Ideally, this would replace Revenge of the Sith in my lineup:
I read the OP. And I based my reply on what I thought of it. If you have a problem with that, too bad. Star Wars is a freaking movie, not a religion.
Anyone who shows their child a version where Greedo shoots first is a terrible, terrible, truly terrible parent.
I think Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” should be in there somewhere.
I think it’s funny that I’m taking this shot over and over. On other Star Wars threads in this board (Cafe Society), there are people including mods who are so encyclopedic in their SW knowledge from reading countless books, they can cite (or at least argue) the backstory of every character who’s ever appeared, get into discussions of whether something is canon (apparently, a bunch of stuff from an “Expanded Universe” was de-canonized?), etc. Whereas I’ve never read any of these books, never saw the TV cartoons, never played a SW game. I’ve just seen these eight movies. And the only ones I’ve seen more than once, even, are the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back (neither of which I’ve seen in years). That’s a pretty thin basis to call it my religion, I’d say. 
Just to give some specific facts: The only Star Wars movie my 7 year old son has seen is The Force Awakens. Because it’s the only one we have on DVD.
I’m not a big fan of that movie, but it would probably play better if it’s the only one you’ve seen (as it’s so derivative).
I find your lack of faith… disturbing.
Finally, someone who agrees with me about that. I walked out of the theater feeling that nothing really happened in that movie – it was just a bridge between the first and the third. Never understood why so many people insist that it’s the best. (Yeah, yeah, “I am your father.” Anyone who’s read Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saw that coming.)
Well, there we disagree. The first is still the best for me (and the only one I’ve seen more than twice), but RotJ was the most fun of all (yes, I admit that I like the Ewoks) and a satisfying conclusion to the franchise.
But then, I’m primarily a Trek guy, so what do I know?
I agree with your list - though I’d leave out Phantom Menace. It really adds nothing to the series. At least II and III give the back story of how Anakin becomes Vader. There used to be “Anti-cheese” edits of the prequels on youtube. They were great to watch. Kept the story, made the movies interesting, but took out the crap - I see they’ve been removed due to copyright issues.
Not sure if they exist by any legitimate means anymore.
LMAO! That is an awesome quip. Well done.
By happy coincidence my family—including two kids aged 9 and 12—is going through the series right now.
We started with episode I and moved forward from there. To me, it’s sort of like reading The Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter: they make the most sense when consumed in the order they take place in their own fictional universe. As evidenced by this thread there is significant debate on that point, but since we’re talking about the kids and not me, why jump around? Let them watch all of them and then make up their own minds about which is their favorite. Frankly, I agree with standingwave: the original Star Wars (ep. IV) is really the only one that stands on its own so if either start—and end—with ep. IV or start at the beginning and go forward chronologically.
We have yet to watch Return Of The Jedi or The Force Awakens, and none of us have seen Rogue One yet. But I have no doubt that if we do another Star Wars marathon those two will be watched in the order they take place in the SW universe (i.e., Rogue One will be between eps. III and IV, The Force Awakens will be after Return of the Jedi).
Of course, I’ve never been a huge fan of the series—the first time I watched them was just a few years ago and when I posted here that I thought they were fairly mediocre films I was nearly pitted. They’ve grown on me somewhat since then but I still don’t understand the adoration they have. But to this question my opinions of the films don’t matter, my kids’ does. They seem to agree with me that they like them in sequential order. So to the OP, that’s my vote: ep. I, II, III, RO, IV, V, VI, VII. This of course assumes that the kids in question are old enough to handle III (the most violent of the series IMO). If not, let ‘em watch the original Star Wars and be done with it.
Does this mean “Fabulous Beasts” comes first in the Harry Potter series then?
I haven’t seen the movie or read the book but as I understand it the story takes place in the early 20th century so it certainly would make sense to watch it before the actual Harry Potter series, assuming you haven’t seen any of the films and plan on watching them all, including Fantastic Beasts.
If the question is “When should I show little kids Star Wars?” I would say it counts in their favor.
Huh, that’s definitely different from my approach but I understand your logic. I guess you prefer the “Godfather Saga” TV version that shows the flashbacks from Godfather II first?
Not necessarily, because you could answer “not until they are no longer little kids”.
Interesting…I assume that the intent is to teach your kids about the fundamentals of storytelling? You picked a film with well-developed characters and a mediocre plot (Revenge), a film with mediocre characters and a well-developed plot (Rogue One), and a film with well-developed characters and a well-developed plot (Star Wars). Useful for a compare-and-contrast, if nothing else.
Unless there’s some other reason you picked the #1, #5, and #6-best films in an 8-film saga.
For my taste, I picked the #1 (Star Wars), #2 (Rogue One), and #4 (Revenge of the Sith) best films in the saga, with a huge drop in quality between *RotS *and my #5, The Force Awakens. My #3, The Empire Strikes Back, is left out because it would be too much of a downer to end on, and it leaves all kinds of plot threads hanging which are not resolved well in The Return of the Jedi (my #8).
And it is really my strong dislike for *RotJ *that informs the whole project. If the movies (or even the original trilogy) were somehow stuck together, like *RotJ *was just the final reel of a really long movie, I’d just take a pass on wanting to show Star Wars movies to my kids at all.
I was seven. I wouldn’t encounter Jack Kirby for another six years.
