Rogue One After Rogue One, what's the best viewing order?

I would start with Caravan of Courage then the Holiday Special then The Clone Wars film. The others no one really cares about.

 

Agreed. Although, strangely, my wife tends to typically enjoy things like GoT, Vikings and period dramas. I think my own cheeseball, cartoonish sense of humour may have acclimatised her in preparation...

 

Fair enough! My wife? Halfway into A New Hope, she'd told both Luke and Han to shut the **** up.

 

Why do you think that?

Me personally, I've very much in favor of chronological order (and with us now getting movies that jump around the timeline, that might become the simplest way to show a total newbie everything in one marathon. However, I can see the point that ANH is a pretty good starting point, since it explains a lot of the rules and eases people into the world the best. I'm not sure that TFA does that. A lot of it seems to depend on knowing the backstory of the other movies.

 

When showing a noob, chrono order is best imo.

My personal viewing order is always completely random and out of order dependent on mood.

 

This is always going to be anecdotal, but I think TFA gives you all you need to know to enjoy the movie (and, more importantly, to understand the appeal of Star Wars). It really captures what originally hooked people in 1977, but makes it more accessible for modern audiences.

 

Okay.

 

Depending on their ages, I'd say many of them were failed by their parents before that point. My son was already a huge SW fan before we saw TFA. Come on people, it's called responsible parenting.

 

4-6, 1-3, R1, TFA, TLJ, E9 for me. Going to be interesting to see where I put the Han Solo movie.

 

If you just did chronological, it would be easy to decide.

 

Sure, that would be easy. Doing the wrong thing usually is.

 

Release order is still my preference, although at this point I don't think it really matters if RO or TFA comes before or after each other. I'm leaning towards OT, PT, RO then the new trilogy - 7,8,9 just not to interrupt the flow. I'll fit the side movies around that as they come out.
I introduced my niece recently to the OT, and we'll get around to the PT when we can, then the newer films. If we run short on time I might bypass the PT so she can see TFA before TLJ comes out. I think it's not terribly important as long as you see the OT first.
I'm not seeing much talk about how people fit Clone Wars and Rebels into things. My take is to watch them after the OT and PT but before the newer films.
I'm always appalled when I hear people suggesting chronological over release order at least for 1-6 as you lose all the twists of Vader as Luke's father, Leia as his sister. Chronological isn't always the best way to tell a story.

 

My wife's uncle just asked for a recommendation on how to watch Star Wars, since he's only seen "the latest one" and (I suspect) TPM.

I said ANH, ESB and ROTJ, followed by TFA and TLJ and capped off with R1 as an optional extra. After that, the PT is there if he's still interested. Despite what I said earlier, I figured a 60 year old would cope OK with how 70s ANH is.

 

I think the prequels can be put aside as optional.
The thing is, they get better as they go on. RotS is pretty great in places even if I cringe at Padme dying of a broken heart. But getting somebody all the way through TPM can be tough. It has it's great moments (Darth Maul makes up for a lot), but it's rough parts are pretty rough (Jar Jar, kid Anakin). I think it would've been a much better movie if they'd started with a teen Anakin instead of a kid. I'm still baffled as to why they thought Anakin being a kid in TPM was the way to go. That and cutting Jar Jar and the racial sterotype aliens.

 

I think all three prequels have positives and negatives: Neeson helps TPM a lot, which is the best looking of the three as well; AOTC is pretty good if you ignore the romance and the third act; ROTS has a cathartic edge to it. But they're films that work best if either a) you're young or b) you're already invested in the universe. So I see them sort of as appendices similar to the "Star Wars Story" branding.

 

I think there's a fair chance if I had started my niece with TPM she wouldn't have been invested enough to watch more. It's just not as strong as ANH, which did hold her attention, enough so that she may now be invested enough to watch TPM.

 

I think it obviously depends on what the intent of the viewing order is. My previous posts in here have mostly been from an angle of idealism, almost; the way I would like to watch SW if my son and I had time to literally watch all of them in one weekend, for example.

But that is different from the best way to introduce people to the movies... and as much as I like the prequels, I too have to admit that they can't be considered to be absolutely required viewing when the people in question may have limited time and limited attention spans. From that angle, I would agree that it should start with ANH, then ESB, then ROTJ. Then they have the foundation to watch TFA and the others that are coming. And I would also hope they'd be hooked enough at that point to want to go back and watch the prequels, or at the very least to watch RO.

 

Modified Machete Order:

1. A New Hope
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Attack of the Clones (You may be able to cut this film out entirely, I'm not sure)
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. Solo: A Star Wars Story
6. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
7. Return of the Jedi

End of viewing list from now until the end of time, unless Kenobi and Boba Fett are really good.

 

The First.

 

45 123 R1 6 - revised machete - keep ANH far away from R1
R1 123 456 - after the big Vader action at the end of R1 we jump back to his beginnings.
456 123 R1 - ends as we began, this order works even better now.

Anything that has Ep4 following R1 doesn't work for me - too jarring and the end of R1 is too similar to the opening of Ep4.

 

Honestly, for a total newbie, I would really suggest A New Hope as the first Star Wars experience. That film has a beginning, middle, and end, but happens to take place in a 'larger world', to quote one famous character on the movie. Watch the originals first, no matter what, as this is the perfect, almost ageless trilogy of our modern culture, its the original too.

 

You either go Episode 1 and so fourth or you go ANH so fourth.

 

ANH, TESB, TPM, AOTC, ROTS, R1, ROTJ, TFA, TLJ, 9 [Retains the original as the introduction and preserves the Vader reveal, while having the benefit of the prequels for the ROTJ climax]

Or: ANH, TESB, ROTJ, TFA, TLJ, 9, TPM, AOTC, ROTS, R1