# Showing Star Wars to my kid: should I start at episode 1 or 4? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746 "2005-06-17T20:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joazito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@joazito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joazito)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/1 "2005-06-17T20:06:36Z")
I need help on this one guys. My 5 years old has taken quite an interest in some Star Wars merchandize that appeared as a result of episode 3 and now he absolutely wants to see the films. Now logically, I thought of showing him episode 1, as I’m sure it’s supposed to be seen first, as hinted by the fact that it’s named episode 1. But having loved the original Star Wars, I’m torned. Now I’m thinking the best one to introduce him to the series is the first made. What do you say… Should it be 1-2-3-4-5-6 or 4-5-6-1-2-3 ? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/2 "2005-06-17T20:33:33Z")
I don’t think I’d be comfortable letting my 5 year old see either 3 or 5. They’re too intense and scary. But that’s a different issue. I’ll gladly grant that you know your kid better than I and we’ll focus on the order issue only. At 5, there’s little chance he’s going to follow the story in a linear fashion anyway. Heck, I’m 30 and I can’t really wrap my head around the “plot” in number 1. So I’d show them in the order I think they’d most likely appeal in terms of sword swingin’ and blaster sound effects wih a minimum of people standing around talking politics. That would be 4,6,1,2,5,3. Weird, I know. But unless your kid is exceptional and can follow a 12 hour story over a period of days or weeks (you’re not talking one marathon viewing, right?) than I don’t see why story order matters much. He’s going to be watching them as six movies set in the same universe with some of the same characters, not as one epic tale. I base this on the frequency of my own kid’s viewing of each, as well as his friends’ requests during sleep overs, with a nod that “The Original” (4) deserves the respect of being seen first. Just make sure he knows Greedo didn’t shoot first. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/3 "2005-06-17T20:52:34Z")
Perhaps it would be wiser to show the older movies first, so that he doesn’t get all excited about the cool effects in the newer ones and then get disappointed by the older ones. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/4 "2005-06-17T20:56:47Z")
Even though the trilogies are connected, each can really stand on its own. If the kid is only 5, I’d vote for the intended sequential order of 1 through 6 just so that the story stays linear, with a young Darth, older Darth, slain Darth. ---
**Author:** ![joazito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@joazito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joazito)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/5 "2005-06-17T20:59:00Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I don’t think I’d be comfortable letting my 5 year old see either 3 or 5. They’re too intense and scary. But that’s a different issue. I’ll gladly grant that you know your kid better than I and we’ll focus on the order issue only. Good point. Thanks for bringing this up. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/6 "2005-06-17T21:03:41Z")
Since he is a kid… you can show him 1-3… otherwise I’d say avoid the bad new trilogy ! 😛 It sucks. Small boys won’t like all that sugary schmoozing of the princess and Anakin… its boring. They will enjoy the fights and dog fighting. So I’d recomend using the fast forward. ---
**Author:** ![joazito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@joazito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joazito)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/7 "2005-06-17T21:09:01Z")
> [@Rashak Mani](#): > > Small boys won’t like all that sugary schmoozing of the princess and Anakin… its boring. They will enjoy the fights and dog fighting. So I’d recomend using the fast forward. Oh he drives me crazy with fast forward. I know he’s the one supposed to be watching, but watching him go through a full 2 hours movie in about 20 minutes gets me out of my mind. I always take the remote away from him, it’s insane. I mean I could understand it if he’d seen it before and was looking for the best parts, but he does this on brand new movies. There’ll be none of that on star wars, I’ll be sitting right next to him and the remote will be nowhere near us. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/8 "2005-06-17T22:07:13Z")
Show him 4 through 6 and don’t show him ANY of the new ones. They’re GARBAGE!!! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/9 "2005-06-17T22:51:11Z")
I agree. I still haven’t seen III, but in my opinion IV-VI featured oustanding characters that have become the stuff of modern myth. I don’t see anything comparable in I-III. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/10 "2005-06-17T22:54:30Z")
there was a thread on this in cafe society. i really like the order one person suggested. 4 1 2 5 3 6 ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/11 "2005-06-18T00:57:29Z")
I took my 6 yo relative to 3. I pre-screened specifically for the scary parts and covered his eyes thru the part where Anakin burns. However the parts where Dukoo is beheaded and Mace loses his hand freaked him out a little. Not nightmare level but enough for an admission on a bathroom break that “that was a little scary” - big deal from him. We talked afterwards he was fine. But still: :smack: and I will say Mace’s scene (who he loved) “came up” a time or two afterward. I also had told him before hand the younglings were “knocked out” and they would think they were dead in the movie. I think he bought it. He cried in 2 when Anakin’s Mom died… otherwise I thought he could handle it. In retrospect I would have covered his eyes through the scenes mentioned too. Otherwise, the rest was fine for my boy (YMMV) He started watching 1,2,4,5,6 at four or five years old and was hooked. One thing I noticed … he relates to Darth Vader differently … he is always “Annie” to my 6yo while he is always \*\*DARTH VADER[\*\*SIZE=1]TM[/SIZE] to me. Maybe just for the sake of a shared experience I would think about doing the release order (456123) because order really does shape your feeling toward the Dark Lord of the Sith ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/12 "2005-06-18T01:25:46Z")
I say start with 4. Epsiode 1 is a prequel; it doesn’t really stand on its own. It will help if the kid sees 4, 5, and 6 first. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/13 "2005-06-18T03:48:34Z")
Start at 4, stop at 6. ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/14 "2005-06-18T04:04:51Z")
Start with the original. If he likes it, work your way through Empire and Jedi. If he likes them, go with the prequels then. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/15 "2005-06-18T04:46:47Z")
4-6 first, then 1-3. The prequels are better as prequels (although of course still not very good) than part of a linear sequence of movies. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/16 "2005-06-18T07:11:50Z")
There is a reason why III is rated PG-13 and not PG-5. Frankly, I would wait until your child is at least seven years old to see any of them. A five-year-old cannot follow the plots, and there are nightmare-inducing scenes in each one for a child that young. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/17 "2005-06-18T15:00:35Z")
It would be neat to take two kids of the same age & show one 1-6 order & the other 4-6, 1-3 order, and then compare their reactions. Just call me Darth Mengele! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/18 "2005-06-18T16:07:32Z")
Show him the first three films (chronologically) and then tell him the Lucas will film sequels once he gets a decent script. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/19 "2005-06-19T01:43:47Z")
If he watches 1-6 then there are no plot twists, we know that the big DV is Lukey’s dad before the confrontation in episode 5 which kind of ruins that whole scene really. Of course, being 5 he probably won’t take much notice of the plot. Also I suppose he probably already knows who Darth Vader is. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746/20 "2005-06-20T00:33:19Z")
I say go 1-6. It’s a good experiment. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/showing-star-wars-to-my-kid-should-i-start-at-episode-1-or-4/308746.md?page=2)