Episode I is absolutely, by far, the worst Star Wars movie. My favorite Star Wars film is actually Rogue One, which isn’t one of the episodes.

"The first" is actually Episode 4. Episodes 4, 5 and 6 are good. 1, 2 and 3 were not liked when they came out, but then 7, 8 and 9 came out and people realized that 1, 2 and 3 were actually not that bad and things could get way worse.

I never watched Episode 9, but Episodes 7 and 8 were absolute trash. I think I'd rather watch Episode 1.