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...the fool or the fool that follows him?
Submitted by riq on May 7, 2008 - 9:02pm.
My six-year-old son loves playing Star Wars. Though he has never seen the films, he knows about the main characters, and he and I have matching light sabers. I know I am not alone. We do some bad-ass lego-building of starships, and we fight evil in the galaxy most days after school.
As a young padawan, the time will come when he will be old enough to watch the Star Wars films with me. Men of conscience, the question is this: when the time comes, do I introduce him the the films in order of theatrical release or begin with episode I?
Flash Back Order
IV
V
I
II
III
VI
Hear me out.
We think this is all about Luke, but it's not. After the reveal of his fathers identity, we realize that this is a story about Anakin / Vader, and the consequences of his actions and the choices that he has made. We flash back to the beginning so that we, too, can believe, and we come back to the 'present' to find out the true ending to the story Anakin
in order
Against the urge to have my son experience Star Wars like I did, we watched them in order, not by theatrical release. I'm glad I did.
My oldest son is 6. He started getting very interested in Star Wars and of course started playing the LEGO game and asking me all kinds of questions. So I opted to go in order starting with Episode I primarily because that movie was overly geared towards kids and I thought it would scare him the least. However, since I was raised with Ep. IV, V and VI first, I didn't feel guilty revealing that Anakin eventually becomes Darth Vader and a few other elements of the plot that were to come. My wife, even though she thinks I'm a Star Wars dork, has really supported my son and I watching them together, and in order, when we found out he was planning to skip one and watch a later movie in the series at a friend's house. So we narrowly avoided the sleepover issue. It has been a great bonding experience for us.
I will say this...He has enjoyed the "original" trilogy much more (IV, V, VI). It's not surprising considering the first three are so thick with government issues. It was difficult for me to explain in kid terms about dictatorships and overthrowing democracy.
All in all, I'm glad we went in order and I was able to guide him along with the knowledge of what was to come, still allowing some things to surprise him and learn along the way. Think about the number of times we've all probably watched Ep. IV, V and VI before we were introduced to the prequels (and how much older we were when we were introduced to that concept).
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.
Theatrical Release
I agree with Chaneski's logic. Even though kids might learn the various big "reveals" too soon from other sources, I think the films will be more meaningful if they're watched in the order of their theatrical release. I don't think the plot chronology is as functional or profound in "real time" sequence as it is in "theatrical release" sequence.
Honestly, I might not bother with I and II, though III brought it all back in for a landing.
The bigger question, perhaps - Am I a bad guy if I prefer that my child views Episode IV in its original form, rather than the re-released form which -- the point of this question -- shows Greedo trying to shoot Han Solo before Han shoots Greedo. Should that original version stay on the "not until you're 18" shelf? Am I a worse person because I grew up believing in (?) a Han Solo who shoots first?
(I registered to answer this question, too!)
the atric, al
I vote for theatrical release. Of course, in our heart of hearts we want our kids to have the same experience we had, which is utterly utterly impossible. Imagine seeing SW in 1977, and already knowing, for example, the relationship between DV and LS. It would be pretty hard to keep that pop culture info from someone.
I'm just trying to remember to relax and enjoy how life presents itself to my kids in their own unique ways.
JC (I registered to answer this question!)
Star Wars
My daughter (12) loves Star Wars. She's watched all 6 movies about 16 times. She also is into Naruto and video games. When most tween age girls are starting to get interested in boys and dating, my daughter thinks those girls are retarded. We are fortunate that she'd rather watch Ironman with her dad than go off and hang around with some boys.
theatrical release
i'm all for the theatrical release as well... although i might caution you on how episode VI (return of the jedi) haunted me a bit with luke battling the rancor and the rancor eating one of the guards... i think i was like 10 or something...
My older 2 boys have seen
My older 2 boys have seen Episodes IV - VI. I think Episode III might be a little too "dark" for them to see until they're a bit older......so IMO, theatrical release order is the way to go.
Before they had seen the movies, they'd seen the characters, asked about who does what, what their "powers" are...etc, etc. Their curiosity was unreal & they were dying to see at least one movie. So, I let them watch Episode IV & they loved it.
Now they fight Lord Vader (me) quite frequently....good fun!
Star Wars
As a big Star Wars fan (moreso of Episodes IV - VI), I have pondered which order I'd show the films to my sons someday. I think I'd go with the theatrical release order personally.
My wife would roll her eyes if I told her this is something I even gave 2 seconds of my time to, but Star Wars was a BIG deal for me when I was 7, it blew my little mind! LOL
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