The Star Wars Saga in Machete order (IV, V, II, III, VI)

[Tommycat]

You know, you could go the route of IV, I, II, V, III, VI.

 

I mean the first two episodes don't reveal anything more than Anakin being like what the stories of him were. A hero, impatient, but still a hero and an ace pilot... It left the third movie to tell the story of how he became Vader. I mean II still ended with Luke's parents being in love, but no kiddos yet. Everything was still happy(mostly).

[Lynk Former]

The problem I see with that order is that it's constantly skipped back and forth from OT era and PT era.

 

It also ends up establishing Sidious/Palpatine too early for him to remain this mysterious force in the background that he is in ESB. I also think Anakin would be introduced too early as too. Up till ESB, I feel that people should only know Darth Vader and not know anything about Anakin Skywalker until they find out that Vader is Luke's father and actually was Anakin Skywalker to begin with because it actually gives the excuse to have that flashback between ESB and RotJ.

 

The best thing about having the PT "flashback" after ESB is that at the end of ESB, are heroes' are at their lowest point while at the end of ANH, they're on top of the world. That big gab between ESB and RotJ with AotC and RotS increases the anticipation of RotJ so they can see how the OT heroes' finally face down the result of the dark things that happened in the past.

 

So yeah, the biggest key factor as to the order from every way I look at it is that the contents of ESB must be guarded as much as possible and to reveal Anakin Skywalker's true nature after the fact, not before.

[Tommycat]

But here's the thing, After episode IV, it's an end. You can stop watching Star Wars right there and still love Star Wars. Episode 1 and 2 draw you back to the Republic, before the Empire. Palpy isn't the Emperor. If you watch Episode V then immediately watch II and III you can still reasonably guess that he is the Emperor. Watching I II and then V he's still just the Chancelor. Plus this gives a bit more weight to the first introduction of Boba Fett, and Jango Fett. It establishes the link between Luke and Anakin, but doesn't explain how Darth Vader killed Anakin. I could agree to 4,2,5,3,6 and leave out 1 as a separate Star Wars movie. Though if I were to really go at it, I'd do a hack and slash of I II and III into IV, V and VI so as to preserve all of the elements, and cut out Padme's death, to preserve that part of the movies.

[Lynk Former]

But here's the thing, After episode IV, it's an end. You can stop watching Star Wars right there and still love Star Wars.

But that's the problem right there, because ANH is so self contained it basically puts you into a dead stop which you then have to start back up again with TPM, then you end up switching gears yet again for ESB which in turns ends up separating AotC from RotS which I think is a bad idea considering the momentum the two generate with each other back to back.

 

Episode 1 and 2 draw you back to the Republic, before the Empire. Palpy isn't the Emperor. If you watch Episode V then immediately watch II and III you can still reasonably guess that he is the Emperor. Watching I II and then V he's still just the Chancelor.

The only scene in ESB where you ever see "The Emperor" is the short holo-conversation he has with Vader and that's it. We know nothing about him other than he's "The Emperor" and that he's apparently a more evil person than Vader. When you hit AotC right after watching ESB, there is absolutely no connection between Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious who you only see at the very end of AotC when he speaks to Dooku who is revealed to be Darth Tyranus. Furthermore, with the exclusion of TPM, the limiting of screen time of Darth Sidious and the then Senator Palpatine makes Sidious who becomes "The Emperor" a more mysterious figure and removes any kind of hinted foreshadowing that Palpatine may be the same person. And finally, you have to remember that this order is really for first time viewers who haven't mulled over all of the facts... not once in the Star Wars movies is it said that the Emperor is "Emperor Palpatine" and when a first time viewer is watching, there's very little chance, and far less chance in this order, that they'll make the connection unless they're pretty clever. Personally, I'd like to try to minimise the suggestions as much as possible until RotS when it is finally revealed.

 

Plus this gives a bit more weight to the first introduction of Boba Fett, and Jango Fett.

As much as I personally love those two characters, their importance to the first viewing of Star Wars is not important at all considering they're really just plot devices more than anything else.

 

It establishes the link between Luke and Anakin, but doesn't explain how Darth Vader killed Anakin.

Establishing a link between Luke and Anakin is important, which is why it's an important reason why I think TPM should be left out since both Luke and Anakin are around the same age, making them more relate-able to each other, when you see them without TPM's young Anakin... though all the skipping around is a problem...

 

I could agree to 4,2,5,3,6 and leave out 1 as a separate Star Wars movie. Though if I were to really go at it, I'd do a hack and slash of I II and III into IV, V and VI so as to preserve all of the elements, and cut out Padme's death, to preserve that part of the movies.

Again, it jumps around way too much between the two era's if you go 4,2,5,3,6. At least with 4,5,2,3,6 you have two OT era movies, two PT era movies, and then RotJ which suddenly becomes a meeting of both OT and PT as the finale.

 

I also don't think edits would really be a good idea since the entire point of this ordering is to make it easy for anyone who has the home video release versions of Star Wars (DVD and Blu-ray) to enjoy the movies this way... and even with the really terrible "she's just loss the will to live" death, I certainly wouldn't cut out Padme's death.