An Unexpected First-Time Star Wars Viewing Order (4 - 1 2 3 - 5 6)

The following is taken from the appendix of my book, Turning to the Dark Side: What Star Wars Teaches Us About How a Good Person Turns Bad. Several readers and reviewers mentioned it to me as one of their favorite parts of the book (and that they planned on adopting it when introducing new audiences to Star Wars). Kevin J. Wetmore, author of The Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion and Rebellion in the Star Wars Films, who previously loved the original trilogy but dismissed the prequels, wrote to me after reading my book, "This book made me re-evaluate the prequel trilogy given Diehl's approach, and I have gained respect for those films. The highest compliment I can pay is that I now plan to watch the six again (having seen all of them, especially the originals, hundreds of times already), with these interpretations in mind and in the author's recommended viewing order."

Enjoy, and beware of spoilers ahead for the original and prequel trilogies of Star Wars.

Star Wars, as a six-movie viewing experience, is defined by the central identity plot twist along Anakin Skywalker's path. Depending on the order in which they watch the movies, first-time viewers will experience this twist quite differently. Until now, there have been two widely endorsed, and in their own ways valid, approaches:

Release Order (4 5 6 – 1 2 3): This was the order experienced by anyone who saw Star Wars for the 22 years after the release of the original film and before the release of the first prequel, from 1977 (when Episode 4 came out) to 1999 (when Episode 1 came out). The central plot twist comes two movies in, at the end of Episode 5, when the viewer learns that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father at the same time as Luke. Everyone who grew up with the original trilogy remembers the shock of hearing that famous line coming from the villain of the story: "No, I am your father."

Then, there's a secondary twist, just one movie later, at the end of Episode 6, when Vader redeems himself and Anakin returns to the light by saving Luke. Everything that follows after that, as the viewer experiences the events that led up to A New Hope in the prequel trilogy, is just filling in the details of what we already know, waiting for the inevitable to unfold: Anakin turning to the dark side and becoming the villain from the original trilogy. One of the weaknesses with this approach, in my opinion, is that Anakin is defined in this context as Luke's father instead of being a character in his own right and the central figure of the story.

Chronological Order (1 2 3 4 5 6): This is the order George Lucas intended the films to be viewed in once he created the prequel trilogy, from its start to its end. The central plot twist now comes almost halfway through the story, midway into Episode 3, when we see Anakin betray his principles, turn evil, adopt the name Darth Vader, and abandon his heroic destiny. The story you were expecting to follow suddenly turns against you. The hero, as it turns out, is not actually the hero, but his son may be. You spend the following three movies thinking this is the case until Anakin's surprise redemption at the end of Episode 6.

Seeing Anakin fall to the dark side this way, without any forewarning, is tragic and heartbreaking. Still, hearing him be called Vader for the first time and seeing him put on the suit doesn't carry quite the same weight as it would if you had already grown invested in Darth Vader as his own iconic and villainous character before seeing his backstory, which is one of the strengths afforded by seeing the original trilogy first in release order.

I agree with George Lucas that chronological order is generally the best way to watch Star Wars, particularly on repeat viewings. However, somewhere in the process of introducing Star Wars to new audiences who had no idea what to expect, I realized there was a better way to prepare them for the shock and eventual resolution ahead. In the West, we tend to take for granted that virtually everyone knows what Star Wars is and is familiar with its plot, themes, and characters, including the identity of Darth Vader and his relationship to Luke Skywalker. This remains true even among people who have never seen the movies. It makes it difficult to experience the story without having its most crucial themes and character revelations spoiled in some regard.

For over ten years, I conducted an informal social experiment, introducing new people from all over the world to the Star Wars films. Because I have traveled to many countries where Star Wars is relatively unknown, I have witnessed how people who have no idea what to expect from it react to the events as they unfold. This led me to reflect more deeply on what the optimal viewing order of the trilogies might be in the modern day, as the order in which you learn certain crucial information biases your interpretation of the events that follow. The solution I came up with for first-time viewers is what I now call the Combined Order (4 – 1 2 3 – 5 6): starting with Episode 4, going back to the prequels, then finishing the story with Episodes 5 and 6.

For the shock of the twist to reach maximum impact, it is important that the viewer is first introduced to Darth Vader as the irredeemable villain of the story, the challenge Luke will have to overcome. They cannot, at first, see him as the story's sympathetic victim because that's not how Luke sees him. The magic of the journey lies in how our and Luke's interpretations of Darth Vader change with more information.

Lucas himself states, in The Chosen One featurette included in the DVD release of Revenge of the Sith, that the perception of Darth Vader changes depending on whether you first meet him as Vader (as viewers of Release Order do) or as Anakin (as viewers of Chronological Order do):

"Darth Vader became such an icon in Episode 4, that icon of evil sort of took over everything, much more than for what I intended. If it had been one movie, that wouldn't have happened. He would have been to be revealed as this pathetic character at the end of the movie. But now, by adding Episodes 1, 2, and 3, people began to see the tragedy of Darth Vader as what it was originally intended to be. I liked the idea of the person you thought was the villain, is really the victim, and that the story is really about the villain trying to regain his humanity because it's really the story of Darth Vader's redemption."

J.W. Rinzler, in The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, quotes Lucas explaining with a high level of meta-awareness about his own art how much the emotional experience of Star Wars changes by doing nothing more than "moving the blocks" around:

"If you see them in order, it completely twists things about. A lot of the tricks of IV, V, and VI no longer exist. The real struggle of the twins to save their father becomes very apparent, whereas it didn't exist at all the first time [audiences saw Episodes IV, V, and VI]. Now Darth Vader is a tragic character who's lost everything. He's basically a bitter old man in a suit. 'I am your father' was a real shock. Now it's a real reward. Finally, the son knows what we already know. It's a very different suspense structure. Part of the fun for me was completely flipping upside down the dramatic track of the original movies. If you watch it the way it was originally released, IV, V, VI, I, II, III – you get one kind of movie. If you watch I through VI, you get a completely different movie. One or two generations have seen it one way, and the next generations will see it a completely different way. It's extremely modern, almost interactive moviemaking. You take blocks and move them around, and you come out with different emotional states."[1]

If you watch the original trilogy first, the big twist is that Darth Vader is actually Luke's father, not the man who killed Luke's father. This is powerful because you know how awful Darth Vader is, and the idea that our hero Luke is descended from him offends all our expectations of his origins and character progression. If you watch the prequels first, the big twist is that Anakin turns to the dark side instead of being the hero of prophecy. Since we have not already been introduced to Darth Vader, the viewer will, at most, have only a general culture awareness of Darth Vader as "the bad guy" in Star Wars. Making that connection in their brain to the character of Anakin that they've been watching for two and a half movies will be a shock, but it will not carry the necessary weight of actually having seen Darth Vader in action, including the expectation set by Ben Kenobi in Episode 4 about who Vader is and what he has done to the Jedi and Luke's father.

We must not overlook the narrative value of the shock that comes from experiencing that the character you accepted as an icon of evil was once a pure-hearted little boy and heroic young man.[2] By watching Episode 4 first, then Episodes 1, 2, and 3, as suggested in my Combined Order approach, the viewer will get the best elements of both twists combined into one soul-shattering super-reveal. Halfway through Revenge of the Sith, the viewer is forced to reconcile that:

• Anakin is turning evil (response: heartbreak).
• Anakin is Darth Vader, the villain we saw in Episode 4 (response: shock).
• Luke's father is actually the evilest man in the galaxy, and he's going to have to kill him, and he doesn't even know it yet (response: dread).

Some considerations set A New Hope apart in the saga and prevent it from ruining the experience of watching the prequels afterward.

The six Star Wars filmscan be parsed into three distinct segments according to how the films were planned and produced:

• Episode 4, planned and produced on its own.
• Episodes 5 and 6, planned and produced as the conclusion to the story that Episode 4 set up.
• Episodes 1, 2, and 3, planned and produced as the first half of the whole story.

If the viewer is going to break up the original trilogy into parts, separating Episode 4 from Episodes 5 and 6 is the only interruption that makes sense. A New Hope is the only film in the saga that works as a standalone because it's the only one produced that way, without any guarantee that more would come after. It's the smallest Star Wars movie by design, which is a huge contrast to Episode 3 that precedes it chronologically. Revenge of the Sith is the biggest and most impactful episode of the whole story. Beginning the story with its smallest segment makes it seem deceptively simple to first-time viewers. They don't yet see the scope of the epic tale they are embarking on. It provides an effective point-of-view character for the rules of the Star Wars universe through the eyes of young Luke at the beginning of his journey, as first experienced by the public in 1977, before anyone knew what Star Wars was or would become.

Without knowledge of Vader's backstory as Anakin Skywalker, all we see is the imposing villain he intentionally portrays himself as in Episode 4. And that is exactly how we need to perceive Vader, at first, for the startling revelation of his identity to have a bigger impact. What do we actually see Vader do in A New Hope? He chokes an Imperial officer, interrogates Princess Leia, blows up a planet, fights and defeats Obi-Wan Kenobi in a lightsaber duel, and expertly shoots down some of the Rebel ships attacking the Death Star. He also nearly shoots down Luke, the hero of the story. It's an excellent one-dimensional villain setup, and we are meant to believe that the story will revolve around Luke becoming strong enough to avenge his father and defeat this evil and awesome character.

After A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were planned together to complete the story as a trilogy, with the most obvious result being the cliffhanger of Vader's identity revelation at the end of Episode 5 that creates urgency to complete the story with the final remaining episode. It does not make narrative sense to interrupt the continuity between Episodes 5 and 6 with so much left unresolved.[3] Episode 4 is the only film in the saga that ends almost wholly resolved with its own stakes. It's a complete story on its own.

In Episode 4, the Emperor is only mentioned, not shown, and without the name Palpatine. First-time viewers won't know that Senator Palpatine becomes the Emperor when they meet him in The Phantom Menace and will have to figure out on their own that he's the villain pulling all the strings as they proceed through the prequels. This aspect enhances the reveal of Anakin's downfall because viewers' attention will be so focused on figuring out the suspicious truth about Palpatine that they will be less likely to notice what's subtly going on with the supposed hero of the story until the rug is pulled out from under them in Revenge of the Sith.

A New Hope is also the only film in the saga that does not contain any musical cues from Darth Vader's theme. Because in Episode 4 we do not associate that music with Vader, it will not give away the twist that Anakin becomes Vader when viewers hear those familiar notes on screen throughout the prequels.

There is an obvious difference in production quality between the original and prequel trilogies, owing to the roughly 20-year gap in their production and respective budgets. This is nowhere more evident than in the transition from the last and most expensive movie made (Revenge of the Sith in 2005, at $113 million) to the first and least expensive movie made (A New Hope in 1977, at $11 million, which is less than one-third as much when adjusted for inflation). I have seen how jarring it can be for first-time modern viewers who grew accustomed to the digital effects of the prequel trilogy to suddenly drop down in quality to the grimy, practical effects of the film that started it all, even when taking into account its remastered and digitally updated releases. Starting with Episode 4 lessens this effect.

When the viewer goes back in time to view the prequel trilogy, the juxtaposition of foreknowledge from having seen Episode 4 forces them to reconcile two seemingly incompatible characters with one another: Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, just as Luke has to when he comes to terms with the truth. And well before they've had a chance to come to terms with it, they are already watching Anakin slaughter Jedi and younglings. Without the foreknowledge of how awful Darth Vader is and the story Ben primed Luke with of Vader being his father's killer, the full weight of the revelation won't land. Even seeing Anakin put into the suit and use his iconic new voice and breath at the end of Episode 3 won't mean much unless you have seen the fear these features will command in the future.

By watching Episode 4 first, you experience the story from Luke's perspective throughout, as presented to him by Ben. You believe you are seeing the story of Anakin becoming a legendary Jedi and being terminated prematurely in what will certainly be a heroic death at the hands of the villainous Darth Vader. You think the rest of the story after that will naturally be about Luke avenging his father. Thus, when the hammer drops, you feel shocked and betrayed by what you were told and how your expectations were manipulated, exactly how Luke feels toward Ben upon finding out the truth about his father. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Episode 3 now becomes crucial for connecting the two halves of the story and removing the viewer's illusions about what they thought they were watching. It is the part of the story where the reality of the situation hits us, forcing us to reconcile our expectations and beliefs. Only then do we start to see all the obvious foreshadowing in Episodes 1 and 2 of what was going to happen to Anakin. Now that we've removed the narrative bias of who we wanted Anakin to be, who we and the Jedi projected him to be, his drastic turn of face seems depressingly realistic.

After the prequels, the expectation becomes that Luke needs to kill his evil father to bring down the Empire. As a result, the final twist of Anakin's redemption in Episode 6 is as effective as the initial twist of his downfall. Going into The Empire Strikes Back knowing that Vader is Luke's father, transforms the "I am your father" reveal from one of surprise to one of suspense. You've had one movie to process this information and come to terms with it, but seeing Luke receive the worst possible news in the world is a stark reminder of the terrible truth you already learned. You are waiting for Hitchcock's "bomb under the table" to go off, which the viewer can see ticking down, but which Luke is unaware is about to blow up in his face.

In order to experience the crushing blow of Vader's identity revelation, we have to have previously accepted Anakin as the hero of the story. We have to have once thought of him the way Luke did when Ben told him the revisionist version of the story. We still remember and care about Anakin, just as Luke remembers the heroic image he had of his father. It's now a tragedy for us because we have seen the change. We know the potential Anakin had and the hero he was supposed to be—the enormous difference between good and bad, and everything that was lost when Anakin died and was replaced by Darth Vader. The viewer should be just as disillusioned as Luke, just as lost in the dark night of their soul. It's the only way to set them up for the triumph that will follow with Anakin's glorious return.

Experiencing the story this way, we view Vader through a different lens in each episode of the original trilogy. In Episode 4, before we know the backstory, Vader is just an exciting and intimidating villain to us. In Episode 5, after learning the tragic truth in the prequels that Vader is actually Anakin, we experience a sense of betrayal by both Vader and the story. But by Episode 6, the shock of betrayal has worn off. Now, we feel sadness, sympathy at remembering how much we loved him before he fell, and we secretly hope he'll redeem himself and run away with Luke. This reflects how Luke sees him in each episode. In the end, it is unbelievably satisfying to see young Anakin greeting Luke next to Yoda and old Ben Kenobi as a Force spirit. It solidifies the continuation and conclusion of this lengthy, elaborate story told in the wrong order across decades, generations, and technological eras. I imagine that when I introduce my children to Star Wars one day, I will start by showing them A New Hope when they are young, to familiarize them with the simple worldview into which Luke is introduced. I will show them the prequels when I believe they are old enough and ready for the weight of what they will realize by the end of Revenge of the Sith, and their perspective on the storyworld is turned upside down, to be followed by the resolution of the story in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

A final note on spoilers:It's important that you inform the person you are introducing to Star Wars not to look up any information about any of the characters or the story until they have completed all six movies. Tell them that they will spoil major plot points and hurt their experience of the story. Someone who has never seen the films may have already been exposed, through cultural osmosis, to the idea that Anakin is Darth Vader and/or that Darth Vader is Luke's father. To avoid making the impact of the spoiler worse, stick to Ben's version of the story until Anakin's fall to the dark side in Episode 3. Tell them that Darth Vader was a student of Obi-Wan who betrayed the Jedi and killed Luke's father. Even if someone has already learned through cultural references that Vader is Luke's father, they still don't know for sure that it's Anakin who becomes him. It's just as easy to assume that Anakin is not actually Luke's father and Vader is some other character who comes along to father him. Be aware that some versions of Episode 3 box art and promotional descriptions even reveal that Anakin turns to the dark side or becomes Darth Vader during the film, as the publishers obviously assumed everyone knew this crucial bit of lore going in.

Notes

[1] George Lucas, quoted by J. W. Rinzler, The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (New York: Del Rey, 2005), 85.

[2] In the Legends novel Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning (New York: Del Rey, 2003), which takes place after the events of Return of the Jedi, Leia is not quick to forgive Anakin for his crimes. It doesn't matter to her that Luke tells her about his return to the light and how he sacrificed himself to save him. She can still only see him as Darth Vader, the icon of evil, until she reads her grandmother Shmi's journal entries about Anakin's young life as a slave and visits Tatooine to find out how she died at the hands of Tusken Raiders. Only then does she empathize with what the good man who was her father went through. Only then does it become understandable to her how he could have fallen onto the dark path he did. This is the journey the first-time viewer must go through for maximum emotional impact.

[3] Machete Order (4 5 – 2 3 – 6) is one alternate Star Wars viewing order, proposed by blogger Rod Hilton in 2011. It begins with the original trilogy but interrupts the narrative after Episode 5 to go back in time for Episodes 2 and 3 as an extended flashback (skipping Episode 1 entirely due to its supposedly superfluous impact on the plot), then finishes with Episode 6. I have a hard time imagining a worse way to experience the story, both because of its interruption of the original trilogy after Episode 5 and its omission of Episode 1's essential mythological setup and the demonstration of child Anakin's original, pure characterization.