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Cake day: December 29th, 2024

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  • I’d disagree with Rogue One as a first intro to Star Wars simply because there’s a lot of assumptions of knowledge of things explained at a minimum in ANH.

    This is the problem with getting viewing recommendations from fans - they are so obsessed with the franchise that they fail to realise/appreciate how many of the additional films and TV series are designed and written for them to the exclusion of everyone else. Rogue One is a film written for existing Star Wars fans, filled with fan service and references designed specifically to excite viewers of the original trilogy. As an actual standalone story it is pretty fucking boring, as are its main characters who exist purely to service the main plot. Speaking of the plot, it is designed entirely around explaining a minor plot hole from the original film - something only massive fans of the franchise care about. It’s a terrible recommendation for a first-time viewer.


  • I’d recommend watching them in release order, as that’s how most people have experienced them. You’ll have a better understanding of the commonly ascribed strengths and weaknesses of the respective films and trilogies if you watch them this way. It is also very common opinion that each trilogy is substantially worse than the previous one, so if you watch them this way then you have an off-ramp at the end of the first and second trilogies if/when you’ve decided you’ve had enough - you’ll never have to sit through bad films to get to the good ones.

    The Machete Order is an interesting idea but I’m a little hesitant to recommend it because so many of these fan edits are designed by people who are in so deep that they tend to skim/omit information that is actually relevant to first time viewers who have no idea what is happening. Star Wars fans, like all fans of these geek franchises, often have a hard time seeing things from the perspective of people who don’t share their obsession. For that reason, I also strongly recommend against watching any of the TV series or filler/standalone films until you’ve finished at least the first two trilogies, because they are written for Star Wars fans to flesh out the events around the main films and are filled with tons of irrelevant references and fan service that are just going to confuse and/or bore you.