A bit of a dilemma ....

[theorangemonkey]

In a My wife and I have reached a bit of an impasse on something - usually with parenting issues we end up on the same page, but on this issue we've become polarized.  We were discussing Star Wars, and could not agree on which order to first have our son watch them in.  I know that it's still early days, and that there is still plenty of time to

Comments

[theorangemonkey]

Oh, he's definitely changed his mind several times on the issue - the first draft of A New Hope was insanely different from what was eventually filmed, like you mentioned it was at one point nine films, at another seven (as the copy of Shadows of the Empire on my bookshelf attests to). But, ultimately, the six we have are what is there.

And I know that trying to deduce authorial intent is a tricky thing at best, but I can't escape the feeling that he released them with numbers 1-6 on them for a reason, hamfisted and retroactive as that reason might be :o)

[monkeyman]

OR, you could just show him 4-6 and pretend that the other three movies are urban legends, unproven to actually exist in the real world ... warning him, of course, that any viewing of the supposed 'prequels' could have The Ring-level consequences. ;)

[theorangemonkey]

I'm already planning on using the "they don't exist' strategy with Rocky movies after #4 and Alien movies after #3, though - don't want to overrely on that strategy.

[shey]

hahahaha, this was my thought exactly!

[rockgoddes]

I gotta side with Becca on this one...4-6 are what matters in that story, with some of the end of 3 being able to explain some of that stuff. But 1 and 2 are just interesting sci-fi movies with lots of cgi, they barely have anything to do with the Star Wars universe and really, to me are best viewed that way.

YMMV. :)

[theorangemonkey]

My understanding of Star Wars is probably coloured by my experience with the EU - for me the whole thing's more of an intergenerational family drama beginning with Anakin, continuing through Luke, and going on to the Solo and Skywalker kids. 4-6 is an important, central part of that story, but the other stuff is important too. If someone's Star Wars experience is only the films, though, I can see the argument that 4-6 is all that matters.

[nabba]

I have tried and tried to watch the prequels and I just can't do it. I can't stomach them. They're so poorly written that these good and some great actors can't even make anything watchable out of it.

Jedi came out two years before I was born, but to me, those three are Star Wars. The other three... I just can't make a valid argument because I can't sit through them enough to watch them fully.

[theorangemonkey]

I think they're a lot better than people gave them credit for - I mean, they're not perfect, but Episode 1's main failing was that it didn't measure up to the versions of it people had been building up in their heads for two decades.

[bellaconfusa]

I also agree with your wife. Part of the point of releasing prequels or a prequel in general is that people watch them and try to put together the connections that lead up to the end. That's why Shakespeare revealed the ending of Romeo and Juliet in the Prologue.

[theorangemonkey]

Generally, I can agree with that, but I don't think that's the case in Star Wars - the two stories are fairly separate (except for the central character of Anakin/Darth)