I’m not sure exactly when…5 or 10 years ago, maybe. The publisher’s claim they did it based on the wishes of CS Lewis, but that claim is only tenuously backed up by a letter from CS Lewis explaining the chronological order of the stories.
The original order was as follows:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician’s Nephew
The Last Battle
The publisher’s UNCLEAN!! re-order is:
The Magician’s Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy (they had to stick this here, even though it actually takes place during the timespan covered in TLTWATW)
If you insist upon punishing yourself with the prequels, go with release order. My advice would be to just watch the originals and if you like them, check the prequels out later, for a laugh. Don’t think of them as Star Wars, think of them as some crap summer movies that happen to have a few characters in common.
I think you are quite right in regards to P & A. This crap was definitely written for kids and teens, and not even the bright or literate ones at that. I must say though, if you whip out that AV editing suite and cut out the 45-odd minutes (I’m guessing, it certainly felt longer!) of P & A’s utterly inane and idiotic “conversations”, I think this movie can be salvaged. I don’t think it would be a bad swashbuckler adventure flick if someone excised its most obvious flaw like the putrid cancerous mass it is.
On a similar topic, on the Fasttrack Network I found an edited clip from Episode one that was quite interesting. It was the long saber fight towards the end between Qi Gong and Darth Maul, then between Obi Wan and Darth Maul. Someone had merged all the duel clips that Lucas foolishly interrupted with countless jumps to scenes of Jar Jar and whatnot (what the hell is wrong with Lucas??). The uninterrupted saber combat is a lot more exciting to watch and actually makes a good scene, if you are willing to tolerate one or two jarring cuts.