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What's the best order to use when watching the Star Wars saga? — Page 3

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On the best days my order is 666.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.

I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!

—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3

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4,5,6 and then watch the Frink PT and pretend Mel Brooks made them as prequels to Spaceballs.

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I'm a strong advocate of not including the prequels in any viewing of the Star Wars movies, so my previous post in this thread didn't take it very seriously, and I apologize. My real serious response to the question of how best to experience all 6 movies as one saga would be this (two part answer):

1. Use the viewing order that places the prequels as a flashback in between episodes 5 and 6. That's definitely the best order that includes the prequels. You can make up your own mind about whether or not to include episode 1, I'm not going to nitpick about that detail, but at the very least watch 4 and 5 first and watch 6 last.

2. Part 2 of my answer involves the specific versions you should use. Since I don't watch the prequels, my favorite versions of choice are Harmy's despecialized, but if you are watching the whole saga including the prequels then those versions are not the versions you should watch. You need to watch versions that have been altered to fit better with the prequels. HOWEVER, and I must be emphatic about this, you should NOT watch the currently canonical release being sold in stores right now (with the possible exception of episode 5). For Return of the Jedi, there's really only one option for you and that's the 1997 special edition version. Anything after that includes the ghost change at the end and Vader saying "noooo" and those are changes that you and everyone else needs to avoid like the plague. For A new hope, there is again just one choice: adywan's revisited (in fact revisited would be your choice for everything if the others existed right now). For Empire Strikes back, you've got more flexibility since compared to the other two movies the changes aren't as much of an issue (even though the changes involving Vader's shuttle at the end are pretty friggin bad).

Enjoy the saga, whichever way you choose to watch it.

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deepanddark20 said:

I'm a strong advocate of not including the prequels in any viewing of the Star Wars movies, so my previous post in this thread didn't take it very seriously, and I apologize. My real serious response to the question of how best to experience all 6 movies as one saga would be this (two part answer):

1. Use the viewing order that places the prequels as a flashback in between episodes 5 and 6. That's definitely the best order that includes the prequels. You can make up your own mind about whether or not to include episode 1, I'm not going to nitpick about that detail, but at the very least watch 4 and 5 first and watch 6 last.

2. Part 2 of my answer involves the specific versions you should use. Since I don't watch the prequels, my favorite versions of choice are Harmy's despecialized, but if you are watching the whole saga including the prequels then those versions are not the versions you should watch. You need to watch versions that have been altered to fit better with the prequels. HOWEVER, and I must be emphatic about this, you should NOT watch the currently canonical release being sold in stores right now (with the possible exception of episode 5). For Return of the Jedi, there's really only one option for you and that's the 1997 special edition version. Anything after that includes the ghost change at the end and Vader saying "noooo" and those are changes that you and everyone else needs to avoid like the plague. For A new hope, there is again just one choice: adywan's revisited (in fact revisited would be your choice for everything if the others existed right now). For Empire Strikes back, you've got more flexibility since compared to the other two movies the changes aren't as much of an issue (even though the changes involving Vader's shuttle at the end are pretty friggin bad).

Enjoy the saga, whichever way you choose to watch it.

 

Thanks! Actually I started with the regular 1 to 6 order, I finished EP III yesterday and I will continue with Harmy's despecialized versions since I just got them and I'm dying to see them. I will try the 4,5,1,2,3,6 in the future but using the official BR release with all the modifications. I still need to download adywan's editions.

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dclarkg said:

Actually I started with the regular 1 to 6 order

...

I will try the 4,5,1,2,3,6 in the future but using the official BR release with all the modifications.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

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Do not ever watch the Blu Ray version of Return of the Jedi. Please for the love of all that is sacred.

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DuracellEnergizer said:

dclarkg said:

Actually I started with the regular 1 to 6 order

...

I will try the 4,5,1,2,3,6 in the future but using the official BR release with all the modifications.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

 Hahaha good one.

deepanddark20 said:

Do not ever watch the Blu Ray version of Return of the Jedi. Please for the love of all that is sacred.

 I know what I'm saying is crazy but since I never really saw (at least don't remember) the OOT until I got the Harmy's release a few days ago I want to watch the  BR editions and see the differences over the entire films. But don't worry since now that I have the real mccoy I won't be watching the official BR in a long long time after I finish this ''project'' haha.

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"Star Wars" is such a true classic, it's ranked by the AFI as the 13th best motion picture of all time.  Watching the prequels first is like watching Casablanca, but first watching a parody of the movie that  gives away everything that is going to happen in the original, sapping a lot of the drama from it.  It's the same reason that people who record a football game don't want to know the final score before they go home to watch it.

It's pretty irrelevent when and if you see the prequels - as long as you don't see them before Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

"Star Wars" is such a true classic, it's ranked by the AFI as the 13th best motion picture of all time.  Watching the prequels first is like watching Casablanca, but first watching a parody of the movie that  gives away everything that is going to happen in the original, sapping a lot of the drama from it.  It's the same reason that people who record a football game don't want to know the final score before they go home to watch it.

It's pretty irrelevent when and if you see the prequels - as long as you don't see them before Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.

 Got it Puggo, In that case the best order would be 4,5,1,2,3,6 :)

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Except that there are reveals in Jedi too.  Jabba is one... you hear about him in SW and ESB, as this rough gangster.  You don't expect him to actually be a giant slug (unless of course you made the mistake of watching the SE or the blu-ray of SW).  Another reveal is the emperor's force lightning.  You know he's this evil scary looking dude, but you're never sure exactly why.  Then when he starts zapping Luke with those lightning bolts you think "whoa, that's intense".  If you already saw the prequels, you'd be thinking, ok, he's going to force-lightning him now, yeah there it is.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

Except that there are reveals in Jedi too.  Jabba is one... you hear about him in SW and ESB, as this rough gangster.  You don't expect him to actually be a giant slug (unless of course you made the mistake of watching the SE or the blu-ray of SW).  Another reveal is the emperor's force lightning.  You know he's this evil scary looking dude, but you're never sure exactly why.  Then when he starts zapping Luke with those lightning bolts you think "whoa, that's intense".  If you already saw the prequels, you'd be thinking, ok, he's going to force-lightning him now, yeah there it is.

 Yeah, I guess there is no real order to watch them without spoil something but the 4,5,1,2,3,6 seems the best one to retain some structure in the story arc while keeping some surprises.

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dclarkg said:

Yeah, I guess there is no real order to watch them without spoil something

Yes, there is: 4,5,6 done

A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.

I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!

—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3

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AntcuFaalb said:

dclarkg said:

Yeah, I guess there is no real order to watch them without spoil something

Yes, there is: 4,5,6 done

 Well yes, but I'm including all 6 movies in the debate, otherwise they wouldn't be any debate at all :p

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

4,5,6,1,2,3 - it's the order the movies came out in the theater, so by definition it won't spoil any surprises.  It's why they call them "prequels".

Good point!

My girlfriend has never seen any SW movie and she wants to see them, we are having a marathon this weekend and I was planning on using the 4,5,1,2,3,6 order and see how it goes, any recommendations for a persons that has never seen the movies?

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twister111 said:

Reading over this thread makes me think of another order:
1. Star Wars
2. Ep 1
3. Ep 2
4. The Empire Strikes Back
5. Ep 3
6. Return of the Jedi

I don't know why but I just thought of that order... What do you think?

http://i.imgur.com/MXA8TmO.gif

 Hmm, it's interesting because I would never thought about that order but I don't see a clear continuity on the story arc, it would feel very random I guess

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For someone who has never seen SW (or for someone who has, for that matter), I can't imagine a 6-movie marathon.  That would be exhauting to the point of torture.  I remember back in about 1985 when a local theater did the 3 movie marathon (4,5,6), and that alone is 9 hours and by partway through the 3rd movie I was mentally done and so was just about everyone else in the theater.  You're talking 18 straight hours which is borderline unhealthy.

If you mean a 2 or 3 night "marathon", I still think 456123 is the most logical sequence, because it is the order they came out in theaters.  No reveals are spoiled, and the progression of movie-making techniques and styles would be less jarring.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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I think you should watch them alphabetically (excluding "the's"):

A New Hope

Attack of the Clones

The Empire Strikes Back

The Phantom Menace

Return of the Jedi

Revenge of the Sith

Or, if you want to include the "the's" in your alphabetization, the order is ANH, AotC, RotJ, RotS, tESB, TPM.

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My preferred order is: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Backstroke of the West.

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

For someone who has never seen SW (or for someone who has, for that matter), I can't imagine a 6-movie marathon.

 That's because we're old, you and I. ;-)

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I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but watching Sith before Jedi does spoil the reveal that Luke and Leia are siblings

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Good point. Jabba the Hutt's reveal being spoiled has also been mentioned. I agree that for a first time viewer, the best order is the release order--no question about it.