Kottke asks, "which order will you show him/her the six Star Wars movies?"
I think there was a thread on this very subject on TheForce.net a while back. The conventional wisdom is to show them in the order of original release: 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3.
Though most of Kottke's commenters prefer: 4, 5, 6, without showing 1, 2, 3. :)
If I recall from the TF.N debate, Star Wars fandom was pretty evenly divided (between 123456 and 456123). However, there were a few unconventional suggestions that I really liked, one of which was spotted on Kottke's post: 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6.
You have to preserve Vader's reveal to Luke in "Empire". I think you should end with Anakin's redemption in "Jedi." Plus, as much as I like "Sith," it's a downer way to end the series.
So, I too have been feverishly debating this with myself as our kids get closer to Star Wars-viewing age. For now, my plan is 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6, but I can see good arguments for the alternatives. What do you think?
This weekend, I finished1 The Making of Star Wars. Outstanding; definitely 5 stars.
A great tidbit I picked up: How long did it take James Earl Jones to complete his work as Darth Vader?
Two and a half hours.
Crazy. You pop in after lunch for a quick job, spend a couple of hours reading into a microphone, and presto, before dinner you've defined one of the great villians of all time. Not bad.
1 I certainly did not read every word, cover-to-cover. To do so at my current rate would take years. I just flipped throught the whole thing and read selected bits. Maybe someday when there is a little more quiet in our household (in like, 18 years) I will go back and soak it all in.
I have been reading The Making of Star Wars and I really enjoy it. That's not terribly surprising, of course. The thing about the book and the story it tells that I find most interesting is how much thrashing took place on the story of Star Wars itself as the movie was being made, in addition to the more well-known budget and logistics issues.
One of my favorite moments thus far was a description of the encounter between Leia and Tarkin on the Death Star. Apparently Peter Cushing (Tarkin) was very self-concious about odor, so he always splashed on lavendar water when working. This created somewhat of a dilemma for Carrie Fisher, because she needed to utter the line, "Governor Tarkin... I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board." She commented that was it kind of hard to say, since he smelled so nice. Hee.