How should I watch Star Wars

IsThisIt???

Never watched any of them so a friend loaned them to me.
Should I watch them in the order of release or from episode 1-6

Mickeroo

watch them in order i reckon, that way you're saving the good **** til last.

mikhail

Mickeroo wrote: »

watch them in order i reckon, that way you're saving the good **** til last.

There are spoilers for the earlier films (particularly The Empire Strikes Back) in the prequels. I'd watch them in the order of release.

Mickeroo

mikhail wrote: »

There are spoilers for the earlier films (particularly The Empire Strikes Back) in the prequels. I'd watch them in the order of release.

yea i was going to take that into account, but unless the lads lived under a rock his whole life or somehow avoided every reference to star wars in popular culture i'd say he might know the one big spoiler already? I think watching them cronologically might add more depth. Pros and cons both ways i guess

Antar Bolaeisk

The best order to watch the films in is:

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

If you can then watch the version where Han shoots first

BigBenRoeth

For a first timer you should watch them in order of release,if i was watching them id go from 1-6

duckysauce

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

The best order to watch the films in is:

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

If you can then watch the version where Han shoots first

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

and dont bother with the rest , ruins a brilliant triolgy

Ridley

IV, V, VI, I (though you can arguably skip it), II, III

Clone Wars is optional.

Then grab a copy of the Thrawn Trilogy.

Mickeroo

The Genndy Tartakovsky clone wars cartoons are good to watch before Revenge of the Sith, hell those two cartoons plus revenge of the sith make a better trilogy.

Ridley

Mickeroo wrote: »

The Genndy Tartakovsky clone wars cartoons are good to watch before Revenge of the Sith, hell those two cartoons plus revenge of the sith make a better trilogy.

Except for Grievous. *sigh*

niallon

IsThisIt??? wrote: »

Never watched any of them so a friend loaned them to me.

God I envy you. I'd love to be able to see Star Wars for the first time again!

CiaranC

Watch 4, 5 and 6.

Dont watch the prequels.

krudler

IV, V, VI, watch the trailer for Episode I, its about a million times better than the actual movie, II is ok, III is quite good despite the hammy dialogue. Then watch Serenity, which is the kind of movie the prequels should have been :pac:

Nervous Wreck

Agree with what many posters have said. Watch the original trilogy and then if you truly feel you must ruin it for yourself, watch the new trilogy. Tbh, the new trilogy has nothing to do with the originals. It's just a bunch of stupid stories mixed in with some of the original backstory and then slapped together with some 'great' special effects.

I once wrote a prequel to Shawshank Redemption. It was called "The Phantom Banker" and it was about this accountant who was rescued from slavery by this knight, except he had to have a drag-race first cos I needed an action scene, but then he ends up going a bit nuts and killing a bunch of kids and jerks and even friends of the knight that saved him. In the end of the script, he gets sent to jail where he becomes an even more embittered person and he doesn't know that his burd had a kid, who she named Andy Dufresne.*







*That may all have been lies but it's about as relevent a sequel script like that would be to Shawshank as the new Star Wars trilogy is to the original.

Goldstein

I agree, definitely start with 4, 5 & 6.

You'll understand what it was all about and be in a better position to put the later efforts in context.

Anakin.S

I'd watch them in order of release 4 - 6 then 1 -3

Try this drinking game you'll be wasted, drink when

Someone has a bad feeling about this
It's their only hope.
Somebody gets choked.
A woman other than Leia or Padme is on screen
An old Jedi starts to ramble about the Force.
Somebody's hand/arm gets cut off.
There is a tremor in the Force.
It's not someone's fault
A Jedi is much more powerful than he looks
Someone exclaims "No!"
Someone is mind-controled using the Force
People kiss
A good guy wears white or a bad guy wears black
An elaborately made up alien has no lines
Some ship crashes into something after being hit.
Someone has a light saber duel.
An Ewok dies.
It is Luke's destiny.
Luke or Anakin whines.
Luke or Anakin discovers a long-lost relative.
Luke or Anakin fights monsters or savages.
Anybody does some nifty acrobatic flip.
Luke is upside-down
Luke or Anakin refuses to take someone's advice
Luke yells "Artooooo!"
Leia insults somebody.
Obi-Wan Kenobi materializes for a guest appearance.
Han brags about the Millenium Falcon.
Anybody insults the Millenium Falcon.
Something doesn't work on the Falcon
Yoda uses bad grammar.
Yoda talks like a fortune cookie.
R2-D2 gets thrashed.
R2-D2 plugs into the wrong socket and his head spins around.
C-3PO loses a body part.
C-3PO informs us of just how many forms of communication he's familiar with
C-3PO thanks the maker
A starship pilot is of a race other than white
A starship pilot says "Nice Shot..."
A starship Pilot says "I've been hit..."
Tarkin brags about the Death Star.

fluke

IsThisIt??? wrote: »

Never watched any of them so a friend loaned them to me.
Should I watch them in the order of release or from episode 1-6

Watch the original trilogy. Following on from that if you just don't like them you probably won't watch the prequels, but maybe you'll need to satisfy your curiosity and you'll watch them anyway...

However... if you happen to like (or even love) the original movies then defintely do not watch the other 3. Don't even think about them.

messymess

OP, if it was me, I'd be watching 3, 4, 5 and 6. Don't bother with the first two really, read the wiki or something. If you watch 3 you'll get all the info you need to know for the next 3. Plus 3 is actually a great film!

Brendog

....on the couch with some popcorn.

chin_grin

I'll stick me wick in and also say go for IV, V and VI. The prequel trilogy was just a farce........And I think if you started from I you wouldn't watch the rest on account of frickin' Jar Jar. Grrrrrrr! :mad:

messymess

....oh and one final thing OP. Live long and prosper

TonyD79

messymess wrote: »

....oh and one final thing OP. Live long and prosper

Wrong forum!!!!

bonerm

It's vital that you watch the original trilogy first (IV V and VI) .

Then if you still have a hunger for SW watch the prequels (I II III). Seriously, only watch these if you were highly impressed by the original 3 because there is some dip in quality at this point (this statement is more or less univerally agreed by everyone other than -ironically- George Lucas himself).

If/After you get thru the prequels then proceed to watch this show. When you watch it its actually starts to make sense as to what the prequels were trying to be structurally and narratively. Watching this show actually managed to restore my faith in SW (which took some doing I can tell you!) which is good because this point you'll probably need your faith redeemed too.

Skip the Genndy Tartakovsky clonewars until you are totally wrapped up in SW. It's fashionable to say Tartakovskys show is better to the 2008 show I've linked for you, but the truth is it is not. It's just a bunch of vignettes that don't even add to the movies you've just watch. Hell watch Samurai Jack (a great show) if you want to experience Tartakovsky because this show is clearly just a poor imitation.

mikhail

bonerm wrote: »

Then if you still have a hunger for SW watch the prequels (I II III). Seriously, only watch these if you were highly impressed by the original 3 because there is some dip in quality at this point (this statement is more or less univerally agreed by everyone other than -ironically- George Lucas himself).

Yes. He actually thinks that The Empire Strikes Back is the worst one. No, really. It kind of explains a lot.

Mickeroo

bonerm wrote: »

It's vital that you watch the original trilogy first (IV V and VI) .

Then if you still have a hunger for SW watch the prequels (I II III). Seriously, only watch these if you were highly impressed by the original 3 because there is some dip in quality at this point (this statement is more or less univerally agreed by everyone other than -ironically- George Lucas himself).

If/After you get thru the prequels then proceed to watch this show. When you watch it its actually starts to make sense as to what the prequels were trying to be structurally and narratively. Watching this show actually managed to restore my faith in SW (which took some doing I can tell you!) which is good because this point you'll probably need your faith redeemed too.

Skip the Genndy Tartakovsky clonewars until you are totally wrapped up in SW. It's fashionable to say Tartakovskys show is better to the 2008 show I've linked for you, but the truth is it is not. It's just a bunch of vignettes that don't even add to the movies you've just watch. Hell watch Samurai Jack (a great show) if you want to experience Tartakovsky because this show is clearly just a poor imitation.

volume one of the old clone wars is a series of vignettes yea, but the second volume definitley does add to revenge of the sith, revenge of the sith picks up directly where volume 2 ends(

with the kidnapping of senator palpatine, it also explains why grievous appears a bit crippled at the start of episode 3

. you're right though, It's nowhere near as good as samurai jack. The 2008 show is also class

quickbeam

I'll probably get slated for this, but I promise I'm not saying this just to be controversial ... but don't bother watching any of them. Objectively I can see how they became classics on their first release - there wasn't anything like them at the time, and the twists really did come as a suprise I guess. However, like the OP I didn't see them on original release and only saw IV, V and VI many years later and I thought they were rubbish. I really didn't understand the hype about them. I mean RotJ pretty much repeats the story of ANH. ESB was boring -

seems like it was just Luke sitting around with Yoda for most of the film until the end and Yoda was an annoying character.

(Spoilered because I know the OP will ignore my advice and watch anyway). Plenty other decent movies to watch out there without wasting time on this. I definitely didn't bother with I, II and III.

Sad Professor

mikhail wrote: »

Yes. He actually thinks that The Empire Strikes Back is the worst one. No, really. It kind of explains a lot.

I'm pretty sure he was just making one of his (bad) jokes. Lucas knows that everyone thinks Empire is the best. He has said many times that he thinks it's a better and nicer film than he would have made.

I think the truth is that Lucas never really cared that much about Star Wars. He thought the first film was terrible and treated the original trilogy as a source of income to finance what he really wanted to do: Skywalker Ranch, ILM, etc. He always hated directing.

mikhail

Sad Prof, that's one of the nicest things I've read all day. Though for someone who hates directing, he seems awfully happy to reedit his old movies.

jaykhunter

Hell, i recommend watching them 1-2-3-4-5-6; you're at a unique advantage to watch the films for the first time in numerical order!

Even though the prequel trilogy (1-2-3) isn't as good as the classic one, it's still worth a watch. 2 is at least decent and 3 i thought was fantastic. I hate how (especially #3) is lumped in with 'oh the prequels are awful'. Having shown Star Wars movies to friends/gf who previously haven't watched it before, they were able to enjoy the prequels (3>2>1). I bet you won't be quite so harsh/judgmental/critical of those films and won't see why people have to sh1t on them so bad.

They're two hours each; hell maybe you could do a marathon over 2 days (watching a trilogy each day); it'd be quite an experience! Worth spending a few hours finding out why everyone bangs on about Star Wars

Anyway i'd love to know what you think of them, watching them with fresh eyes.

bonerm

jaykhunter wrote: »

Hell, i recommend watching them 1-2-3-4-5-6; you're at a unique advantage to watch the films for the first time in numerical order!

Actually I was thinking about advantageous viewing and I think the OP should try get their hands on the "original" trilogy (ie any pre-1997 revision) rather than watching the "special editions". If he does become a fan then he could watch the special editions some other time and be able to pick out the new scenes easily and be able his draw their own conclusion on which was better, rather than just watching the Special Editions first and taking for granted that this is the way the movies always were.

Magic Eight Ball

messymess wrote: »

....oh and one final thing OP. Live long and prosper

Aren't you one of the Little Rascals?

Sanjuro

Watch A New Hope. Then The Empire Strikes Back. Then Return of the Jedi. Then walk to the bin. Then open the bin. Then throw the prequel trilogy into the bin. Enjoy!

Roar

save yourself the bother of watching the prequels (the first two anyway) by watching Red Letter Media's reviews of them.. hilarious stuff

http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html

bonerm

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

Aren't you one of the Little Rascals?

The cosmic ballet ... goes on.

Hank_Jones

I always watch them in the order of release.

Just seems to be the way they are meant to be watched.

the_monkey

Yeah , if it is the 1st time watch the original first, then Empire, then Return of the jedi.

Watch the prequels then, which although a lot of people hate ,
I quite like especially Ep III which is my favourite of all 6 (cue lots of abuse here ) I just love the way it ties it all up.

Some deleted scenes in that flick that were a shame to have been left out.

Mimojo

You gotta watch them in order of release...I had never seen em either and that is how I watched em, the new ones aren't a patch on the old (original) ones

purple_hatstand

This is the best version of Episode 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pS0nr7nVpc

me-skywalker

Roar wrote: »

save yourself the bother of watching the prequels (the first two anyway) by watching Red Letter Media's reviews of them.. hilarious stuff

http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html

So so funny and ironically true!

Hmmm dunno how many ppl think EpIII Revenge was terrible? Really? I really loved EpIII not nearly as much as Empire strikes back but definitley hold it in high regard.

johnny_ultimate

Another tip for watching Star Wars. Skip episodes I to III, and watch Serenity instead. It's at least a third of the length, is better and is probably something George Lucas should watch before ever picking up a camera again. If you really want to, you can pretend Mal is Han Solo (and definitely shoots first) and consider it a pseudo sequel. Success!

Also, the teaser trailer for Episode I is awesome. It's about two minutes long, and roughly 700% better than the film.

Richard Dower

Just watch The Empire Strikes Back.......AND STOP!

Goldstein

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Another tip for watching Star Wars. Skip episodes I to III, and watch Serenity instead. It's at least a third of the length, is better and is probably something George Lucas should watch before ever picking up a camera again. If you really want to, you can pretend Mal is Han Solo (and definitely shoots first) and consider it a pseudo sequel. Success!

Also, the teaser trailer for Episode I is awesome. It's about two minutes long, and roughly 700% better than the film.

Good idea, they could also preempt Serenity with the 14 Firefly eps which are, every last one of them, absolutely awesome.

Sardonicat

Alone, preferably.

candy-gal1

In all fairness, watch the original first three as they are the best tbh. the newer ones are kinda crap, just my opinion though.

Handsome Bob

Episode 3 is the best of the prequels. I think Episode 2 really f'd things up for that trilogy as Hayden was terribly miscast. Or maybe it was just the way Anakin was written, as this incredibly petulant man child.

When he massacres the sand people, that should have been a very disturbing scene with Anakin full of hateful venom. But something about it was just flat, he was like a child throwing a tantrum moreso than a cold blooded vicious killer.

krudler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6hOlI9cg4o

Still one of the best trailers ever, I remember seeing this in the cinema for the first time a few months before the movie came out and the entire audience turned into a bunch of kids again, awesome stuff. Then the movie came out and... well, y'know.

johnny_ultimate

krudler wrote: »

Still one of the best trailers ever, I remember seeing this in the cinema for the first time a few months before the movie came out and the entire audience turned into a bunch of kids again, awesome stuff. Then the movie came out and... well, y'know.

I remember seeing it at the Star Wars experience in the RDS. The hype building up to that film was something else. Darth Maul looked like a great villain, tantalising hints at visceral pod racing, the action figures started trickling out and became the best toys around (I still have the two versions of Darth Maul), the cast looked great etc... Nothing I can think of had the same level of anticipation behind it.

And then George Lucas farted on the screen, and we all know what happened next. Genuinely the great missed opportunity in cinema history.

krudler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I remember seeing it at the Star Wars experience in the RDS. The hype building up to that film was something else. Darth Maul looked like a great villain, tantalising hints at visceral pod racing, the action figures started trickling out and became the best toys around (I still have the two versions of Darth Maul), the cast looked great etc... Nothing I can think of had the same level of anticipation behind it.

And then George Lucas farted on the screen, and we all know what happened next. Genuinely the great missed opportunity in cinema history.

I remember coming out of it, trying to justify why I thought it was good, it was almost like I wasnt allowed hate it even though I knew I did, now I think its a piece of sh1t but I did let the hype and anticipation cloud my judgement at the time. It really is a clusterfcuk of epic proportions, I heonstly still dont understand parts of the plot because it makes so little sense, the whole Trade Federation thing is baffling, the redlettermedia review is so spot on with the criticism of it. Even the most ardent "but its got the best lightsaber fight" (it doesnt) fanboy would have to be blind to how sh1te it really is.

bonerm

krudler wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6hOlI9cg4o

Still one of the best trailers ever, I remember seeing this in the cinema for the first time a few months before the movie came out and the entire audience turned into a bunch of kids again, awesome stuff. Then the movie came out and... well, y'know.

I remember vividly downloading this trailer at the time. So much so that I even now I know the original filesize (25mb). I had to do it at work on the bosses computer (without him knowing) because I didn't have a comp myself and I didn't really feel like getting into a discussion with him on downloading SW trailers on work machines.

Now back then even on a fast connection it would take a couple of hours to dl a 25meg file and he kept accidentaly knocking it off some how (i reckon he was just fecking around on the net all day himself. Anyway, I'd say I snuck onto his computer & attemped dl on that clip about 20 times before I finally got it! Was still worth it and was a prized possession for some weeks after that in the run-up to the movie.

Brendog

I watch Star Wars wearing nothing but socks and a storm trooper helmet.





and that why I'm not allowed in Power city anymore...

krudler

Brendog wrote: »

I watch Star Wars wearing nothing but socks and a storm trooper helmet.





and that why I'm not allowed in Power city anymore...

I actually have a stormtrooper helmet (made it myself) but have yet to watch the movies wearing it lol