6 film saga to be seen straight through in what order???

Cutting the actual movies into different order (not just watching in different order) is something that Chris Gore of Film Threat proposed a while ago. He had some cool ideas:

The Adventures of Anakin Skywalker
Perhaps these Star Wars prequels are flawed because you really don?t need three movies and seven hours of screen time to answer one simple question: Why did Anakin Skywalker turn to the Dark Side to become Darth Vader? An ambitious editor might consider assembling a cut called simply ?The Adventures of Anakin Skywalker.? Once all three prequels are complete, Episodes I, II and III may be edited into one epic three-hour movie which deals solely with Anakin?s story. We don?t need to know every detail of what occurs in the galactic senate or about Palpatine?s rise to power, or Padme?s story or Obi-Wan?s or Jar Jar's, for that matter. The first ten or twenty minutes of this cut might feature footage of the young, nine year-old Anakin, and with so little screen time, he might actually be tolerable. I?d love to see one long space saga, which focuses all of its attention on the only story thread in the prequels that fans actually care about.

The Adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi
Do the same as above, simply put all the attention on Master Obi-Wan himself. It would be fascinating to see the story from his perspective alone. Imagine a two-hour version with only details of Kenobi?s journey. Cool, huh? Heck, why not go ahead and edit a Padme or Jar Jar version?

Star Wars: The ?Godfather II? Cut
My buddy, composer Joe Kraemer, suggested this one. Director Francis Ford Coppola chose a revolutionary way to cut his sequel to The Godfather and many feel that The Godfather II, surpassed the original. In fact, it remains the only sequel to win a Best Picture Oscar. Strange that George Lucas himself once commented to Coppola that he did not like the director?s choice to intercut the stories of young Vito Corleone set in the early 1900s with that of Michael Corleone?s present day trials set in the 1950s. The two Godfather tales contrasted each other ? Vito used warmth, understanding and the occasional assassination in his rise to power while Michael became colder and more distant represented by his divorce and ordering the killing of his own brother.

Wouldn?t it be amazing to see young Anakin?s story from the prequel trilogy intercut with Luke?s story from the original trilogy in a kind of Godfather II fashion? An editor might choose to contrast the similar elements of Anakin?s tale (leaving Tatooine, blowing up the Federation Starship, having his arm chopped off by Dooku) with Luke?s journey (leaving Tatooine, blowing up the Death Star, having his hand chopped off by Darth Vader). Okay, so we all know that George would hate it, but the possibilities make the imagination run wild! Taking all six Star Wars movies (about 14 hours or more of footage) and cutting them into one giant epic focused squarely on Anakin?s tragic tale of redemption through his lost son, contrasting with Luke?s adventures, is one that could be inspiring and moving.

Whole article is here:
http://www.filmthreat.com/GoreyDetails.asp?Id=214

If anyone ever burns a DVD of any unique cuts, like the Obi-Wan journey cut, please let me know where I can PayPal you for a copy!

 

As to this "preserving the Vader/Anakin mystery" thing re: the end of Empire- I think you're all imagining a future that doesnt exist. Unless the kid in question is about 5 (in which case they'd be too young to care anyway), the fact that Vader is Lukes father is so ingrained into the contemporary mythos of our society that I doubt they'll be many people who wont know about the 'revelation' before they've seen the films anyway.

And ask anyone whos first episode was TPM to explain what the Force is and they'll give you a 100% perfect answer.

 

But I think if you show the films to a kid when he's about 8 or so, he probably wouldn't have had any way to find it out. Sure, it's a part of pop culture, but not something that comes up often in every day life. A kid (and his/her friends) would be interested in the current cartoon of the day, whatever new movie is out, etc. The kids at school won't probably be talking about old movies like Star Wars.

So as long as you get the kid in as early as possible, you should be able to preserve the surprise.

 

first time viewers will be confused or just miss it entirely and think the Gungan leader is a moron. (Which he is, but that's another conversation)

I actually like that it's so subtle. It's one of those elements clearly designed for repeat viewers to make them say, "Cool! I never noticed that before!"

 

The mind trick thing is just a perfect example of what I was saying... the OT was written as the intro to the SW universe. It's in TPM as an in-joke for people who saw the old movies 1st. When you watch Ep IV 1st, you get a proper introduction to the JMT. If you were brand new to the movies (back to the 8 yr old), the TPM intro makes no sense. Even the Watto scene would mean absolutely nothing to you.
Not a big deal but the point is there are lots of things like that because of the order of creation, not sequence.

p.s. How about just a lottery where you watch them in a random order like on a CD player? Now that could mess with your mind.

 

If you were brand new to the movies (back to the 8 yr old), the TPM intro makes no sense. Even the Watto scene would mean absolutely nothing to you.

The Watto scene could not have been more obvious. The film had already established that the Jedi have extraordinary powers, and it was apparent even before Watto mentioned it that Qui-Gon was attempting to influence him using something similiar to hypnosis (it's impossible to miss Qui-Gon waving his hand across Watto's face). And if that wasn't clear enough, Watto flat out says, "What, you think you're some kinda Jedi waving your hands around like that? Mind-tricks don'ta work on me!"

I might turn your own question around: How could that not make sense?

 

I think 1,2,3,4,5,6 but I'm not sure. That is how I will watch them the first time after ROTS comes out on DVD and I can finally watch them straight through. If that doesn't work for me I'll change it.

 

RotS just sealed the deal. 1-6.
The 6 films work better that way, and seeing that sunuva ***** Palpatine get what he's got coming to him is 1000X more powerful in order.

 

I think it is virtually impossible for us to answer this, because we all know the films too well.

However, in the future, as the generations that grew up with only the OT is vanishing, I do believe 1-6 will be the way to go.

 

After ROTS, I no longer have any doubt...1-6.

ROTS would destroy you if you didn't know what happens. So many points where people are dying that would shock you, so many horrible things happening. To see Anakin's fall would break your heart. I even KNEW it was coming and it still hurt me.

I can't imagine how powerful this movie would be without knowing the outcome. If these movies had been released in order, this film very well could have been regarded as one of the boldest and most stunning films of all time.

 

good point. hadnt thought of that.

 

There is one small moment in particular that I think would be TENSE, but I won't mention it in this thread.

 

I have no doubt about it: 1-6. I can't see it any other way now.