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Who better to determine the proper order for watching the Star Wars films than Luke Skywalker himself?

Mark Hamill spoke with Collider last week and was quizzed about his preferred timeline for watching the eight (so far) Star Wars movies.

Those of us who were of moviegoing age in 1977 and thus saw them all in release order (get off my space lawn) might find this an odd question. Maybe, but there's benefit to starting with the prequels and watching them in episode order.

Hamill at first went old-school, saying "I always think, the way they were chronologically released." (Score one for the AARP set.)

But then he admitted watching them in the order they take place has its merits, and after first reciting the movies in episode order, one through eight, changed his mind and came up with a new lineup.

"I mean ... wait a second. Rogue One comes before four," Hamill said. "Yeah so you go: one, two, three, Rogue One, four, five, six, seven, eight."

He also said he had asked creator George Lucas back in 1977 why the first film was labeled Episode IV.

"Well, the prequels are pretty dark," Lucas told him. "It's a darker story. This one, he said, is more commercial."

Hamill didn't comment on the Machete Order, which is a way of watching the films that preserves a certain big twist involving Luke's relationship to you-know-who, but our CNET critic Richard Trenholm tried it out.

Once you've conquered the galaxy, if you want to watch all the Marvel films in the proper order, well, we've got a guide to that, too.

Star Wars at 40: Join us in celebrating the many ways the Force-filled sci-fi saga has impacted our lives.

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