When it comes to Star Wars spinoffs and in-universe storylines, we have had our fair share of ups and downs. If you are a longtime fan like me, then you remember the “Ewoks of Endor” or the “Star Wars Droids” series and how unfun those were. Now, fast forward to “The Mandalorian” which was great, “Andor” which is passable, and then we get to the black sheep “Acolyte.” All controversy and negativity aside, I did check this out halfway through, but there was nothing there to really keep me engaged. It had a nice premise, but then it fell off. It wasn’t grounded enough. Now, after watching the first two episodes of “Skeleton Crew,” I’m getting almost the same feeling I had with Acolyte. Skeleton Crew has a nice premise – kids going on a wild adventure and getting into trouble they should not be getting into. But, I’m afraid this may play on tropes we have seen in this type of genre before. There is the starry-eyed dreamer Wim who takes his friends on an adventure to satisfy his selfish dream whose best friend Neel is a chunky blue elephant alien who enables Wim’s whims despite having more sense than he does, and then you got the two tag-alongs – tough girl Fern who might have parental issues and her tech-savvy best pal KB who can and will likely invent things that will assuredly fail/succeed at the right/wrong moment. Oh, and there’s pirates.
Does any of this sound familiar?
The Skeleton Crew (L to R): Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Jude Law as Jod Na Nawood, Kyriana Kratter (behind Law) as KB, Robert Timothy Smith as Neel and Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern.
Pick your poison for this one. Whether it’s Goonies or One Piece, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew looks to be borrowing ideals from both. A bunch of wide-eyed kids getting mixed in with pirates and hijacking a ship that happens to belong to another pirate who has been locked up for years by the most likely the same pirates he messed around with and found out. Yeah, there’s your story and that’s just the first two episodes. So, let’s bring into question how to build on this while keeping the audience engaged. Fans already like the Goonies ideal the series has shown thus far, but this can only last for so long. The 1985 kid adventure film that starred pre-Thanos Josh Brolin is 114 minutes long. The first two episodes of Skeleton Crew is half that length meaning that it has two more episodes to prove that it can keep viewers invested in it. Since production was wrapped up a while ago and everything is set in stone, we can only hope for the show’s outcome.
This is a Star Wars tale. Hopefully, we get that Star Wars feel rather it being a story with a Star Wars setting. Real quick take about settings: remember when Quill and his crew landed in an alien suburban town in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3? Yeah, the kids are literally from the same type of setting so you can see why Wim wants to know if there is more to life than his mundane existence. Hopefully, Skeleton Crew gives us a good story along with things we do want rather than force a bunch of stuff we don’t. (I’m looking at you, Acolyte) Overall, I’m not being harsh nor am I going to let my fandom fuel my judgement in any way. Honestly, I like what Skeleton Crew has set up and maybe a fresh take on the Goonies is what is needed since any chances of a sequel are off the table. What was shown so far in its first two episodes is intriguing, the only thing left to do is make it interesting. It is one of those shows that needs to boil slowly before it becomes fully cooked. (Take that however you want)
Well, that’s it from me. I am DevilDriver1313! See you “On the NXT LVL!”
