Interestingly, there was a long-time rumor floating around in the Transformers fandom for a long time that Optimus Prime’s death scene in the 1986 animated movie was more intense (his body turned to grey, then broke apart into ash, and was blown away).
I think both are just people misremembering, possibly because they saw it when they were five and impressionable, causing their memory to invent something more intense than what was there.
It’s okay as long as they kept the part where he says “My name is Simba the Lion King. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
… or that shot of Mufasa looking through binoculars up at the space battle in the sky.
I’m not the only one who clearly remembers a character’s death in Robotech as being far more graphic, and we all realized that it’s because we read the books and the scene there made an impression.
There’s probably some confusion with Starscream’s death. IIRC, when Galvatron blasts him he turns black/gray and crumbles to ash.
Personally I’m glad they cut the part where Scar cuts off Simba’s ear while 1970s oldies play in the background. It really clashed with the rest of the soundtrack, if you ask me.
Watership Down. Saw that as a kid; The Lion King was intense for Disney but didn’t have the same existential bleakness. Not so much the brutal lack of sentimentality and the ever-present threat of lethal violence but the message that, after a lifetime of struggle, the optimum outcome - the best you can hope for, whether you’re a rabbit or a human being - is to die of old age. 'cause the Black Rabbit’s waiting for you, and he’ll get you.
“The field… it’s covered with blood!”
That was from before the film’s release in 1993 - you know, during the time of Michael Eisner’s little-publicized breakdown, in which he became more and more disturbed before finally taking over as director for Lion King’s stampede scene? It’s said that anyone who viewed the results would vomit uncontrollably before going insane. All of this is well documented on Creepypasta’s “lost episodes” page. I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet.
Right, right, and the animated short before the movie for test audiences was suicidemouse.avi.