Cinemax this month is running all six episodes of Star Wars.  They're running them 4,5,6,1,2,3 and then 1,2,3,4,5,6.  Entertainment Weekly has an article about someone watching them here:

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1558880_1_0_,00.html

As a father with a 1 year old son, I know at some point I'll introduce these movies to him.  Which order would you watch them in if you had to watch them for the first time?

I've seen a couple people even recommend this order:  4,5,1,2,3,6 and I think the explanation of why makes sense. 

I think the 4-5-1-2-3-6 order makes sense because they do a sort of flashback after 5 to show why Darth Vader was Luke's father and how that came to be.  I'm showing my kid the movies in chronological 1-6 order though, because I like how the story played out even though the first two episodes sucked.

If I was watching them for the first time?  I'd watch the prequels in order and then the rest in order.  So 4,5,6,1,2,3.  Now, since I've seen them all already, I usually start with 2 or The Empire Strikes Back, because that's the best of the lot.

I've never seen any of the Star Wars movies.  :-\\


*Ducks*

^that's awesome. i know somebody who's never seen any of the lord of the rings movies. he's all, maybe i should see one. i'm like, you kidding? that's such a feather in your cap man! i wish i could say that.

anyway, order to watch em in: i say 4, then 5, then quit and watch something else. star wars and empire strikes back are classics. maybe work in 3, the latest one, it's sufferable. the rest range from mediocre to downright sucky.

but i definitely say order they were made in. 4 and 5 are so much better than the rest that seeing the others before them will taint them. and 4 really isn't going to feel like a sequel to 3 anyway.

oh, and don't get those special edition retouched ones. original all the way! complete with crapalicious stop motion animation and everything.

wow, i didn't know i had such strong opinions about this.

I've never seen any of the LOTR movies and I don't plan to.

^rock on. i wouldn't recommend it; they're lame.

as for the unfolding "storyline" in star wars, i think it's so obvious and simple that it doesn't matter if you get it out of order. everybody knows darth is evil, but used to be good, and luke is his son, and all that jazz. the story's sorta out there and by the time chucky's son is old enough to start watching the movies he'll probably have already absorbed the storyline through osmosis.

I've never seen any of the LOTR movies and I don't plan to.


My husband made me watch the first one and I was bored to tears...


^that's awesome. i know somebody who's never seen any of the lord of the rings movies. he's all, maybe i should see one. i'm like, you kidding? that's such a feather in your cap man! i wish i could say that.

 

If you think I'm cool for not watching Star Wars, you are going to think I'm even cooler for recently buying "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "Return to Witch Mountain."  Oh yes I did.  I loved those movies when I was little, and had forgotten about them until I saw all of your avatars.   :)

If you think I'm cool for not watching Star Wars, you are going to think I'm even cooler for recently buying "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "Return to Witch Mountain."  Oh yes I did.  I loved those movies when I was little, and had forgotten about them until I saw all of your avatars.  :)



Mike's gonna propose to you now, so have a response ready.

If you think I'm cool for not watching Star Wars, you are going to think I'm even cooler for recently buying "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "Return to Witch Mountain."  Oh yes I did.  I loved those movies when I was little, and had forgotten about them until I saw all of your avatars.  :)
please marry me.

please marry me.


*shrugs*

Ok.

Oooooh, it's a Love Connection!!  Someone call Chuck Woolery.

ah! i'm now engaged. funny i don't feel any different.

i have to admit, having said all that about how order doesn't matter, i'm curious what the reasoning behind the 4,5,1,2,3,6 is.

ah! i'm now engaged. funny i don't feel any different.



Well thanks a lot! 

Would it help if I started nagging you and demanding that you buy me expensive gifts?

Well thanks a lot! 

Would it help if I started nagging you and demanding that you buy me expensive gifts?



Good girl.  Start asking for the diamonds NOW.

Good girl.  Start asking for the diamonds NOW.


;D

I like this one...

;D

I like this one...





Oooh, I want that.  Think he can buy two?

Oooh, I want that.  Think he can buy two?


Yes.  We're engaged now and he has to do everything I say.


Honey, Beth would like one too. *bats eyelashes*

I would watch them 4-5-6, then 1-2-3 because that's the way I've always known them, and to this day, I still wonder why Lucas started the series at Episode 4

I haven't seen Episode 3 yet

i have to admit, having said all that about how order doesn't matter, i'm curious what the reasoning behind the 4,5,1,2,3,6 is.


a lot of the plot twists (I'm your father, who is Yoda, etc) tend to be ruined by having seen the first three.  The 6th movie doesn't really have anything to be spoiled by having seen the first three.  If you watch the first movie, you don't really know what a jedi is, or why the force is important (isn't explained fully until episode 4).  Plus when Luke kisses his sister, it's a little less yucky if you didn't know that ahead of time.

You have to wait to find out what happens to Han Solo, but I think even a 5 year old kid could figure out he'll probably get rescued.

While I find Jar Jar incredibly annoying in the first movie, I don't think the first three are so awful.  Clearly episodes Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back are the best overall in the series, but the first three aren't nearly as bad as the hard core geeks make them out to be. 

I also figure that if I introduce my "youngling" to the fourth one, he won't be as bored as he would be if I made him watch Phantom Menance.  Then again, I'm told Jar Jar appeals to the real little kids.

The first prequel sucked.  Sucked real bad.  Like, I-almost-walked-out-of-the-theatre sucked.

I would do the 4,5,6,1,2,3 sequence. I guess this is just because that's how I've known them to be, plus, watching the older films would be better to do first - then the next three would answer more questions for you.

^ SM, I saw the Phantom Menace at the theatre in 1999, and I was bored stiff. I hardly say this about certain movies, and being a fan of Star Wars, I didn't think that could ever happen. But, it did.  ;D

I would watch them 4-5-6, then 1-2-3 because that's the way I've always known them, and to this day, I still wonder why Lucas started the series at Episode 4

I haven't seen Episode 3 yet
my conspiracy theory is that when the first one came out, it was actually a standalone and he put the "part IV" thing in there as sorta a joke, sorta a riff on the old sci-fi serials that star wars was supposed to be inspired by. but then, when the movie took off and became the biggest thing since the invention of penicillin he went, oh, you know what? i have, um, eight more! yup. sure do. and then he went on a frenzy of making up a bunch of stuff while pretending he'd had it sitting around all along.

Yes.  We're engaged now and he has to do everything I say.


Honey, Beth would like one too. *bats eyelashes*


no need to fight, ladies!

take your pick:

http://www.gumball-machine.com/imgs/25toys/arterings.jpg

no need to fight, ladies!

take your pick:

http://www.gumball-machine.com/imgs/25toys/arterings.jpg


I'm totally gonna score with your fiancee now. BOOOOONG!

The cinematography of Episode IV might look campy compared to Episode III (1970s technology versus 2000s technology), but here we go:

Star Wars--
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Episode IV: A New Hope
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The first two prequels are crappy and extraneous.  If you don't know the backstory, you can read a summary in 10 minutes and understand episodes III-VI just fine (this isn't Homer, for chrissakes!), no need to sit through four hours of drek.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/06/lsvader.gif

no need to fight, ladies!

take your pick:

http://www.gumball-machine.com/imgs/25toys/arterings.jpg


LOL!


I'm totally gonna score with your fiancee now. BOOOOONG!


I dunno...I really like that daisy ring.

I've seen Star Wars, The Emipire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi.  Call me nostagic but when the Episodes came out I wasn't too interested.  I'm guessing if I want my life spared I should be. http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/06/lsvader.gif

I've seen Star Wars, The Emipire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi.  Call me nostagic but when the Episodes came out I wasn't too interested.  I'm guessing if I want my life spared I should be. http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/06/lsvader.gif

You're not alone.  Personally, I loved the original trilogy because I was in the optimal demographic (males, age 7-16) but a lot more people than we care to remember thought the Star Wars movie were campy, derivative, juvenile rubbish.  Their voices were scarcely heard above the din of adorations, and anybody caught NOT loving Stars Wars was persecuted!
;D

The first prequel sucked.  Sucked real bad.  Like, I-almost-walked-out-of-the-theatre sucked.


And the reason why it sucked ...

http://home.netvigator.com/~mofo/jar-jar_binks4.jpg

my conspiracy theory is that when the first one came out, it was actually a standalone and he put the "part IV" thing in there as sorta a joke, sorta a riff on the old sci-fi serials that star wars was supposed to be inspired by. but then, when the movie took off and became the biggest thing since the invention of penicillin he went, oh, you know what? i have, um, eight more! yup. sure do. and then he went on a frenzy of making up a bunch of stuff while pretending he'd had it sitting around all along.


No, from what I've read, Lucas had the plot for the original trilogy(4-6) all worked out from the very beginning. He had a vague conception for what the backstory for what came before should be, but it wasn't until years later that he fleshed it out with the second trilogy(1-3).

No, from what I've read, Lucas had the plot for the original trilogy(4-6) all worked out from the very beginning. He had a vague conception for what the backstory for what came before should be, but it wasn't until years later that he fleshed it out with the second trilogy(1-3).
right. that's what they say. they also say oswald acted alone and we didn't go into iraq for the oil.

I don't think I should get into any of these discusions having been brainwashed in all things Star Wars from an early age first by my Dad and now by himself, who it has to be said would probably soil himself at the thought of seeing them all back to back on a big screen!  ;D

No, from what I've read, Lucas had the plot for the original trilogy(4-6) all worked out from the very beginning. He had a vague conception for what the backstory for what came before should be, but it wasn't until years later that he fleshed it out with the second trilogy(1-3).


I thought that the whole story was written but Lucas knew he couldn't get the special effects right for the first 3 at the time he started fiming.  When we get the DVD player hooked up to the tv I'll watch them again.  My son has seen Episode 4 more times than I have and he keeps asking me questions about it that I don't know the answers to.

I was just watching a T.V show on the biggest celeb earners for 2005 and it was George who earned a staggering $250 million....................

right. that's what they say. they also say oswald acted alone and we didn't go into iraq for the oil.

Oswald Wan Kenobi?


my conspiracy theory is that when the first one came out, it was actually a standalone and he put the "part IV" thing in there as sorta a joke, sorta a riff on the old sci-fi serials that star wars was supposed to be inspired by. but then, when the movie took off and became the biggest thing since the invention of penicillin he went, oh, you know what? i have, um, eight more! yup. sure do. and then he went on a frenzy of making up a bunch of stuff while pretending he'd had it sitting around all along.

I kept waiting for "History of the World, Part II."
:D


And the reason why it sucked ...

http://home.netvigator.com/~mofo/jar-jar_binks4.jpg

Part I lacked for a mensch!  I kept wishing Han Solo was there with his blaster to blow Jar Jar's azz to Muppet heaven!

The order to watch them in would be.....


6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1