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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
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Originally posted by: bad_karma24
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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Well, that's the point. No matter what Lucas claims, the films aren't meant to be watched in numerical order. It totally ruins it. I've said it many times, but the prequels exist solely to fill out the originals. Technically, they're part of the expanded universe, because they expand on the real story.

What may I ask is the "real" story? Not to be rude... but Star Wars never actually happened. As far as I'm concerned, if Lucas wrote it, it "happened" as far as the movies go.

I'm not trying to say that Star Wars is real, or that the prequels didn't exist. I'm just saying that the real or main story is what happens in the original trilogy. The prequels are simply a backstory, exposition that exists simply because all stories have to have it. But in order for a story to exist, you don't necessarily have to know all the backstory. In fact, it sometimes hurts the story if you know everything right off the bat. And that's why the prequels should not be watched first. And my comment about it being expanded universe also does not imply that it should not be considered canon (I personally think a lot of it shouldn't be considered canon, but I'm not stating it as fact) because it does what expanded universe types of stories do: it takes the real or main story and... expands on it!

I have to say that I agree with you completely about the real story being the OT. Everything else, (the prequels, the EU novels, the card games, comics, etc.), was created around the storyline of those three movies. Everything else is just elaboration. And bad_karma24's comment about "if Lucas wrote is, it 'happened' as far as the movies go," leads me to bring up the same question on the minds of so many Star Wars fans. Why did Lucas ignore, contradict, and otherwise discredit the EU? Everything in it with the label Star Wars had to have been approved by him at some point. Why destroy what you had allowed to be created? Why play God with your loyal fanbase? To so many people, myself one of them, just because Lucas said it in the prequels does not mean that it is true. Just watching them you can see and feel how much he's slipped away from his original vision. So much more of the extended universe fits the OT better than the prequels ever could. In my mind what George did is tantamount to turning around and casting out your favorite child to survive on the streets once you took a good look and realized they weren't perfect after all.
But...isn't it said that we love things for their imperfections? So the OT has it's flaws. (Not many of them, but it does have them.) I say leave them. Leave it as it was originally intended. You can't be wishy-washy about something that has grown out of your complete control, as Star Wars did when Lucas allowed others to create within his universe.