Imagine some years in the future you have the responsibility of educating a son/daughter/other in the ways of the world, and in particular the ways of science fiction films.
Do you show them the original Star Wars trilogy first, or show them in the correct chronological order?
Some points:
The Phantom Menace might put them off the rest of the series.
The existence of the Force and the Jedi is better explained in Episode 4 than Episode 1.
Throughout the new films we already know the overall fate of Anakin, the Jedi and the Republic.
Any thoughts anyone?
Alex
That’s kind of like asking “Should I watch Memento in chronological order first or not.”
Gotta be shown in the 4-5-6-1-2-3 order or else the Darth-as-Luke’s-father thing won’t have any impact whatsoever. The fun of watching 1-2-3 secondly is watching how everything ties together (actually, watching how Lucas [i[tries* to tie everything together, but after Clones, I have a renewed faith that he may pull it off.)
Afterwards, go back and watch them in chronological order.
I think we can make some pretty safe assumptions as to the broad plot of episode 3. The Clone Wars ensue, anakin is enticed, the jedi get their asses handed to them in the end, Amidala has kids and hides them. Fin.
If you really look at the movies thus far, they don’t REALLY seem to be made to be watching in # order, but rather the order they were made. Ep1 in many ways handles the SW universe as though you as somewhat familiar with it.
Actually, I was talking about the movie with MrWhatsit last night and saying how I thought they could have mentioned more about the Force – you know, like how when Yoda was training Luke, he kept telling him to clear his mind, rid himself of all hatred, etc.
Then I thought, well wait a minute, maybe they figure we’ve all seen that stuff already and we all know how the Force is supposed to work, so maybe they don’t need to bash us over the head with it again. I mean, when we see a Jedi acting out of rage, we know he’s acting against the Force, we don’t need to be told.
So for that reason, yeah, I think I’d show them in the order they were made, rather than in chronological order. Also because of the points other people made regarding the surprise of Darth being Luke’s father, etc.
Why wouldnt u show it in the proper order? 123456?
cause it would spoil the secret about darth vader? i dont get it, its only revieled that Darth Vader is in fact anakin skywalker…
as long as anakin doesnt put on that big black suit and change his name to darth, whos gonna know they are the same person?
Ps: Obi Wan says, your father was betrayed and murdered by a powerful jedi called Darth vader
(which is true from a certain point of view)
Actually, it would be interesting to see them for the first time starting with the Phantom Menace. The whole dynamic of the series would be changed. You wouldn’t be surprised by some things that were originally surprising, but you’d get to watch the actors go through things knowing that they didn’t have all the information.
As for PM putting someone off of the SW series, I don’t see why. It’s still quite entertaining, and the movies would get better in some ways as you progressed through the series.
The original Star Wars had the benefit of timing on it’s side. It came out at a time when there weren’t a ton of Sci-Fi blockbusters out there. The Phantom Menace suffers considerably due simply to the fact that people are more jaded to effects filled space operas now.
All the SW movies are fun entertainment. They aren’t all cultural icons. I watch them for the entertainment and they still deliver.
It’s weird, the two trilogies seem to spoil each other in a strange sort of moebius loop.
Watch them in release order, and the Palpatine/Sideous connection, as well as the fate of the Jedi and Anakin is spoiled.
Watch them in number order, and you ruin the Vader/Luke/Liea relationship surprises. (Summers_Som, sorry, I can’t imagine EpIII ending without an appearance of Vader. The armor may not be complete, but the name’s got to be there. That’s the point of the prequels in theory, how’d Anakin become vader. you can’t skip the end of that story)
Literature is always best approached in the order of publication/release, since when a new story is published, it’s always expected that the audience has some familiarity with the previous work, but the reverse is obviously not true. Likewise for Star Wars: 4-5-6-1-2-3-whatever
TheeGrumpy, an excellent idea, though you need a control group and yet another group whom you would not personally whow the films to, but simply wait to see how they wathc them once they are adults.
I’m pretty sure (and don’t ask me for a cite because it was MONTHS ago) that I saw an interview with James Earl Jones and he’d been approached for Star Wars Episode III: Booty Shakin Vader Daddy. Not sure about the name of the movie but the JEJ thing I remember.
Hypothetical Muddlings will see the original trilogy, letterboxed, and then the special editions, so they can gripe about the desecrations, and then the prequels. And then they’ll see them all again. And again. Because it’s genetic.
