Saga What order do you use with your kids?

I agree there is value in chronological order. The Vader/Obi-Wan duel on the Death Star has a whole new dynamic to it when watched in chronological order. There are also detriments to it as well, Vader's reveal aside. A friend of mine commented to me after we did a marathon, that in chronological order, Vader seems a lot less imposing or scary in the OT.

As far as the reveal goes, it still gets me way down deep in the cockles. When I introduced Star Wars to my nephew, he was 8 or 9. We went OT first. After the reveal, he turned to me, wide eyed, and asked if it was true. So while it is a well known part of the pop culture lexicon, the gravity and weight of the scene makes it an impactful moment whether aware of it or not.

 

The Vader reveal was such a watershed moment. No one I know saw it coming.

 

I could see this. Because you know it's just Anakin who was crying about sand a little while ago.

 

Release order is always the best place to start, no matter how old you are (imo, at least).

 

My daughter was a year and half old when TPM was released but I started her out watching it the way I did, OT first then PT. I don't remember exactly how old she was when she really expressed her own interest in it because it was something that was always around, always on as she was growing up.

 

Watching the PT first makes sense chronologically. And that is the only way it makes sense.

 

If I'd had kids and if I'd wanted to show them the Skywalker Saga, I would definitely have gone chronological.

 

Under my roof it’s the LaserDisc O-O-OT transfers in release order. Guests are also allowed to watch the Vader hallway scene in Rogue One but I have to stop it before CGI Leia shows up.

 

I would show them chronological order, if anything because the PT was made to be viewed first. I would definitely show them the SEs, as they might get confused as to why the emperor looks weird in EMPIRE. And they will be confused as to why the effects look so bland. I only own 1-6 and so I would only show them 1-6, but I would make them aware of the existence of Clone Wars and ST but just be very honest with them about why I dont own them, but if they wanted to see them I would buy them and let them watch them.

 

I did chronological order for my kids a year ago, with spinoffs in their place. Sure it took away the shock value of Vader's ESB father reveal, but since the kids already knew about it (since it's all over the place now) I thought it would still be effective to see the story taken as a whole. And boy was I right! All four of them (including the one who claims she doesn't like SW) became very invested in the journey of the main characters-especially Anakin, who they saw as the main character of the first six films. Once they saw TROS (just a couple months later) they also felt that Palpatine was basically the main villain across the whole saga, and although they didn't like some episodes as much as the others across all nine, they really got into the story as a whole. For example, when seeing certain things in ANH, they reference things they saw in Rogue One-when watching TROS, they reference things from ROTS, etc. When they saw Hosnian Prime destroyed, they asked me: "is that Coruscant?" I was like..."no, but it should've been."

So even though they didn't get the ESB Father reveal, and ROTJ sibling reveal, etc., they were still enthralled with the story as a whole and were very invested in the story.

 

They only can watch the REAL OT: STAR WARS, THS, and ESB. If they refer to it as ANH, I will ruin their childhood. Of course, they need to know the ESB reveal plot twist to be initiated, but I will stop the film after and tell them why ESB ruined the saga forever by making Obi-Wan a liar in ANH and turning SW into a family soap opera.

The seminal Ewoks trilogy: Caravan of Courage, Battle for Endor, and Return of the Jedi is optional and will be what I wished the Prequels were.

TFA is also optional as it is an amazing original work of art in its own right with some of the most compelling character development since The Godfather 2.

 

Though I don't mind the SE changes for the most part, as a videophile I'm really annoyed by the color correction in the home video releases since 2004. When I watched through the saga earlier this year I watched the 4K77 version of ANH and then watched ESB and ROTJ on Disney+. The difference was night and day.

I had a friend who only liked ANH and thought that ESB was ruined by Lucas when he decided to introduce a muppet (his words not mine) as a major character.

 

I don’t have children, and probably will never have children considering my age.

But I have cats. And I show them the saga in chronological order. AND THEY LOVE ME FOR IT

 

I know you’re joking about ESB, but I’m one of those people that genuinely believes that the issues with the franchise really did start with that movie. As a matter of fact, I even wrote a four-part blogpost detailing why I think this, which I shared in some of the other threads on here.

That being said, I still deem it as “essential viewing,” as with the rest of the saga, and I still stand by my point earlier on here that release order is the best way to go.

 

My cat always watches the movies with me when I do a marathon and he agrees with your cats.

 

Finding out Anakin is Darth Vader can be a pretty big surprise.

 

^ Yeah, Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader can be kind of funny to me, too. That emo whiny little punk trying to fill the boots of the Dark Lord of the Sith? Don't make me laugh.

EDIT: Oh, wait, this isn't the unpopular opinions thread, sorry.

 

People aren’t the same at 32 as they are at 22, so Vader will likely have grown out of that.

I don’t think that that’s Hayden’s real personality either.

 

Most people aren't the same at 22 as they were at 19, yet we see Anakin portrayed the same at both ages. Now granted, yes the change would be smaller, but there would still be growth and change, and we see Anakin hasn't changed at all. So it's entirely plausible that Anakin at 32 is no different than Anakin at 22. And when you consider how we see Vader act in the OT, in how he treats his officers, or in how he interacts with Lando, I would say it's not likely he changed much, if at all, over the years. He still acts in a selfish manner. He still shows himself to be rather impetuous.

 

As for OT Vader, he's outright evil. Of course he's selfish, and in a way that young Anakin never was in any of the prequels except maybe the last third of ROTS. Of course he's going to cheat Lando, of course he's going to kill people who displease him. But he is visibly more controlled in his demeanor throughout as opposed to young Anakin. The one exception being his second duel with Luke (you are unwise to lower your defenses!). Notice how he acts in ANH with Obi-Wan. Not really fired up the way he was on Mustafar (no pun intended).


Killing his officers doesn't make him whiny anymore than Kim Jong Un is whiny whenever he executes a subordinate, or Magellan was when he executed the mutineers. He's an authoritarian leader who lays down the law.

I expect 32 year old Vader to be about between the two trilogy versions of the character, more calculating and controlled than he was at 22, but maybe less emotionally mature than his 44 year old self.

 

i think with all the new shows the correct order with my grandkids will be 1-9 with everything in between. in 1977 we got a middle not a beginning

 

I imagine I'll do release order.

 

My l.o. is still too young for any SW movies but I think I'll start with TPM since it's the most kid-friendly of the bunch. I feel ROTS should be last since it's such a heavy hitter.

 

always handy to start at the beginning my kids still love Jar jar to this day

 

So you'd do 1,2,4,5,6,3?