Star Wars Saga for Beginners

Photo courtesy: https://www.starwars.com/films

Since we have just celebrated Star Wars Day on May 4 #Maythe4thBeWithYou, it's time to talk about this beloved franchise. The Star Wars Saga spans for not just one, but three generations since its first movie Star Wars: A New Hope was released 43 years ago and the most recent one Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker just last year. 

 

Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon being the second-highest top-grossing movie franchise of all time. 

 

Even though the saga lasted for more than four decades, it is only composed of nine films of Skywalker Saga and two anthology films. 

 

The first trilogy is the original classic composed of Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), followed by sequels Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983). This was followed by a prequel trilogy that consisted of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). 

 

In 2012, George Lucas sold the franchise to Disney which then released a sequel trilogy that included Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

 

When one decides to start watching the Star Wars Saga, there is always this great dilemma: what order should you watch the movies. Apparently, this is a big deal in the Star Wars universe sparking great debate since they have different pros and cons.

 

Personally, I recommend watching by release date. You'll get to experience the succession of movies just how George Lucas originally designed it to be. Then you can watch the anthology movie Rogue One in between Episode 4 and 5 and Han Solo in anywhere you want since it's more of a feature on Han's younger days.

 

There's a reason episode 4-6 are released first. If you would watch it in chronological order (episode 1-9), then you have spoiled yourself of the greatest revelation of the whole saga, plus you won't see Darth Vader as a revered villain with a complex character. There's even the famous machete order of watching where you just disregard Phantom Menace all together like being chopped by a machete.

 

If you're into SciFi, action, or just great theatrical storytelling, then it's time to find out why people all over the world and of different generations have all come together for every Star Wars film. You won't regret it.