Disney Parks on Tuesday revealed a "brand-new, more realistic lightsaber" that's set to debut at Walt Disney World Resort next year. The tease, appropriately, dropped on May 4th, which fans celebrate each year as Star Wars Day.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"This new lightsaber creates dramatic in-person moments previously only seen in films or shows," Disney said.
While Disney didn't delve into how the lightsaber was made, The Verge wrote that it appears to work like a "motorized tape measure, retracting and extending a sheet of plastic and LED lights to mimic the ignition effect." Sadly, though, the lightsaber isn't "real" in the sense that it can legitimately slice through Sith flesh and chop Supreme Leader Snoke in half, but don't put it past Disney's Imagineers to make one of those some day. Never tell them the odds. Brendan Morrow
-
What are 'freakosystems' and how are they affecting the planet?The explainer Ecosystems are changing permanently
-
'The question is what it does for the ecosystem'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
August 26 editorial cartoonsCartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include a simple guide to gerrymandering, a MAGA-approved Cracker Barrel logo, and an FBI raid at John Bolton's house
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
