Saga If introducing someone new to SW. Which trilogy would you have them watch first?

I have my son hooked on Star Wars now (he turned 4 in September). Up until today, he had only seen the original trilogy. In fact, tonight while watching Ep3, my wife had asked me a question, and he answered -

"In the real Star Wars, Darth Vader cut off Luke's arm and then told him 'I am your father'.

The prequel trilogy really wasn't holding his attention today, but he gets wrapped up in the original trilogy and its hard to get his attention off of it when he's watching it.

I think the answer to this question might depend on the age of the person you're introducing it to.

 

The original. I'm actually putting this into practice with my four year old son. We watched Star Wars (ANH) together four months ago, and he loves it. He can't wait to see Empire Strikes Back, and he's already decided his favorite characters are Yoda and Boba Fett. My plan is to watch that with him in March. He'll be blown away!

 

I would do 4-5-1-2-3-6. IMO, that seems to have the best dramatic effect.

 

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that, but it would be a different experience for sure.

 

I agree with Binky. This is my preferred sequence.

 

I have a friend in his 40s who had of course seen the OT and the TPM and ATOC but never ROTS. Recently he re-watched the whole Saga with a friend of his who had never seen any Star Wars. As per my advice, they watched it in the proper numerical order. Two things happened:

1.) His friend became an immediate convert to Star Wars.
2.) He later told me "Episode III is easily the best Star Wars film!"

 

My sister loved it in 1-6, ATOC was hook line and sinker for her, who said the love story was wack in that movie huh

 

It seems like one big coincidence that everyone who post's here that someone they knew who watched the saga for the first time, always agrees with THEIR order of watching it?

 

Well to be honest are you surprised

 

Age is a subjective thing. The guy who wrote the blogs about his children seeing the films for the first time, were close to that age and yet were able to be engrossed by the OT and the PT. More than likely it is whatever entrances the child. Some will like one over the other and some will like both.

 

Generally, because that's the order they saw it in. Most people here claim the best order is the one they saw it in originally. Doesn't take much thinking to figure that out.

 

Not so for me. I saw the OT long before the PT was released but numerical order is the only one I believe in.

 

My preferred order is based on a number of factors, but the main two are:

3 and 4 don't work well back to back as they are the least and most technologically advanced films.
"I am your father," screams for an explanation!

 

That's why I said most, not all. There are some excellent exceptions such as yourself.

 

YOu see I think its a perfect transition, I was cynical about it a first esp about the technology, but I have to say the fact that episode 4 is technically inferior works in its favour in fact, what I like about it is how action packed and a lot transpires in ROTS, that way by the time we reach ANH, it gives the viewer enough time to breathe by introducing the new characters, re-introducing the old characters, explaining what has happened since (the downfall of the republic, rise of the rebellion, the strained relationship between Obi-Wan and Owen), and of course the old guard passing (Obi-Wan) the torch down to the new (Luke). Then after all that it gets straight back int the action and continues on with conflict.

 

I was talking about which order they 'prefer' to watch after they have seen the movies. So if you are a 1-6 person, then people always post that the a newcomer they showed it loved it that way. Then you have a 4-6,1-3 person showing it to a newcomer that way, and they loved it too.

So my point is that it is no coincidence that whenever someone posts showing a newcomer 'their preferred way' it always works out perfect. I'm still waiting for that first person to post, "I prefer 1-6, so I showed a newcomer the movies in that order, and it didn't really work for them, etc." And vice versa....

Furthers my point that most people who post in this thread about stuff like this have an agenda on both sides.

Then again, its the internet, so we can all make up whatever we want about stuff like this since we don't talk face to face and don't know each other. In retrospect, I politely walk away from this conversation.

 

I actually really like this. Pretty cool idea that preserves the Anakin reveal.

 

That not really an issue as I see it. ROTS has the last days of the war. ANH is a small band of freedom fighters fighting to survive at the start of their war. I think the two fit nicely.

Huh?

 

That wasn't really my concern, although that is a good point too . I just feel like 4-5 will introduce the story, as they did to us originally, and then in 5 you get that new info- "I am your father" and all that- and then 1-3 serve almost like flashbacks explaining. Then you go back to 6 to wrap things up (for now).

I've also considered (and I think others have posted it in the earlier responses to this thread) 4-5-6*-1-2-3-6*, the first asterisk being "stop ROTJ when Luke finishes up on Dagobah" and the second being to start back up at that point. But that may be going a little overboard.

 

If I were going to mix it up, I think the 1-4-2-5-3-6 "parallel structure" provides some interesting narrative possibilities as an alternative to 4-5-1-2-3-6.

 

Well, I really think it depends on the effect you're going for. Although I did not grow up during the time of the release of the originals, I had a father who did, and he showed them to me in the order that they were released. That way did work very nicely for me.

However, I am incredibly intrigued by this idea of 4-5-1-2-3-6. I think it's good to start with the original. I also like that Empire follows immediately after it. And I like that Return of the Jedi is last!

Also, look at that arrangement. If I think about the true quality of these films, I'd have to say that they come in pairs. Empire and A New Hope, for me, are sort of on the same level of amazing. Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith are also very close in quality. They remind me of each other in strange ways. Also, the weakest films of the six get shown back to back as well.

I say this because I have a thing about keeping things consistent!

 

OK, while we shuffle the numbers around, what about this.
1-2. Oh, Anakin as a boy and a teenager, what could go wrong?
4-5. Who's that guy in black Samurai armor? Wait, he's Luke Skywalker's father? And Palpy's words in Ep 5... No. It can't be.
3. Good Lord, it is true, all of it! Anakin becomes Vader! Noooooo!
6. Oh, well, at least it ends on a high note. Anakin is back. And dead.

 

It's a variation on what is known as the Machete Order. This is the order I'd recommend, not only for the reasons listed on that site but also because:

1) It provides a buffer between ESB and ROTJ. When they came out obviously there were years between them, but watching them back to back now there's a great deal of anguish when Han gets frozen, but then you pop the next video on and they get him out within 15 minutes.

2) The Machete Order website notes the similarities between the way Anakin looks in ROTS to the way Luke looks in ROTJ, but doesn't mention something that I thought was amazingly relevant - at the end of ESB Luke gets his ass kicked because he had a vision of his friends dying, and went to save them and instead got humbled. In AOTC and ROTS Anakin has a series of visions of his his family dying, tries to save them and as a result falls to the dark side. It creates tension.

3) The fact that everything in AOTC and ROTS is really shiny and high res is because those films were made 25+ years after the ANH and ESB and in that time special effects had developed a great deal. If viewed chronologically epI - VI you get this disconnect between ROTS and ANH where all of the shiny stuff in the universe ceases to exist, because the technology for that didn't exist in the mid 1970s when ANH was made. By casting AOTC and ROTS as idealistic flashbacks to what was considered a better time in the galaxy you can from a storytelling perspective better justify the fact that everyone had holo projectors and similar, and back in the OT everyone is relying on CRT screens. still.

 

What about this order:

IV I II III V VI

A lot of OT-first fans say that ANH is the only film that can serve as an opening. I disagree, but for the sake of discussion, I'll play along. So here, it goes first. Now, of course, we know that ESB was released as Episode V. It was planned as the 5th film in the story. Wouldn't it makes sense, then, to show it 5th? So you get the intro with IV. Then you watch the PT and learn how things aren't exactly the way Obi-Wan portrayed them. Then you come back to the OT to see how things are concluded -- if Luke finds out the truth and what will happen to everyone.

What do you think?

 

Interesting theories, but even me who is a die hard I-VI viewer, would prefer IV-VI&I-II over some sort of choppy viewing. I prefer my films to flow seamlessly.