It’s one of the most iconic sounds that’s ever been produced for a movie, and it sounds as though it came from the humming of an old projector, the signal that was picked up when a microphone was brought in proximity to an old TV, and everything kind of went from there. Trying to think what it was like decades ago to come up with new sounds for certain movies and the scenes that would one day become legendary is tough since the fact is that filmmakers didn’t have access to the same archive of sounds that they have now, and a lightsaber was unheard of until Star Wars, at least in its current form. After the initial sound was made it’s easy to think that it was stored and toyed with for each additional movie since Star Wars has featured a Jedi or a Sith in just about every movie for at least a brief to extended period of time. As time went on the sound became a little more refined and eventually became something that even the people who weren’t Star Wars fans could recognize.
Today, that snap-hiss of a lightsaber being turned on, and the telltale hum that accompanies the presence of the colored blade, is enough to get a lot of people excited since there are only a handful of handheld weapons in pop culture are that are more ferocious and more destructive than a lightsaber. Trying to think of any other sound that a saber might make at this point is a little difficult without making it sound silly, especially considering that more than one generation has grown up with this and various other sounds that have helped define our childhoods. Another very well-known sound comes from Transformers, the initial sound of a robot changing to its upright form from a vehicle and back. Those kinds of sounds have been celebrated by many people over the years, and have become so distinctive that just hearing them manages to get people excited.
The lightsaber is one of many weapons people would love to see be real, but upon realizing just how dangerous that would be, many are glad it’s not since it operates in a way that really only makes sense for the movies. Plenty of people have attempted to recreate a lightsaber in the real world, and the fact is that the science of Star Wars is something that’s far more fiction than actual science since the power source for a saber needs to be much bigger in the real world. On top of that, anything that even grazes the blade is obliterated, since the lightsaber is all edge, as it’s a plasma blade that’s burning so hot that every part of the blade will burn, sever, or melt anything it touches. There have been added sound effects given to the lightsaber, or rather, to what happens to anything that touches it, since the sizzle of flesh being burnt and metal being sliced through have become very distinctive over the years. This was easy to expect when George Lucas came out with the prequel trilogy since most people were smart enough to realize that new things were coming and knew that they were going to change the story once again.
The changes that have come to Star Wars over the years have been great in number, and the lightsaber has changed over time as well since from the distinctive hilts to the colors of the blades and what they mean, the sabers have become an integral part of Star Wars, and even if it’s not canon, there has been one lightsaber that has been created using something other than the Khyber crystals that are so prized for lightsabers. It was created by Anakin Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa in the EU, and it was created with a biological crystal that had been grown by the Yuuzhan Vong, an enemy that would be beneficial to bring into the current canon if only Disney would decide to pull the trigger and make it happen. It’s kind of fun to think what kind of hum THAT lightsaber might have made, given that it was using a biological source that was technically alive in the same way plants are alive, even if it had the durability of a Khyber crystal.
But as the story has changed, and the lightsabers have changed, so have the attitudes toward such things. People still love lightsabers because they’re a cool weapon and in the right hands are very impressive to watch. They’re not bound to go out of style anytime soon, but the thing about such weapons is that the buzz about them rises and then falls when it’s shown that they can’t really exist in our world, for practical and safety reasons mostly.attempted to recreate
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