Whenever I have a free day to watch the entire Star Wars saga uninterrupted, I've decided that from now on this is the order in which I will view the episodes:
1. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
2. Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
3. Episode II: Attack Of The Clones (2002)
4. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
5. Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
6. Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi (1983)
Why this particular order, you may ask? Well, a number of reasons:
1) First of all, in honor of the fact that Episode IV came first, it seems only appropriate that this is where we should begin. I mean, let's face it, The Phantom Menace - whatever its virtues - doesn't make for as effective a beginning as A New Hope! Also, there is a certain wrap-around kind of symmetry in beginning and ending with the first and last chapters of the original trilogy.
2) Secondly: This way, the plot twists and surprises of both halves of the saga are preserved! For example, we know of the Emperor from A New Hope, we know of Senator (later Chancellor) Palpatine and the mysterious Darth Sidious from The Phantom Menace, which comes second in the order. But there is scant information to suggest that these are all one and the same character. By the time we get to The Empire Strikes Back and we see the Emperor, we realize that it's this Darth Sidious character!
But we're still not 100% certain that Sidious is really Palpatine until he reveals himself to Anakin in Revenge Of The Sith. The same thing with Anakin and Darth Vader: We know from Luke's discussion with Obi-Wan that his father was a Jedi Knight who was "betrayed and murdered" by Darth Vader, and we eventually get to meet the father Anakin as a little boy in The Phantom Menace. It's not until we see Anakin's susceptibility to the Dark Side in Attack Of The Clones that the viewer starts to get a little suspicious of him, and then finally Vader reveals the truth to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back! OMG! How could this be?! And then we see how it actually happened in Revenge Of The Sith.
3) Certain thematic threads are underscored and highlighted more sharply as a result of seeing the two Skywalkers' stories being told concurrently. For example, the whole business with Anakin and Luke having visions in which they see their loved ones suffering and dying and are thus compelled to act in order to prevent it - a thread which begins with Anakin's dreams of his mother in Attack Of The Clones, carries into The Empire Strikes Back with Luke having visions of Han, Leia and Chewbacca in Bespin's Cloud City, and comes to a head in Revenge Of The Sith, with Anakin being driven to prevent the death of his wife Padme and tragically ending up the cause of it!
4) Seeing the Star Wars saga in this kind of nonlinear order brings to mind George Lucas' friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Part II, in which the life of Michael Corleone is contrasted with that of his father Vito in his younger days, and we jump back and forth in time. I think it would be very interesting to take this sort of approach to the Star Wars saga.
1. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
2. Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
3. Episode II: Attack Of The Clones (2002)
4. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
5. Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
6. Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi (1983)
Why this particular order, you may ask? Well, a number of reasons:
1) First of all, in honor of the fact that Episode IV came first, it seems only appropriate that this is where we should begin. I mean, let's face it, The Phantom Menace - whatever its virtues - doesn't make for as effective a beginning as A New Hope! Also, there is a certain wrap-around kind of symmetry in beginning and ending with the first and last chapters of the original trilogy.
2) Secondly: This way, the plot twists and surprises of both halves of the saga are preserved! For example, we know of the Emperor from A New Hope, we know of Senator (later Chancellor) Palpatine and the mysterious Darth Sidious from The Phantom Menace, which comes second in the order. But there is scant information to suggest that these are all one and the same character. By the time we get to The Empire Strikes Back and we see the Emperor, we realize that it's this Darth Sidious character!
But we're still not 100% certain that Sidious is really Palpatine until he reveals himself to Anakin in Revenge Of The Sith. The same thing with Anakin and Darth Vader: We know from Luke's discussion with Obi-Wan that his father was a Jedi Knight who was "betrayed and murdered" by Darth Vader, and we eventually get to meet the father Anakin as a little boy in The Phantom Menace. It's not until we see Anakin's susceptibility to the Dark Side in Attack Of The Clones that the viewer starts to get a little suspicious of him, and then finally Vader reveals the truth to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back! OMG! How could this be?! And then we see how it actually happened in Revenge Of The Sith.3) Certain thematic threads are underscored and highlighted more sharply as a result of seeing the two Skywalkers' stories being told concurrently. For example, the whole business with Anakin and Luke having visions in which they see their loved ones suffering and dying and are thus compelled to act in order to prevent it - a thread which begins with Anakin's dreams of his mother in Attack Of The Clones, carries into The Empire Strikes Back with Luke having visions of Han, Leia and Chewbacca in Bespin's Cloud City, and comes to a head in Revenge Of The Sith, with Anakin being driven to prevent the death of his wife Padme and tragically ending up the cause of it!
4) Seeing the Star Wars saga in this kind of nonlinear order brings to mind George Lucas' friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Part II, in which the life of Michael Corleone is contrasted with that of his father Vito in his younger days, and we jump back and forth in time. I think it would be very interesting to take this sort of approach to the Star Wars saga.
