Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

The adventure begins again with a new crew

Spoiler Warning for This Could be a Real Adventure and Way, Way Out Past the Barrier

The idea of a Star Wars series which centres on children lost in the galaxy and trying to find their way home is an interesting one. Skeleton Crew (2024-) has the bones of a good idea. But then so many Star Wars shows do. The challenge has been turning the ideas into interesting television that keeps an audience engaged and wanting to tune in every week. Skeleton Crew makes a decent enough start with its opening two episodes.

Unsurprisingly, much of these episodes are an introduction to the context and characters with plenty of questions posed to keep the audience engaged. In many ways, the beginning resembles the original movie; a battle in space commences before we cut to a planet where a bored young boy dreams of being a Jedi, leaving his planet, and seeing the galaxy.

Wim, played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers, is clearly meant to mirror early Luke Skywalker. He’s bored, has a curious and adventurous spirit which leads him into trouble, and dreams of something better. He’s also a benignly neglected child of a father who is focused on work and dismissive of his son’s wants and needs, even though he loves him. Wim also has early Luke Skywalker’s irritating brattishness and ultimately, it’s this selfishness which leads him and the other children into the adventure.

It’s an interesting choice story-wise to have Wim literally push the button which sets off the starship and one of the hooks here is seeing whether Wim’s character will develop some self-awareness and regret for his choices. Here, he’s quick to be defensive and quick to shrug off being lost, only seeing the adventure rather than the problem.

In contrast, his alien friend Neel, played by Robert Thomas Smith, is less inclined to trouble. He’s a good friend who supports Wim. He clearly has a loving family who he loves and misses immediately. Neel is very much in sidekick mode. He’s C-3PO to Wim’s R2-D2 in many ways; he is without the incessant complaining and arrogance, but he is providing that commentary of concern and anxiety about their situation and questioning Wim’s actions.

The other character set-up more in ‘side-kick’ mode than lead is KB, played by Kyriana Kratter. She is clearly meant to be the mechanic of the group with good science and technical skills. Perhaps an R2D2 archetype in human form. She’s sensible, pragmatic, and logical – she’s the one who turns on the power and who plans their escape back to their ship albeit in very general terms. She’s the most undeveloped of the child characters in these first two episodes so it will be interesting to see how her character is incorporated going forward, and to see if she grows beyond her broad strokes which include being the voice of reason to Fern.

As much as Wim is framed as Luke Skywalker, Fern, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, is framed as Princess Leia. Smart, feisty and rebellious, she’s also shown to have problems at home with her mother, Undersecretary Fara, who expects Fern to excel and be perfect, although again, there is the sense Fern is loved, just not seen.

Fern’s rebelliousness is the reason why she and KB are at the starship. She wants the power converter for her bike so she can race and speed on the roads. She’s shown to be a liar, manipulative, and mean, but also with leadership qualities; she takes on the mantle of Captain. Again, it will be interesting to see if she grows beyond these broad character traits.

There is something though in each of the characters which will mean that a vast number of children will see something with which they can identify. Whether that’s the absent parent, the perfectionist parent, the boring but loving family, the crush on a girl, rebelliousness, smart, technical, or bored with school…there is something for everyone.     

The adult characters are less well drawn, partially because the majority of the time we see them is through the eyes of the children. Wim’s Dad has the most screen time in these two episodes and Tunde Adebimpe does a good enough job of making him likeable if oblivious as a Dad.

Equally, the award-winning Kerry Condon (also the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y in the MCU) does a good job in the minimal scenes we see her in as Fara. She conveys being the voice and face of the ‘government’ alongside a mother who wants her daughter to succeed.

The final adult character introduced is Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood. Here, there are a number of questions left hanging as he only really appears in the last scene. Or does he? Is Nawood the masked captain who failed to lead his crew to credits that we see in the opening scene? And he clearly has Force powers, but is he a Jedi? He may turn out to be more Han than Obi-Wan, or perhaps more like a pirate Anakin Skywalker, one with a Dark Side.

Given the timing of the show is meant to correspond with The Mandalorian (2019-current), and Ahsoka (2023-current), it is entirely possible that Nawood is not a Jedi but rather a former Inquisitor. Given the brutality of the opening scene where the pirates invade the freighter ship, all things are possible.

The final character of note is the pirate droid, SM-33 – perhaps a nod to Peter Pan’s beleaguered second mate to Captain Hook, Smee. Nick Frost voices the character with glee. Perhaps a little too scary and violent to be an immediate favourite, but the droid’s protection of the children was an excellent action sequence.

The acting is solid throughout with all the kids turning in good enough performances to sell their characters and the story. Jude Law is given little to do yet but gave a solid introduction as the mysterious Nawood.

There is clearly a lot set-up with the characters to explore, but so too in the story. The frame of the story is simple – kids get lost in space and have to find their way home, facing the dangers of space and pirates. It’s very much a children’s adventure story. It appeals to the nostalgia of a generation who grew up on The Goonies (1985).

The ‘will they get home?’ question though is enhanced by the idea seeded in the second episode; that their home planet of At Attin has become a myth, a planetary version of a treasure island. It creates a sense of mystery about their home. Is it just an advanced society protected by its barrier? Or is there something more sinister in the ‘Great Work?’

The production quality definitely builds the world of At Attin very well through the first episode from set-designs and costumes to the CGI and effects. The school tram, the droids (who knew that the SMASH space robots went on to be droids on At Attin!), the dwellings, the transports…it all creates the fabric of a society and culture that is not so different from our own, but different enough to be alien and advanced. Again, something that the audience can identify with, or aspire to want.

That production quality continues into the pirate spaceport. Again, everything is done really well. There is a real sense of corruption and filth. It’s a great contrast with At Attin. The variety of alien characters (the dinghy monkey driver, the weird horse-bartender, the wolfish pirate Captain), the depth and breadth of differences, also gave the spaceport a real sense of Other. It reminded me of Farscape (1999-2003). Similarly to Farscape, this series has very much set out the sense of being lost adrift in a strange place with strange creatures and needing to navigate the dangers to get home.  

I have two criticisms. One is an old favourite criticism of Disney Plus shows – the varying length of the episodes. The first episode delivered a solid 42 minutes of watch time and, by contrast, the second was a paltry 25 minutes. The two could have been combined into an hour if we’d spent less time setting stuff up on At Attin and exploring the ship or the spaceport. Or we could have had two 30 minutes episodes. I’m not a fan of varying lengths as they leave me unsatisfied.

Or preferably, more could have been done to add a stronger story element into the second episode to make it a meaty forty-two minutes. They really didn’t have much of a story here except ‘get the kids to the spaceport where they get into trouble and find Nawood.’

Indeed, that is my second criticism. The storytelling is very paint by the numbers. The characters are as though someone put all the traits the original characters had into a hat and has assigned them out. The episodes are light on episodic storytelling – there is just enough to make them work, but still very, very light. I’ll be interested to see if they develop more depth in future episodes or whether the simplistic approach will be retained.

In conclusion

This has the potential to be a great series. The ingredients are there and kudos for original characters and settings being designed into the universe rather than relying on already existing characters and Tatooine. The hooks for the audience are sown. Hopefully the show will deliver on its promise.

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