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Preferred Viewing Order

The narrative experience changes when the episodes are watched episodically. The old traditional method is based on the story being about Luke Skywalker with the PT providing a backstory for Vader. However, if one takes it episodically, the narrative is about Anakin Skywalker, his origins, rise, fall, darkest moments, and then redemption through his son. Followed by his aftermath and legacy in the Sequel Trilogy (so far).
It's a fair point but neither of which is objectively "wrong."
 
If we were always meant to watch TPM first then George Lucas would have made TPM first. Or he would have done a better job of crafting TPM as a true introduction to the story and the setting, instead of making a movie that expected its audience to already be familiar with core concepts.
 
Star Wars was produced fragmentarily like a serial, yes, but it still has a straightforward narrative with a defined beginning that is meant to organically and sequentially build to a defined end.
This implies the themes and narrative of the second half are inherently dependent on the first half. They are not.

Because, in the case of Star Wars, circumstances beyond Lucas' control didn't allow for the creation of the story in its intended sequential order.

[...]

The Star Wars (Skywalker) Saga is and always was intended to be a sequential narrative with a defined beginning (TPM), a defined middle (RotJ), and (eventually) a defined end.
Unsubstantiated apocrypha at best.


You can't/shouldn't read/watch Harry Potter out of order, and you can't/shouldn't watch the Skywalker Saga non-episodically.
False equivalency.

If we were always meant to watch TPM first then George Lucas would have made TPM first. Or he would have done a better job of crafting TPM as a true introduction to the story and the setting, instead of making a movie that expected its audience to already be familiar with core concepts.
Yup.

TPM (and Cones even more so) concedes a lot of "we've been here and explained that. Despite all the talking heads, there isn't a lot of in-universe world-building expo. That's all done in 77 and Empire.
 
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like what? There's a ton of world building in Episode 1. That's basically the purpose of the movie. The senate, Palpatines introduction to power, the state of the Jedi, the rivalry between the Jedi and the soon to be emperor, The seeds of war, corruption, etc. Also the roots of Anakin, his soon to be wife, and so on.

All hints of the past in the OT are references to the events of ROTS. There's some expo in ANH, and more in RotJ, but very little in USB.
 
^ The statement you quoted is only applicable now that we have the whole story.

Lucas himself declared that, fragmentary development notwithstanding, Star Wars is and always was meant to be viewed episodically, a position that Lucasfilm has explicitly doubled down on under Kathleen Kennedy 's leadership and the advent of the Lucasfilm Story Group.
 
The statement you quoted is only applicable now that we have the whole story.
No.

Whether one follows George Lucas's advice or not about the order in which to watch the films has no impact on whether one is "experiencing only half the story," as you put it.

Anyway, we don't have the whole story. New films and TV shows are being made and adding to canon. I will likely die before I get a chance to see all of the canonical episodes.
 

Zelda?

Continuing the Skywalker Saga (Episode films) does require there be a Skywalker around for the story to be about. They are supposedly generational. So there would need to be a Skywalker left to breed for their to be a next generation after Ben Solo (which is the likely reason why Rey is probably a Skywalker). Though I suppose they could make Episode X sort of like one of the old EU stories about the Heroes of Yavin just a few years after Endor, but instead be about Rey and/or Ben, depending on what happens in Episode IX.
 
I was unaware that there would certainly never be, for example, a stand-alone Leia film, or for that matter more appearances of Leia in other stand alone films released after 2019. In any case, how would any of us know enough to state something as "probably" the case about the future of the franchise, especially years out?
 
The argument above appear to only relate to the Saga films (presently known to eventually include Episodes I - IX), which cover the story of the Skywalker family. Meaning the argument does not include Clone Wars TV episodes, Rogue One, Droids, An Ewok Adventure, or Star Tours. Meaning the question about continuing Saga episodic films and their ordering to include Episode X - XII and beyond would require a Skywalker to tell the tale about.
 
Leia appeared in Rogue One, Both Anakin and Padmé appeared in The Clone Wars. As for Rebels:
Both Leia and Luke have appeared on screen.
The Skywalker Saga story of the Skywalkers is not confined to Episodes I-IX, even now.
 
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Having them appear does not make them their story. Those appearances in someone else's story does not make them Skywalker Saga bits. Clone Wars is not anyone in particular's story. It is about the Clone Wars as an event. Like having a TV series called the Great War and another about World War II following a few dozen people around both in and out if the combat areas, and then having a other series of stories specially about Winston Churchill and his family across the decades.

The other part of the question is post-Episode IX saga stories, not stand alone films or TV episodes. Episode X specifically. If there is no Skywalker to have that story be about, it won't be made as an Episode film as the Episode films are the Skywalker Saga films presently via Lucasfilm and Disney.

That doesn't meant he other stories are any less fun or important. They just aren't part of the Skywalker Saga because of how the Skywalker Saga is defined. The Skywalker Sage is part of Star Wars. It is not the whole of Star Wars. Not anymore. But to continue telling stories that follow the Episode (number here) pattern, they have to be Skywalker tales moving forwards now since there are no remaining numbers before One (unless someone starts making an Episode Zero or someone trying to make negative number films for some reason even though the start of the line is suppose to be Anakin Skywalker in terms of relevance to the Force and plot).
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...e-rey-continue-kathleen-kennedy-a7686096.html

I guess I answered my own question. There's Kennedy saying that they're talking about whether they should extend the Skywalker Saga past the nine Star Wars episodes. Fair enough, but that proves my original point: there's no way any of us can say it will "probably" end at IX. By the way, I had intended to put Skywalker Saga in quotes, to indicate that I was talking about the story of the Skywalkers and not just the nine films. Somehow I forgot to do that. Editing/clarifying what I originally meant.
 
And I was specifically talking about the Episode films and the need for there to be a Skywalker for there to be an Episode X. There can be any other sorts of films, standalones. A tale about Luke looking for a temple with young Ben Solo a decade before the events of TFA. A tale of Leia's first year in the Senate. But Episode X would specifically need to be about what happens after Episode IX and deals with the Skywalker family in some way. But that can only happen if there is a Skywalker (though I suppose a Solo will do if they have lineage with Anakin Skywalker.)

It is entirely possible they will wait on that. keep it generational. Wait until it could be about a Solo or Skywalker grandchild, be it from Ben or I suppose Rey. And instead take the "main line of films" into the Old Republic era for a bit where there are no known Skywalkers.
 
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