SEP074577
The Lightsaber Luke Skywalker wields in the
Return of the Jedi has a long and complicated history. The hilt worn by actor Mark Hamill, in most of the scenes in the movie where the lightsaber is not ignited, was in fact an old Obi-Wan Kenobi "stunt" lightsaber from
A New Hope. It featured a longer lever on the center band, a conical knob on the rear above the pommel, and a D-ring attached the lightsaber to a belt clip. Cast in aluminum from a milled wooden master, this lightsaber features uneven heat sink fins which we have recreated in the interest of accuracy. For fight scenes, a newly machined, more simplified look-alike version was created. A cleaned-up version of this lightsaber was used for the close-up insert shot when Darth Vader comments on Luke constructing a new lightsaber. This became known as the "hero" version of the prop because it was featured so prominently in a close-up. Master Replica's engineers modeled this faithful replica (measuring 1.5"h x 12"w x 1.5"d) directly from measurements taken from the surviving prop, and re-created the look from the movies with the help of extensive photographic reference materials supplied from the Lucasfilm Ltd. Archives.
In Shops: Dec 19, 2007
SRP: PI
