PT Has anyone been introduced to star wars by the prequels first

Good afternoon, I'm sure a good majority of you are like me were introduced to the originals first before the prequels . what about you who saw the prequels 1st? What were your thoughts? We're you surprised when Anakin turned to the dark side ? Or when Palpatine was Darth Sidious?
Please share your thought

 

I was introduced to the PT first with TPM and AOTC (around 2001/2002). Then came the 2003 CW microseries, so when the term "Star Wars" was brought up, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Clone Troopers, and Battle Droids were what came to mind. I knew about the OT, referring to them as the "old Star Wars films" as a kid. However, I knew who Luke Skywalker was and the "I am your father" quote was too iconic to not understand the reference, so I wasn't particularly surprised by Anakin becoming Darth Vader even before ROTS existed. I then saw the OT for the first time around 2003-2004.

However, ROTS was the film that made me a fan. I liked SW before ROTS, but not anywhere to the degree when ROTS came out. That film struck a chord with me when I first saw it. I was surprised by how operatic it was and how the characters were being manipulated and played, both the Republic and Separatists. The last half hour of ROTS truly highlights the futility of war. Three years of fighting for nothing. Seeing the sunset on Coruscant with Padme telling Captain Typho that the fighting is over really made an impression. I was expecting some huge anti-climatic battle where the CIS was defeated, but the Clone Wars end with a wimper as Palpatine ties up loose ends with the Jedi and Separatist leaders. I think that really highlighted the complexity of SW than the other five films at the time.

 

I wasn't really introduced to them first... but they are definitely what I identified with Star Wars since I saw them at 11/12/13 etc right around the age of Anakin...

I liked them a lot but I think I had seen the earlier movies first... maybe once or so... but it's the prequels that basically I came to identify as being Star Wars because of the
generational thing.

 

I come from an interesting perspective as far as how I was introduced to Star Wars. The Phantom Menace came out just 2 months after I was born. But I grew up watching the OOT on VHS which is how I discovered Star Wars. I didn't really watch the Prequels until I was older.

 

I am assuming we're all around the same age @Deliveranze @Sephiroth1335

 

Yep. Born in 1997. So about 2 years older than you.

 

I've been 10 when the Special Edition was released back in 1997. I was hooked from the start became a casual fan, owning the 1995 THX VHS and the Special Editions.

I've owned some toys, some SNES Games.

What really got me hooked was Ep I. I think the release of the Prequels really made me a die hard fan. I remember watching my Ep I VHS almost every Weekend and anticiptaing Ep II like a starving Boy.

Would it not have been for the Prequels my interest in SW could have dropped down and I may not be the Person Iam today.

 

1987 but yeah the next gen represent!

 

Yep, I was born in 1992 and the PT is what really got me into Star Wars. I was in 1st or 2nd grade in 1999 and it was all over school that a new Star Wars movie was coming out that summer. My mom took my best friend and me to see it, but I barely remember it (other than thinking podracing was the coolest thing ever). I must have liked it enough to want to see AotC when it came out a few years later, which was when I really got into Star Wars, and RotS was the most hyped I've ever been for a movie. I'd say I truly became a fan in between AotC and RotS. I went back and watched the OT and really got into the novels and games; I was also a Hyperspace fan club member for a while (around 2004-2005ish). I wasn't surprised or anything when Anakin turned since I'd gone back and watched the OT and explored the EU, but I do remember there were debates on the old official forums of whether or not Palpatine was Sidious, or if one was a clone of the other.

I was aware of Star Wars prior to the PT because my cousin and uncle were big fans, so I would get the toys as birthday or Christmas gifts, but I never actually watched the OT until after AotC. I do remember my cousin showing the 90s special edition release of ANH when it came out, but I thought it was boring and didn't really pay attention.

 

Awesome.

Yeah I remember seeing Revenge of the Sith like I want to say senior year of high school or something so it was like almost like leave school to go watch it sort of event. I also honestly kinda remember a few video games and stuff just other media for Star Wars that caught my attention, basically I didn't have this OT is sacred in me so all the Star Wars
stuff across the late 90s and early 2000s really hit home for me.

I remember even there was this video game called like Star Wars Galaxies I never played it but that's the kinda thing I ended up associating with Star Wars (and in some cases, for
better or for worse I suppose)

I rarely remember movies but we laughed about Vader's NOOO for like 2 hours afterwards just talking ah really cool to have those memories.

My parents are all about the OT of course so I'm kinda going like yeah I'll go back and see those movies with them since they can make all that more real I guess.

 

My very first introduction to the SW universe was ROTS. I think 1 or 2 years after it was released.

The only thing I knew about Star Wars was a Mcdonald's advert for the movie, where Anakin does his Sith head turn with his hood on.

I don't know whether I knew Anakin would turn to the Dark Side, however I was VERY surprised when he turned into a cyborg with a mask on. I always figured because of that add I saw as a kid that DV was this young hooded guy.

Even before I watched ROTS with the friend who introduced me to it he spoiled that "The Emperor shocks DV's kid and DV picks him and kills him" I imagined "the emperor" as some kind of Roman esque character with outlandish golden robes and such, and I was always confused how Darth Vader could have a son when he was so young himself.

That's all I knew really. Then my dad bought me the Original Trilogy boxset, and I was so confused... because I watched Episode 1 and suddenly Darth Vader is already in his dark outfit.... I even went into an argument with my dad that he bought the wrong episode 1, because I knew Anakin turns into Darth Vader in episode 3.

 

I had a smilar experience (although I was pretending to be Luke not Leia). while the PT wasn't the FIRST Star Wars thing in my life (that was shadows of the Empire) or even the the first Star Wars movies i saw in theatres (special editions).

I did grow up with the PT and connect with it in a way I don't with the OT. During the PT I was in peak Star Wars, I went all in on the Expanded Universe and lived Star Wars, when I think of Star Wars I think of the PT (and KOTOR stuff)

When I watch the movies I do it 1-6.

 

Grew up in the PT era, but was introduced to all of them at the same time. My appreciation for the PT has actually grown in recent years, as I have grown up an been able to understand the story more. The PT is some of the most amazing storytelling in film history. ROTS has always been my favorite Star Wars film since 2005. I don't think that will every change, its an action packed, emotional masterpiece.

 

Indeed. TPM was my first Star Wars movie.

I'm incredibly conflicted about the PT as a whole. There's a certain appeal to them, primarily because I saw them as a kid. That being said, on a film level, I think TPM is below mediocre, AOTC is just as bad, and ROTS was actually a really solid movie.

What sucks is that TPM and AOTC have parts with great promise. The duel with Darth Maul, Kamino, the battle on Geonosis--I loved all that stuff. But for all that stuff, it seemed like there was twice as much bad stuff like child Anakin, Jar-Jar, the love plot between Anakin and Amidala, etc.

 

I don't remember how I reacted to the plot points outlined in the OP, but I was definitely introduced via the prequels. I was three or four years old when The Phantom Menace was released, and that was the film that hooked me. I may not have seen it until I was a little older, on recollection -- I don't think I was taken to the cinema to see it. But there are actually a few photographs of me, much too young to really understand the film, wearing a Darth Maul costume while watching the VHS. I think by the time Revenge of the Sith was released, I'd watched the original trilogy.

 

I'm as old school as they come. Saw the OT in the theater as a kid. So it's hard to top the first two especially. But I have grown to appreciate the PT, despite having issues with it at first. I like the PT a lot now. It's the ST I have issues with now.

 

I managed to get to see all of Lucas' films for the first time as a kid anyway, so my mind never made as big of a distinction between the two. We owned the original trilogy on VHS and watched those a lot, my dad took my brothers and I to see the special edition re-releases in '97 at the same theater he went to as a kid seeing them the first time around, and then got to see the prequels with my childhood in a way kind of being capped off with Revenge of the Sith which came out when I was turning 13. haha

 

As a kid i knew of the OT. it didn't interest me though. its not until the hype behind The Phantom Menace started that i got curious about it. that includes the video games that came out between episode 1 and 2. which were actually alot of them.

 

I was. Revenge of the Sith was my first Star Wars film. Still the best film I have ever seen. But I have vague memories of the 2003 micro series, but I dont think I knew what it was. I was born in 1999.

But I was aware of Luke, Vader, Han, Leia, Death Star etc. I don't know how but I guess from pop culture?

I didn't become obssed until the 2008 series when I went to Blockbuster and rented every film

 

I had a similar experience. I am old enough to have been an incredibly young kid who saw TPM in theaters. My obsession with the franchise also peaked in 2005, and I had watched the OOT on VHS before 2004 and the special editions on the silver DVD boxset afterward. I prefer the OT movies and I think ANH is one of the best films ever made, but I am much more intrigued by the lore of the PT and the era before it (being KOTOR fan as a child, of course).

 

I was. I played the Battlefront (2015) beta and loved it and so decided to check out the films. Plus TFA was releasing like a month or so later so it was perfect timing to get into the films.

The biggest suprise I had was much scope and depth and genre influences the films had. They were like art films wrapped up in a blockbuster package. I kinda always avoided Star Wars because it was so popular that I just kinda assumed it was therefore generic and not worth watching. But the prequels were so not your typical blockbusters. Then I started to look into George Lucas and his history and things started to make sense. He's very much an artsy filmmaker and he was basically allowed to let loose on the prequels due to the success of the originals and ended up creating a bonafide masterpeice of a trilogy.

Then I watched TFA for my first ever Star Wars theatre experience.... and thought it was garbage. It was the bland boring crap that I first assumed Star Wars would be. That's why I'm sad George Lucas doesn't have control of this franchise anymore, because Disney and bloody JJ Abrams (the most bland director around) just play it safe and pander. There's no vision or risk in Star Wars anymore.

 

Very good points often missed on the hardcore fans who grew up with the OT. The classic trilogy was such a huge hit it redefined (co-created) the blockbusters and is taken for granted nowadays. However, when Lucas was still making it none of Lucas's peers (other than Spielberg and maybe his mentor Coppola) understood what he was trying to accomplish. Certainly not the studio execs. It was just too bizarre and different from what was being done at the time (and 70s is actually considered to be a great decade for the American cinema).