The Skywalker Saga – Disk One The Phantom Menace

Have you ever watched a Star Wars movie and realised that you didn’t notice something even though you’ve watched it a dozen times or more? I know a lot of fans don’t like the Sequel Trilogy of movies, but I actually do and I never noticed so many things that I noticed rewatching this last night.

One scene in particular – on Tatooine when Qui-Gon Jin and Darth Maul duel, I never noticed the hilt of the lightsaber that Darth Maul is using. Have you ever noticed how big it is? So he isn’t using the double-bladed lightsaber, he’s using one part of it which technically, is a lightsaber. Some people like to refer to his weapon as a sabre staff but I prefer to say double-bladed lightsaber.

TPMDISCONE

Anyway, on Wookiepedia, it states that when his lightsaber was broken after the duel of the fates with Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, he used it as a single lightsaber. Which is odd because he used it before that fight in his duel with Qui-Gon Jin on Tatooine.

Can anyone clarify this for me? Because I am only using the references online for this. I have no idea why it says that he used it as a lightsaber after the events of The Phantom Menace when he was using it as a lightsaber way before then.

I haven’t looked at the other two disks yet but when I get around to them, I’ll post about any odd things I notice or experience while watching. I will also (excitedly) blog about the extra content, whatever that is. I am not looking it up online because I want to surprise myself!

Till my next post, be safe and happy and I’ll catch ya later!

If you like my Star Wars posts, you can check out more of them right here.

And while you’re there, why not consider following me which you can do here.

9 thoughts on “The Skywalker Saga – Disk One The Phantom Menace”

  1. Hi Julie, as an earth bound Jedi I might be able to shed some light(saber) on this issue. Maul could independently activate either one of the blades of his weapon or both at the same time. When he attacked Qui-Gon on Tatooine he was cautious and testing Jinn’s ability so only used one blade as not to reveal his own weapon’s true strength. Later he did utilise the double blade function when he had to confront Jinn and Kenobi and this gave him an ability to fight both Jedi and surprise them, as it would be unlikely they had seen a saber staff. When his staff was sliced in two during the duel, one half was damaged beyond repair but the remaining half Maul modified into a Lightsaber walking cane – the hilt forming the cane’s handgrip (you see this in Star Wars Rebels) again giving him an advantage of surprise when he “unsheathed” and activated it.
    The term “saber staff” is a little misleading as a true wooden staff weapon can be held at any point along it’s whole length, whereas a Saber Staff can only be held at the hilt portion but you can still perform some staff techniques with it (but obviously you can’t slide your grip up and down the staff).
    Finally, yes I had watched Empire Strikes Back lots of times over 30+ years and only noticed last year that there was an object that looked like a lightsaber in Luke’s X-Wing! If you look on the dashboard of the cockpit as Luke clambers out from his crash landing you will see a black and orange coloured cylinder – it never occurred to me it looked like a saber till I started using Blender. But here is what I built when I realised….

    Sorry for the long comment, but I hope you found it interesting.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, thank you so much, FT! I was hoping you would reply because I know your knowledge of such things is extensive, and far beyond my own 🙂 So yes, that answers my question but now I have another. When Maul is duelling with Qui-Gon on Tatooine, you can actually see that the lightsaber he is holding is sealed off at the end of the hilt. This also confused me because I was thinking that if this weapon is part of his double-bladed lightsaber, wouldn’t it need to have an open-end so he can easily attach the other sabre? Maybe what I saw was incorrect as it was very fast and only very brief but my partner said he noticed that too so I figured I’d ask my friends 🙂 Thanks again for the insightful reply as always 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Hi again, and luckily I can help answer this second question too. The hilt you see Maul holding at the end of his skirmish with Qui-Gon is a prop known as a “Stunt”. In film making there are different versions of prop depending on what type of shot it is in. There are “Stunt Prop” which have very little decoration and are used in action scenes and long range shots where you wouldn’t see a lot of detail. Then there are “Gimmick Props” which have more detailing and normally have a function built in such as electronics to GeoMap (GPS) the prop’s position so it can be matched with special FX added later (just like the computerised crane cameras). Finally there are what is called the “Hero Prop” and these are the most detailed items that you see in close up footage such as shots like Rey discovering Luke’s original hilt in TFA, that hilt was a Hero Prop. Then there are extra specialised props made of resin or carbon fibre that are used for special action stunt scenes (some Stormtrooper actors carry rubber blaster rifles so they don’t injure themselves when falling to the ground etc).
        If you watch the Behind The Scenes documentary “The Story Of the Lightsaber” from Phantom Menace you will see these different types of props and footage of Ewan McGregor choosing his hilt from a selection of hilts in which you can see sabers with closed emitters – which is exactly what you see after Maul and Jinn fight….Lucasfilm forgot to digitally add an emitter hole (or just didn’t bother 😁)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Wow that is so enlightening! I am hoping that extra documentary is on one of those disks so I can go through it 🙂 I didn’t know about any o fthat prop stuff so that’s really quite amazing and makes total sense! Hopefully, I can find that documentary and talk about later on 🙂 Thanks again FT, your insight is invaluable 😀

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Hi again, you’re welcome. I learnt a lot of this stuff at Performing Arts college many years ago when I trained as a Stage Tech and Sound Engineer, the rest I picked up on the net. And if the documentary isn’t on your disks (it should be) then it is available on YT, or at least the segments relating to Ewan picking his TPM saber.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Hi there, just a quick edit! The documentary was for Episode III but does show the info.
    Here are the video links for you (hope they work or embed):

    Ewan Chooses His Lightsaber:

    And “This Lightsaber is your life” documentary:

    All rights belong to Disney/Lucasfilm….just in case they’re looking!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. No problem, I’m just glad the links/videos embedded as I think my comment went to your dashboard to be moderated and I wasn’t sure it posted (WordPress is also glitching for me at the moment too, your post is being displayed in widescreen!)

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.