rcj (01/17/83)
In response to this news article some time ago: %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% In response to your message of Wed Dec 29 08:47:08 1982: I seem to recall that that scene gave the people doing the filming great headaches. They tried putting dummies in for Obiwan just before Vader strikes him, but every time Vader hit the dummy with the light saber it (no kidding) burst into flames (now there's an effect: Obi Flambe!)! No kidding, eh? it certainly sounds like someone was kidding \you/; the light sabers were solid, room-temperature objects in two models (with and without "blade") with the high-energy effects added afterwards (sometimes in several stages). %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The answer is: You are both partially right. The objection should stand -- the light sabres were solid, room-temperature objects made of a highly reflective material of some sort. The "light" part, however, was all dubbed in afterwards. The problem with the Obi Wan dummy in the scene mentioned, however, was also real. They kept overdoing the special effect and either blowing up the dummy or setting it on fire. But they finally toned down the explosive used and prevented the dummy catching on fire for one good take. The problem here did not, as indicated above, originate from the light sabre but rather from the explosive implanted within the Obi Wan dummy. The MAD Programmer alias: Curtis Jackson ...!floyd!burl!rcj ...!sb1!burl!rcj ...!mhuxv!burl!rcj