5. Alternating Order
The Order: I - IV - II - V - III - VI Immortalised in RedLetterMedias Prequel Reviews, one of George Lucas major goals with the newer trilogy was to mirror the events of the classics (its like poetry, they rhyme). Things like the hero blowing up the spaceship at the end of the first part are all pretty obvious, but the only way to really see it is to watch them side by side (or more accurately, one after each other). Any overt focus on either Anakin or Luke is negated here and both heroes get pretty equal screen time throughout the series; a problem that rarely gets raised is that Star Wars flippantly changes who its about. Whats most interesting is that even though were showing the prequels at the same time, the Vader twist is still done in Empire. Compared to other orders this one is certainly one for existing fans wanting to get the most from their Star Wars. Its not the best telling of the story, but expands on some of the subtler elements of the saga. Theres obviously another way to alternate the films, going original then prequel, but that ends up with the incredibly downbeat Episode III, which works much better as a lead in to redemption.