'Star Wars: Skeleton Crew' Review: Tweens in Space
Jude Law is the putative star of the series, now streaming on Disney Plus.
Now Streaming: Oops, my bad.
I'm just finishing up a seasonal job that has consumed most of my attention for the past few months, so I fell out of my usual news-reading habits. So, while I've been aware that Jude Law would be starring in a new Star Wars narrative series, I missed entirely that it would be targeted at tweens.
Thus, the series was not as high on my priority viewing list as it should have been when it debuted on Disney Plus this past Monday. After watching the first two episodes, however, I realized that I needed to adjust my expectations, especially for this newsletter. Jude Law doesn't step out of the shadows and into the lives of the four young people until nearly the end of the second episode.
Created by Christopher Ford and Jon Watts, the creative team responsible for Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) -- and Clown (2014) and Cop Car (2015) before that -- the series begins after the events in Return of the Jedi (1983), and is contemporaneous with The Mandolorian (2022) and its timelines. Its vibe is that of a suburban tween comedy, as the four young leads are introduced and then brought together on an adventure that launches into space.
The initial setting is that of a planet rich in futuristic riffs on modern suburbia, all the way down to Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) and his best friend Neel (voiced by Robert Timothy Smith). Wim's single father Wendle (Tunde Adebimpe) is a stern single father who is swamped constantly by his job as an engineer.
The two boys collide with two adventure-seeking girls, natural leader Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and her best friend KB (Kyriana Kratter). Fern's single mother Fara (Kerry Condon) is a stern married mother who is swamped constantly by her jobs as a teacher and a politician.
It's notable that the 'best friends' each have a distinguishing feature that reinforces the science-fiction premise: Neel looks like an elephant boy, while KB wears a cybernetic visor.
They end up on a space ship along with a droid named SM-33 (voiced by Nick Frost, probably because Alan Tudyk was busy).
The second episode takes them to a trading planet where they stand out -- since they are children -- and they are soon deposited behind bars for some reason or other. That's where they meet the mysterious, shadowy Jude Law, who displays a power not seen before (on this show, anyway).
Playing out against a rich background created by visual artists, the series plays like a juvenile version of Star Wars, which is perfectly fine. It's long been said that the Star Wars movies and television shows are best enjoyed by children and young teenagers; this is the first of their movies or shows that have been primary targeted at that audience. Christopher Ford and Jon Watts revitalized the Spider-Man franchise, and this series looks set to do the same for the Star Wars universe.
Jon Watts directed the first episode and David Lowery, who directed the wonderful Pete's Dragon (2016) and Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) for Disney, helmed the second episode; their work is manifested by a light touch and a whimsical sense of adventure, which serves the series well. So far, the series is very appealing to adults (to me, anyway), largely because it doesn’t take the Star Wars legacy too seriously.
Its sense of humor skews toward teens, rather than young children, which makes it more relatable to people of my age group. And, yes, it reminds me of how I responded to the original Star Wars as a teenager. If I was a bit younger when I was first exposed to George Lucas’ vision, I’m sure I would reacted as tween will to this series.
Subsequent episodes in the eight-episode series will debut every Tuesday. [Disney Plus]