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Best viewing order to introduce Star Wars to children? — Page 2

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I’m in the release order camp, love the amount of consideration into the question! Honestly the best thing you wrote was letting the kids go through it at their own pace and not try to marathon them. Considering the ages I think now is the right point to take your time letting them soak in the originals, uninterrupted, they won’t be able to appreciate the prequels in the middle of the OT. I would save those for maybe three years older after they are already invested, then I would be prepared for the oldest to even prefer the prequels for a brief time. But at a certain point I would just feed them whatever Star Wars they wanted, if they’re brought up with the OT I think that will resonate the most.

“The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” - DV

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Part of me wouldn’t mind waiting, see how much they absorb from pop culture osmosis alone.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Star Wars
Empire
Jedi

The Force Awakens
The Last Jedi

Rogue One

Then STOP in the name of all that is good.

I take it you went on to show them the porn parody and lived to regret it.

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Forever baffled by the apparently common impulse to show fan edits for someone’s first viewing. Maaaaaaybe for the prequels, but the OT? Seriously?

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joefavs said:

Forever baffled by the apparently common impulse to show fan edits for someone’s first viewing. Maaaaaaybe for the prequels, but the OT? Seriously?

It mostly applies to ROTJ. I’d rather kids not have to see “jealous Han,” too much Ewok chicanery, and some really clunky dialogue. They can watch the original alongside it, of course.

With ANH and ESB, I say have the fanedits as additional viewing (since it’s the best way to see the SE’s).

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So:

JawsTDS Return of the Gout
Star Wars and Empire

Maul Fan Film

Hal9000 Ep 1
seciors Ep 2

Clone Wars original 2D. Adigitalman Single film version

L8wrtr’s Ep 3

Solo
Rogue One

SW Revisited
Empire Revisited
Jedi Schorman’s HDTV 2.0

I’d go theatrical 7 and 8 (if there’s an edit of 8 that adds the 3rd challenge with minimal other changes, I’d suggest that.) This is their generation’s Star Wars, and it’s better to let them experience the same as their friends.

Preferred Saga:
1/2: Hal9000
3: L8wrtr
4/5: Adywan
6-9: Hal9000

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In my opinion, the only Star Wars stuff you should show to your kids is the theatrical OT. You don’t need to indoctrinate them into becoming Star Wars fans, let them discover the other stuff on their own.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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You have to make your own decisions for your own kids, but here’s what I went with:
Star Wars
Empire
Jedi
Force Awakens
Last Jedi

We started before Force Awakens came out, so they got to see the sequels in the theater. I consider the current trilogy to be “their” trilogy, but they had to have a schooling in the classics first.

They know of the prequels, but I just said, “They’re not very good” and that was the end of it. The special editions have never been mentioned.

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Slart said:

You have to make your own decisions for your own kids, but here’s what I went with:
Star Wars
Empire
Jedi
Force Awakens
Last Jedi

We started before Force Awakens came out, so they got to see the sequels in the theater. I consider the current trilogy to be “their” trilogy, but they had to have a schooling in the classics first.

They know of the prequels, but I just said, “They’re not very good” and that was the end of it. The special editions have never been mentioned.

Parent of the year!

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

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BedeHistory731 said:

Part of me wouldn’t mind waiting, see how much they absorb from pop culture osmosis alone.

This was pretty much my experience growing up.

I got into Trek first, knowing pretty much nothing about it until my mother rented Search for Spock on vhs for me when I was five (this would’ve been 1990, so do the math). That’s kind of like going into Star Wars cold and starting with ESB or RotJ, but either way the movie blew my mind and I was hooked. I saw all five films before seeing Undiscovered Country in the theater.

Star Wars was something I just always knew about and don’t remember “discovering.” So yeah, I never had that experience of sitting down and watching Empire for the first time and finding out the big twist. My earliest clear memory of watching the “I am your father” moment for the first time was after I’d already seen RotJ on USA, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t even part of a proper viewing of ESB but rather a clip on some making-of / retrospecticus special.

But certainly by ‘93 or ‘94 at the latest I’d seen all three from beginning to end.

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The OOT. That’s it. If the other stuff piques their interest, they can watch it at a friend’s house.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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 (Edited)

The two main things I consider with this question are

a) ANH is the best point of introduction to the setting. It does the best job of easing you into its world.

b) Jumping around too much in the timeline would be confusing to young viewers.

That’s why I’d go with the compromise of watching the OT first, then watching the rest of the films (and shows, too, if you want) in chronological order. If we were just talking about the episode films, that would make things even simpler, since that would just be Release Order. But the existence of the spinoff movies and shows requires that I find a place for them, and the best place I can think of is between RotS and TFA, treating them as appendices to the main story.

Shows like The Acolyte will complicate this, since they take place before TPM.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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Superweapon VII said:

The OOT. That’s it. If the other stuff piques their interest, they can watch it at a friend’s house.

Harsh, but fair.