So how would you feel if George Lucas died?

[Baron von Blitztank]

It'd be a sad day.

The man helped create some much beloved movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Howard the Duck. Sure his later attempts kind of ran those franchises into the ground but it was from his earlier works which created the love, which in-turn created the hate for the newer films.

 

[Fijiman]

I would be somewhat saddened by the news, but overall I wouldn't really care. It's not like I know him personally or something. It's the same with pretty much all celebrity deaths. I'm not friends with them nor have I met them in person so I don't really care when they die.

 

[Sutter Cane]

You know what's funny? Currently, I believe we agree to quite some extent, yet our views still manage to differ greatly. Ain't that great fun?

See, I agree with you that a proper director's cut really meant something until just a little while back. I agree with you that the Blade Runner 're-cuts' or the Apocalypse Now 'lost footage' edition are remarkable, interesting and good.

Have you seen Brazil by Terry Gilliam? There's a special, royally messed up re-edited version of it that snipped it into shape so the consumers would get a less depressive ending. Universal's Mr. Sheinberg is the one responsible for this, just thought it was all a bit too gloomy for general consumption, not marketable and generally 'entartete Kunst'. Shame on him for that.

I would assume Mr. Gilliam was a very angry, very unhappy person in the three years of fighting windmills and the studio (and more probably than not himself) to get his baby out in a manner that pleased him, as a director.

There are many different cuts of Blade Runner, most 'bad' ones I know were cut for violence and running time, making a bunch of 'censored cuts' and some that I would probably call 'studio cuts', as the proper reasons behind them are probably a mix between same-old, same-old and internal... policies. The proper "Director's Cut", which had to be named "Final Cut", due to all life and meaning having been sucked out of the term "Director's Cut" by 2007, is genuine, proper, full-on Ridley Scott, and it's very much a must-have, must-own, must-know masterpiece. I fully agree with you on that one.

As to Mr. Lucas - well, my opinion is as good as yours, really, but it's different with Mr. Lucas. He rewrote the entire back history of what's easily the biggest success story of his oeuvre, and he keeps messing with his movies not in any way comparable to Blade Runner, Brazil or Apocalypse Now. He's on his own planet. Just some posts above our little exchange here, someone posted Darth Vader's NOOOOOOO! #1, and, as we all know, there's a NOOOOO! #2. They are not part of the original flavour of Star Wars, and they add nothing good to the story. It's pure inane asshattery.

Of course I prefer my point of view to yours, and I don't much like personal attacks. Now, shall we continue?

ok then, putting aside the personal attacks (which I apologise for I just get kind of sensitive about that sort of stuff) let's get back to the discussion.

I'm pretty sure that the "final cut" was so named because it was actually the 2nd attempt at a director's cut, and was so called to distinguish it from the first director's cut. Anyway in regards to what lucas is doing, I certainly haven't liked all the decisions he's made with the special editions (although I will defend the added NO! in ROTJ in the context of star wars as a six movie saga rather than a trilogy and how those anguished cries add a nice bookends to the "birth" and "death" of Darth Vader as an enity with the 2nd death resulting in the rebirth of Anakin Skywalker), but I honestly don't think that from a broader philosophical perspective we really have the right to say that Lucas shouldn't have the right to tinker with his films to get them to a point where he's more happy with them, much like Ridley Soctt and Gilliam had to do, simply because we personally don't thunk they improve the film.

This view is also consistent with my more moderate opinion during the whole mass effect 3 debacle that kind of got lost in the shuffle of extremes, which was that angry fans (and indeed the me3 endings did suck at the time) were not entitled to bioware going back and giving them an ending they like, but if bioware felt it would improve the game there's absolutely nothing wrong with them going back and revising it (and thank god they did, the extended cut endings are much improved). I just don't particularly feel that the audience should be able to dictate to the artist what they need to do with their art.

 

[Baldry]

So yeah, I don't know how I'd feel but I'm just wondering how everyone else would feel if you woke up one day and he was dead?

Very sad.

Questionable movies aside, Lucas has dedicated a large portion of his life, his work and a truly other worldly amount of money to charity. He takes it so far as to ignore his own copyrights where charity work is concerned.

I think Star Wars fans would breath a sigh of relief, but the world would be a bit worse without him.

Yeah although I was more talking about the movie aspect, I knew he did charity to work and after writing my original post I read something about how he sold his house because the rich people there wouldn't let him build a megaplex(or something like that) which would supply 600ish jobs because it'd ruin the night sky, so he sold the house to a charity that is gonna basically build a bunch of cheap homes for poor people.

 

[malestrithe]

It probably would not register on me in the slightest. It probably would not affect his fans either. They will sill ***** about Han Firing First, accuse him of raeping childhoods, and whatever else they've been complaining about instead of having a life.

 

[Signa]

Having just recently rewatched the Red Letter Media reviews for shits and giggles, I think I might rejoice at that news. There is nothing left of the man I loved back in the late nineties.

Oh no, someone made some films that I didn't think were that great. CLEARLY THIS MAN DESERVES DEATH!

Yes, that is EXACTLY what I meant by that. Not at all that my attitude would be merely uncaring. No sir. Not at all.

the actual definition of rejoice is "to feel joy or great delight", meaning that if you're rejoicing at his death by definition you care. You don't feel joy or great delight at sht you don't care about, so until you retract that statement you're still saying that you would be oh so happy at the death of the man solely because he made some movies you didn't enjoy, which is pretty reprehensible.

Yes, I'm rejoicing right now at your continued response. No hyperbole at all! No sarcasm either!

Seriously dude, go take your opinion elsewhere, I didn't ask for it. I don't like George because he betrayed my trust and admiration for a chance to pinch my wallet. I will rejoice when I hear that I won't have to suffer through hearing about the next raping of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or any other piece of shit his caustic fingers got into. If his death is a consequence of that event, it won't phase me at all.

*Posts on a public forum
*gets mad when people call him out on their immature bullshit
*complains about people responding to their posts on a public forum because they "didn't ask for their opinion"

yeah this is why I hate so much of the star wars fanbase. they'll pull shit like wishing death on people for making movies they don't care for, or compare their experiences watching a movie they didn't like to rape, in a public forum and when you point out that that is an immature thing to do suddenly you're the unreasonable one.

You sir are an example of everything that is wrong with modern geek culture, with its tendencies to try to devalue people to a subhuman level for simply failing to entertain them. I mean seriously, when did "This guy makes movies i don't find entertaining, therefore he deserves death" become an acceptable viewpoint to have? Can someone please tell me why that's an acceptable viewpoint to have, because it seems to me that that's a pretty reprehensible viewpoint

And you're everything I hate about posting here. You won't leave someone alone when they ask, you throw dictionary definitions around like they are the word of God because someone didn't use a word in they way you expect them to, you're judgmental about others for holding an opposing opinion, put words in their mouth AFTER they have already re-stated their point for you, and still is hypocritical enough to say that rape isn't rape if it doesn't have anything to do violating a woman.

Guess what, dictionary.com's definition:

4. (n) an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.

7. (v) to plunder (a place); despoil.

That is exactly what Lucas has done to both the art of motion picture in Starwars, and all of our collective wallets. I never said he deserved death for that. Not once. I said I would be happy when that raping could not happen ever again. The OP is the one that brought death into to conversation. Now, if that third repetition of my position still isn't good enough for you, I don't want to hear about it. LEAVE. ME. THE. FUCK. ALONE!!!!

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'd be sad that he was dead...

but I'd also be looking forward to the inevitable blu-ray release of the unaltered trilogy that would happen once he was no longer there to veto it. He may have destroyed the negatives, but there's still some good quality technicolor prints out there. Transfer a set of those, and I'll buy an HDTV and a Blu-ray player just to watch it.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

I would be very sad. Sure, he has done some things as of late, that doesnt make all of us Star Wars fans happy. However, the bottom line is that this man is directly responsible for something that has played a MAJOR role in my life. Alot of that magic and wonder I had as a child, he vastly improved. For that alone, I will always thank him.