I want to talk about Star Wars. Why? Because it’s close to Star Wars Day and the movies have the potential to be a little problematic, especially for a first time viewer. Now I love Star Wars and one day, I will make a blog about this; but it is not this day. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds…oh wait. Sorry, my fault, wrong franchise.
I would just like to point out before I go any further, that what I’m going to be discussing is a First World problem. As long as everybody understands that, then we are sweet.
Anyway, I’m one of the hundred of millions of lucky people, that have seen the Star Wars movies.1 Because of this, I can describe the plots of the films, as well as explaining the beginning and end of the entire story. The issue with Star Wars is that the order of the films that have been released, are not in chronological order.
For those people who already know this, I’m sorry, but this needs to be stated. The release order of the Star Wars films are such:
Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope (1977); Star Wars: Episode V-The Empire Strikes Back (1980); Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi (1983); Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace (1999); Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones (2002); Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith (2005); Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008); Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens (2015); Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016); Star Wars: Episode VIII-The Last Jedi (2017); Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018); Star Wars: Episode IX-The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
There have also been numerous cartoon shows like Droids, Ewoks, Clone Wars; The Clone Wars, Rebels, Resistance, Forces of Destiny; as well as the increasing live action shows like The Mandalorian and others being developed.
So I need to propose a question to you. If someone that had never seen the films before asked you, what film should they start watching first or even what is the best viewing order, what would your answer be? Do you start with A New Hope because you’re a purist, or The Phantom Menace or maybe a different film?
Here’s an even better question; what viewing order would you recommend for children?
Now I’m a geek, but I am also a parent. Because of this, there are many different genres, mediums and subjects, that I’m interested in, so I want to share them with UMC1 and UMC2. However that is the problem. An example of this problem is that I’m a fan of space. Whether it’s books, articles, videos, lectures or an event, I am all over it like Yogi Bear and a picnic basket.
This resulted in my geekgrasm over the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover landing. Since sitting down and discussing what happened, UMC1 and UMC2 have become space obsessed. UMC1 started school 8 weeks ago and is consuming an insane amount of information from books and videos. UMC2 on the other hand, has started building rockets and asking people (via 2 year old language) about whether they know anything about heat shields and rovers.
So the issue is this: if I had never shared my love of space, would both of my boys still be interested in space now or not? Basically this is about nature vs nuture. Do I share my interests with my boys, knowing it could influence them into liking the topic/subject or not introducing the topic/subject and wait to see if they can discover it for themselves?
That is how I feel about Star Wars. I have wanted to teach and introduce the boys to a galaxy, far, far away; but at the same time, I haven’t. This is the fear I am pushing my love of it onto them and they may not like it.
We have some Star Wars items around the house on display, but we have never gone into great depths with them or watched any of the films with the boys. I haven’t wanted to push Star Wars onto them, because I didn’t want to become the stereotypical parent that did that.
This changed when I was given a R2-D2 toy for Christmas last year, through Secret Santa at work. Both UMC1 and UMC2 fell in love with R2-D2 and wanted to know everything about him. They were gobsmacked to learn that some of the prints in our bedroom were of Star Wars; there were some Star Wars children’s books on their shelves; some of the action figures donated to them from older family members, were from Star Wars; and also that there are a series of movies and television shows about Star Wars.
Again, I’m going to point out that I have never pushed Star Wars onto UMC1 and UMC2. If they discovered Star Wars and liked it, then it’s ok. If they didn’t like it, then it would still be ok.
Because of the boys’ interest in Star Wars, we showed them a DVD of Lego Star Wars movies called The Padawan Menace and The Empire Strikes Out. The boys thought they were extremely funny, especially the droids and Yoda.2
I had mentioned to them, that we had the set of Star Wars films, so one day we could all sit down and watch them. However, this is the issue. What Star Wars film do you start watching first? I feel bad, because I know of children younger than UMC1 and they have seen the movies. Part of me feels like a crap father because of that.
I have thought about this a lot and just like Caesar crossing the Rubicon, the die is now cast. I have made my decision, though my wife does not agree with me.3 She believes that the best viewing order for children or anybody to be honest is simple: Start at Episode I and march forward, all the way to Episode IX. It would be: 1, 2, 3, Solo, Rogue One, 4, 5 ,6, 7, 8 , 9. That sounds fairly simple, right? Watching them in chronological order makes a lot of sense. However, to me it does not.
This is my viewing order:
Start at A New Hope, then watch Empire. The next film would be The Phantom Menace. WTF?! It would be: 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, Solo, Rogue One, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Of course the observant readers would have noticed that the viewing order requires Episode IV and V to be viewed twice; but also after the first screening of Episode V, the next film is Episode 1, not Episode VI. I fear I have some explaining to do.
The first film needs to be Episode IV: A New Hope. It sets the stage of the saga and you can meet the players; plus think about the opening scene, when Vader walks in. You have no idea what the hell is going on, but you can bet all of the credits in the galaxy, that dude is the bad guy.
After A New Hope, we can move onto Empire. Hoth, Imperial Walkers, Yoda, Bounty Hunters, Lando Calrissan, Boba Fett, Vader vs Luke and….the twist. Not just any twist, but one of, if not the greatest twist in cinematic history.
I want you to remember the different emotions that you felt, when you saw Empire and witnessed the twist. Did you feel denial or anger? Did you want to reason with it and try to negotiate with it? Did you cry or just accept it? Working through the five stages of grief may or may not have helped you, but whatever it did, it changed your perspective on how movies could be told.
Now imagine watching Empire for the first time, already knowing the twist. Imagine if George Lucas made Episode I first, and slowly worked his way towards Episode V, where Luke’s learns the secret. As a viewer, you discovered this information back in Episode III, so it’s not a big deal.
If a child starts with the Phantom Menace, they will not get the reality changing revelation, when they watch Empire later on. The impact of the twist is not there; thus starting with A New Hope, then onto Empire, means children can still experience the shock of the twist and I want to be there, when UMC1 and UMC2 learn of it.
Alright, it’s established Episode IV first, then Episode V, but why Episode I next? The answer Pinky,4 is that after the twist, I want UMC1 and UMC2 to stop and go to the prequels. The reason I want them to do this and miss Return of the Jedi, is because I want them to see the relationships growing between Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padmé, but also the rise of the Empire and the failure of the Jedi. I feel this is very important, because after watching Episode I, II, III and Solo, you reach Rogue One.
The scene where a shuttle is landing on Mustafar and you see Darth Vader walk onto the platform. You are hit with the knowledge, “That’s Anakin. Oh no, he’s still trapped in that suit. He’s still walking around in it. That poor man.” That’s powerful.
From there, you meet Anakin and Padmé’s children (again) grown up and also, an older Obi-Wan in Episode IV. This of course leads us to the Vader vs Obi-Wan fight, which we have already seen the first time. However, we now understand the back story of the two characters, so it’s actually Round 2 for them.
After this, you watch Empire again, so you can understand how these characters got to be where they are. From there, you watch Episode VI-IX. Of course you can fill in the gaps whenever you want with The Clone Wars, Rebels and other television shows.
So that’s it. This is how UMC1 and UMC2 will experience the Star Wars saga, though I’m not sure when it will happen. At what age do you show children the films? I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I do know is this; whenever we do it, I will be sitting right beside them, with the biggest dumb grin on my face, because I’ll be the happiest father in the world.5
Thanks for reading and see you in a fortnight!
1 Yes, I have seen Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor…but I am not counting them.
2 What can I say, they have good taste.
3 A wife and her husband not agreeing on something; has this ever happened in human history before?
4 The real answer is same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world! (Insert evil mouse laugh).
5 As for the greatest fathers of all time, Darth Vader and Magneto will not be receiving a nomination.
SOME GEEK TOLD ME 
You must be logged in to post a comment.