Ok, let's say an alien comes to you one day and says that he/she/it is going to go back in time and erase the existance of these six people, which by default erases all their works which may or may not have been carried on by another...

Thomas Edison (Innovator of the light blub, amongst other things...)
Jim Henson (Sesame Street, Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock)
George Lucas (Star Wars, Indiana Jones writer)
Seth McFarlane (Family Guy creator)
Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy, J&SBSB)
Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, etc...)

After pleading with the alien, you convince it to save the life of one. Whom do you select to live?

(I picked this board because there's more "movie guys" than others...

Oh, and there is a point to this, which I will explain later...)

Anybody but Seth McFarlane would be fine by me.

Thomas Edison, no brainer.

I'm gonna go with Edison as well, but not because of the lightbulb. Someone else would have gotten around to that sooner or later. However, I think he put forth enough other inventions that he was worth it.

Yes, someone would've eventually invented the light bulb, but would that someone else also invent 1367 other items (Edison finished with 1368 patents I believe)?

The word legend doesn't even begin to put a dent into what Edison should be remember as.

That's as stupid as asking which color would you rather live without blue red or green, and I am not trying to imply any of these guys are that important but still.

I missed Edison

I voted Kevin Smith since he seems like a nice guy and I enjoy his movies. My second choice(after Edison and Kevin Smith) would be Tarentino.

I mean do we need light

I may be wrong, but didn't Thomas Edison discover/invent moving(motion) pictures? From what I heard a colleague wanted to see if when a horse runs, do all they're feet go up at the same time, so they set a bunch of still cameras around a race track and timed the cameras to take pictures one after the other. But this would not create the same look/feel of a moving picture as it was closer to bullet time.

So without Edison the others wouldn't exist, is that the point you're trying to make with this poll?

You do know Thomas Edison is dead already... Same with Jim Henson...

Seth Greene!

I thunk that guy paved the WAY!

The horse-man is Eadweard Muybridge. Still, the Lumiere brothers and Edison are often credited as the forefathers of film. So...Edison it is. What a weird poll.

"Whom" is horrific grammar. No one gets saved today!


(I'd save my cat!)

I call their bluff. tell them to make my day.

I then go and write down the works of those folks and send it into a time vortex protecting it from the whole time change. I get the works and I do them myself making millions and split it with said aliens.

Wow, Jack you really thought about this.

Without Tommy we might not have movies today. That's not saying someone else wouldn't have invented the light bulb and sound recording, all necessary for motion pictures.

Nice to know some people have cunning plans for when the aliens come...

To answer the question as seriously as such a question can be answered: Edison. All the others had quality output, but without Edison not a single other film would have been made. He was the true original creator of the motion picture.

No Edison = A wildly different "Silent Era." Fox probably wouldn't have gotten into film/wouldn't have been successful without the timing Edison gave, etc. Nary a film we know today would exist if not for him.

History of Edison Film

Edison is the obvious choice. Out of the others, the only thing I wouldn't miss would be Family Guy (unpopular opinion, I know).

I ♥ light bulbs.

Jim Henson is a god.

I can't believe the non-Jim love around here! ^_^

The disapperance of any of the later five people would only result in at most about 30 years worth of reprecussions, but if Thomas Edison were gone, that would be 150 years of reprecussions and who knows what would happen. I mean, even if Jim Henson, George Lucas, Seth McFarlane, Kevin Smith, and Quentin Tarantino where all gone we'd still be guaranteed TV, movies, computers, and light bulbs. I'd think you'd have to go with that.

I can't believe you just compared filmmakers to Thomas Edison.

But Thomas Edison was a filmmaker!

So true!

I should of re-phrased my answer.

i would probably just go all john woo on the aliens, with a gun in each hand, and save all of those ungreatful bastards. then i would probably take the aliens flying saucer and fly from one end of the universe to the other searching for evidence of an all powerful force that controls everything. i would inevitibly not find any evidence of this force and end up becoming a space pirate. narrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucas. Eventually someone would invent or have invented all the things Edison is known for. But I don't think anyone could have made such greats as Star Wars and Indiana Jones.