Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 Filmmakers Were Told To Avoid Using Lightsabers
Close your eyes and meditate on the Force for a moment. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about "Star Wars"? For me, it's the opening shot of "A New Hope" when the Tantive IV is being stalked by Darth Vader's Star Destroyer, the Devastator. The next image is, without a doubt, Ben Solo igniting Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber to give to Luke in his hut on Tatooine. By leaps and bounds, the lightsaber has become the most recognizable piece of "Star Wars" lore.
Used sparingly throughout the original trilogy, the Jedi's weapon was only unsheathed in a handful of key moments, allowing for maximum impact when Luke, Obi-Wan or Vader ignited their blade. As the Skywalker saga continued into the prequels, the lightsaber was used one too many times and the magic of seeing it on screen was severely diminished. By choosing to not focus on the Jedi quite as much, "The Mandalorian" solved this problem initially, then re-introduced the fabled Darksaber into live action and Ahsoka's dual white-bladed laser swords. To date, "Andor" is the only live-action series to not feature or even mention lightsabers at all.
With the second season of "Star Wars: Visions," animation studios from all over the globe were given the chance to run wild with non-canon short stories and most were given free rein to use all of the iconography available in the galaxy. Yes, even lightsabers. The Spanish animation studio El Guiri, for example, kicks off the new season with "Sith"— an episode jam-packed with kinetic clashes between a nefarious group of Force wielders and a former Dark Side user.
The legendary stop-motion British studio Aardman ("Wallace & Gromit," "Chicken Run"), however, was tasked with crafting a story that had to avoid using lightsabers entirely.
I Am Your Mother
With so many episodes of "Visions" focusing on lightsabers, Aardman and director Magdalena Osinska had the unenviable task of creating a story that omits the most iconic weapon in the galaxy. That hindrance wound up helping their creative process more than hindering it, according to Osinkska in an exclusive interview with Dexterto:
"We were able to use everything. Whatever we asked for, Lucasfilm seemed to be okay with it. But someone at some point said that we shouldn't be using lightsabers and, at the end of the day, that was actually quite interesting for the story, because it's the thing you go straight into when you're thinking about Star Wars."
Titled "I Am Your Mother," the Aardman short flips the patriarchal crutch of the Skywalkers on its head by focusing on a Twi'lek tweener named Anni and her overbearing mum, Kalina, as they compete in a family race day competition. From the Kessel Run to podracing, the need for speed has always been a major component of the world George Lucas created, and "I Am Your Mother" feels like a continuation of that tradition told in a fresh, unique way.
Admittedly, seeing the legends over at UK's Aardman studio create a stop-motion lightsaber would have been pretty exciting, but "I Am Your Mother" still manages to throw in a lot of subtle nods to "The Phantom Menace," "The Last Jedi" (porgs!), and "A New Hope," especially with the addition of a fan favorite character from the original trilogy. Since Aardman and Osinska were asked not to use lightsabers, they went to the next best thing: Wedge Antilles.
No lightsabers? No problem
While the central focus in "I Am Your Mother" is the mother-daughter relationship between Anni and Kalina, bringing in Wedge helps ground the self-contained story in the larger, post "Return of the Jedi" timeline. Seeing a stop-motion version of Wedge is also such a loving wink to VFX pioneer Phil Tippett, who undoubtedly inspired many of the artists working over at Aardman Animations.
Osinska was quick to point out how crucial it was to sprinkle in a ton of background jokes and subtle shout-outs that hardcore fans could call out. She explained:
"Because we couldn't have lightsabers, we tried to find as many different Star Wars references so it still feels like Star Wars. It was a constant balancing act between Aardman, this quite intimate mother-daughter relationship story, and Star Wars, so we tried to pack it with nods to the franchise ... I wanted the fans to find something in each shot."
Aside from the little details featured in the short, having Wedge Antilles front and center is really all Osinska and the team needed to make "I Am Your Mother" fit into the larger universe. With original actor Denis Lawson returning to voice the former Rebel pilot, Wedge probably has more lines in "Visions" than he did in all of the original trilogy and his cameo in "The Rise of Skywalker" combined. As an added bit of connective tissue, Wedge supposedly became a flight instructor after "Return of the Jedi," so the fact that he's the announcer during Anni's race day at her local Flight Academy makes a lot of sense. "Visions" isn't officially canon, but these little details dovetail beautifully with the stories we already know. Maybe lightsabers really aren't that necessary, after all.
Season 2 of "Star Wars: Visions" is currently streaming on Disney+.