Skeleton Crew - This Could Be A Real Adventure and Way, Way Past The Barrier Thoughts
"Since the fall of the EMPIRE, the NEW REPUBLIC has maintained order.
And yet, remote hyperspace routes are increasingly plagued by piracy.
These PIRATES boldly brand their armored hulls as a sign to all ships.
Surrender or die...." The opening crawl of Skeleton Crew
The first two episodes are such a fun and refreshing open to this new Star Wars adventure. The editing in this show is top notch and full of personality. The child actors did an amazing job of selling the four kids as kids in the Star Wars galaxy. The high number of aliens in this show also really refreshing.
That opening space battle goes so hard, especially the transition from the title crawl (I'm loving how the live-action shows since Ahsoka been doing this) to the action. The action sequence is shot really well and I love how the visual effects look.
Mick Giacchino did an amazing job with the score with the kid's theme and the pirates' theme. I can't wait to see what else this man cooks in the rest of the episodes, especially with the piano.
Captain Silvo is pretty much Jude Law's character, Jod Na Nawood (at least one of his many, many identities).
Brutus being a Shistavanen is such a good choice. Such great alien prosthetic work. It was also some good continuity to see Vane in the show, given the focus on pirates.
I like how Wim is a deconstruction of wanting to have a classic SW adventure and believing in the classic SW tropes. As he'll see over and over again, the galaxy is not as idealistic and happy as the stories make them out to be. But I also feel with his desire to do something more and different, especially in that scene when he looks at Neel's family and his own reflection. I hope Wendle, Wim's dad, gets further exploration in the forthcoming episodes.
Nell is the best. That boi must be protected at all costs. The prosthetics for him and his family are so amazing. He seems to have a problem with asserting and standing up for himself. It's both funny and cursed that his siblings are watching footage from the Holiday Special lmao. Fern is a bit of a brat, but she's also dealing with a mother who expects a lot from her. She tries to escape that as much as she can while trying to live up to her expectations. She also is the most level-headed of the group. KB is the most intelligent of the group but also seems to long for more in life. Her fascination in the creatures in the pirate spaceport and absent mindedness at the creatures suggest interests beyond technology. I want to know about KB about why she's given cybernetics and where her family is.
I also wonder what the mural in Fern's house means for the history of the world and the story of the show.
The production design is very impressive and I really like the electronic devices used in the show, especially how Wim uses his to look at images of the Jedi.
I always had a feeling that At Attin was pretty fishy based solely on the suburbs, lmao. They seem to have a false utopia of sorts with all the predetermined career tests (the US Department of Education would love them lol), especially toward whatever the "Great Work" is. I wonder if the Great Work mentioned by Fara is related to Soh's Great Works.
I also like the nod to how some Jedi Temples can arise from underground and arise plus the Atollon and Aldhani mentions are nice nods to the larger Canon.
I like a theory that the Barrier could be a hologram of sorts.
The Onyx Cinder is such a cool ship design. SM-33 (Nick Frost) is such a fun pirate droid with some kickass fighting choreography. His introduction in the red lighting is also really cool. I hope we get to see more of his antics and character in the show. Port Borgo looks so fire, and God, the visual effects for the pirate port and this show are so amazing. It blows Ahsoka's visual effects out of the water. A Teek being the driver is a fun nod to Ewok: The Battle for Endor. I also find it interesting that everyone thinks their world is not only considered a myth and doesn't exist but is full of treasure. I also like that the Theelin brothel worker wanted to help out the kids and get them back home, tho it's very understandable why Fern is distrustful of her, given the nature of the port.
The fact the kids literally know nothing that's commonplace and normal to the galaxy means most of At Attin (since they had droids from the galaxy, I wonder if the general public doesn't know about the galaxy but only a few in govt know) didn't hear anything of the Skywalker Saga. Oh God, that's going to be a depressing story to tell the kids (especially Wim on Order 66) and At Attin's public about how the galaxy went to hell for decades.
I love that rat (Snowball) that lives in SM-33's empty eye. I also like how Wim refer to Old Republic credits as dataries just as Qui-Gon said when referring to credits in The Phantom Menace. I wonder how insane the exchange rate between Old Republic credits and New Republic credits is.
I wonder what Jod's backstory is since Jude Law confirmed he is an actual Force-sensitive and not pretending to be one. Realistically, I think he's just a Force-sensitive who is posing as a Jedi to the kids. However, I feel like there could be more to his story since Law mentions we'll be learning a lot about his character in Episode 7. If he was a Jedi, I like to think he was a Jedi dropout and then using the Force subtly to rise in the pirate ranks. I hope Jod gets some character development if he is going to try to manipulate the kids at first (mainly because I like Jude Law and hope he gets to do more Star Wars.
Otherwise, these two episodes is such a great start to this show.
"The distance between us and the key...is an illusion." "Jod Na Nawood"
Skeleton Crew - Very Interesting, As An Astrogation Problem
"The truth! The truth is, I'm just like you! Okay? I'm lost. I'm alone." Jod Na Nawood
Episode 3 continues to keep the momentum and peak quality of the premiere up!
We finally got to see KB's parents (I love that they're her moms), and it will be interesting to see why her moms put cybernetics (one of the functions is a life monitor, and apparently, she needs medical needs) in KB. I wonder if the cybernetics might be due to an accident or a birth defect. I love how KB stands in for people with disabilities. I hope we get to see more of Wendle's story and maybe even some backstory for him.
I love that KB got the most focus after the first two episodes didn't really go into her. I love the subtle insult about the chances Job isn't a Jedi given her knowledge of the Jedi is from the OR Era when the Jedi were much more numerous.
Similar to the Acolyte, I really appreciate the show for not trying to delay the obvious mysteries like making it clear Jod is Captain Silvo and how he's intending right now in the story at least to try to find the treasure on At Attin. Also that Battle Droid asking if they won totally gave me Jedi Survivor vibes with another Droid asking that same question haha.
I really love the visual effects, especially the owl alien Kh'ymm later on. The budget for Kh'kymm visual effects is on-par with the movies, and honestly this show has a lot more movie quality than Ahsoka.
Jod needs to respect droids and soon. SM-33 is always a gem and he has a good keen on Jod's untrusty nature. I'm glad we got to see how Jod is a genuine Force-user (Jude Law has already confirmed he is genuine about his Force-sensitive status). However, Jod might be old enough to have been around during the Clone Wars, which would make his prejudice against droids make sense.
I really love that Kh'ymm is an actual good being, and she thinks Jod kidnaps the kids when we know it's the opposite case. However, she is right that Jod does have ulterior motives. It's nice to see some genuinely nice beings in this galaxy. Also, her Observatory looks so amazing.
At Attin, one of the Jewels of the Old Republic is definitely from the actual Old Republic which makes me pretty excited. I thought we would need to wait until the MMO dies to see Old Republic content but I'm glad we're also starting to dip into the Era. I like the concept of hiding away certain worlds akin to time capsules unaffected by the outside galaxy. I'm going to guess those Jewels were destroyed by the Sith, the Nihil, the Clone Wars, and definitely the Empire. The more I think about it, At Attin and the Jewel world are the equivalent of a Fallout Vault. It makes me wonder if there's smth more malevolent to the world: What is At Attin's experiment lmao.
It's so weird in a good way to see the kids not know about what's going on since their isolation such as not knowing about how rough Coruscant got it post-war and Alderaan's destruction...God that's going to be awkward when the kids know what happened to Alderaan and the wars since their isolation. Can't wait for Wim to learn about Order 66.
My theory is whoever the Supervisor and the govt is that they have some access to the outside galaxy and they might've taken some things from what's going on to spin it into their own ideas (like Soh's Great Works to describe part of the Great Work of keeping the Barrier up).
I love and find it hilarious how KB and Fern end up turning Jod's idea of being partners and whether he works for them. Such a power move by those kids and I love to see it haha. While Jod didn't tell the kids the complete truth, I think he is telling the truth about him feeling lost and I hope we get to see his character development over the series (I'm a sucker for the heart of gold character growth, especially during this time where we need those feel good stories). I wonder if he really is a Jedi dropout or a former Padawan. I can't wait for Episode 7 to give us more on his character like Jude Law promised.
I hope Neel gets to be more independent over time, and this is hopefully the first step. God, I love how the Onyx Cinder looks after looking at the brick abomination of a "ship" that is the Trailblazer, haha. It also feels weird to see the kids firing on NR ships, but I like how the X-Wings pilots were worried about the kids. I also like how they were using ion shots since they weren't trying to destroy the ship but disable it. I hope we see more of Kh'ymm haha. I also think the ruined world in the trailers could be one of those destroyed Jewels of the Old Republic.
"He got us this far. But I don't trust him. Not really." KB
"What did he tell you? 'Trust your gut'? Use your head. Get the truth. And if you ever need help, you can call me anytime." Kh'ymm
