'Skeleton Crew brings childish delight back to Star Wars'

Skeleton Crew might be set in a galaxy far, far away but if the story and its characters were transported to the '80s it certainly wouldn't feel out of place, but even if it feeds on nostalgia it somehow works.

The latest Star Wars Disney+ series follows children Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter), and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), who stumble upon buried treasure, sorry spaceship, on their home planet and accidentally turn it on. Cue much panic as the quartet are thrust towards the stars and into hyperspace with no idea how to get home, and just a brutish pirate droid for company.

Keen to find a way back, the quartet decide to ask for help and are met with bloodthirsty space pirates, and only Jude Law's Jod Na Nawood seemingly willing to help them. But whether all is as it seems will be revealed when their long journey home begins.

Skeleton Crew wears its references on its sleeve, it's part Goonies and part Treasure Planet. It isn't afraid to lean into the same tropes and storylines and even has similar characters to boot — there's certainly a bit of John Silver in Law's character, what little we see of him anyway. But even if it feels overly familiar there's a lot of charm to the show, at least from its first two episodes, that brought back a feeling of childish delight in me.

Who wouldn't have wished they went on an adventure full of buried treasure with space pirates as a child? Who didn't pretend to be a Jedi fighting a Sith on the playground just like Wim and Neel do while waiting for their bus to school?

Those are the memories that Skeleton Crew taps into, and it's so joyful because of it. The show harnesses this feeling in a way that will delight adult Stars Wars fans as well as the many kids today just getting into the franchise. It'll remind older viewers of that childish wonder they may have forgotten under the weight of the responsibility and stresses of adult life, at least, that's what it did for me.

At the same time, it will appeal to the younger viewers the show is clearly aimed at. So far this is a fun adventure story that will transport them to a distant galaxy in the way that those who watched the original film were back in 1977. And that's what Star Wars is all about isn't it?

That being said, Skeleton Crew is by no means perfect. Its first episode takes far too long to kick the plot into gear, setting up the world around Wim, Neel, Fern and KB at a pace akin to a particularly dull school lesson. But once they're off their planet and sent shooting off into space then it gets good because of the colourful characters they meet, and the revelations that are made in the wake of their misadventure.

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The '80s nostalgia is charming now but could also wear thin if overly-relied on in future episodes, but if Stranger Things has taught us anything it's that there is a way to do it right. Directors like the Daniels, Lee Isaac Chung and Bryce Dallas Howard also always have great vision so it seems entirely possible it will work, but the jury will be out on that until the final credits roll.

Watch: The trailer for Skeleton Crew

The first two episodes set the stage well for what promises to be a delightful series, yes it's aimed at younger viewers rather than the established (more vocal) side of the fanbase but it's time for the franchise to do something a little different.

The Acolyte tried to do that but was review bombed and unfairly criticised even before it began airing, the vitriol the cast were subjected to was abhorrent and hopefully the same won't happen to the team behind Skeleton Crew.

For what it's worth, this vocal minority that have never been happy with anything to come out of the Star Wars universe after the original trilogy are searching for one thing — a way to recapture the magic they felt the first time they were transported into George Lucas' world as children. If any show has the ability to achieve that, it's Skeleton Crew.

The first two episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is out now on Disney+, new episodes premiere every Wednesday.