Table of ContentsIntroductionThe Long Release OrderThe Long Chronological OrderThe Short Release OrderThe Short Chronological OrderAdditional Sources of canon lorePollIntroductionWith The current rise in popularity and buzz around Star Wars I have seen a lot of posts about people who want to get into Star Wars but don't know how or where to start. Given that the show didn't start in chronological order it makes sense this would be confusing for some people. I am going to list the major methods for watching the show. While there is no "wrong answer" to how to watch there are some different variations and strong opinions surrounding those variations. I will present the 2 most common layouts for watching Star Wars for a first timer and I will give you a short and long version of each. You can decide for yourself how to proceed as both methods have their pros and cons.Also there are a few new shows such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett that are still being released so they might be strange to try and put them in the middle of a chronological order so it may just be best to throw them at the end for now regardless of where I list them.The Long Release OrderOften the most popular watch order among fans as it was the way we were presented the franchise over time. Also since media that was being made to take place in the past was being made by people who knew what happened and expected fans to also know what happens after there are often times common themes and callbacks to things that technically happen in the future. This method also sets up the Original Trilogy to be the focal point while watching anything before it just adds context to the Original Trilogy.Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (1983)Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)The Clone Wars Movie (2008)The Clone Wars (2008) †Star Wars Rebels (2014)Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)Rogue One (2016)Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)Solo (2018)Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)The Mandalorian (2019)The Bad Batch (2021)The Book of Boba Fett (2021)Obi-Wan (2022) ††Ahsoka (2022) ††Andor (2022) ††Alcolyte (202?) ††Lando (202?) ††A Droid Story (202?) ††† Important to note that Season 7 of the clone wars was released much later (2020) but since you are not watching the rest of everything in order you might as well finish the season here. It makes much more sense.†† These shows are in the works and not currently released at this time. As such the date is anticipated but subject to changeThe Long Chronological OrderThis method of viewing is for those that wish to experience the entirety of Star Wars in its complete canon timeline order. While certain exceptions have to be made this is about as accurate as you can get. A lot of people prefer to watch the events unfold in the order that they happened and if you are one of those people or you already watched the release order and now want to experience it in the order in which it happened on a second time around then this is how you do it.Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)The Clone Wars - Season 1 to 6 (2008) †Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)The Clone Wars - Season 7 ††Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021)Solo (2018)Star Wars Rebels (2014)Rogue One (2016)Episode IV: A New HopeEpisode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (1983)The Mandalorian (2019)The Book of Boba Fett (2021)Star Wars: Resistance (2018)Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2016)Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)Star Wars: Forces of Destiny (2017) †††† The Clone Wars has a few things to note for chronological watchers. For one its completely out of order in almost every way. Each episode is a "snapshot" into an event which doesn't always need to be in order for the show to illustrate its point. If you want to watch this in the correct order then I suggest look at this official order list.†† Season 7 of The Clone Wars was made much later and takes place at the same time as the events of Revenge of the Sith but it also expects that you have seen ROTS. So it is best to watch this season after ROTS††† Star Wars Forces of Destiny is an animated series that is technically canon and does add to the lore of star wars but its episodes are all over the place in terms of where they fit on the timeline. For a better look at the timeline of Forces of destiny check out this post from u/basiamilleThe Short Release OrderThis method is for those that want the most out of their time and don't want or cant devote the amount of time it would take to catch up with the lore. Or maybe you want to get a feel for Star Wars as a whole before you decide if you want to invest the amount of time it would take to consume a much bigger amount of lore. This will save you a lot of time.Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (1983)Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)The Clone Wars (2008) Essential Ep only †Star Wars Rebels (2014) Essential Ep only ††Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)Rogue One (2016)Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)The Mandalorian (2019)Clone Wars Season 7 (2020)The Book of Boba Fett (2021)† Disney created a list of essential episodes to prepare fans for Season 7. This effectively cuts down the amount of episodes from 121 to 20 episodes.†† There are several lists available for what people consider to be "essential episodes" the ones I could find were either people who couldnt let go of specific episodes despite them not being essential or lists that encompassed too few episodes cutting out some major canon. So... I made my own list of a Bare Bones Essential List that I think goes through the important episodes. Its worth noting that you are robbing yourself if you skip episodes in this show. It really does deserve a full watch even if season one is fairly slow. That being said you are free to do what you want.The Short Chronological OrderThis method is for those that want the most out of their time and don't want or cant devote the amount of time it would take to catch up with the lore. Or perhaps you are looking to watch Star Wars again in order but do not feel the need to go through every single thing again.Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)The Clone Wars (2008) Essential Ep only †Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)Clone Wars Season 7 (2020)Star Wars Rebels (2014) Essential Ep only ††Rogue One (2016)Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (1983)The Mandalorian (2019)The Book of Boba Fett (2021)Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)† Disney created a list of essential episodes to prepare fans for Season 7. This effectively cuts down the amount of episodes from 121 to 20 episodes. The episodes that have been listed on that page are oddly enough in chronological order already.†† There are several lists available for what people consider to be "essential episodes" the ones I could find were either people who couldn't let go of specific episodes despite them not being essential or lists that encompassed too few episodes cutting out some major canon. So... I made my own list of a Bare Bones Essential List that I think goes through the important episodes. Its worth noting that you are robbing yourself if you skip episodes in this show. It really does deserve a full watch even if season one is fairly slow. That being said you are free to do what you want.Additional Sources of Canon LoreOne notable piece of canon lore that I have left out of the lists is the story from the game "Jedi: Fallen Order" Its story is canon and would take place about 5 years after Order 66. (14-BBY) The main character is a Jedi Padawan and since the games release it has done very well making it the second best selling game in star wars history. As such they are working on a second installment which will also be expected to be canon and the popularity has many speculating that we will see him in live action. They have already added "something" from the game to the current live action universe but I wont spoil it for you. Also the Battlefront 2 single player campaign is canon.Comics. This really could be an entire post in itself but I wont go into it. I will say that If you want a chronological list of all non video media such as comics and novels in canon then you can go to this link here which has it all laid out in order.There are a few shows I left out that are technically Canon. They are not especially significant and as such are not included in most watch lists. However If you want to watch them they are listed here.Star Wars: Holiday Special (1978)Star Wars: Droids (1985)Ewoks (1985)PollVote for your watch order preference hereI hope this can help some newcomers find their optimal starting point. Please feel free to let me know if I missed anything. I will try to update this as new shows coming out. My Personal Preferred order isn't listed as I didn't want to flood the page with a ton of custom orders. My personal order would be Long Chronological but move Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett to the end of the list. Mostly because they are still coming out and It would feel strange for me to include them before they are completed. via /r/StarWars https://ift.tt/23EFs7e
No comments:
Post a Comment