I've been thinking this for a while now. After Rogue One, the viewing order kind of messes up. For example, my kid is two years old, when he'll be old enough I want him to experience the saga in the best possible way, and until now that would have been: Hope, Empire, Jedi, Phantom, Clones, Sith, Force. Or the prequel trilogy before the Return of the Jedi finale if you like. That way you save Vader's revelation and he can experience the shock to know who Luke father's that otherway would have been lost if he were to watch the prequels first. Now, with Rogue One, it's obvious that after you watch it you HAVE TO see A New Hope right after. And you can't put Rogue One first because a lot of callbacks and prequels references would be lost. My only answer would be to put it the last one, and to restart the saga right after you watch it. What would you do?
IMO you can't put RO first because you miss a lot of references and it's not a great entry point to the saga. "Who the hell is that Vader guy and why it's so important? And why the director is suffocating while he talks to him?" "Who is this jedi friend of Organa? Also, what's a jedi?" A lot of not initiated people would think that and much more. That's why I think A New Hope is the perfect introduction, because it shows you a lot but also Obi-Wan explains what are The Force and the jedi. It's exposition yes but in an organic and fluid way. It's the perfect film to watch first.
RO has made the best case for the chronological order I've seen yet. But I'd still say that, for an introduction to the series, the release order is the safest bet. You can always end with RO and then just put on ANH as a one-off afterwards. As we'll get more and more anthologies breaking up the Saga though, I imagine I'll be more partial to the chronological order. Sooner or later, the release timeline is going to turn into a haphazard mess without any natural flow or system to it.
I'd say chronological. I introduced my younger sister to Star Wars last year (she was 22, but had never seen Star Wars, and knew nothing about it), and we watched it 1-6. It worked great. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - even though the "I am your father" twist is lost this way, the twist of Anakin falling to the Dark Side more than makes up for it. Us older fans don't necessarily see that the prequels are a great introduction to the series, and are full of twists and turns in their own right. So yeah: TPM AOTC ROTS R1 ANH TESB ROTJ TFA
4 5 6 1 2 3 R1 7 This allows Rogue One to be the exposition that it was intended to be. Like the prequels, it's supposed to explain what went on prior to and leading up to ANH. In other words, if I were in your position I'd introduce SW in the same way it was introduced to most of us: in release order... ...with the exception of TFA which at the moment appears to be narratively separate from the Anakin/Vader story. Just my two cents!
R1, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, TFA. I'm sorry to say I'm done with the PT unless the kids want to watch them (appreciate others love them!).
Once RO is out on Blu-ray, I'm going to try this order: Rogue One A New Hope The Empire Strikes Back Revenge of the Sith Return of the Jedi The Force Awakens
I could see watching R1 after ANH as a kind of flashback. Otherwise, I'll see the films as millions of others have...in release order, minus a particular trilogy.
I want my child to not suck at math so I showed her the films in the order of the numbers they conveniently came labeled with. Rogue One fits nicely before the film that it takes place directly before.
So now us old OT'ers suck at math? [EDIT] Waitaminute....your child does math with Roman Numerals? That's some hard stuff right there!
I grew up with the OT in the theater (age 3 in '77), and my son saw the OT first too. That wasn't really by design, though, it just kind of happened. There was no anti-PT bias at all, since I love those films too. But having said that, it was cool to see him experience the most pure form of shock at the "I am your father" scene. All things considered, though, especially now with RO out, I think the chronological order is best. So I'd vote for I, II, III, RO, IV, V, VI, VII. It will continue to be logical later when we squeeze Han Solo and other upcoming Anthology movies into that timeline, and to also of course add VIII and IX to the end of it.
Can someone help me, why when I reply to a post does the quoted text of the post I'm trying to respond to not show up? Frustrating.
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