# Save the life of a movie character who didn't deserve to die the way they did. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125 "2012-08-10T21:14:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/121 "2012-08-17T03:22:39Z")
**Lost** ‘The Black Pearl’ episode, the show had a serious difficulty in seamlessly incorporating new characters. The Black Pearl episode added the high school teacher Arnt until he blew himself up with Nitroglycerin in the same episode. Killing him made that episode great and shocking but the writers rarely were able to incorporate a new character in that show and that made me miss him more. He died great, he just should have been around longer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/122 "2012-08-17T04:09:23Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Agreed. So get me a plan to save Padme and keep the OT. We just convince Obi-Wan that she can’t bear the anguish – which shouldn’t be hard, since she genuinely would’ve died of a broken heart – such that he’ll wave his hand and liltingly intone her into temporarily forgetting any personal troubles until she’s strong enough to deal with 'em. In typical Kenobi fashion, he of course _ **never** _ figures she’s ready, and so spends the rest of his life refusing to set her straight; she thus throws herself wholeheartedly into working to restore democracy and the republic, occasionally mentioning that Many Bothans Died To Bring Us This Information. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/123 "2012-08-17T12:49:39Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > We just convince Obi-Wan that she can’t bear the anguish – which shouldn’t be hard, since she genuinely would’ve died of a broken heart – such that he’ll wave his hand and liltingly intone her into temporarily forgetting any personal troubles until she’s strong enough to deal with 'em. > > In typical Kenobi fashion, he of course _ **never** _ figures she’s ready, and so spends the rest of his life refusing to set her straight; she thus throws herself wholeheartedly into working to restore democracy and the republic, occasionally mentioning that Many Bothans Died To Bring Us This Information. I’ll do that. **Skald** will be able to save the life of the lovely Ms Port…er… Mrs Ballarina. Furthermore, I would love to see how the producers will Retcon the fact that Darth Vader missed the fact that the the leader of the rebellion he is trying to crush of his own wife, you know the one he turned to the dark side to save. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/124 "2012-08-17T15:15:43Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I’ll do that. **Skald** will be able to save the life of the lovely Ms Port…er… Mrs Ballarina. Furthermore, I would love to see how the producers will Retcon the fact that Darth Vader missed the fact that the the leader of the rebellion he is trying to crush of his own wife, you know the one he turned to the dark side to save. Aw, those orange lenses filter stuff out to make him lousy with faces: you get infrared and ultraviolet, but you lose all the fine details. No, he’s really only at his best if you obligingly wave a glowing laser sword around, or fire bright raygun blasts – at which point he’s mostly relying on his spidey-sense anyway. His dying wish is to see Luke just for once with his own eyes – because, with that headgear on, it might as well be Keira Knightley standing in front of him. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/125 "2012-08-17T15:41:28Z")
I would like to see Detective Jimmy Shaker not get gunned down in a hail of bullets by his comrades on the police force. Sure he was a complete assbag and engineered the kidnapping of Tom Mullen’s son, but he was beaten, his plans to ransom the boy were thwarted, and the son was returned to his parents unharmed. Does a kidnapper deserve to die via suicide by police gunfire? He should go to jail for his crimes instead. This would be pretty easy to resolve. Once his fight with Mullen is over and he’s beaten but then desperately grabs the officer’s gun, have another policeman taze him or subdue him quickly with tear gas. No hail of gunfire is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/126 "2012-08-18T05:18:04Z")
Ooo–I’d also want to save Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/127 "2012-09-29T18:49:57Z")
Can I save a character who has yet to die to die in a movie but is going to in a few years? If so (_Hunger Games_ trilogy spoilers): Prim did not deserve to die, especially not at fourteen. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/128 "2012-09-29T21:26:07Z")
Naevia’s friend Diona on Spartacus: God’s of the Arena. She’d already escaped, for God’s sake. No need to drag her back and execute her. (There were a few Spartacus characters worth saving, but that one was particularly egregious.) ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/129 "2012-09-29T21:43:24Z")
Mrs. Landingham gets to come back to the office and brag about her spiffy new car. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/130 "2012-09-29T21:57:28Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I came in here to say John Coffey. Thing is he WANTED to go, as he explained to Paul. I wouldn’t necessarily want to save Delacroix (the book explained his crime: he was a rapist who killed six people by setting a building on fire to try to cover up the rape), but if it’s allowed to adjust HOW someone dies, I’d at least make sure the sponge was wet as it should have been. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/131 "2012-09-29T22:02:28Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > [hijack] That dude apparently wasn’t acting - what else but brain damage explains the fact that said dude is IRL voluntarily dating Omarosa!?!?!!:eek:[/hijack] You’ve got your cast confused. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/132 "2012-09-29T22:33:13Z")
> [@audit1](#): > > I’m going back to the NCIS verse and stopping Ari from killing Kate. But I am also arranging things so both Ziva and Kate are on Gibb’s squad. And make it so that the two of them are into each other? Can you imagine the same level of sexual reparte between the two of them that Ziva and Tony have? :head explodes: ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/133 "2012-09-29T22:45:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I find the prequels nearly unwatchable dreck, but Natalie Portman is too pretty to die. > [@AK84](#): > > Agreed. So get me a plan to save Padme and keep the OT. As part of some long term plan by Palpatine that doesn’t come off right, she’s secretly frozen in carbonite instead of dying, replaced with a fake body (a nonviable clone, say) and the ship carrying her to an undisclosed location is somehow lost until she’s rediscovered and unfrozen by Luke Skywalker after the OT. No one knows she’s alive until after the OT, so the change has no effect. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/134 "2012-09-29T23:52:00Z")
I’d build an actual bridge to Terabithia for Leslie one day while the kids are at school so she doesn’t slip, die, and ruin, for me, what should’ve been a wonderfully sweet movie. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/135 "2012-09-30T00:31:17Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > The Dobby talk reminded me- can I go and save whichever one of the Weasley twins it was that needlessly died off screen? > . Tonks and Remus. They left a kid. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/136 "2012-09-30T00:37:39Z")
Little Bill in Unforgiven…he was building a house ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/137 "2012-09-30T03:01:19Z")
Llewelyn Moss. I don’t necessarily want to save his life, so much as have his death not suck as much. At least have him die onscreen, ferchissakes. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/138 "2012-09-30T07:58:25Z")
Tough call. Robert Picard deserved better than to burn to death off-screen in _ST:Generations_, and really, what business does anyone on Earth in that century have dying in a house fire anyway? On the other hand, there’s the alternate ending to _Aliens_ to consider, in which Ellen Ripley, while tired, is far too paranoid to simply go into cold sleep without ensuring that the _Sulaco_ is devoid of two molecules of xenomorph DNA to rub together, let alone leave an egg lying around, in which case not only do she, Newt and Hicks live happily ever after and quite possibly together, but _Alien[sup]3[/sup]_ never happens, an outcome which is made of titanium-plated win. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125/139 "2012-09-30T15:56:53Z")
This is a great idea for a thread because a lot of the above likable people needed to die to advance the plot and how they died is important. The incident surrounding Tasha Yar’s death was stupid and ignoble, [all three different versions of them](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasha_Yar). Compounded by her awkward final episode where she experiments with the universes’ most advanced vibrator. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-the-life-of-a-movie-character-who-didnt-deserve-to-die-the-way-they-did/631125.md?page=6)