Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Eps. 1 & 2 Review
Raise your hands if this described you as a kid: you got up to eat breakfast, went to school for eight hours before coming home, and did your homework and chores. Keep those hands raised if you hated that monotony and wanted nothing more than to go on some grand adventure. The kind of adventure you see kids go on in movies or whatever show you like to watch on TV. If George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are anything to go by, you’re not alone in that desire. Many of their films are escapist, involving someone young and restless craving more than what life seems to have planned for them. It’s baked into The Goonies; it’s baked in E.T.; and it’s baked into Star Wars. That may be why the new Disney+ series, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, seems so appealing to audiences, even those getting sick of Star Wars.
Suburbia. Safe, But Boring.
Debuting on the platform with a two-part premiere on December 2nd, Skeleton Crew takes place in the same period as The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. Fans and critics have best described it as The Goonies in space, and as the first two episodes of the series show, that description is spot-on. After a quick cold opening of pirates capturing a freighter, we’re gradually introduced to our quartet of main characters, and more importantly, their home. Their world of At Attin can best be described as what would happen if you gave 1980s suburban America its own planet. Everyone lives in identical houses with fences, kids go to school to learn things, and the parents work mundane, everyday jobs. It’s all one, big conveyor belt of conformity…and it stinks!
It may feel like reading too much into it, but the pilot episode of Skeleton Crew justifies why films like The Goonies and Star Wars were so popular in the 80s. As safe and peaceful as suburban life can be, men like Lucas and Spielberg understood that that feeling of safety and conformity it gives us can also be a prison. That’s best shown in the main protagonist, Wim, a boy who’d rather become a Jedi and help others than become…whatever boring job society expects him to perform. What’s worse is that he doesn’t have anyone who understands this, as his best friend, Neel, likes life as it is, and his dad’s too busy to care for his emotional needs. Then we have Fern, our main female protagonist, who actively rebels against her mom by riding speeder bikes and getting into drag races with her best friend, KB. Her mom doesn’t even notice she doesn’t care about being a good student.
Rebel Kids!
If Skeleton Crew is meant to be the spiritual successor to films like E.T. and The Goonies, then Wim and Fern are successors to characters like Elliott and Stef Steinbrenner, and as with their home itself, that’s intentional. The whole series is set up to be the ultimate escapist fantasy for every kid who loves Star Wars and wishes they could go on an adventure in a Galaxy far, far away. And as someone who spent his childhood wanting to do just that, I could relate. Thus, I knew where this was going when they brought their respective friends to the abandoned starship they found. And when Wim pressed the big, green button.
The next thing you know, Wim, Fern, Neel, and KB are lost in space. This is where the fun begins for Skeleton Crew, as well as the mystery.
They Came from a Lost Planet?!?
Episode 2 of Skeleton Crew picks up with the quartet of kids lost in hyperspace on an old freighter, unable to find their way back to At Attin. The upside is that they gain an ally in the form of their ship’s first mate, the droid SM-33. And whoever came up with that name, give yourself a pat on the back. SMEE (Yes, I’m calling him that) is a loyal first mate once Fern asserts that she’s now the captain, and as the episode’s climax demonstrates, he can handle himself in a fight. Unfortunately, SMEE cannot get them back to At Attin despite his ship just leaving the planet, and there’s a reason for that. As the kids come to know in the shadow port they stop at, At Attin, their home, is considered a legend. A mythical planet said to be home to an eternal treasure.
I wasn’t expecting the reason why it’s going to be hard for the kids to get home to be that their home is a lost world, but it’s a welcome surprise. The second episode of Skeleton Crew does a good job of setting up the conflict of the show: the kids have to find their way home without leading a bunch of pirates back. Speaking of pirates, Skeleton Crew is a pretty fun dive into Star Wars ever-seedy underworld. The shadow port of Borgo that the kids end up at feels much like what a real-life hive of pirates and outlaws would feel like. Plus, the cold opening had the classic ship-boarding with a sci-fi twist, with deployable airlocks replacing the planks pirates would use in the old days. Make no mistake, their home will be in trouble if these guys show up at its doorstep!
Skeleton Crew Has Potential
The episode ends with the kids locked in a metal brig, but all is not lost. They have a cellmate in the form of a mysterious man played by Jude Law. And after seeing how he can use the Force, Wim quickly concludes that he’s a Jedi. Skeleton Crew has been tight-lipped about whether Jude’s character is a Jedi, but it would be cool if he were, or at least a former Jedi. Every Jedi that the Empire didn’t get is a win in my book.
My initial verdict: Skeleton Crew, while a little boring at times (mostly because it reminds me of the monotony of being a kid in school), has potential. Maybe this attempt to profit off 80s nostalgia will end up being a smart move for Star Wars. The Force knows that after The Acolyte, the franchise needs some course correction. And I’m looking forward to seeing how the escapist fantasy every Star Wars kid dreamed of plays out.
