In what way I should watch a Star Wars Marathon? — Page 2

My personal preference

• Star Wars (Despecialized)
• TESB (Despecialized)
• AotC
• RotS
• RotJ (Despecialized)

You can either watch TPM before AotC, after you do the marathon as a little spin off movie, or not watch it at all.

ray_afraid said:

So what’s you guys reason for including them?

TV’s Frink said:

He said “full-on marathon.” He also mentioned release date, which only is relevant if you include the prequels. That is why I felt the need to include them.

imperialscum said:

Tobar said:

I mean, if you have to include the prequels you might as well do it machete order:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi

This is the WORST thing you can actually do.

Nah, reading any of your posts is the WORST thing we can actually do.

imperialscum said:

Tobar said:

I mean, if you have to include the prequels you might as well do it machete order:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi

This is the WORST thing you can actually do. Putting PT in the middle of OT contaminates the OT and its feel.

I agree it creates a certain type of disconnect due to the different feel of the films but as it pertains to story telling the machete order is the most sound choice IF you’re including the prequels.

Man, the prequels are not the worst thing to contaminate cinema. Sure they arent masterpieces,but with the worst of the bad acting and dialogue edited out they are quite enjoyable.

*Obviously this is my opinion and I’m Not looking down on those who think otherwise.

That being said, I recommend numeric order, with q2s edit of the prequels for someone who probably doesn’t want to edit multiple edits together as they do the best of speeding things up and preserving OT surprises.

imperialscum said:

Tobar said:

I mean, if you have to include the prequels you might as well do it machete order:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi

This is the WORST thing you can actually do. Putting PT in the middle of OT contaminates the OT and its feel. Especially since ESB flows into ROTJ so nicely.

I agree: the PT is visually too different (EpI is ok, but EpII is too digital, even if Schorman’s HDTV preservation is a more enjoyable video source). The machete order idea is nice but it does not feel right. 4-5-6-1-2-3 would be my prefered order to discover the movies with the PT in a edited shape (Q2 for the pacing, Hal for a more conservative point of view - except for EpIII ending -, or L8): 1-2-3-4-5-6 if you already know them (again, PT re-edited). With 7-8-9 (if we assume the next two installments are going to deliver a good trilogy, which is still possible with Rian Johnson), chronological order (1 to 9) seems to be the right way.

Possessed said:

Sure they arent masterpieces,but with the worst of the bad acting and dialogue edited out they are quite enjoyable.

Especially EpI, which is by far the strongest movie among them (and the only one you can really watch with your kids and nephews, 'cause EpIII is way too violent for kids). It’s the only one that can work as a stand alone, it can even be watched without 2-3: 1-4-5-6, that way you keep all the reveals, and you even keep the Clone Wars mysterious. If you need to fill the gap, ROGUE ONE might do the job, so : 1-RO-4-5-6-(7-8-9)

MalàStrana said:

Especially EpI, which is by far the strongest movie among them (and the only one you can really watch with your kids and nephews, 'cause EpIII is way too violent for kids).

http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Liveblog-of-my-8-yr-old-and-5-yr-old-daughters-watching-ROTS-L8wrtr-Version-for-the-first-time/id/48230

We did discuss it with them before watching it, so they’d be prepared for the Ani BBQ.

Owen and Beru’s fate is pretty gruesome, by the way.

Tobar said:

MalàStrana said:

1-4-5-6, that way you keep all the reveals, and you even keep the Clone Wars mysterious.

Yoda.

Nah, just watch the DVD version (or associated edit) of TPM.

CPY and ESB Yoda are two different “people.”

Have to?

ATMachine said:

the best advice on how to watch a Star Wars marathon is this:

Watch a Star Wars marathon.

Best order?

4
5
6
Plinkett reviews of the prequels so you can understand the story they told and why they sucked at the same time. I’ve tried various fan edits and everything in a desperate attempt to make the prequels watchable, but I just can’t recommend any of them in good conscience. No matter how hard you try to give these things life support, nothing can fix the plain bad dialogue and acting and the outdated CGI visual effects. Watch at your own peril. Only 3 is even slightly close to a half-decent film and is the only one that adds any relevant backstory to the originals at all.
7

ray_afraid said:

I really can’t understand why anyone would want to squeeze two (or three!) terrible films into the middle of a trilogy of good films. They add nothing to the original story and have nothing good going for them in any edit (other than Frinks!). All they could possibly add to the marathon is several boring ours and lots of eye rolling and groans.
So what’s you guys reason for including them?

I don’t entirely agree that they add nothing. The best thing they did was give Vader’s actions in ROTJ a bit more power and clear up some of the hanging threads at the end of ESB, which is why the Machete Order places them right between them. (I also think the Leia reveal actually has a bit more punch when seen at the end of ROTS, before Luke finds out, rather than at the beginning of ROTJ.) It’s just a shame that it could have been done so much better and really added a lot to it, instead of ruining so many other things at the same time.

And even then, you only have to watch ROTS to get that. The other two add nothing at all and are total wastes of (digital) celluloid. The story of ROTS should have been spread out over the entire trilogy. That’s why I don’t think the Machete Order even needs to include AOTC. You don’t really even need to see Anakin and Padme “fall in love.” You just gotta know they were married and had kids on the way. Despite some cringey romance dialogue in ROTS, there’s not nearly as much as in AOTC so the love story isn’t nearly as awful actually when you cut out AOTC and can fill in the blanks yourself. Also, skipping AOTC gives you a bit less crazy emo Anakin and you can fill in the blanks about his relationship with Obi-Wan too, so they may actually be seen as the “good friends” he described in ANH. You can also see Anakin as an actual good Jedi who tragically turned to the dark side out of desperation, rather than someone who was always right on the edge of going psycho, but that’s impossible if you don’t ignore AOTC and so get the whole sand people mess. I think watching it this way actually improves both ROTS and, to a lesser degree, ROTJ. But AOTC is beyond redemption and pointless to watch.

Density said:

ray_afraid said:

I really can’t understand why anyone would want to squeeze two (or three!) terrible films into the middle of a trilogy of good films. They add nothing to the original story and have nothing good going for them in any edit (other than Frinks!). All they could possibly add to the marathon is several boring ours and lots of eye rolling and groans.
So what’s you guys reason for including them?

I don’t entirely agree that they add nothing. The best thing they did was give Vader’s actions in ROTJ a bit more power and clear up some of the hanging threads at the end of ESB, which is why the Machete Order places them right between them. (I also think the Leia reveal actually has a bit more punch when seen at the end of ROTS, before Luke finds out, rather than at the beginning of ROTJ.) It’s just a shame that it could have been done so much better and really added a lot to it, instead of ruining so many other things at the same time.

And even then, you only have to watch ROTS to get that. The other two add nothing at all and are total wastes of (digital) celluloid. The story of ROTS should have been spread out over the entire trilogy. That’s why I don’t think the Machete Order even needs to include AOTC. You don’t really even need to see Anakin and Padme “fall in love.” You just gotta know they were married and had kids on the way. Despite some cringey romance dialogue in ROTS, there’s not nearly as much as in AOTC so the love story isn’t nearly as awful actually when you cut out AOTC and can fill in the blanks yourself. Also, skipping AOTC gives you a bit less crazy emo Anakin and you can fill in the blanks about his relationship with Obi-Wan too, so they may actually be seen as the “good friends” he described in ANH. I think watching it this way actually improves both ROTS and, to a lesser degree, ROTJ. But AOTC is beyond redemption and pointless to watch.

EpI is not digital. And EpII contains the death of Anakin’s mother (I guess it’s important to see Anakin falling to the dark side ?). EpII gets really better in a proper fan edit. I’m even beginning to think it is slightly better than EpIII, because in EpII Anakin still can embrace the dark side by choice, and not by being tricked to. But anyway the thread is about a SW marathon, so it means all 7 films. If you skip 1-2-3 it’s a semi-marathon.

MalàStrana said:

Density said:

ray_afraid said:

I really can’t understand why anyone would want to squeeze two (or three!) terrible films into the middle of a trilogy of good films. They add nothing to the original story and have nothing good going for them in any edit (other than Frinks!). All they could possibly add to the marathon is several boring ours and lots of eye rolling and groans.
So what’s you guys reason for including them?

I don’t entirely agree that they add nothing. The best thing they did was give Vader’s actions in ROTJ a bit more power and clear up some of the hanging threads at the end of ESB, which is why the Machete Order places them right between them. (I also think the Leia reveal actually has a bit more punch when seen at the end of ROTS, before Luke finds out, rather than at the beginning of ROTJ.) It’s just a shame that it could have been done so much better and really added a lot to it, instead of ruining so many other things at the same time.

And even then, you only have to watch ROTS to get that. The other two add nothing at all and are total wastes of (digital) celluloid. The story of ROTS should have been spread out over the entire trilogy. That’s why I don’t think the Machete Order even needs to include AOTC. You don’t really even need to see Anakin and Padme “fall in love.” You just gotta know they were married and had kids on the way. Despite some cringey romance dialogue in ROTS, there’s not nearly as much as in AOTC so the love story isn’t nearly as awful actually when you cut out AOTC and can fill in the blanks yourself. Also, skipping AOTC gives you a bit less crazy emo Anakin and you can fill in the blanks about his relationship with Obi-Wan too, so they may actually be seen as the “good friends” he described in ANH. I think watching it this way actually improves both ROTS and, to a lesser degree, ROTJ. But AOTC is beyond redemption and pointless to watch.

EpI is not digital. And EpII contains the death of Anakin’s mother (I guess it’s important to see Anakin falling to the dark side ?). EpII gets really better in a proper fan edit. I’m even beginning to think it is slightly better than EpIII, because in EpII Anakin still can embrace the dark side by choice, and not by being tricked to. But anyway the thread is about a SW marathon, so it means all 7 films. If you skip 1-2-3 it’s a semi-marathon.

Yeah I know Episode I was shot on 35mm but it still feels like a sterile digital film. And the fact that Episode II contains the whole sand people thing with his mother is one of the main reasons why I think it should be skipped. I would prefer to see him as an actual good Jedi who was actually friends with Obi-Wan and an actual hero in the Clone Wars who tragically turned to the dark side in a desperate attempt to save his family rather than as an unstable emo who was always one push away from going psycho. That seems to be a lot more consistent with the backstory Obi-Wan tells in ANH.

Also, Anakin both turning to the dark side in ROTS in an attempt to save his child and then turning back in ROTJ for the same exact reason is the thing I like best about the entire prequels that I think adds the most to the originals. Even though I think the “dying in child birth” thing is stupid, the overall idea is great and it’s the “rhyme” I like most. The idea that the power of paternal love is the only thing that can change him is so much better than the idea that “Anakin’s just bipolar and he can go from extreme light to extreme dark with the breeze.”