Why You Can't Skip 'The Phantom Menace' (but which movie you CAN) 

I think you’re forgetting ATOC is the only entry in the original 6 that gives us an IN-UNIVERSE explanation of a Jedi’s feelings on sand

It is in my opinion (and George’s) that NONE of them are to be skipped. All 6 films are made to be essential to each other. 6 parts [1-6], 1 film - much like Tolkien’s own book saga in The Lord of the Rings: multiple parts, one book. You cannot have one without the other. Overall, you become the very thing you criticize those who easily dismiss TPM, so do be careful when you easily dismiss AOTC as “not important”. Episode II is setup as a classic chivalrous/Shakespearean romance with a mystery/noir plot in the mix. The point of Dooku was to keep the audience guessing whether he was truly an enemy/villain or if he was just an opposition leader in the galaxy on the brink of war. Which is all there, if you either pay attention, listen to George’s dvd commentaries and/or watch the behind the scenes stuff. Both the dismissals of TPM and AOTC are easily to counteract. TCW also helps enrich the Prequels, even tho they stand fine on their own, while also properly humanizing the Clones and making their story and turn all the more tragic.

Very insightful. The prequel trilogy gets a lot of flak, so it’s refreshing to hear what The Phantom Menace does well. I really like your point that it shows the pre-war state of the world. A bit of writing advice I’ve heard is “show the normal world”, or something to that effect. The point is to show what’s at stake - if we don’t know what can be lost, we have less reason to care if the heroes fail.

The thing with the Machete order is that you don't have to skip Phantom Menace

Accordingly, you can not skip Episode II as it sets up Anakin and Padme's relationship, and it shows us Anakin's first steps to the Dark Side. Also we find out what the fate of Anakin's mother is in the film as well as the introduction of Count Dooku. AOTC also gives us the beginnings of the Clone Wars, and answers questions that were developed in Episode I. Every single film in Lucas's saga is extremely important to the overall narrative. If you skip Episode II, you also don't understand how the Clones came to be, or why the Separatists are fighting the war.

There's no need to skip ANYTHING in the original six. If you want skip something skip EVERYTHING in Disney's dumb fanfiction that ruined all our favorite character's lives and made them mean NOTHING.

I’d argue argue you need to see both the Phantom Menace & AOTC. Phantom Menace for the all points you stated, but AOTC really shows Anakin’s temptation with the dark side. You don’t see it in the Phantom Menace, other than warnings from Yoda see his fear, and you only see it once before his turn in ROTS, which is a result of manipulation from Palptine not so much from this rage or need to control the situation. His turn in ROTS is often criticized as being abrupt, it isn’t really because of the groundwork AOTC laid out. Love the video, just wanted to share my two cents (:

Let’s be honest, the only movies that should be skipped are the Sequel Trilogy.

I watched this video without looking at views and subscriber count beforehand, and now seeing 400 views and 22 subscribers I am blown away at the quality of the video for that low of a subscribers. Consider me your 23rd, great video

You can't skip The Phantom Menace, but you can skip Episodes VII-IX. In fact, they didn't even exist when Machete Order was created so the original Machete Order didn't include them anyway.

Episode 1 has always been my favourite movie, and I've tried to argue that it's actually the best (mostly for giggles), and I always viewed everyone's antipathy towards it as irrational. It's the one movie that's disconnected from any big overarching conflict and feels a lot like an Odyssey, and it's very unique even for a Star Wars film. When it comes to devising the best watch order, whether it's your first time or 1000th, me and my family have always started with Episode 4 to set the overall mood, and then we alternated between the prequel and Original trilogy. After 4, we move on episode 1 as like a flashback and to give some early context to the rest of the franchise, while also making it feel as if considerable time has passed since 4. Then it's back to 5 advancing the current day story, which then allows you to proceed with the rest of the prequels to properly illuminate Anakin's fall to the darkside before ultimate concluding with the happy ending of Episode 6 after the depressing ending of Episode 3. I can't agree with skipping Episode 2, though. It's like a 2-parter with Episode 3 in that the stories showcase both the beginning and end of the Clone Wars and how both events influence the rest of the Galaxy, but not only that, it gives important context to Anakin's fall to the darkside. The secret marriage is kind of jarring if you're just being introduced to it right in the middle of it, because you're missing the development of their relationship and important context on how Anakin went against the Jedi order, and that's just the tip of the issues with excluding it. Just because Anakin isn't exactly like what Obi-Wan described doesn't invalidate what we see in Episode 2, because it still builds up to his fall in Episode 3, not to mention Jango Fett's exclusion is absolutely inexcusable. 😡 But hey, this was still a good video, and I'm glad to see Episode 1 get some love, so take my approval.

AOTC actually tells a great story (Palpatine's rise to power by manipulation Republic and Separatists, Anakin's progression of falling to the Dark Side, start of the Clone Wars), develops characters, shows us real war, new planets, species, ships, droids, world, and has strong connection with 1 and 3. You can't skip it because you won't understand what is happening in ROTS.

My personal viewing order is: Episodes I-III, Rogue One, Episodes VI-IV, X-Wing Series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston, The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton, The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, Jedi Academy trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson, Hand of Thrawn Duology by Timothy Zahn, Young Jedi Knights series by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta ... ... I think you see the theme, by this point. Episodes VII-IX and 'Solo' are just Kathleen Kennedy's fan-fictions that Disney made because they didn't understand the IP.

The Duel of Fate in 'The Phantom Menace' also foreshadows Anakin's fall and redemption: Darth Maul wins against Qui-Gon Jinn, but Obi-Wan wins against Darth Maul.

i disagree when you said that it isn't needed that we know they kept their marriage secret due to the jedi. i believe that part is important as it shows anakin splitting between the jedi order and who he loves

I disagree with having to skip any movie of the trilogies at all. And I also disagree with we not having to see how Palpatine got his emergency powers for one simple storytelling rule: "Show, don't tell." (Which is admitedly something of a contradiction for me, why should you show us something unimportant instead of telling us as a passing remark or tell us something important instead of showing what it is its effects on the world at large? I think the actual rule should be "always show the important stuff and just tell/talk about the unimportant stuff", but I digress), plus, as someone has pointed out, AOTC explores Anakin's temptation with the Dark Side of the Force. If you skip that, Anakin's turn just seems... Abrupt, you know what I mean?

I strongly disagree with the notion that you can skip AOTC. Without AOTC, you lose a lot of the context that makes ROTS work so well. Really, all six of the pre-Disney Star Wars movies shouldn't be skipped because they all are necessary pieces of a larger puzzle. In my opinion, the only films you can skip without losing anything are the Disney trilogy. ROTJ is already a good enough ending anyways.

I would suggest that most of the important stuff in Episode 1 is strongly represented in episode 2 and 3, like the corruption of the Republic. In Episode 2, they consolidated all their power under one guy, they noted that Palpatine has stayed in office beyond his term limit, and that a secret clone army had been commissioned for the Republic. But if you go straight from episode 1 to episode 3, you can get this weird idea that Padme had an inappropriate relationship with a 9 y are old kid, and that's why they keep their marriage secret. You have no idea where the clone army came from, and that the Jedi had anything to do with it, and you don't know who the Republic is fighting against (except for the Trade Federation) You have to see when they fell in love, which is why you shouldn't skip episode 2, because essentially, instead of using the prequels to tell a war story, George used the prequels to tell a tragic love story.

How I interpret the central theme of Phantom Menace - sometimes you must to take high risks to succeed in life. Padme takes a huge risk teaming up with the gungans and the jedi to defeat the trade federation. Interesting argument for why Clones could be cut from the lineup. The prequels are flawed but the overall story is cool and part of my head canon for Star Wars. Great video Martin!

I was with you, until you started talking about why Episode 2 can be skipped, which I disagree strongly with. One thing I don't think you mentioned is Anakin's mother. The biggest reason why Anakin turned to the Dark Side is because he had visions that Padme would die, and he was afraid of that because he also had visions of his mom dying. That's part of what made Padme's death hard for him, because he now has a stronger foundation for believing that she will indeed die. If we go from Episode 1 to 3, skipping 2, then we miss this crucial plot point. This is what makes Anakin vow to stop all his loved ones from dying. Yes, Episode 3 does refresh all of this for you, but that's not the same as seeing it. It wouldn't hit the same if we were just told about it. Also, Episode 2 introduced the Lars family, and if we just saw Obi-Wan handing Luke to them at the end of Episode 3, you'd question "where did they come from." At least, assuming you're watching the movies in episode order. If there's any episode that can be skipped, it's literally the entire Sequel Trilogy in my opinion.

As much as I HATE the Prequels, even I have to admit Episode 1 is extremely better than Attack of the Clones

Phantom menace is more substantive and just overall watchable than any of the sequel movies, leaving it out but keeping the three garbage disney cashgrabs is not ideal.

Cool video. I’ve always watched the movies in release or chronological order but watching in a different order seems like an intriguing way to rewatch the movies and I’ll certainly be trying it sometime soon

How about we Leave out The ST instead?

The one thing that you get from skipping episode 1 is that if you start with episode 2, and pretend like you don't know about the ep 1 lore, you very easily could believe Anakin and Padme are actually the same age in this hypothetical (ironically going by their designs if you just watch 2 and 3 and pretend 1 doesnt exist, you might actually assume ANAKIN was the older one in episode 3). The age gap itself isn't the issue, it's only 5 years, for instance if I married a 20 year old woman this year, as a 26 year old man, the age gap between her and I would be 6 years, larger than Anakin and Padme's, but in my case nobody would bat a eyelash, it was just the *when they met* that was the issue. On the other hand, if you go with your proposed idea of going from 1 straight to 3, you aren't bogged down by the 10-15 year timeline, and you could actually very easily assume up to maybe even 20-25 years passed, which would easily make Anakin 30-35, Padme 35-40, and ObiWan would now be 45-50, which now suddenly their ages make perfect sense for original trilogy continuity if you just simply pretended that 2 didn't constrict the timeline to a relatively small 10-15 years

Skip 7,8 and 9 entirely

What about just...watching all 6 movies? Lucas intended it to be like one big movie in 6 parts. In pretty much any story, there are going to be some parts that you technically *could* skip, but that seems a bit like overthinking it when you could simply let the storyteller tell their story.

When they came out I was a huge critic of the prequels, but they've grown on me. I'm actually one of their big defenders these days. I still think that some things in them made no sense like Anakin building C-3PO or Anakin's whining and lament on sand (how did any girl fall for this guy? Much less one that six years older than him)and I do not care for the entire idea of midi-chlorians at all but outside of that, they are really good. As for 7, 8, & 9 those dumpster fires have no redeeming value whatsoever.

Alright, but NO-ONE BETTER BE TOUCHING REVENGE OF THE SITH!!!!!!

Wait a minute. The machete order cuts out Phantom Menace, but keeps the Sequels? WTF!?!?

The one detail I wish was different in Revenge of the Sith is that they reveal the twins. I wish they had merely shown that a birth happened and no facts revealed - maybe some wide eyes / reaction but not obvious. Then, the surprise question in Empire Strikes Back would stay powerful as would the answer in Return of the Jedi. What do people think?

I've never heard this version of dropping episode one. I always heard it was just 4,5,1,2,3, and finally back to 6. Episode one shows us the truest jedi the order had prior to the fall of the republic in qui gon. And how had he survived then anakin probably would have never fallen to the dark side.

Leave out the whole sequel trilogy. The best machete order

It's insane to skip AotC. Anakin's fall would seem even more forced, and the origin of the Clone Army is a super important nuance. I'd rather skip any other movie tbh, because ep. II adds so much to the worldbuilding and is just the coolest movie overall.

I have a hard time understanding why release order is so important to folks other than them wanting others to experience it as they did. With as much Star Wars content as there is now though, chronological order seems to make the most sense for newcomers, in my humble opinion.

This is an incredibly interesting video. I Saw The Phantom Menace when it came out, the height and celebration around it was amazing, similar to when the force awakens first came out. I never really got to see attack of the Clones since I lived in a rural area after in the time it came out. By the time I made it back to popular culture everyone had turned on George Lucas and the prequel series. I saw Revenge of the Sith about a year after it came out and thought it was great. I never went through the whole prequel hate season. Been a long time Star Wars fan and really just wondered if attack of the Clones would have done better with the culture at large if it had been explored as it television series between the two movies. Either way yes, agreed that the series order does depend on a certain point of view!

So skipping the phantom menace and understanding what happened through comtext is bad but doing the same thing with attack of the clones isn't? You could apply this logic to literally any film in the saga

You could actually skip The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, AND The Rise of Skywalker. You'll be much happier if you avoid those three.

It's hilarious how people complain about the politics and say the blockage and trade disputes were dumb; when it was straight up Palpatine's plan to become chancellor.

I've been binge watching all movies and TV shows etc. Everything. As a fan I can't believe how much I missed in cannon and the rest. So truly well done moments. Like Caleb dying caught me wayyyyy of guard

Great video. I agree that Phantom Menace does offer more to the Star Wars lore than Episode 2. Though i personally like both.

The battle droid problem is EXACTLY why the “control chips” in the Filoniverse is completely garbage and the old canon where the clones were like the Waffen SS - completely brainwashed “super soldiers” - works so much better. They know exactly what they’re bred for and their sole purpose is to serve the Chancellor/Emperor. Plus everything you said as well as what’s actually dialogue in the films, helps support this because they’re supposed to be critical thinkers and superior to droids. People take the “alterations” the Kaminoans do too literally. It’s not like they’re lobotomizing the clones, nor are they physically taking away any sort of control from the clones. It’s just brainwashing loyalty like we’ve seen throughout our own history time and again.

I don't think you can skip episode 2. True, much of its events are highlighted in episode 3, but we need episode 2 for context for world-building and character relationships. Like why the Clone War started, who is Count Dooku, what the CIS is, why Palpatine suddenly has unlimited authority and why Obi-Wan failed as a mentor.

AOTC is severely underrated. It's the only film in the PT that if tweaked just a little bit feels closer to the OT. TPM inadvertently set up AOTC for failure

I agree, episode 2 isn’t really needed.

I think the best way to watch the prequels is by watching all of episode 1, then only the parts of episode two that matter (I.E. Obi Wan chasing Jango, Yoda's warnings about the dark side to Anakin, and basically all of Geonosis. everything else can be skipped and we'd save at least 30-40 minutes of runtime) The watch the clone wars movie, the clone wars show (both the 2008 versions since the 2002 version isn't cannon) watch revenge of the sith before the last 4 episodes of season 7 then watch those last 4 episodes and finally round things off with the bad batch show.

Even George said it supposed to be seen 1-6, in order. That’s it

Before the prequels there was a time where we didn't own episode 4 - but that worked for me. 😄

Here is my take: You can't skip Any movie besides the sequels, crazy take, I know, but Hear me out ... George movie good, Disney Sequel Bad. Smash like if you agree.

Honestly, I have usually preferred release order, not just to keep the mysteries of the prequels for later but also to watch the technical advances in filmmaking, but I might suggest "shuffle order." 4, 1, 5, 2, 6, 3. 4 to start off with no context for Vader/Anakin. Then 1 to give us the first glimpse of the Skywalker family. Then 5 to get to the "I am your father" and see Luke wondering if it's true. Then 2 to give us more CLUES that it's true without spelling it out entirely. Then 6 to see how Luke learned the truth, and then 3 to get the final full picture. (Then explore whatever other films you like.)

The sequels should be ignored no matter what. They ruin the emotional impact of the Lucas films.

I propose this order: 4, 5, 3, 6, 1.

I like the machete order just dont skip Ep1. Watch it 4, 5, 1-3, 6 is the best way to watch George's 6 films. Having the Luke/Leia reveal at the end of Ep3 is better than midway through Ep6 and way better than none of it being a reveal. The prequels drip with irony, irony that is entirely lost if you've not watched Ep4 & 5. Also it is a great way to explore Anakin's character. Ep4 he's essentially the head henchman. Ep5 we get to see how he sits separate to the Empire's heirarchy and discover the truth of his relationship to our hero. Once that is learnt going back to see his fall makes sense. His redemption is still the end of the saga this way. Palpatine's final defeat is the end too. We get the best entry to the saga with ANH. Nothing is lost. This is superior to both release and chronological order. Better narrative and finale than release order (ep3 is great but isn't an ending to the saga). But you don't lose the reveals and all the irony like you do watching in chronological order.

I like the machete order of 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6. Revenge of the Sith is such a downer episode to end on compared to Return of the Jedi

Nice editing, take a sub. I don’t agree with all the points you made but you did make a nice case for TPM. It’s my least favorite of the original 6 and I have been tempted to skip it so this was an interesting take for sure. Though I would argue that the battle of Geonosis (as subtle as it may be in the film) justifies the movie since it inverts the film structure of Empire and tells an interesting tale about the evolving state of the Republic. In Empire, an imperial force drives a rebel army off a barren planet at the start of the film. In AotC, a force that is imperial in nature drives a rebel force off a barren planet, now at the end of the movie. The Republic, now viewed as the heroes, will soon grow into something far worse, beginning with this master-stroke in Palpatine’s plan. It’s subtle and yes it’s not life-saving for the movie but it does have thematic relevance, which was a point you made to justify TPM. You did also includ clips of Attack of the Clones in your examples of these thematic parallels, so to sum up what another comment said, I think it would benefit to keep these both in. Though if you had to cut one out I could see the merit in cutting one or the other honestly

The point of an order, every order, is just if you prefer to see the "No, I am your father!" after watching Anaking becoming Vader in episode 3, or watching all the prequels after Vader's declaration to Luke. To me, the correct order is the cronological one, because seeing this little child full of hope fullfilling his dream to became a Jedi and finding true love going through all the path to darkness (love lead to fear, fear to anger, anger to hate, hate to suffering, all of the above to the Dark Side), and then seeing him returning to light at the very end, is the true story of Star Wars. RotJ is the real ending and tPM is the real beginning IMHO. While we are here, I also add Rogue One to the list between episode 3 and 4. And I can see an 'extended edition' that watches Andor before Rogue One, and that continues with the Mandalorian (the true sequel to me) after episode 6.

My wife agreed to watch Star Wars with me, probably gonna do machete order ending with ROTJ!

Interesting video. But, to me, the most skippable film is definitely Rise of Skywalker. 😅

I'd love to see someone try and watch Star Wars for the first time and skip from 1 to 3. They would have no idea what is going on.

For those of us who were adults at the time, or just starting to be, Episode I takes on a much greater cultural significance because it has become a metaphor of the pre-9/11 world.

in so way i can understand, even tough i still find yoda juping around with a lightsaber funny to me, i always asume he was a better force usser than a lightsaber wilder, so imagine what would have beeing your reaction if the first time we saw him wih the lightsaber was him choping the heads of the clonetroopers it would have beeing a shoocking since we could have seeing how much yoda means business now with the lightsaber after we saw him fell the lost of hundreds of his studends. Insted of dooku politly asking "our battle with the force is futile perhabs our battle with lightsabers will settle things down"

I feel like watching a new hope then empire, then only rots, and finally rotj is a better order. then after rotj you can watch phantom menace and aotc

What order do you watch Star Wars movies? Release order, and try to catch the actual original films first instead of the re-releases. Introducing someone to Star Wars and saying start on "Episode I" IMO understates the historical impact of the original trilogy and shifts all the blame from the awkwardness of the franchise's many, many retcons onto the original films. Plus, from the perspective of real world technology and the evolution of film-making, it makes so much sense to watch in release order.

The reason we didn't see the Clone War through all trilogy is because life of heroes didn't depend on it and it wasn't war for their survival as in OT, it was polotical game controlled by Palpatine from both sides. Separatists were destined to lose and Republic - take over whole Galaxy to become Empire, the ultimate purpose of the clone army was to eliminate the Jedi. Therefore only important parts were the setup for the war, how it started and how it ended.

Funnily enough i had a friend who first saw the saga as I, III, IV, V, VI and he loved it, though he did think Anakin's fall was too sudden.

Bruh I just realized the ending of TPM plays palpatines theme

0:15 actually narnia has this problem as well. personally i like the magicians nephew order (between each book you read magicians nephew, including magicians nephew, so at one point you read magicians nephew 3 times in a row)as you really get the themes of the series.

Good video, the TPM appreciation is very welcome. But None of the og 6 movies are skippable , they are all very important on their own way

Attack of the Clones is where Anakin started down the dark path not Revenge of the Sith. Yeah, it's kinda boring but it's essential to the story.

While I appreciate Episode I, I feel like skipping Episode II leaves us missing just as much. We would end up replying on explaining what happened, the old "show don't tell" mantra of film making. I would argue that the best viewing of Star Wars would be IV, V, I, II, III, and capping it off with VI.

Only order: IV, V, I, II, III, VI. The Disney crap doesn't exist

You make a compelling case for retaining TPM, especially concerning the beginning of Palpatine’s story arc. But I find the case for dropping AOTC less compelling. For me, AOTC is where the story of Star Wars really gets going. If one views the 6 films like a book, then I assert that AOTC would be the first chapter with TPM functioning more as an introduction. I don’t think one can just skip the beginning of the Clone Wars. I think it’s important to see the Republic in a time of peace before the chaos of war so that the audience knows what the Galaxy Far, Far Away is about to lose with the outbreak of war. Likewise, it’s important to see the Jedi in their prime, in great numbers, so that we will later feel the pain of Order 66. And I’d argue it’s important to see the growth of Anakin and Padmé’s romance (even though I know some fans really can’t stand it) so that later we can really resonate with Anakin’s pain in how far he is willing to go to save her. Similarly, I’d say it’s important to see the uneasy friendship of Anakin and Obi-Wan in AOTC (whereas they didn’t really know each other in TPM) so we can really experience the tragedy of that relationship falling apart when they fight in ROTS. So no, I wouldn’t cut AOTC. If I had to cut anything, I’d still cut TPM. I think it’s important for world building and explaining how this world functions, and the film operates well as an introduction to the story of Star Wars. But I don’t feel the story really gets going until AOTC. Plus, TPM is bogged down by too much Jar Jar and, most problematically, the concept of midichlorians. That idea just sucks the mysticism out of the Force. And besides a brief mention in ROTS concerning Darth Plagueis, which isn’t that important (the mentioning of midichlorians, that is, not the story of Plagueis), the concept never shows up again in the Star Wars saga (by which I only refer to George’s 6 films and not the garbage Disney gave us with the sequels). So all in all, I think the Machete order got it right. Also, as an aside, I’d note that this order of viewing the SW films was developed before the horrid abominations that are sequel films were created. Thus, it would be inappropriate to include them as a part of the Machete order. Now all that said, I myself wouldn’t cut TPM. As alluded to earlier, I find the 6 films to form one singular story, where each film is a different chapter and TPM operates as the introduction. But if I had to drop one film, TPM would be the one to be cut. And admittedly, I find the Machete order’s approach to using AOTC and ROTS as a flashback between TESB and ROTJ to be pretty creative. I think it’s also probably the best way to introduce someone new to Star Wars who knew nothing about the saga. 4, 5, 2, 3, 6 (or 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6 if one wants to keep TPM) is really the only way you can preserve the surprises of the prequel and original trilogies, respectively, for a new viewer and not have one trilogy spoil the other.

The only correct order is the order intended by George Lucas himself, that being I-VI. It's the story about Anakin Skywalker, and it's meant to be seen as one movie, with six parts: ru-vid.comwHONRbnbVf4

You can't skip any of the prequels because then you're missing the memes

I’m not sure that I’d agree that Palpatine’s rise was meant to mirror that of Hitler. They’re quite different.

Really I’d skip all the sequels it’s not not George. I’d rather watch an edit of II or what I did last time an extended cut because the things cut out mostly hurt the film. If I HAD to skip one prequel I’d be Attack of the Clones for some (not all) of the reasons you mentioned.

Disagree entirely. Attack of the Clones easily replaces The Phantom Menace as a good starting point. If you skip Episode 2 you don't see what led to the Clone Wars, Anakins arm is suddenly just gone now, his obsession with saving those he loves is understandable to a point but the fact that he goes as far with it as he does doesn't really make sense if you don't know that his mother died and he felt he could have stopped it. And his marriage being a secret doesn't make sense either because we're never told about Jedi being forbidden from forming attachments. The only things important from The Phantom Menace are either mentioned in Episode 2 or vague enough that you not knowing about it isn't really a problem. Too much happens in AOTC that ends up being very important in ROTS that I can never recommend skipping it.

Honestly I wouldn’t skip any of the original six films, the sequels on the other hand…

I feel like I’m the only person who likes TPM more than AOTC

Here's the machete I'm going to do next time. Star Wars: The Force Awakens up to the point when Han Solo says, "It's all true" at 54:00. Then the original trilogy. That's it.

I think you're missing an important point - the machete order was invented as a way of introducing new viewers to Star Wars, and as such it can afford to skip the stuff that isn't necessary to engage newcomers, like the trade dispute aspect of TPM. Star Wars did just fine for decades without that, and anyone who gets into SW can always go back and view TPM, TCW, etc at their leisure. I agree with you that AotC is unnecessary. My preferred order for introducing new viewers with no prior SW background is Rogue 1, ANH, ESB, RotS, RotJ.

Do people actually think ep.9 is better than ep.1? Really?

Nice video, but unfortunately from the start, I can already state that one can easily skip any movie that Disney's produced

I agree on not skipping phantom menace, but i like atoc too much, sure its cringy but in an endearing kinda way like tpm, and jango is sick

I would say the sequels unless you want the full experience and maybe atoc or hot take empire strikes back

TPM is as self-contained as ANH, not sure why anyone considers it a problem.

When you were listing the machete order, for some reason after you listed Return of the Jedi, something happened to the audio where it sounded like you were just babbling incoherent nonsense words. It was only for a few seconds and then came back again. Didn’t take away from my enjoyment, but thought I’d mention it.

Cool video

Personally, I feel like the Machete order is ideal, but instead of starting with A New Hope, start with The Phantom Menace and then jump to A New Hope. It's a nice intro to Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice which he mentions is Luke's father very early in ANH. It doesn't ruin any surprises and provides for a nice intro to the entire Star Wars galaxy.

I personally don't think you can skip any of the 6 films.

I would never put Disney SW in any watch list 🤣

I love the respect this video puts on Episode I, but in my humble opinion, you shouldn't skip ANY episode. Episode II lays out the psychological abuse and neglect that Anakin suffers under the Jedi Order, which largely informs his choice to help destroy the Jedi, which you could only see as a calculated moral choice to save his wife over preserving a faction that told him to let his wife die for the greater good, if you only see Anakin's Episode III mentality. Also, Anakin's relationship with Padme is not a good one, and you'd never know that from only watching Episode III. Episode II gives the impression Anakin truly has good reason to believe the Jedi would not rule the galaxy with any consideration for life outside the Order. They cruelly forced him to suppress his emotions and ignore the warnings that his mother was suffering and dying. On a crucial character development level, skipping Episode II, we'd lose the dynamic that Obi-Wan is actually just as delusional as Anakin when he conveys his perspective of events to young Luke in Episode IV. Without Episode II, we wouldn't see Obi-Wan humiliating Anakin in front of the woman of Anakin's dreams and berating him with empty platitudes hiding backhanded insults. We don't see any of the relationship that makes Obi-Wan's words in Episode III, echoing Qui-Gon's words to him in Episode I, "you are strong and wise, and I foresee you will become a great Jedi Knight / and you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be", out as a twisted and manipulative echo of his genuinely wise master, highlighting how much Qui-Gon's death changed the course of Anakin's life for the worse. We don't get an accurate reading that Obi-Wan is manipulating Luke to kill Vader if we don't see Obi-Wan manipulating Anakin in Episode III, which we don't realize is happening unless we've seen Episode II for context. Anakin's look of dissatisfaction after Obi-Wan walks off is because it suddenly occurs to Anakin that Obi-Wan's words were just a shallow reward for making an apology and not at all Obi-Wan's true feelings toward Anakin, something that'd never occur to the audience without seeing Obi-Wan dog on Anakin every chance he got in Episode II. Without Episode II showing us how superficial and toxic Anakin and Padme's relationship truly is beneath the surface, how does Anakin suddenly deciding to choke her to death for disagreeing with his shift in political alliance make any sense? Wasn't everything he was doing all just to save her? We need to see Padme making moral excuses for Anakin's red flags, we need to see Anakin's need for emotional dependency wrapping itself around Padme's intellectual consideration for Anakin as a potential partner. We need to see how lonely Padme is in her cold and cruel career path where most people she interacts with just want her dead for daring to stick to her personal values or else consider her a minor annoyance to be placated, how having a powerful Jedi who admires her mental fortitude and might encourage and support her through her clearly dangerous efforts to affect political change outweighs her concerns for the guy being an unstable, genocidal psycho. In Episode III we mostly only see a healthy and functional relationship based on mutual trust and understanding of one another, so the small hints that Anakin is beginning to dislike Padme for disagreeing with his political aspirations for power when she asks him to intervene in the war don't look like anything if you don't already know that Anakin secretly doesn't believe in democracy and is becoming disillusioned with his admiration for Padme because she values democracy over control, and her only value to him is as an emotional support system to help him justify his twisted actions, so when she fails to do what she's done for him before he sees that as betrayal worthy of punishment by death. Episode II is massively important for reading the nuances of Episode III, just as much as Episode I is for the nuances of the unfolding political climate and shifting power paradigms. This is why I love the prequels, they're so much deeper and more richly detailed than anything else in the saga. I sort of pity the people who think the acting is bad or the romance is awkward, because they don't understand that characters are behaving superficially and the romance is actually a very deliberate and accurate depiction of unhealthy functioning relationships. Not that anyone is wrong for missing the intent, they are just movies after all. It's all subjective interpretation of art.

My order of movies: A New Hope Rogue One The Empire Strikes Back The Phantom Menace Attack of the Clones Return of the Jedi Revenge of the Sith Solo The Force Awakens The Last Jedi The Rise of Skywalker

Skipping part 2 is just as wrong and misguided as skipping part 1. Star Wars is Star Wars. My order is the Goonie Order. First you watch Fellowship of the Ring, then Empire Strikes Back, then Blade Runner, skip Lawrence of Arabia, and go right to Attack of the Clones. Best way to watch the saga.

I would suggest skipping the sequels 🤣

DID GEORGE JUST SAY "LASER SWORD"??? 4:18

Attack of the Clones is definitely the weakest written movie of the original six. Good, strong ideas that served as a basis for many flagship events/concepts in the rest of the franchise, but the execution of many of those ideas was so profoundly poor in some cases. Definitely one of my least favorite Star Wars movies (although not as bad as episode 9). I still respect its role in the canon though.

yeah right going from little 10-year-old Ani and peace in the galaxy to SCOORED in Padme, Ani somehow unsatisfied Jedi with hurt emotions, Idk, fking War going on between Republic and some strange separatist...even though Ep 2 is not good, the key plot in it is still undismissable, just like any other of the 6 films. I dont see how one could justify skipping TPM neither

I always loved Episode 1 and thought Episode 2 wasn't that great. But I thought I was alone, as I never saw anyone defend my side. So it's cool to see you defend what's good about Ep1 and explain how Ep2 is worse or less necessary :)

I have to disagree with this because if you just jump from Episode 1 to Episode 3, you're just shown Dooku with no context as to who he is, the fact that he cut off Anakin's hand is mentioned, but we get nothing other than that. You also miss the death of Anakin's mother, which is mentioned in Episode 3, but would be an offscreen event if you skipped 2. You also get zero introduction to the Clone Army, which was one of the things mentioned by Obi Wan in Episode 4. In my opinion, don't skip ANY of George's 6 movies and instead skip all the Disney shit.