21 hours Ago By Martin Robinson
Spielbergian Star Wars ! How has this not happened before? Skeleton Crew is a fun family-oriented new Disney show, which exists at the other end of the Star Wars TV spectrum to the super-serious Andor , and should bring some light to a galaxy far, far away still reeling from the cancellation of The Acolyte . We are much closer to mega-hit The Mandalorian here, knowing that Star Wars works much better when it remembers it’s for children too. And in fact this whole show has been created as The Goonies meets Star Wars, the fine idea of co-showrunner Jon Watts, who you’ll know as the director of Marvel’s unbeatable Spider-Man films (the Tom Holland ones).
We begin Skeleton Crew very much in classic Spielberg territory, that suburban middle-class milieu where the adults are stressed, the kids roam free on (speeder)bikes and school is a minor distraction when there’s a spacecraft in the woods. But this is an environ we haven’t seen in Star Wars before, a post-Empire nice, settled New Republic planet where adults have jobs, droid teachers rule the school and the kids have posters in their bedrooms and dream of adventure beyond the humdrum mundanity. Luke Skywalker in the hostile desert this ain’t.
Instead we have Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), a kid who can’t seem to stay on time or out of trouble. He and his comedy best mate Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) - who belongs to some elephantile species – take the bus to school, play at being Jedis, and avoid trouble with local toughs like Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and her tech whizz pal KB (Kyriana Kratter). That is until, Wim comes across what he thinks is a Jedi temple in the woods.
He and Neel go to inspect it, are forced by the lurking Fern and KB to open it up, and inside they go to explore...
it’s not a temple at all, it’s a space craft, a pirate one, filled with skeletons and a peg-legged half-mad droid called SM-33. Wim pushes the wrong button and off they head into space, and then hyper-space, a conveniently long way away from the test going on back in school. This is episode one, directed by Watts, and something of a mini-masterpiece, combining witty touches, mystery, slapstick and exceptional characterisation.
The children are immensely likeable, the gags work and my nine-year old daughter was clinging to my arm with every kid-friendly jump scare and plot twist. Episode two has the crew deposited in a pirate port where they discover their lovely home planet is something of mythical place for the locals, an El Dorado which nobody believes they’re actually from. But nobody dwells on that as the pirates get wind of the fact that Wim has some Old Republic credits on him, and soon the kids are running for their lives.
Eventually, they wind up meeting Jod Na Nawood, played by Jude Law , a former pirate in chains, who seems to have Jedi powers...
This then is the set-up for the rest of the series as the young crew try to get back home with the help of Jod and SM-33. If these first two episodes are anything to go by, we’re in for a real treat. What joy.
.. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is streaming on Disney+ from December 4.
