Poll: First Time Star Wars watcher

[Blind Sight]

1,2,3,4,5,6 and post her thoughts on it, I'm interested to see how exposure in that format affects people's opinions.

 

[health-bar]

show her ONLY 1, 2, and 3 just to spite everyone.

 

[Kayevcee]

Tesco had the original trilogy on DVD in a sort of "retrofit edition"- the widescreen prints from the last VHS release before Lucas started adding back in the stuff he sensibly edited out in 1976. They're worth tracking down if you can still find them.

-Nick

 

[Jingle Fett]

456, 123. You need to appreciate the transition between the movies, the prequels are not just a different target audience but a different generation. Watching an older movie after watching a high gratification visual-effects oriented movie will definitely take away appreciation for the original. Movies in general back then were also a lot slower paced than they are today.

For example, you gotta admit, seeing obi-wan vs darth vader on the death star is kinda weaksauce if you see it immediately after watching obi-wan vs anakin on mustafar. It's like watching two old men trying to beat eachother with a cane. You're jumping from the newest of the movies directly into the oldest.
Watch the originals first and gain an appreciation for how it was originally and then go to the prequels. Star Wars was a story-heavy movie that transitioned to a vfx-heavy movie, not the other way around.

 

[Gatx]

Well honestly for narrative purposes one would think I-VI, but then that would tarnish your image of Darth Vader forever, and Luke getting his hand cut off wouldn't have as much impact (childhood trauma is part of a lot of people's Star Wars memories), since by the end of Episode III there's been 7 hands cut off, a pair of legs, a body cut in half, and a decapitation.

It would also kind of ruin the whole reveal that Luke and Leia are siblings, and make the early flirtation awkward before it should have been.

 

[Starke]

Tesco had the original trilogy on DVD in a sort of "retrofit edition"- the widescreen prints from the last VHS release before Lucas started adding back in the stuff he sensibly edited out in 1976. They're worth tracking down if you can still find them.

-Nick

Yeah, this is the copy to find. If it's not possible, the first run Special Editions are as close to the source material as you'll get, and tend not to be terribly offensive. The stuff after that just fucks as much up as possible. Do NOT go with any copy pressed after Attack of the Clones if at all possible, as they redubed Boba Fett with the new actor.

 

[Starke]

Republic Commando game.(GET IT on steam (it's only $10))
Republic Commando books. Find them, and buy them. Adds much-needed grey area to the prequels.

Honestly, if we're going for games, I'd say Dark Forces, and DF2 Jedi Knight are a better route. Just plain better games, and besides then all the Kyle Katarn Chuck Norris jokes would make sense.

 

[cswurt]

"Luke, I am your father!" is supposed to be a big fucking surprise.
She won't be surprised if she's already seen 1-3.

 

[wottabout]

I voted for 456123, but now that I have read the arguments it sounds like it might be an interesting experiment to watch them 123456 and see how that affects the viewing experience, especially if she knows nothing about the series. We had lots of fun with a friend who literally knew nothing about Star Wars (not even about Darth Vader being Luke's father). When we showed her the original trilogy we kept asking for her opinion of different scenes and what she thought would happen next. Unfortunately, she lost the plot pretty quickly, and the twists fell a bit flat for her. We might have been drunk.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

123456 would spoil the surprise

 

[Lazy Kitty]

1,2,3,4,5,6
That's the way I like it.
Also, watch it in one go as if it were a single movie.

 

[Darh Abdomino]

Well, the whole

Spoiler

thing where where Vader tells Luke he's good old dad

goes from "holy crap" to "no shit" depending on the order, so in the sake of keeping the drama present I'd go with 4-6,1-3.

fun fact

Spoiler

Vader means father

 

[F-I-D-O]

Republic Commando game.(GET IT on steam (it's only $10))
Republic Commando books. Find them, and buy them. Adds much-needed grey area to the prequels.

Honestly, if we're going for games, I'd say Dark Forces, and DF2 Jedi Knight are a better route. Just plain better games, and besides then all the Kyle Katarn Chuck Norris jokes would make sense.

But Dark Forces (not sure if Jedi Knight was a prequel) were based off material from the original trilogy. RC were based off of the prequel trilogy. Also, I've never heard a Kyle Katarn Chuck Norris joke,

 

[Jfswift]

4, 5, 6. Tell her there aren't any others, it's better that way.

Second that. The original three are solid stories with great actors. (I didn't actually mind episode 1 that much though as long as I pretended jar jar didn't exist.)

 

[plugav]

Original trilogy first, prequels second. That's how most of the world has seen them and I think it makes the most sense.

IV, V and VI tell a story that works perfectly on its own and have a very... fairy tale vibe to them.

The prequels are mostly supposed to fill in the blanks (which they do poorly) and show off special effects that were impossible to use in the originals (which they do nicely, although I prefer the original movies' vintage feel).

 

[The_Waspman]

Tell her not to bother at all. I rewatched the films recently and you know what? Every single one is boring as hell. Yes, even Empire. Dull Dull Dull. I've pulled lint out of my navel that is more interesting.

 

[Syphous]

Seriously you can NOT start with the new episodes (1,2,3) or else you will be spoiling the fuck out of the originals (4,5,6). Why would you do that? Who even voted for it to be that way?

4,5,6,1,2,3 just as GOD INTENDED.