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[tmdorsey]

I have a cousin whose never see any of the Star Wars movies. I'm going to introduce her to the saga and now that Episode III is in the books ,which movies and which order do you guys think she should view them in to maximize the experience?


Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[milanbaros]

We need pics!

 

[tmdorsey]

Pics of what?

 

[Tritroid]

I have a friend 'experiment' who's in the same boat.

She hasn't seen the OT so I'm having her start with 1,2,3 and then watch 4,5,6 in the right order to see what her impressions are.

To show my children though, I'll most likely show them in this order: 1,2,4,5,3,6. That way you still get the 'shock' moments in 5 without them being spoiled by 3.

 

[milanbaros]

Pics of what?

Your cousin.

 

[Justin Bailey]

I would watch the dvds of the original trilogy first and then move on to the new ones.

 

[Manics]

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Start with The Wrath of Khan and end there.

 

[monkey79]

4,5,1,2,3,6

4 introduces the characters.
5 reveals the shocking plot twist about Luke's parentage.
1-3 then show how that happened.
and then 6 wraps it all up.

 

[ThirstyFly]

Start with The Wrath of Khan and end there.

"KHANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!"



I love that episode.

 

[borghe]

4,5,1,2,3,6

4 introduces the characters.
5 reveals the shocking plot twist about Luke's parentage.
1-3 then show how that happened.
and then 6 wraps it all up.

that is by far the most interesting, yet bizarre, suggestion ever. I was just going to say 1-6 in order, but that is just... interesting.. to say the least.

 

[FnordChan]

Publication order is almost always preferable to internal chronology order. When creators go back to earlier continuity, they're almost certainly working on the basis that their audience is going to be familiar with the previously published material. In particular, I dunno how much someone is going to get out of the prequels if they haven't already seen how the original films play out. Start with the original series.

FnordChan

 

[Prospero]

She should watch them in the order in which they were made: 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3.

 

[6.8]

I brought my GF to the movie yesterday, and she had never seen any Star Wars movie of her life.

But yeah, definitely watch them in the order they were made (at least for the first view).

 

[FortNinety]

She should watch them in the order in which they were made: 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3.

This is the best answer. How anyone could actually view the films in its "proper" order is beyond me.

 

[borghe]

This is the best answer. How anyone could actually view the films in its "proper" order is beyond me.

I can answer this. because if you view the films in their released order, the machinations of the emperor can possibly just feel silly. I know upon first viewing the Phantom Menace, and lucas was like "Watch the movie, you'll see what the title means" I was like "Umm. yeah, Palpatine is working both angles and getting into power, so what? what is so pahntom about that. and why the hell don't the jedi see this, are they idiots? C'MON!!"

It wasn't until after a few viewing of TPM that I finally understood (and when george cleared it up for everyone in AOTC with the "dark side clouds everything speech"). when viewed in chronological order, plaptine's duality and evilness plays out MUCH better. IMHO

 

[Prospero]

When creators go back to earlier continuity, they're almost certainly working on the basis that their audience is going to be familiar with the previously published material.

No matter what Lucas says, John Williams definitely assumes this. His scores for the prequels don't make much sense unless you realize that they're referencing moments from the original trilogy.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

I can answer this. because if you view the films in their released order, the machinations of the emperor can possibly just feel silly. I know upon first viewing the Phantom Menace, and lucas was like "Watch the movie, you'll see what the title means" I was like "Umm. yeah, Palpatine is working both angles and getting into power, so what? what is so pahntom about that. and why the hell don't the jedi see this, are they idiots? C'MON!!"

It wasn't until after a few viewing of TPM that I finally understood (and when george cleared it up for everyone in AOTC with the "dark side clouds everything speech"). when viewed in chronological order, plaptine's duality and evilness plays out MUCH better. IMHO

It's interesting; a friend of mine had only watched the first two prequels, and was waiting for III to come out so that he could watch them in chronological order... and he asked what happened in III; I kinda ran it down, that Anakin becomes Vader (which he wasn't surprised at) and that Palpatine becomes Emperor. He just kinda looks at me and goes "but he's a good guy." I was kinda amazed that he thought that, and it does give you a different insight in watching it from 1 on.

 

[Spiritreaver]

The order really doesn't matter. Star Wars is a saga that I can't see someone watching just once, it's something you experience over repeated viewings and that's how you fully understand things. The assumption that someone is going to get something by watching in a certain order can only be made if they even make that connection. Palpatine's duality role is not even needed to be known to understand his purpose in the OT, in fact, any reference to his political importance is done very offhandedly and doesn't drive the story in any way, unlike the PT.

So yeah, unless this person is only going to view to saga once, it really shouldn't matter what order things come in, well other than mixing up the OT and screwing up things storywise. They just simply aren't going tog et everything in any little order you come up with, they may be more likely to realize more from one set of viewings to the next, but this is just a silly. But I do prefer seeing the films in order of release as that's how I grew up watching them, and I would never want to take that experience away from someone completely new to the series, I think it loses some of the magic, but perhaps I'm just being far too nostalgic.

Prospero also makes a very nice point. You're missing on other things you may not even notice. The music is part of that magic and the experience is going to be vastly different than how everyone else has experienced. I just don't feel that changing that is the best way of showing off the films to someone.

 

[FortNinety]

I can answer this. because if you view the films in their released order, the machinations of the emperor can possibly just feel silly. I know upon first viewing the Phantom Menace, and lucas was like "Watch the movie, you'll see what the title means" I was like "Umm. yeah, Palpatine is working both angles and getting into power, so what? what is so pahntom about that. and why the hell don't the jedi see this, are they idiots? C'MON!!"

It wasn't until after a few viewing of TPM that I finally understood (and when george cleared it up for everyone in AOTC with the "dark side clouds everything speech"). when viewed in chronological order, plaptine's duality and evilness plays out MUCH better. IMHO

No, I'm talking about watching a film franchise that began as some crazy guy making a movie in the desert and wasting everyone's money, creating technology as he went along, to one where the crazy guy now has an army of ass kissers and a limitless budget, turning said franchise which basically defined and created a genre into one that's a shell of its formers self.

 

[tmdorsey]

Your cousin.

No.

Publication order is almost always preferable to internal chronology order. When creators go back to earlier continuity, they're almost certainly working on the basis that their audience is going to be familiar with the previously published material. In particular, I dunno how much someone is going to get out of the prequels if they haven't already seen how the original films play out. Start with the original series.

FnordChan

Hmmm. So far I really like the arguments for showing them to her in Publication order. However I guess I can also wanted to kind of experiment with her to see what someones take would be who had saw the saga in chronological order, since from my own personal experience I know how it is to view them in chronological order. Above anything else, though I want to show them to her in the order that will make her appreciate the saga the most though.

I'm also pretty certain that she will only watch the entire saga once.

 

[borghe]

However I guess I can also wanted to kind of experiment with her to see what someones take would be who had saw the saga in chronological order,

dude.. that is like 5 people... in the world. and none of them on GAF.

Above anything else, though I want to show them to her in the order that will make her appreciate the saga the most though.

it doesn't matter. unless she is a he-man-cool-to-be-hating-PT-I-am-cooler-than-you-because-of-it PT basher, she will probably enjoy both sagas (to varying degrees) and the order you show them to her in isn't that important. make your decision but in the end I don't think it will have too much bearing.

edit - though prospero is 100% correct about Williams doing the saga in order of release. I really think Lucas has done a great job of making it so the series is watchable in either order, and there are surprises and thrills there no matter which order you watch it in. But yeah, Williams score throughout the entire PT has been an extension of the OT's score, and it would be hard to justify the PT score on it's own without that influence. I mean the score is great for the PT, but much of that has to do with basic note sequences that have been burned into out ear drums for 30 years.

 

[FnordChan]

However I guess I can also wanted to kind of experiment with her to see what someones take would be who had saw the saga in chronological order, since from my own personal experience I know how it is to view them in chronological order.

I think we're all agreed that the original films are better than the prequel trilogy. If you want them to really enjoy Star Wars, don't experiment on them. Start with the good stuff first!

FnordChan

 

[tmdorsey]

Just an update for those who maybe curious, I started with the original trilogy. So far she's watched A New Hope and we watch Empire Strikes Back last night. She likes both movies, and she said she thinks she likes Empire a little more than A New Hope.

Also she really likes R2 and 3PO, and she thought Vadar was lying when he said he was Luke's father. :lol

Also she thinks Vadar is pretty off the hook, evil wise. It's really fun watching these movies with someone who's totally new to them.



What's your guys thoughts on PT? I was thinking about skipping Ep I totally and jumping straight to Ep II. What do yall think?

 

[Scrow]

for someone new to star wars who doesn't know the "big secret", you'd have to watch the originals first.

 

[human5892]

I'm surprised she didn't already know the "big secret" -- I would've thought even someone who has never seen the movies would've heard the "Luke: I am your father" line somewhere or another during their lifetime.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

For me, you still need to watch Episode I. It's not as important to the series over all as the other films are, but it still sets up how Palpatine gets into a position to take power, and it shows some of the inner working of the Jedi, how they found Anakin, hints at the prophecy of bringing balance to the force, and their reluctance at training him. Plus, it has "The Duel"!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

dude.. that is like 5 people... in the world. and none of them on GAF.

I don't remember who it was, but someone in one of the recent bigass Star Wars threads talked about having just watched them recently in 1-6 order. It caused a bit of an uproar when 4 and 5 were at the bottom of his list, since he was looking for continuations of things from 1-3.

Actually, just now noting that the message I'm replying to is from the day after Episode III opened, I guess we're both right.

 

[chinch]

I'm surprised she didn't already know the "big secret" -- I would've thought even someone who has never seen the movies would've heard the "Luke: I am your father" line somewhere or another during their lifetime.

the point being she thought Vader was lying and using it as a ploy to trap Luke.

not a stretch... shows you how a kid's mind often works better than that of jaded adults.

 

[tmdorsey]

I'm surprised she didn't already know the "big secret" -- I would've thought even someone who has never seen the movies would've heard the "Luke: I am your father" line somewhere or another during their lifetime.

Yeah, I even mentioned it to her to, saying "That's the famous line, Luke, I am your father that you hear all the time." She just shrugged saying she never remember hearing that.

 

[Archaix]

the point being she thought Vader was lying and using it as a ploy to trap Luke.

not a stretch... shows you how a kid's mind often works better than that of jaded adults.

Well, to be fair, James Earl Jones has said that upon reading the script for that scene, he turned to Lucas and said "He's lying...right? That's not true, right?"

So it's not all adults.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

"who's" or "who is" is the word you are looking for. "whose" implies ownership i.e. "whose ball is this" and other sentences. sorry, just a pet peeve.

 

[Prospero]

It's really fun watching these movies with someone whose totally new to them.

The last time I watched the OT, it was with a woman in her late twenties who had never seen any of them and didn't know the secret at the end of Empire, either. (Was she raised in a barn, you're asking? Apparently so.) I pulled out my vintage widescreen un-retouched VHS editions and we watched the three films over three successive nights. I don't think I ever had as much fun with those movies as I did then.

 

[tmdorsey]

"who's" or "who is" is the word you are looking for. "whose" implies ownership i.e. "whose ball is this" and other sentences. sorry, just a pet peeve.

Sorry. Honest mistake. I'm sort of anal about this same kind of thing myself.