It’s Elemental, My Dear Vader
Ever since I was six years old when I first saw Star Wars on the big screen, I’ve wanted to have my own lightsaber. Watching Obi-Wan Kenobi battle Darth Vader, there was something magical about their duel with blades of light. I tried to re-enact that scene, as well as the battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.
I would use cardboard shaped like tubes to pretend I was a Jedi Knight. When Return of the Jedi came out in 1983, I got a wonderful Christmas present of a lightsaber. This was an improvement over cardboard: it was a plastic tube fit over a flashlight where you could insert colored gels to change the color of your lightsaber. My sisters and I had lots of fun playing with that.
The desire for a lightsaber faded to the background as I grew older. But it reignited this year with the opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland. I found out that within the town of the Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu, there is a place called Savi’s Workshop. At Savi’s, you don’t just buy a lightsaber, the workers there help you create your own personalized lightsaber. I had heard the experience was almost like a ceremony. Suddenly that desire from childhood was back: I had to create my own lightsaber!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm0HSeeUQjA
