Is Star Wars 'Watered Down'?

 Liam Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace and most recently in the Obi-Wan miniseries said in a recent interview that he feels Star Wars has become "watered down". Naturally, this got people talking all over social media and YouTube. Well, here's my 1 cent opinion.

In Mr Neeson's defense, there was a time when Star Wars projects came in 3 year increments. The OT was filmed in 1976, 1979 and 1982 for theatrical release in 1977, 1980 and 1983 respectively. The Prequels began filming in late 1997, 2000 and 2003 due to the advances in digital technology for release in 1999, 2002 and 2005. The gaps weren't just for technology advancements but also time to make story corrections and adjustments if needed. George Lucas did actually "make up things as he went along" if you want to be honest about it. But that time gave him chances to play with the outline he proposed. While he may have always had Vader being Luke's father in his mind, he didn't have Leia as Vader's daughter at the time he finished Empire Strikes Back. But when Jedi came, Lucas was exhausted and decided to make Leia become Luke's sister when starting on Jedi.

But is Star Wars "watered down"? The Sequel Trilogy came at a break neck pace in 2 year increments, and from 2015-2019 Disney put out 5 movies: Episode 7, Rogue One, Episode 8, Solo and Episode 9. Now there isn't a movie on the horizon, or that we know of yet. Is that too many films in a short time? Again, debatable. Since 2014, Disney has also put Star Wars back on TV, or most recently on streaming services on Disney Plus. On TV there was Rebels, which ran from 2014-2017, and Star Wars Resistance which ran from 2018-2020. The Mandalorian has become the biggest show on Disney Plus, and that started in 2019. Now there's the 3rd season of that show coming in March. Also, there's The Bad Batch, and the upcoming Ahoska live action series along with Skeleton Crew, and the High Republic Era show The Acolyte. I haven't acknowledged the Obi-Wan miniseries or the limited run Andor series either.

Now with all of that coming out, I understand the statement that Star Wars feels like it's watered down. And there is a case to be made for that. However, there is another (pun intended) franchise that released a LOT of material in a short amount of time, that only now is also being called out as being "watered down".

When Marvel was at it's highest point (2016-2019), it felt like there was a new movie every other month. I never heard how there was too many Marvel movies out. Only that many people (including me) enjoyed them tremendously! We got Captain America, Spider-Man, Ant Man, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captian Marvel, Black Panther, and of course Infinity War (the best Marvel film, IMO) and Endgame. There are a few I've left out but you get the idea. That's a lot of content in a short time. Nobody complained about it. So now, what has changed?

Some Marvel backlash is to be expected. Tony Stark died snapping Thanos out of existence. Steve Rogers went back in time to be with Peggy Carter and is no longer Captain America. Scarlett Witch and Dr Strange opened the door to the Multiverse with help from Spider-Man. The Ms Marvel series was not well received, while Falcon (the new Captain America) & The Winter Soldier was a decent show. The Eternals had the best cast of actors & actresses top to bottom, and bombed. Ant Man & The Wasp Quantumania hasn't met box office expectations at this writing. The Black Panther follow up was also short on box office expectations.

The bottom line is, in all things, it is THE STORY THAT MATTERS! Peak Marvel Film era of 2014-2019 nobody talked about too much Marvel at once. Stories were good, people flocked to see it. In 2015 & 2016 Disney put out two good Star Wars movies. Then Episode 8 happened, and honestly Disney hasn't recovered since. Now, if the Obi-Wan series had a better story and non Canon breaking events (meeting Leia and fighting Darth Vader) and while Cassian Andor was an interesting character in Rogue One, some felt the show wasn't needed, and some fans are divided equally on if they liked it or hated it. If the writing is good, tells a good story and doesn't have to constantly force retconning, then it should be good. So while from story standpoints you can infer Star Wars is being watered down, fans who enjoy the content are the only b winners. But are there enough of those fans to keep the flame going? That is the big question. For that, I have no answer at this time.