My kids (10 and 7 (and 4, but I’m not worried about him)) are into Star Wars from the cartoon series and the Angry Birds games. I think they are old enough to watch the real thing. Starting this weekend, Spike TV is running all 6 movies and I’m going to DVR them. Should I start with Episode 1 or Epsiode IV? I saw IV-VI when they originally came out. I saw Ep 1 when it came out but wasn’t impressed and never saw II or III. Will it make more sense to them going I - VI?
Start with Star Wars.
Hide the existence of The Phantom Menace from them for as long as possible.
The last time we did this, the most popular orders were 4-5-6-1-2-3 or the intriguing 4-5-1-2-3-6.
4-5-1-2-3-6? Hmmm… for someone not very into the SW universe, what is the advantage to that order?
A New Hope - The Empire Strikes Back - Return of the Jedi
Then stop.
Here’s a great article on the 4-5-1-2-3-6 (also called “Machete Order”). I think it makes the best sense by far. You can even drop 1, though since you have kids, 1 might be fun for them.
It’s spelled out in the article, but basically you get to the big reveal, then do the flashback/origin story stuff, and then get the dramatic victory of good over evil and the happy ending.
Watching them in numerical order is worse because you don’t know why you should care about Anakin and the big reveal is ruined (which is, IMO, the crowning moment of the entire series), and watching them in release order ends on a bit of a rough note, and places the worst movie up front and the best ones at the back.
Machete order also lets you skip 1 if you want (which really adds nothing, and is easily the worst of the movies).
That wa s agreat article, thanks. Makes sense to me. The kids do love the pod race sequence from the video game, but they can watch that later…
One too many.
people suggesting watching all 6 movies. even people calling Star Wars “a new hope”
awful lot of gotdanged casual fans here
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
stop
please don’t expose your children to the other stuff or the special editions
it’s kinda sad that a generation of kids will grow up thinking greedo fired a shot 
I went IV, V with my daughter; I then asked if she wanted to see how Darth Vader got that way; she said yes, so we went I-II-III, which she loved, and then VI.
While lots of intriguing conversations may be launched when they are older, the prequels are best ignored until they can understand the poor decisions made by the writer/director.
Just show IV, V, VI and discuss the prequels when they discover them on their own.
At which point in the order should they see the Star Wars Holiday Christmas Special?
They already watched the cartoon series, so presumably, they will want to at least see where the characters there come from.
I think machete order (4-5-2-3-6, skip 1) is the way to go.
When you disown them.
4, 5, half of 6, then the Clone Wars. Then introduce them to the EU books and let them go.
After they die. Happy Life Day.
:dubious:
Did you misspeak there? Release order is 4,5,6,1,2,3. I would agree with “ends on a bit of a rough note,” but “worst movie up front and the best ones at the back” makes no sense.
I don’t think the kids are going to take the prequels as a personal insult like old fans do. Especially if they’ve been enjoying the CGI Clone Wars. They may very well like the prequels better.
If you were showing them to adults I would say go in the order hey came out with Star Wars (Episode IV) first (Bonus: ending with Episode Three makes you want to watch Star Wars Again :)).
For kids, I think you should start in Episode Order. Episode I is made with kids in mind. And for all its flaws, kids like it. I’m afraid the dated effects and pacing of the original trilogy would bore little kids.