• The 5 Coolest Lightsabers in Star Wars

    Lightsabers are a key part of Star Wars, and they’ve been around since the first movie came out in 1977. Lightsabers and lightsaber dueling have changed drastically as he Star Wars Universe expanded. We went from heavy sword dueling in the original trilogy to the double-bladed duel of fates in Phantom Menace, a more sophisticated fencing style from Count Dooku in “The Attack of the Clones” and on to Yoda’s off the wall acrobatic fighting style and Darth Sidious’ dual saber ass kicking. And those are just a few honerable mentions from the films. I’ll have to follow up with my favorite lightsaber duels after this.

    For now, here’s a list of some of the coolest lightsabers according to me.

    The Darksaber – Clone Wars, The Mandalorian

    The Darksaber was a lightsaber created by the first Mandalorian Jedi. The weapon can only be transferred through victory in combat. In fact, it doesn’t appear at all during Season 1 or 2 of The Clone Wars series! But when it does show up in Season 3 (the second half), we do get our first look at how impressive this beautiful purple blade looks when lit up against someone else’s lightsabers:

    Lord Corvax’s Lightsaber – Vader Immortal

    Lord Corvax’s story comes from the Quest VR game, Vader Immortal. Lady and Lord Corvax lived in harmony with the natives of Mustafar. They were force sensitive (not Jedi or Sith) and powerful enough that Lord Corvax was able to create a lightsaber, and a beautiful one at that. Imagine Indigo Montoya’s hand-made Spanish steel sword, but as a lightsaber.

    Anywho, they were eventually attacked and Lord Corvax fell… died. Lady Corvax was so stricken with grief that she stole the most sacred artifact of the Mustafarian’s in an attempt to travel time and bring him back. Prior to that, Mustafar was actually a lush and beautiful planet – almost like what we see at the beginning of Rise of Skywalker. Taking the artifact caused the planet to fall apart and morph into the hot mess it is when we see it in Revenge of the Sith.

    Darth Maul, Star Wars – Episode I. The Phantom Menace and many more!

    Darth Maul was a Dathomirian Zabrak male who lived during the last days of the Galactic Republic and served as an apprentice of Darth Sidious, later known as Emperor Palpatine. The Phantom Menace was the first time we saw a double bladed lightsaber on the big screen. This is easily one of our favorites because of what it did for lightsabers and lightsaber dueling on the big screen and in every other format.

    After his revival from the scary/crazy spider creature he became after being cut in half and dumped on a garbage planet, he continued to use the other half of his double bladed lightsaber as a single. In fact, he used it to beat Pre Vizla (leader of the Mandalorian Group the Death Watch) in combat and claim the Dark Saber.

    The Grand Inquisitor’s (and other Inquisitors’) double bladed spinsaber(s)

    The Grand Inquisitor’s double-bladed spinsaber is one of the most interesting lightsabers in the entire Star Wars universe. The Inquisitors were corrupted Jedi (mostly via torture) who pledged to help the Empire hunt down the remaining Jedi following Order 66.

    We first see this spinning lightsaber used in Star Wars Rebels and had its live-action debut in Obi-Wan. My favorite story where these lightsabers come into play is during the Episode(s) “The Twilight Apprentice” in Star Wars Rebels. In this episode, our heroes discover an underground Sith temple. Lots of lightsaber goodness and potentially my favorite Star Wars story.

    Ezra Bridger’s Pistol-hilted lightsaber – Star Wars Rebels

    Ezra Bridger created his first lightsaber after finding his kyber crystal in an old Jedi temple on Lothal — his home planet. At the time of Rebels, the Jedi are still being hunted, so Kanaan and Ezra try to hide their Jedi-ness as often as possible. This is a big reason why Ezra builds a blaster into his lightsaber, so he can still protect himself without having to reveal that he is a Jedi – or padawan in this case.

    Maris Brood’s Twin Lightsabers – The Force Unleashed

    In The Force Unleashed video game, you get to a point where you cross paths with a Jedi Padawan who survived the great purge. She took shelter in the dark heart of the planet Felucia after being recused by Master Shaak Ti.

    Her lightsabers are essentially a pair of Tonfa but … lightsabers. It’s pretty bad ass and between her interesting set of force powers and the bull Rancor she tags in, it made for a great boss fight.

    Ben Solo / Kylo Ren, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

    Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, who was trained by Luke Skywalker to be a Jedi. However, Kylo Ren was manipulated and turned to the dark side by Supreme Leader Snoke and Luke’s near-murdery tendancies.

    The “Ren” part of Kylo Ren comes from a secret organization that he performed a hostile takeover on. A group of force-wielding acolytes called “The Knights of Ren”. The Ren itself is the lightsaber/crystal that the leader of The Knights of Ren wields. Kylo put that crystal into a saber with a cross guard — which is the first time we actually see this type of saber. In that episode of Rebels I mentioned, there is a brief scene where Ezra finds a similar Jedi lightsaber in the ruins of that sith temple. Some of my research showed that Ben actually discovered a similar artifact on his journeys with Luke, which is what inspired the lightsaber we see him wield in the newest trilogy.

  • Snoke Got Smoked

    Snoke Got Smokes – Live from Planet Earth

    Played by character actor and legend Andy Serkis, Supreme leader Snoke is a character from the final trilogy of the Skywalker Saga. When we first see Snoke, he’s a towering hologram with authentic battle damage.

    There was a ton of mystery around this character and he had people excited — especially those of us who were hoping for a Darth Jar Jar reveal …

    And then… we saw him as a fairly cliché dark side, power-hungry, force user who got taken out before he could really do anything…

    At the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker, we find out that he was actually a strand cast of Palpatine — he was created by using his DNA but wasn’t an exact clone. Tomato, tomato.. right? Ultimately he was Palpatine’s puppet and was a way for him to regain some of his power and influence without exposing himself.

    Interestingly enough, Snoke didn’t actually know he was a puppet. Despite being created AFTER the Battle of Endor, he had memories of living through the entire Galactic Civil War. This was probably all part of Sidous’ plan to corrupt Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren — as he would have been able to tell if Snoke was full of it.

    And since we’re on the topic, Snoke wasn’t a Sith Lord. He was powerful in the Force and an obvious dark side user, but Sith Lord he was not. Those fans who weren’t hoping to turn out to be Darth Jar Jar were eagerly awaiting a reveal for him to actually be Darth Plagueis. Another one of those pale-skinned weird-looking, dark-side types.

    There’s actually a lot of interesting stories about and around Snoke, but let’s get back to that whole getting smoked thing…

  • MOAR Star Wars for Everyone

    ICYMI

    Disney just wrapped up their 2022 D23 Expo, and it was a BIG one. There were tons of announcements from across all Disney-owned properties, including (obvs) Star Wars.

    The Mandalorian Season 3 Trailer

    I’m still pretty irritated about this helmet rule The Armorer is enforcing but season 3 looks like it’s going to be packed full of actual Mandalorian history, characters, and more. The trailer seems to tease a visit to Mandalore, a showdown between “The Mandalorian” and a number of her followers, and the return of Babu Frik? Set to release sometime in 2023.

    BTW: We’re working on a Mandalorian themed EP

    The Bad Batch Season 2

    The new season is set to release on January 4th, 2023. The trailer is full of exciting easter eggs and teasers but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was most excited about the return of Wookie Jedi Gungi.

    Tales of the Jedi

    A new series with 6 original shorts focused on Dooku’s time as a jedi and a deeper dive on Ashoka starts streaming October 26, 2022! It looks like we will learn more about Dooku’s exit from the jedi order and more about how Palpatine’s master plan was set in motion. In addition to that, we’ll see Ashoka’s training and time “lost” after Order 66 but before she resurfaced in Rebels.

    Andor

    This spy-thriller is planned for two seasons spanning across 24 episodes and focuses on Casian Andor as he helps The Rebellion during it’s earliest years. I’m not sure if I’m alone in this but, while I think it will be a fun series, it’s hard to get too invested when we already know how his story ends.

    Ashoka

    While there isn’t a ton of information about this show, I was incredibly excited to see that they cast an Ezra Bridger. We learned in Season 2 of the Mandalorian that she was chasing Grand Admiral Thrawn who was swooped away by Ezra via hyperspace jumping space whales at the end of Rebels. I’m assuming this series will dive into what happened to Ashoka after Rebels, but with plenty of flashbacks to fill in other gaps. If you haven’t seen Rebels, you should probably go back and watch it as she’s a key character and there are some interesting mystical things that happen with her and Ezra.

  • Kevin Smith’s Theory on “The Rise of Skywalker” is Pure Gold

    We haven’t had a lot of time to nerd out about the new Star Wars Trailer or any of the awesome announcements that came out of the Star Wars Celebration last weekend but on his latest episode of the Hollywood Babble-on Podcast, Kevin Smith dropped a theory we just couldn’t stay away from.

    While this isn’t his first Star Wars theory, it’s quite possibly one of the most intriguing .  Here’s a chunk that says a lot but you can listen  to the whole podcast here.

    What if the way that Jedi has been used historically in those movies and like including that in the last movie the Jedi, the Jedi must end and all that s***. What if that’s it for the Jedi and perhaps the new religion is the Skywalkers. Didn’t that just give you f****** chills? And I swear, again, f****** I don’t want anybody going ‘he knows’ but I know nothing.”

    “Maybe Skywalker supplants the order that existed beforehand,” Garman said. “Wouldn’t that be f****** dope? He was so f****** important to the universe that from then on they named the order after him. They’re all Skywalkers,” Smith added.

    Skywalker vs Jedi Theory Breakdown

    Fair warning, this is going to get nerdy. There’s a couple of reasons this theory is so compelling and I’m going to dive into them one by one.

    Being A Force Ghost Is Against The Jedi Beliefs

     

    We all know “attachment is forbidden” for Jedi but understanding how far that really goes adds some interesting perspective to all of the Star Wars stories to date. If you have watched season 5 of Clone Wars (animated series) you’re likely familiar with the Yoda storyline that ultimately ends with him discovering that Qui Gon Jin is still existing as a force ghost – see episodes “Voices” “Destiny” and “Sacrifice”. During this quest Yoda very obviously steps outside of his comfort zone into a path most would assume would lead to the Dark Side.

    Side note: Season 5 also has an storyline that supports the Darth Jar Jar Theory and we’re still holding on to it.

    What we learn here is that there is quite a spectrum of grey between the Jedi and the Sith and that by maintaining attachment to one’s self is the first step in becoming “more powerful than you could possibly imagine”

    Knowing this, our original perspective of the Jedi was influenced by Jedi who aren;t necessarily following the traditional beliefs and practices of The Jedi. With that in mind, Luke himself has never actually been instructed in “the way of the Jedi” as it’s traditionally known.

    Connect this to “The Last Jedi”, Luke’s general failure in reviving The Jedi Order, and Yoda’s classic trolling when Luke hesitates to burn down what’s left of the order and you’ve got a case for this series moving beyond “Jedi” as the title for light side force users.

    This New Trilogy Is Staying Away From “The Sith”

     

    Since “The Force Awakens” the cast and crew have been very clear that neither Snoke or Kylo Ren are actually Sith. While the master/apprentice dynamic is there, and they are both dark side force users, there’s no mention of the Sith or even “Darth” in the first two movies of the new trilogy – or as far as I can tell in any of the comics or cartoons related to it.

    Side Note: Oddly enough, the traditions of the Sith and the rule of 2 also come up in Yoda’s journey in the episode “Sacrifice” where Mark Hamill voices Darth Bane.

    Assuming “Rise of Skywalker” doesn’t also include the transformation of Kylo Ren into a true Sith Lord, then the new trilogy has already laid the groundwork to drop both the Sith and the Jedi from the current trajectory of the storyline.

    I could go on about other possibly related details like Ashoka rocking white lightsabers and disassociating herself with The Jedi or Sith throughout Rebels but I think there’s enough meat here to think on for a bit.

    Being a “Skywalker” totally works in a weird culty way right?

  • Death Star or Death Trap?

    Across the Star Wars universe there’s a pretty strong history of people falling very long distances due to a lack of proper safeguards… like railings. In A New hope alone we see Obi Wan walking on a walk way with no railings on the Death Star. Then we see Luke and Leia get trapped behind a door with no walkway at all. But… what about these guys…

    Have you ever thought about everyone else on the Death Star?! No, you haven’t because YOU only care about the heroes.

    Seriously though, the Death Star is still probably the least safe workplace in history. When you think about the Empire’s resources and capabilities there’s really no excuse… unless they were just trying to get their Storm Troopers not to lean.

    In contrast, even the Ewoks thought to put some friggin railings up … so no one would fall down.

    https://open.spotify.com/track/2tXPcUfVvSeOn4qzpGH345?si=Y-NPXC7UTgeuhzq8c7uc9Q