Best Sequence of Viewing for Star Wars Virgins.

The breakdown between generations is hilarious to behold. It used to be a much longer period of time that the younger ones would throw down what the previous generation held dear. Not so anymore. A shame. You guys don't know how great 4-6 really were. I pity you.

 

The only way to see it is: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The rest should only be watched as punishiment.

 

Order of release AND chronological order, overlapping:


Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Episode IV: A New Hope (se)
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (se)
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (se)

 

I prefer watching them 1-6. But I first watched them in order of release, and yet I didn't really get to experience the father twist.

I figured the bad guys winning everything in ROTS would be a good twist for first time viewers though, as everyone knows "I am your father" already, but they may not know the context of it.

 

I agree. It is still a terrifying revelation to Luke even though it is no longer a revelation to the audience. And that's the point.

 

The preferred order is PT, OT. Except with Blade Runner in place of the PT.

I know the story won't make sense, but look at it this way. You get a better Coruscant and you get Harrison Ford.

 

Oh please. Don't hate things because they are new. PT acting is wooden, but so is OT. Dialogue is convulted in both trilogies. You may say "I can tell that is CGI." Well of course you can. We aren't that high tech. And in the original trilogy, the animation and models are just as obvious.

Stop bashing the PT. Yes, the OT bashers are wrong, but so are you if you sink to their level.

However, I'll probably be ignored, because I'm young, and young people are always wrong.

 

Well said, Jedi-Dervish, and don't let your own age fool you.

 

hear hear

 

Found this post on another board. Someone seems to agree with me.

 

ANH: SE
TESB: SE
ROTJ: SE
TPM
AOTC
Clone Wars Vol 1 & 2
ROTS

If they are Star Wars virgins, they are NOT going to care about changes from the O-OT. Trust me.

 

Oh please. Don't hate things because they are new. PT acting is wooden, but so is OT. Dialogue is convulted in both trilogies. You may say "I can tell that is CGI." Well of course you can. We aren't that high tech. And in the original trilogy, the animation and models are just as obvious.

Stop bashing the PT. Yes, the OT bashers are wrong, but so are you if you sink to their level.

However, I'll probably be ignored, because I'm young, and young people are always wrong.

But that's it. Some really feel the OT is better, some the PT, some the SE, some think all of its the same. The only wrong view on this is that any of these views are solid fact.

 

Well, I have never done this, though my three current best ways in my mind to view them would be as follows:

IV V I II Clone Wars Cartoons III VI

IV V VI I II Cone Wars Cartoons III

I II Clone Wars Cartoons III IV V VI

I'm not sure which would be best though. Having already seen them sort of spoils the effect.

 

My main concern about the "I II Clone Wars Cartoons III IV V VI" viewing technique would be whether or not people who have never seen it could get past Episode I without getting bored and thinking the rest of the sage will be silly...

 

I wasn't bored after recently watching TPM. But I nearly became bored reading the above statement, which seemed like another stupid snipe at the PT.

 

I'm really curious about whether first-time viewers shown 1-6 get confused about Hayden at the end of Jedi:SE-DVD. I KNOW anyone who sees IV-V-VI-I-II-III would.

 

I - VI is the only way to view the saga.

Oft touted is the fact that viewing the series in this order will spoil the moment in The Empire Strikes Back where Darth Vader reveals that he is Luke's father. However, pop culture has already fairly well accomplished that. In addition, watching the saga in release order spoils the surprises in Episodes I - III, such as Tyranus' revelation that the senate is in league with Lord Sidious, that the kindly Senator Palpatine will slowly eat up more and more power, that that same senator will reveal himself to be the Dark Lord of the Sith, and ultimately, that our hero will fall to the Dark Side, becoming a tyrant and a mass murderer. Similarly, watching the saga I - VI adds an edge to the threat that Luke will fall to the Dark Side, following in his father's footsteps.

Also brought up constantly is the idea that The Phantom Menace doesn't act as a proper introduction to the saga, that new audiences will be lost without Obi-Wan's exposition. I think people who cling to this argument are seriously underestimating the viewer. The opening crawl establishes the role of the Jedi Knights succinctly, while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's escapades on the Trade Federation battleship give us everything we need to know about a Jedi's abilities. They have laserswords, lightning reflexes, super speed, clairvoyance, and telekenesis. The Star Wars films are heavily inspired by Eastern cinema; no one questions how the Shaolin monks of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or the assassins of Hero accomplish the remarkable feats they perform. It is simply accepted that these indivduals have remarkable powers, and the viewer of The Phantom Menace will accept the same of the Jedi Knights.

 

I would say watch ANH, ESB, and ROTJ in that order and then forget the new ones even exist.

 

I've been into STAR WARS since before the first time I watched the movie STAR WARS in 1977, so the order that I first viewed each STAR WARS episode was in order by episode release. And that absolutely worked.

Once I evened my number of viewings for each STAR WARS episode, I watched the STAR WARS SAGA in order by episode number, starting with STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, immediately followed by STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, immediately followed by STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH, immediately followed by STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE, immediately followed by STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, immediately followed by and completed with STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI, all on the same date and that absolutely worked.

Each time that I have watched the STAR WARS episodes since evening the number of viewings for each, it has been in order by episode number. And that absolutely works.

If I were to recommend an order to watch the STAR WARS episodes for the first time viewing them, I would recommend viewing them in order by episode number.

Regardless of whether first time viewing is in order by episode number or in order by episode release, the viewer doing either is in for something absolutely special. Enjoy!

 

It's the weirdest thing. I introduced my long-term missus to the wonders of the saga a couple of years ago - she finds all of the OT unspeakably boring; she just cannot get into them no matter how much she tries. PT - she'll watch every minute of every one, particularly Eps 2/3.

Last weekend she took me down to London for the Star Wars exhibition; I shed tears at Vader's costume, the Star Destroyer Bridge and Han in carbonite; she went loopy for Anakin's Ep. 3 Dark Side costume and Count Dooku's conference chair.

Go figure.

 

This is proably the most effective -- and eloquent -- defense of the PT in general, and TPM specifically, that I have ever read. (Full discolosure: I love the PT films though I think they're flawed.) SithPriestess, you make an extremely persuasive case for watching the Saga I-VI.

That said, I will offer that the beauty of a multi-part Saga is that someone who loves the films -- even the new viwer who's made a fan on the spot -- will come back to them time and again, in a variety of orders or just, sometimes, a single episode at a time. There may be no 'best' or 'only' way to watch the Saga, except whichever way one feels is right for the moment.

 

Recently I had a few friends around and starting at about ten o'clock in the moring we viewed the saga in the 4, 1, 2, 5, 3, 6 so called "Tarantino Order" Episodes 4,1, 2, 5 were received well though not exstatically and episode 3 was received vitriotically. I sat there embaressed and incredibly dissapointed (I was ready for some criticism, but this!) as my friends bagged the absolute crap out of episode 3. I was genuinely stunned with their reaction. "This is so bad!!" was the typical reaction. I had always liked episode 3, and on repeated viewings i had enjoyed it. I suggested afterwards to one of my friends that people didnt like it because the emotional seriousness conflicted with the jollyness of our gettogether. No, he replied, it was because the film was crap with bad diologue and bad acting. That was it, there was no compromise...no suggestion of any good acting or any good scenes...there was even criticism of the fact that Vader had been given human qualities with the prequels. While it was a great social occasion my enjoyment of the saga was severely hampered, my ability to suspend disbelief curtailed. Hayden Christensen was attacked for his acting particularly. My friend who I talked to afterwards sported an attitude of "man, youre deluding yourself, get overit...people were sick of bad movies by episode iii and hated it" Earlier in the evening some had said however that they liked one better than three...

Regardless the reaction to episode iii was truly unexpected...so much for it's being on par with ESB...I was genuinely saddened, in a way, by my peer's reactions...i had always enjoyed episode iii in the past but the story didnt seem to concern them and the emotional impact the film was supposed to have fell on deaf ears (except mine). There were nine or ten friends there and not one of them had anything at all positive to say about iii-it was most badly received. My friend afterwards obviously thought i needed a reality check!!

Anyway...it would seem that film viewing order is only part of the equation. I would say that if you wanna have a truly spectacular sitting of the saga with newcomers, in which you and the newbie can become totally enthrawled by the story (as didnt happen with me) you gotta do it with fewer people and start quite early (circa 8 to 9 am) so that people dont get tired. I dunno, anyhow any thoughts on why they hated iii so much...i think my friend was perhaps right but is the film that bad?

 

I think they were tired and cranky after 9 or 10 hours of watching a TV screen. ROTS was the most well-received Star Wars movie since the original film, both among fans and among critics. The dialogue is no cornier and the acting so more stylized than in any other PT film. At the very least, it contains brilliant action sequences and spectacular visual FX. Your complainy friends were too jaded, near the end of this butt-numbing marathon session, to see the beauty of it all.

 

I think marathoning the films (in any order) is a mistake for anyone who is not a really, really hardcore fan. Hell, I am a fan but have never done the marathon, nor would I want to--twelve hours is just too long to watch anything on TV. I understand that for some hardcore Star Wars fans it is fun, but I would never introduce someone new to Star Wars that way. I would start with whatever film was my favorite place to start (for me that is Star Wars '77) and if they liked it, give them a week to digest it, then show the next one (for me ESB), etc. If you show them all together like that it is a bit overwhelming, not to mention it might seem very redundant, as they will not notice all the subtelty that repeated viewing of the saga has made us see; rather they will see "yet another lightsaber fight" or "yet another space battle" etc. It takes time to let things settle in your mind. Breaking it up allows people to see parallels and constrasts, etc. If I had to watch 12 hours of it without any background I wouldn't have liked it much either after about the first 3 hours.

 

Agreed. The marathon as an introduction would be far too overwhelming.