It’s true that the sludge of sequels and prequels Disney has pumped out ruined the magic of the franchise. Liam Neeson has just spoken the truth when he said all of the projects Disney has released in the Star Wars universe wore down the “magic” of the franchise.
There’s a reason why a red diamond is considered to be more valuable than your everyday, run-of-the-mill garnet.
Prior to Disney taking over the Star Wars brand from its creator George Lucas for $4B back in 2012, one of the main aspects that made the Star Wars brand one of the most legendary, intriguing, and exciting brands in all of Hollywood was the rarity of its project releases.
Unlike the modern-day trend of Disney releasing 2-3 projects a year (let alone a decade as was the norm), there was only two main releases of Star Wars movies (OG trilogy: 1977-83; Prequel Trilogy: 1995-2005) in the franchise’s history, while the only Star Wars T.V. show to air was Star Wars: The Clone Wars (1st Iteration: 2003-05; 2nd Iteration: 2008-14).
Now, this may seem like a long span in the grand scheme of time, but the 12+ year-long wait between the OG Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy (PT) and the 10+ year wait between the PT and the Sequel Trilogy (2015-19) allowed fans to get excited, invested, and engrossed by the lore of the franchise, rather than getting their throats stuffed by endless movies and T.V. shows month after month.
And, the three-year wait time between each movie in both the OG Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy allowed fans to digest the films they were watching, take a few years away to fully comprehend and understand what was shown, and then take the last 6 or so months to get excited for the next release.
Comparatively, there’s never been more than a 16-month wait between Marvel films, while Phase 4 has seen an average of a little under a month wait between new projects. And, if it wasn’t for the Sequel Trilogy’s spectacular failure, there would have been Star Wars movies scheduled for yearly release for the foreseeable future.
See why Liam Neeson is almost 100% right? The more you get of something, the less unique and valuable it becomes to you. And, eventually, if you get enough of the said thing, its losses its value all together.
(Disney/Lucasfilm-Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace-Trailer)
However, the one thing I have to slightly push back against in Liam Neeson’s statement is the fact that he omitted the horrific treatment the Star Wars brand has received under the neglectful, greedy eye of the Big Mouse and all of Disney’s crony executives.
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy was an untethered, leaderless mess that contradicted past plots and character events in each subsequent release, the “side” movies (ex: Rouge 1, Solo) were largely forgettable, and the Star Wars T.V. shows have been hit-and-miss at the very best.
Sometimes you get gems like The Mandalorian (which is getting milked to death now), Clone Wars Season 7, and Andor, and then other times you get duds like The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Bad Batch (which is improving, thankfully).
Another reason why Star Wars was so beloved back before Disney turned it into a joke was due to the fact that the overarching story had purpose, meaning, and a clear epic arc devised by one of the most brilliant Hollywood creators, George Lucas, in history. Sure, his directing and definitely his writing was mostly substandard (as the Prequels showed), but the weaving story he created within the first six movies is nothing short of a masterpiece.
When you degrade the writing and cohesive storytelling that made Star Wars so successful as Disney has done, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the franchise’s mystique, wonder, and “magic” has worn off and been lost to time. Star Wars was once the treasured, rare red diamond of Hollywood, but has now been worn down into yet another average garnet under Disney’s vast umbrella.
So, in the end, I’m glad Liam Neeson is respecting Star Wars and us fans by not fueling Disney’s greed with future appearances in new projects.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace – Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Disney/Lucasfilm) (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace – Trailer – YouTube)
