Saga In what order do you watch the saga? ... (I-VI)? ... or (IV-VI, then I-III)?

I don't know if this has a thread already. The search function was broken for me.

In what order do you watch the saga? Episodic order (I-VI)? or theatrical release order (IV-VI, then I-III)?

I know GL says that he wants his viewing audience to watch the saga I-VI, but I think he's forgotten that there are so many nods to the OT within the PT that would make little sense to viewers who had never seen the OT before. Much of what he presented in the prequels are a direct result of what was shown in the original trilogy. The shock of the reveal of Luke's parentage and his twin sister would be utterly lost if the saga was viewed I-VI, and so would the reveal of Yoda on Dagobah. In my opinion, the drama of the original trilogy is ruined that way. Episodes I-III were written with the OT in mind, and under the presumption that filmgoers had already seen the OT. If you view the films I-VI, then yes you have a complete story, but it's a story with far less surprises (especially in the OT).

I find it much more satisfying to view the saga in the theatrical release order--- you are expecting a larger than life Jedi warrior on Dagobah, but you meet a diminuitive gremlin instead; you see this iconic villain proclaim that he is the father of the main protagonist, the hero; you see the same iconic villain turn his back on his Master for the love of his son... You're introduced to the Jedi, the Force, the Jedi Mind trick, lightsabers, etc., in a most satisfying way.

Once you've witnessed this well-rounded story (the OT) unfold, then it is most satisfying to go back into the history of the hero turned villain, and explore the reasons why he chose an evil path and became the iconic villain (the PT). To me, the PT serves as a back-story trilogy.

When I introduce people to SW, I always start with Episode IV. In addition to what I indicated above, I feel that if people get used to the oversaturated images of the PT first, then they would probably find ANH utterly boring. I introduced the saga to my nephews in the theatrical release order, and as a result, they absolutely love the OT, and they think the PT is an interesting back story.

Had GL started production on Episode I in 1977 instead of "Star Wars" (later "Episode IV: A New Hope"), then the saga as a whole would have ended up with a completely different story from what we have today, especially in light of how the history of GL's vision for the story progressed. That's another reason why I think it's best to view the story in the order that it ultimately unfolded in the telling.

 

I watch it I-VI almost always. For me, it's really the only way to watch the Saga. ROTJ, despite some flaws, is the only ending I can conceive of. ROTS ends on far too dark a note for me to watch it last. There's also the fact that it really eliminates the looming figure of Vader from Anakin before his turn. By watching the prequels first, I can take Anakin as a character in his own right, without his dark future hanging over him and obscuring the person he is now. Watching the PT first also, I feel, adds another layer of depth to the OT as the threat of failure seems more tangible and it lends a much greater weight to every one of Luke or Leia's successes. There's a sense of unease every time Luke seems to be making the same choices his father made.

Watching it in order also allows us to see the arc of Anakin Skywalker and how he changes from one movie to the next, along with Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Palpatine. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan have an air of terrible sadness and regret and we are aware that their wisdom came at a terrible cost. So, for me, I-VI is the best.

 

I-VI. Although I advise people who have never watched the saga to see IV-I.

 

In the PT, the references to the OT as jokes to OT fans aren't very funny (got that?), and Lucas is basically saying they're not jokes. When the movies are watched in order, everything about the OT seems eerily familiar.

Personally, I grew up with the OT and slowly got used to the PT after ROTS came out. The old favorites get better every time I see them, but so do the new ones.
New fans or first time viewers should probably do I-VI. Nobody's surprised by Yoda or Vader's identities anymore. Though IV-III works almost as well, there's no guarantee everyone's going to like Episode IV better than Episode I. Or Episode VI better than Episode II or III.

But to answer the title, The THX Method

I II III THX-1138 IV V VI

 

I dunno. I watch them in a non-linear way. 1 1/3rd cup of ROTS, mixed with 2 1/4 cups of TPM, mixed with 4/5 of ANH, etc. Slow-mo, fast-forward, re-wind, freeze-frame, sound=on/sound=off, etc. I'm pretty crazy when I watch films these days. I think we may be entering a non-linear era (to put it mildly), thanks to the growth of digital technology. You needn't watch a movie in a rolling, assembly-line fashion. You can dart between movies, between frames, at different speeds, sizes, and with differing sound quality, picture quality, etc. It doesn't really matter. That said, films tend to grip me. If I jump into a film to watch a particular sequence, I may just be overtaken by the film's atmosphere -- its je ne sais quoi -- and end up watching it in a conventional, round-about way. I'm a bit nutty anyway, but I suspect some of my avant-garde movie-watching madness (this, I must stress, tends to be for films I've already seen a few times, not ones new to me, which tend to be watched the old-fashioned way first) might be from all my time on TFN. I'm so used to thinking about the Star Wars films in a non-linear fashion, why wouldn't I watch them in a goofy way, too? Also, I had this spell of picking holes in certain movies, so would watch them endlessly, maybe at 1/4 speed (fight scenes, for example), just to look for "issues". I got out of that phase recently, but it has made me appreciate that films literally have hundreds of mistakes, many so small that they are actually perceived as flawless moments of movie magic (our own universe may work in a similar fashion (to put it in the crudest of terms) : classical physics for the macroscopic world we inhabit versus quantum mechanics and apparent strangeness/messiness in the world of the very small). I'll give you a tiny example: if you watch a scene with multiple edits very, very closely, you'll see that the positions of actors' heads, fingers, toes, etc., and the strands of clothing they wear, etc., never entirely match up, though sometimes it's very hard to spot a mismatch. When I discovered this (though it should be obvious just as an article of thought), I realized how much siller (in my opinion) objections to "mistakes" in Star Wars, whether "accidental" (e.g., saber issues in the 2004 DVDs) or "overt" (e.g., Jar Jar) really are. I guess I have cubist tendencies. You should see my bedroom! (Best ever excuse for being a disorganized, lazy cad? I think so!).

 

Some interesting perspectives here.

With no maliciousness intended toward those who love TPM, another reason I start people off with Episode IV is because I feel that TPM is by far the weakest of the films. I would rather introduce someone to SW on a strong note.

It is also along those lines that I am disappointed that the 3D experience will begin with Episode I. I would have preferred it starting with Episode IV.

Mind you, I recall the point being made by one of you forum posters a while back that by the time Episode IV comes out in 3D, the technology will be (nearly) perfected-- therefore, it's probably best to experiment on the PT first, then have all the kinks worked out by the time the OT movies are released.

My son will be around 5 by the time the The Empire Strikes Back comes out. If I introduce him to ANH on Blu-Ray first, then bring him to see TESB in 3D, it will blow his mind (the same way TESB blew my mind when I was his age!). So the timing is actually pretty good.

 

I start with the OT, then move on to the PT. Simply put, I watch in that order because that's how I had seen the movies while growing up. To watch in a different order just doesn't seem right. Other times, if I'm not watching a marathon, I'll pop one in at random. So, if one day I feel like watching ESB, then another day, RotS, I'll do that. It's simply a matter of routine and preference that particular day.

 

There are only 3 ways to watch the saga in my opinion.

1-2-3-4-5-6
4-5-6-1-2-3
4-1-2-5-3-6

The third method was created by someone else on this board in another thread, and unfortunatley I just cant remember his username. I actually have never tried it, but if there is a method that works other than chronilogical method and the release method, this is it. It keeps the story as linear as possible by treating the prequels as flashbacks, and it maintains all the surprises.

 

I-VI-II-V-III-IV.

Just kidding .

Little bit like TrakNar posted above.

I'm really among those who have a hard time seeing the 2 trilogies as one whole continuing cinematographic Saga. Too much time gap between their production and release, and too many stylistic and story themes discrepancies and discontinuity for me. Almost everytime I watch Either IV-V-VI or I-II-III, and of course sometime just one of the movies by itself.

I recently tried watching in chronological order for once, just like Mr Lucas wants it to be seen now, but it doesn't change anything to the way I see the OT. Probably because I can't get out of my head the way I saw and felt it before the PT release when I was a kid, especially regarding the few cryptic and mysterious backstory elements contained in the OT that were at the time left open to personal imagination and anticipation.

 

I'm trying to work out if method 3 maintains all surprises...

 

It's literally impossible to keep the surprise of Anakin turning to the Dark Side and "I am your father". So, it's one or the other.

For me it's 1-6.
The "flashback" method is a cool idea on paper, but in reality it doesn't work because the PT is not designed as a huge flashback. They are three complete movies, which have much more than just "Vader's backstory".
Besides, each trilogy has a distinctive feeling.

4-6, 1-3 works fine for Episodes IV and V, but VI doesn't really work well (Vader is suddenly a "good guy", the main bad guy is someone almost never seen before...). Ep. I doesn't quite work as well. And you loose all the revelations of the PT.

With 1-6 Episodes I, II, III and VI work much better. Sure, IV (specially) and V may seem a bit odd, but I do like the jump from the exotic PT to the small scope of Episode IV.

 

I don't watch them together, I don't treat them as a saga.

Sometimes I feel like watching the OT, so I watch IV, V and VI back to back to back.

If I feel like watching the PT, I watch I, II and III consecutively.

Other times I'll watch TCW movie, by itself, not in between II and III.

 

at first I would watch the OT first, but now since all is said and done I watch them in story order I-VI. I don't include Clone Wars in that because that story isn't really complete yet....technically speaking.

 

My preferred order is OT TPM AOTC CW original microseries ROTS
But I also like the idea of watching OT until the point where Kenobi talks about Anakin in ROTJ then all the PT then the end of ROTJ.

 

The chances of me watching two Star Wars films in the same month are pretty slim. The prospect of a marathon single day viewing of all six films almost non-existent. I don't show or introduce the films to other people, so I'm not concerned with first time viewers.

Therefore I'm much more likely to pair a given Star Wars film with an unrelated film that still manages to complement the experience stylistically, thematically, etc. Revenge of the Sith or The Empire Strikes Back matches superbly with Alien 3 if I'm after a stirring yet appropriately dour operatic experience. Willow seems like a spiritual sequel/prequel to A New Hope. Richard Kelly's Southland Tales and The Phantom Menace both feel to me like the work of directors who were taking advantage of a moment when they were able to make something that seemed to say "to hell with the audience, this is what I want." Sometimes it's not even in another movie that I find the complement I'm looking for. In Attack of the Clones Anakin's personal and professional lives routinely rebuke and deny his expectations in a manner that has me thinking that, window dressing aside, the character could easily be one of Joyce's Dubliners.

 

I-II-III-IV-V-VI

That's the way I always watch it now. It makes so much more sense this way, and it does have the poetic feeling that Lucas was looking for, as well as Anakin truly being a fallen hero.

 

It varies on whether I'll watch the Saga episodically (I-VI) or theatrical release (IV-VI then I-III). But when I do the "flashback order" I do it IV,V,I,II,III,VI. In my experience that preserves any "surprises" in the movies.

 

I enjoy watching them 1 through 6 the most, however, I believe that anyone watching them for the first time should watch them 4-5-6-1-2-3.

Once you know the movies well, it's great to watch them 4-5-1-2-3-6. I heard someone call this the "flashback" order. The prequels are a like long flashback before ROTJ.

 

IV, V, VI, I, II, III, IV, V, VI

Yes, I go from OT to PT and back to OT...if I have time. Having seen the films so many times it doesn't quite work as intended whatever way I watch them but there's something about watching the OT, getting one reaction, going back to the PT and then moving on to the OT a second time and getting different reactions especially in IV where suddenly every glance or pause or line from Obi-Wan seems to take on a whole new meaning. He looks at Artoo and says he doesn't remember owning a droid but suddenly the way he looks at Artoo takes on a whole new meaning.

 

As some have mentioned, there is the "flashback" concept. Some have presented it as 4-5-1-2-3-6, but I think this is better if you want to see it as a flashback:
4, 5, 6 (then stop 6 when Obi-Wan is talking to Luke on Dagobah after Yoda dies). Then 1, 2, 3 as a flashback, showing us what Obi-Wan is telling Luke about. Then, return to 6 and watch the rest from the point where you stopped it before. I agree with oierem that it probably works better on paper, but I do want to actually try it sometime. You'd really have to watch it all in one weekend or something to not lose momentum though.

Otherwise, I grew up with the OT, but my preferred method is 1 through 6; chronological. In practice, though, I often end up watching in no particular order, but instead just whichever episode my son wants to watch that day.

 

Meant to mention that I think the "4, 5, 6 (then stop 6 when Obi-Wan is talking to Luke on Dagobah after Yoda dies). Then 1, 2, 3 as a flashback, showing us what Obi-Wan is telling Luke about. Then, return to 6 and watch the rest from the point where you stopped it before" method maintains the most surprises / ruins the least surprises out of all the options.