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Henry Imler January 18th, 2007
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Did both Vader and Obi really turn into old fogies in 25 years? Mace was just a little older than Vader (45), and a bit younger than Obi (57) when he died @ 51 and he almost drilled the Emperor. Yoda was a flippin’, killin’ machine well into his 870’s.
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I have always wondered about how I will show my
children the Star Wars Saga (SWS). Helluva weird thing to wonder about
huh? There are several issues at hand. There is a part of me that wants
to never show my young daughter Episode I because of… well, I think
we know humanity’s verdict on that movie. But as bad as that movie was
at times, meesa thinks that you can’t leave it, or any of the prequels
out. Actually, I bet I show the Phantom Edits when I do show the movies.
So, issue 1 is settled, whether I acknowledge the existence of the
prequels. Now on to the more important matters. Which order is best to
watch the SWS? Do you go with 1-6, in that order? Or do you go with
4-6, then 1-3?
Going thru the Saga in order gives you a continuous storyline, but
sacrifices all the hooks of the Original Trilogy (OT). No surprise with
Vader being Luke’s father or Yoda being the uber-badass that he was.
Also, seeing the Anakin/Kenobi fight in The Return of the Sith and following it up with the Vader/Kenobi fight in A New Hope is like taking one of the best fight scenes in movie history and replying it on geraticvision.
On the flip side, seeing the OT first and then the prequels makes for knowing the conclusion of the story before it even begins.
Today I came across another way. Consider seeing A New Hope, then The Empire Strikes Back first. Next, take a flashback and watch episodes 1, 2, and 3. Now follow it up with the conclusion of the Saga, Return of the Jedi. That preserves all of the hooks without knowing the conclusion of it all.
This approach tries to reconcile the biggest problems
with the chronological and episodic viewing orders: plot and cinematic
continuity. The oldest episodes are placed first in the viewing order
while the newer episodes are nested in the middle. The climactic finale
provided by Episode VI, however, is still retained. Additionally, some
of the key dramatic twists are still preserved such as the surprise
revelation in Empire Strikes Back about Luke’s parentage. The prequel
is preceded by a nice cliffhanger from episode V and episode III also
serves as a nice cliffhanger before the final culmination of episode
VI. The special effects continuity is mostly contained since episodes
IV and V have the most dated appearance (episode VI holds up relatively
well against the space battles from the Prequels).
I think that is the way to go. What about you?
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- Comments(10)
That actually makes a lot of sense. Before this I always thought they
should be viewed in the order they were released, but I like this idea,
too.
them the laws of saber-hood. (ha)
You might want to ask Brad how he does it? Is it just mind-control? Perhaps, Brad truly has the force with him?
I liked your ideas about playing the movies 4-6 then 1-3. I think the
age of you kids might make the difference in how to order the movies
for them. For younger kids, they Vader/ani who is Luke’s father might
be too much to grasp. Either way, every child needs to be taught the
history of the force. casey
My wife and I will…wait,
me and a woman, HA! If I could get a woman to marry me and we were
blessed with the cure of children (or cursed with the blessing of
children) I would question on showing my daughter the movies. Olivia is
way tooo into Star Wars and wants to be Anikin Skywalker most times.
But I like showing IV, V, I, II, III, VI. I would probably only show
Darth Maul v. Obi-wan from I, though. I can’t stand the rest of the
movie.
Since I drive so much, I had checked out the book-on-CD version of III,
it was way better than the movie. I might let them read the book and
only watch the action sequences of the movie. I don’t know.
Have you seen the Phantom Edits? They are so much better than the
origional ones. If I had them, I should let you borrow them. Also, your
brother could get his games from me.
Never have seen seen them. When I’m at your place we are playing
Counter Strike or Battle for Middle-Earth II or Jedi Academy or Travis
is there we are engaged in some philosophical/theological discussion or
talking about MBTS and Dr. Tomlinson.
By the way, Q and I got BFME II for 360 and it’s not too bad for a
console. I’m looking forward to Halo Wars if it uses the same controls.
But I still prefer a mouse in a strategy game though. You can do more
and be faster at it.
Nerds.
Andy, all I have to say is: “The Emperor cuts off Yoda’s feet in Episode III.” Oh, and “Palpatine is not the Emperor.”
I will destroy you.
Come to MO and I will let you.
I just went through this myself,
as I was trying to decide what order to watch the movies in. Its a bit
different in my case, of course; I’ve already seen the movies several
times, and it wasn’t a one-shot-only chance to make sure that someone
experiences Star Wars in its most magnificent form.
In the end, I decided to watch them in the (wrong) “order” of
I-II-III-IV-V-VI. It was a really interesting way to experience the
Star Wars saga, and added a new dimension and depth to the sequal
films. I wrote about my experience in my (very first!) linked to blog
post.