A modest argument in favor of the 4,5,1,2,3,6 viewing order (and what should we call it?)

I think it's safe to say that, for the vast majority of people, the order in which they saw the Skywalker saga (not counting the Disney films) was release order, so 4,5,6, then 1,2,3. That's certainly the case for most of the people who've reacted to the films on YouTube. A few people, though, have opted to watch the films in chronological order.

I think a case can be made for the viewing order of first A New Hope, then Empire Strikes Back, then all three prequels, and finally Return of the Jedi. Note: this is not to be confused with the so called "Machete order", which is similar, but omit The Phantom Menace. I understand some people didn't like Jar-Jar or the politics, but by skipping it, you miss out on a great deal, including the terrific characters of Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, as well as both Obi-Wan and Padme first meeting Anakin, Palpatine ascending to the office of Chancellor, Obi-Wan taking Anakin as a padawan, and (in my opinion) simply the best lightsaber battle seen in live action.

In any case, I understand why many people might find watching the prequels in between ESB and ROTJ counter-intuitive, but I think there are some good reasons for this, as opposed to chronological or release order:

-I believe A New Hope is still the best film for any newcomer to start with. We largely go through the film with a relatable character, a farmboy yearning for adventure, who goes on an epic quest. We also have effective introductions of other principal characters like Leia, Han, Obi-Wan, the droids, and Vader. Further, we have Obi-Wan explaining what both the Jedi and the force are.
-Watching the prequels first also puts the viewer ahead of Luke about a great deal of information, most notably the revelation that Vader is Luke's father, Leia is his sister, and that funny green muppet on Dagobah is actually Yoda, so there are very few surprises.
-Watching the prequels in between ESB and ROTJ allows us to get to know Palpatine and see his manipulation of Anakin before reintroducing him in ROTJ. Yes, we now first see Ian McDiarmid in ESB, but it's very brief and under heavy make-up, so the first time viewer might not associate him with the seemingly friendly senator we first see in The Phantom Menace.
-Some of the changes to ROTJ may be confusing to someone who hasn't seen the prequels. They likely won't recognize Naboo or Coruscant, and seeing a young Anakin force ghost at the end may confusing, or at least won't have the same impact if they have not yet seen this version of Anakin before.
-Finally, though it's a great film, Revenge of the SIth is a pretty damn dark chapter to finish this story on. Yes, it ends with some hope, but I think you can argue that it can be more satisfying to end with the final chapter, where Anakin is redeemed, the Emperor is killed, and the Empire is defeated, with the newly-liberated galaxy celebrating.
-Small thing, but we get a LOT of hands being amputated by light sabers in the prequels. I think it's more shocking if we see it happen first to Luke, the supposed protagonist.
-Finally, for a newcomer, this order has the unintended effect of making the revelation that Padme had twins a surprise.

I know most people will disagree with me on this, but I do believe there are some good reasons for watching this. I did find one Youtuber who watched the films this way, and she got very emotional seeing a young Anakin at end.

Also, I'm curious what an appropriate name for this viewing order might be.

What do you think?

 

Well you came up with it, so let's call it the Todd Smitts order

 

that's when you immediately put 4, 5, and 6 back on again highly agreed that anh is the best one to start on though, no matter which way you slice it from there

 

I’d call it the PT sandwich order. And if you’re not totally satisfied you can later order up a triple scoop ST sundae for dessert.

 

Like who? I'm usually not interested in watching other people react, but I'd be interested in at least skimming through this.

 

Here's one:



(She also watched the various series, though this is just a playlist for the movies).

 

For me, production order is the only thing that makes sense, no matter what franchise we're talking about.

 

That was actually a pretty fun watch.

 

I tend to agree. We can say Prequels are supposed to be watched first...the truth is...they are almost never designed/created that way.

Try it out: When you go watch Mad Max: Furiosa (I don't care, I'm calling it that) being a friend who has seen Mad Max: Fury Road and a friend who has not. The one who saw Fury Road will get a lot more out of the experience. Why? Because, prequel films still have predecessors and are made with these predecessors in mind.

The Star Wars prequel trilogy is simply NOT firing on all cylinders unless you have seen the OT first. I frequently do watch the saga 4,5,1,2,3,6,7,8,9 yet, so much is lost for the first time viewer who watches the prequels even before ROTJ.

Side note: This wonderful book (which I hope they make for each film) serves as a thesis of sorts on how (while initially being the final SW film) Return of the Jedi is actually THE major hinge piece where a lot of prequel and sequel and spin off material cling to the most. I think it's true. Highly recommend.

 

I say start anywhere, like a comic book. It's not that hard to figure things out and if you like what you see, then fill in the blanks.

 

I think ANH and ESB would more than sufficiently set up the universe and characters enough, before taking a detour to experience the prequels, and then returning to the OT era, having now established both Palpatine (who is subsequently brought in as the true antagonist) and specifically Hayden's portrayal of Anakin (so that seeing him at the end is much more meaningful).

 

The Flashback order.


And most reacters I've seen on Youtube watch it in chronological order.

 

Sure, but Palpatine is less impactful in the PT if you didn't get to witness his delicious devilishness in ROTJ.

 

That depends entirely on whether you know that he is the villain. If you know next to nothing about Star Wars (and Palpatine being the Emperor isn't nearly as high on the list of things even the average non-viewer knows as for example Vader being Luke's father, so there is a good chance of that) then you get a ton out of the prequels. Because even if you know that Anakin will turn into Vader, and Vader is bad, you don't know that the nice senator of TPM is in fact the ultimate villain. Some might say that Palpatine and Sideous being one and the same is a dead giveaway, but that isn't really true for all people. Plenty of people did not make that connection until it actually played out.

Granted, that works better if you actually watch the prequels and then the originals instead of a weird mix, because otherwise the scene with Palpatine in ESB kind of spoils it, but generally speaking there is plenty of impact in just having prequel Palpatine without knowing him as the Emperor.

That being said, I don't see any good argument why anyone would watch the movies in anything but release or chronological order, especially for people who haven't seen the movies yet. Those two work well, everything else is just needlessly convoluted just for the heck of it.

 

Question: Do you think George Lucas made The Phantom Menace for people who have never seen a Star Wars film? Never mind what he said, or how it was presented, look at how the film was crafted. Yeah, you can watch it and not know what's going on with Palpatine....but he is simply not as interesting of a character without that knowledge. If you don't know he's going to be The Emperor...there is an awful lot of screen time devoted to his ascent, a lot of forecasting of what's to come, that adds up to a big nothing burger for the uninitiated.

Knowing that Palpatine is the ultimate villain adds an incredible amount of layers to the film and the PT movies were crafted around this fact.

Again, I question this. Is there plenty of impact? In Episode 1? Palpatine is MUCH MORE compelling in the prequels (especially Episode 1 & 2) if you have knowledge of who he is and what he'll become.

I tend to agree. Yet, I still think that release order unfurls or "tells" the story in a much more comprehensive way. Again, Lucas may prefer audiences to watch the chronological order....but he certainly didn't reverse engineer the PT to match this claim. For example, Episode 4 explains The Force much better (more comprehensive and efficiently) for the 1st time viewer.

 

I totally agree with that: each trilogy is thematically and aesthetically very different (and tell very different stories). I wouldn't recommend any new viewer to mix both trilogies. The prequels aren't, in any way, an extended flashback.

Some of the changes from the SE only work if you watch the films chronologically (the Emperor in V, or Anakin in VI), so unless you can watch the original versions, I'd say chronological is the "right" order.

 

"It'll be a very different experience, because when Darth Vader walks into that spaceship with the princess, they're going to think, 'Oh my God, that's Anakin!' and they're gonna see Luke and think, 'Oh my God, that's his son!' And rather than a surprise when he says, 'I am your father,' it'll be like, 'Oh my God, finally he's told him!'"

--George Lucas, Guardian Unlimited.

"If I'd taken the prequel trilogy to a marketing company, Episode I would've started here [III] and Episodes II and III would've been about Darth Vader killing people. But in the end, I wouldn't be able to write movies like that.

If you see them in order it completely twists things about. A lot of the tricks of IV, V and VI no longer exist. The real struggle of the twins to save their father becomes apparent, whereas it didn't exist at all the first time [audiences saw Episodes IV, V and VI]. Now Darth Vader is a tragic character who's lost everything. He's basically a bitter old man in a suit.

"I am your father" was a real shock. Now it's a real reward. Finally, the son knows what we already know.

It,s a really different suspense structure. Part of the fun for me was completely flipping upside down the dramatic track of the original movies. If you watch them the way it was released, IV, V, VI, I, II, III - you get one kind of movie. If you watch I through VI you get a completely different movie. One or two generations have seen it one way, and the next generations will see it in a completely different way.

It's an extremely modern, almost interactive moviemaking. You take blocks and move them around, and you come out with different emotional states."

--George Lucas, The Making Of Revenge Of The Sith.

So he was well aware that the whole dynamic would be flipped on its head going I-VI. That's why he heavily marketed the Episode numbers with the PT and the 2000 OT boxset. He wanted the new generation to see it differently from how we did back in the day.

I watch I-IX with the spin off films going where they need to go. I also watch the X-Men films as "First Class", "Origins", "X-Men", "X-Men United", "The Last Stand", "The Wolverine", "Days Of Futures Past", "Apocalypse", "The New Mutants", "Logan", "Deadpool", "Deadpool 2" and coming up "Deadpool & Wolverine". You get different viewpoints this way.

I even organize my comics in such a way that I put certain stories published later in earlier slots

 

Yes, that's absolutely right.

 

You can watch TPM and learn about the story as it unfolds. The title crawl tells you that the Jedi are the guardians of the Republic and the Sith are their enemies. You see the Force in action in each film. You learn about the Force though Luke’s training instead of repeating it twice with both Skywalker men.

 

And here's on of the main issues. The Force isn't explained in any comprehensive way in TPM...not as succinctly or efficiently or effectively as it is in ANH. TPM is NOT a better intro to the Star Wars universe than ANH. Full stop.

Yeah, you CAN watch TPM and learn about the story as it unfolds. You can also watch Empire Strikes Back first and do the same....but should you???

 

If he had explained what the Force is in TPM, it would have made ANH redundant.

 

In ANH, we get a mind trick and a choke and blocking blaster bolts. In TPM, we get all of these tricks along with Force shoves and acrobatics and speed running. In both films, the Skywalker men use the Force to fly and it helps guide their actions. TPM tells us about the dark side and how someone can turn evil.

 

Yes, another reason that it works best to watch ANH first.

Uh, yes? This is accurate. I'm not sure what the argument is.