Star Wars: The (Totally) Phantom Menace
Why Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange recommends it
Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange users link it when discussing the prequel lightsaber choreography, usually to joke about or criticize how staged and non-threatening the fights look.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2013 to 2016.
What it is
A short parody video that critiques the climactic lightsaber duel in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, using a synthetic UK voice over footage. It points out how the fight avoids any real threat, with combatants missing each other and clashing sabers on purpose. It is an English version of an earlier French original by the same uploader.
What people said
Cites Dacio · 2013-11 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Why do the lightsaber moves of Luke Skywalker look so uncoordinated and crude compared to the prequels?”
In the prequel trilogy of Star Wars (the more recent three), the swordsmanship of the actors is great. There's lots of aerobatics and fast swordplay; generally impressive (albeit sometimes over-the-top) performances. I disagree. The fight choreography was structured specifically to be flashy and full of special effects; there was very rarely any plot advancement or character development during any of the fight scenes (other than a character being killed or injured). I submit to you that the fighting is also highly unrealistic and you only haven't noticed it because of the aerobatics, fast and uninterrupted swordplay, camera cuts, etc. etc. distracting from how far the combatants come from st
Cites curiousdannii · 2015-03 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Who was "The Phantom Menace"?”
It refers to the movie's fight choreography: never let any hint of menace be shown - the menace must be phantom [this video]
Cites Matthew Read · 2016-03 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Is there any story reason for Force users being less acrobatic?”
FWIW, the intent of the scene in that gif is to show that Obi-wan and Anakin know each other so well that they know exactly how the other is going to respond, and rapidly switch from one approach to another in order to counter -- with no physical clashing of lightsabers being necessary. How well that was actually portrayed is another matter, but IMO it's better than Episode I where the big fight features them missing by miles and purposefully trying to hit the sabers instead of each other [this video] .
Critical jpmc26 · 2016-01 · Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange · on “Why do the lightsaber moves of Luke Skywalker look so uncoordinated and crude compared to the prequels?”
Too coordinated [this video] , imo, and not quite so impressively so. The spinning is completely useless. Also, this fight looked much better before they put it in slow motion.