In what order do you watch Star Wars when showing it to new people?

Popular choices include:

I, II, III, IV, V, VI

IV, V, VI, I, II, III

I convinced the group to watch them I, IV, II, V, III, VI, as I feel it gives the best "story of Vader." We could have done without I, of course, but I like Darth Maul too much. And for some reason, the person who'd never seen SW before liked JarJar (what?!)

So, what's your favorite order?

No prequel bashing, please. We've heard it all before.

IV, V, VI

Actually I tend to watch it like this:

IV, V, II, III, VI

The really weird thing is, you don't miss anything at all. There is absolutely nothing that gets introduced in Episode I that isn't revisited in another movie. When Anakin and Ben meet Padme in Episode 2, they discuss anakin having not seen Padme in years, and she even says "you'll always be that boy from Tatooine." Because of this, the viewer assumes they were friends from tatooine, and it even removes that awkward she's 14 he's 9 thing, as they seem close in age. Moreover, it keeps the whole "I am your Father" bit intact, so knew introductions get the impact of the story.

Actually I tend to watch it like this:

IV, V, II, III, VI

The really weird thing is, you don't miss anything at all. There is absolutely nothing that gets introduced in Episode I that isn't revisited in another movie. When Anakin and Ben meet Padme in Episode 2, they discuss anakin having not seen Padme in years, and she even says "you'll always be that boy from Tatooine." Because of this, the viewer assumes they were friends from tatooine, and it even removes that awkward she's 14 he's 9 thing, as they seem close in age. Moreover, it keeps the whole "I am your Father" bit intact, so knew introductions get the impact of the story.

Agreed. That's always been a good order to me, but whenever I've shown the OT to people, they get bored (it just doesn't have the magic it did when we were growing up). So I figured I'd throw II in before V to keep the exciting lightsaber wooshyness and battle scenes fresh in memory.

I would have been okay with skipping one, but that's where they wanted to start. What can ya do? Bleh.

I'd probably do IV, V, VI, II, III.

But I'm still waiting for the original IV, V, VI to be released on DvD. My wife wants to re-watch them and I keep telling her "NO!".

4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6

Actually I tend to watch it like this:

IV, V, II, III, VI

The really weird thing is, you don't miss anything at all. There is absolutely nothing that gets introduced in Episode I that isn't revisited in another movie. When Anakin and Ben meet Padme in Episode 2, they discuss anakin having not seen Padme in years, and she even says "you'll always be that boy from Tatooine." Because of this, the viewer assumes they were friends from tatooine, and it even removes that awkward she's 14 he's 9 thing, as they seem close in age. Moreover, it keeps the whole "I am your Father" bit intact, so knew introductions get the impact of the story.

I agree. TPM is a pointless movie.

If I want to show someone Star Wars, I show them episodes 4, 5, and 6, in that order. The prequels may share the name, but they're best presented separately, as a standalone trilogy.

Exactly what i was gonna post.

I've seen the movies in this order: VI, IV, V, VI (again), Ewoks I, ewoks II, special edition IV, special edion V, special edition VI, I, II, III, I 3D version.

I watch them the same order that they were released...The cinematography progresses to refinement with each episode...I was nott impressed with the added Cgi with the Blue Ray...I will admit that some of dialouge is like watching a space soap opera...There is alot of diff scenes that keep the story intiguing...The only one that gave me a migraine was Attack of the clones...Too many Cgi overlays in an epic onslaught...

IV V VI because those are the only star wars films that exist.

IV, V, VI, Caravan of Courage

Do not start with Phantom Menace, start with ANH and Empire first and foremost.

It is a common misconception that because something is a prequel it must be watched first, but if you look at the prequel trilogy in this case, it really expects you to be rather familiar with the concept of the Force, who Jedi are and that you care about Obi-Wan, Yoda (that spoils ESB btw) and even the droids. Knowing Anakin turns into Vader during the prequels will take away some of the moments in ANH and ESB.

ANH and Empire explain the Force and build the world really well.

So:

A New Hope

Empire Strikes Back

(Phantom Menace, but this is optional and not really needed)

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

Return of the Jedi

ANH, TESB and ROTJ in BluRay DeSpecialized Edition Format.

I understand that some people don't mind the prequels or the special edition things, but I really do. :|

IV, V, VI.

And when I watch these films I pretend that the other three never happened. Especially since there are so many contradictions between the two trilogies.

Ghostbusters, then Ghostbusters II.

1. Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom

1. Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom
2. Raiders of the lost ark.
3. Indiana Jones and the Last crusade
4. Indiana Jones and the communist aliens, err I mean : And the crystal skull.

There is no fourth movie

1. Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom
2. Raiders of the lost ark.
3. Indiana Jones and the Last crusade
4. Indiana Jones and the communist aliens, err I mean : And the crystal skull.

There is no fourth movie

You forgot the hand wave.

I was enjoying "Indiana Jones and the Jumped Shark" up untill the point THAT scene happened. You know the one.

They should have had him doing that rediculous "duck and cover" thing and when the bomb goes off and the smoke clears he's the only thing that's still standing. It's no less rediculous than what actually happened. Also teaching kids to crawl into refrigerators is a bad idea. And how come Indi doesn't become the incredible hulk after that scene?! Gaaaaah!

What have our childhoods ever done to George Lucas?

Rant over.

The Machete Order

4, 5, 2 and 3 (as a flashback. Bonus points for watching them in B&W), then 6.

In what order do you watch Star Wars when showing it to new people?

Popular choices include:

I, II, III, IV, V, VI

IV, V, VI, I, II, III

I convinced the group to watch them I, IV, II, V, III, VI, as I feel it gives the best "story of Vader." We could have done without I, of course, but I like Darth Maul too much. And for some reason, the person who'd never seen SW before liked JarJar (what?!)

So, what's your favorite order?

No prequel bashing, please. We've heard it all before.

I thought I red somewhere that we are supposed to watch them in this order. ep IV V VI I II III. It may have been a suggestion but I do recall reading about it in SW insider.

There's a fan edited version of episode 1, called The Phantom Edit. It cuts out all the jar jar and midicholorean crap. I watched that before the actual ep 1 and enjoyed it.

I have personally seen them in the orders of:

IV, V, VI and then I, II, III

I, II, III, IV, V, VI

The Machete Order which has already been talked about here, which is IV, V, II, III, VI (skipping I entirely as it brings nothing to the series of value [even Darth Maul])

Personally, I've enjoyed the Machete Order best. It brings the parallel between Luke and Anakin even more to the fore of the story. It preserves the plot twists in V & VI and concludes with VI as it rightly should (until ep 7).

If I run into a rare person who has yet to see the movies, I'm fairly certain I would show them the films in this order. If they really want to watch ep I, they can optionally do so in their own time.