The most basic Star Wars question...

Am planning to start showing the films to my kids...do I show them in chapter order or production order?

 

Oh, that's a loaded question, given how much people hate the prequels.

I'd go with "Star Wars" through "Jedi" in order and show them the others if they like those three.

If you do want to stick with all six, I've heard some guy who espouses going "Star Wars", "Empire", "Phantom", "Clones", "Sith" and then "Jedi". Dunno if that works, but it sounds like an interesting approach...

 

Production order--as otherwise the big reveal about Vader being Luke's father will lose most of it's impact plus, quite frankly, the first film in the sequel trilogy sucked. The second was OK and the third was almost good.

 

If they like toys, wooden acting, overdone CGI and long discussions of trade issues, show them the latest three. If they dig actual plots, humor, human-like performances and good triumphing over evil, then it's the originals.

 

I view them as two separate series, so my opinion is to show them in production order that way they get the fun and excitement as they were developed fresh in Lucas' mind. In my mind, they were developed without knowing where they would take us.

The prequels were developed to fill out a story and create a path to something that was already known and to fit in with multiple demographics. I don't really see the point of the prequels, but that final road to becoming Darth Vader was pretty much hardcore on the path for evil.

 

Show them in order of 1-6 so your kids can ask you how Leia remembers her mother in Jedi when she clearly dies .002 seconds after giving birth to her in Sith.

 

The original trilogy, of course.

And do everything you can to deny the existence of any 'Star Wars' films beyond 1983. You owe it to your children, and to future generations.

 

That's what makes the running order of 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6 intriguing: it keeps the "surprise" intact and treats the pre-story as an extended flashback kind of thing.

Like I said, I've never watched it that way, but when the Blu-rays eventually hit, I'm gonna give it a go...

 

I'd say production order too. They make more sense this way. A New Hope must seem strange if you already know that Luke, Leia and Vader are a family. Or that Vader doesn't react to C-3PO (which he built) or how slow the first light saber duel is. Or why everything looks so old (as it must for kids today).

The new films are prequels. That means they are made for an audience that knows the old trilogy.

 

I'd say just show them the first film (plain old "Star Wars") and don't tell them there's anything else. Or just tell them the other five films are clumsy attempts to rewrite and pad out the story in the first film, in which they alter basic facts and ruin the story. I'm planning to go with the latter approach with my daughter.

 

And deprive her of Empire? What kind of father are you?

 

I started showing it to my older son in production order.

 

This is indeed a strange suggestion, but to each his own, I guess. Not only is EMPIRE the best of the series, imo it's one of the best films of all time of any genre.

 

+1

Darryl

 

I've never understood the "Empire Strikes Back is better than Star Wars" school of thought. More pretentious, yeah. Darker, yeah. More nonlinear, yeah. To me that's not better, in this context anyway. Star Wars was a perfect action adventure, a roller-coaster of a movie, designed to evoke memories of classic adventure serials. It told a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. It did not need to be darkened, and in fact darkening it was not appropriate. It's like darkening Superman. Imposing that sort of sensibility on Star Wars was like mixing chocolate with pizza.

That's not even getting into the annoying ways Empire contradicts and undoes the story in Star Wars. Suddenly the Empire is not defeated anymore. Suddenly Vader is the Emperor's right hand man (not to mention, Luke's father). Suddenly Ben Kenobi is a manipulative liar. I really dislike the decision to turn Vader into Luke's father and make the series about Vader rather than Luke... I think I would have had a hard time with that retcon even if Empire had somehow retained the tone and aesthetic of the first film.

 

First find them a copy of the original "Star wars holiday special" and make them watch it in its near 2 hour totality.
Even the Phantom Menace will seem masterful, coherent, and entertaining after that

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. Fortunately the first film still works as a stand alone film. I've chosen to ignore the rest of the series at this point.

 

I often feel I'm the only person on this forum without any hate for the prequels. (I do really dislike the SE's of Eps IV-VI compared to the originals.) Now that I stripped myself of any credibility, I'll throw out that my 8 year old son and all his friends know every minor detail of all six films inside and out (we haven't allowed our son to see Sith yet) and these kids think of all six films as being equal to each other.

Due to his age he saw them in the following order: IV, I, VI, II (cut off before Anakin wipes the entire village out) & V. If he would've been older, I'd have show them in production order.

 

What? No love for "Life Day"?

 

I've never seen the Prequels. They don't count, IMO.

I'd go with the three original films, in order.

 

Thanks for all the responses, I'm surprised not one person has made the case for showing them in chapter order. I'd like to get the input of someone who saw them for the first time that way...

 

How about show them Episode IV first and make sure it doesn't bore them to tears?

Bonus: you learn if you need to replace your children.

 

I think Star Wars was a romp, but Empire was a much deeper, more tragic, and more thoughtful film. It's got some weird structural problems, though, and when you analyze it, not a lot happens -- other than the big reveal near the end. But it's absolutely in my Top 10 Favorites of all-time list, just because I found it to be very moving, emotional, and well-told story. And I think the acting, the editing, the direction, the effects, and the cinematography are (forgive me) light years better than the first film. The original film does have a sense of innocence that's impossible to recapture, though, so I understand why so many people love it so much.

Very hard to disagree about that. Many fans have come to the conclusion that this was a retro decision on the part of Lucas, and in fact, that's a huge part of the massive 626-page book The Secret History of Star Wars, which goes into this into excruciating detail. The amount of mistakes, missteps, half-truths, and screw-ups in the scripts are mind-boggling.

But ultimately, I don't think Lucas had any choice. The entire story arc was about the rise, fall, and redemption of Darth Vader -- plain and simple. No other story could've worked as well as that, but I share the opinion with others that Episodes 1-3 are very disappointing by comparison to the original films. In fact, I'd argue against showing the first three to anybody who hadn't yet seen the series. Start with 4-6, then show the first 3 as a flashback. They may not want to see the rest of it if they start with the Anakin Skywalker story.

 

I don't think I could sit thorugh Episode 1 again.

 

I always found it interesting that on set David Prowse said, "Luke Obi-Wan was your father".