The lost potential of George Lucas and Star Wars

Le's be serious here, neither are "great" franchises, and science fiction would have been just fine under the guiding hands of Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick until James Cameron came along to add layers of Velveeta to the genre in the mid-80s.

You never see a list like, "The Top 100 Science Fiction Films of All Time" and see Star Wars at the top of the list. You see Bladerunner, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, Moon...

But never Star Wars. Because it's a kid's franchise, with candy-colored weapons and antagonists with names like "General Grievous."