The best way to watch a movie trilogy

I have always been a big fan of the movie trilogy. They are like a miniseries on the big screen. You get to know the characters better, and have something to look forward to in waiting for the next installment. Among my favorites have been the original Star Wars trilogy, the Indiana Jones trilogy of the 80s, and the more recent Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies (I was not a fan of the episodes I-III of Star Wars, or of the Matrix movies).

One downside of the trilogy used to be that you could forget subtle plot points while waiting for the next installment. This could be especially vexing if that point became important in the next installment, but it also could lead to missing the subtleties of a small internal joke. This is not such an issue anymore with the development of VCRs and DVDs, where you can rent or buy the movie and refresh your memory before the next comes out in theaters.


This past holiday season, my husband received the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie (Dead Man's Chest) on DVD. He actually missed the theater release, while I saw it when it came out. I remember thinking that I should have re-watched the first 2 before seeing the third, because I was sure I was missing something, so I suggested we watch them in order. He was agreeable to this, so in the days after Christmas, we watched all 3. We did it over 2 days.

It was totally fantastic! It did help on some minor plot points, but where it really shone through was with the subtle jokes. For example, I had totally forgotten Barbosa's obsession with apples from the first movie, so totally missed the relevance of him having apples all of the time. Additionally, it made the second movie much stronger when you looked at it as simply the middle of a longer movie.




The same thing holds true for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. We watched the extended versions of all 3 on New Year's eve and New Year's Day (quite the marathon session, but really fun). The second movies of trilogies seem to hold up much better that way.

I remember about 10-15 years ago, the USA network used to show all 3 Star Wars (Eps 4-6) in a row on Christmas day. My dad and I used to watch them, and I looked forward to it every year. I now know that watching trilogies as if they were actually one long film is actually the best way to view them, especially if you have already enjoyed them in the theater.

(as an aside, I would recommend listening to the director's and writers' comments for the Lord for the Rings movies. It was very interesting to hear the logic in why they changed things from the books, and how some of the special effects were done.)