7-Year Old Prequel Fan On ANH

Random BedHead Ed writes "It is a subject often pondered by Star Wars fans: what is it like to watch the six films in order with a fresh perspective? From the Desk of Ghent, On one of the Star Wars blog site's many journals, answers this question in a recent blog entry about the writer's 7-year old son, who recently watched A New Hope for the very first time. Some enlightening quotes: 'Look... Obi-Wan is pretending he doesn't know R2-D2,' and 'Why don't those ships need Hyperspace rings?' It's a pity the end of Empire has been spoiled."

Comments

yeah

[softends]

"'Why don't those ships need Hyperspace rings?'"M

Because they didn't even exist in the past in the future in the past. DUH.

Re:yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

According to the books, the fact that X-Wings and such had hyperdrive was something of a novelity, most fighters didn't, and used larger ships for long distance travel.

An example of this is in episode 3 when they talk about the short range TIE fighter.

In reality this makes perfect sense. Hyper drive units would add a lot of bulk to a combat fighter. Yet add nothing to it's abilty to actually fight in comabat.

So keeping the Hyper Drive unit seperate would be a simple way to increase combat performance.

-------
I would create an account but after 10 attempts to find a user name that isn't taken...

Re:yeah

[Clay Pigeon -TPF-VS-]

Except all rebel fighters have them because they cannot count on capital ships, which the empire pretty much monopolizes. The miniaturized hyperdrive is what gave the rebellion a fighting chance to topple the empire.

Re:yeah

[SamThePondScum]

You can't do hit and run if you can't run, right? :)

The hyperdrive seems more important for getting the hell out of Dodge than getting to Dodge in the first place.

Further, the blog presumes/suggests that you should watch the movies as Episode I thru VI. IMO, the proper order of watching these films is:

1. IV
2. V
3. VI
4. I
5. II
6. III
7. IV
8. V
9. VI

It has often been said that the true story of Star Wars is the rise, fall, and redemption of Darth Vader. This is certaintly true--from a certain point of view--but you can't even guess at that until at least the end of The Empire Strikes Back, when The Big Secret is revealed, and Darth Vadar becomes more than just a Very Bad Guy.

Instead, by watching the movies in the above order, 1-3 works on the obvious level: the rise of Luke Skywalker, farm boy, to Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and hero of the New Republic, and true carrier of Skywalker honor. Then, watching 4-6 (i.e. episodes I-III), you see the almost-rise of A. Skywalker, who dramatically fails to live up to everyone's hopes, and instead becomes Darth Vadar, Dark Lord of the Sith. Then, you can watch 7-9 (i.e. episodes IV - VI) again, with the further understanding of just who this Darth Vadar guy is, what he's all about, and just how far he has fallen, for the full the Fall and Redemption story.

Further, the above order preserves all the major surprises and plot twists. The only downside, IMO, is that the plot holes are more obvious, even discounting that you watch 3 of the movies twice (and therefor are more likely to notice them).

Re:yeah

[NoData]

In reality this makes perfect sense.

Hahahahah. Truly, Friday night Slashdot is the purest form of Slashdot.

Re:yeah

[jcenters]

The prophesy never said he was to end the Sith. That was only how the Jedi interpreted it.

The Chosen One was to be born of the force, in order to balance the force.

At the end of Episode III, Anakin does this. When all is said and done, there are two Jedi (Yoda and Obi-Wan) and two Sith (Palpatine and Vader).

So, he DID balance the force and fulfilled the prophesy, it's just that the Jedi were too full of themselves to realize what "balance" means.

Re:yeah

[coldblooded]

I think you are partly right. But I don't think the balance was in numbers so to speak, both Jedi and Sith are extremes. The real balance is embodied in Luke, Anakin goes to both extremes and meets luke halfway. Anakin I believe brings balance in the form Luke, by destroying both Jedi and Sith and ultimately open the way for a new breed of Jedi who see the Force as a whole, not a good light side and an evil dark side. The force is niether good noir evil, the Jedi and Sith made that distinction, each one believing the other is evil, these are people who are evil not the Force. Both factions are largely dehumanized, one are selfish and care more about themselves and indivuals than for the greater good, the other are selfless, they don't care about themselves they only care for others and are detached from most of the basic human emotions, take Obi-Wan, he is more than willing to sacrifice people in order to perform his "duty" and for the great good. I think the point is that anything taken to Extremes is bad, even if they are well intended like the Jedi.

And from Empire Strikes Back

[scolby]

How did Yoda go so senile so quickly?

Re:And from Empire Strikes Back

[__aaclcg7560]

If your pension paid only enough to live in a slimy mud hole after living your life in top of an ivory tower, you would be senile too. The dark side of being a retired Jedi... :P

Re:And from Empire Strikes Back

[Hatta]

If your pension paid only enough to live in a slimy mud hole after living your life in top of an ivory tower, you would be senile too. The dark side of being a retired Jedi... :P

Don't you mean:

If slimy mudhole after living your life in the top of an ivory tower your pension paid only enough to live in, senile you would be too"

Re:And from Empire Strikes Back

[NanoGator]

"How did Yoda go so senile so quickly?"

He didn't seem so senile after he told Luke who he was. The impression I got was that he was playing a tard to wind Luke up. Testing his patience, so to speak. I'm not interested in defending the consistency of the prequels, but I didn't have any real qualms with Yoda.

It is interesting thinking about Yoda's motivations now, though. Was he helping Luke to deal with his father, or was he using him to take out Vader? I hope it's the latter. I like the idea of Yoda being self centered.

why the new series sucks

[Ubergrendle]

You will never have the opportunity to relive the moment of truth at the end of Empire, or learn about the twins in Return of the Jedi. It will all be a foregone conclusion. Robbing a child of this opportunity is a heinous crime, given how much I enjoyed the original series given its original presentation.

Re:why the new series sucks

[Jugalator]

Robbing a child of this opportunity is a heinous crime

"Robbing"? "Heinous crime"? Are you talking about taking away a child's school education or taking away some minor plot twists in a sci-fi movie?

I know what I'd be thinking...

[Anonymous Coward]

"What happened to everybody's madd light saber skillz???"

Re:I know what I'd be thinking...

[Nate4D]

This one's not too hard, actually.

Let me start off by pointing out that Lucas' series is chock full of plotholes, and I solve them only because it's a fun mental exercise.

Now then.

Vader no longer has biological legs or arms in episodes IV-VI. Instead, he has robotic prosthetic limbs, and not very good ones compared to Luke's hand (and what's left of the organic parts is in pretty bad shape). He's also ~40 years old. His abilities with the Force are nowhere near as powerful as before his death, according to Lucas.

So, his lightsaber fighting isn't going to be very good anymore.

Obi-wan, now, he's explainable too. I don't remember the real numbers, but I'd assume he's around 60ish. While he's been training for a long time in the desert, he can't have had a remotely challenging lightsaber fight in the past twenty years, with not even potential sparring partners... Put those two factors together, and you can see where he might have lost the touch.

Luke is the easiest. Sure, he's strong with the Force, but he has no idea how the Jedi used to fight with lightsabers, and since Obi-wan dies so soon after they meet, he has no one to teach him the advanced technique. When he goes to train with Yoda, he doesn't learn it, presumably because Yoda had such a handful just getting this overaged pupil to use the Force at all, and to concentrate properly.

It's all about the droids

[Soong]

"So, does this mean that R2-D2 is really the main character in Star Wars?"

Yep. R2 is truely the most Force attuned of them all. Yoda and the other Jedi may have Midichlorians, but R2 has METAL chlorians! [guitar riff!] Excellent!

Re:It's all about the droids

[sdo1]

That's how he can ignore the millions of voices that cried out in pain upon the release of Episode I ... and were suddenly silenced

Silenced?

Re:It's all about the droids

[ajs]

It has been my speculation since about 2 seconds before the end of Episode 2 that R2 is, in fact, an avatar of the force. Here's the details of the theory:

Long ago, Corsicant, a plantet girded by a single city, became not just self-aware (which many droids are), but self-motivated and free-willed.

It decided that humans (and I'll use that term, even when I mean "all biological sentients") were a threat of some sort. Perhaps their wars could have destroyed the computer, or some other, more subtle sort of threat.

In order to keep humans in check, it produced a nanotech tool called mediclorians, which could simulate a number of seemingly magical effects such as enhancing strength, generating magnetic and gravitation fields, providing sensory data, modifying the moods and simple surface-thoguhts of other (by dispersing a small cloud of them into the target creature) beings.

By dispersing this tool among the humans, two factions were created. The first (the Sith) were meant to maintain order, but they were too ruthless, and warred among themselves. So, a second group was created to counterpoint the Sith (the Jedi). This group, however, simply wiped out the Sith, rather than achieving a balance with them.

Anakin was created either directly by Corsicant's agents and avatars or by Palpatine on behalf of the planet (almost certainly without knowing the purpose). R2 was sent along by way of Padme to look after Anakin and make sure he was being guided down the path to "restoring balance to the force" (which becomes quite a bit more sinister when you think about it meaning the death of all but a handful of Jedi from the beginning).

Evidence:

R2 is the hero in so many scenes in all six movies that the point is hardly worth mentioning.

"He's been known to be wrong... from time to time." We never do establish how smart R2 is, but clearly it's far beyond the capabilities of most Astro Droids.

Several times people do things around R2 which make little sense (e.g. wiping the memory of C3PO, but not R2, combat droids deciding that the noise in the corner was "nothing"... do droids here things when R2 ISN'T around?)

R2 and Yoda have a very interesting relationship. Either R2 makes Yoda forget who he is (surely a blue R2 unit showing up along side Luke isn't a mere coincidence), or they both know what's going on... which makes me wonder who exactly WAS Yoda's master....

R2 is everywhere that an avatar of Corsicant would need to be to see the prophesy fulfilled and then set the whole process in motion again.

Good question.

[NIK282000]

So, does this mean that R2-D2 is really the main character in Star Wars?
Well you could ask Lucas but I doubt he would know.

Yeah, so hard to cheer for Rebellion anymore..

[Shivetya]

If one thing I found was that I was more bound to side with the Empire simply after seeing how inept the Republic truly was.

The new perspective gained from watching the first three puts the whole series in a new light. The Empire really became what it was simply because the Republic and Jedi had become so egocentric and inept they had to be replaced to move forward.

Re:Yeah, so hard to cheer for Rebellion anymore..

[AHumbleOpinion]

FWIW, when I played x-Wing vs. Tie Fighter long ago it was fun to work through the ranks as an Empire pilot. Being indoctrinated, bringing peace, stability, and law-and-order to the galaxy. A different perspective added a lot.

Re:Yeah, so hard to cheer for Rebellion anymore..

[stuktongue]

I am rather amazed that this is the sort of take-away view that people might have of the series overall. To me, this is missing the entire point Lucas is making.

Look, I'm not saying that all members of the Galactic Empire's fighting forces were evil; in fact, I'm of the opinion that many thought they were on the side of right, attempting to restore order, etc. That does not mean, however, that the Empire is the side to side with.

I also do not believe it is correct to brand the Jedi, or other members of the Republic, as inept. Yes, the Jedi were blind to the manipulations going on around them due, supposedly, to their arrogance and, yes, supporters of the Republic way of doing things put too much faith in democracy. These sorts of weaknesses are time-honored in storytelling of this type.

That said, I hardly consider the Emperor's assumption of power to be a move in the forward direction. That would be akin to saying that Nazi Germany was a good step forward because the trains ran on time. Remember, we are led to believe in Ep. 4, 5, and 6 that the Empire is pretty naughty in implementing it's plans--one need look no further than the destruction of Alderaan for evidence of this. Not the sort of environment I'd look forward to living in.

Yes, the prequels, especially Ep. 3, do a decent job of filling in the backstory, but I think the real lessons of the series come from 4, 5, and 6: fighting oppression, facing your enemy, and redemption.

Anyway, that's my view.

That seals it

[portforward]

When my three year old is old enough to watch the movies, I'll just show him IV through VI and skip the others. Finding out about the family relationsips, (as well as who Yoda is) is just too important, and the whole series suffers way too much. I liked episode III better than I or II, but watching Darth throw out his arms and arch his back screaming "NNNNOOOOOOOOOO" was terrible. As I left the theatre, I thought, "that is the last bit of new Star Wars I'll see. And it ended with a "NOOOOO!!!".

Re:That seals it

[Adrilla]

And how would you expect to react when finding out that your wife died? By softly whispering, "yes" and then doing the moonwalk?

robert blake did.

Storm Troopers?

[Anonymous Coward]

At what point did the Emperor decide that it was time to change Storm Troopers into a zesty new outfit and cut back on the accuracy training budget?

And when did they all get a new accent?

Re:Storm Troopers?

[4me2no]

ooh... oooh! I've got a better theory...

Due to blowing out the original budget on the enormous expense of the Jango Fett clones, they had to settle for a cheaper bounty hunter for the next batch.

Of the bounty hunters, the cheapest of the cheap was a young Greedo who, as we know, is incapable of even shooting a stationary Han Solo from point blank range.

This also goes along way to explaining why a bunch of two foot tall furballs can defeat an entire battalion of storm troopers.

Re:Ah ...

[fishbowl]

"Why are red leader and gold leader the leaders? They don't know what they're doing..."

Point men... Expendable. Call them "heros" or "leaders" or whatever it takes to get them to fly in front, or detect land mines, or draw out the enemy fire, or whatever suicidal thing you want them to do.

Always in the order written

[DrRobert]

I always read things and watch series in the order they were written, not in the order of the books. It is better to watch Star Wars this way, read the Foundation series this way, and just about anything I can think of. In this way you follow the natural creative process of the writer rather than an artificial storyline; you grow with the writer and the story, the last three Star Wars movies certainly don't flow like Lucas wrote them all at the same time, maybe he had a vague treatment...

spoiled? no.

[MORTAR_COMBAT!]

It's a pity the end of Empire has been spoiled.

Now instead of surprise it will be irony, as the audience knows what Luke does not. The audience also is left ahead of time wondering why Obi-Wan lies to Luke about his father.

Spoiled? Perhaps, in a way. But also brings up other things which are potentially interesting.

Children and RotS

[SpooForBrains]

Slightly off topic, but this guy mentions that his kid has watched RotS twice (I think it was).

My four year old girl has started expressing a MAJOR interest in all things Star Wars since seeing, for some reason, a Darth Vader poster (I hope that doesn't say something disturbing about her bugeoning subconscious).

I have sat with her and watched A New Hope, which she thoroughly enjoyed, but having seen Sith myself, I think the scene of Anakin's "disfigurement" was a wee bit much for a child of her age, and I don't know how mature this guy's seven year old is, but is ANY child of that age ready for something like that?

Re:Children and RotS

[CristalShandaLear]

I think the scene of Anakin's "disfigurement" was a wee bit much for a child of her age, and I don't know how mature this guy's seven year old is, but is ANY child of that age ready for something like that?

After Episode One, my 12-year-old daughter really got into the series, watching Episodes IV, V & VI over and over again. These remain her favorites. The month before Episode III she watched them all in the order they were made.

The part that was hard for her was the slaughter of the Jedi. She cried and was so upset we had to leave the theater for a while.

She was sad and angry enough to want to kill Anakin, and she was frighteningly glad Anakin got his legs burned off. She said, "he deserved worse than that for those kids," and she didn't say a word else the rest of the day.

I call shenanigans

[AnswerGil]

This sound like awfully sophisticated thoughts for a 7 year old. Maybe kids have gotten better at understanding these things, or maybe it's a particularly intelligent 7 year old, but I'm doubting this is for real.

Bad Acting

[ndansmith]

I have noticed that it is en vogue to bash the acting of Star Wars episodes I-III. However, after watching III, I watched IV-VI, and discovered that bad acting is something which plagues the entire series.

Also of note is how much Lucas' writing and directing style have changed. Episode IV is very slow paced compared to III. There is only one light-sabre battle, and it consists of Obi-Wan and Darth walking around calmly while being careful not to break a sweat. Contrast that to III, which has tons of sabre (and other) battles, and it quite fast paced.

Re:Bad Acting

[Anonymous Coward]

Episode IV is very slow paced compared to III. There is only one light-sabre battle, and it consists of Obi-Wan and Darth walking around calmly while being careful not to break a sweat.

Well, perhaps if you knew a little about fencing... allow me to explain.

I am a fencer of.. yay.. two years. What I notice about Vader vs Obi-Wan is that it's actually quite frantic. Obi-Wan is an old man, with slow reflexes and low energy levels. He can't afford to twirl and swing wide - when fighting with a very centered style like that, he could effectively hold Vader off all day without tiring. Vader, of course, would get quite frustrated and then be prone to making silly mistakes. That's Obi-Wan's best hope for winning.

Of course, Vader isn't exactly normal - he's getting on, too. He must be about 40 by that point, so his reflexes are long gone, not to the point of Obi-Wan's, but still he's not a young man. He does have strength and stamina that Kenobi doesn't have and so will use them to his advantage. Naturall, Obi-Wan won't run around in circles because he's just not capable of it any more.

I remember reading a study where a 30 year old male has lost around 15% of his reflexes, on average, over an 18 year old. I did a few tests in class 4 years backs. I was 26, and the kids I was testing against were all 18. My reflexes were noticably slower than theirs.

Don't make the mistake of seeing an old man using a technique with small movements as "useless"... something you learn pretty damned quick in fencing is that when you make a big movement, even if your opponent is a 70-year-old, a skilled opponent will make an attack around your movement and nail you. Fencing is very, very fast and precise.

I've fenced a 78 year old who just had a knee replacement. He wouldn't be capable of doing the big wide swings that we see in the prequels, but by god, try one of those against him and you're screwed.

So now you know. If you're curious as to what I'm talking about, get in touch with the local Salle or fencing club, and go along for a look. You'll discover that fencing isn't much fun to watch unless you know what you're looking at, and while it has a reputation as a "gentleman's sport" it's certainly a lot of hard work, too.

Where is Qui-Gon?

[mre5565]

Answer: George didn't think of till it till after the latest re-release of a A New Hope. Don't worry, George will digitally add Qui-Gon and dialog with Obi_wan when the 3D version comes out.

It's all about more money for George.

Just right wing Christians?

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to get to out more. You'll find that attitude taken by many Muslim, Jewish, left wing christian nutjobs, and new age liberal, and athiest parents. Probably other groups I haven't had direct experience with as well.

Why am I saying anything? I was raised by left wing christian nutjobs and had friends whose parents filled one of the above categories. Being an over protective parent has little to do with being a right wing christian, and more to do with being a fscking control freak. And control freaks are found in every religious and non-religious group.

Best order

[darnvader]

I think the best order dramatically is IV, V, I, II, III, VI. You still get the surprise in Empire, and then treat the prequels as an extended flashback, which adds much more weight to the scenes with Luke, Vader and the Emperor in Jedi.

Darth Vader's prosthetic penis.

[CyricZ]

When Anakin started to burn up after losing most of his limbs, it is quite possible that his penis was severely burned. Considering that he was engulfed in flames, it is probably safe to say that his penis and scrotum were literally quite gone. Now, my question is, did the Emperor install a prosthetic, mechanical penis onto Darth Vader?

Re:Darth Vader's prosthetic penis.

[payndz]

When Anakin started to burn up after losing most of his limbs, it is quite possible that his penis was severely burned. Considering that he was engulfed in flames, it is probably safe to say that his penis and scrotum were literally quite gone.

Alternate dialogue from ROTS:

Vader: Padme... is she all right?
Emperor: She's fine. But really, I'd forget about her if I were you.
Vader: Why?
Emperor: Look down.
Vader: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ewok with a stick

[AHumbleOpinion]

The more important question is why do they wear armor that can't even take one hit.

From a blaster or an Ewok with a stick?

Darth did it for Love

[AHumbleOpinion]

Yes but keep in mind that Darth turned to the dark side to save his wife, and then turned from the dark side to save his son. See, Darth's all about love. Or that his only loyalty is family and he'll betray anyone. ;-)

If...

[hummassa]

you are implying that the Dark Side is a gay conspiracy, then you are being very, very naughty. :-)

bad acting and dialogue

[YesIAmAScript]

Yep, Eps IV-VI had bad acting and dialogue.

They succeded better for two reasons:
1. The directors worked around the bad dialogue a bit better.
2. Alec Guiness.
3. By far the biggest, Harrison Ford. Without Harrison Ford there would have been no episode V, let alone VI,I,II,III. He made the character work, he made his dialogue work. He knew the character better than Lucus. He ad-libbed the "I know" response to Leia's "I Love You".

The other actors and their dialogue varied. Hamill was a great farm boy, a mediocre Jedi. Fisher was terrible all around. But Harrison Ford glued it together and made it work.

Viewing in numeric order is a travesty!

[inkswamp]

I'm currently introducing my nine-year-old daughter to Star Wars and am showing her them in release order, not numeric order. We watched A New Hope last weekend and she was blown away. She loved every minute of it and I can't see any benefit to showing her the prequels first.

To me, one of the greatest thing about Star Wars is the Big Revelation in Empire. Why spoil that? I will be watching Empire tomorrow night with my daughter and I can't wait to see her jaw hit the floor just as the jaws of the collective audience in 1980 hit the floor. If any of you out there have children coming of age and want to show them these films, PLEASE show them in release order. They don't need the prequels to appreciate the original trilogy

Don't get me wrong. I am one of the few who think the prequels kick ass from start to finish, but why spoil one of the greatest surprises in movie history just to give a lot of back story that doesn't matter much until you've see the originals anyway?

Besides, for a new viewer, the prequels still contain the surprise of Palpatine being the Emperor so it's just fine to end your viewing of the films with Sith. Palpatine isn't referred to by name in Jedi so there is still a satisfying build-up and climax in the prequels with that revelation (most of us hardcore fans might not realize that because we already knew who he was. New, younger viewers won't.)

Re:While we are on the subject.

[greg1104]

The endings of both tESB and RotJ had a new spin for me after watching Sith recently. By the end of Empire, Vader has figured out that the Emperor lied to him and his son was alive all along. What does he do? Try to get Luke's help to muscle the old man out and run things himself. Now it comes off not just as greed for more power, but as hoping for revenge for being lied to and otherwise manipulated.

Similary, the end of Jedi seems totally different to me now. Vader realizes his hopes of taking over as the new Emperor aren't going to happen because Luke just isn't good enough to pull it off, and he cracks. He gets pissed off and the old reflexes to kill the person responsible kick in, so he offs Palpatine in a rage the same way he routinely used to kill people in his younger days. It's not to atone for his sins or even to save his son. He's been getting pushed around by this guy for twenty years, looking for a weak moment to off him, and finally he gives up hope on a better ending and just finishes him off while there's a good window to do it.

Re:That's what I was saying.

[Gleng]

Exactly. I doubt I'd remember my family's washing machine from 20 years ago if I saw it again.

OH FOR GODs SAKE!!!

[THEUBERGEEK]

OK people, pay attention and learn something There have been tech advances in the 20 years since the "end" of eps 3 and the start of 4 Obi-Wan did not "recognize" R2D2 because he was not supposed to let on what had been happening, obviously he had been training himself to hide from Vader. Uncle Owen did not recognize C3PO because threepio did not have coverings when he was on that farm previously. In additon there are probably MILLIONS of similar protocol droids, recall the one that threepio ran into on Bespin? Vader walked like "frankenstein" because he was 1) in pain, 2) using new prostheses 3) probably having problems breathing He shouted NNNOOOOO!!!! because he went through everything he did in order to SAVE his wife and yet he has been told HE killed her. Would eny of you done differently? AND FINALLY>>>> you people need to quit trying to apply EARTH and HUMAN values and concepts to what is supposed to be an ALIEN and NON_TERRAN society, these people were not meant to think like you and me, their culture is considerably different than the USofA

Wookie Survivors

[Servo5678]

- "Is Chewbacca the only Wookiee that survives the Clone Wars?" (with great concern)

No, there is another.

Re:Suitability

[kylemonger]

I think I speak for the rest of slashdot when I say that you are alone.

Oh, no you don't! That scene at the end with Anakin being roasted alive would have given me nightmares for a month at age 7. If a 7-year old can watch something like that without flinching then maybe TPTB have a point about kids' exposure to violence.

Wrong....adds new depth

[DesScorp]

First off, I think the series should now be watched in this order:

1. Ep. 4, A New Hope - Introduces you to the story, concepts, and characters. The best way to start the mythos, no doubt. Lucas did good using this as a starting point.
2. Ep. 1, The Phantom Menace - Goes back to the things Obi Wan Kenobi was talking about. You still think Luke's Father was a hero, and you see the similarities between them. The Jedi still seem wise, and the Sith evil, though it's apparent the Republic is on its last legs.
3. Ep. 2, Attack of the Clones - Further elaborates on the history. By now, a few people should be picking up clues, especially visual clues with the Clone Trooper armor and Anakin's revenge upon the sandpeople. Mysteries are no good unless you have some chance of deducing the truth. Things begin to get dark at this point.
4. Ep. 5, The Empire Strikes Back - To those with some deductive ability, Vader's interest in Luke is a further clue, especially "He's only a Boy. Obi Wan can no longer help him". Most newbies to the series haven't figured it out yet, though it's tugging in the back of their brains. When Vader finally tells him, probably 10 to 20 percent of the audience is going "I knew it!", but the rest are still going "Oh shit...". But after the revelation, it all makes sense. Otherwise, thee's still the possibility that Vader is simply lying to Luke. We're about to hit the low point with...
5. Ep. 3, Revenge of the Sith - Now that we know that Vader is Luke's father, we want to know "what the hell happened to cause the change?". We now fully grasp Palpatine's deceptions, how he got an Empire, and the buttons he was helping to push to get Anakin to the Dark Side. But we also lose some sympathy for the Jedi, for by now, it's not that we realize they're inept, but that they are, in their own way, as arrogant as the Sith, but their arrogance blinds them. We get the sense that the Old Republic really wasn't worth saving, but that the coming Empire will be worse (Alderaan, anyone?). But most important...the Luke and Leia revelation is a SUPRISE this way...when it's revealed in 6, it was done in a totally cheesy way. This is a far better way to spring another "Oh crap!" on people. We also have sympathy for Anakin/Vader, as we understand he's not a monolithic evil villain; we understand his reasonings, where he went wrong, and that through it all, he was trying to do right by those he loved, and that he was being used (by both sides). But we also see just how twisted he became. The Emporer makes much more sense at this point as well...all questions about him are answered.
6. Ep. 6 Return of the Jedi- The only remaining question at this point is now "Can Luke turn Vader back?". Also, we get more insight on the Jedi, especially the hippy-dippy "our own point of view" crap, that reveals that while why the old Jedi were more refined and powerful, Luke is a better man. He's more honest and straightforward, and is more in tune with the good side of the force, because he's not a moral relativist; and that's precisely what the old Jedi had become. They bent the rules whenever it suited them in the Clone Wars because, after all, they're the Jedi. In many ways, they had become as bad as the Sith. This is why they couldn't see the Sith coming, and it's why it's good the old Jedi Order was destroyed. Luke will rebuild it from the ground up, with a much more honest perspective. We also cheer when Vader is gone and Anakin is back; the prophecy if fulfilled. Anakin brings balance to the Force by killing the Emporer, and for the love of his son. It was a long, twisting, winding road, but it all makes sense now. The New Republic can start without the baggage of the corrupt Old Republic, and a new, BETTER Jedi can begin with Luke and Leia.
   
   Now on to the parent comments...

   You will never have the opportunity to relive the moment of truth at the end of Empire..

Re:Wrong....adds new depth

[Hes Nikke]

that looks like a good way to introduce it to new viewers (perhaps my now 6 year old nephew?) however there is one thing i would add... stay away from the (official) DVD of ESB for the first time though! Paplatine talks about luke as vaders son in that version. :\

Ben's "certain POV"

[KMitchell]

While watching ROTS, as Obi-Wan picks up Anakin's lighsaber--leaving him to burn to death--all I could think of was the ANH quote "your father wanted you to have it when you were old enough" and damn was that that a stretch. Makes the "betrayed and murdered your father" seem pretty reasonble by comparison...

It's Only A Flesh Wound

[Ranger]

After watching the final fight scene in Episode III between Obi Wan and Anakin, was anyone else reminded of King Arthur's fight with the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Oh, well. Sith happens.

Au contraire. Despotism lacks efficiency.

[rolofft]

If your contention were correct, Idi Amin would have lead Uganda to world domination while Margaret Thatcher tumbled the UK. Weren't the lessons of the 20th century to the contrary? Is it efficient for the Poliburo to have party members honeycombed through the whole economy, reporting every time someone neglects their duty? Would you take the Commissariat for Food over Wendy's? And doesn't hindsight (The Gipper v. Gorby) show whom to choose in a battle for military might? The Cathedral may work adequately for a campus in Redmond, but The Bazaar is the only realistic model to run a whole nation by.