Star Wars: Machete Order

[jducoeur]

Thanks to hungrytiger for pointing me at this article -- The Star Wars Saga: Suggested Viewing Order. It makes a compelling case that, if you are introducing someone to Star Wars for the first time, you should show *neither* the original nor the prequel trilogy first, but instead interleave them.

The analysis makes a lot of sense. My only quibble is that he suggest omitting Episode I entirely, which is a great boon to humanity *but* loses the best single piece of music in the whole series. I mean, let's get real -- the only reason I cared about going to see Episode I was the video trailer of Duel of the Fates. Terrible movie, but it's John Williams' masterpiece in my book.

(And I find myself put oddly in mind of Narnia by the whole thing. The order he argues for is, in many ways, very similar to my preferred reading order for Narnia, with The Magician's Nephew just before the final book. I suspect he's right that it works, and for some of the same reasons.)

Anyway, I am almost tempted to organize a Star Wars Day at some point, just to try this out: it's been enough years since I last saw them for my palate to be reasonably clear. Maybe one of these days. (Higher priority is the Batman party that I need to hold sometime in the next couple of months, before the next movie comes out...)

Comments

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

Correct! The main point of Episode I is the pod-race, an exciting action sequence solely for the sake of an exciting action sequence. Anakin is still a child when he's drafted as a pilot and winning the race shows that his abilities are just starting to come out and he's an exceptionable individual. You now know everything you need to know about Episode I and you get to skip about 90% of Jar-Jar Binks as a bonus! :)
-- Dagonell