2. Flashback Order
The Order: IV - V - I - II - III - VI Speaking of flashbacks, here is a legitimate viewing order that manages to deal with the problems of the two conventional orders. We dont have to start or end with the lesser films and the big reveal of Lukes parentage is kept in its original form. You start of watching the Original Trilogy as normal, but after the depressingly shocking ending of Empire, instead of continuing forwards you go back and watch the prequels. The immediate advantage of this is obvious; we get the Vader reveal as originally intended. But unlike kids in 1980, we can immediately go back and see just how this happened. Theres some unexpected benefits too. The cliffhanger of what happened to Han is left for a tension building six hours and the ending gets a bit more depth; the appearance of Naboo and Hayden in the Special Editions feels a bit more relevant as were there just a short while before. The only really downside is a flipside to one of the positives; we are dragged away from the characters we really like suddenly and maybe dont see them again for a little too long. Theres an interesting variation on this called Machete Order. From the blog Absolutely No Machete Jumping, it removes Episode I completely. While thats good for Jar-Jar haters, there are a couple of key plot threads (particularly through the prequels) that feel confusingly absent. Cutting out an episode is, lets not forget, cheating, so it joins this list only as a footnote.