Hello. My name is Jimmy Bob. Recently I showed my ten year old little brother all the Star Wars movies, to prepare him for the new film. He had never seen Star Wars movies before. The order I used was: IV, V, then I, II and III and finally VI. He was mildly interested in Episode IV, or maybe he was just scared of dissapointing me. But he didn't show that much excitement. To my dissapointment he was actually bored visibly during Episode V. And maybe I was too naive to hope otherwise, but he did know the great plot twist. I guess that is just too much part of our pop culture. On the other hand, he seriously loved Episode I. And it made me think too, that maybe George had the right idea after all. He laughed, he enjoyed, he cared for the characters... that was the first Star Wars film that truly entertained him. He facepalmed through most of Episode II. And he didn't really like Episode III. I guess he just didn't connect with the dark tone of that film. And finally Episode VI. This one he loved too. Especially the ending, made him really happy. Good enough, I guess. So there, now we're ready for Episode VII.
I wanted to "machete cut" the movies for my six year-old daughter as well. However, my wife does not accept the existence of the PT, so we stuck to the OT in order... My girl sorta liked IV, went "eww" with all the lovey-dovey of Empire, and liked the Ewoks of the final film and little else about it. Subsequently, she *loved* the recent Lego Droid Tales which summarizes the whole thing in a quarter of the time. Only so much one can do, I guess... Mark
My husband and I have talked about this a few times, because he is a big fan of the prequels and wants other people to understand why. Episode I came out when he was 11, and it had a big impact on him. He had seen and liked the original movies, but Phantom Menace really hooked him. He's an obsessed fan now. For those of us who were a bit older when it came out, it just doesn't have the same effect. I see the podracing scene as a waste of time, my husband saw it as a thrilling addition. It doesn't surprise me at all when children seeing the Star Wars movies for the first time enjoy this one the most. I think that it did accomplish the goal of bringing in a new generation of Star Wars fans.
That's the same order I generally suggest, but completely skipping Episode I. However, it sounds like TPM does have appeal with younger viewers. Kor
I was disappointed when The Phantom Menace came out and slightly less disappointed with Episodes 2 and 3. Ten years after the last movie in that trilogy was released my opinion is that TPM is the best of the three prequel movies and the only one I enjoy rewatching.
I wish there was a way to cut most of ep II out, actually. I much prefer ep I to it. But my order would be IV, I, II, V, III, IV. So you get both the Palpatine/Sidious and the Anakin/Vader reveal to max effect. Putting V before I/II makes you even less interested in Anakin's whining, putting V after III spoils the Vader reveal. Hence my suggestion. And if you're showing it to kids, you get to epI sooner, so they're hooked earlier.
Apparently there are fan cuts of the prequels that reduce the combined running time of all three movies to a total of 90 minutes or so. (I know one of them *starts* with Qui Gon getting killed by Maul at the end of Phantom Menace, with Obi-Wan then promising that he'll train Anakin, then moving straight from there to the highlights of Eps 2 and 3.) I read an interesting suggestion from someone on another site some months ago. Wouldn't it be interesting to see someone create a super-sized cut of Return of the Jedi "Godfather II style"? That is, you watch A New Hope, then you watch Empire Strikes Back, then you watch a ~three and a half hour version of Return of the Jedi that includes the original movie, but interspersed with flashback scenes from the prequels that focus on the downfall of Anakin? OK, maybe that would be a mess, but it would be interesting to see someone try it.