Star Wars meets The Goonies in the latest Disney Plus Original Series from Lucasfilm, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. This series follows a group of kids who accidentally get lost in space on board a starship and must find a way to avoid space pirates.
CREDIT: Lucasfilm Ltd.
This Could Be a Real Adventure
The opening crawl reveals the New Republic is in power, but space pirates have been attacking the shipping lanes. The series heads to the shipping lanes where pirates are attacking a vessel in search of Republic credits. The big reveal on this first attack is the ship only has one credit in its vault leading to the pirate crew mutinying against the captain. But the most surprising reveal comes all the way across the galaxy.
CREDIT: Lucasfilm Ltd.
The series shifts to a suburban planet that is fully protected from the horrors of space. A young boy, named Wim, living with his father, plays with his Jedi action figures like he is from our own galaxy. His father leaves him some credits for school lunch money and a list of chores before he heads off to school where he meets his friend, an alien who engages in a pretend lightsaber battle with him. The pair have a big assessment test coming up that will determine what classes they are in going forward. However, when asked what they want to be, Wim told the class he wants to help people in danger. While his droid teacher says what he wants to do is handled by droids, Wim’s alien friend, Neel, points out he basically said he wanted to be a Jedi.
On Assessment Day, Wim misses the bus and tries to ride his hover bike to the test where he crashes and finds something buried in a ravine. Convinced it’s a Jedi temple, he tries to persuade his father to let him go look but is told to go straight home to study for his makeup test. Meanwhile, two girls, Fern and KB, who Wim spotted earlier racing a bike arrive at the buried treasure site. They are looking for a part for their bike and trick the boys into doing the work to get inside. That’s when things go haywire.
CREDIT: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Inside the four kids find a battered droid. Wim is still convinced it’s a Jedi Temple, but KB finds a power source that reveals they are in a star ship. Of course, Wim is in the cockpit when this happens and hits a flashing green button that starts the star ship. The kids try to escape, and Wim’s father sees them as the ship flies off the planet and well past the barrier they didn’t know was protecting them.
Way, Way Out Past the Barrier
Episode two begins with the scared children being confronted by the droid they awakened in the previous episode. He thinks they are stowaways and goes looking for his captain. When he can’t find them, he accepts Fern’s rationale that she is the captain, after she claimed to have killed the previous captain. She tries to get back to their home planet of At Attin, but this droid, SM-33 has never heard of it. He can’t set a course for At Attin, so the kids head to Port Borgo.
CREDIT: Lucasfilm Ltd.
The kids learn how far out of their element they are when they try to find their way back home. The pirates look to take advantage of Wim and Neel as they figure out Wim has Old Republic credits. Meanwhile, Fern and KB are trying to find coordinates to At Attin but the pirates they run into keep telling them it’s an ancient legend that never existed (kind of like the Lost City of Atlantis or the Fountain of Youth). The kids then find themselves in bigger trouble when they draw the attention of the wolf pirate we first saw at the beginning of episode one. He led the mutiny against his captain and is now leading his own crew.
CREDIT: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Fern tries to use her gumption and authoritarian streak on the pirates, and it quickly backfires. The pirates overpower the kids, deactivate their droid and throw them in a prison cell. Meanwhile, it appears the pirates are ready to start looking for At Attin as they believe in it now due to the presence of the children. The kids are fearful for what will happen to them, but it is quickly revealed they are not alone in their cell.
Space Goonies
This series is definitely more expansive than some previous Lucasfilm and Disney Plus Original Star Wars shows. Set during the New Republic era like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, there’s a lot of crossover potential. However, this series is definitely setting itself up to feel different than all these other shows. Through two episodes, it has accomplished something that The Acolyte was supposed to do but couldn’t. Be different from everything else Star Wars we are currently seeing.
Despite its different feeling, this show is still familiar because of its connections to other properties. It feels like a combination of The Goonies, Lost in Space, Pirates of the Caribbean, Flight of the Navigator, Star Trek: Prodigy and the old Nickelodeon show, Space Cases. It’s definitely targeting a younger audience, but the swashbuckling adventure makes it more fun while showing us a side of Star Wars we haven’t seen much of in live action. Han Solo may have been a smuggler, but most of the piracy we’ve seen has been animated. Plus, I loved seeing Space Ukrel.
CREDIT: Lucasfilm Ltd.
While this show isn’t trying to make Star Wars adult, it still found a way to be enjoyable for adults. If you’re looking for something as serious and mature as Andor, you’ll be disappointed. Still, this series seems fun, and that’s all I asked of it when I heard from it.
Check out Star Wars: Skeleton Crew exclusively on Disney Plus.
Rating for first two episodes:
Article Written By: Jeremy Brown for Stelmach Brown Media 2024
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