What Star Wars Movie Should I Watch First?
My Girl Friend would tell you I’m a big Star Wars fanatic. When we first started dating, I found out she never watched a single Star Wars movie. Immediately I laid down the ultimatum, letting her know if our relationship was going to go anywhere, she had to watch the movies. Ultimately, she agreed. Fast forward to now, we have our first home, a one-year-old daughter and a life together. I’m glad she gave in and watched.
Picking the Star Wars Movie Watching Order
Now that she agreed to watch the Star Wars movies with me, I needed to figure out what Star Wars movie we should watch first. This was way more daunting of a decision than I initially thought. Do we start with Episode 1? Do we include the standalone films, and if so when? Do I even bother introducing the sequel trilogy? I decided to dissect each trilogy first to decide where to begin.
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
Star Wars: A New Hope is arguably the best heroes journey story to hit the big screen. It captivated an entire generation, and its success is why Star Wars exists to this day.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is today’s Avengers: Infinity War and has arguably the greatest cinematic “didn’t see that coming” moment ever (at least at the time).
Rounding it out with Star Wars: Return of the Jedi that gave fans a satisfying ending, while leaving fans with an unquenchable appetite for more Star Wars.
Overall Score: 9
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Star Wars: A Phantom Menace doesn’t get enough credit, in my honest opinion, it was a fun and adventurous ride but left me not that attached to the characters.
Star Wars: Clone Wars was a drop off from the Phantom Menace as far as movies go. In hindsight I liked it more than I thought I would, when re-watching it, but I’m a little bit biased. The Clone Wars Animated Series really fixed this movie for me.
Then comes Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, which is arguably one of my favorite movies of all time. It could just be the nostalgia from my childhood, but I LOVE this movie. The duel at the end still moves me to this day.
Overall Score: 7.7
The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was pretty much a rehashing of A New Hope but I enjoyed it. Probably because I loved A New Hope so much.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi took chances, some good, some bad. I appreciated the risk taking but this is the first Star Wars film I would fast forward through some scenes (specifically the ones at the casino).
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is my least favorite Star Wars film. I could go on forever (and perhaps I will in a different post) as to why I despise this film. This probably left the worst taste in my mouth out of any film. There was some fun moments for sure but what an unsatisfying end to the Skywalker Saga.
Overall Score: 6
The Decision
Now for the sake of the watch through with my girlfriend, I decided the only standalone film she needed to see was Rogue One. Rogue One is arguably the best Star Wars film, but I’ll do a full ranking another time for each individual film.
So, what order should you watch Star Wars in, if you’re a first timer? I decided to introduce my girl friend the way I was introduced. I started with the Original Trilogy. I felt the surprise in Episode 5 was worth experiencing as intended. This paid off in dividends, not only did she have that “no way” moment, she was hooked.
After watching the original trilogy, I felt Rogue One was a good shoe-in to bridge the old with the new. It also made you appreciate the original trilogy even more in hindsight. My girlfriend really enjoyed this movie.
Now that she was invested in Luke, and knew who Darth Vader was. I thought it was a smart move to watch the Prequel trilogy next. Surprisingly this ended up being her favorite trilogy to watch. Which made me happy. I love the prequels.
Then we jumped forward to the sequel trilogy. It started off great, and we actually ended up watching the final movie in the theaters together. However it really just left a sour taste in our mouth by the end of it all. So much potential, just poor execution.
In Conclusion
We ended up watching 10 movies together. Had a blast and through it all the world has another Star Wars fan. Something I realized is you don’t need to love ALL of Star Wars to be a Star Wars fan. There are so many great things about each trilogy you can pick and choose. It’s okay. I’m excited for the future of Star Wars and experiencing it with my better half (now that she is all caught up). Leave a comment below, what order should you introduce Star Wars to someone?
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