Poll
Question:
How should Star Wars be watched for the first time?
Option 1: Prequels first, then the originals
votes: 1
Option 2: Originals first, then the prequels
votes: 26
Just a quandry which has been rattling in my head.
Assume you're faced with a 14 year old kid who has never seen Star Wars but has decided that they want to watch them all. Avoiding the prequels isn't an option, they just don't believe it when others say they suck (what with most 14 year olds liking them...)..
In which order should they watch the films?
Originals, no prequels.
Originals first.
Originals, Prequels (highly optional), Clone Wars (highly optional - becomes a lot better in season 3), Droids (highly optional), Ewoks movies (if you want to torture yourself), Holiday Special (for getting drunk with friends)
Originals, then prequels. Otherwise, the whole "Luke, I AM your father" surprise would be lost.
L.
Apparently kids, kids not teenagers, love the prequels more than the original. I've gotta actually give lucas some credit here. He managed to make a movie which appealed to me as an 8 year old that appeal to today's 8 year olds. The movies aren't the cultural event they were way back then since everybody and his franchise has copied the lucas playbook.
It just pisses us off. The guys who are not in our 30s who had these amazing memories from the movies that set an impossible standard. When I went back and watched old transformers and voltron episodes (the coolest thing ever when I was a kid in the early 80s) OMG they were crap.
@Pedrito - 14 year olds who aren't already in love with it don't care about spoilers about who lukes father is.
I say start the brat on the prequels and as the kids ability to understand what Star Wars is he moves on to the middle trilogy where he can appreciate the slightly less merchandised, slightly less jar-jarized, slightly less jake lloydized version we love to this day. TBH, if you end with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s (safe for work and all that jazz)
then you are just spoling the whole thing for him. Much better to end with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1-4U6GXPnc
wait, NOOOO!!!
this instead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S2auEHR4rg
Wow, votes are quite overwhelmingly originals first.
I don't think its so clear cut. Assuming you're commited to watching them all it might be better to get the meh stuff out of the way first and then enjoy the awesomeness.
I think Luke I am your father is thoroughly spoiled via pop culture references even if you've never seen the films themselves.
Quote from: Viking on July 04, 2013, 04:09:58 AM
Apparently kids, kids not teenagers, love the prequels more than the original. I've gotta actually give lucas some credit here. He managed to make a movie which appealed to me as an 8 year old that appeal to today's 8 year olds. The movies aren't the cultural event they were way back then since everybody and his franchise has copied the lucas playbook.
It just pisses us off. The guys who are not in our 30s who had these amazing memories from the movies that set an impossible standard. When I went back and watched old transformers and voltron episodes (the coolest thing ever when I was a kid in the early 80s) OMG they were crap.
I work in a HS and loads of the boys at my school like the prequel films. Some of them haven't even seen the originals. :blink:
You don't. Star Wars sucks. The first 3 are only good because millions of 40 years old suffer from nostalgia & the latter 3 are crap.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 04, 2013, 07:09:42 AM
You don't. Star Wars sucks. The first 3 are only good because millions of 40 years old suffer from nostalgia & the latter 3 are crap.
It's got nothing to do with nostalgia, and everything to do with being a better generation.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 04, 2013, 07:12:55 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 04, 2013, 07:09:42 AM
You don't. Star Wars sucks. The first 3 are only good because millions of 40 years old suffer from nostalgia & the latter 3 are crap.
It's got nothing to do with nostalgia, and everything to do with being a better generation.
kids these day!
But ya, they pretty much suck. First one was ok, then it was downhill from there
With difficulty.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 04, 2013, 07:09:42 AM
You don't. Star Wars sucks. The first 3 are only good because millions of 40 years old suffer from nostalgia & the latter 3 are crap.
is it hard being so stupid?
Quote from: Tyr on July 04, 2013, 04:31:33 AM
Wow, votes are quite overwhelmingly originals first.
I don't think its so clear cut. Assuming you're commited to watching them all it might be better to get the meh stuff out of the way first and then enjoy the awesomeness.
I don't know why one would waste their time watching the prequels. Better things to do with one's life.
Originals first.
Prequels can later be watched for study.
Usually, I sit in a chair and look at a screen that displays the movie.
Quote from: katmai on July 04, 2013, 07:18:09 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 04, 2013, 07:09:42 AM
You don't. Star Wars sucks. The first 3 are only good because millions of 40 years old suffer from nostalgia & the latter 3 are crap.
is it hard being so stupid?
Not enough people with berets and tattoos slouched against a lamp post smoking.
I didnt think there was any question here. Have them watch the movies in the order they were released. Otherwise the plots lines in the original movies will be damaged.
I woule prefer the extent of Star Wars my kids experience are the KOTOR games. But if we have to do it originals first. The prequels are prequels and meant to be watched second
Quote from: Ed Anger on July 04, 2013, 08:15:42 AM
Usually, I sit in a chair and look at a screen that displays the movie.
Ed wins the thread.
"Star Wars" came out when I was five, and turned thirty six this year. For a fourteen year old today, the movie was made twenty two years before he was born; the equivalent of 1950 in my case. The original "Star Wars" would have been the equivalent of "Treasure Island" (the Disney version) or "When Worlds Collide." At 14 I though the former was a fine film; but certainly no "Return of the Jedi." The latter (and the whole of 1950s Sci-Fi) I found dull, plotting and filled with abysmal special effects.
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
I am not sure why you would have the fourteen-year-old of today watch
any Star Wars Movie, if you really think that today's fourteen-year-olds cannot appreciate movies made before they were born (I happen to disagree, working with a hundred fourteen-and-fifteen-year-olds each year, but that's beside the point). The later movies didn't have anything special in terms of plots, acting, or special effects, and pretty much all the cultural impact of the movies comes from the three you think they would hate because you didn't like 1950s SF.
Yeah, I'd figure most anyone who prefers the prequels to the originals is going to be unimpressed with the series as a whole.
Forbidden Planet was awesome. And the trailer had yellow text scrolling away into space... hmm.
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker
Are they? I disagree. Pace is a huge issue for a huge number of contemporary movies. I almost wonder if kids these days can put up with pacing issues better than us; on the other hand, I wonder if absolute number of edits and the fact that stuff is always moving (even if the movement is pointless) tricks the brain into thinking that the story is moving forward.
Even then, you'd have to explain the success of the languid Dark Knight trilogy, far, far more methodical/boring than the Star Wars films.
The race stuff in the prequels have more in common with films from the 30s anyway.
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
"Star Wars" came out when I was five, and turned thirty six this year. For a fourteen year old today, the movie was made twenty two years before he was born; the equivalent of 1950 in my case. The original "Star Wars" would have been the equivalent of "Treasure Island" (the Disney version) or "When Worlds Collide." At 14 I though the former was a fine film; but certainly no "Return of the Jedi." The latter (and the whole of 1950s Sci-Fi) I found dull, plotting and filled with abysmal special effects.
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
The films were rereleased in the mid 90s with the special effects updated and since then they've been updated for each new dvd/bluray release.
Quote from: Ideologue on July 06, 2013, 02:10:26 PM
I almost wonder if kids these days can put up with pacing issues better than us; on the other hand, I wonder if absolute number of edits and the fact that stuff is always moving (even if the movement is pointless) tricks the brain into thinking that the story is moving forward.
This Assberger Generation doesn't understand pacing. Except back and forth. Uh oh, fifteen minutes to Judge Wapner. Yeah.
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
"Star Wars" came out when I was five, and turned thirty six this year. For a fourteen year old today, the movie was made twenty two years before he was born; the equivalent of 1950 in my case. The original "Star Wars" would have been the equivalent of "Treasure Island" (the Disney version) or "When Worlds Collide." At 14 I though the former was a fine film; but certainly no "Return of the Jedi." The latter (and the whole of 1950s Sci-Fi) I found dull, plotting and filled with abysmal special effects.
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
If you go back and watch other 70s sci-fi it doesn't hold up particularly well either. In that I agree with Sav.
But Star Wars... well, it was ahead of its time. It helped invent the modern blockbuster. The special effects set a new bar and the pacing was quick.
Now what might hurt a modern kid watching Star Wars is that space exploration, and the whole space opera genre, is kind of passé. :( But not the movies themselves.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on July 07, 2013, 08:46:56 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
"Star Wars" came out when I was five, and turned thirty six this year. For a fourteen year old today, the movie was made twenty two years before he was born; the equivalent of 1950 in my case. The original "Star Wars" would have been the equivalent of "Treasure Island" (the Disney version) or "When Worlds Collide." At 14 I though the former was a fine film; but certainly no "Return of the Jedi." The latter (and the whole of 1950s Sci-Fi) I found dull, plotting and filled with abysmal special effects.
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
The films were rereleased in the mid 90s with the special effects updated and since then they've been updated for each new dvd/bluray release.
But the special effects haven't all been updated.
What struck me on watching the 90s re-release is that the most dated special effects, being the 1970s-era vector graphics computer displays, weren't updated at all. Think Luke's targeting computer on the Death Star run...
Quote from: Barrister on July 07, 2013, 10:54:21 PMIt helped invent the modern blockbuster.
Wrong. That was
Jaws.
Quote from: Barrister on July 07, 2013, 10:54:21 PM
Now what might hurt a modern kid watching Star Wars is that space exploration, and the whole space opera genre, is kind of passé. :( But not the movies themselves.
Still, the original movie told a very classic, timeless, accessible (fairy-tale) story - young boy from the farm becomes a knight, rescues the princess and strikes a blow against evil.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 07, 2013, 11:03:43 PM
Quote from: Barrister on July 07, 2013, 10:54:21 PMIt helped invent the modern blockbuster.
Wrong. That was Jaws.
The word was "helped".
You might as well just say that the modern blockbuster was invented by Steven Speilberg and George Lucas and be done with it.
Then let's.
Quote from: Syt on July 07, 2013, 11:06:36 PM
Still, the original movie told a very classic, timeless, accessible (fairy-tale) story - young boy from the farm becomes a knight, rescues the princess and strikes a blow against evil.
The original trilogy
was a re-telling of
The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Luke = Dorothy = Frodo = Ulysses = Xuanzang (fictionalized version), etc.
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
For a fourteen year old today, the movie was made twenty two years before he was born; the equivalent of 1950 in my case. The original "Star Wars" would have been the equivalent of "Treasure Island" (the Disney version) or "When Worlds Collide." At 14 I though the former was a fine film; but certainly no "Return of the Jedi." The latter (and the whole of 1950s Sci-Fi) I found dull, plotting and filled with abysmal special effects.
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
Not sure what experience you are basing this on but I can tell you that my teens enjoy the original movies. We have them on disk and they pull them out every now and then to watch them. We have the prequals also. Those dont get watched at all.
In fact on our last ski vacation our oldest (then 15) brought the three original movies up with us so that he and his friends who were staying with us could watch them during the vacation.
Quote from: grumbler on July 08, 2013, 11:11:39 AM
Quote from: Syt on July 07, 2013, 11:06:36 PM
Still, the original movie told a very classic, timeless, accessible (fairy-tale) story - young boy from the farm becomes a knight, rescues the princess and strikes a blow against evil.
The original trilogy was a re-telling of The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Luke = Dorothy = Frodo = Ulysses = Xuanzang (fictionalized version), etc.
Well, yeah.
Quote from: Savonarola on July 05, 2013, 09:46:14 AM
"Star Wars" came out when I was five, and turned thirty six this year. For a fourteen year old today, the movie was made twenty two years before he was born; the equivalent of 1950 in my case. The original "Star Wars" would have been the equivalent of "Treasure Island" (the Disney version) or "When Worlds Collide." At 14 I though the former was a fine film; but certainly no "Return of the Jedi." The latter (and the whole of 1950s Sci-Fi) I found dull, plotting and filled with abysmal special effects.
Based on my own experience I think a fourteen year old of today would find a film as old as "Star Wars" difficult to access; today movies are quicker and special effects are better. I would recommend he watch the prequels and skip the originals. For an older viewer, I would recommend the watching them in the order they were released.
Even though I'm a bit older, I disagree. War of the Worlds and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea were released in the first half of the 50s and I was completely absorbed by those movies as a kid. I think good movies hold up.
Quote from: Syt on July 07, 2013, 11:06:36 PM
Still, the original movie told a very classic, timeless, accessible (fairy-tale) story - young boy from the farm becomes a knight, rescues the princess and strikes a blow against evil.
Then makes out with the princess and discovers it is his sister, then blinds himself in shame...wait I'm getting this story mixed up with another old tale.
Quote from: alfred russel on July 08, 2013, 12:27:26 PM
Quote from: Syt on July 07, 2013, 11:06:36 PM
Still, the original movie told a very classic, timeless, accessible (fairy-tale) story - young boy from the farm becomes a knight, rescues the princess and strikes a blow against evil.
Then makes out with the princess and discovers it is his sister, then blinds himself in shame...wait I'm getting this story mixed up with another old tale.
Not to mention that his actions lead to his father's death.
I'd think modern kids would still be able to enjoy the original Star Wars films.
Thinking back to when I was a kid...old was old generally.
Black and white was obviously the days of yore, unwatchably old, and then early colour films had something about them that just rendered them too obviously old.
But any decent colour films from the mid 60s through to the 80s- they were all equally old in the "are they watchable?" stakes.