- Chronological Order: We'll get the no-brainer out of the way first. George Lucas wasn't a sheep; he didn't number the freakin' movies for nothing. The purpose of the episode number at the beginning of each film (in the prequels' cases, in the fuckin' title) is to tell you where this portion of the saga takes place, and thus aids in your viewing order. Prequels, then the originals, then the sequels.
- Production Order: This refers to the order in which the films were produced, not where they take place in the timeline. You watch Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, and then go back and watch Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and then skip back forward and and watch The Force Awakens.
- "Flashback" Order: This is a new order that's interesting in its presentation. It salvages the reveal of Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker's father, and before throwing Jedi at you, you go back and watch the prequels, and then get to Jedi. The flashback order works well for a great sense of adventure, and I have yet to view it, but I do have opinions...
- "Fuck the Prequels" Order: This one's self-explanatory. You get the really grumpy fans out there who would love to see the digital negatives of the Star Wars prequels doused in gasoline and torched out of existence forever. This one you simply watch Star Wars, Empire and Jedi, skip the prequels, and go straight forward to Force Awakens.
- "Any-Order-You-Want" Order: This one's also self-explanatory. Just pick a random one and follow it up with another random one. Star Wars, then Episode I, then Jedi, then Episode III...it doesn't matter at all if you're this carefree.
Before we wrap up, I have opinions. Wouldn't be my blog if I didn't. I'll start off by saying the Production Order is the best way to do it, and though I haven't done it yet, the idea behind and potential experience of the Flashback Order earns it a close second. People give me shit when I say this will be how I'll introduce my kids to Star Wars. They tell me to just play it safe and secure and show them the Chronological Order. However, I feel the chronological order actually robs from the saga, mostly for the reason that the biggest reveal in the franchise, Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker's father, has it's shock value in the reveal totally destroyed. Explaining everything off of the bat sucks the mystery out of the story. Sure you get a nice, cohesive flow of exposition and narrative plot that leaves your mind calmed that everything is answered as you go along...but what happened top people's senses of adventure? People from 1983 to 1999 didn't need all of the backstory explained! People act today like the prequels are a crutch now, which is just what George Lucas was hoping for. People are like "I can't watch the originals without watching the prequels first". That's fair, I'm not going to argue that you're an big dumb idiot jackass face, but I will slap my elitist headband on and claim that you've lost your sense of movie-going adventure. Do we forget that movies are meant to be experiences? Not a way to just kill two hours. What if before Raiders of the Lost Ark, I make you sit through all of the episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles before you even get to touch the Raiders Blu-ray? You'd probably want to kill me. In fact, if chronological order is what's popular now, I'd have to make you watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom before Raiders of the Lost Ark since it takes place a year before. Indy's dramatic, badass reveal in the beginning of Raiders is destroyed due to you already having met him in Temple of Doom.
There you have it. My opinion. Did I miss any orders you've seen online? Did you have an order of your own? If so, comment it below or shoot me an email.
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