From: keith@cco.caltech.edu (Keith Allan Schneider)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.starwars
Subject: Re: Luke's lightsaber
Date: 16 Nov 1992 04:09:33 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: galaxy far, far away
NNTP-Posting-Host: punisher.caltech.edu
Keywords: my name is prince and i am funky...


>Ok here we go.  Even if we don't consider the Zahn books, then we still
>have alot going for the lightsaber.  First off, I don't know of any
>other personal sized weapon that can make sushi of almost any opponent
>(poor Snaggletooth).

Well, the blasters seem to do a pretty good job (poor Greedo).

>As for throwing one to cut things down--what about

Sure, you can thrown one and cut something with it, but you couldn't duel with
it unless you were holding it.  If you could, why didn't Vader just stand back,
dueling with the Force...

>ROTJ.  Oh let me guess, all those lightsabers jumping back and forth in
>and out of people's hands, cutting down scaffolding, etc really proves
>that if someone knows what they're doing they can be real dangerous.

The Froce has limits too.  If I were holding on to a lightsaber, I don't think
that even a Jedi Master could wrench it from my hands (of course, he could
mentally manipulate me, but that's different).  A person using the Force
could easily move some static inanimate object, but I don't know how well
such a person could deal with various resistances and such that I would provide
if someone were trying to snatch something out of my hand.  Again, using the
Force requires a great deal of concentration.

>Look at when Vader tosses his saber, guides it through the air, and cuts
>down the platform that Luke is standing on.

That's right... he just threw it.  It doesn't look like the path of the saber
changed dramatically in the air.

>As for the Force being too
>powerful--I think not!!!  If one with enough power can haul a starship
>outta water, why can't someone with a moderate degree of power make a
>metal shaft fly through the air?

Oh he can make the shaft fly through the air.  I just don't think he could
rotate the shaft around or just general controll all its degrees of freedom.
The Force seems to just counteract gravity for a particular object.  Yoda
could (not so easily, however) cause the X-Wing to rise out of the bog and
then move over to dry land, but I don't think he could make it do a barrel
roll in the air.  These are just different types of interactions.  The
latter is much more complicated.  I don't think the Force would cut it here.

For example, if someone were running away, I doubt that a Jedi could levitate
him off the ground.  Sure R2-D2 and C-3PO were levitated, but they weren't
resisting or trying to move.  Besides, they aren't human as well.  It is 
pretty obvious that Jedis can't levitate themselves, so it should follow that
they probably can't levitate others very well either.

>As for intricate, when Luke was a 
>novice and just learning, he stood on one hand, balanced a muppet on
>his foot, made rocks move and pile on top on each other, levatated a
>droid, and picked up some supply crates (all at the same time I might 
>add)!!!

Perhaps you don't understand the meaning of "intricate".  This would involve
making fine and precise movements.  Sure, the Jedi can move stones around,
but I doubt he could dial a telephone with the Force.  This is the difference.
That is, the Force is a course power (much like gravity).

>Hell, I can only imagine what a master can do if this is what
>a novice does to train.  Look at ESB, Vader didn't even break a sweat
>when he was tossing all the junk at Luke.

Well, again, he was just moving chunks of stuff around.  This apparently is
not too difficult.

>And as I remember, Luke just
>reflected almost every single blast at him in ROTJ back to whence it
>came from.

Well, he never really reflected them right back at the sender.  I mean, they
were just deflected randomly.  Sure he deflected the beams, but there weren't
all that many people shooting at him.  Besides, he had people covering his
back.  Boba Fett would've toasted him if Han hadn't stepped in the way.  Luke
was too busy to notice him aiming at his back.  He couldn't've stopped bolts
coming from both directions at once.

>I don't know, I think that the Jedi, the Force, and the
>Lightsaber seem to make a damn good combo...

Well, for combat in close quarters, the lightsaber can't be beat (when wielded 
by someone with sufficient skill).  But it is not the particulary most
useful weapon at long ranges.  Sure, you could throw it like a boomarang
(assuming your range was good enough), but then you'd have nothing in your
hand to deflect all the bolts that came while the saber was in flight.
Again, Luke never gave up his blaster.  He even used it as his primary
weapon when he arrived at Bespin (check it out).  The only times he used
his lightsaber were for the duels with Vader, the Battle on the skiff on
Tantooine (close quarters), and on Endor (to deflect the speeder blast
and to cut off its front fin, or whatever).  Of course, you could say that
he doesn't use his blaster that much either...

keith