Seeing more and more people in the last 5 years hate on Rod Hilton's/NoMacheteJuggling's Star Wars watch order (Star Wars 77, Empire, AotC, RotS, then Return). The more I see though the more I can tell people critical of it have heard of Machete Order but never read the original article about why it was created. It was not out of prequel hate, but to maintain certain twists/surprises for first time viewers and add a lil narrative cohesion with the Prequels acting as a flashback to represent Luke learning about his father. Like it is for a specific purpose and no one but forum neckbeards have ever tried to make it sound mandatory or portrayed it as the only way to watch. I was there over a decade ago when it became a popular thing and even then my friend group still modified it to fit our needs/tastes (adding The Phantom Edit or watching Prequel super cuts instead of totally skipping Episode 1, later on adding Rogue One to the list before starting the orig trig). It is my favorite way to watch to this day but no one is twisting your arm for watch order or what editions you watch. Enjoy the space wizards with laser swords/Vietnam and Iraq War allegories however you want.
