TheForce.Net - Episode III - Just The Facts

Just The Facts: Story & Characters

Maintained By -Commander_Thigh-

Last Updated: February 6th, 2005

Please note, the info in this section contains spoilers.

Aayla Secura
Anakin Skywalker
Bail Organa
C-3PO
Chewbacca
Clonetroopers
Count Dooku
Creatures
Droids
EU Character
General Grievous
Jar Jar Binks
Ki-Adi-Mundi
Luke & Leia
Mace Windu
Mon Mothma
Nute Gunray & Neimodians
Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi
Owen & Beru Lars

Padmé Skywalker
Palpatine
R2-D2
Tion Meddon
Wookiees
Yoda
Other Character Info

The Duel
Fights & Battles

Timeline
Color & Theme
Plot Points
Ships & Vehicles
Scenes
Sets & Locations

Overall

(Blue text indicates an update)

The Duel

The classic saber of Ep4 Ben Kenobi will be among the sabers in use. - OS
The major focus is the breakdown in friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. - SW Insider
It won't be the special effects that make the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel so thrilling, it will be the betrayal. - RM
The lightsabers used by Obi-Wan and Anakin are ones we have seen before. - PH
The Anakin/Kenobi duel is a lengthy one and will span many sets and travel a lot of distance. - OS
One of the several settings for the duel with have red-gelled lights providing a glow to the set. - OS
The duel will be a fierce confrontation and will keep up the pace for a while. Some of the fighting will take place on an incline...and "Anakin is weak on a slope", as Nick Gillard pointed out in his webchat and meant it literally. - OS
Anakin and Obi-Wan's costumes will have discolorizations, cuts and burns from fighting and from their environment. - OS
Who is the aggressor and who is the defender will alternate during the duel. - OS
In one setting for the duel, Obi-Wan and Anakin will move over a large area but will careful of their footing. There will be "obstacles". - OS
At one point in the duel, Anakin and Obi-Wan will look off-screen at a distraction. Their eyes will be looking at different spots of this distraction itself. - OS
The duel will have a segment in a darkened room with a metallic surface with mechanical structures. And later the duel will move to isolated platforms. Anakin will circle his former master (Obi-Wan). - OS
During one point in the duel, either Anakin or Obi-Wan will swipe his lightsaber blade against an outcropping and sever it. - OS
The duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan is not a gentleman's duel. It will get nasty. - PH
During the duel there will be a segment when Anakin and Obi-Wan dangle from cables, swinging to and fro. The wires being used are supposed to be visible The Jedi will be wearing the "weathered and beaten" robes. - OS
At one point during the duel, debris will fall and one the characters will deflect it (likely with a lightsaber). - OS
Some of the words spoken during the duel "will cut as deeply as lightsabers". - OS
"The Epic duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan will be the longest lightsaber duel ever." - NG
"The duel involves some of the fastest dueling I have ever seen. It almost appears artificially sped-up. It's just that fast." - PH
There are parts of the duel when Anakin and Obi-Wan move even faster than the Maul/Obi-Wan duel in Ep1. - PH
Red-gel lighting provides atmosphere for the duel scenes. There are also flashes from strobe lights going off to signify an alert to some kind of hazard. - OS
Anakin and Obi-Wan will push their weapons into counter-tops and control panels and the FX Dept ignited squibs that burst to fill the frame and cover the actors with bright sparks and debris. - OS
The fight involves leaps and throws at an accelerated rate. - OS
Obi-Wan and Anakin have a moment where they collide with a control panel and land hard against a rough surface. The control panels and display screens have many unyielding protrusions. - OS
One huge wall has a very thick blast door rigged which is opened by chains. One character will open it using muscle power. - OS
Knowing what happens in Ep3 makes Paul see the classic trilogy in a new light. He specifically mentioned how he has a new understanding of the depth of friendship between Anakin and Obi-Wan. He now gets a lump in his throat when Vader strikes down Kenobi in Ep4. -PE
"The final fight sequence in this film should surpass any fight sequence that has been put on film so far. It's the longest, I can't give you specifics, but it is quite the bad-assed fight scene. Nick Gillard has done an amazing job instilling an arc of story in the fight. It justifies, because you know Anakin and Obi-Wan have it out, but Anakin is the chosen one-he is supposed to be the best. But he comes out on the shorter end of the stick in the fight. It justifies it really nicely as the fight progresses." - HC
The Anakin/Obi-Wan duel is very fast, similar to the speed of the Obi-Wan/Darth Maul duel. -NG
"The climactic fight scene is, at 12 minutes, the longest fight scene in cinema history." -NG
The Anakin/Obi-Wan fight will be the longest SW fight ever. It is currently edited at 10-12 minutes. -NG
"I saw a pretty amazing fight scene between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. It's pretty sick. They did it all themselves. They were thinking of having stuntmen do it, but they were better than the stuntmen. It's pretty awesome." -NP
Obi-Wan of course defeats Anakin in Ep3, but winning one fight does not necessarily make one the best at it. - NG
As it stands now, the final duel will not be intercut with other action sequences, though that is subject to change. - NG
"Geographically, the duel covers the most distance of any other swordfight on film. And depending on the way they cut it, it should be the longest swordfight, timewise, that's ever been on film." - HC
As scripted, the final duel exhausts almost the entirety of the Jedi bag of tricks. - PH
There will be some dialogue during the duel. It is far more chattier than the Ep5 duel. - PH
"The duel is a monster of a sequence. I had a couple of years to think about it and think about what George had told me about it, and it was daunting because I knew how important that sequence is. I spent probably a year deconstructing the Jedi style of fighting to make it work. I had Hayden with me eight weeks before we started shooting it and I had Ewan six weeks, which wasn't really enough time, so we often had to rehearse at weekends during the filming. If it comes out like I saw it being shot, it's going to be phenomenal." - NG
"The duel will explain how Obi-Wan is able to defeat his protege, even though Anakin has been established as the most powerful Jedi who ever lived. Obi-Wan taught Anakin and Anakin has gone past him. But when you get to that duel, it's emotional. That's where the mistake will be made. And if you know the characters, you know Obi-Wan isn't going to get emotional and he doesn't make mistakes." - NG
Anakin's grisly demise at the end of the duel is set to be one of the most chilling moments in the entire saga. - NG
The duel will occur on a brand new planet. But it's long been the stuff of legend, so obviously those who have been following the saga from its earliest days have some idea of what it will be like. - PH
During additional photography, some shots are gathered during the Anakin vs. Obi-Wan duel of lightsabers clattering to the floor. - OS
Anakin uses his mechanical arm to cling onto a thick cable while holding his lightsaber in his left hand. - OS
All of the Anakin vs. Obi-Wan duel sequences have been turned over to ILM. - PH
There is no Force-surfing during the duel, though the platforms Obi-Wan and Anakin are riding on do serve a purpose. - PH
"Hayden and I go at each other for a such bloody long time but of course I win." - EM
The Obi-Wan/Anakin duel is rarely on flat ground. - NG

On the fiery young world of Mustafar, a heat-blasted industrial facility serves as the backdrop for an epic duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The grueling battle progresses throughout the structure, from expansive platforms to claustrophobic corridors destined to be scarred and pitted by the whirling blades of light. - OS

By the time Obi-Wan returns to Coruscant, the Republic has fallen, and his worst fear is realized ? his former Padawan Anakin Skywalker has turned to the dark side and become Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith. Now, Obi-Wan must confront ? and destroy ? his former apprentice. On the volcanic lava planet of Mustafar, old friends turned fierce enemies face off in the ultimate lightsaber battle that will forever change the destiny of a galaxy? - MR

Acronym Key:

GL = George Lucas (Director)
OS = Official Site (starwars.com)
RM = Rick McCallum (Producer)
CF = Colin Fletcher (First Assistant Director)
NP = Natalie Portman (Actress)
HC = Hayden Christensen
RB = Roger Barton (Film Editor)
IM = Ian McDiarmid (Actor)
GT = Genndy Tartakovsky (Clone Wars Animated Series Creator)
C2 = Celebration II
BB = Ben Burtt (Sound Editor)
JEJ = James Earl Jones (Voice Actor)
JK = John Knoll (Visual Effects/ILM)
PE = Paul Ens (Official Site)
GB = Gavin Bocquet (Production Designer)
JE = Joel Edgerton (Actor)
PM = Peter Mayhew (Actor)
RC = Rob Coleman (Visual Effects/ILM Supervisor)
AA = Amy Allen (Actress)
BS = Bruce Spence (Actor)
BL = Bai Ling (Actress)
CSC = Caroline de Souza Correa (Actress)
NG = Nikki Gooley (Makeup Supervisor)
JB = Jon Berg (Modelmaker)
EL = Euisung Lee (Animatics Artist)
LP = Lorne Peterson (Modelmaker)
DW = David Weitzberg (Visual Effects Artist)
MR = Master Replicas (Prop Replica Company)
DE = Dave Elsey (Creature Shop Creative Supervisor)
AD = Anthony Daniels (Actor)
MW = Matthew Wood (Supervising Sound Editor/Voice Actor)
TB = Trisha Biggar (Costume Designer)
SLJ = Samuel L. Jackson (Actor)
PH = Pablo Hidalgo (Official Site, Webcam)
RC = Ryan Church (Concept Artist)
DG = Dan Gregoire (Pre-Visualization Effects Supervisor)
DB = Don Bies (Droid Unit Supervisor)
NG = Nick Gillard (Stunt Coordinator/Swordmaster)
THC = Topps Heritage Card
AFCB = Action Figure Card Back
MK = Michael Kingma (Actor)
CL = Christopher Lee (Actor)
JL = James Luceno (Writer)
BG = Brian Gernand (Model Supervisor)