George Lucas Explains The Birth Of Lightsabres

The lightsabre is perhaps the best ever sci-fi weapon — but how did it come to appear in the Star Wars movies? In this short documentary, George Lucas, actor Mark Hamill and sound designer Ben Burtt discuss how the lightsabre was born.

Originally created for a 2004 boxset, this 15-minute documentary has now been made freely available online for the first time. It’s packed with gems — from George Lucas recalling that Star Wars fights were influenced by swashbuckling films of the ’40s, through Hamill admitting that set designs were created to provide cues for the actors to make the fights as realistic as possible, to Burtt revealing that the sound of the saber comes from an old film projector idling. Watch it; you won’t be disappointed. [YouTube via The Verge]