What Order should the Star Wars movies be watched in?

[Elfdart]

If I were introducing the series to someone who had never seen it, I'd go with 4 and 5, followed by 1,2 and 3, and then 6. Episodes 1-3 would essentially be one big flashback like much of Godfather 2. Several friends and co-workers got together to watch the movies (we had seen them before), but a girl I used to date had only seen Attack of the Clones and thought it was corny as hell (She kept laughing at "Oh Annie!"). So we watched 1, then 3 (she was very upset when "Annie" choked Padme), then 4-6 (she said EEEEEEWWWW! when Leia put the liplock on Luke).

I was pleasantly surprised how well the old and new movies meshed. For example, none of the cinematography from 4-6 looks very similar (three different DPs with different styles). The prequels not only used the same cinematographer in all three movies, but it looks like they made a conscious effort to emulate Peter Suschitzky's style from TESB (the best, IMO).

[starfury]

I was pleasantly surprised how well the old and new movies meshed. For example, none of the cinematography from 4-6 looks very similar (three different DPs with different styles). The prequels not only used the same cinematographer in all three movies, but it looks like they made a conscious effort to emulate Peter Suschitzky's style from TESB (the best, IMO).

same here. I always thought the differences in between the cinematography of the original trilogy was by far the most jarring thing about the star wars movies, the TESB and the Prequels stylewise worked much better togather then ANH and ROTJ, going from ANH to ESB was still by far the most jarring.

[Lord Pounder]

My girlfriend had never seen Star Wars, a wrong I promptly corrected at the first opportunity. We watched 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6. She was a little confused why I did this but after the marathon viewing agreed that if episode 1 rather than 4 had been first she may have lost interest. The OT go a long way further in to fleshing out the universe. Not jumping on the anti-bandwagon but with a few changes in AOTC you could dump episode 1 entirely with little or no loss. Nadine really perplexed at Qui-Gon wondering why Obi-Wan out right states in the OT that Yoda had been his master.

[ray245]

For me, the first movie I've seen is Episode 6, followed by episode 5, 4 ,1 ,2, 3.

Even then, it doesn't matter if I am spoiled or not, mainly because I'm already so overexposed to the general idea of Star Wars by the time I've seen the films.

[Equinox2003]

Just reading this thread, I'm stunned to hear some people actually mention "people who had never seen any of them" Just who might these people be?
By the way, my own order to watch is OT first then the newer films. But I would probably not include the Holiday Special.

[Kurgan]

I saw them 6, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3. But yeah, production order is the best.

This friend of mine comes from an immigrant family (she's an American), so that might explain it.

My sister's husband's nephews (about 10 years old) hadn't seen it. All they had seen were one or two of the prequels (when they were younger) and they thought Star Wars was "gay." So we had them watch ROTJ (the theatrical version) and they thought it kicked butt and are OT fans now.

[Androsphinx]

4, 5, 6. Shame Lucas never got round to making the prequels we were promised.

[Solauren]

It occurs to me that you might want to watch them in near production order.

4, 5, 6 to a point, then 1, 2, 3, then the rest of 6.

Stop watching ROTJ at the end of Luke + Ben's chat on Dagobah ("Bury your feelings deep down Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor") then watch 1 - 3, then finish 6.

That's probably the best way to do it as a flashback. You get the information right as Luke 'should' be getting it.

[His Divine Shadow]

Just reading this thread, I'm stunned to hear some people actually mention "people who had never seen any of them" Just who might these people be?
By the way, my own order to watch is OT first then the newer films. But I would probably not include the Holiday Special.

I don't think my GF has seen all of them. I showed her some of the OT but she thought it was boooring.

[LMSx]

I can't imagine someone watching The Phantom Menace for the first time and going "I can't wait to spend 10 more hours watching the rest of this series". Newbies should really go in production order. That said, if I ever decide to sit down and watch all 6 movies again I'd go in chronological order because of the novelty and I know it'll build in quality as the series moves on.

[RedImperator]

I've been showing them to Metatwaddle's little sister in production order. The look on her face during the ESB reveal was priceless.

[Invictus ChiKen]

1,4,2,5,3,6 is my favorite. To me it really makes the *I am your father!* Bit more potent.

[Ghost Rider]

Just locking because for some reason, people can't let it die.