For a Star Wars newbie, start with Phantom Menace or A New Hope?

So I've never really watched it properly. Watched the original ones when i was 8 or 10 and the Phantom Menace when I was 13.

Just bought the box set I want to see all of them properly now.

Question - Is it better to start with Phantom Menace or A New Hope?

Definitely do New Hope first. Not even a close question. 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. in that order.

I just watched revenge of the sith again and realized how horrible it was then I saw empire strikes back and remembered how awesome the original trilogy is.

Watch 4 5 6 and then throw 1 2 3 in the trash compactor

i admit attack of the clones and revenge of the sith were shitty in comparison to 4 5 and 6, but am i the only one who thought episode 1 was legit?

Don't start at all. They were all horrible.

[QUOTE=ProfessorMurder]Definitely.

But I'll do you one better, don't even watch the new ones. The new ones ruin the franchise just like they ruined Indiana Jones with the 4th one.[/QUOTE]


I'm not 100% on board with this. Episode 1 and 2 in particular are pretty f*cking bad but you just can't let them spoil the series for you. They're sort of fun, it's like your dumb uncle tried to finish your dead grandpa's great novel. They're painfully corny and heartless but cool visually and not as abrasive as all that if you just take them for what they are.

prof murder (and anyone else who hates Phantom Menace)-

somebody on ISH posted this a while ago, I can't believe how funny/good/thorough it is:

Phantom Menace Review
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI"]part 1[/URL]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG1AWVLnl48&feature=related"]part 2[/URL]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQwKPVGQsY&feature=related"]part 3[/URL]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOlG4T1S2lU&feature=related"]part 4[/URL]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvp1r2UpiQ&feature=related"]part 5[/URL]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWPCCzSgu0&feature=related"]part 6[/URL]
[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIWKMgJs_Gs&feature=related"]part 7[/URL]


for the record I thought episode 3 was the "best" of the new ones

[QUOTE=Quizno]i admit attack of the clones and revenge of the sith were shitty in comparison to 4 5 and 6, but am i the only one who thought episode 1 was legit?[/QUOTE]
Episode 1 is definately the best of the new ones, but has a bad rep because of Jar Jar and the shitty kid actor.


The movie is actually pretty good and has a cool plot, awesome bad guy and fight scenes, but having watched it yesterday Jar Jar Binks and Boss Nass and Jake Lloyd really singlehandedly tarnish what in my opinion could have been a classic comparable to the originals.


Oh yes the whole medichlorian count was retarded too, too much like Frieza and his power level reader in DBZ

[QUOTE=lilkobe]Episode 1 is definately the best of the new ones, but has a bad rep because of Jar Jar and the shitty kid actor.


The movie is actually pretty good and has a cool plot, awesome bad guy and fight scenes, but having watched it yesterday Jar Jar Binks and Boss Nass and Jake Lloyd really singlehandedly tarnish what in my opinion could have been a classic comparable to the originals.


Oh yes the whole medichlorian count was retarded too, too much like Frieza and his power level reader in DBZ[/QUOTE]
yeah jar jar was ****ing stupid, but i didn't really mind the kid actor. i guess i just have a fetish for qui-gon. growing up i read that one jedi apprentice series or whatever about qui-gon and obi-wan and he was my favorite character.

also, that scene where anakin gets into that starfighter and somehow accidentally destroys the entire enemy fleet was so stupid. i guess that ending fight with darth maul made up for it though.

Can someone explain to me why the first three sucked where as 4,5,6 are all awesome? I thought they were all terrible.

What made the first three suck so bad?

[QUOTE=plowking]Can someone explain to me why the first three sucked where as 4,5,6 are all awesome? I thought they were all terrible.

What made the first three suck so bad?[/QUOTE]


For me personally the cast had a big part in it. Hayden Christensen is a terrible terrible actor, and him and his co-star playing Padme, had absolutely ZERO on screen chemistry. If their "love" was enough to drive Anakin Skywalker to the darkside, the it sure as hell didnt translate well from them trying to portray various emotions on screen.


Cardboard cutout personalities, zero charisma....weak plot points at certain times during the first three kind of killed it, but the acting and the characters werent as likeable and charming as the original trilogy.

[QUOTE=oh the horror]For me personally the cast had a big part in it. Hayden Christensen is a terrible terrible actor, and him and his co-star playing Padme, had absolutely ZERO on screen chemistry. If their "love" was enough to drive Anakin Skywalker to the darkside, the it sure as hell didnt translate well from them trying to portray various emotions on screen.


Cardboard cutout personalities, zero charisma....weak plot points at certain times during the first three kind of killed it, but the acting and the characters werent as likeable and charming as the original trilogy.[/QUOTE]
The originals just had way better casting, scripts, and plot. The prequels were paper thin and seemed like a bunch of "filler" for all the questions raised from the first 3. How did Vader become vader? What is the force? How exactly did Palpatine rise to power? How did the Jedi purge begin? How did the empire become what it became? Filler, filler, and more filler wrapped in CGI coating. The best parts of those films were the lightsaber fights.

The only reason to watch Episode 1 is this scene (spoiler):

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPLXwrj7i7Q&feature=related[/url]

[QUOTE=ShannonElements]Check this out:[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6IAoPAjzpw[/url]

It has nothing to do with the movies, but is ****ing incredible regardless. If they made a movie just out of that I'd be in line to see it on opening night.[/QUOTE]

that trailer alone is better then the best scenes of episode 1 2 and 3 put together.

[QUOTE=oh the horror]For me personally the cast had a big part in it. Hayden Christensen is a terrible terrible actor, and him and his co-star playing Padme, had absolutely ZERO on screen chemistry. If their "love" was enough to drive Anakin Skywalker to the darkside, the it sure as hell didnt translate well from them trying to portray various emotions on screen.


Cardboard cutout personalities, zero charisma....weak plot points at certain times during the first three kind of killed it, but the acting and the characters werent as likeable and charming as the original trilogy.[/QUOTE]

In his old age Lucas has valued CG and Special Effects over actual plot and character development. The first two prequels felt like a half assed powerpoint project that was written in 20 minutes but then used all different transitions and effects to jazz it up. The acting was bad but it was more about the overall storyline. Just horrible, horrible writing. The movies felt like a vehicle to show off Lucasfilm's new technology. His heart just weren't in them.

Whale Wars > Star Wars.

[QUOTE=ShannonElements]Check this out:[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6IAoPAjzpw[/url]

It has nothing to do with the movies, but is ****ing incredible regardless. If they made a movie just out of that I'd be in line to see it on opening night.[/QUOTE]

What game is that? Is it out yet?

start with 456, then 123. 1 and 2 are there to provide info. 4, 5, and 6 are overrated and Luke is the worst Jedi ever, hes gay and is never really a Jedi, no really he is gay. vader makes 4,5,and 6 watchable and without him and Sidious and Yoda there would be no point.

3 is epic and the acting is great despite what others say. 3 is meant to be emotional and dark.

[QUOTE=the_chosen_1]start with 456, then 123. 1 and 2 are there to provide info. 4, 5, and 6 are overrated and Luke is the worst Jedi ever, hes gay and is never really a Jedi, no really he is gay. vader makes 4,5,and 6 watchable and without him and Sidious and Yoda there would be no point.

3 is epic and the acting is great despite what others say. 3 is meant to be emotional and dark.[/QUOTE]
3 is absolutely horrible, so much stupid Anakin and Obi Wan "humorous battle banter". The only good side is they cut out the cheesy contrived love dialogue between anakin and Padme but really it's just as bad as attack of the clones.


Also-DID YOU FORGET ABOUT THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE SERIES HAN SOLO?

[QUOTE=Lebowsky]What game is that? Is it out yet?[/QUOTE]

It's called The Old Republic, an MMORPG from the makers of Knights of the Old Republic. Release date is TBA, but right now they are saying it should be ready in about a year.

Supposedly, it's EA's most expensive project of all time. So even though I'm not into the MMO thing, I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Start with episode 4, pretend that episode 1-3 never existed.

I really liked the original trilogy when I was younger, and remember being really excited upon hearing that episode 1 was being made. This was before I had the internet though, so news wasn't exactly as easy to find. And despite the fact that I wanted to see it, I was not going to camp outside a movie theater to go see it because I'm not a nerd (and I was like 12), so I waited for the buzz to die down. I hate sitting in packed theaters anyway. By then, I was receiving word from friends that it was rather lacking. I eventually ending up watching part of it either on bootleg or when it came out. I don't think I ever actually finished it. Nor parts 2 or 3. Despite the fact that the originals were some of my favorite movies.

However, I own the two direct to dvd (or maybe direct to Sci-Fi channel) Return Of The Living Dead movies, along with all the direct to dvd Hellraiser movies too, and plenty of other shitty movies that shit on the remains of a once great franchise. Or just suck in general. So either I like shitty horror movies more than I like shitty Star Wars movies, or the new trilogy was just that bad.

[QUOTE=LJJ]It's called The Old Republic, an MMORPG from the makers of Knights of the Old Republic. Release date is TBA, but right now they are saying it should be ready in about a year.

Supposedly, it's EA's most expensive project of all time. So even though I'm not into the MMO thing, I'm curious to see how it turns out.[/QUOTE]

I'm not into MMORPGs either, it's a shame that game is one of those. It looks sick, and I loved both of "Knights of the old republic".

[QUOTE=Lebowsky]I'm not into MMORPGs either, it's a shame that game is one of those. It looks sick, and I loved both of "Knights of the old republic".[/QUOTE]
It's essentially KOTOR online. However, from the game footage that's been shown, it doesn't look much better than the original KOTOR.

[QUOTE=LJJ]It's called The Old Republic, an MMORPG from the makers of Knights of the Old Republic. Release date is TBA, but right now they are saying it should be ready in about a year.

Supposedly, it's EA's most expensive project of all time. So even though I'm not into the MMO thing, I'm curious to see how it turns out.[/QUOTE]

I'm extra hype for the game after I suffered through 2-3 years of Star Wars Galaxies before WoW came out.

[QUOTE=Showtime] The best parts of those films were the lightsaber fights.

[/QUOTE]



That was pretty much the only saving grace for all three films...Watching Yoda get down for the very first time was damn awesome.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvnwLLXHabg[/url]

I think all of the Star Wars episodes were good. Original 4, 5, 6 were better overall, but 1, 2, 3 and not as terrible as people have posted here have said. Maybe I enjoyed all of them because I am a die-hard Star Wars fan.. I watched all 6 of the episodes so many times that I lost count (only episode 1 I watched 2 times, everything else was multiple times)

[QUOTE=bladefd]I think all of the Star Wars episodes were good. Original 4, 5, 6 were better overall, but 1, 2, 3 and not as terrible as people have posted here have said. Maybe I enjoyed all of them because I am a die-hard Star Wars fan.. I watched all 6 of the episodes so many times that I lost count (only episode 1 I watched 2 times, everything else was multiple times)[/QUOTE]

I agree; the new trilogy clearly isn't as good, but they're definitely not as bad as you would think from these posts. The main problem I have is Jake Lloyd in the Phantom, and Portman-Hayden love scenes in the final two. Better chemistry between the two would have put them in line with the originals. Ford and Fischer were a perfect match in addition to having most of the comedy being perfectly delivered from Ford.

Phantom Menace was weak and flat in my opinion. Back in the day I enjoyed it a bit, but looking back now, it IS a bit on the boring side. Darth Maul was the coolest thing to come out of that one...and even then they killed him off pretty quickly.


I didnt mind episode 2, and 3 though. The acting though, was very, very hard to swallow.

Here are some really, really good reviews of the prequels. It's pretty clear all of them sucked (including episode 3)

[URL="http://confusedmatthew.com/The-Star-Wars-Prequels.php"]http://confusedmatthew.com/The-Star-Wars-Prequels.php[/URL]

[QUOTE=VishaltotheG]Here are some really, really good reviews of the prequels. It's pretty clear all of them sucked (including episode 3)

[URL="http://confusedmatthew.com/The-Star-Wars-Prequels.php"]http://confusedmatthew.com/The-Star-Wars-Prequels.php[/URL][/QUOTE]

Those reviews pretty much stunk.

[QUOTE=DeuceWallaces]Those reviews pretty much stunk.[/QUOTE]


You didn't watch them. He brings up a lot of interesting points

[QUOTE=lovethetriangle]So I've never really watched it properly. Watched the original ones when i was 8 or 10 and the Phantom Menace when I was 13.

Just bought the box set I want to see all of them properly now.

Question - Is it better to start with Phantom Menace or A New Hope?[/QUOTE]

I'd watch them in the order of their release. See them how everyone else saw them.

[QUOTE=VishaltotheG]You didn't watch them. He brings up a lot of interesting points[/QUOTE]

I watched the first two reviews. They were pretty bad. Like an exercise in verbosity and over-analysis of irrelevant topics that were not central to the movies.

[QUOTE=DeuceWallaces]I watched the first two reviews. They were pretty bad. Like an exercise in verbosity and over-analysis of irrelevant topics that were not central to the movies.[/QUOTE]

Do you have answers to the questions he hits on? You need to know why the movie's senate does what it does or else, why even put it in the movie? Also, why couldn't the Jedi rescue Anakin's mom? Do you have a good answer for that?

I thought 3 was the best of the new ones but they just don't hold up on repeated viewings with the multitude of contradictions and what the **** retarded moments.

[QUOTE=VishaltotheG]Do you have answers to the questions he hits on? You need to know why the movie's senate does what it does or else, why even put it in the movie? Also, why couldn't the Jedi rescue Anakin's mom? Do you have a good answer for that?[/QUOTE]

Haha, are you serious? Those are the things that ruined the movie for you? You could do that with most movies.

[QUOTE=DeuceWallaces]Haha, are you serious? Those are the things that ruined the movie for you? You could do that with most movies.[/QUOTE]


its pretty bad with the new Star Wars though.

Palpatines plan and the actions of the senate make absolutely no sense if you giving even a passing thought to it.

other things like how in the world did the two Jedi use super speed to escape some robots but then Obi Wan couldnt get to Liam Neeson in time to help him fight? It completely took me out of that last fight.

its just full of them. much more so than most movies.

its like really bad fan fiction.

4 5 6 1 2 3

p.s. plo koon ftw

I find that all of Star Wars doesn't hold up as well as time goes on and you grow. There just are so many gaps in logic in the story, character motivations and overall design of this universe that it's hard not to think about it. But it is a fantasy movie series so I guess you need to shut your brain off at times too. The atmosphere and overall fun of the original trilogy still win out in the end for me. The Empire Strikes Back is one of the greatest fantasy movies ever.

(I don't really consider it science fiction)

Then the new trilogy came along and really pissed all over the excitement and fun of Star Wars. The Phantom Menace (IMO the best of the prequels) still had this to a degree but you could see the impending boredom of Episodes 2 and 3 coming with the lifeless performances and dialogue. I still can't believe my reaction after watching Episode 2. A Star Wars movie actually bored me. I even went to see it again to see if maybe I missed something but no.

I'd watch the original trilogy, then the Phantom Menace and skim through Episodes 2 and 3.

[QUOTE=kentatm]its pretty bad with the new Star Wars though.

Palpatines plan and the actions of the senate make absolutely no sense if you giving even a passing thought to it.

other things like how in the world did the two Jedi use super speed to escape some robots but then Obi Wan couldnt get to Liam Neeson in time to help him fight? It completely took me out of that last fight.

its just full of them. much more so than most movies.

its like really bad fan fiction.[/QUOTE]

His plan was extravagant and long winded and worked fine. He had predilection, would know what would happen. The senate doesn't make much sense, but that's because a sith was in complete control of the senate and had it at his biding. Obi Wan was blocked off, and I think another point is that they can't use their force powers non stop to run super fast and jump super high. Hence, Yoda rolling with a cane 99% of the time.


It has just as many plot holes as any other 6 part sci-fi movie that were made 20 years apart.

[QUOTE=ShannonElements]Check this out:[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6IAoPAjzpw[/url]

It has nothing to do with the movies, but is ****ing incredible regardless. If they made a movie just out of that I'd be in line to see it on opening night.[/QUOTE]

Haven't seen u post ina while bro.


That sh!t was amazing! Completely badass, they destroyed tha Jedi temple?!