Help a Star Wars virgin pick an order to watch the movies in.

Cafe Society
21

I have to go with 4,5,6,1,2,3.

There’s some important plot points in the original trilogy that would be spoiled if you see the new trilogy first. Similarly, there are certain plot points in the new trilogy that depend on certain knowledge from the original to really be appreciated. Finally, because as others have said, since Episode I is just not all that good, if you start with that you may not really be interested in continuing. What makes it at all worth watching is the investment one already has from having seen the other films. So I really just can’t see going 1,2,3,4,5,6. Yeah, it’s chronological, but there’s plenty of examples of stories where the natural progression of the story isn’t chronological.

I’ve also seen suggestions for 4,5,(1),2,3,6, but I don’t really see the point of that. Without spoiling any plot for a Star Wars virgin, obviously 6 is the end of the story, but again, that doesn’t mean it’s the end. I also think there’s plot points in it that will be spoiled if you see the trilogies, though obviously no where near as badly as straight chronological. I guess you do get to have the sort of cliffhanger last longer, but that’s about all the benefit I see out of it.

That all said, I don’t think that for someone who has never seen any of them they’ll think the new ones are as bad because of the complete lack of childhood nostalgia that many of the rest of us have. I do think 1 and 2 are easily the worst of the 6 films, with 1 being largely unnecessary and even having some downright stupid parts that were thankfully largely absent in 2 and 3. I still think they’re enjoyable, even if not particularly good, and they really shouldn’t be completely ignored.
So my on top of that, I’d also probably say not to try to watch them all in one sitting, or even one whole trilogy in a sitting. I’d say go through the release order (or even whatever other order you decide on) and watch roughly one a week. You do need some time to sort or process it and get an idea of the world it’s creating or I think it’ll be a bit difficult to really grasp why it got so popular.
Also, there in the debate of whether 4 or 5 is better, I don’t think it’s close at all. Sure, 4 is a more or less a complete movie on it’s own and 5 is not, but that’s what makes 5 better, that it is really the film that ties the whole saga together. I also think it generally has better writing and directing.

22

I was working on the assumption that no one was “unspoiled” as it were. If that’s the case, then I would change my recommendation to 4-5-1-2-3-6 (machete+1 I guess).

23

I agree, a great read btw…even if you don’t have kids. I voted Machete order, but would put ep 1 in there as well.

24

:slight_smile:

25

4-5-1-2-3-6

4 absolutely has to be first. I don’t care what Lucas says. It’s like when CS Lewis republished the Chronicles of Narnia in his preferred, chronological order. The classic(and best in my opinion) comes first because…well I guess I shouldn’t elaborate or I might spoil something.

6 has to be last, obviously. I heard someone suggest 4-5-(3/4 of 6)-1-2-3-(end of6). That’s a little complicated for me though. Plus you have to have someone else who’s seen it know where to stop 6 and start at 1.

May the force be with you.

26

I’d go for a modified Machete order. IV, V, VI through Luke’s return to Dagobah, III, rest of VI, then I and II if you want.

I said in the earlier thread that you shoud watch IV, I and then whichever one you liked more watch that trilogy first. But on reflection you need to see V second, because Yoda’s explanation of the Dark Side and how one succumbs to it helps Anakin’s fall make more sense (somewhat).

27

Release order. It’s a good experiment to see if nostalgia and a 20 year wait have given the prequels and undeservedly bad reputation or the original films an undeservedly good one.

As has been mentioned, the entire 6 movie story did not exist as a whole that was then released out of sequence. It was 3 movies, partially made up as they went along, then 3 more movies about how things came to be the way they were at the beginning of the originals.

The prequels are a post hoc rationalization that manages to focus on all of the wrong stuff. Kind of like when a kid spins an elaborate line of BS to explain something that he actually did for no good reason.

That said, I voted for originals only. They are all you need to understand the pop-culture references. If you like them, then you can still watch the prequels. The only thing going for the machete order is that when you get to Jedi, you go back to the fun movie series. It’s like eating your cod liver oil in order to get to dessert. Also, if you already intend to watch all 6, the results for items 1 and 3 should be added together in the final tally.

28

I can see the reasons for skipping I, but how about also skipping II? The only key points in II are his love for Padme, and his emotion-led slaughter of the Sand People. And the start of III establishes him as a hot-head and in love with Padme anyway. So how about IV, V, III, VI? Or, if you prefer, putting III after Luke’s return to Dagobah?

29

I saw the original when it was released and have avoided all of the others precisely because of the level of geekiness that is demonstrated in this thread. I don’t doubt that the original trilogy outshines the prequels but none of them could ever live up to the attention that’s been given to them. It’s like reading about Citizen Kane for decades and then being confused after viewing because it didn’t strike you as the greatest movie of all time.

For the record, I enjoyed the original immensely. All of the pertinent details of the rest of the series have leaked out and I feel that I’ve got a good idea how everything turns out.

30

FYI, Lewis didn’t do this. He was always ambivalent about which way it should be read. He made an offhand remark that he liked reading it in chronological order himself, and so his (step)son ran with it when asked by the publisher.

I actually came up with an order that I think works really well for the series. The main thing is that you need to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first and The Last Battle last, and be sure to read the rest in order (chronological or published) save for A Horse and his Boy and The Magician’s Nephew which can be read at any time. Though, in hindsight, I guess you could read AHahB last, if you wanted.

Chronological order is out because of the revelations in The Magician’s Nephew that spoil Wardrobe.

31

To be more specific, Episode IV was written without any idea what was going to happen, with the idea of making the series more like the old science fiction serials. Both sequels and prequels were planned by the end, but no thought had really went into what would be in them.

This lasted until after the first draft of Episode V. That was the point where Lucas decided on the big plot twist mentioned in the OP. It tightened the story and made it better. It was a bit different from what had been seen, but he was able to gloss over it.

At this point, it was quite likely that Lucas did indeed plan on making a total of 12 movies. He had the idea for the prequels, but only as much as was necessary to make the plot twist work. He did not plan to wrap things up entirely in Episode VI, but likely have a new protagonist come in for the final three episodes. He didn’t decide against this until he was working on Episode VI.

He had 12 pages of notes for how he wanted to create the prequels, but it was all in back story form. That’s what he refers to when he claims he had the series entirely plotted out. He used those notes to write the prequels, but did so by himself in what amounted to a rush job, still writing them as they were being filmed. Plus he no longer had his wife as his editor, nor anyone who could challenge him.

Anyways, my suggestion is that watching them in release order is just boring–it’s what everyone else has done. The Machete order is better, and getting Episode I in there is probably a good idea. But I’d suggest something no one else seems to have: try watching The Phantom Edit, the fan recut version of Episode I. That way we can find out if it’s really better.

(Skip the Changes section of that Wikipedia page if you don’t want to be spoiled.)

32

I voted IV-V-V-I-II-III, even though my heart said “Ignore the prequels, they suck!”

IV-V-VI are even better when you see how they could have been messed up had the prequels come first.

In IV, one’s first sight of Vader wouldn’t have near the impact if you knew at the time where he’d come from, who he had been, and whose father he was.

33

Like I said in the previous thread,
Watch the Ep1 fanedit, the Phantom Edit first.
Then Ep2 but skip from 1:31(after the senate scene) to 1:43… it is meaningless action.
Then Episode 3, 4, 5 and six

34

Yes, i found the lack of faith in the fourth VERY disturbing.

35

Not to mention there are some key twists in the original films that would be ruined by watching the prequels first.

36

After reading about Machete order, I have to say I think it’s brilliant. If you want to watch Episode I after that for the sake of completeness, just pretend it’s a made for TV kid’s movie (like the Ewok films) or something,

37

Actually, if watch the Ewok films first, then Phantom may not seem so bad. If you’re still worried, you could try watching the Holiday Special first (no, seriously, don’t do that).

Chainsaw Order:

IV, V, II, III, VI, Ewoks: Battle for Endor, The Phantom Edit, The Clone Wars Animated Series

38

I’ll grant you ESB is the best of the series, but letting a first-timer see it twice in a row at the expense of ROTJ seems overly indulgent.

39

*Cursed be his name! * And not just because of the re-ordering. But that’s a hijack, sorry.

I find it fascinating that after 104 votes the opinion is so evenly split between three options. Choose wisely!

40

:D:D:D