Star Wars with your children the first time, do you make them watch it in order of release date or the chronological date in the series. I went the release date route which led to a lot of needless questions.
OT: When watching
- Thread starter tenureplan
- Start date
I used to be a proponent of Machete Order, but that was before all the new movies in the last few years.
I think now, I'd probably just watch them chronologically:
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
Solo
New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Force Awakens
Last Jedi
Rise of Skywalker
I think now, I'd probably just watch them chronologically:
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
Rogue One
Solo
New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Force Awakens
Last Jedi
Rise of Skywalker
Release date order for sure. My daughter's jaw dropped after the big reveal in Empire Strikes Back. Glad it wasn't ruined for her.
mine watch so many things on youtube that will spoil all movies. it's hard to watch ANY movie with them, even current ones, where they aren't blurting out spoilers while watching.
I watched all of them this past summer with my oldest, who was 12 at the time. I intentionally held off starting the movies until I knew she could understand the storylines and why all the ship was happening. Example- trade federations arent exactly an easy concept for super young kids and I wanted her to follow everything.
Ends up we could have watched them a year or so earlier because she kept up just fine with the backstories and reasoning for everything.
We watched them in release date order because that is how I watched them and thats how they were filmed. Watching them in release date order is no different than how some standalone movies or ones like Deadpool open in current time, flash back for half the film, then move from the current time forward. Its how a lot of cinematic storytelling is done, and Star Wars just takes it to another level with multiple movies instead of parts of a single movie.
She wants to watch all the Marvel movies and I am totally lost with that one. Ive seen probably 9 of em- an Ironman or two, a couple Avengers, a couple Guardians, Black Panther, and a couple Thors. What Ive seen is all mixed into the timeline and there are obvious gaps.
Ill have to google what order all of them should be watched. There are like 20 of them at this point though. ugh.
We went chronological with our oldest son, since we figured he'd be more interested in the new ones rather than watching movies from 30 years ago. I think it worked - he loves to watch any of them now.
Now our youngest son... he's watched bits & pieces along the way so he's probably confused as 17. He just likes the droids and yoda anyway.
Now our youngest son... he's watched bits & pieces along the way so he's probably confused as 17. He just likes the droids and yoda anyway.
I did the same. The jaw drop by both my kids....
was totally worth the effort of keeping them away from everything Star Wars as long as I did.
Both did comment on how bad the CGI looked in Episode I, though, so there a few drawbacks to watching in release order. Still the way to go.
was totally worth the effort of keeping them away from everything Star Wars as long as I did.
Both did comment on how bad the CGI looked in Episode I, though, so there a few drawbacks to watching in release order. Still the way to go.
Vader order
Because the whole saga is really about Vader and his redemption (even the sequels are mostly about his legacy -- good and bad), this is what I'd recommend:
[Vader]:
New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
[Pre-Vader, i.e., Anakin]:
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
[to wrap up the Vader timeline]:
Solo
Rogue One
[Post-Vader, i.e., Luke, Kylo Ren]:
Force Awakens
Last Jedi
Rise of Skywalker
If your kid is loving the mythology, Clone Wars and Rebels animated series are great to watch and fill in a lot of the blanks, especially in Solo. Although outside the mythology thus far, for the most part, the Mandalorian is a fantastic standalone show to watch in that universe.
Because the whole saga is really about Vader and his redemption (even the sequels are mostly about his legacy -- good and bad), this is what I'd recommend:
[Vader]:
New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
[Pre-Vader, i.e., Anakin]:
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith
[to wrap up the Vader timeline]:
Solo
Rogue One
[Post-Vader, i.e., Luke, Kylo Ren]:
Force Awakens
Last Jedi
Rise of Skywalker
If your kid is loving the mythology, Clone Wars and Rebels animated series are great to watch and fill in a lot of the blanks, especially in Solo. Although outside the mythology thus far, for the most part, the Mandalorian is a fantastic standalone show to watch in that universe.
Ha, yeah this is whats happening with my 9yo daughter. She has now watched a couple of the early 2000s ones- jarjar and one other because I thought the violence was more comedic(jarjar in the clone battle for example). She has to be confused as hell as to whats happening, but sits there similing, so whatever I guess.
The younger ones inevitably end up watching older than their age/understanding.
I was born in 1980 so I obviously didn't watch them in the theater... don't remember if I watched Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi first. So guess it doesn't mean as much to me to watch them in a certain order. Back then I watched whatever came on tv or whatever movie my parents had rented.
But I do know that I didn't watch the original / episode IV until years later. I'm going to say it was probably when my older brother bought them in the early 90s. I can just remember being amazed like - huh, you mean there's an older one I've never seen?
But I do know that I didn't watch the original / episode IV until years later. I'm going to say it was probably when my older brother bought them in the early 90s. I can just remember being amazed like - huh, you mean there's an older one I've never seen?