Disney has churned out “Star Wars” series for five years now, sometimes winning with audiences (“The Mandalorian”), surprising critics (“Andor”) and occasionally polarizing fans (“The Acolyte”).
“Skeleton Crew” probably leans more toward “The Acolyte” because it’s wholly disconnected from the long-established elements of the “Star Wars” saga, unlike “Obi Wan Kenobi,” “Ahsoka” or the disappointing “Book of Boba Fett.”
By virtue of its middle school-age stars, this “Star Wars” streaming entry plays to the youngest audience yet among live-action Disney “Star Wars” efforts, so it will be interesting to see how the “Star Wars” fandom responds.
Now streaming its first two episodes (new episodes drop weekly Tuesdays through Jan. 14), “Skeleton Crew” follows a quartet of kids who get trapped in a buried spaceship, poke around inside and accidentally activate the ship, which blasts off from their home world. Soon they’re flung into hyperspace, docking at a pirate spaceport where they end up jailed with a mysterious man (Jude Law) who one boy assumes to be a Jedi. His female companions don’t buy it.
Regardless, they’re lost in space together, seeking out the advice of an owl-cat celestial cartographer about how to find their way home.
The most surprising and unusual element of “Skeleton Crew” is the first episode’s setting in what appears to be futuristic, middle-class suburbia, which isn’t something “Star Wars” depicted in past stories. Ultimately the strangeness of this tranquil domesticity plays into the “Skeleton Crew” plot as one of the show’s mysteries.
“Skeleton Crew’s” lack of strong ties to established “Star Wars” stories is actually a relief. Viewers don’t need a Ph.D. in animated shows “Clone Wars” or “Rebels,” which “Ahsoka” required. Instead, “Skeleton Crew” offers a standalone adventure reminiscent of “The Goonies,” albeit with underdeveloped characters and less humor through three episodes made available for review.
Created and written by Christopher Ford and Jon Watts (co-writers of “Spider-Man: Homecoming”) with Watts directing, “Skeleton Crew” originated with the writers who Watts said had the notion of “a group of kids that don’t really realize that they’re part of the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy, getting lost in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy, and then having to find their way home.”
Watts said the original pitch, made several years before Disney existed, was for a standalone “Star Wars” movie. Post-“The Mandalorian,” the pair reformulated “Skeleton Crew” as a series, which allowed the kids to “go to more places, we can meet more strange creatures, we can have more detours.”
Set around the same time as the events of “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka,” Watts said the idea that the New Republic is trying to establish itself post-Imperial rule makes it a more lawless moment in the “Star Wars” timeline.
“We have all these pirates that are flourishing,” Ford said.
“There’s no one to help them get home,” Watts added. “We thought it was almost the worst time for the kids to get lost in the galaxy, right? That makes for good storytelling.”
As for the glimpse of “Star Wars” suburbia, the “Skeleton Crew” writers said they wanted to start in a location where it was clear these kids wistfully wanted something more out of life.
“We had seen Luke in the desert as a moisture farmer, and it just felt natural for us to do this suburban setting, because it’s a big galaxy, and there’s no reason why that kind of lifestyle wouldn’t exist,” Ford said.
“There’s a middle class out there somewhere,” Watts added, “and we really liked in ‘Andor,’ too, how it was exploring these other edges of the galaxy that you don’t necessarily see, and we thought that (suburbia) was probably something that existed in the galaxy as well.”
Warning: Mild, deep cut “Star Wars” homage spoilers ahead.
At one point Law’s character is referred to as “Crimson Jack,” which the writers said is not a reference to the group Crimson Dawn in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” but instead to a character from Marvel’s “Star Wars” comic books.
“We’re just trying to create this impression with him that he’s mysterious and has multiple identities and aliases,” Ford said.
The deepest of deep “Star Wars” cuts comes in the first episode when some of the kids in suburbia watch a hologram show – one almost identical to a holographic circus program featured in the infamous “Star Wars Holiday Special.”
“We thought this would be a great reference, maybe we can put the original footage in, and then we realized we had to actually re-create everything from scratch,” Ford said of what turned into a huge labor of love and effort. “It was so much work to do that and make it, redo all the music, hologram angles.”
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Although this season has a beginning, middle and an end, the pair said they’re game for more if “Skeleton Crew” proves successful.
“It does feel self-contained, but it also opens up the door for a lot more storytelling,” Watts said. “I think the repercussions of what happens in this season might reverberate throughout the galaxy in interesting ways. And I think it would be really cool to watch these kids grow up and see where they end up in the larger galaxy.”
Channel surfing
Fox Chapel’s Sloane Simon, who exited NBC’s “The Voice” last week, posted to Instagram that she plans to release an album in 2025 “about heartbreak, loss and love.” … Starz renewed “Sweetpea” for a second season. … “Family Guy” reruns will return to AdultSwim in the new year, airing 10-11:30 on weeknights. … Netflix set a new comedy special, “Cunk on Life,” premiering Jan. 2, a follow-up to 2023’s “Cunk on Earth.” … Peacock renewed “Bel-Air” for a fourth and final season. … Netflix’s “The Recruit” returns for its second season on Jan. 30.