2nd POST - A roundup of potential ‘viewing orders’ of the Star Wars movies, along with my OWN preferred choice.

By the end of this year, eleven ( ! ) major live-action STAR WARS movies will have been released in this particular ‘production/release’ order - EPISODE IV:A NEW HOPE - EPISODE V:THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - EPISODE VI:RETURN OF THE JEDI - EPISODE I:THE PHANTOM MENACE - EPISODE II:ATTACK OF THE CLONES - EPISODE III:REVENGE OF THE SITH - EPISODE VII:THE FORCE AWAKENS - ROGUE ONE - EPISODE VIII:THE LAST JEDI - SOLO - EPISODE IX:THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - and there’s various potential ways to re-order them for ourselves…with very different views on the best way to do it, as described HERE , HERE , HERE , HERE , HERE , HERE , HERE , HERE , and HERE for example!

…so the first decision I had to make was…how would my OWN ideal re-watch of the existing movies begin?

Well, for various reasons, I knew that I definitely WASN’T going to start off with the events of THE PHANTOM MENACE…

…and while I briefly considered the notion of beginning with ROGUE ONE instead, I quickly realised that didn’t work for me EITHER, due to one thing or another…

…so with apologies to George, here’s the ONLY answer that absolutely works best for me EVERY SINGLE TIME -

AND SO ON…

Along with it’s majestic score and explosive sound effects, EPISODE IV:A NEW HOPE’s dramatic mid-adventure opening scenes of Vader and his stormtroopers boarding the Tantive IV were my first introduction to the worlds of STAR WARS and it’s characters…and remains the greatest cinematic opening to any movie ever, as far as I’m concerned.

On top of that, it also remains the best movie to properly establish the overall look and feel of the STAR WARS galaxy in my view, which is why it will ALWAYS be how I’d begin any ‘saga’ re-watch for myself. 😃

…and while there are a number of possible ‘viewing order’ methods to watch ALL of the various STAR WARS movies released so far, I consider watching the entire ORIGINAL TRILOGY one after the other first to be the BEST starting point for someone completely new to the franchise too…so that ALL the great original character introductions and ‘reveals’ are kept INTACT for themselves, while giving better context for the various ‘references’ and ‘call-backs’ featured in everything else that followed…

…then by watching the entire PREQUEL TRILOGY storyline AFTERWARDS as a kind of extended ‘backstory/flashback’ to earlier events, it allows for a longer period of viewing time to pass before we eventually go on to watch the entire concluding SEQUEL TRILOGY storyline too…so that the much older versions of Luke, Han, and Leia won’t seem as jarring, by the time we get to watching the THE FORCE AWAKENS.

So for all these reasons, I’ll always consider the original Episode 4-5-6, 1-2-3, 7-8-9 ‘Theatrical/Production’ release order to be the most satisfying way to watch these movies for myself and others, if they were ALL to be included…but MAINLY because I’d recommend someone new to the franchise begins with EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE first no-matter-what…EXCEPT… this scenario is messed up by the fact that George decided to replace elderly Sebastian Shaw’s ‘Forceghost’ with a creepy-looking young fella in the current ‘Special Edition’ of RETURN OF THE JEDI instead…which will make newbies ask “Who the hell on Endor’s Forest Moon is THAT?!” if they HAVEN’T watched Hayden in the PREQUELS first!

It’s almost as if George INTENDED it to be awkward, if watched in any way other than his favoured ‘chronological’ order…

I wouldn’t normally want ‘newbies’ to split-up the ORIGINAL TRILOGY to go directly from the highs of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to the lows of THE PHANTOM MENACE…but I’d certainly recommend that they use the alternative ‘Ernst Rister’ 4-5, 1-2-3, 6, 7-8-9 order if they’re going to watch the ‘Special Edition’ of RETURN OF THE JEDI for the first time…so that they’ll actually KNOW who that random young ‘Forceghost’ guy is, by the time they get to him in that particular viewing order!

And that order still ensures that someone new starts off with A NEW HOPE first no-matter-what, so that’s good.

But luckily for my own re-watching intentions… (those sub-par 2006 GOUT ‘bonus’ DVD discs aside), the likes of Harmy’s ‘Despecialized Edition’ of RETURN OF THE JEDI and ‘Project 4K83’ both sort out the ‘Hayden’ problem in the meantime.

…and for future purposes, adywan’s ongoing RETURN OF THE JEDI REVISITED has got my back too -

NOTE - This is a ‘work-in-progress’ shot that was previewed by him recently.

Which brings me to the versions of the ORIGINAL TRILOGY I’d ideally include in my own ‘saga’ re-watch…

I’ll always have a huge nostalgic preference for the actual '77 - '80 - '83 original versions over the existing ‘Special Edition’ recut versions…but adywan’s incredible enhancements and fixes for A NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK took things to a whole new level, and will never cease to amaze me…so his ongoing REVISITED TRILOGY is my own ‘definitive’ choice to re-watch nowadays…and I’m looking forward to seeing his inventive new ideas for RETURN OF THE JEDI too, eventually.

And of course, the fact that the Tantive IV recedes further away than ever in adywan’s makeover of A NEW HOPE’s iconic opening shot, is what clinched it for me… 😃

CLICK HERE for the sheer perfection of that.

SO TO RECAP, HERE’S MY OWN FAVOURITE ‘VIEWING ORDER’ OF ALL THE MOVIES RELEASED SO FAR -

ORIGINAL TRILOGY storyline to kick things off with Luke, Han, and Leia…
PREQUEL TRILOGY storyline as a ‘backstory/flashback’ to events of the past…
SEQUEL TRILOGY storyline as a ‘jump-forward-in-time’ to conclude the ‘Skywalker saga’ with much older Luke, Han, and Leia…
SOLO storyline as a ‘backstory/flashback’ to an adventure with Han and Chewie…
ROGUE ONE to ALWAYS finish things off as a final ‘backstory/flashback’ to bittersweet events involving some familiar faces and settings…as a way of rounding things off with where the entire ‘saga’ started out in the first place…
…and then I’d eventually start off with the EXACT SAME ‘viewing order’ once again…whenever I decide to have ANOTHER re-watch of the whole ‘saga’ spread over a period of nights, someday in the future! 😃

…AND HERE’S MY 2ND-FAVOURITE ‘VIEWING ORDER’ -

Although I’ve chosen NOT to split-up the ORIGINAL TRILOGY in my favourite option above, I actually quite like the ‘Ernst Rister’ scenario in certain ways too - it’s not just the way it resolves ‘Haydens’ confusing appearance as a ‘Forceghost’ in RETURN OF THE JEDI if anyone starts off with the ‘Special Editions’ of the ORIGINAL TRILOGY before the PREQUELS…it’s also because there’s a case to be made for STRETCHING OUT the uncertainty and loose ends of where everything left off at the end of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK a lot longer…to allow for watching the build-up of Palpatine and Anakin’s rise to power BEFORE we resume with their relationship as Emperor and Vader in RETURN OF THE JEDI, and BEFORE we find out what happened to Han…

SO IT WOULD GO LIKE THIS -

ORIGINAL TRILOGY storyline to kick things off with Luke, Han, and Leia…but STOP after THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK…
PREQUEL TRILOGY storyline as a ‘backstory/flashback’ to events of the past, after THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK ends in uncertainty…
ORIGINAL TRILOGY storyline resumes with RETURN OF THE JEDI…
SEQUEL TRILOGY storyline as a ‘jump-forward-in-time’ to conclude the ‘Skywalker saga’ with much older Luke, Han, and Leia…
SOLO storyline as a ‘backstory/flashback’ to an adventure with Han and Chewie…
ROGUE ONE to ALWAYS finish things off as a final ‘backstory/flashback’ to bittersweet events involving some familiar faces and settings…as a way of rounding things off with where the entire ‘saga’ started out in the first place…
…ready to begin all over again someday, in the EXACT SAME way!

But whether you’ve got a preferred order of your own or not…we finally come to some of the changes I’ve got in mind for the actual movies themselves…so NEXT UP, I’ll describe my proposed NEW OPENING for THE PHANTOM MENACE…