Star wars should i watch first

We see that there's a new conflict emerging between the budding Republic, led by Leia Organa-Skywalker and The First Order, which rose from the ashes of the Empire. Caught between this all is a young girl named Rey who seems to be really strong with the Force. Luke is unwilling due to his failures with Kylo Ren. Meanwhile, the remaining Republic forces are on the verge of total annihilation thanks to The First Order, leaving Rey and Luke as their only hope.

The conclusion to the Skywalker saga is out now and available on Disney Plus. If you want to watch films in order of the events that happen, and thus spoil the identity of Luke's father for first-timers, here you go:. This is the order in which the movies were released in cinemas.

You start with the originals, then go to the prequels, and end with the sequels. That's confusing, especially for kids being introduced to Star Wars. The "Machete Order" basically cuts The Phantom Menace from your movie rewatch, because many people don't enjoy that film. It preserves the "I am your father" moment.

But it was created in , so it doesn't include the sequels and is no longer a complete order. There are no sequel films, though, so we still prefer our order. Here is an all-encompassing order -- with all the movies and shows from the Star Wars saga in chronological order. The problem is that this is not the original Star Wars experience. Sat amid cavorting bears, Luke Skywalker gazes wistfully out into the forest to see the spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan gazing benevolently back at him Who the hell is that?

The replacement of Sebastian Shaw whose spectral form is now consigned to the same ignoble abyss as his eyebrows during the unmasking scene with Hayden Christensen means the penultimate shot of the original trilogy now makes no sense whatsoever. Not ideal. Named after the Star Wars forum poster who first proposed it, this unorthodox approach suggests a slightly different take on the canonical timeline. This actually works surprisingly well. The biggest drawback is that it makes the overarching narrative rather muddled and, to the uninitiated, quite confusing.

When you think about it, Episode I contains very little plot progression. Beyond all that, however, there are narrative points in The Phantom Menace that serve a purpose. Similarly, while widely loathed, Jar Jar is a narratively pivotal character as it is he who is ultimately tricked in Episode II into proposing a motion to grant emergency powers to the Chancellor, paving the way for Palpatine to assume the mantle of Emperor. Never seen as an innocent, we are introduced to him as a surly, sulking teenager with more than a touch of the Dark Side about him.

For a true redemption of the character, he needs to come full circle, so The Phantom Menace , however flawed, must remain on the menu. Written out, it may resemble algebraic nonsense but this is, in our humble opinion, the definitive viewing order for the Star Wars saga. The Time Machine Order requires metaphorically travelling back to May 25 when Star Wars was first released and watching the original cut of the film, followed by theatrical cuts of both Empire and Jedi.

We then shift gear for the prequels, allowing the younger generation to experience their highs and lows as we first did. The irony here is that, even though episodic order centers the story on Anakin, it does the character a disservice. Watched in release order, Darth Vader is a real villain.

Our understanding of the person behind the mask slowly develops to the point where we find that we have empathy for him. Watched in episodic order, Anakin begins as a fragile child and grows into a flawed adult. And it leaves us wondering why Kylo Ren and the First Order would seek to emulate his image.

The conventional method of viewing the Star Wars films in historical, chronological order is certainly legitimate and is absolutely the way I would introduce this universe to children. However, from a mythological point of view, I propose we subscribe to the formula originally crafted by Homer, author of The Iliad the oldest existing work of Western Literature and its sequel, The Odyssey. The Odyssey , in particular, modifies the sequential order of the traditional narrative, and employs the technique of in medias res — in the middle of the action.

Or, perhaps more accurately, when the story starts, certain key events have already taken place that have shaped where we find our heroes at the beginning of the tale. Which is exactly why you have to start with A New Hope. You know how the film starts: we are in the middle of a Galactic Civil War, with dialogue centered around plans to a Death Star and a brave Princess that will not be able to escape this time.

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