Streaming on: Disney+
Episodes viewed: 3 of 8
It’s a funny old time for the galaxy far, far away. With the next Star Wars film not due for another two years, and plans for others in continual flux, the focus — and pressure — falls on the small screen. And with the exception of The Mandalorian and Andor, the live-action TV shows have found mixed success. Enter Skeleton Crew, from Spider-Man director Jon Watts and his longtime collaborator Christopher Ford — which places all that expectation and pressure on the shoulders of four small children.
Set initially in space-suburbia — blue milk on cereal, tassels on hover bikes, droids driving the school bus — Skeleton Crew introduces its young heroes in a manner familiar to all true Star Wars fans: playing with toys. Making a Star Wars show literally set in the suburbs feels like the subtext of A New Hope — Luke bored by the drudgery of Tatooine — made text. But this is still a very _Star Wars_ian idea, a nobody looking out at the stars, dreaming of the bright centre of the universe. And it helps that the kids here are fun, sweet and immediately engaging: there’s Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), the rebellious explorer; Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), the tough leader; Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), the elephantine scaredy-cat; and KB (Kyriana Kratter), the aloof nerd with a Geordi La Forge headset.
This is a show which delights in its wretched hives of scum and villainy.
Wearing its 1980s influences on its snotty sleeves, Episode 1 plays out like Stand By Me — only instead of a dead body, the gang stumble upon a spaceship. Watts and his crack team of directors — including David Lowery, Bryce Dallas Howard, Lee Isaac Chung and the Daniels — never forget their protagonists are not adults, and there is plenty of bickering, charming incompetence, and respect for the sacred rules of “claimsies”. This lot are all, it’s fair to say, a little short for a stormtrooper.
Yet there are sharper edges here, too. It’s a show about kids, but its creators have asserted it’s not necessarily a kids’ show. Tonally, these first three episodes don’t entirely reconcile those poles; for one thing, given the presence of some unsavoury space-pirates, the body count ratchets up quicker than you can say yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Gamorrean Grog. Jude Law’s slyly Force-sensitive Jod Na Nawood offers some solidly roguish intrigue, while Nick Frost — whose character in Spaced once had the call sign ‘Luke’ — plays one-eyed droid SM-33 (geddit?) with the zeal of Bob Hoskins in Hook.
This is a show which delights in its wretched hives of scum and villainy. There are pleasingly high levels of weird little furry guys in the Salacious B. Crumb or Babu Frik mould, too. It’s all quite delightful, if not super substantial. Three episodes in, there’s not much more to Skeleton Crew than a fun, peppy, wish-fulfilment space-adventure — but after the intensity of Ahsoka and The Acolyte, maybe that’s all you need.
