Skeleton Crew

Stream on Disney+

Episode: 8 thirty one to forty eight minute Episodes

Rated TV-PG

Four kids who long for adventure end up finding it in their backyard as they uncover a hidden door in a ravine. This door doesn’t lead to treasure, an abandoned Jedi temple, or ancient ruins, it is the entrance to an old starship. This old starship doesn’t just hold a few surprises though, it also works! Whisked away unto an unexpected adventure featuring pirates, lost treasures, and mystery!

Themes:

Adventure, kids, school, droids doing everything, absent parents, latchkey kids, acting tough, academics, fault, pirates, star sports, credits, trust, jedi, the Force, the great work, memories, adults vs children, peace, bravery, war, secrets, legends, nostalgia, memories, booby traps, unlikely friendships, impossible odds, pirate’s booty, the New Republic, truth, myths and legends, teamwork, good people, and betrayal!

Language:

Name calling such as scum, wastetioids, losers, jerk, dumb, bilge rats, etc.

D*mn - 4

Stuff to be aware of:

Grossiness - A man is seen vomiting, an alien is seen inhaling something and several sketchy things are seen in episode two at a space port. A cook pops open a large bug and his guts spill out onto a bowl of food.

Scariness - Some of the aliens could be scary. One of the pirates looks kind of like a werewolf and after being introduced in episode one he becomes a main character.

A girl tells a story about people being trapped and people eating each other. She tells the “scary story” and then scares two other characters by making a loud noise. When messing with an old droid a little animal jumps out of the droid’s eye and scares the characters. This is one of a few jump scares such as someone popping up out of the floor or seeing themselves unexpectedly in a mirror.

In episode two a droid reboots and enters in a scary way and drags off one of the kids. There are multiple skeletons in one scene that have swords coming out of them.

In episode three tentacles are seen coming out of a cell and reaching for things. There is a man who looks like he has been shot or burned in the face. He is meant to look intimidating.

In episode four a robot starts to attack the children which causes a scene that could be scary for younger viewers.

In episode five there is a huge alien that looks kind of like a kraken, but he ends up being friendly.

In episode six a giant crab like monster brefily tries to eat the kids.

Sexual - A male alien has a crush on a female alien. He longingly stairs at her and mentions that he is working up to talking to her. It is hard to tell if either alien is male or female, but they are referred to as him and her. The male alien is later seen briefly in a tub, but only his upper chest and shoulders are seen.

In episode two there are some females inviting men into a building. The female aliens seem to be dancers or prostitutes.

In episode three two women, who are presumed to be the parents of one of the kids, hold hands and sit on a couch. Later when one kid asks what the other’s moms do, one girls says, “mine are analysts.” Plural seems to suggest the two women are lesbians. The two moms are again seen in episode seven multiple times. The other children seem to have single parents, except Neel has a mother and father.

In episode four a girl kisses a male character on the cheek. In episode five a concubine is mentioned and one of the kids ask what a concubine is. He gets brushed off.

The two mothers referred to earlier are seen more in the final episode.

Violence - Lots of Star Wars style gun fights with nothing too graphic. In episode one an alien gets shot in the eye, but it doesn’t stop him. His eye just kind of looks singed. Another pirate seems to stab someone off screen.

In episode two one character mentions that she killed the captain by stabbing him in the gut and throwing him into space. There is a big fight scene where multiple people get shot and one alien gets pushed against something very hot and you hear a sizzling sound.

In episode three an alien in a cell is shocked with a weapon.

In episode four there is a story told about a pirate crew being killed that is told in a scary fashion. There are also two warring gangs that are going to fight one another.

In episode five a Hutt eats a servant that is bringing him food. Pirates shoot a guard and leave a hole in him that you can see through. The dead guy then get impaled off screen by spikes. There is also sounds of people yelling from being submerged in acid.

In episode six several people get shot and stunned. They just fall on the ground and recover later. A character gets shot in the head but it happens off screen. His lifeless body is seen in the background, but no blood is seen. A droid also gets his head cut off.

In episode seven there are a few scenes where people are taken hostage.

Overall:

Watching It With Your Family

Parents will want to be aware of episode three having some curse words and that there is a character with two mothers, as I mentioned above. The curse words are only said by one character (Jude Law) and are usually said pretty fast. Outside of what has become typical for Star Wars (gun fights, death, scary alien) this show is pretty family friendly. Some of the aliens could be a bit scary and there are some intense parts, but my ten year old daughter enjoyed it.

This show has been compared to Goonies, which was a movie I grew up on, but it is a lot cleaner than Goonies.

What I Thought

I had high hopes for this show and for the most part it did not disappoint. While the “kids getting caught up in an accidental adventure” is not a new or novel idea giving it a Star Wars background is something we haven’t seen before. The series has wit, a fun story that will hit you in the nostalgia feels, and does a good job giving us something we have not seen in Star Wars….A show where kids are the main characters. We even see some facets of the Star Wars universe that we haven’t seen before like a pirate spaceport, a spa planet, and suburbia.

The kids all do a great job acting, Jude Law (a veteran) shines as the pirate you can’t trust, and SM-33 steals all the scenes he is in. The best part about the children is that the script allows these children to be kids. They solve problems as a kid would, they fuss and fight and come back together, they talk things out (unlike adults), they are emotional, they make mistakes, and they goof off. The kids are written as kids and the acting comes natural.

Episode five is a real gem in the series as SM-33 goes on and on about nostalgia and how new things are never better than the original. It’s kind of a fun meta moment, but also the series really plays into the Goonies and Indiana Jones troops in this episode with traps, danger, and treasure.

The children in the show also get to grow a bit, even thought it might not have been necessary, but it does make the show that much better. Fern learns to love her friends instead of be bossy and learns that she doesn’t always have to be tough. KB shows us that having prosthetics and handicaps can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to change you relationships with your friends. The naïve kid must learn to balance not blindly trusting everyone, but also not letting doubters (adults) steal your faith and sense of wonder. Then there is Neel, who we need more merchandise of. Neel, the shy kid comes out of his shell and learns to be brave and gains confidence.

One last great thing I will mention is that the story/script gives us the answers we need to know to wrap the fun series up. We find out the mysteries, but there is just enough left unknown that a second season could be done. However, if this is all we get the ending is satisfying even if they could have done a bit more with a character or two.

If I had to complain about anything some of the CGI was not great, but the awesome stop motion giant crab made up for that in my opinion. Some of the story threads are predictable, but that is okay because the story does things in creative ways and in a Star Warsy way.

This is what we needed from Star Wars. Something fun, that kids can watch, but doesn’t shy away from heavier themes and isn’t afraid to make bad guys bad and kill a few characters. Overall, this was great and I hope we see more like this from Star Wars. No more Acolyte please.