“It was good but not that good”: Star Wars Fans Give ‘The Acolyte’ Devotees a Reality Check for Comparing Episode 5 Fight to Duel of the Fates
Spoiler Alert!
Star Wars has always been about epic stories, amazing space battles, and of course, thrilling lightsaber duels. From the original trilogy to the prequels and beyond, fans have been treated to some seriously intense lightsaber action over the years.
Now, with The Acolyte, it’s set way back in the High Republic era. It is set 100 years before The Phantom Menace. It’s a space detective story where a Jedi Master who’s trying to investigate crimes, bumps into a Padawan and starts uncovering dark forces.
Is The Stranger’s Duel at The Acolyte Episode 5 Better Than Duel of the Fates?
The Acolyte has some pretty wild lightsaber fights. In fact, the showrunners and actors believed that the battles in this show might even give the most famous duels in Star Wars history a run for their money. But is that really true?
The Acolyte episode 5 has got this massive lightsaber fight that’s got the viewers talking. It all started at the end of episode 4 when the mysterious Sith Lord, referred to as The Stranger, showed up and started taking on a number of Jedi at once.
This was about a 20-minute-long battle that took up most of episode 5. It has one-on-one duels, group fights, and even some sneaky Sith tricks. The Stranger was wearing armor made of metal cortosis, which could actually shut off lightsabers for a few seconds.
The whole thing went down in the forest, which made for some interesting visuals. The battle even killed off some major characters during the fight. The battle was intense, and the actors, especially Manny Jacinto, brought their A-game.
Now, the cast and crew of the show, along with some viewers, compare this fight with the famous Duel of the Fates from The Phantom Menace, where Darth Maul fought against Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. However, not everyone agrees.
It was good but not that good.
— Ben’s Mostly Angry Tweets (@87StarsBen) June 26, 2024
Please god sake do not compare this to duel of the fates. Duel of the fates is one a whole nother planet compared to this. This episode of the acolyte was decent for sure, better than all the sequels and most of the recent stuff, but still no where near prequels
— Ben Silveria (@BenSilveria) June 26, 2024
The choreography is a step up from the past shows that SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO THIS SCALE OR HIGHER… but no. This fight is nowhere NEAR to being CLOSE to Duel of the Fates. Not even 12 parsecs close to Anakin vs Obi-Wan (Battle of the Heroes).
— Klein: Master of Fuurinkazan Guild (@CEOofKlein) June 26, 2024
I actually don’t think it was a bad fight but it’s not duel of fates man
— p- Kyle 🇮🇹 (@Ky_GuyOG) June 26, 2024
I liked the episode. I thought the choreography was REALLY great.
— Nikko (@NikkoCaruso) June 26, 2024
But there is no world, planet, universe, timeline, or reality where this fight even almost slightly touches Duel of the Fates. Esp when you consider the masterpiece of a score & thematic weight. #TheAcolyte https://t.co/urCYVj6TL5
The Acolyte fight is good and has some new tricks with its choreography, but some fans think it’s missing the emotional punch of Duel of the Fates. That old fight was a big deal for the whole Star Wars story, as it had major consequences. The Acolyte fight is great to watch, but it failed to create the same impact on the overall plot.
The Duel of the Fates had a captivating background score by John Williams, and its choreography also made it the best lightsaber duel of all time. It was a fight between 3 characters, unlike The Acolyte‘s duel, which made the new duel a bit chaotic as compared to Darth Maul’s duel. Moreover, Qui-Gon Jinn died at the end of Duel of the Fates, which created a deep and lasting impact on the series, unlike The Stranger’s duel in The Acolyte.
The Acolyte Team Tried to Top Star Wars History
The Acolyte actors actually envisioned beating Duel of the Fates. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Manny Jacinto, who plays Qimir in the show, spilled the beans about it. He said,
If you loved that sequence with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. I think you’re going to enjoy this show.
Following his remark, Charlie Barnett, who plays the role of Jedi Yord Fandar added that The Acolyte has more realistic fight sequences.
I will say too — not to shade’ but we have a lot more tangible physical moves than I saw in that fight. As badass as it is, there’s a lot more grounded work that goes into our stunt training and our stunt performances.
Barnett revealed that the creators used way less CGI and special effects than usual. Instead, they relied on their stunt team and the actors themselves to make the fights look real. They also decided to use fewer guns in the show, which is a bit unusual for Star Wars. But the idea was to have more up-close fighting. Dafne Keen, who portrays Jecki Lon, said this makes the fights look more like real battles instead of just people shooting at each other from far away.
In the interview, Keen revealed that the footage looked amazing and felt really gritty and real. But even though the creators of The Acolyte tried their best to top the previous action sequences of the franchise, it looks like a lot of fans aren’t quite convinced.
Though it was better than some of the recent Star Wars sequences, Duel of the Fates is still the king of lightsaber battles for Star Wars diehards.
The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney+.
