Fan Update of Star Wars Darth Vader vs Obi-Wan Lightsaber Duel Goes Viral

We recently reported on the Star Wars fan that has given the classic lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Dath Vader in A New Hope a modern edge; now that video has officially gone viral, racking up over 1 million views in just under a week. Watch it above!

Created by YouTuber “FXitinPost,” the video is meant to re-imagine the original Vader/Obi-Wan duel in the context of the modern of the modern saga, which has added a much more kinetic and fast-paced style to lightsaber action, ever since Darth Maul added a martial arts edge to the first Prequel film.

It’s definitely a cool-looking sequence – though “Star Wars OT purists” are sure to take issue with it. Admittedly, the Original Trilogy duels are distinguished by the way they take a slower pace to action, weighting each duel with crucial moments of dialogue and/or character development. That approach made the duels more than just action spectacle: the sabers were only drawn for legitimate milestone moments, that had heavy relevance to the storyline and themes.

What we see above is definitely more in the tradition of the action-spectacle element the Prequels added – but that doesn’t mean it looks any less cool for the :40 seconds of runtime we get here.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now in theaters. Solo: A Star Wars Story arrives on May 25, 2018; Star Wars: Episode IX follows on December 20, 2019.