By Eli Funaro
Adventure? Excitement? Jedi may not crave such things but for the little kids in Skeleton Crew, they’re getting plenty of it. The first 2 episodes of the new Star Wars series dropped and things are off to a fun start. Given the divisive reactions to the franchise lately, this is just what the fandom needed. A show that brings childlike wonder back to Star Wars.
Taking place five years after Return of the Jedi, Skeleton Crew follows a group of children who stumble upon a secret buried on their planet and embark on an adventure. Getting lost in space, encountering killer droids and cutthroat space pirates, these precocious kids must navigate galactic dangers and find their way back home. The show is definitely influenced by 80s kids movies like The Goonies, and Explorers, giving Skeleton Crew a sense of familiarity without being bogged down with nostalgia. Skywalkers and legacy characters have not appeared, as of yet.
Consisting of likable child characters who all have distinct traits, similar to the Ninja Turtles. Wim is an imaginative outcast who is often left alone by his overworked father. He hangs out with his best friend Neel as they both dream of becoming Jedi and escaping their mundane lives. Neel is an alien elephant species who resembles a baby Max Rebo, challenging Grogu for being the most adorable Star Wars character ever.
Fern is an older preteen who is somewhat of a rebellious troublemaker, she and her tech genius friend KB spend their days getting into mischief. They all team up, accidentally getting sent through hyperspace to a rough space port full of scum and villainy. The kids are in way over their heads as they are far from the safety of their suburban home planet.
Skeleton Crew introduces a new world known as At-Attin, a planet that resembles American suburbia. The kids live in an affluent neighborhood while attending school to learn to be better productive citizens of the New Galactic Republic. Droids run all manners of childcare, teaching at school, driving school buses, even policing. The parents of At-Attin are rarely seen as they are all too busy working to deal with children.
It all resembles the 1980s Regan era America, where children had very little parental supervision and were often left alone to fend for themselves. Gen Xers who grew up during the 80s can relate. It’s not at all far-fetched when Will disappeared on Stranger Things and no one knew he was missing for 2 days. The kids on Skeleton Crew getting whisked off into space all by themselves is a reference to all those 80s movies where children were left alone to deal with dangerous situations. Whether it be vampires in the Lost Boys, aliens in Invaders From Mars or murderous spies in Cloak and Dagger, kids in 80s movies just had figured it out, without any adults.
The parallels to Spielbergian films like E.T., Poltergeist and the Goonies is intentional. Suburbs have often been portrayed as nice quiet neighborhoods, but there was always some secret hiding underneath its peaceful exterior. There is a darker mystery to planet At-Attin that has yet to be revealed. Even the space pirates refer to At-Attin as a secret lost planet full of treasure. This gives Skeleton Crew an intriguing set up, hooking the viewer.
Overall, Skeleton Crew is off to a fun exciting start. These first 2 episodes introduce a group of likeable kid characters on this adventure through the Star Wars galaxy. The suburban environment feels familiar to 80s movies like The Goonies and Explorers and brings a sense of childlike wonder that has been lacking from recent Star Wars projects. Here’s hoping this series will continue this course. As for now, just like the Goonies, the Skeleton Crew are good enough.
4.5 out 5
