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Introducing Kids To Star Wars

lapis molari

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Mine did not see the theatrical PT cuts. My 8-year-old definitely talks Star Wars with his friends, though I haven't gotten any comment that he figured out he saw a fanedit that differed from what his buddies saw.

The one change my kids did pick up on, in a good way, was that @"Hal9000" lets Padme live past childbirth. After watching they both said "See, Padme survives. Because Leia remembered her mom. So the Emperor was lying."

Someday they'll find out they saw improved versions. Perhaps they'll be cross with me, perhaps thankful. Or indifferent.
 

Duragizer

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I’m just gonna get VHS copies of the films — SE & non-SE both — cut all that tape to pieces, splice it all together in random order, then sit my kids down, give 'em each a bowl of decades-old, mescaline-laced C-3PO’s to snack on, and let 'em enjoy the freakshow.
 

slyfoxfe

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With som many FanEdits out there, I am experiencing a the paradox of choice. Which one do I show to my son? I would like to show him Star Wars in the following order:

- Original Trilogy
- Rogue One
- Episode 1-3
- Solo Story
- Episodes 7-9. I hate them but I may show them.
 

Darth Kermit

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With som many FanEdits out there, I am experiencing a the paradox of choice. Which one do I show to my son? I would like to show him Star Wars in the following order:

- Original Trilogy
- Rogue One
- Episode 1-3
- Solo Story
- Episodes 7-9. I hate them but I may show them.
Show him the theatrical, official versions of each film first. Although to do that for the origina trilogy, I recommend looking into getting the Despecialized edition or the 4KXX projects. Although one of those isn’t completed yet iirc, so just get the Despecialized edition, which you can find by googling about it and eventually come across it on the originaltrilogy.com forums. Once he’s watched all the theatrical editions of the films, then you can start browsing fanedits to see which ones fit your fancy. You can read the cut list on the page of each fanedit to see what changes were made. For me personally I don’t watch any fanedits of the original trilogy unless it’s a fanmix, but if you have problems with any of the films, look for fanedits of them that change your problems.
 

Gieferg

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When I watched Star Wars with my daughter it was always:

Prequel trilogy, and THEN original trilogy (only original versions - despiecialized / 4K77/83) added Rogue One between III and IV at later rewatches.

She never watched sequel trilogy (and I still haven't watched ep. IX).

Revenge of the Sith benefits from this order big time. For me it was always stronger plot point to see Anakin turn to the dark side than revealing that Vader is Luke's father , so I didnt want to spoil it to her by watching original trilogy first. That shocked reaction of her to Ep.III ending was priceless.

Also, I was never a fan of SW and Episode III was the main reason I've rewatched original trilogy years after my last contact with it- after that I started to re-watch it regularly (always in chronological order). ROTS is still my favourite movie in the series (IV being close second), as well as my daughter's.
 

Moe_Syzlak

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With som many FanEdits out there, I am experiencing a the paradox of choice. Which one do I show to my son? I would like to show him Star Wars in the following order:

- Original Trilogy
- Rogue One
- Episode 1-3
- Solo Story
- Episodes 7-9. I hate them but I may show them.
How old is your son? Despite one of my kids being obsessed with the image of Darth Vader when he was about five, neither one of my kids particularly liked the OT (they are nine now). They wouldn’t even watch the PT. Well, they shut it off after about a half hour. They saw Rise of Skywalker in the theater and that’s their favorite as a result. YMMV but chances are they won’t necessarily like what you like.
 

Moe_Syzlak

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Oh no! I’m so sorry!
Well they aren’t particularly into any of it. I mean they rewatched RoS at home when it came out, but they haven’t seen any of it again since. They liked the Mandalorian for Baby Yoda.
 

Gieferg

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My daughter watched episodes I-VI for a first time when she was around 6 years old if I remember correctly.
Got Barbie-sized Vader action figure as a birthday gift soon after that and was very happy about it.
 

Racerx1969

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I started my younger son with Despecialized OT and he loved it. 4Kxx would have been an option had I been able to locate it.
 

slyfoxfe

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Has anyone see Possessed FanEdit? The description looks really interesting. A combination of enhancements from various sources to modernize the film just a tad.
 

The Scribbling Man

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Has anyone see Possessed FanEdit? The description looks really interesting. A combination of enhancements from various sources to modernize the film just a tad.

Of his takes, I've only seen A New Hope, but if you like the look of the change list, Possessed's cut is seamlessly put together and in excellent quality.
 
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Jrzag42

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I could see starting with either the original trilogy or the sequel trilogy, but not the prequels. Obviously I think ideally you should watch them in release order, but if your kid finds the original trilogy too boring, I totally get that, you may be better off starting with the sequels if the kid is more used to the way modern films are paced or otherwise presented.

The prequels are a whole other matter, I think of it like Samuel Jackson's reaction in Unbreakable to the guy buying the comic art for his kid. It's just too profound, too dense, to intelligent for a child to fully appreciate. It's like, you wouldn't show your child Citizen Kane... Okay I can't keep this joke going. I love the prequels but I wouldn't have them be a child's introduction to Star Wars, they come off far more boring and confusing. I sure as heck couldn't follow them as a child. Honestly as a child Star Wars was more about cool moments and characters. If your kid isn't into them, try introducing the kid to the Lego Star Wars video games, those played a big part in familiarizing me with Star Wars as a kid.

As for starting off with fanedits, normally I'd say to never show a fanedit to someone for their first viewing of a film, but with Star Wars I think it's acceptable if it's one of the restorations of the original trilogy, or an edit like Possessed's that presents the best of both versions. I wouldn't show anything that changes the films too drastically. The way I look at it, it'll make it harder for the kid to talk to friends about the movies because they will have seen different versions. One kid talks about their favorite scene with Jar Jar and the other kid has no idea what they're talking about because they watched a fanedit that removes all of the character's antics. The kid will be left with false perceptions of what the movie is supposed to be. But that's just my take, I don't have kids so I haven't been in this situation. A parent may have their own personal reasons for wanting to show a certain fanedit first that I couldn't possibly understand. Don't take my advice to heart, do what you think is the right thing.

Are you heart set on using fanedits? Do you just want suggestions for the best edits if each film?
 

Possessed

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I'm gonna take the opposite take If I were showing someone the prequels and they had never seen them before, I would definitely show them a fanedit. I'd rather Expose them to a version that has a chance to be enjoyable and is a decent flick. If they like it they can always pretend the real versions are extended editions with more pointless exposition and bad dialog added. Lol

But I would show them original trilogy first.

Also for the record my return of the jedi is a full fanedit, not just a hybrid of the official cuts like the other two. (Which have only a couple original changes a piece)
 

OlivusPrime

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Tbh I saw The Phantom Menace when I was 4 or 5 and loved it, just for the pure scale and imagination of it (also bear in mind that I hadn't seen many (any?) live action films up to that point). So I guess it's at a parent's discretion where to start when introducing their kids to it - children will most likely find any instalment of the series exciting and awe-inspiring.

Personally I'd want to start my kid at the original '77 film, but I echo the sentiment that there are a couple of visuals in it that might be unnerving for a small child, which you might want to warn them of beforehand or maybe even skip over entirely.
 

TM2YC

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Just in case this joke hasn't been made already somewhere in this thread...

I introduced some kids to Star Wars but Star Wars just blanked them. Never meet your heroes.
 

Masirimso17

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Been thinking about this again recently. As far as movies are concerned I still believe that OT comes first (maybe besides Solo, although definitely not the theatrical cut, more on that below). However they have to be ready--gotta observe what they can handle in movies, especially with ESB and ROTJ; dismemberment, torture (a ROTJ reaction video where the boy ends up crying comes to mind, though it has a sweet resolution) heroes losing, heavier themes, inces--(nah just kidding lmao).

I do think however that the perfect pre-OT introduction to Star Wars would be '03 Clone Wars, '08 The Clone Wars, and Rebels (and like @TM2YC said, probably Droids and Ewoks too lol). However even that gets complicated (and I'm not talking about some of the "PG deaths"). See, I have no problem letting the kids watch seasons 1 & 2--and yes, even the terrible "movie" I think is technically harmless for them to see.

Clone Wars stuff:
It gets tricky in Season 3 though. Not only is there episodes that are meant to be in S1 (tho to be fair there is The Hidden Enemy in S2...) but the last(?) episode of the Mortis arc in the middle of the season actively SPOILS the Darth Vader twist in a Force vision. In addition, the Nightsisters arc introduces the Dathomirians and Maul's brother Savage Oppress, which ties back into The Phantom Menace that could lead them into confusion. It's also one of the most graphic arcs in the series.

Season 4 & 5 are similar--Season 4 is actually fine until the climactic Nightsisters sequel arc AND Darth Maul's return (you could also argue as great as Umbara is, its contents may be a tad heavy for younger viewers--deciding whether they're ready for Umbara I would say is a similar decision with whether they're ready for ESB, although maybe less so). Season 5 once again has episodes that are fine (in fact maybe even more so--the Youngling and Droid episodes anyone?) but as soon as the Mandalore Civil War kicks off, the rest of the series I'd put on hold until after they'd seen the movies.

So what I'm thinking of is repackaging those usable episodes in S3, 4 & 5 (and even the Mace Windu/Jar-Jar Binks episodes in S6) and making my own Blu-Ray collection, MY Seasons 3 & 4 if you will (for private use only, obviously).

As for Rebels I'm still slogging through Season 2 (honestly the show is fine but it's never hooked me) but anything that would spoil the movies and the Clone Wars I would probably cut/not show. My best bet would probably make Rebels movies with the early content, cutting characters like Rex, the Clones, Ahsoka, etc. until it gets to a point where the show gets very movie content heavy like end of Season 2 and on.

I think @DigModiFicaTion's Solo: The Coaxium Heist fanedit would be a perfect, more colorful, standalone version of the movie as pre-OT content that I'd be willing to show, along with those few Rebels movies that I could edit, presenting an alternate, Jedi-less, dirtier and grounded side of the SW universe. Also no Darth Maul in that edit so yay!

Within all of this I think there would come a time, probably around the age of 5 where showing A New Hope would be no problem. But most of this is a pre-ESB perspective.

We'll see in ten or twenty years when I do have kids lol
 

Moe_Syzlak

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I was out the night of 4 May, but my kids started watching the prequels. They had started them once a few years ago but grew bored quickly and never resumed. This time one of my kids is getting into it but the other bailed halfway through Phantom Menace. But the one getting into is just now starting Revenge of the Sith. He is watching the theatrical versions that are on Disney Plus. I’ve watched some of them with him (the ends of TPM and AotC basically). I haven’t seen the theatrical versions of these movies in probably 15+ years. Wow, they have so many problems. The ST has its own issues but on a fundamental level there just no comparison. With as much time as they had to make these movies, some of the issues are just unforgivable. It just seems painfully clear that no one was willing to tell Lucas some of his ideas simply don’t work. But for a nine year old kid, it’s different. Now, I admit I needed to rant a bit about the Prequels, but on the topic of the thread, I think I’m glad the kids started it without me putting in an edit. Edits are made for adult sensibilities and I think they deserve to see the movies in the original form. Perhaps for the next viewing (if there is one) I’ll see if they want to try a different version.
 

Jrzag42

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I was born in 2002. I got to experience the prequels, the OT, the 2003 Clone Wars, and the Lego Star Wars video games all as a small child. And a bit later I got to see Star Wars in the theater, that is, the 2008 Clone Wars, and I went on to watch a bit of the show itself (though I generally had a hard time getting into the show at the time).

Considering how controversial my love for the prequels seems to be here, I think it's fair to say that the prequels are absolutely easier to accept as a child. I mean, @macmilln is only slightly older than me and doesn't have the same love, but I'm convinced he just says that to seem better than me ;)

So anyways, my point is just to say that your kid getting into the prequels makes total sense to me.
Now, my little brother is around the same age but he doesn't care much for Star Wars beyond the Mandolorian, how do I fix that? :mad:
 
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