@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
Don't get me wrong, I do kinda like Rogue One, but for me it mainly lived from viewer nostalgia for the original trilogy, and to me the characters were so weak that I have to look up their names when discussing the movie despite having seen it multiple times.
The cool ones are Chirrut (although he is _so_ full of the asian blind monk trope that I wonder if he was just included as a token asian to grab some more money from the Chinese audience watching the movie.) and K-2 (I like Droids.)
In contrast to that: I can remember quite some of the names from the Solo movie.
OK, before reding that rest of my post: It sounds like a rant but it really isn't. I don't want to change your opinion, just politely explain why I think that it isn't adviseable to people to watch Star Wars in that order because it is highly detrimental to viewing pleasure, and why I think it is even possible to prove that, based on the structure of the movies with a few examples.
I am really happy that you managed to become a Star Wars fan, _despite_ watching the movies in the wrong order, not _because_ of that. That alone tells me that you are a true follower of Star Wars, I really respect your views.
Ok, let's go:
How could anyone see Ep1-3 and NOT know that Palpatine is evil? I have to check the English version, but at least in the German version Darth Sidious is even recognizable by his voice. He also does stuff like telling Darth Maul (as Sidious) that he has blocked the senate with questions about procedures or something like that, and shortly after that (IIRC) there is a scene in which (as Palpatine) he uses a very similar wording to tell Padme about those problems and how he hopes to overcome them.
About other "spoilers":
Palpatine is one "spoiler", and you are right, so are Anakin being Vader and the fact that Obi-Wan will live through the experience and become a Jedi Master and a few other (IMO minor) points.
But I can tell you that it really doesn't take away from Ep1-3 if you know who Palpatine is. I did know (people were supposed to know, there was even merchandise toys in Corn Flakes boxes, little plastic figures that had a piece of paper in them, revealing information about the characters. Palpatine was among them) and I did enjoy the movies. And so did many other people. EP1-3 almost doesn't rely on surprises at all. It is about watching the heroes struggle.
It just is a little bit different of an experience. Like the difference between a crime fiction in which the audience knows who the murderer was (but the characters don't) and one in which the audience doesn't know. Both are completely valid ways of crime storytelling. But one is basically destroyed if the reader knows the end, and the other isn't. And that's one of the main differences between the two trilogies.
Ep1-3 basically spoils _all_ key scenes of the original trilogy. It spoils who Yoda is for example. EP5 has that fun scene in which Luke meets the funny little green man on Dagobah while searching for a powerful Jedi Master, and both him and the audience don't know he is Yoda. That scene is a bit silly, and for an EP1-3 viewer it is completely pointless and beyond silly, because they know who Yoda is and how he behaved 20 years earlier.
And shortly thereafter the audience for the first time sees how powerful the Force can be. Yoda can lift the X-Wing from the swamp! Again a boring scene for someone who watched the prequels first, because you know what the Force is capable of. Someone watching the OT first hasn't seen a lot from the Force at that point. Seeing stuff close to you without looking at it, having quick reaction times, mind tricks on weak-minded people, becoming a ghost, and some simple telekinesis (including choking people. That wasn't a Force power of its own back then). That's all you know about the Force at that point. It is marvelous to see what is possible!
Same for Obi-Wan. You are not supposed to know the old guy is Obi-Wan, a Jedi Master. Even Leia's message only said that he fought in the Clone Wars, not that he is a Jedi. But if you saw EP1-3 you instantly recognize that the guy is wearing a Jedi cloak. You don't recognize the actor but you know it is Obi-Wan.
Also Luke and Leia are siblings. That should be a surprise.
The fact that the Emperor is a Sith Lord (ok,ok, the world Sith was invented later) is a surprise. Viewers of the OT asked themselves what that guy might be capable of, why he is so powerful that Vader accepts orders from him and even from his subordinates (Tarkin gives Vader orders for example). The audience even doubted the Emperor is a Force user, because Tarkin outright tells Vader in Ep4 that he is all that is left of that old religion.
If you know Palpatine from Ep3 it is also really disappointing to see him in Ep6 because in Ep3 he uses a Lightsaber (pretty well to boot) while in Ep6 he doesn't even have one.
Ep4-6 is a story about a farm boy whose father was a pilot, fighting the evil empire against all odds.
Since you don't know that his father is one of the most powerful Jedi ever (only overshadowed by very few people, including Luke himself) you can almost feel his hopelessness and excitedly follow his struggle to find allies and to beat those powerful evil guys.
The message that Vader is Luke's father isn't just important for Luke, it is important for the whole galaxy. It means that Luke might be able to beat Vader and the Emperor. And that he might be the only one who can. All is at stake. And that "I am your father" scene is not only iconic because of its personal implications.
Thanks for reading.
