Hmmm, interesting thread. I didn't download the workprint, but I watched the other videos, and read the whole thing. I like a lot of the ideas being thrown around here.
Regarding the lightsaber construction scene:
I think the reason it doesn't look convincing is because it's very obvious that someone took a 2D image of Luke's lightsaber, chopped it up, and made those pieces float around. If one wanted to pull this off for real, I think it would still be possible, as long as one was willing to film some new footage. One would just need a good, disassemble-able Luke lightsaber prop.
Making a lightsaber prop that looks good both inside and out is a bit of an art form, but there's plenty of people out there with a knack for it - and I bet if you told them what it was for, you would get some people interested in helping (for example, over on thecustomsabershop.com forums, or maybe on fx-sabers.com forums).
I don't know how deep you're planning to go with this edit (to the point of getting a prop made and filming footage of it floating/connecting), or even if you're still working on the edit, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there. Heck, I'd probably give it a go myself if I still had access to machine tools.
