From the creatives behind “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” Jon Watts and Christopher Ford deliver a blast from the past in a galaxy far far away. When four kids discover a pirate starship in their home world of At Attin, they get swept into an Amblin-style adventure amongst the stars. Through their run-ins with a wretched hive of scum and villainy, our main characters learn that At Attin is a lost treasure planet of pirate legend. While “Skeleton Crew” isn’t a wholly original addition to the franchise and falters a bit with its characters, the series shines at reminding a fandom why they fell in love with “Star Wars” in the first place.
If the plethora of primarily ’80s pop culture references and shout-outs didn’t give it away already, “Skeleton Crew” plays many familiar hits from this bygone era. The show overall is “The Goonies” in space. Wim, played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers, is inspired by Mikey, played by Sean Astin and KB, played by Kyriana Kratter, is obviously a reference to Data played by, Ke Huy Quan. The only thing missing is Neel, played by Robert Timothy Smith, busting out the Truffle Shuffle. Not to mention the series’s plot revolving around being lost in space more than likely comes from the 1960s series, “Lost In Space.”
This familiarity isn’t a bad thing, however, it is in fact quite the opposite, but more on that later. This review merely points this out because unlike “Andor” and the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian,” whose originality was praised for saving “Star Wars,” “Skeleton Crew” was never designed to be that. “Skeleton Crew” is meant to be an homage to the movies and TV shows that people who saw the original trilogy in theaters grew up on. Surprisingly enough, in an era where moviegoers are clambering for more original ideas over sequels and reboots, because this show is so obviously influenced by the ’80s, it actually comes as its greatest strength.
The reason “Skeleton Crew” works is because it feels like the kind of adventures a kid from the 1980s, playing with their toys, would create. Action figures, especially those of primary characters, were expensive. Not everyone could afford a Luke Skywalker action figure or a Millennium Falcon playset, so they made do with whatever toys they had around to create their own “Star Wars” adventures. They would take a random alien from “He-Man”, a Transformer or a G.I. Joe, throw them into a vehicle, call it a spaceship and pretend they were exploring a distant galaxy. On an endearingly meta-level, this is exactly what the show manages to emulate.
The human crew with the token alien and robot thrown into the mix feels kind of eclectic, like a group of friends who brought their favorite toys to the sleepover. The pirates are comprised of wolf-men, owls and cyborgs, not necessarily “Star Wars” creatures, but could be characters from another play-set that totally work in this context. The world of “Skeleton Crew” captures all the wonders of friends recreating their favorite stories in the “Star Wars” universe with nothing more than a few toys and a great deal of imagination.
Speaking of childlike wonder, “Skeleton Crew” is the first “Star Wars” project to accurately depict children. Needless to say, Anakin, played by Jake Lloyd, from “The Phantom Menace” never felt right. He doesn’t talk or act like a child. His crush on Padmé, played by Natalie Portman, is borderline uncomfortable. Even his admiration of the Jedi comes from a very adult place. All of that to say, this show gets all of it right because the kids act like kids.
Yes, while Wim also looks up to the Jedi, it’s not because he wants to end slavery on Tatooine, but because they are awesome space wizards with laser swords. Neel has a crush on a girl in his class, but he doesn’t ask her if she’s an angel, he hasn’t even talked to her – this is exactly how boys act in middle school. Viewers who cringed at Wim and Neel having an imaginary lightsaber duel while waiting for the bus only did so because they were reminded of how they used to do the exact same thing at their age. Countless more examples like this are sprinkled throughout the eight-episode run and bring the series to life in a way only childlike excitement can.
While individual characterization hits like bulls eyeing womp rats with a T-16 back home that are no bigger than two meters, they are not always written with the same precision. These flaws mainly present themselves in two characters in particular: Fern, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong and Jod Na Nawood, played by Jude Law.
In the case of Fern, she is written to be the more self-serious one of the group who acts older than she is. However, she will randomly act incredibly childish for no reason and it comes off as very out of character. The best example of this comes from episode five when in the middle of a serious discussion, she joins the other kids in a pillow fight. While this is a great moment because of how well it depicts trying to have important conversations with children, Fern’s inclusion in it, and other similar instances, come across as inconsistent.
Similarly, Jod faces his own character inconsistencies. While there was always mystery behind Jod’s true motives, he was never outwardly antagonistic towards children. However, in episode five, he pulls a knife on Fern and threatens to kill the other kids out of nowhere. This is a drastic switch for the character that absolutely jumps the shark and completely flips how he behaves for the duration of the series. That said, these are only nitpicks. Outside of these minuscule moments Fern and Jod are the best characters in this show.
Despite its flaws, “Skeleton Crew” works because it reminds “Star Wars” fans why we fell in love with this franchise in the first place. It reminds us that not so long ago in a galaxy not too far away we were all a bunch of kids playing with our toys, and maybe, deep down, we still are.
5/5
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Featured Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm.
