The Myth strikes back. 9/5/15

bonus myth: blocking with a lightsaber.

Okay, dodging blaster bolts - every time Adam said "laser blaster" I had to grit my teeth. what is canon in the Star Wars universe is that they are called Blasters, and the blaster beam is an energy burst, NOT a laser - though it uses a laser as a waveguide for the energy burst. the closest comparison to something common in our universe would be a plasma burst. and that said, it comes down more to dodging the shooter than the blaster bolt at that range. also, I would really like them to have phrased it in therms of feet per second, as that is the standard measure of projectile velocity - then those of us who have done other projectile based sports would have a frame of reference. (130 MPH = about 190 FPS) for comparison a "Splatmaster" - the original paintball pistol - fires at 260 FPS.

lightsaber high ground. I can't fault their using equally matched swordsmen for the tests. However, that is the only example in the star wars universe where there is any hint that terrain is a factor. It seemed to me like they had to dig pretty hard to find ANYTHING they could do as a lightsaber myth. In regards to the phrase itself, perhaps Obi Wan was speaking metaphorically as well as tactically; simply referring to the fact that he had both a moral AND tactical advantage - remembering that Obi Wan was on land, while Anakin was on a malfuntioning hovering platform, and Anakin had to make a jump to get to ground, which left him unable to control his position while approaching Obi Wan; and at the same time, Anakin had just assaulted his wife, and murdered the order that trained him.

deflecting blaster bolts with a lightsaber: it looked to me a lot more like there were some cases where they accidentally shot the guy in the lightsaber, but as a proof of concept, one must remember that Jedi used the force to anticipate where to block.

from the context of the movie, I do not believe the intent was to portray Obi Wan as goading Anakin into a mistake. up until the actual moment when he picked up the lightsaber and left Anakin for dead, his actions were consistent with believing Anakin might still listen to reason.

I also would have expected the myth to be about marksmanship.

Swords and High ground...
If its a heavy sword and you have to lift it, having a height advantage is less tiring.
But...
You would need to be using the two-handed heavy battle swords to make that all that true.

Having a height advantage makes a lot of difference when moving, you have easier access to other advantageous points, climbing over stuff whilst fighting is tiring.

Dodge a blaster bolt....
Well.... just a question, even if its "plasma", whats the speed of one of them, because I kind of thought it would be "Light"....

If you can pre-judge the shooters intention, and get a move on before they pulls a trigger, possible....
But once that "bolt" is on the way, presuming the plasma is an UPGRADE to lead weapons, I would have though the speed of the bolt is faster than a Lead bullet, just easier to see... same as like trying to watch tracer, yes you can see it better, but it doesnt slow it down does it?..


Jamie has dodged a Paint-ball round in the past, but wasnt part of that him being able to judge Adams intentions?...{Or was that the other way around?..}

The height advantage for melee weapons on a field of battle is about an opponent getting tired out trying to get to you, and/or the advantage of being able to charge downhill at him. You do gain an advantage if you are using a longer weapon such as a pike, since it is considerably harder for an opponent to rush past the tip of your weapon to get inside your defense.

I'd suspect that Obi-Wan's comment to Anakin in the film was more to do with knowing that Anakin had to jump onto solid land, and Obi's position meant he could not do that without leaving himself open to attack.

I personally felt that despite JarJar being annoying - and remember there was an annoying character in episodes IV-VI as well - the storytelling was relatively well put together. Obi Wan could well have been speaking metaphorically.

Even though I was dreading this, beacause I'm not at all into Star Wars, I have to admit I had fun watching it. Part of it was certainly seeing the build process, as blazerrose points out. That's been a high point for me all season. But also, there was just a lot of good humor in this episode

Adam's lightsaber rig was beautifully made and with a little refinement, I could actually see that having commercial success along the same lines as something like laser tag. It just looks like fun!

I can't speak on all the nerdy Star Wars canon stuff, but from where I'm sitting, not knowing much about any of the characters or how "the Force" works, both myths were well and truly busted.

I will agree with TLW that they could have measured the speed in FPS instead of MPH in the blaster myth, since that's a reference most people who have worked with anything like paintball or airsoft guns will get, but it's really a minor thing. It didn't have any effects on the final results.

As for Ironhold's contention that maybe a fitter, younger person would have done better, I was thinking the same thing, right up until their sword fighting expert tried deflecting "blasts" with his sword and got hit as well. I don't think it would have made that much of a difference, so I'm ultimately pretty satisfied with the methodology and results.

Exactly. Fencing blades can be dangerous. What Adam made wasn't. That's why it would make a good "plaything". And his rig being less expensive doesn't hurt either. Just makes it that much easier to mass produce and actually create a profit from, since buying 15 minutes worth of sword fighting fun wouldn't cost people an arm and a leg - pun VERY much intended

You can buy wireless detectors already.

Note; The cost I gave was an estimate for the entire set up, including outfit, swords and the electronics.

I suspect that the cost of such a 'play' system would be in the $500 range, since you'd have to modify the design and build to be as durable as possible. The rig they built here was only intended to be used once, and they were not trying to belt each other as hard as possible.

Trivia; The basic 'lightsaber' Adam built, a metal hand grip with a plastic/carbon-fiber 'blade', is actually a duplicate of the original design of the sabres for the prequel films. However they quickly discovered that the blades kept snapping or shattering during the fight. So they ended up using aluminum 'blades'. These were bent very quickly during the fights, but could be replaced quickly and easily and there was no risk of them snapping and leaving a sharp jagged edge that could seriously injure any of the actors.