These days it would seem impossible to imagine the ‘Star Wars’ universe without the lightsaber. However back in 1977 it was an untested weapon to moviegoers the world round. Not only that, but it was an untested special effect that had to be lovingly crafted without the exact use of CGI that makes this effect simple these days. This featurette is a perfect behind-the-scenes view of how the lightsaber was made from beginning to the shimmering embodiment of a force weapon that we see on screen.

Not only that, but the featurette, which was originally released with the 2004 trilogy release on DVD, features a few recognizable faces who helped bring this from concept to galaxy respected weapon. From on-set footage from both ‘A New Hope’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ to interviews with George Lucas, Ben Burrt, and Mark Hamill we get a wide range of information on the creation of this iconic weapon, including Burtt who weighs in on how he created the initial sounds for the concept of the weapon.

Burtt shares his tactics for creating the sound Lucas shares his influences for the creation of the lightsabers – pirates! That’s right pirates and swashbucklers showed off the art of fighting with a sword in Lucas’ youth and he wanted to bring that into his film. Everyone will agree that he successfully did just that. Lucas also spoke of how Luke and other Jedi fought through the films and I will completely give him credit that the later trilogy actually showed the fighting better. I loathe and hate to admit that anything from that trilogy could be better than the original, but visually and combined with his explanation, it makes perfect sense that the Jedi in the past were trained in the fighting style while Luke’s training wasn’t nearly as intense.

What do you think of the making of featurette? Share your thoughts below!