Machete Order

Although I write SciFi and have been a Star Wars fan all my life, I had not heard of “Machete Order” until yesterday. It came up when a facebook friend asked what order her daughter should watch the Star Wars movies. I decided to use that for a SciFi Question of the Day.

Instead of asking “Do you watch them in chronological order (1-7) or the order they came out (4-6, 1-3, then 7) I kept it open-ended and simply said “what order?” Sometimes people surprise me with answers I never would expect.

More than one thread came up with “Machete Order.”

To quote the CNN article:

Rod Hilton, a blogger and programmer who lives in Colorado, wrote a lengthy post on his blog, Absolutely No Machete Juggling, analyzing the fan-favorite series back in November 2011. In it he suggests that Episode I need not necessarily come first and instead he recommends starting, the way anyone over the age of ten did, with Episode IV: A New Hope.

This idea has merit. Of course, as a 45yo fan, I saw the movies in the order they came out, starting in Kindergarten. (Unlike my sad lapse in the Star Trek films, when I saw Search for Spock without seeing Wrath of Khan. I had no idea why they needed to find Spock. But I digress…)

We’re currently reading the junior novelizations of the Star Wars films to our 8yo daughter at bedtime. We started with Episode 7 right after seeing the movie in the theaters. Then hubby and I decided to start with Episode 1 and move forward. We’re on 3 right now.

I know that this will kill the revelation “Luke…I am your father!” But then again, that’s such a huge part of pop culture, the fact is spoiled for most people long before they watch the films. I’m pretty sure our girls have seen a few of the movies already, although they probably don’t remember much because they get distracted and wander away.

So I wonder… has anyone tried Machete Order for a first time viewing? I’m interested in hearing how it went.