5. The Star Wars Saga (1977-2005)
If there was an Academy Award that could be given out for a film series that was absolutely obsessed with chopping of arms and hands then Star Wars would be the winner ... ahem ... hands down (sorry). Throughout both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy there are no fewer than SIXTEEN scenes in which someone or something has a limb chopped off by a lightsaber. That's a ridiculous amount of amputation for a so-called family friendly sci-fi saga. So which ones spring to mind? Well there's the most obvious example in which Darth Vader chops his son Luke's hand off in The Empire Strikes Back but there's also Ponda Baba, Zam Wessell, Darth Vader, Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker (non spoiler version this), Mace Windu and a host of other characters. In fact The Phantom Menace is the only one of the 6 movies (so far) that hasn't had someone lose an arm or hand. It's just a shame that Jar Jar didn't lose a head but never mind. You can argue the toss all day and night about the symbolism of lost arms and hands in the Star Wars Universe but all we know is someone at LucasArts definitely has a fetish for amputees.