There’s been lots of talk lately about how Disney has bought the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas for a cool $4 billion. There also was the announcement that new Star Wars movies (VII, VIII, IX) would be forthcoming. There also has been some rampant speculation that the original trilogy might be released on DVD/BluRay in their original presentation (no extra effects, Han shot first and all that) now that George was out of the picture. (How many times I’ve heard the refrain “I thought George would have to die before…” recently)
But that doesn’t help with the prequel trilogy. Fox still owns those. Sure they’ll make more movies. Mathematically, they have to be better than the prequels. Credit where credit’s due: in my experience, Dad was the first to call a spade a spade after watching Episode I in the theatre. I recall being in denial, but time has shown him to be right on.
So when Miranda was of age, we watched the Star Wars movies together: IV, V, VI. Twice before she asked me about the prequels. And then I fought it for a while, before relenting and watching them with her. Episode I couldn’t hold her interest. II and III were somewhat better, but you could tell they weren’t thrilling her. Now, Ian is getting to be old enough, and we sat down and watched the original Star Wars (IV) a couple weeks ago. He enjoyed it, it captured his attention, but we’ll leave it for the moment.
But again, I face the stupid problem: what order to watch them in? I’ve started with IV, but could easily re-introduce them in any order in a year or two. I-II-III-IV-V-VI? That would be stupid. Start with the worst movie and totally ruin the twist in Empire? No way. IV-V-VI-I-II-III? Also stupid. The story is over, and now we’re watching three movies of prequel.
Introducing the Machete Order.
IV-V-II-III-VI.
Episode I not included. II and III are like a long flashback after the cliffhanger of Empire. The parallels between young Anakin and the dark, whiny Luke of Jedi are obvious and actually reinforcing. Read the link for more information.
I finally think that the Star Wars movies aren’t a trainwreck for the first time in years.
Now, if I could only get DVD editions of the original trilogy without the stupid extras George slapped on.
Updated
Seems there is a renaissance of critical appreciation for the prequels now that there is… a new hope… for more and better Star Wars. An interesting take on the prequels is here, where the author turns the sound off and tries to get the purely visual impression, devoid of the banal dialogue.
