Every time an episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew lands, Fantha Tracks will be giving their responses, and here are our initial gut feelings, deep dives and thoughts on episodes one and two of season one, ”This Could Be a Real Adventure’ and ‘Way, Way Out Past the Barrier”. Beware of spoilerific elements in here.
Jonathan Hipkiss
About 60 seconds into episode 1 of Skeleton Crew I felt incredibly comfortable and relaxed. It felt like Star Wars. It felt like that good feeling that Star Wars can give us. It felt like what we’d been missing for a while.
Greg McLaughlin
‘What are YOU in for?‘
Although I am a child of the 70’s and 80’s, by the time some of the kids adventure films of that era had come on, I felt a little too distracted by the grown-up adventures of Star Wars, Trek, and Close Encounters, to really take them seriously. Much like one of our main characters, Wim, I couldn’t be bothered.
So when I first saw the second trailer, where Wim and Fern trade the lines ‘What are you in for,’ It hit fairly close to home. I also can’t deny the Huttese version of ‘Major Tom-Coming Home’ wasn’t also a big draw. Although I have a large Amblin to-do list, I decided to come into this series with a clean slate.
I guess to answer their question: I’m in for a good adventure.
And that is seemingly where we start. The first episode does a good job of setting the table, and we start to get our first hints, that this world is perhaps a little too good to be true. Rigid order, clean and tidy streets, and reinforcement that everyone has a place and that you need to stay on the straight and narrow. But anyone who has grown up in a suburb or small town and yearns for something more knows that can only last so long.
I absolutely loved the opening scene where we get a lot of A New Hope vibes with some shots being almost carbon copies of the movie. They also don’t pull many punches, so the PG rating indicates adults and many members of the family watching feel like they got a seat at the table. Port Borgo was very well done. Some slight cantina meets opening Andor corporate sector with all manor of bars places to eat and get you a new tattoo. I’d love to see more adventures here in any form.
The realization that the lunch money that Wim had – being old republic currency – and in supposed mint condition, helps further the mystery that their planet, At Attin, a fabled last planet of eternal treasure, seems to be on everyone’s lips as a pirate myth. The real planet at least has been hidden somehow and like the Dharma Initiative from LOST, been on auto-pilot for some time.
I like the relationships between the two sets of kids, Neel and Wim act very much like kids who have grown up together, and Fern and KB are as well a good pair. I know with child actors, sometimes it’s hard to suspend disbelief with the audience, but they all seem to do a good job and I don’t feel like I’m taken out of the scene.
Nick Frost as SM-33 is brilliant and I really hope we see him throughout the series. The droid design is awesome. We don’t see much of Jude Law in these two episodes, but the kids do a good job of carrying the load.
I love the production and the fact that the sets feel very practical. I’m sure the volume is being used, but I can’t tell at this point yet what’s what. Much like the ground that has covered up the Onyx Cinder, there is a gritty, dirty, lived-in feel to the place. I like the subtle audio nods from the Cinder as the ship is firing up.
Some of the pirate trappings, which have been in some online chatter, may be a little too on-the-nose, but I don’t think it hurts or gets in the way. The mods in The Book of Boba Fett I think may have crossed that line, but in Skeleton Crew, everything does feel like it more or less belongs.
Overall I’m very pleased with this series through its first two episodes and I’m certainly in for more.
Paul Naylor
I’m by no means a religious man, but on the run up to this all-new Star Wars series I prayed. I prayed that it would be good, that the young lead characters would be engaging rather than annoying, that it would embody the essence of Star Wars and that more than anything else, it would be fun.
Well, I’ve seen episodes 1 and 2 and can confirm my prayers have been answered.
This is exactly what the galaxy far, far away needs right now, and what we need too. The 1977 original was released during troubled times on our planet. It became a beacon of hope in an era of darkness.
Almost 50 years later, Skeleton Crew echoes the hope of, erm, A New Hope. This series is what the world needs right now. A joyous romp, with a huge heart and more than a nod to a wealth of lore, not just that of Star Wars.
Skeleton Crew re-skinned, could easily be a follow-up to E.T or The Goonies, but has chosen the Star Wars galaxy as its home.
Things that I’d hoped for – familiar species. Plenty of Ithorians, Rodians and other established alien forms helped, but for me, the greatest joy was witnessing Neel’s younger siblings watching a holographic TV show that featured characters from The much-maligned Star Wars Holiday Special. I guess we can finally consider these characters canon?
Other than the kids playfighting as Jedi, there was a notable lack of lightsabres. Please note Lucasfilm and Disney; not every Star Wars film/show needs Jedi and lightsabers. I was always more into the laser blaster-wielding characters as a kid.
Wim, on what was effectively a speeder bike, showed how the Endor chase sequence could have looked if made today.
Skeleton Crew is a refreshing entry on the timeline. There’s so much to enjoy in these first two episodes – which I’m off to watch again, followed by a bubble bath – without Neel I hasten to add!
Dan Lo
“Space Goonies“. Like numerous other Star Wars fans, that was also my impression of Skeleton Crew from early trailers. I was a big fan of The Goonies which I suppose makes it a compliment, but I was also seven years old when the 80’s classic first released. Having since gotten older and grumpier, I no longer gravitate towards movies and shows made for kids. So, do I like the show so far?
What I’m definitely not a fan of is dwelling on negatives, so I’ll quickly get them out of the way. Visually speaking, At Attin looked too much like a lightly re-skinned earth suburb to my brain. There wasn’t much about it to remind me that I was in a galaxy far, far away beyond the presence of droids, aliens, and the odd speeder bike (if you ignore the handlebar streamers, that is). A complaint I have made in past reviews was my dislike for alien characters speaking perfect English in human-sounding voices, which the show also featured plenty of so far. Then of course there’s my aforementioned lack of enthusiasm for kids shows, and the main characters Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB are all children (and ones who somehow managed to outrun adult characters again). The first episode clocked in at a hefty 40 minutes, and I felt it. Well, at least it’s live-action.
Of course, none of the above negated the fact that the show also contained elements that I found pretty compelling. The opening scenes served as an excellent illustration of how pirates operated, with some nice echoes of A New Hope. The discovery of a buried starship that eventually takes off was arguably my favorite plot point so far. Droids aren’t necessarily what I like most about Star Wars, but SM-33 has been a decent addition to the franchise’s robotic cast. His voice sounds way too human to me, though. And of course there was Jude Law’s character Jod Na Nawood, who I was totally not expecting to be a Force user. But is he a Jedi? Wim and I both hope so.
I also appreciated how expansive the show looked so far. According to the end credits, StageCraft was definitely used to some degree but it never seemed painfully obvious to me. There’s plenty of visual breathing room which earlier shows were sometimes short on. The pirate port was a much more immersive Star Wars environment, and its views from space were nothing short of spectacular.
At Attin seemed widely known as the lost planet of eternal treasure, which means this is technically Space Reverse-Goonies. The kids presumably started out at the treasure’s location, and their adventures have escalated as they travel farther away. Despite my currently lukewarm thoughts, I hope to be proven wrong. Getting older is mandatory, but being grumpier is not.
Eric Onkenhout
Adventure awaits in the premiere episode of Star Wars Skeleton Crew! Blast off with Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB as they stumble upon a buried treasure in the woods of At Attin. What lies ahead could spell certain doom…Did that sound 80s enough? This Could Be A Real Adventure was such a fun new addition to the Star Wars universe. Could it be argued that this is the most Star Wars-y content since the original trilogy? I think so. It’s at the very least a homage to the 80s movies some of us grew up watching. It certainly gave me the warm fuzzies.
The series opens with a scroll setting the stage. It’s post-Return of the Jedi, aka, The Mando-verse. The Empire is scattered. The New Republic runs the show now but pirates still lurk on the edges of the galaxy. As a large vessel enters the screen, we notice there is no music, only the rumble of engines. Very Spaceballs. A larger ship of pirates boards its captive and raids it for credits. The boarding scene is a homage to A New Hope even down to the bordees looking around, listening for their attackers. When the pirates discover the lack of treasure mutiny erupts.
On At Attin, a young boy named Wim, (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) wakes and has breakfast with his father. This scene is straight out of NeverEnding Story when Bastion wakes and joins his father for breakfast. As in that movie, Wim’s father is getting ready for work and leaves Wim with lunch money and tells him not to be late for school. We also get introduced to Wim’s best bud, Neel (Robert Timothy Smith). A young alien similar to an Ortolan but not one. Neel is everyone’s best friend. He’s loyal to the point where he’d fail a test on purpose just so he can be in the same class as Wim.
Eventually, we meet Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and her friend KB (Kyriana Kratter). Fern is a rebellious young girl who is sort of a gearhead, always looking to upgrade her bike with whatever scrap parts she can find. For the role, Armstrong looked to Han Solo for inspiration. KB reminded me of a child version of Lobot. Like Lobot, KB wears an implant on her head where she can plug into electronic devices and provide some juice. The four of them don’t quite get along at first as boys and girls that age are wont to do.
Wim discovers a ship buried in the side of a hill in the woods of At Attin (queue The Goonies music) thinking it’s an old Jedi Temple. Later he leads Neel to it and then they are both followed by Fern and KB. They manage to get inside the ship, finding all sorts of creepy skeletons and a droid with a mouse living in its eye socket. The situation goes from bad to worse as Wim presses a green button (what could go wrong?) and the ship takes off as Wim’s father arrives. The ship then enters hyperspace. No worries.
Skeleton Crew is exactly what Star Wars needs right now. It’s the perfect blend of familiarity and Star Wars we’ve never seen before. Kids are allowed to be kids and do kid things. We’re not seeing kids commanding legions of troops into battle. Instead, they’re worrying about the test they forgot is tomorrow. Lest we forget the holo-program that was originally seen in The Holiday Special. The chemistry between the young cast is seamless, as long as the story remains there, we could have a new fan favorite.
The second episode of Skeleton Crew, Way, Way Out Past The Barrier, continued the accidental adventure the kids find themselves on. Flying through hyperspace towards nowhere, lost as can be, way, way out past the barrier. While figuring out their next steps, a creepy form crawls out from the smokey hallway, a battered old droid called SM-33 (Nick Frost), who was the droid owned by the ship’s previous captain.
Fern tricks SM-33 into believing she killed his former captain and that now she is the captain and therefore his boss. SM-33 advises the crew that they should go to Starport Borgo and get directions home from there. When they arrive at Starport Borgo, a Teek greets them at the dock. Teeks were first seen in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Starport Borgo is a deep cut from the 1995 Young Jedi Knights novel, Shadow Academy. Go read that series, they’re great and I love that they’re getting some much-deserved attention. And in the worst kept secret, Jaleel White makes an appearance as pirate, Gunter.
A theme that I hope continues is how the titles are mentioned in each episode. It happened in the first episode when Wim tells Neel, “This could be a real adventure!” And in this episode, Neel exclaims, “We’re way, way out past the barrier.” Something is brewing up surrounding At Attin. Whenever the planet is mentioned it either sparks laughter or confusion. Apparently At Attin is a mythical planet, a lost land of eternal treasure. Like the inside of my brain.
There are loads of aliens in Port Borgo. Most are new, but we do see a familiar Nikto. And the new ones look really cool so the lack of classic aliens isn’t a complete loss. The music by Mick Giacchino honestly hasn’t been that noticeable which is good and bad. It’s sort of like a referee you forget is there during a match. This episode ends when a mysterious figure uses the Force to grab keys to unlock the jailed kids. Ssh! Can you keep a secret? I think he might be a Jedi.
Sander de Lange looks at all the reveals and easter eggs in Skeleton Crew: The Guide: Episode 1 ‘This Could Be a Real Adventure’ and Episode 2 ‘Way, Way Out Past the Barrier’.
Hear Mark Mulcaster and Mark Newbold discuss the first and second episodes on Making Tracks Reaction Crew: Skeleton Crew S1 Eps 1 & 2.
Watch Brian Cameron and Paul Naylor discuss the first two episodes of Skeleton Crew on ‘Bone Voyage:’ Reviewing Episode 1 & 2 Of Disney Plus’ ‘Skeleton Crew’, part of Good Morning Tatooine, live every Sunday at 9.00pm UK time on Fantha Tracks TV.
