Star Wars Fan Explains Why Starting With The Phantom Menace Is A Bad Idea

09.03.2024 - 15:17 / gamerant.com / Ademilade ShodipeDosunmu

While some Star Wars fans see The Phantom Menace as the perfect starting point for first-time viewers of the iconic franchise, one fan has a major issue with this order and has laid out his argument against the divisive prequel film.

Since the Star Wars prequel trilogy was released in the early 2000s, the fandom has been split about which watch order was correct, an argument re-ignited by Disney's Star Wars sequels and streaming projects bringing in even more new viewers. The main point of contention revolves around The Phantom Menace,the first prequel film that many fans consider the most ambitious Star Wars movie.

While Star Wars fans defended the Prequels-first watch order on Reddit’s r/StarWars board, the discussion is far from settled, and one dissenter has come back with an argument against starting new fans off with The Phantom Menace.While user PalestPistachi0 specifies that they are by no means a prequel hater, they assert that the prequels-first (that is, chronological) watch order is not the ideal one for the simple reason that The Phantom Menace is not the introduction to the franchise that new fans deserve. “I have been to multiple watch parties in the past few years to 'start' the Star Wars saga only to see the host cue up The Phantom Menace. This plays out the same every time. Those who have watched episode one will make jokes, and the first-timers will be bored. First-time watchers get more entertainment value out of the jokes being told about the movie than the movie itself.” The user doubled down on their assessment, highlighting whystarting withA New Hope is better.

…Phantom Menace is not the introduction to Star Wars that the people of this galaxy deserve. A New Hope is a perfect hero’s journey story with one of the most magical climaxes in film history. The Phantom Menace is infamous for not meeting expectations. It is brain-melting spectacle with a poorly communicated story.

While the user acknowledged the additions theStar Wars franchise’s animated shows made to the canon surrounding the prequel era, they insist that the shows only work with proper context, and the equivalent context needed for the prequels is the original trilogy. Additionally, PalestPistachi0 also opposes the chronological order because it takes away some of the enjoyment fans would otherwise get from watching the release order that starts with A New Hope,the first of the original trilogy and a Star Wars story that execs were excited about a year before release. “Anakin falling prey to the dark side is not a surprise in the prequels, it’s what they’re all about. It is not worth ruining the twist that Vader is Luke's father because the prequels are clearly written for an audience fully aware of who Darth Vader