I finally had some time to sit down and watch all Star Wars movies in the order they are supposed to be, according to the flanneled One, Mr. George Lucas. I have to say that I was actually quite surprised, because even though I consider myself a real Star Wars geek there were certain things that “clicked” when I finally dragged my ass to watch them all in a row on the same day. If you haven’t yet seen them all, stop reading, as spoilers follow:

* Yes, I know everybody considers Episode I an insufferable piece of crap, but I have to say that without it jumping straight into Episode II would make III far less dramatic. You wouldn’t know that Anakin is good. That it may suffer from overexposition and a, say, uninspiring plot, well, that’s another story.

* III becomes much sadder when you see Order 66 being carried out, and you realise that Anakin is just a pawn, he’s deceived by a lie, by his own luck, and by his own egoism, but he ends up being just a pawn. Tarkin is “holding his leash” by the time we reach IV, when he wanted to be much more powerful and important than that.

* IV’s title as “A New Hope” is much more inspiring if you’ve just seen III and the mess the Star Wars universe is embroiled in.

* V’s changes to the Hologram scene, where Palpatine starts rambling about Luke, even though small, give the movie a sense of cohesiveness with the rest of the saga.

* VI has much more suspense, especially when Palps says that “everything is proceeding as I have foreseen”. I mean, if the guy was able to mastermind the downfall of the Republic with shitloads of Jedi, he’ll surely be able to wipe the floor with the Rebellion, right?

* Wrong! Because we have been shown (as opposed as having been just told) that Vader used to be Anakin who used to be a good guy, so when he sees his own son, he’s got to remember Mace receiving the same sort of “shock treatment” , and then he takes his decision. It becomes much more powerful stuff.

* Lastly, Anakin’s Force ghost before the end credits of VI wraps up the whole story pretty neatly, and gives a sense of hope I can’t remember feeling last time I saw VI.