A guide of where to start and why it’s great.
In my first list of topics to cover on my blog, I included Star Wars. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to say, but I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate its impact on my life. Several years later, many Star Wars films and series passed and a Star Wars Celebration attended, I think I’ve finally found what I want to write about.
Star Wars is one of those cinematic universes that seem to be ever-expanding, filling every crevice possible and arguably losing some of the mystery (I’ve written about that here). Yet when people outside of Star Wars ask why they should watch it or complain about various aspects, my instinct is very much to jump to the defence. Something about it being an intrinsic part of my childhood and now adulthood means I want people to enjoy it and understand why I (and my Dad) think it’s great. Covering every element of Star Wars in a brief conversation is now pretty impossible without a captive audience, but I guess in this space I have all the time I need. So, without further ado, this is what I would recommend for someone interested in trying Star Wars and potentially getting into it in the most sensible order considering all the spin-offs and options available.
In a way, perhaps the expansivity of Star Wars content means there’s something for everyone. I appreciate it’s hard to know where to begin. Having been brought up as the prequels were being released in cinemas means my introduction had a lot fewer options for starting points. Initially, there was only the original trilogy – although, by the time I was old enough to start watching Star Wars movies, the prequel trilogy was also available. This was an achievable six movies in the days before 3-hour long films. Nowadays, some TV shows have a longer play time than these movies. As a child, the nuances of good acting and storylines are completely irrelevant if there’s a princess and some incredible hair/outfit combos. With this background, I find it tempting to recommend starting with these original six movies. To some fans, the order does matter and you should probably go in order of release date rather than story chronology. Yet this gets more complicated with the further series and films that have come out since. Instead, I’d say these six films do provide some useful context that essentially is the base layer of all the rest of the Star Wars content out there. If you’re concerned with time jumps forwards and back, just watch in episode order rather than by the release date. If you want to watch a higher-quality film from the get-go and don’t care much about fictional politics or toxic men, the prequels can be ignored for a bit.
If you’ve enjoyed the trilogy nature of the films so far, then your next step is probably the most recent trilogy. If you’ve been watching in terms of story chronology, this fits nicely at the end. If you’re watching in release date order, this also comes after. It’s just worth being aware of if you’re jumping from prequels to sequels for the easily confused. Some say these are terrible; some (like me) enjoy them. They have heavy nods to the previous films and basically replicate the premise of the previous trilogies but there are some significant departures from that. I’d also recommend this trilogy more for those who really loved Carrie Fisher in the original trilogy and want more powerful leading female characters. Unfortunately, within the films, I still feel the ratio of fictional men to fictional women isn’t really equal and the main cast is incredibly humanoid considering it’s set in space with a wealth of alien life forms all around. But, if you’re okay with that and want to see some confusing friend/lovers/sibling(?) rivalries, this newest trilogy is worth the watch.
However, I don’t expect the entire Star Wars universe to be appealing to everyone. For those who just want to dip into stand-alone stories, not necessarily caring about the nods to previous works and more centred on finding something that matches their viewing interests, those films might be negotiable. One of my big recommendations instead would be Rogue One – it does fit between some of the other films and references their characters and stories, but none of them are particularly involved in this film. This means even without too much context, you can grasp the idea of what’s going on and enjoy an action-based sci-fi. On a similar level is Solo. This does have more ties to the original movies, but could easily be understood alone or just by watching the original films. Again, the story doesn’t particularly impact any of the others, instead giving you some background into the character of Han Solo which you can take or leave.
Then there are the TV series. Now, there are many of these, and they’re ever-expanding which is why I’ve started with the films. Each of them fills in some of the questions linking to the timeline that’s been set out by the films, largely focusing on the more popular characters or interesting areas. There are lego Star Wars, the Clone Wars, and other animated series that are particularly targeted at younger audiences. These are fairly extensive and once you’ve established the general concept, these series can exist on their own or combine with other aspects of the cinematic universe. Personally, I found the Clone Wars to go on forever, seem very repetitive, and not particularly exciting, but they do introduce Ahsoka, who is arguably one of the coolest characters not to be in any of the films. There are plenty of other obscure characters who find their way into other series too, so you can weave all the stories together if you’re taking an all-or-nothing approach.
For the other live-action series, it really depends on what your interests are. If you want baby Yoda content, you’re looking for the Mandolorian. This expands on the cult favourite characters of Boba and Django Fett by looking into what Mandalorian culture is whilst introducing the younger version of Jedi Master, Yoda’s, species. Contrary to popular opinion, he isn’t actually a young Yoda. For those really attached to Boba Fett, there’s the book of Boba Fett which I’m sure some people enjoyed but I found he spent too much time essentially asleep in the bath. This does interact with the Mandolorian, so is useful to have watched it first. Also, seeing the films featuring Boba Fett is almost an assumed predicate.
Other characters have also gained their own series, including Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think the idea is to explain how Obi-Wan seems so different between the films as he ages and what he does with that spare time where presumably he goes missing and becomes a hermit. Again, prior knowledge of the films is useful. Andor latches onto one of the characters from Rogue One, so I guess that would be your required viewing beforehand. In the near future, there’s also the Ahsoka series coming. She seems to have found her way into several other series, so watching all of her existing material beforehand may be a struggle without just watching everything. Hopefully, all you need to know is she was a Jedi and the rest will be explained from there. At this point, all the other series seem to ask for a general understanding of the Star Wars universe and a level of research to at least establish where in the timeline this is taking place. I’d probably say these series are more for a seasoned fan, needing experience in the field before it will make too much sense. I’m sure they’re written to be self-contained and self-explanatory, but how much this is true is hard to say.
If you’ve got to the end of this and still feel overwhelmed about where to start, essentially it depends on what you’re looking for. Generally, starting with the films can give you a good idea of what to go into next. It’s up to you with these whether you want to gain the approval of the true fans by starting with Star Wars (Episode IV) or you want to establish the timeline in a clear way starting at the beginning with The Phantom Menace (Episode I). Alternatively, if you just want to watch baby Yoda, then skip to that – you can pick up the history and background later, likewise with the rest of the series. Ultimately it’s up to you and at this point, don’t waste your time on things that don’t pique your interest. If they’re important to context, you can always go back and review them later. If that’s still too much choice and you just need someone to tell you which film to watch first, go watch Star Wars (Episode IV). Now.
Star Wars have also had an influence on ABBA Voyage and their use of AI. Or read more of my opinions on films here.
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Rebekah's Ramblings 