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An Experiment in Inducting a SW newbie. — Page 5

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To weigh in on the fan edit vs. SE debate, I would say for a first-timer, you’re better off using an official version, though I would honestly show them the OOT first. Then if they see it again with you, show them the SE. If they want to see them again, show them a fan edit. That way they see the progress from the originals to the official revisionism to fan revisionism.

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Shoulda done it in Machete Order. Then she’d like A New Hope. You can include The Phantom Menace if you want.

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I have two girl cousins, the older one is 17 and younger 14. In summer I thought I show the older one Star Wars as my relatives know I’m a HC fan and I get enough ridiculing comments about it even though none of them probably haven’t seen them. I got Harmy’s version and my uncle has a movie room with a projector so even if I was by myself, it would’ve been a great experience for me to see it on a screen. Well, unfortunately my cousin thought it was boring and left during some Tatooine scene, which was disappointing because after they get off Tatooine it really starts. But my younger cousin came instead in the middle of the film and she enjoyed the rest of the movie.

As The Force Awakens gets closer, yesterday I thought I’d show her The Empire Strikes Back (Harmy’s), again thinking that I’d watch it even by myself if I had to, haven’t seen that on a screen since 1997 SE either. I said to her let’s go to watch the best movie in the world and she said sure. During Hoth battle we were interrupted as I had to move my car out of the way, and she was asked if the movie was exciting, she said yeah. Then we continued, she was pretty quiet the whole time but watched it with enthusiasm. When Lando opened the door and there was Vader, she had some kind of reaction that she didn’t see that coming. Then when Leia yelled Luke it’s a trap but Luke continued, she said to him “fool…”, LOL. I saw that she was pretty excited in the end, not sure what she thought about Vader’s reveal, did it come as a surprise etc. I’ll have to ask her before ROTJ maybe. When the credits rolled I asked wasn’t it great and she said yeah! No bigger reactions but I didn’t expect any standing ovations either.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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I watched ROTJ with my cousin on last Saturday.

To me it was pretty strange to hear her comments since I don’t even remember how it felt to see it for the first time. When Bib Fortuna came up, she was like “ew!”, I guess we’re too used to Twi’leks already. Then when Boushh rescued Han, she asked “who’s that?” and then when it was Leia, she asked “why did she gave Chewbacca away?” and honestly I didn’t have an answer for that, I was like I dunno… Then when they went to hyperspace with the shuttle, she was like “pretty cool, you just go to lightspeed” and I thought like what else is new, but those were fun comments. I was waiting for some laughs for like Ackbar, or Nien Nunb or the Ewoks but no, she was really sucked into it. But for me, the Ewoks… they really are getting more and more painful to see especially with others cause I was sure that she would be rolling her eyes or something but no.

I don’t remember anymore reactions, but when the credits rolled I asked what was her favorite film and she said the last one. Then I asked if she had any idea that Vader was Luke’s father and she said no. That’s great. 😃 Then we watched the trailers for TFA. I haven’t told her anything about the PT which I think she doesn’t even know of, just that TFA continues after ROTJ. When we left the movie room, she was humming SW theme, LOL. I’ve done my part!

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about this in theory recently, but I’ve actually just been invited to a real live marathon with some folks I went to college with for the benefit of someone who hasn’t seen the films, so now this is all becoming very practical. They insist on doing the Rister order, so I’m not super sure what to do. If we were watching the trilogies separately, I’d go with the DE in a heartbeat, but I’ve always felt that the one advantage the official cuts have is that they integrate better with the prequels. I know that at least two of the other people who will be there prefer the OOT, so I’m going to bring every version I’ve got and let the group decide since I’ve seen them all a thousand times anyway, but I’m a little worried about getting this one person’s introduction to the saga right.

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My roommate is an exchange student from China who had never seen a Star Wars film.
He started working somewhere that encourages at least a basic knowledge of the franchise (we both work at Disneyland), so I’ve been putting him through the crash course.

He was already familiar with and could hum the main title theme and the imperial march as they are “a part of popular culture that everyone knows”.

We watched the latest special digital editions of the original trilogy, just because they are (sadly) the official versions of the films.

He enjoyed ANH quite a bit (was slightly disappointed in the absence of the imperial march lol) and immediately wanted to watch ESB and ROTJ, which we did.

His comments were not quite as illuminating as I would have hoped. Most often, he pointed out story elements that felt authentic to the fairy tales he enjoyed as a child in China: Yoda being a small and unlikely creature who is revealed to be a powerful sage, Luke’s internal struggle, etc.

We then saw TFA. He definitely enjoyed it a lot. Upon leaving the theatre he was energized and excited, but wasn’t sure if Rey was Luke’s daughter or not. He asked because, without subtitles, he thought he might have missed that confirmation.

He watched TPM without me (I don’t oppose watching it, I just had other things to do).
He didn’t outright hate it either. He laughed at the Nemoidians’ clearly Asian-inspired way of speaking, and really enjoyed the Lightsaber fight. His problem with the film, however, was that there was ‘no struggle’. I assume he meant an internal struggle like Luke’s in the OT that he had enjoyed so much. It’s an interesting issue, I think. Possibly a symptom of TPM’s supposed lack of a clear main character (although, I do believe it to be Jar Jar).

Since then, he hasn’t watched AOTC or ROTS. Not because TPM was offensively awful, but because it was flat.

This would also be one of the first times a newbie was introduced to the saga in the order: IV, V, VI, VII, I, II, III.

I hope this was at least a little bit of an interesting read for someone!

My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnq2soRMB-8vqvL-6NHIOg

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13las said:

We watched the latest special digital editions of the original trilogy, just because they are (sadly) the official versions of the films.

That’s not an excuse! (or at least, not a good one)

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13las said:

This would also be one of the first times a newbie was introduced to the saga in the order: IV, V, VI, VII, I, II, III.

Anecdotally, this seems to actually be a pretty common way that newbies have acquainted themselves with the films in light of TFA. They watch the originals to give the proper backstory and because they’re regarded as great. Then they see TFA and want more. So they check out the PT, even though they’re widely regarded as not so great.

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The best order is 4-5-6-7, all Despecialized Editions (or maybe the 35mm scans soon) of 4-5-6.

What is this 1-2-3 you all speak of? I have never heard of such films.

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Density said:

What is this 1-2-3 you all speak of? I have never heard of such films.

Its a horror trilogy centred around demonic numerology.

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The best order to view is 6, 2, 1, 4, 3, 7, 5. Works everytime.

Not enough people read the EU.