The generational brilliance of Star Wars
For the first time ever, I watched the entire Star Wars Saga in chronological order.
For years I’ve been on different sides of the discussion regarding how to watch all of the movies. I used to believe in the Machete Order, which eliminates Episode I and treats Episodes II and III as flashbacks in between Episodes V and VI, and most recently I told a coworker who had never seen the franchise to watch in Release Order for his very first viewing, so that he could have a similar introduction as long time fans like me had over the years.
Chronological Order has always been an option, but never one that I was that excited about. I didn’t grow up with it that way and I was sure it would feel weird, but given that Episode IX is the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga, I decided that my rewatch in preparation for it would be best suited chronologically to get an idea of how the Star Wars universe itself lived and experienced the events “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”
It was an eye-opening, and in many ways religious experience to say the least.
When people talk about Star Wars as a franchise, it’s easy to speak about certain movies and talk about it in pieces instead of a living, breathing whole world of characters and events. That’s what most of us do, especially when we want to forget or flat out ignore the ones that we don’t like. The thing is, I don’t like not liking movies, especially from a franchise I’ve been a fan of since I was 8 and in many ways is primarily responsible for building me into a subjective geek in the first place. So when I started this rewatch, it wasn’t just to see the whole saga as one collective set of stories. It was also to see where I stand with the entire franchise as a whole at this point in my life.
I’m no longer at a point where I dislike any of these movies now. I have a hierarchy of course and I’ll gladly reveal it after I see Episode IX in theaters, but my time of strongly disliking The Phantom Menace is over. It’s a solid story and I can forgive the issues it has for me, including Jar-Jar Binks.
Don’t get me wrong, Revenge of the Sith is still by far the best of the prequels in my opinion, but The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are worthy entries on story alone with some fantastic visuals, great camera work at times, and honestly solid pacing throughout. About the slowest point of any of those movies for me is the romance between Anakin and Padme in Episode II, and even that could have been helped with better dialogue. In fact, the whole Prequel Trilogy could have used better dialogue top to bottom, AND better direction from Lucas with his actors, but it is what it is.
What’s interesting about watching Star Wars in chronological order is that you begin with how everything started from Palpatine’s grand manipulative plot to build the Empire and turn Anakin, and then once you establish the status quo with the Skywalkers, you spend two movies, Solo and Rogue One, seeing how the rest of the galaxy is affected by what has happened. You really get a strong sense of world building in this respect because you know how everything came to be, and now you see how the working class that had nothing to do with it, like young Han Solo and Jyn Erso, have had their lives completely affected by it. You see the desperation, the struggle to live, the persecution over the Empire’s actions and how many lives Palpatine’s grand plan has utterly destroyed in the process.
This also meant that for the first time ever I watched Rogue One directly before Episode IV, so I experienced the natural connection they both have organically. They line up very well for a pair of movies released 39 years apart, but the cool moment I had is when Luke destroys the Death Star and the first thing that popped into my head was “he finished Galen’s vengeance.” Yes, Galen Erso, the man who created the exhaust port weakness in the Death Star’s design that he called his vengeance, gave me a new level of satisfaction when Luke exploited it to save The Rebellion because at that point I knew that his death, and the death of his daughter and her friends at Scarif, was not in vain. That was an awesome feeling.
Also when C-3PO worries about being sent to the spice mines of Kessel, I now know what he’s talking about because I’ve seen Kessel and it sucks. Thank you again Solo AKA Most Underappreciated Star Wars Movie Ever Made. I’m also pretty sure that the “peculiar dialect” he says the Millennium Falcon is communicating with in Episode V is just L3 ranting about droid rights to him. Again, thank you Solo AKA The Star Wars Movie I Love While All Others Won’t.
Seeing Anakin’s kids grow up to lead the Rebellion in the Original Trilogy clued me into something that I think is very clear within the saga, and that is the underlying principle that these films and characters are EXTREMELY generational. You look at how different Luke and Leia act as adults with respect to how their parents act many years before them. Attitudes, mindsets and behaviors, while they have similarities, are also deeply connected to what is happening in their world at the time.
This is even more on display in the Sequel films with Rey and Kylo Ren’s attitudes. Notice how modern day Kylo Ren’s temper tantrums are. Anakin didn’t break things when he was angry, he really just whined and then allowed himself to be manipulated into action. Luke didn’t break things either, he just “this is what I got to do.” Kylo lets his rage out to play in a very destructive sense and it speaks to the audience of the film in 2015 and beyond, as opposed to the audiences of 1977 to 1983 or 1999 to 2005.
The point here is that Star Wars, maybe more than any other franchise, is GENERATIONAL. One of these trilogies might be for you, but odds are they aren’t ALL for you. I enjoy all ten of these films and I’m likely going to enjoy Episode IX, but I know that the Original Trilogy is the one that speaks to me the most because that’s the one that was made for MY generation. The prequels were after my formative years and the sequels are definitely well after it, but that’s the beauty of a franchise staying alive and changing with the times.
Watching all of these movies in succession really gave me a clear idea on just how much films have evolved over the years with respect to production, direction and of course visual effects. Notice how the Original Trilogy movies are all between 2 hours 4 minutes and 2 hours 14 minutes. Then notice how the prequels are longer, between 2 hours 16 minutes and 2 hours 22 minutes, and then get to the “Disney” films which are no shorter than 2 hours 14 minutes(Rogue One) and as long as 2 hours 32 minutes(Episode VIII). The pacing and editing in all of these movies are truly a sign of the time they were made and what studios thought audiences could handle for that era and it’s really striking to observe.
I’ll also take this time to mention that after watching The Last Jedi for what was only my second time all the way through…...I still love it and will defend it to infinity. What Rian Johnson did with that movie was some of the most emotionally engaging, thought-provoking, character building work of the entire franchise. It had real themes and messages that it conveyed multiple ways and served to build the Star Wars world further than it had ever been on a sociological level. It’s what Lucas was trying to do allegorically with The Phantom Menace, but it was very surface level. The Last Jedi is anything but surface level, and that’s a big reason why the “fans” don’t like it, whether they admit it or not.
I love Star Wars. It’s the franchise that literally guided me to find my calling as a nerd and a writer, and I appreciate what the entire cast and crew over all 10 movies in the span of 42 years has done to build this amazing world that is so rich with storytelling gravitas, gorgeous visuals, and utterly pristine musical scores from Michael Giacchino, John Powell and of course the maestro himself, John Williams. I love ALL of these movies. Period. And I’m open-minded to what they do next.