Star Wars: Skeleton Crew – This Could Be A Real Adventure review S1 E1
Unless viewers are going in intent on hating it, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’s first episode This Could Be A Real Adventure should win over any skeptics of a kid-focused Star Wars series.
Skeleton Crew is set in that fertile storytelling space post Return of the Jedi where the Disney Star Wars era has already found so much success with The Mandalorian. From a storytelling perspective, this time period is the most wide open. There are decades from ROTJ to The Force Awakens. Current Star Wars creators have shown an understandable reluctance to explore the time frame where Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren are the main players.
A Real Adventure starts off with a pretty exhilarating opening that doesn’t necessarily seem the most kid-friendly for a show skewing closer to Star Wars families. Which of course means it’s perfect for a Star Wars show catering more to kids.
In lieu of the iconic scroll, text appears explaining that pirates have overrun hyperspace routes in search of treasure now that the New Republic has helped restore order to the galaxy.
A Real Adventure showcases one pirate raid as a horde of raiders ambushes and overtakes a ship’s crew in search of a payday. Director/co-writer Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) stages this sequence very much like A New Hope with the ship defenders bracing for the invasion.
The pirate captain, clad in a helmet — always a smart way to introduce a key player in a Star Wars saga — does a little victory dance assuring his crew that he would come through for them. But the payday is minimal and for yet another failure to deliver, first mate Brutus (voiced by Fred Tatasciore and performed by Stephen Oyoung) stages a coup d’état. Now Brutus is the captain.
Meanwhile in another part of the galaxy, young Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) is bracing for another boring day at school. Wim would much rather read about Jedi, his non-stop obsession. He and his BFF Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) reenact lightsaber duels at the bus stop to the chagrin of their classmates. Neel looks like a small blue elephant. With his big round eyes and friendly demeanor, Neel seems like a candidate to be the Skeleton Crew breakout character.
Tomorrow is a big day at school announces classroom visitor Fara (Kerry Condon). Students will take assessment tests to best learn how they can contribute to their planet’s success. Since there’s no Jedi training, Wim is less than enthused. Wim’s father, Wendle (Tunde Adebimpe, Spider-Man: Homecoming), encourages his son to do well on the test and grow up from the whole wanting to be a Jedi when he grows up dream. There’s no mention of Wim’s mother, which is weird.
Another of Wim’s classmates is Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), a good girl gone bad. Fern is a good student but prefers to race school jerks and be somewhat mean-spirited with her classmates. For some reason, KB (Kriyana Kratter), who only occasionally raises her tech visor, tolerates her attitude. Continuing a low-key theme, Fern also shares the first letter with her mother, Fara. And again, there’s no mention of the other parent.
One surprising development in A Real Adventure was the proliferation of overly apparent CGI for the wider set designs. Clearly, viewers understand that what they’re seeing is not real, but the CGI seemed too pristine and fake far too often.
Wim missed the bus for his assessment test, but he stumbled into a hole and is pretty sure he found a Jedi temple. Wim’s longing for a real adventure makes him an easy to root for main character. He’s the gateway character to invite all of the Skeleton Crew and Goonies comparisons. Wim is basically Mikey trying to find One Eye Willie’s fortune. In this case instead of gold, it’s a lightsaber depot.
Fern and Wim meet waiting to talk to the principal for their tardiness. Wim makes his first big mistake by sharing too much with Fern, who thinks Wim’s discovery might lead to some parts she can use to fix her bike.
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Fern is an interesting character in the sense that if their characters were swapped, there’s no way Wim would be considered an endearing character for talking to Fern so poorly. Watts and co-writer Chrisopher Ford fall into the trap that too many modern writers do in writing women — or in this case, a young girl — obnoxiously and excusing it under the #GirlBoss mentality.
Wim and Fern play off of each other better when Fern isn’t being such a jerk and the two are allowed to just be posturing kids thinking they’ve outsmarted the other. Wim and Neel returned to the site only to find Fern and KB there staking claim on his discovery.
In a trend that plays out for the rest of A Real Adventure, Fern constantly outsmarts Wim and Neel. That dynamic could work if Fern was less insufferable, but she isn’t written very endearingly at least for this episode. KB is written better though she’s more just agreeing with Fern.
After fiddling around in the “temple,” for a bit, the kids realize too late that they’re on a ship that they just accidentally launched. Watts does a great job here of having kids be kids in overtalking each other, bossing each other around and stumbling into a new problem in a genuine manner that is very fun.
Watts and Ford smartly have Wendle spot the kids going into the ship. This avoids the frustrating subplot of Wendle aimlessly looking for them. Now at least he knows they’re off planet courtesy of heading to hyperspace.
With a clear vision, strong performances and a real sense of fun that’s not connected to a lightsaber, This Could Be A Real Adventure was an all-around terrific way to start this new Star Wars journey.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney
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