WATCHING SW IN SEQUENCE

One whole day devoted to SW... A waste of precious time? Maybe. Fun as heck? Most definitely.

 

It should be watched in order. I have a couple friends who had never seen a STAR WARS film before THE PHANTOM MENACE, and they were able to follow things just fine (kinda shoots down the theory that TPM doesn't explain enough). In fact, one friend became a big STAR WARS fan based on TPM alone. Granted, he had a lot of unanswered questions, but that's to be expected when you've only seen the first part of a six part story.

As for all the whooping and hollering that watching the prequels "ruins" the "surprises", it really doesn't. The surprises are just different. For instance, Obi-Wan's death should be a great surprise for anybody who watches the films for the first time in order. That's just one example of many.

 

I don't know about that...I think the other people that are yelling and crap during the movies is really rude and annoying. I want to watch the movie in silence. I don't need people distracting me from enjoying Star Wars.

Let's say for example, Jar Jar MIGHT die in Episode III. If he does, there will definitely be a bunch of idiots that will laugh out loud. Personally, I would think Jar Jar dying would be pretty sad, as death should never be seen in a funny way. It's other people's reaction to the movie that annoys me. I don't care what they think DURING the movie. When people are done watching the whole thing, they should then talk about it afterward. I like to make up my own conclusions and opinions based on what I see, not what other people say.

 

Darth_Rex, I somewhat disagree with that. The Phantom Menace was the FIRST Star Wars movie I had ever seen. I was about 12 then I think, and I understood it pretty well. This was before I had any real knowledge of Star Wars. The thing with the prequels was that it made me want to keep watching, and find out more in the OT after I watched Attack of the Clones. I think the prequels just made me "thirsty" so to speak, for more information about Star Wars, and that's how I became a fan.

 

If I ever should have kids I´d show them the saga from Episode I-VI.

If I´d want to show them one of my grown-up friends,
who haven´t seen them (all) yet,
I´d definitely would recommend watching the OT prior to the PT.

 

I haven't watched them in sequence yet, I'm waiting for Episode III. Then, I'm going to set a day aside to watch them all in order. I know I'll do the same thing for LOTR as well, but I'll get to do that a good year and a half before Star Wars.

 

I have ea friend that I work with who has NEVER seen any of them. We're making him wait for Episode III to come out an the he's going to watch them in story order I-VI.

I'm really excited about it, and he is not foriegn or 4 years old. He's a normal 35 year-old guy who just happened to never see any of the movies.

Wierd...

 

How did we all come to love SW?
We saw the OT first! For newcomers don't you think that they should follow the same way so many of us have. or.. should we let them watch the whole thing in sequence and see what they think? If we all came to love it that way wouldn't newbies like it that way also?

 

I don't know... I think obviously the special effects in I II and III are (or will be) so much better than those of the OT. Lots of people want that.

Besides, everyone I know watched the OT first, I would like to see what someone watching "in order" thinks.

Obviously Vader's revelation in Empire wont have quite the same impact...

 

Everyone should be able to decide for themselves in what way they will come to love(or not love) Star Wars.

 

Don't make assumptions Missing Triplet...It was the PT that made me fall in love with Star Wars.

 

really? Wow, what i should've said is most of us.

 

I would love to have the opportunity to watch the entire saga together in one showing, in a movie theater.

 

That would be cool as hell if you could watch all of the movies inorder at the theater. not sure I could sit down for over 12 hours but for that I would make an attempt. Personally after everything is said a done it should be viewed in 1-6 order. I mean why else would GL hold back the DVDs? Its because it should be look at as a story. Now keep in mind im not promoting a certain order. the first movie I seen was ep6 then ep1. I didnt see ep4&5 until after ep1 came out. by then they were the So Called sucky versions that fans dont like but I loved them SE or not.

 

hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

If Lucas wants people to view the movies 1-6 then why did he start with 4? That's just stupid. He should make up his mind and stick with it. If I were showing someone the movies for the first time I would show it to them the way Lucas intended his audience to see them. In my opinion, you get a better feeling of Star Wars in that way. When you see the classic trilogy for the first time you get that sense of, I don't know you can't really explain it. But when you watch the Prequels, that whole "Star Wars feeling" just isn't quite there.

 

Personally I prefer 1-2-4-5-6

But I'm thinking of trying the Godfather pt. 2 way:

a) 4-1-5-2-6-3
or
b) 1-4-2-5-3-6

Thus preserving most big surprices. I think b) will be really interesting, since you have three whole movies, and is way into the fourth until the Vader revelation arrives, then it's all explained in the next, before it's all conluded in the one after that.

The only bad thing about this, is that the mirroring movies are placed right next to each other, and discovering not-so-obvious parallells would be easier, and thus not so fun.

--

A bit off topic. I had this (IMHO) great idea a while ago. We all know that no matter how much Lucasfilm manages to clean up the prints of the OT, they'll never quite match the clear images of the PT. Now, if George the artist, George the experimentalist, the George who made THX-1138, would've existed still (I believe he died sometime after T2 and Jurassic Park), then he would've done what I think would be a great idea. Namely, aging the PT, making them look like they were made 20 years ago. I think the visual coherency is just as important as the continuation in story. Could you imaging the thought of Godfather III being made like, twenty years af...no, wait Anyway, you get my point.

Now, I'm not expecting many of you to agree with me, but I still love the idea, and will as soon as time allows, start experimenting on my own in Premiere. Georgie boy, I'm expecting you to follow suit.

 

I do the same thing with Back to the Future all the time.

 

Darth Fromnomporth, I disagree. Lucas would never have purposefully died down the effects just to match the OT. The whole reason he waited to do the PT was so that he would be able to create the great effects that he has created with the prequels. Lucas has always looked for innovative ways to make movies. That's what has gotten him where he is today. He is an innovator. Dying down the effects of the PT would contradict the very principle that made SW the revolutionary movie it was, and the very principle that makes Lucas the great filmmaker he is today.

 

"Dying down the effects of the PT would contradict the very principle that made SW the revolutionary movie it was"

True, but one would hope Lucas is making the Prequals from a story point of view, as opposed to showing off what he can do. Now I'm just saying he should've tried to match the visual look from the get-go.

Remember Ian Malcom's quote from Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

And my idea was to clean up the OT as much as possible, then match it up. And on the contrary, I believe this would make Luas more of an innovator.

 

Sorry for killing the tread

Let's up it, shall we.

 

As for all the whooping and hollering that watching the prequels "ruins" the "surprises", it really doesn't.

It just trades out the surprise. For example, Palpatine being evil isn't a surprise to us, because we've seen ROJ, but to those watching it in order for the first time, it might be. On the other hand, you know Vader is Luke's father.

 

You still have the surprise that Vader actually tells him!
It´s like the scene in AOTC where Dooku spills out the truth to Obi-Wan. I thought that was a very powerful scene, even though I already knew that Sidious was controlling the senate. The fact that the main characters learn something so big has greater impact than the element of surprise.

Believe me, it won´t ruin anything to watch the saga chronologically!

 

While I was watching ANH (THX version) last night, I realized a few new things would be perceived differently if one were watching the saga in numerical order, rather than release order.

That Leia was captured near Tatooine does not become obvious we see the Jawas and their transporter. It explains one reason they and their distinctive transport were featured in Anakin's search for his mother.

Both Anakin in TPM and Luke first appear on screen in the background with no obvious flourish.

"Old Ben" Kenobi attempts to persuade Luke to disobey his uncle in the same manner that Senator Palpatine speaks to Anakin in AOTC.

Watching ANH in the theater as a tot, I was quite distracted by Kenobi's brief discussion of the Clone Wars and I knew that was the real story. Now, that scene and ANH overall has a cast of sadness because we know exactly what was lost.

In ANH, the first time we hear Luke's last name is when he removes the mask and introduces himself to Leia. Like later, Vader is unmasked as a Skywalker. Perhaps Luke was called Luke Lars all these years and only in an off-screen moment Kenobi told Luke his true family name?

 

I had the same reaction in 1977: I just knew that 'the clone wars' was the real story. I like the PT much better (as a stand alone) than the OT because of this.

The biggest thing the PT changes in ANH is the DS1 destruction: it's no big deal. The real issues are: Anakin is still alive; Luke is on the same path as his father, what will become of him?