Sword fighting

[S.Teebas]

Hi

I was wondering what, if any, sword fighting style the guys in Star Wars used in that new movie 'Star Wars II'...specifically... what does yoda do?..d@mn that kicked a$s!!

[joedoe]

I thought most of the sword work in the SW movies is based on kendo/kenjutsu. Yoda did computer-generated-fu style swordwork :D

[respectmankind]

yes, and might i add it is one of the most effecient styles.

[Chinwoo-er]

The original three was designed from medieval swordplay.

Lucas introduced alot of Shaolin into Darth Maul and some into the two jedis in episode 1.

No idea where the stuff from Episode 2 came from.

[Ky-Fi]

At the risk of geekifying myself completely, on the Phantom Menace DVD documentary the stunt coordinator said that he wanted the Jedi style to cover a wide spectrum, from kendo to epee---and as mentioned Ray Park was a CMA guy, so I imagine there's a bit of just about everything in there. I think the same guy did the choreography for Ep II.

[The Willow Sword]

the sword play in the first three that came out was western fencing with a kendo influence. the ones that are out now utilized alot of wushu moves for the screen. given that the scenes were excellent ,i thought that the the older episodes were more "realistic". i posted in the media culture forum that i thought that these new movies fight scenes greatly downgraded the old ones and that ,to me , is a dissapointment. i like the eye candy but when i look at it from a realistic point of view there is just alot of unecessary twirling and whirling of the light sabre.

Many Respects, The Willow Sword

[Dark Knight]

Some of the stances and guard positions were Kendo. Of course it was a movie so its not exactly kendo so it would have more action.

In the origional series They had someone work with them on Kendo for the fights.

But Kendo and kenjitsu id nor exactly like that, there were many openings... but its a movie.

Darth Maul competed in Wushu (the actor)

As far as what style is the best sword style, the japanese changed the sword slightly after they ran into europeans and their lighter faster rapiers that they carried on ships. that doesnt mean the rapier was better, just different. Swords have chnged through the centuries for a reason. As battlefields changed swords and style adapt and change.

And when you look at styles, it depends on how you are fighting and against what. Armored individuals, battlefields, agianst mounted troops.......

Its a great style and very effective.

[Brad]

the ones that are out now utilized alot of wushu moves for the screen. given that the scenes were excellent ,i thought that the the older episodes were more "realistic". i posted in the media culture forum that i thought that these new movies fight scenes greatly downgraded the old ones and that ,to me , is a dissapointment.
Other than the wushu inspired cgi Yoda scene, there was no wushu in episode 2. Personally, I loved the finnal ep. 1 scene with darth maul except the way they offed him. In an interview the coreographer also said he drew inspiration from tennis, lol.

[fa_jing]

I noticed that in Episode 4, Obi Wan used some pretty far-fetched moves like spinning around to do a back slash. As if you had to build up momentum to swing a light saber - LOL.

I enjoyed Episode II, BTW.

-FJ

[greendragon]

Having some background in CMA sword and kendo, i agree with the general concensus that Yoda primarily used Kendo