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VLOG – Final Prep For Christmas & Star Wars (No Spoilers!)
December 18, 2015 by warzan
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Ok I’ll try stay spoiler free the best I can.
First I totally agree on the Adywan version of Hope. It ‘s nearly perfect. The only scene he deleted and I do miss is with Jabba on Tatooine. You know in the Mos Eislay Hangar before they leave Tatooine. I liked that. Otherwise it is the way a remastered edition should be. Watch it!
Secondly I agree with Justin on the watch order. First the original trilogy and then the prequels. Especially for new people. Because you need the knowledge from 4-6 to grasp 1-3. And watching Phantom after 4-6 I don’t think it’s a bad movie. I actually like it a lot. 2 and 3 can be scrapped thou.
I watched Star Wars for the first time when I was 8. That was ’92 so those were the original films. I think the Dianoga (the Slug living in the Death Star Trash Compactor), the Sarlacc and especially the Rancor was not good for me. The rest was totally fine. Then I went with my dad to the movies when the special edition came out (best memories of my “childhood”, rest in peace dad). That should’ve been around ’97 and onwards. So I was about 13 and it was totally fine. For a five year old, I don’t know. Monster are scary (like the rancor above). So the scene with the 3 things on the ship of the two guys which are released could be too much. Also the scene with one of those guys and his son and that helping moment could be too much for a five year old. (Man it’s hard to write spoiler free). Otherwise I can imagine that it should be ok. But what do I know, I have no children (yet) 😀
Looking forward to the X-Wing stuff. And always remember. You have to watch the trilogy at least once every 3 years, or the dark side wins.
You have an unusual view of the franchise. The most commonly accepted viewing order is actually 4, 5, 2, 3, 6. You can skip 1 altogether as it adds very little to the story and anything critical to the main story is repeated in 2. By all means watch 1 in isolation, but don’t make it part of the order. By watching it this way, the vader reveal is maintained (123 first ruins that reveal) the twins reveal is in a different place but still has weight, and palpatine being the emperor isn’t so obvious as he doesn’t have as much screen time until the reveal.
I tried this with my son a couple of years ago, and even I enjoyed it more in this order.
And as for Force Awakens it was fantastic
I’ve seen that order listed – isn’t it the “how I met (and murdered) your mother” version?
I think it’s called machete order and I don’t like it at all. And I don’t agree that you can skip Phantom. From my point of view it is the episode with the most galactic context. Maybe it’s not that important for the main story line, but it fills so much around just everything (which is not always a good thing, “medichlorians” *hust*). And I actually think Qui-Gon is a good character and I don’t mind Jar-Jar to much. At least not as much as the acting of Hayden Christensen.
So still going for the “original”/”earth chronological” order. 4-6, then 1-3. Then 7. The only real reason for machete order is the younger anakin at the end of episode 6, which can easily be overlooked.
I think it’s better to watch 4-6 then 1-3 because if you do them sequentially, all of the surprises in the originals are lost because you’ve seen the prequels.
I agree watch 4,5 6 but miss out 1 – 3 and go straight in with 7
Amen, brother. 😀
Only redeeming feature of 1-3 is that it showed lucas had no place being involved in anything, crystal skull just hammered the final nail in the coffin
There is no age to get into Star Wars. I like you @warzan was very young in 1977 when I was blown away with the intro to Star Wars.
Happy birthday to your daughter and don’t wait, take her tonight mate.
I do agree with you and the prequels are very poor over cgi and the acting leaves a lot to be desired. The new force awakens does attempt to go back to the originals, go job JJ Abrams.
Star wars was awesome, that’s all I’m gonna say about it.
I wish there was a 28mm wargame but I might just buy a load of micromachines and do it at 15mm
Uhm, check the front page, Imperial Assault is that. 😉
In all honesty and not trying to sound like I’m following a crowd I have completely deleted 1-3 from the order. They are garbage!
Saw the new one today and I felt it was good. Some new characters worked , some didn’t, a little too much attempt at humour which lessened some genuine humour moments but overall I was satisfied and it felt it belonged. A few moments that will stick with me long after watching it.
I saw Star Wars when I was 5 so exactly the same age as your little one and I don’t remember feeling scared just super excited.
My god! @chaingun …. like you mate I saw it in 77… It feels so long ago! ……. or I feel so old ….lol …. for me it will always be just star wars, none of this new hope stuff!….
Saw the new movie at 1:10AM here in the states. OMFG! And yes, I agree with Justin on the watch order. The first time I watched SW was when I was 3 years old back in the early 80’s. I have since watched the OT so many times that I have worn out 3 copies of the trilogy on VHS (that’s 9 VHS cassettes), thank you DVD/Blu-ray.
As for the gaming side, I’ve really enjoyed playing Imperial Assault Skirmish rules from FFG. As well as playing the Edge of Empire RPG.
Saw ep 4 in 77 as an 8 year old, fell in love right there.
Saw ep 7 last night, if anything I was more excited for this movie and JJ hasn’t let me down.
Going again Weds with some workmates and I’ll try another sneaky watch in Jan.
I saw Jaws at the age of 6, loved it but scared the crap out of me. I imagine Savannah’s exposure to geek culture from an early age will see her through ep 7 without much of a problem.
I really enjoyed the new Star Wars movie.
four and five, then two and three (one being optional) before finishing with six, moving onto seven
@warzan. My two and half year old daughter the other day declared she’s Darth Vader. She’s watched New Hope, but the Lego star wars cartoons are perfect.
4,5 as that assumes you know nothing about the force, then 1,2,3 as extended flashback then 6.
3D, for those times you want to pay more to enjoy a movie less.
Obviously it depends on the five year old, but I saw Star Wars for the first time around that age and didn’t have any issues. As for the order, it’s 4-6 then 1-3 for two reasons. Firstly, if you show me three crap films I’m probably not gonna to make it to the good ones, whilst if you get me into it first I might tolerate the crap ones. Secondly, this is the order they were made and whilst chronologically it may not be the order, it is the storytelling order.
I enjoyed the original three movies like most young ‘uns in the early 80s, but by the late 80s my tastes had moved on and I’ve been largely indifferent to them since. I did go an see The Phantom Menace and it was so bad that I’ve never 2 or 3 to this day. I thought this was inferior to 4 and 5 and slightly worse than 6. Which for me meant I didn’t enjoy it much, but if you’re into Star Wars I guess you would love it. It very definitely plays it safe and as Warren touches on, it very definitely hitches its wagon to the original movie and not the prequels.
Hawaiian shirts… I bet it’s time for a little…. Mele Kalikamaka. 😉
Chaos vs Dark Angels with what looks like two Dreamforge Knight Titans on the board – someone hadn’t been playing the Freeblade app too much have they @warzan ? ;P
On the order to watch the Star Wars films in, there’s the machete order. Start with ANH, then ESB, watch AotC and RotS as an extended flashback and then watch RotJ to cap off the story. And actually, not remembering what happened in the OT when you go to see the new one may not necessarily be a bad thing – when I saw it last night at the late night showing I kept getting reminded of parts of the OT and it felt a bit derivative like Abrams had hacked up the negatives for the OT and stuck them back together in a random order. It was still a good film, but I think a casual viewer will find it more enjoyable as a film overall than a dedicated fan who will instead be getting excited over the various bits and pieces like the first time the Falcon appears and Han and Chewie’s “Chewie, we’re home.” bit. Would definitely recommend going to see it, but I probably won’t go to see it again, just wait for the DVD to be released and get that (unlike the PT DVDs).
On the topic of how young is old enough, fairly sure I was about five when I saw the OT (and I mean the real OT, Han Shot First, not the special editions which came out when I was eight or nine), so I think five should be old enough to see the OT. Not sure about the new film, as I think it’s scarier than the OT, but if a kid can handle the OT, they shouldn’t be too bad with the new film.
I highly recommend checking out the machete order when it comes to watching/introducing Star Wars to people 🙂
http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/
Elvis has left the studio
You’ve been a wonderful audience 😉
The Machete viewing order 4,5,2,3,6 is the best.
Are you Elvish?
Saw Star Wars when it came out in theaters in the summer of 1977 . . . My uncle took me when I was five (almost six) years old . . .
@gazky – I could not agree more. Watching order? Simple. 4, 5, and 6. You are DONE. Use the “machete” to chop 1, 2, 3 into confetti and throw them in the trash. Not only are they horrible and add nothing to the series, but through their sloppy writing, wooden acting, shameless product placement, easy-way-out CG effects, 2D characters, and cynical marketing gimmicks . . . actually reach back in time and “try” to ruin things from the original series.
Examples are too numerous to count. A few worst offenders:
Lightsabers: Overused. They used to be special, borderline magical weapons. In the prequels everyone and their brother has one (Grievous has FOUR and isn’t even a Jedi / Sith). They appear every five minutes. Yawn.
The Force: Formerly a quasi-religious, well . . . “force” – a mystical energy, a borderline deity, a metaphor for our higher, spiritual selves. As Yoda says: “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter!” – In the prequels is a germ you carry in your blood. Thanks, Lucas.
Yoda: The reason he’s small, peaceful, humble-looking, and lives in a mud-igloo in a freakin’ swamp is to bring home the idea that powerful masters of the Force (or powerful people in general) don’t have to be physically strong or intimidating. Did Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, or Ghandi have an army? “Wars not make one great.” – “Your weapons, you will not need them.” What’s in the cave? “Only what you take with you.” – “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”
Okay, so in Ep II he’s a general leading a mechanized shock corps of storm troopers with assault walker support and a fleet of star destroyers in a planetary assault. Wars not make one great, eh? Who knew Yoda was such a hypocrite?
I can’t continue, and who wants all this negativity. I offer only this . . . The Star Wars wisdom of Mr. Plinkett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI&index=1&list=PLF34EBB1D68064251
HERE’S HOPING THE NEW FILM SAVES US ALL! Here’s hoping the new “Machete Order” is Episodes IV, V, VI, and then jump to VII, VIII . . .
There, I ended on a positive note. 😀
IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX wouldn’t really be a machete order, just the sensible one 😉
Or for new viewers you could try starting with VII and then jump back to IV, V, VI to explain who the mythical heroes Han, Luke and Leia are and what is the big deal with the burnt helmet Kylo Ren has on his nightstand. Although that sets a precedent to make them want to go back to the PT to explain Vader’s fall to the Dark Side :/
Also, Yoda might not be a hypocrite over his Wars not Make One Great comment and leading a planetary assault – he never claims to be great because of his generalship, and that could have actually helped him come to that conclusion – he lead multiple battles and while in exile, looked back on his life and realised that doing so diminished him. Of course that’s probably putting too much credit in the PT 😛
“IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX wouldn’t really be a machete order, just the sensible one.”
Here’s hoping you’re right, @lordofuzkulak – I haven’t seen the new movie yet (came out just today in the US, and I’m still at work, it’s only 15:46 here). From what I’ve heard and seen in the comments above, seems as if we might at last be saved from the “Dark Side” of the prequels.
An interesting take on the Yoda question . . . “All that at my disposal I had, and still my ass I had kicked!” 🙁 Actually I was just trying to be snarky . . . that someone else besides Yoda (ahem) might be (ahem, Lucas) a hypocrite.
And it’s not just Star Wars. Readers on this site probably know me as a “history guy.” So when Lucas destroyed the story of the Tuskegee Airmen with that “Red Tails” horror show — and then wore it on his chest proudly like he’d socially enlightened us all with another CG-heavy, shameless marketing informercial . . .
Damn, there I go again. Apologies!
@oriskany dont appoligise that film was even worse than 1, 2, 3 and Crystal Skull, at least that was the tipping point in the public’s mind that he has had more misses than hits, i mean even howard the duck is better than those 5!
It almost annoys me that lucasarts made so many of my favourite PC games, day of the tentacle, sam and max hit the road, indy & the fate of atlantis, and the divine monkey islands 1,2 and 3
Never heard of Red Tails, and from the sound of it that’s a good thing 0.0
VII is far better than the prequels, but like I said above and on other sites it’s best if you purge your mind of the OT as much as you can otherwise you’ll spend half the time thinking “this bit’s like X from RotJ, that bit is like Y from ANH, that character is like Z from ESB” etc. but don’t purge too much otherwise you won’t benefit from the joy of seeing things like the Falcon for the first time again. Overall, It has its flaws, but is still highly entertaining 🙂
RED TAILS!!! WHO SAID RED TAILS!!! *frothing at the mouth* Why they had to stamp all over the awesomeness that is “The Tuskeege Airmen” I will never know….
IMHO the problem wasn’t that they used CGI in the bad movies.
The real problem was that the actors didn’t have the skill and the director to make it work.
Sin City was probably 100% green screen / fake and it was a good movie (I enjoyed it at least).
But the SW 1-3 series ?
The acting and plot were so bloody awful that the effects became the focus and thus any flaws where more visible.
The dialog was awful, every other actor being good didnt help, but the thing that killed it dead for me was the cynical hand of bean counters forcing merchandise friendly characters centre stage to the detriment of what the only interesting part of the prequels was about the birth of vader. the whole literal empire building plot might be been ok in a fan targeted game, kind of side mission fodder but for the basis of a plot it was rubbish. At least it showed in no uncertain terms that lucas was a total hack, and didnt have the vision to drive the series forward i mean its not like he was able to ripoff a bunch of obscure films second time around. At least he had the decency to let go of the reigns and stop remastering out of existence what made the originals so enjoyable.
All in all i think the southpark guys hit the nail on the head with the save films from the directors episode and the one about crystal skull…
Introduced my daughter to starwars when she was 6 weeks old, only thing that seemed to settle her colic was starwars, later i discovered Jurassic park and battle star galactica (especially cylon noises) settled her.
@warzan happy birthday to your little’un cant wait till mine is old enough to take probably be for ep IX but still could be worse 😀
Is it me or is @lloyd looking a bit like Andy Cairns from therapy? circa infernal love…
battle star galactica the first film I got to see by my self & the start of star wars with the battle between the blockade runner and the star destroyer with the vibrations of the ship noises & lasers got me completely hooked on any sci-fi film ever since.
Amen, brother @zorg . Like I said, I was five in that theater, probably my first movie besides Disney animations, etc. That star destroyer roars overhead . . . As a five-year old who’d seen nothing more immense than Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood . . . Yeah. That was it. 😀 😀
yup theirs something about a cinema when the whole place is shaking just brings everything to life on the screen.
The Order I like is 4, 5, 2, 3, 6. Treat the prequels as a flashback
I was five when my dad took me on my first ever trip to the Cinema it was
1980 and we watched a double bill of Star Wars (before it was known as a
new hope) followed by the Empire strikes back and I have been a fan ever
Since, looking forward to seeing the force awakens tomorrow night with my
Seven year old son and 11 year old daughter
I was five when my dad took me on my first ever trip to the Cinema it was 1980 and we watched a double bill of Star Wars (before it was known as a new hope) followed by the Empire strikes back and I have been a fan ever Since, looking forward to seeing the force awakens tomorrow night with my seven year old son and 11 year old daughter.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fallout-4-pipboy-and-limited-edition-bobblehead-NO-GAME-/161915478275?hash=item25b2ea2103:g:iy0AAOSwAKxWa11Q
that’s how much John paid for it – approx. :O Warren, Kick his ass!!
Paid more than that since it had an unoppened game with it 😛
I would go 456 then 123-7
@warzan I wouldn’t take the kids to a 3D film the 3DS now has a warning that they should turn off the 3D on the DS if kids are playing the game.
The DS uses completely different tech for the 3D. Cinema’s won’t hurt your eyes. 3DS can be damaging to undeveloped eyes due to the way it displays. It’s all good! =)
I have just watcher 1-2-3-4-5-6 while I was painting. And while I agree the 1-2-3 are bad, ive still seen worse movies.
Well they where not enough star wars for me, so I finished the Clone Wars animated series. Not a bad series, there was some really dark episodes, but also some silly ones…
And yet while I painted seeing star wars… my job is not done, I still have a lot to paint,before im going to see the Force Awakens tomorrow.
I have a 7 year old nephew and a 3 year old nephew that I’m taking to go see Star Wars
Please Gentlemen! The Force Awakens was the biggest disappointment of the year!
pro’s
BB-8 is amazing,
con’s
The story is shoddy and loose,
The characters are lacking any development or depth
the humour is forced with far too much self awareness “hey look, look! I’m starwars!”
And finally, the biggest problem is, EVERY scene is a recreation of a scene from 4,5 or 6 just with new characters and stupid nostalgia humour shoved in.
I really wish audiences could watch this with unbiased views. I tried to love this film, when it started, i had tears in my eyes listening to that music! at the end, my soul fell out my butt and i left my childhood behind in the cinema!
Also, this is in no way an attempt at a flame war, if anyone has a constructive response that might bring back some hope for my now desolate nostalgia goggles, I’d love to hear it!
I went in to this film thinking “even if it is bad, it’s star wars, it’ll be fun and exciting”. For me, it was neither.
Well, damn. I am a massive, massive Star Wars fan but after coming out of Ep7 I have a new found respect for Ep1-3 (though I honestly quite liked them in the first place).
Being so self aware stripped the film of its charm, leaving behind a souless film with some spaceships I recognised. I felt nothing throughout. I had to take my kid to the bathroom at the end and I didn’t even care that I was missing it.
Gutted doesnt even begin to cover it.
We’ll talk more when we come back from the break mate 🙂
I suspect your not alone (perhaps a little on the extreme end, but not alone)
🙂
Those are largely my own thoughts on the film, though I didn’t go into it with any great love of the franchise and just watched it as a film. The last point wasn’t an issue for me, though I agree with all the others. I think the creators were very aware that a lot was riding on the reception of this film, so played it as safe as they could do by essentially doing a cover version of the first movie.
And just to expand on that last thought, it clearly worked given the overwhelmingly positive response to the movie. I guess no-one turns up to a reunion concert from a band that was successful in the 70s and 80s and wants to hear all their new material instead of their greatest hits.
Everyone is very positive about it … now. What people seem to forget (and I have to remind some friends), people raved about how awesome the Phantom Menace was when it came out – the same friends who now moan about the prequels! 😎
I wrote about some of the psychological effects of why people would love it last week to cover some critical thinking aspects …
http://testsheepnz.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/peer-101-why-new-star-wars-film-will-be.html
People may well change their tone about it with rewatching. I hated Revenge Of The Sith on first viewing, but I liked it more on rewatching. Most of my hardcore fan friends, rewatching seems to only cause their ratings to spiral downwards.
Very true. I remember coming out of the cinema having watched Phantom Menace (and subsequently, AotC and RotS) and every time I walked away with a big smile on my face. For me, the films exuded Star Warsy-ness, so much so that the shortcomings didnt really register in my mind and only became apparent once I had the films on DVD and could watch them again at my leisure. But even then, those problems didn’t detract from my ability to enjoy the films.
It was only through a kind of subconscious peer pressure (mostly via the internet) that I began to understand that I was supposed to be negative about the films. Luckily the EU books set in that time line (and later, the Clone Wars series) really helped me avoid that trap and served to reinforce my love of what was happening in those prequel films, if not the films themselves.
Funnily enough I recall writing here on BoW that – in my opinion – one of the reasons people didn’t like the prequels was because it didn’t follow the same format of scrappy underdogs versus a belligerent regime. Having seen Ep 7 I feel like the political situation was established exactly so they COULD give people what they thought they wanted, creating what may as well have been a ‘playing it safe’ reboot. Based on the review scores, it seems like it paid off but I wonder.. for how long?
I loved the new characters. But I hated the film overall – it was too much of a rehash/reboot of the original trilogy. At least the prequels tried to do something different, and cover new ground. Force Awakens was more like watching a clumsy mix tape remix of the orginals.
I’m glad I’m not alone. There are definitely things I loved about it, BB-8 for example. He has immense character development compared to the rest of the cast whom I struggle to recall!
Someone let John know he can download an app for a smartphone and put it in the PIP Boy.
I’m a 80’s kid and watched the originals in the cinema. I was just old enough to watch the first In The cinema. I actually enjoyed episodes 1-3, though I prefer 4-6. I went into Phamton Menafe with no expectations and wasn’t dissapointed. I think the reason most people don’t like episodes 1-3 is because we don’t connect with the characters like we do in 4-6. Also the prequels are less tongue in cheek, something I think the fans enjoyed with the originals.