PT Viewing Order 4-6 & 1-3: How you felt after Episode 1

I was 15 when it came out and cannot begin to describe how excited for it I was. I devoured everything I could: the video games, the pepsi cans, the toys, everything. Then I saw the movie at the midnight premiere. I felt very conflicted. There were things I liked and things I really didn't. I remember talking about it at school with friends and it felt like the less familiar my friends were with the OT, the more they liked Ep 1. Everyone was asking me my opinion (I was the Star Wars kid- my Spanish teacher let me put up images of Star Wars posters in Spanish all through the month of May 1999) and I was always unsure what to say. I still loved the merchandising and media blitz of that summer, though, and definitely remember hitting up KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut nearly every week to pick up all of the promotional toys and cups. I saw the movie in theatres probably two or three more times, but by the end of the summer I feel like I just kind of forgot about the movie.

When the film came out on VHS, I bought a copy, but watched it and just kind of felt apathetic towards it. Overtime, I really grew to hate the movie and Jar Jar Binks. That was pretty common for everyone I knew and hung around with. I don't know that I watched the movie from 2000 until 2006 when ROTS came out on DVD and all of the films were available. I never stopped liking Star Wars and being involved with the fandom, but Ep 1 just seemed like a sore spot. When all of the films were released on DVD, though, some friends and I organized our first watch through of all 6 films in one day and you know what? I actually found I liked the film a bit more than I had when younger. Other than Jar Jar and a few of the sillier elements, I enjoyed most of the film. I mean, we still kind of ribbed the movie while watching it, but it was more good natured. By the time it came out in theaters in 3-D, I actually was really excited to watch it on the big screen again.

Interestingly, Ep 1 feels very nostalgic to me. While the OT has just always been a constant for me since grade school and AOTC and ROTS came out when I had just graduated from high scool and was about to finish college and get married, Ep 1 feels like something from my late childhood that I revisited later on. In the same way I can watch, enjoy, and embrace the inherent silliness of things from earlier childhood like the Filmation MOTU series or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Ep1 somehow still feels like something from right near the end of childhood. Even though we were Freshmen, my friends and I still thought we were awesome walking to our neighborhood swimming pool in Darth Maul T-shirts while drinking Mountain Dew out of a giant cup with an enormous plastic Watto on top.

 

The immaturity levels are troubling, but the plot is respectable and I enjoy it. There are several cringe-worthy moments, however. Jar Jar notwithstanding, Anakin in this one is very annoying.

 

I enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I saw it three times during the summer of 1999 and enjoyed it again - even in 3D.

 

I had seen the film on my 21st birthday, which was a month after it came out. I remember being excited that spring and summer time, because I was able to see the PT the way my parents and my siblings had with the OT. I had use of the internet, but I didn't go into message boards. I was still very much new to the net as I didn't have much time to work with it between 1996 and 1999. I had seen the trailers on "Entertainment Tonight" and I could feel the anticipation within me. I had a few of the "Star Wars Insider" issues which made me salivate even more. I had the Premiere issue with Ewan on the cover. I read the novelization in May, shortly after it came out and I enjoyed the story. I knew it was going to be different from the OT and having been a reader of the EU, which did things differently, I guess that had helped some. I can remember the excitement and anticipation for seeing the first new SW film in sixteen years. A lot of things had gone on in my life over an eighteen month period that I was glad to have gotten through and was now looking forward to not only a new movie, but good times in my life.

Sure, I had heard about the criticisms of the film and found it to be a bit strange, though I had no idea of how rough it really was until two years later, when I began lurking here and then signed on. When I finally saw the film, I found that I had enjoyed the film and to me it seemed as if there was a mountain out of a molehill being made. But regardless, I enjoyed the film and went to see it again a week later. I had gone with my brother, who had come home from his truck driving job and since I'm a teetotaler, going out drinking wasn't an option. He had seen the film and though he wasn't a fan, he did take me. Which makes it more special now since his passing, two years ago. I had waited because of the long lines and packed houses. When I went again, it was with my mom and sister as part of a day of celebrating my birthday. A bit belatedly, but with good reason. Anyway, I was satisfied and coupled with re-reading the EU books I had and reading the ones that I hadn't been able to get during that eighteen month period, along with the newer material, it was essentially the year of "Star Wars" for me.

And yes, I did see it again with the 3D release. I was even impressed with the parents taking their kids to see the film. I heard no bashing from the adults who had seen the film. I saw first timers in that theater and it was good that they let them have that experience without their personal feelings getting in the way. That was definitely worth seeing.

 

When I was 5 my uncle gave me his vhs collection of the OT i was hooked.

So when TPM came I was excited. As a child i loved it, as an adult now I can easily say how much my opinions have changed but I still will ve first in line for star wars the sequel trilogy.

 

I saw the OT first, and then I saw TPM. It instantly became my favorite Star Wars film (at the time). I loved how different it was to the OT, but you could tell it was in the same world. It showed me how awesome it is having such a huge world to play in. I am currently in college and write A LOT, and that aspect of creating a bigger, connected world is still helping me to this day. Thanks TPM!

 

I saw the OT first and I immensely prefer it. In 1999 I was conflicted but curious. I saw all the PT in theaters 3 times. TPM left my feeling lost, confused, and disappointed.

 

I came out...not feeling anything. I was a teenager then.

I was actually a little disappointed with some of the clunkiness of the SFX, especially in ANH at the time. I had expected a quantum leap...didn't happen.

People clapped a lot after each scene, spontaneously, in the theater.

Didn't hate the movie like some people. Then again, I like the Ewoks, and my favorite movie is ESB.

But I really really really hated AOTC and ROTS. My god, I despise those movies.

 

"I didn't like it, yet kept going back to watch it."
I for the life of me will never understand these people. It is, at times, incredibly difficult to even take their expressed opinion seriously....

 

I think quite a few people who adored the OT kept going back to TPM over and over again in the hope that they might eventually 'get it'. I must admit to a degree of this mindset myself. I didn't hate TPM by any means, but I just couldn't quite get into it. Certain elements seemed to alter what I felt SW was. TPM has grown on me, however. I watch it and enjoy it now. I think a fair bit of that has to do with a change in attitude with regard to SW as a 6 film saga.

 

With TPM, sure. I guess I can kinda see it. But AotC and RotS? If you didn't like TPM the first three times you saw it in theaters, and you didn't like AotC the first three times you saw it in theaters, you then saw RotS multiple times in theaters as well? Don't buy it.

 

Yep. Fair enough.

 

I saw the OT first and honestly still prefer it over the PT. Though I like all six.

 

The movie wasn.t great

 

I was 19 when TPM trailer came out, and I felt like a child again when I saw it. I could not wait to see the movie. I recorded everything of the TV (trailer, news footage, specials) on VCR and must have watched it all several hundred times lol. Yes, I was excited. I was also the same for II and III.