I had planned it all out. We would watch in theatrical order of course. My seven-year-old had expressed interest for months, so I finally arranged for the late-night daddy/son viewing of Ep IV. We watched it together on the couch that late night -- what a blast! Ep V soon followed in a couch fort straight from Hoth. However, before I could get to Ep VI, a sleepover at a cousin's house left him having watched Ep I. I was heartbroken, but worse -- the questions soon came:
How come Obi Wan pretended not to recognize C3PO and R2D2? How come Darth Vader said he was Luke's father? Is Anakin Skywalker Luke's brother? Who is Uncle Owen? It was all a blur. Damn you, sleepover!
So, we rushed to Ep VI and watched Ep I together soon thereafter, but the questions still flooded. Unfortunately before I could get to Ep II another sleepover at another friends' left him having watched Ep III out of order again. Not to mention a PG-13 movie for my now eight-year-old left me seriously despising sleepovers. :-)
We still haven't watched Ep II together. Not my favorite episode anyway, other than Yoda pulling out a can of whoop-a$$ on Count Dooku. But I digress. He has the Lego Star Wars games, so he "knows" the plot now (as well as these mixed up minifigs can explain it). We'll get to it this summer, for sure, but somewhere we "lost the plot"... literally.
So my word to the wise: theatrical order is definitely preferable for those of us who were raised on them in this order. But if you have any sleepovers planned, plan a weekend to watch them all to avoid plot discontinuity (other than that which already exists in the series itself) and address the battery of questions that would threaten even the most skilled of Jedi.
Woulda shoulda
I had planned it all out. We would watch in theatrical order of course. My seven-year-old had expressed interest for months, so I finally arranged for the late-night daddy/son viewing of Ep IV. We watched it together on the couch that late night -- what a blast! Ep V soon followed in a couch fort straight from Hoth. However, before I could get to Ep VI, a sleepover at a cousin's house left him having watched Ep I. I was heartbroken, but worse -- the questions soon came:
How come Obi Wan pretended not to recognize C3PO and R2D2? How come Darth Vader said he was Luke's father? Is Anakin Skywalker Luke's brother? Who is Uncle Owen? It was all a blur. Damn you, sleepover!
So, we rushed to Ep VI and watched Ep I together soon thereafter, but the questions still flooded. Unfortunately before I could get to Ep II another sleepover at another friends' left him having watched Ep III out of order again. Not to mention a PG-13 movie for my now eight-year-old left me seriously despising sleepovers. :-)
We still haven't watched Ep II together. Not my favorite episode anyway, other than Yoda pulling out a can of whoop-a$$ on Count Dooku. But I digress. He has the Lego Star Wars games, so he "knows" the plot now (as well as these mixed up minifigs can explain it). We'll get to it this summer, for sure, but somewhere we "lost the plot"... literally.
So my word to the wise: theatrical order is definitely preferable for those of us who were raised on them in this order. But if you have any sleepovers planned, plan a weekend to watch them all to avoid plot discontinuity (other than that which already exists in the series itself) and address the battery of questions that would threaten even the most skilled of Jedi.