I thought but was because the original post that suggested this order was by someone who had the User name of Machete. I am pretty sure that was it because I was on the Internet when the whole thing started. It was an early example of something going viral.
There are worse things than watching IV again.
They have, I think. I’ve seen a number of “reactors” on YouTube watching Star Wars, and many of them begin by saying something like “The only thing I know about Star Wars is ‘Luke, I am your father.’”
They do tend to be a bit surprised that it doesn’t happen in Episode IV, however.
And misquoting it, presumably… 
I concur, wholeheartedly.
The desire to regress to a chronology of the events in a collection sacrifices artistic expression for a sense of rule-following. Watching/reading a series in a chronological (but counter-to-creation) order is an interesting and sometimes insightful experience for fans, but will likely lead to a sub-optimal experience with all aspects of the art. There are other things besides in-world chronology that unfold over the course of a work; sacrificing those threads to meet an arbitrary desire to tell the story front-to-back wrecks the art.
WRT Star Wars, people are free to like what they like, of course, but if you, @f.coli , were drawn in by the original films, I assume they are why you want to share Star Wars? What value is there to show someone a different movie first? Does ‘A New Hope’ become a better experience after watching 9 hours of prequels? Is ‘The Phantom Menace’ a better movie if you haven’t seen IV/V/VI?
Now, if a particular story doesn’t matter, but you’re just interested in having someone get hooked into a “universe”, there may be some arguments for skipping to the good parts (maybe that really amazing movie, while it depends on previous knowledge and story, still can stand alone as a kick-ass experience and will bring people in), but I don’t think that applies to Star Wars.
They know that, and they know who that little green muppet that Luke encounters on Dagobah is, which is another spoiler for Empire.
I saw the original trilogy when I was a kid. Got steeped in the lore for a while and was really annoyed when Lucas declared all those tie-in novels I’d read non-canon. By the time I got to the final scenes of Episode III, things felt like the makers were ticking off a checklist. Bam, bam, bam, everything accounted for it the setup for the “later” episodes. So there’s an argument for newbies watching it in episode order, not release order.
I’m in favor of watching Ep III as a flashback right after the Dagobah scene in VI and skipping I and II entirely.
4, 5, 6, then Rogue One, then Force Awakens. Let them know there are more if they want to explore further.
Both are plagued by the same exact issues. Bad writing and acting are as much a part of Star Wars as lightsabers and droids. The problem with the prequels is that the CGI looks soulless and clean compared to the lived in feeling of the practical effects and sets of the originals. Frankly, not THAT big a deal. Now, the problem with the sequels is that they invalidate everything in the original trilogy and turn all the heroes into complete losers who didn’t get any happy ending. That seems like a bigger crime to me, but I doubt new viewers would be affected all that much.
I’ve heard this also called the “Butcher’s Cut” but it was the exact same idea. You get Episodes 4 and 5, and 5 gives you the “big reveal”, then you go back to 2 and 3 for the backstory as how Anakin went bad (skipping Episode 1 which is straight trash and doesn’t honestly give anything relevant for the story and things best forgotten and never referenced again anyway), then you get Episode 6 for the redemption arc. It really is the best way to experience the movies in my opinion.
I do also like Rogue One, in fact for many reasons it’s my favorite Star Wars film, but it’s such a sideways shift that I don’t recommend watching it within this marathon. It takes too much focus away from the characters that are a key part of the main series that I’d say watch it separately. But I do strongly encourage it. Heck, maybe do a whole other marathon on its own, watch the Andor TV series and then immediately after that watch the Rogue One film.
(In fact, my wife and I went back to see the movie again right after we finished the show. It gave the ending a real gut-punch.)
I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, so my opinion probably doesn’t matter much, but…
I saw A New Hope (IV) in the theater when it came out in 1977. I loved it. And I remember it being a little bit campy and easy to follow along, which I also loved. (I was almost ten years old at the time.) I saw The Empire Strikes Back when it came out in 1980, and it was great, too, with lots of cool action. When Return of the Jedi came out I was bit disappointed - I agree with Randal Graves when he said, “All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets.” A number of years ago I watched a couple of the other films with my daughter, and did not like them at all - it was obvious Lucas was going in a deeper and more serious direction, which I hated. He should have stayed campy.
When do you show the Holiday Special?
In the prequel films, for large portions we went from Star Wars to Star C-SPAN. Though I still think there were good parts of Episode 2 (just about everything outside the wretched Padme/Anakin romance) and I enjoyed the vast majority of Episode 3; it was certainly the best of the prequels (low bar, clearly).
When you’re really drunk and/or hate yourself and anyone else around.
Carrie Fisher had a copy she received from Lucas and would use it for her own benefit when needed.
Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher said she’d play the holiday special at parties to get guests to leave
Once a year, with Rifftrax commentary. 