A beginner’s guide to Star Wars
For
many of us, Star Wars has been there
for as long as we can remember. The characters have become as iconic as classic
fairy tale heroes and heroines, and the scenes are as quotable of Shakespeare’s
best.
But
I’m continually surprised by the amount of people I’ve met who’ve never even
touched the movies. True, everyone has different tastes and I don’t have any
ill will towards those who just plain aren’t interested in it, but every
December when the newest movie comes out I see more and more people coming out
of the woodwork and asking where to start.
I’ll
give them this: it can be intimidating. Being arguably the biggest multimedia
franchise on the planet with a wide assortment of books, cartoons, video games,
comics and more outside of the central movies, tackling Star Wars seems like a daunting task, especially with the
misconception that the extra stuff is necessary to enjoy the core flicks. Plus
with the new introduction of the Legends and Canon timelines, I don’t blame
people if they walk away feeling confused about where to start.
So
I’m here today with a simple beginner’s guide to the Star Wars movies. If you wanna see The Last Jedi this December all caught up on the universe, this
article will guide you to what you need to see to know what’s going on!
First
things first: only the movies matter. While the cornucopia of books,
games, shows and more that create the Expanded Universes definitely enhance
your Star Wars experience, they are
not at all necessary to understand the main components of the franchise. On the
contrary, most if not all of the extra material assumes you’ve seen the movies,
leaving most of the building blocks of the universe unexplained, such as the
importance of the Force, the Jedi, and so on. Maybe someday I’ll give a
definitive guide to Star Wars outside
of the movies, but today we’ll be focusing on the films themselves.
What
you need to know is that Star Wars movies
at the moment are split into four separate categories:
· The Original Trilogy (1977 – 1983),
comprised of Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. This
trilogy is the original and best of the saga, and it contains the building
blocks of the entire franchise as well as introducing you to several important
characters and concepts.
· The Prequel Trilogy (1999 – 2005),
comprised of Episode I: The Phantom
Menace, Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. This trilogy is set roughly 20-30
years prior to the Original Trilogy, and gives the origin story to several
important characters. For most fans this is their least favourite part of Star Wars, as the writing isn’t exactly
on-par with the other movies.
· The Sequel Trilogy (2015 – 2019),
comprised of Episode VII: The Force
Awakens, as well as two currently unreleased films: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi and an as of yet untitled Episode IX. These movies are set 30
years after the Original Trilogy, and details the fallout of the war in those
movies as well as the legacies of the main characters.
· The Anthology Series (2016 onwards),
comprised of Rogue One, the currently
unreleased Solo, and reportedly more in the works for later on down the line. These
movies don’t follow the same linear plot as the episodic releases, and instead
act as bonus movies that tell stories from other places in the galaxy, origin
stories for other characters, and essentially anything else that might be
interesting to see on the big screen.
So those are all the
theatrical Star Wars movies. Where do
we go from here?
It’s important to
know that the Anthology Series is more of a “bonus content” series of films,
meant to fill gaps between the major episodic releases. Rogue One is set just before the
beginning of A New Hope, and tells
the story of a mission by rebel spies who set the events of the first movie
into motion. It’s a great flick that’s well worth seeing, but I’d recommend
waiting until you’ve seen the Original Trilogy first so you can understand the
central conflict between the Rebellion and the Empire as well as know more
about the universe as a whole.
So now that we’ve got
that out of the way, what order do we watch the episodic movies in?
There are two methods
condoned by Lucasfilm (the production company behind the movies), as well as a
popular fan-created watch order. There are more out there, but today I’ll be
going over the three most famous, and you can pick your favourite.
#1: The
Release Order (IV – V – VI – I – II – III –VII onwards)
My
personal favourite for first-timers, Release Order shows you all the movies in,
unsurprisingly, the order they were released. Starting with A New Hope as released in 1977, this
order continues on through the Original Trilogy, followed by the Prequel
Trilogy, and ending off with The Force
Awakens as the introduction to the Sequel Trilogy, leaving you ready for The Last Jedi in style!
(Note:
style is not guaranteed. In fact, if you watch these things all in one sitting,
I can assure you you’ll be looking pretty unstylish by the end.)
Release
Order also works because none of the twists are revealed prematurely. The
Original Trilogy is full of surprises for those with no prior knowledge of the
series, and both the Prequel and Sequel trilogy assume that you’ve seen the
original three movies, and as such use both the origin of several characters
(in the Prequels) and the fallout of the first trilogy (in the Sequels) to tell
their stories. If you don’t want any twists spoiled, this is the way to go.
Some
aren’t fans of this version because of some messy CGI alterations series
creator George Lucas made to the movies later on, but most of these issues can
be solved with a one-sentence explanation by a friend who’s already seen the
movies. And seriously, regardless of what viewing order you choose, a friend or
family member joining you for your viewing party is the best way to watch Star Wars.
#2:
The Chronological Order (I – II – III – IV – V – VI – VII onwards)
The other Lucasfilm condoned watch order, Chronological Order requires
you watching the movies episodically, going from the beginning of the timeline
to the current point by starting with the Prequel Trilogy, then moving onto the
Original Trilogy and closing out with The
Force Awakens.
While
this is my preferred way of watching the movies nowadays, I’ve seen them dozens
of times. As far as I’m concerned, this watch order is an enormous no-no for
first-time viewers on all fronts.
I’ll
admit, it does have some advantages. The more high-tech looking Phantom Menace is easier to pull kids in
than the 1977 original, which, admittedly, tends to show its age at times. This
version of the story also has a definitive beginning, middle and end point,
instead of watching Return of the Jedi and
then jumping 30 years into the past to the time of The Phantom Menace, followed by another jump into the future for The Force Awakens later down the line.
But
the Chronological Order has more faults than it does advantages. As I mentioned
before, many of the Original Trilogy’s major surprises are thrown in the
dumpster by the Prequel Trilogy, as it automatically assumes you’ve seen the
Originals since it was released later on. There’s also the issue that the
Prequel Trilogy is easily the weakest set of movies in all of Star Wars, with a lot of poor dialogue
and confusing plot choices. If you want to stay invested, the worst movies of a
franchise aren’t the ideal place to start.
#3:
The Machete Order (IV – V – II – III – VI – VII onwards)
So how do you keep a consistent narrative while at the same time salvaging
some of the big surprises in store for first timers? That is the question Star Wars fan Rod Hilton asked himself
while putting this order together. Inspired by another order (the “Ernst
Rinster Order”, which I’ll talk more about in a second), this order starts you
off with A New Hope, continues into Empire Strikes Back, then jumps into a
two movie Prequel Trilogy flashback with
Attack of the Clones and Revenge of
the Sith, followed returning to the Original Trilogy to close it out with Return of the Jedi and finally starting
up the Sequel Trilogy with The Force
Awakens.
This
order cuts out The Phantom Menace entirely,
with Hilton calling it “the series low point”, and stating that “you don’t learn
anything in it that you can’t learn in Episode
II”. I still think there are a few key points in Phantom that merit watching it, which can be solved by invoking the
Ernst Rinster Order, which is identical to the Machete Order expect it includes
the entire Prequel Trilogy in the flashback sequence after Empire Strikes Back. But still, he has a point where he says that
this order ensures that you don’t start or end your marathon watching a bad
movie.
While
not a bad way to start, I’ll admit it can get confusing at times. Jumping back
and forth between Trilogies can be pretty jarring for first time watchers,
especially when you need to learn a whole new cast just as you’re getting used
to the heroes of the Originals. Again, I’d recommend this one only to those
who’ve already seen the saga and want to avoid Phantom Menace on rewatches.
#4: The Wacky
Order (???)
Go to
your favourite Random Number Generator website and ask it to pick a number
between 1 and 7. Whatever number comes up dictates the episode you’ll watch.
I
don’t know why you’d want to do this, but you can if you feel this is the best
way to watch movies I guess.
At
the end of the day I’d still say Release Order is the way to go, especially for
those who don’t know about any of the twists in the Original Trilogy. The
Original Trilogy also is the best way to be introduced to the world and
mythology of the Star Wars universe,
explaining key details overtime. More adventurous viewers who want minimal time
with the low points of the saga can definitely consider the Machete Order as an
option, and if you really want to start with the Chronological Order for
whatever reason it won’t ruin the franchise entirely (but the Prequels aren’t
the high point of Star Wars, I’ll
warn you right now). Regardless of what order you go in, all that matters is
you see Episodes I through VII in time for The
Last Jedi in December.
And
if you actually are a first-time watcher reading this to try and figure out
where to start, welcome to Star Wars.
I hope you enjoy the movies, and may the force be with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment