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Lightsaber effects: preferences and differences? (including fan restorations)

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 (Edited)

I was going down the rabbit hole of looking up changes, comparing stuff etc. I notice the lightsaber effects are different in many releases, like covered in the Visual Changes topic on here. Noticing it even more so comparing a few releases.

For example, Return of the Jedi, take the bit around 33:07 where Luke has his saber out and is swashbuckling a bit. In Despecialized 2.5 the lightsaber looks huge and chunky in this shot, bigger than ever. In 4k83 1.3, right from the film itself, it looks very very slim and sleek, with a darker green core instead of lighter white.

One question is, would this be considered an error in Despecialized, or did it look like this on home video? Did he base the huge untamed lightsaber there off of the GOUT/laserdisc, I don’t have those handy to compare. In general are the lightsabers considered to look different from theater to home video prior to the 97 Special editions? I haven’t noticed that in the changes topic.

https://imgur.com/iA84iIw
(4k83 1.3)

https://imgur.com/jwvvOGM
(Despecialized 2.5)

https://imgur.com/Yzb5wjR
{edit: here’s a cap from a GOUT dvd rip too. Does look different from above.)

https://imgur.com/olikVL1
(Destiny Edition 1.0)

I’ll say at the moment with the recent 4K official UHD blu-rays, like used in stuff like the Destiny Edition of ROTJ, the lightsabers are looking pretty good. I tend to stick with the original theatrical look, but these look quite nicely done. Still a bit wild and loose, with the white cores etc, and a bit sleek and smooth looking.

I gather in the middle somewhere, the 97 or 2004 versions, the lightsabers looked less good, with dark cores and too thin etc.

So a few random thoughts there. In Despecialized 3.0 I’m guessing Harmy will go with footage from 4k83 for example, and lightsabers will look completely different there than in the previous despecialized editions. Since I saw him say something about using film and not GOUT for this one. Though he could always edit the looks of lightsaber shots to his preference.

So those are a few directions to discuss, but in general anyway: what do you think of the various looks that lightsabers have? Both in official releases and fan releases?

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It looks like an issue with the Blu Ray, which Despecialized uses as a source.

Reading R + L ≠ J theories