Watch the Maple Films edit of the Hobbit whenever.
Watch the Lord of the Rings first probably.
don't watch the original cut of the Hobbit. watch the director's cut if you have to. it contains a lot of good scenes that were inexplicably cut, although it doesn't doesn't remove the bad and pointless scenes. really though you should just watch the Maple Films edit. but if you're allergic to doing that for some reason then I guess the director's cut is the better of two "not great" options.
