Board 8 > Day 3: What's the best lightsaber duel in the films? [Star Wars Week!]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to Star Wars week on Board 8- a new poll every day until the release of The Last Jedi! Search "star" to cast your votes all this week.

Yesterday's Result: Leia dominated the competition, taking nearly half the votes to earn the title of Ultimate Badass of the films. Rey was the clear runner up, with Jyn still doing respectably and Padme being shown no respect.

Today's Question: What's the best lightsaber duel of all time?

Here they all are in glorious 1080p, if you'd like to refresh your memory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzK6K0-9RwM

Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace @ 1:43
Obi-Wan & Anakin & Yoda vs Dooku in Attack of the Clones @ 10:11
Anakin & Obi-Wan vs Dooku in Revenge of the Sith @ 16:15
Obi-Wan vs Grievous in Revenge of the Sith @ 19:47
Windu & Super Friends vs Palpatine & Anakin in Revenge of the Sith @ 26:04
Obi-Wan vs Anakin in Revenge of the Sith @ 31:16
Obi-Wan vs Vader in A New Hope @ 45:10
Luke vs Vader in The Empire Strikes Back @ 48:50
Luke vs Vader in Return of the Jedi @ 58:03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJTz-ahXyyI

Finn & Rey vs Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens

May the best fight win!


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Specifically Yoda vs Dooku
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Obi vs Anakin followed by Vader vs Luke ESB followed by Finn and Rey vs. Kylo.
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How am I the only vote for ESB so far

Come on, guys

sorry para didnt see this topic until now
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Underleveled posted...

Specifically Yoda vs Dooku

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Man TFA deserves at least one vote if the prequel trilogy combined has 23

Paratroopa1 posted...

Man TFA deserves at least one vote if the prequel trilogy combined has 23

now it has one vote
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hooray

I can't reasonably vote for TFA's lightsaber fight over the Luke/Vader ones but I thought it was really nicely shot and it was a good climax to the film. Beats any of the PT sequences by a mile for me.

Yeah, I liked Episode VII's duel a lot, but it's hard to top either Luke/Vader duel for me.
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Same, VII's duel was great and a welcome change over any of the trash fights of the prequels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0mUVY9fLlw

Nothing will ever top Luke vs Vader on Bespin though.
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god is kylo pathetic. in fact, i forgot how feeble all of the villains were in that movie.

the snow / falling trees aesthetic of TFA's duel is super cool, but the duel sucks so much story/emotion wise

and TPM wins on pure theatrics. i totally buy the idea of golden era jedi/sith planning fifteen moves in advance with infinity feints, seemingly not aiming at each other, passionless in battle.

voted for ESB because everything actually fit together well
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Kylo being pathetic is what makes that duel good though

I voted for a Vader fight but man I wish I voted for the Kylo Ren fight. It's a really great lightsabre fight while not even being focused on the lightsabres. It's basically exactly how they should be used.
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Obi wan vs anakin was intense as hell. I wasn't a huge fan of prequel dance fighting but that was a fight that delivered in a big way.
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From my point of view the Jedi are evil!!
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I honestly didn't even remember the duel in the last movie.
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AquaArcane posted...

From my point of view the Jedi are evil!!

The acting in that fight had some major cringe. But the fighting itself was good. They made excellent.use of the environment.
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Obi-wan/Anakin would have been better if it wasn't overly long and done over a bunch of cgi lava for no reason

Paratroopa1 posted...

Obi-wan/Anakin would have been better if it wasn't overly long and done over a bunch of cgi lava for no reason

The molten landscape served to make it a reasonable location for them to have been constructing the first death star. Thematically it was appropriate.

Granted the prequels should not have been bending over backwards so hard to connect all the locations and events of the prequels with the original trilogy and i don't think it made sense for the death star to have already been under construction... But that's the direction they went with so the lava fits.
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I was extremely disappointed by how boring the Obi-Wan/Anakin fight was when I rewatched it.
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The fact that it was on a molten planet is fine but it felt like they went out of their way to have a duel over the volcano level of a video game for no reason and it kind of took me out of it. I think it wouldn't have bothered me as much if the fight wasn't so long, but it takes way too long for it to reach its conclusion.

To each his own then. McGregor in that scene acted fine and I felt as though you could tell he was holding back and didn't want to have to destroy anakin. I think a major contributing factor to the battle's lengths was him coming to grips with what he had to do and for me that made the scene more powerful.

I do however have to pretend that anakin never speaks... :/
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McGregor is one of the only good things about the PT

Obi-Wan & Anakin & Yoda vs Dooku in Attack of the Clones

Why was this a thing
Why a nobody like Dooku was so powerful that he could beat all 3 of them
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Nanis23 posted...

Obi-Wan & Anakin & Yoda vs Dooku in Attack of the Clones

Why was this a thing
Why a nobody like Dooku was so powerful that he could beat all 3 of them

He was supposed to be Jar Jar
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Dooku never beat Yoda

Also, I really like Anakin vs. Obi. I know it's a bit ridiculous and pointlessly flashy but it's so much fun. Also I saw it in the cinema which is a point over both Vader/Luke duels

The end of the RotJ duel is absolutely phenomenal though. Everything from Luke screaming "NEVER" at Vader is like my favourite minute in cinema
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Nanis23 posted...

Obi-Wan & Anakin & Yoda vs Dooku in Attack of the Clones

Why was this a thing
Why a nobody like Dooku was so powerful that he could beat all 3 of them

He wasn't meant to be a nobody, RotS just made shitty decisions and made it look that way.
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Count Dooku is way fucking cooler than Darth Maul

story wise yes. it's just tough to beat maul's visual design

especially if you are just 'a guy in a robe'
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Last chance, new poll coming right up!
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ESB is the only one that really stands out to me in hindsight. Like every lightsaber fight is fairly fun to watch, but for all the others part of me just thinks "wait, I remembered that being cooler than it was" if I watch it again.
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lol @ "Windu & Super Friends"
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