xhonzi said:
My Order:
SW-R
SW-R
ESB*
SW-R
ESB*
RotJ*
So I meant this with a little wink in my eye... but I wanted to be serious here for a minute. I think to properly understand the power of many serialized fictions, it is necessary to consume the early parts many times prior to consuming the later parts. For those of us who watched SW in 1977, ESB in 1980 and RotJ in 1983, those three years between films were critical to our immersion in the films... The waiting and the repeat viewings of what was available. For those of us who saw them all later, as a complete package, we didn't get the experience of wating 3 years to know if *SPOILER* Vader really was Luke's father. We didn't have to see ESB several times without knowing the conclusion of RotJ, and analyzing ESB to find clues as to what it would bring.
It's also one of the reasons that certain people have strong feelings against RotJ and others don't mind at all, so it can have negative consequences as well... And I'm sure as time goes on, the Prequel Acceptance Rate (PAR) will go up as people won't know the SW before the PT (or the SE's for that matter) and they will see the 6 movies as a whole, as opposed to 2 different parts. But I'm digressing.
Recently, examples can include: Episodes of Lost, LotR, Matrix, Pirates, Harry Potter books, etc... There's something about watching these in a metered way... and also in lock step with the rest of society.
I'm rambling, but while it is too late to experience the OT again for the first time, it does make me wonder how I should show it to my kids? Do I make them watch only SW for several years, and then throw ESB into the mix? Then let them watch the pair of them for a couple years... Or do I just work the trilogy in as they move to solid foods and call it good?