So, here’s my take: If the parts of Episode I that the kids would miss by omission outweighs the added confusion of midichlorians, Padme’s demotion, virgin births and Jar-Jar Binks, to you, then simply watch it before Episode II. It also doesn’t explain references to bringing Anakin bring balance to the Force by being the chosen one. By omitting Episode I, we also don’t know Anakin built C-3PO, which may or may not be matter to someone. On the flip side, Machete Order doesn’t explain Anakin returning to Tatooine to try saving his mother in Episode II. But it becomes a surprise via Machete Order, because all we know is that Anakin/Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father, but we don’t know Princess Leia is his sister, which is revealed in Episode III. It also preserves a twist by moving it from “Return of the Jedi” to “Return of the Sith.” The release-order viewing allows the audience to already know Luke and Leia are twins. What this new order also does, as Hilton points out, is to save one of film’s greatest twists: that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. OK, so Qui-Gon was a fine character, and Darth Maul was a nasty bad guy (of course, there have been rumors that Maul survived and might appear in the new films, in which case this order would need Episode I after all). They’d miss some great dueling, which is more than made up for in Episodes II and III. Seriously, you don’t need to do that to your kids. Hilton is right in saying George Lucas unnecessarily mucked up the plot of Episode I with midichlorians, virgin births, Padme being Queen before being Senator, and Jar-Jar Binks. Which may have me modify the theory by inserting Episode I between V and V1.
Regardless of what you think of Episode I, Hilton argues that it doesn’t contain necessary story threads or surviving characters whose origins the following movie doesn’t adequately address …in most cases. Which I initially argued against, then changed my mind. And a new theory is out circumventing what we thought we knew about the “chronological order” versus “release date order.” It’s called “Machete Order.”Ĭreated by Colorado computer programmer Rod Hilton on his “No Machete Blog,” the theory postulates the “Star Wars” saga is best experienced in the following order: episodes IV, V, II, III, VI. I couldn’t breathe in the Darth Vader mask on Halloween and had an asthma attack, but it was worth it. I bought breakfast cereals I hated to get the “Star Wars” stickers inside (and developed a nasty addiction to Lucky Charms). Then fast-food places started selling drink glasses. It won’t be like 1977 when, as a 10-year-old, I was overwhelmed by the idea of standing in line, multiple times, to see a movie that seemingly played in the same theater for months. Marvel and DC, for example, have been thorough in guaranteeing no box of cereal, fast food meal, store, city bus, television network or birthday party gift bag, is bereft of something having to do with comic book superheroes.
Luckily, today’s kids know about navigating through movie hype.
Is the saga best served by the story line’s chronology, even though Episodes IV through VI came first? Or should they see them as we did, in order of their creation?
The question becomes how to accomplish that. Star Wars: What to watch before ‘Force Awakens’ comes out – The Mercury News Close Menu