The dream of millions of Star Wars fans has come true! It had already been announced a few years ago that Disney was working on a prototype for a “real” lightsaber and, a few days ago, the materialized artifact was finally presented.
During the last edition of the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival, in which, in addition to films, other things are revealed, such as technology, there was a fairly detailed demonstration of various projects developed in the amusement parks operated by the castle company (via Deadline).
One of the most attention-grabbing was an animatronic based on the Judy Hops character from zootopiaBut the autonomy and precision of the rabbit police robot’s movements did not overshadow the truly shocking moment: when Disney Parks President Josh D’Amaro pressed the button on the prop handle and, in front of the eyes of the attendees, a beam of blue light was displayed. No visible support. No tricks. Light only.
“I have the coolest job in the world. I’m holding a real lightsaber.”
As the blue beam grew, Leslie Evans, head of Disney Imagineering, took the stage and spoke of the unprecedented achievement:
“This was a difficult project. It was not easy”.
Disney reveals their real lightsaber during a panel at #SXSW pic.twitter.com/q38ezFf2LN
— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) March 12, 2023
How does it work?
According to the patent, this is what happens:
“…the special effects device (or power sword, lightsaber, or similar) is specially configured to provide an extendable and retractable energy blade that appears to emanate from a hand hilt due to a lighting effect that appears to provide bright illumination grip based.
In some useful embodiments, the special effects device includes two long plastic cylinders cut longitudinally. These two pieces (or blade body members) are each wound perpendicular to their length (or center axis), creating compact cylinders of material of relatively small volume that can be supplied on a pair of coils or spools. The coils containing the blade body members, along with other blade-producing elements, are housed within the body of the lightsaber or special effects device hilt assembly.
At the moment, the actual lightsaber is not for sale, but it can be seen on Disney cruises. Would they buy it?
Jose Roberto Landaverde Movie buff and music lover. I am fascinated by writing, listening, reading and commenting on everything related to the seventh art. I’m a fan of Rocky and Back to the Future and obviously one day I’ll climb the “Philly Steps” and drive a DeLorean. Faithful believer that cinema is the best teleportation machine, and also that on the big screen we can all see ourselves represented. I constantly, like Scott Pilgrim, ask myself: “Does bread make you fat?”
