Movie Theater Failed Star Wars Experiment . . .

[Limedust]

New movies coming out in a couple years got me thinking about the last three . . . my younger sister had never seen any of the Star Wars films, so I suggested she watch them chronologically. I know of no one who has done this; I thought it would be interesting to get that perspective, perhaps free from the all the of the (mostly justified) malignant commentary on the prequels.

Long story short, her boyfriend screwed up my experiment; he had them watch the movies as they were released, against my wishes, and thereby invited upon himself displays of my eternal enmity. Do any of you know anyone who saw the movies, for the first time in chronological order? I'd be really interested to know what that person's opinions are (even really young kids who might have been turned on to the series by Clone Wars or Halloween costumes or something).

Do you think the prequels might be better perceived had you seen them first?

 

[5RWill]

I don't know of anyone. I'm not sure about how they would be received honestly. I imagine if the first star wars you ever saw was Ep. 1-3 you might like them a lot better. However the 4-6 will always have a special spot for me. I can remember watching them when i was 6 or 7 years old. It was great.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I did, and along with probably millions of other viewers, did just fine. Prequels, either way; OK.

 

[SledDog]

Gotta agree with the boyfriend in this case. Not only does the time and technology of the films change, but if you watch in chronological order you ruin the best part of Empire.

 

[poison123]

Google "The Machete Cut" for star wars. It gives you the proper order on how to watch the 6 movies.

 

[Dogtown]

One of the reasons I'm working on movies today is because of those first few films. I was fortunate to grow up not far from Skywalker Ranch and ILM in the late 70s and 80s, where some of my neighbors built models or animated stop-motion puppets. And seeing those films when they first came out, at such an impressionable age, ignited a creative spark in me that eventually led me to where I am today (though I did detour for nearly two decades in the Army). Those films change the movie industry but sadly George Lucas became the very thing he was rebelling against. The entire saga more or less revolves around the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, which in hindsight kind of mirrors Lucas' life story. We just haven't gotten to the redemption part yet.

 

[Limedust]

Google "The Machete Cut" for star wars. It gives you the proper order on how to watch the 6 movies.

Thanks for pointing that out . . . pretty interesting. Personally, I can't leave out Episode I, mostly because I think Obi Wan is the most interesting character, but it does make a lot of sense.

 

[poison123]

Thanks for pointing that out . . . pretty interesting. Personally, I can't leave out Episode I, mostly because I think Obi Wan is the most interesting character, but it does make a lot of sense.

I agree. BUT....I might watch Ep 1 and explain it to people AFTER they watch the rest. Obi's story was the only redeeming thing to that movie....shit they could have eliminated Ani completely from it....and the movie would have been leagues better.

 

[Dogtown]

Google "The Machete Cut" for star wars. It gives you the proper order on how to watch the 6 movies.

Holy shit, that's brilliant and makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Please ignore my nostalgic non-contribution to this thread

 

[poison123]

I know right....its mind blowing.

 

[BALLISTIC]

I have only seen the First Star Wars, IE IV, when it was re-released in ~2001, I have always wanted to see the others until the new ones came out (I, II, and III), and they seemed extremely goofy compared to the one I saw. I will try the Machete order of: IV, V, II, III, VI.

 

[Sako man]

One of the reasons I'm working on movies today is because of those first few films. I was fortunate to grow up not far from Skywalker Ranch and ILM in the late 70s and 80s, where some of my neighbors built models or animated stop-motion puppets. And seeing those films when they first came out, at such an impressionable age, ignited a creative spark in me that eventually led me to where I am today (though I did detour for nearly two decades in the Army). Those films change the movie industry but sadly George Lucas became the very thing he was rebelling against. The entire saga more or less revolves around the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, which in hindsight kind of mirrors Lucas' life story. We just haven't gotten to the redemption part yet.

That summer day in 1977 changed my life forever. Yeah, now I try to make films for a living. For my Asian film studies minor I did a cross edit of Hidden fortress and episode 4. Identical films. Plus Lucas had his wife at the time as one of his editors. I hear she was brilliant and never got the credit she deserved in molding that first film. Smartest move ever was handing the reigns over to Kasdan and Irvin Kershner, both brilliant. Now I'm not totally shooting Lucas down as he is a imaginative writer but like a good lawyer friend told me "once you start believing your own bullshit is the moment your fucked." Plus anyone who works on film knows what a monumental feat it is to even make a freaking romantic comedy let alone a special effects extravaganza.

So wonder how many lens flares the new films will have, lots, or tons?

 

[BCP]

Do you think the prequels might be better perceived had you seen them first?

If you mean the "new" ones like Episode 1 etc hell no. They are just plain bad movies there's no way to dress them up.

 

[BCP]

The entire saga more or less revolves around the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, which in hindsight kind of mirrors Lucas' life story. We just haven't gotten to the redemption part yet.

Yeah we did it was Return of the Jedi.

Best thing Lucas has done lately is his low-income-housing project, he wanted to do a film studio on property he owns out there and all the neighbors objected...so now he's trying to bring in a bunch of Section 8 to piss of the richy-riches LOL

 

[Dogtown]

I was talking about Lucas redeeming himself (a la Anakin/Vader), but whatever.

On all the Lucas land squabbles, Lucas Valley (no, not named after him) has had a very limited growth policy since the early 70s, before he setup shop there. That's specifically the reason the vast majority of homes there are 1950s era Eichlers, very simple and affordable homes, the kind my father bought when he got out of the Army at the end of the Vietnam war. They were relatively inexpensive homes compared to the southern parts of Marin County and growing up there, I can tell you they were very much middle class, not "richy-riches." But Lucas was given a permit to setup his ranch, which he did and grew it into the 80s, setting up Skywalker sound there, traffic increased on winding Lucas Valley Rd. The biggest expansion coincided with the Upper Lucas Valley housing development, a long planned and very controversial housing development further from highway 101 and closer to Skywalker Ranch. This happened in the mid-80s and the increased traffic on Lucas Valley Rd caused all kinds of problems for people living along it and I seem to remember a few fatal accidents that galvanized the community against further expansion.

So the people living in Lucas Valley, who had bought affordable homes there in the 60s and 70s, watched their home values explode in the 80s and 90s. At the same time, they also saw a highly problematic expansion in Upper Lucas Valley, which by the time it was completed in the mid-90s, did in fact bring in "the richy-riches" and a permanent increase in traffic along the main road. And from that point on, Lucas keeps asking to expand the facilities at Skywalker Ranch. So given the past history, is it any surprise that the people in that community fought against him?

 

[Sako man]

Yeah we did it was Return of the Jedi.

Best thing Lucas has done lately is his low-income-housing project, he wanted to do a film studio on property he owns out there and all the neighbors objected...so now he's trying to bring in a bunch of Section 8 to piss of the richy-riches LOL

Is that what he is really doing? That may be conjecture? How do we know what his motives are.

 

[Sako man]

I was talking about Lucas redeeming himself (a la Anakin/Vader), but whatever.

You mean how Lucas is now gonna do awesome effects ridden pornos? Jokes aside, or how about somebody actually save the effects industry from itself. Jezus.. That would be the ultimate redemption if he were to swing in and help fix essentially what he created.

 

[Dogtown]

That would be the ultimate redemption if he were to swing in and help fix essentially what he created.

100% agree.

 

[VTSEAL]

Regarding the original question, we had our kids watch the movies in chronological order. My wife and I debated for several day which sequence made the most sense; and settled on chronological. Funniest part is that both kids thought episode 1 sucked. One has IV as her favorite, the other likes Empire. We have had an Empire Strikes Back movie poster in our basement for years (+ Casablanca, The Blues Brothers, Endless Summer), and the kids kept pointing out things in the poster.

If I had to repeat the experiment, would do it in chronological instead of release date again. Kids weren't as bothered by the difference in special effects as I had suspected.