Perhaps the most promising thing about Star Wars stories told outside of the main films charting the Skywalker family and their impact on galactic politics, is the malleability of the franchise to fit into different genres. We’ve seen spaghetti westerns reimagined with The Mandalorian and more adult war dramas like Rogue One and its prequel Disney+ series Andor. The newest addition to the franchise, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew also draws inspiration from a fairly specific genre – 1980s kids adventure films – but stumbles along the way.
Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) a is just a typical kid, bored with school and longing for a life of excitement out in the stars, far beyond the confines of the dull planet he lives on. One day, while taking a shortcut through the woods while running late to school for a very important test, Wim discovers a half-buried metal hatch. Returning later with his best friend Neel and two other class mates, Wim discovers that the hatch is on the side of long buried and forgotten spaceship. Exploring inside, the reactivate a robotic crew member, SM 33, before accidentally launching the ship off planet and jumping into hyperspace. When they do regain control of the ship, they discover that they have no idea how to get home. Heading to a nearby port, they discover that it is a haven for pirates, all of whom seem very interested in their ship and where they came from. They find help in Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), a mysterious man who may or may not be one of the Jedi Knights that Wim often daydreamed of meeting.
The common thought about Skeleton Crew has been that it will have a vibe similar to the output of the 1980s kids-having-adventures films commonly associated with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment production company. In movies like Goonies or Explorers, precocious pre-teens would find themselves thrust into outlandish adventures that equaled or even exceeded their playtime imaginations. Our introduction to Wim, with him playing with action figures in his bedroom before school, is the show’s first of many confirmations that this is indeed at least part of the template.
But there was always a sense of danger in the best of those stories and Skeleton Crew never quite reaches that level of excitement in its presentation. The situations certainly seem exciting on paper, but the visual execution is often lacking and given the talent involved – show co-creator Jon Watts (Marvel’s recent trilogy of Spider-Man films) on the first episode and The Green Knight‘s David Lowery on the other two episodes that the streamer made available – it comes as a disappointment. Hopefully the remainder of the episodes’ directors – The Daniels (aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Jake Schreier, Bryce Dallas Howard and Lee Isaac Chung – can instill the visually energy for the upcoming episodes.
Another thing that undercuts the attempted Amblin vibe is the setting of the Star Wars galaxy itself. In films like The Goonies, the thing that hooks the viewer into the story is that it starts off with its children protagonists vert much in the boring real world only daydreaming about the type of adventures they will soon be thrust into. It’s the kind of existence so many of us recall or were experiencing as we watched these films. But for the viewer, the kids of Skeleton Crew already are in a fantastic setting. And despite the show’s attempt to create a planet that does look like suburbia, it still remains a planet in the Star Wars franchise and no amount of putting streamers on the kids’ hover bike handlebars is going to thoroughly bridge that divide.
To its credit, though, Skeleton Crew does have some fun things to offer Star Wars fans. As noted, this is a story that takes place outside of the main Skywalker saga, so it gives us some looks at what is going on in other parts of the galaxy in the time period between the original and sequel trilogies. The child actors’ performances are all uniformly good. Their roles are a bit underwritten in the first three episodes made available for review, though Cabot-Conyers is understandably given the most to work with. Hopefully the balance of the episodes will give the other three moments to shine as well. The kids’ adventures are offset by a storyline back on their home planet revolving around its relationship with the rest of the galactic community which is engaging and a nice counterpoint to what is going on with the younger cast. Presumably these two plots will collide as the series reaches the climax of its eight episode run. And hopefully it will be worth the trip.
