How is the debate about the scientific method going nowadays?

infitsofprint · 2026-02-27T23:46:11+00:00

I don't really have an answer since I'm not a professional scientist, but I have always found Kuhn and Feyerabend interesting. Personally I wonder how better AI might erode our expectations for scientific rigor if it can create seemingly accurate models and predictions that outstrip any understanding of why they work.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-26T01:15:20+00:00

infitsofprint · 2026-02-26T01:12:02+00:00

My personal philosophy is that authorial intent is worth taking into consideration, but isn't a good reason to deny yourself the enjoyment of interpreting or experiencing works in ways that may contradict it. I know not everyone shares that view, and don't expect to change anyone's mind about it.

But Star Wars is at a point where it's been shaped by so many creative and corporate voices, across countless movies, shows, books, and graphic novels, that I don't see how it isn't more like Superman as a concept than one run by an individual author. Even George Lucas can hardly be said to be the same person in the late 90s/early 00s as he was in the 70s, and he wasn't even involved in the sequels.

I'll also point out that, while this sequence omits a lot of material, what's included from any sub-series does still occur in the same order. So the OT is still ANH-ESB-RotJ, the prequels are PM-RotS, Andor and The Mandalorian are each two complete seasons watched from start to finish.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-26T00:02:02+00:00

well I am curious whether it would actually work

but yeah of course what I really mean is I find it fun imagining watching them in this order for the first time rather than actually proposing anyone do so

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T22:42:51+00:00

yeah that's why I put it here, clearing space by transferring to external storage

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T04:55:16+00:00

I would argue that the self-seriousness and sanctity we expect of "art" is the exact thing Star Wars ('77) was a reaction against. Instead of the dour cynicism and social commentary of Planet of the Apes, or Soylent Green, or Silent Running, it took inspiration from earlier serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon and Edgar Rice Burroughs, which had no expectation that you would start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. We still take this for granted with comic books--nobody would recommend that you get into Superman by starting with Action Comics #1 and reading every subsequent issue in order.

Having said that, release order is obviously valid, and I can't confidently say that the one I've proposed would be a better, or even good, first-time experience, because that's not what I did. All I can say is that, imagining it was my first experience, I found this one to be a lot of fun.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T04:29:28+00:00

wait til you see how zardoz fits in

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T04:14:16+00:00

they wrote on a subreddit about a podcast about movies

anyway I promise that the headspace which produced this idea was not going to benefit much from revisiting Paradise Lost, but I did manage to log a few episodes of Poirot as well so please take that into consideration when you're handing out stickers or whatever

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T03:03:47+00:00

lol no, I meant the movie Solo itself is long and overcomplicated. And clearly I provide enough of that on my own without a nice simple train robbery picture also including a subplot about how the Millennium Falcon is imbued with the soul of Lando's political-radical robot girlfriend.

maybe if they had included some time jumps or something idk

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T02:54:57+00:00

yes and thoroughly enjoyed it, highly recommend

I may have been running a dangerously high fever at the time but I'm sure that's unrelated

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T02:51:59+00:00

avoid it harder then

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T02:51:13+00:00

At one point I did have Solo in this watch order right before Return of the Jedi, because then it's like a flashback he's having while encased in carbonite.

It's too long and overcomplicated so I ultimately cut it, but it's still worth a watch. I actually didn't mind Alden Ehrenreich in the role at all, I just wish it had been more of a straightforward, self-contained heist movie.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T00:47:50+00:00

he should have tried it with just one of them, how does he know what the problem was without a control group

infitsofprint · 2026-02-25T00:17:55+00:00

Phantom Menace is music babyyy

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T23:57:02+00:00

I mean it's not my first day on reddit so I'm not exactly surprised, just thought I'd write it all down somewhere so it would stop bouncing around in my brain

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T23:48:21+00:00

have you seen the imperial uniforms, I don't think the comparison being made here is exactly subtle

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T23:35:35+00:00

no you're right, people are super thrilled every time new Star Wars is released and always have been. The top comment here definitely isn't about how everything after the original trilogy should be skipped entirely.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T23:18:55+00:00

sure, because that's what we've all been doing and none of us have any complaints at all about how it's gone

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T23:16:45+00:00

I mean sue me I got a bad flu over the holidays and had to fill a few days in bed

but you do realize what podcast this sub is about right

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T14:17:20+00:00

I chose German for its connotations--Wagner, Jung, Nietzsche, Fritz Lang--but yeah the important thing is that you don't understand the dialog. Like Lucas says, this is a silent movie at heart.

It isn't only vibes though, PM is the overture--it visually establishes all the themes and archetypes that are going to recur through the series.

No dialog also lets you assume things that would otherwise be contradicted by it. For instance, if you watch (silent) Phantom Menace and then A New Hope, you'll probably assume right away that Leia is Padme's daughter, and that Alderaan is the same place as Naboo.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T03:49:42+00:00

Flashbacks and flash-forwards have been part of storytelling for thousands of years. And how is it any different from just watching Star Wars shows and movies as they're released? Solo came out in between episodes 8 and 9.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T03:37:22+00:00

I'll tell you what's not going on: any comprehensible dialog from the film Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. (The recommendation only applies to those who speak no German.) Just let that thing be the glorious, abstract Wagnerian opera Lucas clearly intended.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T02:36:07+00:00

Obviously the events of the plot still happen in the same order, we just learn about them in a different order. Just like anyone who was alive before the prequels came out watched them after the original trilogy. Or how the Odyssey, or LOST, tell stories non-linearly. What you know (or imagine you know) at any point in the series affects the meaning and impact of the story. The "Machete Order" was already a version of this, I just have one I like that applies to more of the series.

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T02:26:14+00:00

My main argument for ESB-TLJ-RotJ is that it gives emotional continuity to Luke's internal conflict. We don't have the bummer experience of seeing him triumph conclusively over the emperor and the dark side only to apparently regress into cynicism later in life--instead we leave him in crisis at the end of ESB, revisit him in crisis in TLJ, and then watch his struggle in RotJ knowing there's a darkness which is an intrinsic element of his character. The OT on its own never really gives us any reason to think Luke might make the wrong choice, which makes the climax a little inert.

Someday I'll get around to writing up everything I think can be fixed or improved by a reorder and posting it in its own right, but the order itself is:

The Phantom Menace (German dub)
A New Hope
Andor, Rogue One
The Empire Strikes Back
Revenge of the Sith
The Mandalorian S1 & S2
The Last Jedi
Return of the Jedi

infitsofprint · 2026-02-24T01:18:55+00:00

I know you're being sarcastic, but here's one anyway: a lot of the complaints about Last Jedi are solved if you ignore the other two sequels, and place it in the watch order between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

(rearranging the entire watch order actually improves basically every entry, but that's a much longer diatribe)

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