So, how do I get into Star Wars

[Blind Wedjat]

As the thread title suggests, how do I get into the Star Wars mythos? I barely understand it. I first got exposed to it with the Revenge of the Sith movie but I was quite young (about 9 years old)when I watched that. I liked it then but on second view recently I didn't like it so much and found it quite boring. I've also tried watching some of the older movies as well, and I've watched the Clone Wars movie (though I hardly remember the story) and a few episodes of the animated series that followed it. I've also played the Revenge of the Sith and The Force Unleashed game. I've recently watched The Force Awakens and I've gone halfway through Rogue One. I don't really get excited when a new episode is coming out because I'm not as invested in the characters and the overarching storyline but I still try to watch them as a fan of the Sci-Fi/Action genre.

I really want to understand the timeline of the stories and have a broader knowledge of the mythos. I'm sure it's a lot of work to get into but is there anywhere I can start? I'd really appreciate anyone's help.

[sakuyamons]

So far I'm aware of, the expanded universe was considered non-canon by Disney with the Force Awakens coming out (and I'm glad, some of it was garbage), when I got into SW last year I watched the movie via Machete Order

4-5-1 (you can skip this)-2-3-6

Though I guess that with R1 it would be

R1-4-5-1-2-3-6

Also I've heard the Star Wars: darth Vader comics are good!

[Blind Wedjat]

So far I'm aware of, the expanded universe was considered non-canon by Disney with the Force Awakens coming out (and I'm glad, some of it was garbage), when I got into SW last year I watched the movie via Machete Order

4-5-1 (you can skip this)-2-3-6

Though I guess that with R1 it would be

R1-4-5-1-2-3-6

Also I've heard the Star Wars: darth Vader comics are good!

What do you mean by the expanded universe? Does that mean like outside the movies or any of the properties Disney doesn't own?

And those numbers are the episodes, right? Seems weird starting with R1 because you kinda have to know who Darth Vader is, right? Or are you supposed to find out and be surprised?

But thanks for the help and perhaps I'll check out those comics.

[Panfoot]

Best place to start I would say is to watch the original trilogy, A New Hope/Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi, then expand from their, watching the prequels if you want to(though they really just aren't that good, some real bad dialogue and overuse of CG in specifically episodes 2 and 3) and the post original trilogy stuff(Force Awakens being the only post Return of the Jedi movie thus far). Star Wars is in kind of a weird place right now since there have been a ton of good and bad books, comics, and games over the years that build on the universe, but they have largely been made non-canonical after Disney bought the franchise. Right now all the movies are canon, the TV shows Rebels and Clone Wars, and the newer books/games/comics. I couldn't say if any of the new books are any good, but the comics are more or less not worth bothering with thus far in my opinion.

[SpiderClops]

Depends on how much you want to get into it.

I have only watched movies.

First the original trilogy: Ep. 4: A New Hope, Ep. 5: Empire Strikes Back, Ep. 6: Return of the Jedi.
Then prequel trilogy: Ep.1: The Phantom Menace, Ep. 2: Attack of the Clones, Ep. 3: Revenge of the Sith.
Then Ep. 7: The Force Awakens.
Then Rogue One.

That's the order the movies were released in. I think that's the best way to watch it for newbies like you and me.
The chronological order would be Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, R1, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7.

Rogue One takes place right before Ep. 4, and you need to at least have basic knowledge of Ep. 4 to understand it.

I have watched the movies only once, and the original and prequel trilogy on a marathon. So I don't remember a lot of things. But I'm the kind of guy who can just get into things in the middle. I don't really need to know every single thing and backstory. That's how I get into most tv series. And if something really bothers me, Wikipedia is the place.

I've watched a few random episodes of Star Wars Rebels cartoon. Was fun. But I have no idea what time period it takes place in.

If you really really want to immerse in Star Wars, I suggest go to message boards like this one, listen to conversations, ask questions if need arises. Go to YouTube and watch videos. Read articles. It greatly helped me to get into comics.

[sakuyamons]

What do you mean by the expanded universe? Does that mean like outside the movies or any of the properties Disney doesn't own?

And those numbers are the episodes, right? Seems weird starting with R1 because you kinda have to know who Darth Vader is, right? Or are you supposed to find out and be surprised?

But thanks for the help and perhaps I'll check out those comics.

Yeah, once Disney bought LucasFilm, they rebranded it as Star Wars legends and deemed it non-canon (Though some of it was...little more than fanfic), and then I believe that the canon extended material would be the TV shows such as Clone Wars and Rebels.

The thing about Machete Order (which was how I watched the movies when they first came out) is that Machete Order is supposed to be about Luke which is how it works best, though maybe you can watch the episodes and then watch R1 (and the upcoming Han Solo movie that comes next year)

I checked the dude who made Machete Order and he made this graph, maybe it'll help!

machete_order_final.jpg

[Xalfrea]

Glad that this became its own forum now. I freaking love Star Wars and everything in it, but I can imagine it being very confusing for a newcomer.

Let's just stick with the movies for now. There are currently 8 major Star Wars movies obviously not made in order, but I recommend watching them in the order that they were made. IMO, watching them in chronological order (and my preferred Flashback Order) shouldn't be done until after you've familiarized yourself.

[WebLurker]

The movies are a good place to start (the exact order doesn't matter that much, if you ask me).

A lot of the other stuff naturally follows after that. It's just a question if you're interested in books, comics, TV shows, or whatever.

I'd say check out what interests you and have fun. It's not meant to be taken seriously like a test.

[WillieMorgan]

Star Wars is in a funny place right now. For many years we had both the films themselves and the in-continuity stories that featured in other media. These tied into the same universe and helped keep SW profitable and in the public eye to a degree in the long periods between film cycles. This interconnected story and galaxy building, which stretched across novels, comic-books and video games and was often approved by Lucasfilm if not necessarily George Lucas himself, came to be known as the SW Expanded Universe. I only kept up with the novels side of things and read dozens of them over a period of well over 10 years. It was a bumpy ride as some of them are poor, little better than fan-fiction. Despite this there were many great reads and these novels overall achieved their main objective of earning money/deepening the mythology of the SW galaxy.

The minute that Disney bought the SW license a few years ago all the SW EU up to that point was declared non-canon so that Disney had something fresh to build on. It's an understandable decision but pissed many fans off, including myself. There are still SW novels being published but anything prior to 2012, and there are still bookshop shelves groaning under the weight of them, are now redundant. For years the SW comic-book licence was handled by Dark Horse Comics. I've never read them so can't attest to their quality but they also have been bulldozed so that Marvel (who had the licence handed back to them on a plate) can build their own comic-book tie-in universe on top of it. Much of the bulk of SW material published down the years is now non-canon and, if you're a stickler for that kind of thing, not worth reading as it's being replaced with new stories.

I'd start with the original trilogy and watch them in order, They aren't perfect but were sensational films for their time. The Prequel Trilogy is wooden and badly made.

[Conn Seanery]

No reason for it to be complicated, just watch the films in the order that they were released. From there it's easy enough to choose what to consume among the TV shows, comics, and books.

[BeastieRunner]

Release order is easiest and best.

It's what Luke suggests.

[ChrisIII]

The original expanded universe-or "Legends" pretty much covers most of the books and comics from 1997-2014. The new EU canon covers books/comics etc. released after 2014, as well as the "Clone Wars" cartoon, which was already contradicting the original EU anyway (One could say it's the first of the new canon).

Basically there's a few differences from the 'new' canon version of events, although of course the first six movies are the same.

LEGENDS (Some spoilers here if you plan to read the books).
-The Republic, Jedi, and the Sith Lords seem to me much older (although it's unclear how old they are in the current canon). The Clone Wars also are a bit different, with Anakin only becoming a knight closer to the events of SITH and some of the Jedi die differently. "Order 66" is an actual contingency order. After the heroes win the war, they still have several smaller conflicts with what's left of the Empire, including wannabe Sith Lords, and even a clone of the Emperor himself. A New Republic is formed. Luke successfully trains a new Jedi order, gets married and has a son; Han and Leia likewise, have three kids. Although peace is achieved with the remnants of the Empire after a few decades of fighting, a new, bizzare enemy known as the Yuzzhan Vong invade the galaxy. After that conflict is over-with Leia becoming a full-fledged Jedi at last-one of Han and Leia's kids goes to the dark side, causing another civil war, then a bunch of Jedi go nuts, Luke is exiled but uses the oppurtunity to do some Jedi research until he's finally battling some kind of dark side monster; then the Sith re-emerge, bring back the Empire to prominence, and one of Luke's descendants must take up the lightsaber....and that's sort of where it ends.

The New canon is (more or less) this: The Republic is possibly founded after the last war with the Sith (although like with Legends it's not 100% clear). In the Clone Wars, Anakin becomes a knight soon after AOTC and takes Ashoka as a padawan; although she leaves the order before the events of SITH. Order 66 is actually an implant that alter's a clone's brain. After the heroes win the war, a decisive battle is fought at Jakku, with the Empire mostly settling for peace, but various ships flee to deep space and create the first order. Like in LEGENDS, a New Republic is formed (although not on Coruscant) Han and Leia have one son, Ben. At some point, Luke's attempt to create a new Jedi order is destroyed by the First Order, including Ben who has now gone to the dark side and joined "The Knights of Ren" as Kylo Ren. Luke goes into an exile, possibly seeking the first Jedi temple. Leia leaves Han and the Republic to create the resistance while the Republic mostly turns a blind eye to the First order arming for conflict-and trying to find Luke....


There are various other small differences here and there as well, such as the Death Star's design history which was much, much more complicated than the current version we have. Also, certain elements of "Legends" have been brought back into continuity, although with some alterations. The most prominent of these is Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn-a tactical genius who learns about his enemies from their artwork-was the villain of the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn, where he fought the heroes five years after "Return of the Jedi". With an identical appearence and personality (although possibly an altered backstory and probably no involvement in the post-ROTJ timeline) has been one of the main villains of the REBELS series which takes place a few years before Rogue One/A New Hope.

[The Whovian]

Like the others have said, stick to the movies first. Watch them in order, then if you like them, you'll have a very good grasp on the mythos and background info. Then you can branch out into the cartoons, books, comics, etc. When you do though, keep in mind that some of it is not canon. Still good stuff, but just keep that in mind.

[Lee Stone]

I recommend watching them in the order they were released.
(And when you do, watch the original theatrical versions of 4-6).

If you like Star Wars enough, you'll want to go back and watch them in chronological order on your second viewings.

[ChrisIII]

One thing you might want to keep in mind is that the current home video versions of the films are not the original theatrical editions.

In 1997, for the twentieth anniversary Lucas released the original trilogy with new special effects and a few re-done or inserted scenes. He also put further edits into the 2004 DVD and 2011 blu-ray editions. There was a 2006 limited release of the original edits of the film, but it was sort of a port of a 1994 laserdisc so it's not quite up to current standards.

Basically, here's a run-down of many of the changes (Not complete)

STAR WARS

-New shots of Stormtroopers and Dewbacks (Reptile beasts of burden on Tatooine). The Dewbacks are now animated in CG.
-Some small changes to Tatooine's sky.
-Mos Eisley is expanded with many CG elements.
-Greedo shoots first, or at the same time, as Han, instead of Han just shooting him.
-Some changes to the Cantina aliens-mainly the wolfmen are replaced.
-Scene with Jabba is put back in, but with CG renovations to match his ROTJ appearence and also Boba Fett is added. The 1997 edition featured a fairly crude Jabba CG, but the 2004 version is much better.
-More visual gags added to Han's attempt to distract the Stormtrooper squads.
-Several space shots of the Falcon, X-wings, TIE fighters and the Death Star now have CG effects.
-Some of the other effects have been cleaned up a bit (matte lines, grease etc.)

ESB

-We now see the entire Wampa.
-Cloud City now has more CG shots of various aircraft and the skyline.
-Cloud City also has many more windows.
-DVD and Blu-ray replace the Emperor with his ROTJ/prequel actor, Ian Mcdiarmid, and slightly alter his dialogue.
-2004 onwards, Boba Fett's voice has been changed of that of his "father" Temura Morrison.
-In the 1997 edition, Luke gives off a scream when he falls from the awning. However this was removed for the DVD and blu ray.
-There's a couple of shots of Vader boarding his shuttle, and then flying it and landing it in his star destroyer.


ROTJ

-The dance scene in Jabba's palace has a new version, with a different song, more singers/dancers/musicians both CG and not.
-Oola's death by Rancor is shown more (they even found the same actress), including her reaction.
-Some new shots of Boba Fett, including him flirting with dancers.
-Sarlacc now has a beak.
-Vader says "Noooo!" twice before dumping the Emperor in the shaft (blu-ray only)
-Extended ending showing various celebrations across the galaxy, and new music
-Anakin's ghost appearing as his youthful self (DVD and blu versions)


TPM
-Pod race scene has been extended with new dialogue and effects
-Anakin's uncertainty over what to do on Coruscant and boarding an air taxi with new shots of the city has been added.
-The Yoda puppet is replaced by his CG version (blu-ray only)

AOTC
-Extended Anakin confession scene.

ROTS

-mainly just a transition shot of the exhausted Obi-Wan to Anakin's mechanical hand was changed to a wipe.