It's a Trap !!!

Reminds me of a line in Thomas Costain's books about the Plantagenet kings of England, something about how even the worst king will be viewed with affection given enough time.  Eventually the bad king will become the bad old king, and then the old king, and then finally the good old king. 

Yeah, he's kind of a weirdo and a recluse and he's been creatively bankrupt for years, but that doesn't mean he's a supervillain.  He's done enormous good over the years and I'm sure he'll do more.  I'm glad he's chosen to bow out with dignity.

Is this some sort of controversy or something?  Lucas has done charitable work for years.  He's richer then Croesus, he's a approaching the time of life where he's most concerned with his legacy, and it's a great PR move to use the hype over this deal to draw attention to his charities, which he will no doubt be spending a lot of time working on now that he's retiring.  Extremely wealthy people do this all the time.  What the fuck any of that has to do with his qualities as a filmmaker and his creative decisions about the Star Wars franchise is a mystery to me.

Saying you have issues with the current education system is one thing, but critizing this with that angle is like saying education is bad. Really? The Giving Pledge and Bill Gates and Warren Buffet is one of the most amazing things happening in western society right now. I have to stand with Rob on this one.

Phantom Menace still sucked

The intention is commendable, but the inner cynic in me says to praise the results before praising the intention. It also says that George Lucas is bribing the world into liking him. But I also recognize I do not know everything and George Lucas might just be doing it out of the kindness of his heart, and if a bunch of kids have a better opportunity through it, who cares about the whys and hows.

However, inner contrarian says that, hey,  we can separate George "Gave his creative baby for charity" from George "Blatantly let his ego squasherate his own creative baby for years, completely overestimated his own creative capabilities, and would not rerelease his own movies  again just to not give his ex some money). People are pretty complicated, and can be more than one thing at a time, or change their mind on a whim, or can be percieved entirely different than what they are. I don't know what I'm saying, I guess I don't want this to become a Michael Jackson type situation. 

TLDR version is, I'm happy for those kids, but I don't want to sugarcoat the past, either.

Haha, just thinking... Disney's legal team can now use the Imperial March as its entrance theme.

If he actually does it, and I'm being completely serious here, George Lucas should be nominated for (and win) the Nobel Peace Prize.  This is exactly the sort of thing which Alfred Nobel set up his awards for.  In fact, it's almost exactly what Alfred Nobel did, except Nobel did it posthumously, while George is alive!

I think our nerd site has been invaded by the Koch Brothers Army.  Jerks.

Its a lot like donating to a cancer foundation when there is a cure for cancer is it not? The same can be said for education. I read a book by charlotte iserbyt which talks about how the education system does teach kids but only to perform and think in a certain way. there is also the pink floyd song we don't need no education. I am not saying don't learn but i am also saying don't trust the education system.. or big pharma for that matter. If he is donating so much money to the education system (depending which one) then he is actually doing more harm than good. He could be making more droids!

well the geek/nerd fandom just got arkward 

You know what this means, don't you? George Lucas is probably dying from some kind of incurable disease! Think about: he's donating his money to charity, he gave up the company that is his baby, and he's practically giving up creative rights to an intellectual product he's been keeping close to his heart for decades. THE MAN IS MAKING HIS PEACE WITH THE WORLD! The signs are all there!!

Wesa getting educata!!!As much as I detest the prequels (some bad acting, awful waste of time with pod racing, Jar-Jar, CGI Abuse, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!", etc.) It's Cool that some of Lucas' earnings are being put for a good use. 

Okay, I don't know how much of this is sarcasm, but in relation to Lucas-bashing, I want to say this:

It's been THIRTEEN FUCKING YEARS since The Phantom Menace came out.

GET OVER IT.

I should really sober up and stop doing so much cocaine, Im sorry about acting like a little spoiled whore, these mood swings are killing me lol.

Attention all cynical and bitter George Lucas haters: please enjoy a warm glass of Shut The Fuck Up.

Despite how badly he botched his own creation and is both a bad writer and director, he is still a pretty damn decent human being regardless.

Nice work Mr. Lucas, hopefully other ridiculously wealthy people follow that lead. Though if I had 4 Bill I would probably buy a nuclear submarine with it...

So hear me out guys. $4 billion. Or stock or whatever. A lot of cheese. That's a lot of books and tutors and field trips and teachers and lab and sports equipment. And that's all well and good. BUT-- Let's take, say, a million of it. Maybe two. Now let's go find some schools with REALLY dilapidated playgrounds. And let's tear those playgrounds down. And let's build some GIANT Star Wars themed McDonald's / ChuckECheez style play areas. Let the kids crawl around a giant Death Star. Instead of rocking horses you got rocking tauntans. Slides that look like the nose of an X-Wing. Paint the handball court with a storm trooper mural. Eh? Eh?

People are running rampant through the comments complaining about "nerds" and "fanboys"? On *Topless Robot*? Has the world gone mad?!

Guys, Im really sorry for being such an inconsiderate little fuckbag.  Im just really tired from sucking cock all day and haveing people take a dump on my chest. I really dont mean to be such an ignorant little fucktard im so sorry.

Okay, all is forgiven now.  Four billion will put a lot of kids though school.

No matter what you may say about the man he does have one the best chin beards of all time.

I can't stop smiling over this:

Yes, after taxes it'll be nowhere near $4 billion

Yes, it's a good PR move.

Yes, he's still filthy rich.

And yes: He's still the guy who made Episodes 1-3, buried Episodes 4-6 under layers of CGI and needless updates, and refuses to release his untouched original trilogy on Blu-Ray despite deafening fan outcry.

BUT!

If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have a Star Wars to bitch about in the first place.

AND

He just gave more money to a very worthy cause than any of us will ever make in our lifetimes.

I'm with Rob: I say it's time for a moratorium on Lucas-bashing. Besides....We still have Michael Bay, M. Night Shyamalan, and Joel Schumacher ;)

Just to clarify: Lucas isn't getting a cash payment of $4 billion. That's the total of what the deal is worth, but it includes a ton of Disney stock.

I don't want to minimize that this is a great thing, but even giving a "bulk of the money" to charity isn't even close to $4 billion.

Plus, Lucas has always been known as a brilliant business man- he knows Disney stock will keep going up and he'll keep making money off it. Maybe he'll use the stock dividends to keep funding the charity.

Well I like that he's supporting people with his wealth.  God bless him.

The fact that he been doing things, lots of them more crappy like not releasing the original trilogy on Blu-ray.  Hey that's business, and I never had to hate the man to not be impressed with his decisions lately.  

Good job George. 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I hope he does something worthwhile then. California spends over 68 billion on public education and we have the dumbest kids on the planet to show for it.

What an ass.

But seriously, does he have cancer or something? He is acting like he´s going out for good.

Charity is a good thing, but I find it a little too easy to concoct Howard Hughes-ian conspiracy theories about this (e.g. ancient George sitting alone in a room twenty years from now screening The Phantom Menace for himself over and over).