In the movie now known as Star Wars: A New Hope, George Lucas introduced viewers to the characters that would lead this universe for years, along with some of the most important objects in it.
Thanks to Ben Kenobi, A New Hope introduced the audience to the lightsaber, a weapon referred to by some as a laser sword that has a lot of history in this universe. Lightsabers are made of a plasma blade that is powered by a kyber crystal (Force-attuned crystals very difficult to find), and which is emitted from a metal hilt and can be shut off at will. Using a lightsaber requires a combination of skill and training, and there is a variety of them, not only in terms of colors (as each one stands for something in particular) but also in shape and purpose, as there are some that are double-bladed (like Darth Maul’s) or are a crossguard with three blades.
Like most elements in the Star Wars universe, the lightsabers have changed throughout the history of it, but there are big differences between the original trilogy and the prequel one. The original movies were released between 1977 and 1983, and fans were taken back to a galaxy far, far away between 1999 and 2005 with the prequel trilogy, which explored the backstory of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. As there are many years and thus many technological advances in between trilogies, the lightsabers are different in the original movies and the prequels. In the original trilogy, lightsabers didn’t look as polished as in future versions, and thanks to the many changes that have been done to the Star Wars original movies, these have gone through really bad retouches and restorations – for example, the 2004 DVD re-release has lightsabers changing color or having no at all, a mistake that wasn’t fully fixed in subsequent versions.
The lightsabers seen in the Star Wars prequel trilogy are a lot more stylized and polished, giving a better idea of laser swords rather than toy-like weapons, which is the case in various scenes in the original movies. Of course, a big part of these differences is the resources the Star Wars crew had in each decade, and with that, the way lightsabers were brought to life. In order to give the desired effect to the blades for the original trilogy, animator Nelson Shin was brought in and given live-action footage to work with. Shin drew the lightsabers with a rotoscope, an animation superimposed onto the footage of the physical prop. Shin told Lucasfilm that, because a lightsaber is made of light, the blade should look “a little shaky”, like a fluorescent tube, which is certainly the look they have in the first movies. In order to shoot the scenes with the physical props, the blade was made of a three-sided rod covered with reflective material, but for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the rods were replaced with carbon rods.
When it was time to revisit this universe in the prequel trilogy, the process of making lightsabers had to change. This time, the blades were made of steel and aluminum rods, which were replaced by carbon fiber rods laminated with glass and plastic for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The effects, however, were still done by rotoscoping, though only digitally this time. The lightsabers in the prequels are a lot less shaky (in some cases, it can be barely noticeable) and no longer look like fluorescent tubes, giving them a more believable appearance. Lightsabers will surely continue to be in constant change for as long as the Star Wars universe expands, and will hopefully keep improving.
