Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace - May the Sabre Fall with You...
ILM must have been very excited about creating the shot of Maul dropping into that shaft and splitting in two because they forgot to send his sabre on the plunge with his halves..even though it obviously begins the journey with him... look ma... no sabre...
I thought this too as when i watched it it looked like his sabre was gone. I think though, if you look carefully, you see the red blade deactivate into the hilt very quickly as he topples back. The question then should be what happend to the lightsabre handle (his hand looks empty when he falls), unless that was your original point! :)
If you watch the shot from the ceiling where darth maul starts to fall back, his lightsaber turns off, meaning that he's not holding it anymore (duh, the blade sucks in!!). Therefore, the lightsaber fell in before him, and taking into account how deep the melting pit is, and how much potential energy his saber would have gathered, it makes total sense that you wouldn't see it. Maybe his torso or legs coveed it up, as it isn't that big. It's cut in HALF!!!
Darth Maul DOES NOT fall with his lightsaber. However, if you won the Episode I: Insider's Guide CD-ROM, the Scene by Scene section shows a picture of the shot, and it's in his left hand!!!! I want to know why it's not there in the movie!
OK.. Darth Mauls lightsaber "switches off" as he is killed because a lightsaber is powered by a Jedi's Force ability. When he is killed, his Force energy ceases to be and hence the lightsabre functions no more. This can be seen in Episode 4: A New Hope when Darth Vader is fighting Obi Wan and he says "your powers are weak, old man".. Obi Wans lightsaber is not as "big" as Vaders, showing that his Force ability is weakened.
As for Darth Mauls lightsaber dissapearing when he falls down the shaft, he has it in his right hand as he falls and it flips away, bouncing down the shaft in front of him.
Satchman, if that's true, why does Yoda have the shortest lightsaber of all?
I think Vader just made his own extra-long to show off...it seems like something he'd do, eh?
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