It's Just That Stupid

Quick! What was your first reaction to the new lightsaber design from the Episode VII trailer?



If it was "that's stupid," you're on the same wavelength as at least half the people I've shown the trailer.*

Unless the crosspiece is supposed to be some kind of "training saber," that is, a lightsaber blade that doesn't actually cut, I can't imagine it being too safe to handle; for that matter, I can't imagine it being very effective for blocking, either, when somebody can potentially cut the emitters. Did the people who designed it know what crosspieces are for?**

I'm nowhere near as positive about this movie as I was when I'd heard the Toy Story III writer was supposed to be doing the script, because it's got a lot in common with "NuTrek" and every time I hear something new about that I think it sounds even more awful...



...but at least a writer who worked on the original trilogy worked on it too, so...

Also I like the new stormtrooper helmets.

*I showed it to my sister and it was nearly her first reaction to the whole trailer. My mother was more excited and positive about the movie as a whole,*** but the lightsaber was her primary nitpick. It didn't really stick in my craw quite so much, but it's definitely my least favorite alternate lightsaber design.

**They're for blocking sword blades and occasionally helping one's grip.

***A big part of the reason why I'm such a huge nerd is because my mother's always been a big nerd herself; particularly, she's a big fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars. There was a conversation my sister and I had with her at some point where she realized that we'd seen very few episodes of Star Trek and none of the movies besides a chunk of The Wrath of Khan (which had aired as a Saturday afternoon matinee at some point), and her reaction was to take a summer to rent all the movies that had already come out, up to First Contact, which wasn't even part of her Star Trek (that being the original series), because she felt our education had been lacking. She's a wonderful human being.

-Signing off.