Ideal Movie Viewing Order?

1. Rogue One
2. Star Wars
3. Empire Strikes Back
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Optional: The Prequel Trilogy
6. The Force Awakens

 

Buckle up, this could get bumpy.

1. The Clone Wars. I would actually watch this first, since you get to skip the awkward moments of TPM and AotC, and jump right into the Clone Wars and get to know the characters. Unfortunately, the series wasn't in chronological order, so the following is my chronological list of episodes, the best, most memorable, and continuity-important episodes in TCW: First act of the film (up through the battle of Christophsis, to the point where we meet Ahsoka); 3x01 Clone Cadets; 1x02-04 Malevolence Arc; 1x05 Rookies; 1x09-10 Nute Gunray Arc; 1x15 Trespass; 1x19-21 Ryloth Arc; 2x01-03 Holocron Heist Arc; 2x17 Bounty Hunters; 2x18-19 Zillo Beast Arc; 2x05-08 Genesis Arc; 2x09-10 Grievous Arc; 2x12-14 Deathwatch Arc; 2x20-22 Death Trap Arc; 3x02 ARC Troopers; 3x04 Sphere of Influence; 1x22 Hostage Crisis; 3x09 Hunt for Ziro; 3x10 Heroes on Both Sides; 3x12-3x14 Nightsisters Arc; 3x15-17 Mortis Arc; 3x18-20 Citadel Arc; 4x07-10 Umbara Arc; 4x11-13 Kadavo Arc; 4x14 A Friend in Need; 4x15-18 Deception Arc; 4x19-22 Maul Arc; 5x02-05 Onderon Arc; 5x07-5x09 Younglings Arc; 5x01, 5x14-16 Maul's Empire Arc; 5x17-20 Ahsoka Arc; 6x01-04 Order 66 Arc; 6x11-13 Yoda Arc. That, I think, just about covers it. If you notice an absent arc that you like or think is important, feel free to add it; you can find a list of episodes in chronological order to help you figure out the list.

2. Rebels. Basically, this viewing order turns Rebels into a sequel series to TCW, and while we find out the big shocking revelation that Vader is Anakin, skipping RotS leaves enough of a gap that we are left guessing at details, and lends an air of mystery, though TCW and Rebels both leave enough clues that we can work out what happened. With Rebels ongoing, there's a possibility that one would need to break up Rebels into multiple parts to accommodate some of the other movies, but for now, you can treat it as a continual whole. This list is current up through the end of Season 2. The episodes listed below are either essential watching or contain enough character- or world-building to view: Spark of Rebellion, 1x01-04, 1x06-08, 1x10-12, Fire Across the Galaxy, The Siege of Lothal, 2x01-03, 2x05-17, 2x18, Twilight of the Apprentice.

3. Rogue One

4. A New Hope

5. The Empire Strikes Back

6. Return of the Jedi

7. The Force Awakens

 

Very thoughtful, thanks! My fiancée and I were having this discussion on our way home from RO, and agreed that TCW is a great way to introduce kids to the lead-up to the OT. But the Anakin/Vader thing is...tough.

 

The question is, does knowing Anakin is Vader before he tells Luke a deal-breaker? Maybe one can rationalize it as Owen and Beru wanting him to have a name that was known on the planet, and seeing as Owen was related to Anakin... alternatively, you could do the movies first in the above order, and then let them watch TCW and Rebels on their own.

 

1. ANH
2. ESB
3. R1
4. APM
5. AOTC
6. ROTS
7. ROTJ
8. TFA

Follow me here...

My kids (who've already seen Rebels) sit with their Mom and Dad to watch A New Hope, then Empire. Then I pose the question "How did they get the plans for the Death Star anyway? The kids say "Gee, I dunno."

So then off to the theatre we go to see Rogue One. After certain scenes - Wow, Vader sure is cool. What happened to him anyway?

So we go home and over the next few days we work through the prequel trilogy. After ROTS they say "Dad, that was cool!" And I say - "You think that's cool? Check out happens when Luke and Leia grow up..."

And so starts TFA.

This is pretty much the way it went down recently for my son, who is just old enough to sit through a movie and appreciate it and not want to dance in the aisle.

Disclaimer - my older daughter had already seen TFA before this sequence went down.

All in all, for the purposes of introducing Star Wars to kids, this worked well for me. And it was SOOOO heartbreaking having to sit through these movies again.

 

A friend of mine has seen all of the OT at some point but at varying times in her life and never connected the story. They recently watched TFA in the cinema. She has never watched the PT.

She is coming with me in December to see TLJ on the big screen and wanted to watch the films to really get to know the full story.

I was umming and aahhing between numerical and chronological orders but in the end I settled on this;

Rogue One
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
The Phantom Menace
Attack Of The Clones
Revenge Of The Sith
Return Of The Jedi
The Force Awakens

Tonight we begin "the flashback" and watch The Phantom Menace.

 

A little update... We have now watched RO, ANH, TESB, TPM, AOTC and ROTS, in that order. So far her favourites are ROTS and AOTC respectively. I was not expecting that.

 

Something I read online is called the machete order. It goes
1. ANH
2.ESB
3.AOTC
4.ROTS
5ROTJ
sequel trilogy.

The video was made before rogue one came out. So you could figure it out yourself or just put it before ANH.

Also it says just leave out TPM because you don't need to watch it but I would put it before AOTC

 

@Raine As a Father of 3 boys 10-13-14 your post resonates with me! How old are your kids?

Isn't it amazing watching your kids grow up with SW? As a 13 yr old I saw ANH (before it was known as ANH) in the theater in 1977....I try and explain what that was like to my sons but just cannot put it into words.....

 

Like my Brother ^ up^ There,but different (I Got 3 Daughters (20, 16, 13) ,Same But Different) ...

YES ! More Than Amazing to watch YOUR Kids Grow Up with Star Wars .

@Lock_S_Foils .. well, he Two years older than I.

Same's The Same ... more're Less.
and ... YEP.
Got No ... words, ... what was like.

 

Here's how I pick which Star Wars I'm going to watch:


Cheers,
Jayson

 

A revolutionary approach came to my mind: watch it from I to VIII !!

 

Well, and what about Rogue One?

Okay, I think it's clear that you have to put it between III and IV. But I have a feeling, that this gets more interesting, when "Solo" comes to the cinema...

 

Depending on its position within timeline it will be watched before or after Rogue One (most likely before, Rogue One ends just before Episode IV.)

 

Of course. But sometimes I've also read the idea, that the last scene of "Solo" could be a scene where he enters the cantina to meet Obi-Wan and Luke in there... and in this case, it wouldn't be that easy anymore

(And for some "nitpicking guys", we have not to forget the first scene of "Rogue One", that is surely set before "Solo"...)

 

These are just film and people shouldn't really quarell on their viewing order. I do watch SW movies in a chronological order but I won't change discs five minutes into a scene just because it takes place after another scene in another film in the canon timeline. Besides, there's another reason that I watch prequels first and it has to do with the fact that other episodes are much better, so I take the bitter pill in the beginning and then savour on the delicacies.

 

Chronological order, obviously.

 

I'm currently rolling:
RO
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII

That does not mean I don't like the prequels!

I just watch them separately. Though I like viewings in chronological order, or this one:

RO
IV
V
I
II
III
VI
VII
VIII

If I advise anyone who begins with Star Wars I'd always say watch them in order of release. But it's a bit of a risk because most new viewers seriously dislike IV, so perhaps I should force them to begin with a more modern one: RO.

 

They dislike IV?........

 

Yeah, I noticed that A New Hope in particular hasn't aged well with new modern audiences. They think it's boring and cheesy.