Chris Gore and Alan Ng review episode episodes 1-3 of “Skeleton Crew,” now playing on Disney+.
Have a drink with us for Hollywood On the Rocks, Wednesdays at 1PM PT, then catch us on our Friday Livecast at 9AM PT for film reviews, interviews and a chance to join the conversation about movies and all things pop culture!
And on Mondays at 1PM PT, join us ringside for Versus, where a bunch of passionate movie nerds have themselves a Royal Rumble!
-----------------------------------------------------------
ALL THE LINKS!
https://linktr.ee/filmthreat
T-SHIRTS AND MERCH! Shop Film Threat t-shirts, mugs, merch and more:
https://shop.filmthreat.com/
SUBMIT YOUR INDIE FILM! We’ll review anything including your indie movie! Submit your film for review now: https://filmthreat.com/submit-project/
WIN AWARDS! All films reviewed on Film Threat become eligible for our indie movie awards show Award This! You can even attend the party! https://linktr.ee/awardthis
JOIN US AS A MEMBER! Join the Film Threat channel to get access to perks including giveaways, member chats and exclusive videos:
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:03
it's time now the Disney plus series
0:06
Skeleton Crew is here on the heels of
0:11
what's let's be honest some rocky
0:15
rocky in terms of how they've been
0:17
received series from Disney plus when it
0:20
comes to Star Wars let's be honest okay
0:24
um Obi-Wan was a
0:27
disappointment acolyte was nearly
0:29
universally
0:31
reviled Ahsoka people found
0:35
boring I it's and and like with the
0:39
exception of the first two seasons maybe
0:41
of
0:42
Mandalorian I feel that Star Wars at
0:45
least on Disney plus has been
0:49
rudderless we don't know where is it all
0:52
going do we even care and the movie is
0:56
nonexistent since 2019 so in this show
1:00
Skeleton Crew turn things around let's
1:04
see let's talk about the story first
1:06
Allan if you would explain the the very
1:10
thin story for this this show which
1:13
is very much geared toward singled
1:16
digigit age
1:18
children Allan take it away okay give me
1:21
one second while I pull up the
1:24
uh
1:25
uh I love how you're prepared well I
1:29
didn't think I was going to have to
1:30
describe the story so let me uh that
1:32
happens every time we do a review here
1:35
we go okay I'm just trying to get
1:36
character names and things like that all
1:38
right so uh we have uh okay so we're on
1:43
the planet of at
1:44
addin uh a little boy named whim is a is
1:48
a young man who a young boy who whose
1:51
father is a workaholic and um father
1:55
kind of uh he's he's sort of a latchy
1:57
kid uh gets into trouble once in a while
1:59
with his buddy Fern s not Fern uh with
2:02
um with Neil some elephant like creature
2:06
friend of his uh and uh they get into
2:09
just some trouble and one day they find
2:10
a little uh kind of an artifact in the
2:13
ground they think it's a Jedi Temple um
2:16
when they tried to get up there
2:18
encountered by uh KB and uh and
2:22
Fern and uh the four of them start to
2:26
dig through realize it's a it's a
2:28
spaceship it's a star starf fighter
2:30
something like that frighter I don't
2:32
know shows you how interested and
2:34
involved I am in this movie um they ACD
2:36
hit a button which activates the ship
2:39
and then the ship takes off uh goes off
2:42
to other worlds uh and uh they don't
2:44
know how to get back home and then their
2:46
parents at home are uh are looking for
2:49
them and wondering where they are and
2:51
along the way uh and we'll get I'll jump
2:53
to the end of the second episode they
2:55
meet a Jedi uh played by Jude Law uh
2:58
jodna Nawa
3:00
nowood and um so it's a little adventure
3:03
of of these kids who abscond with the
3:06
ship uh get lost and need to find a way
3:09
home how's that you want to say more
3:12
that's a really broad description this
3:14
is a show for children it's inspired by
3:17
80s films like The Goonies and last
3:21
starf fighter last starf fighter
3:23
explorers it's very much for kids it's
3:26
kids POV in the Star Wars Universe the
3:29
story is simple about the planet that
3:31
they reside on is a hidden Planet it's
3:33
not on any Maps because there is
3:37
potentially a treasure
3:40
there um episode one and two introduces
3:43
us us to the characters and
3:46
situation we end up
3:48
meeting a Jedi maybe is he a Jedi Jude
3:53
Law plays
3:55
jood is he a Jedi we don't know he was
3:58
imprisoned for being kind of an idiot
4:00
with a group of pirates and I'll say
4:03
this I didn't hate this
4:05
show it is what it purports to be a show
4:08
for children and what does Disney do
4:11
well they make shows for kids I think
4:15
this could be the most popular show on
4:18
Disney
4:19
plus from the Star Wars Camp because the
4:23
demographic of Disney plus the most
4:26
popular thing on Disney plus is Bluey
4:30
and this is kind of in that realm so as
4:33
a piece of Star Wars content this can
4:37
really this will really hit the mark and
4:39
for the most part people are enjoying it
4:41
I will say kind of enjoyed the first two
4:45
episodes we'll get to episode three um
4:49
it's whimsical the the kids are likeable
4:54
they're types of kids they have
4:56
attributes that you could describe with
4:58
you know here's the Rebel here's the
5:00
this um they picked this the actor who
5:04
plays whim Ravi cabitt Conor's kind of a
5:09
gender like has it's a boy with a girl's
5:12
haircut there you go racially and gender
5:16
ambiguous racially and gender ambiguous
5:20
so they're not taking a stand on
5:23
anything yes right and the girl the
5:26
girls in the show just act like boys so
5:30
rolling my eyes so there are things in
5:33
the show that really I really enjoyed
5:36
Nick Frost is is the voice of a robot
5:39
that they find on the ship he's
5:42
sm33 or SME little reference to Pirate
5:47
character um there are other uh they
5:50
they really do the World building
5:53
well I think it's one of the most
5:56
beautiful looking of any Disney Plus
5:59
Star Wars thing next to the Mandalorian
6:02
in terms of its Vistas its ships its uh
6:07
cleverness it it focuses on kids
6:11
concerns what are kids concerned about
6:14
homework
6:15
friendship uh parental approval or
6:19
disapproval um you know School having to
6:22
deal with school issues and tests so
6:25
it's all focused on the things that a an
6:28
average kid in the in you know on planet
6:31
Earth would be concerned with so the
6:35
target it's going after it hits pretty
6:37
well and I can't say I I I didn't
6:41
dislike it I I had fun with it and even
6:45
the things that stood out and and
6:47
bothered me was like ah but it's a dumb
6:49
kid show I'll tell you what what some of
6:52
those things are they play Star Wars in
6:54
the Star Wars show literally whim and
6:58
his uh elephant like alien friend Neil
7:02
like pretend they have lightsabers and
7:05
play Star Wars they play with Star Wars
7:08
action figures in a Star Wars show or or
7:11
toys right um those things annoyed me
7:14
the things that made it more Earthly
7:16
like a Suburban neighborhood uh the fact
7:19
that what of the parents uh the par the
7:22
father of whim has
7:24
glasses why would he not have like a
7:26
bionic eye or something more
7:30
space Star Wars is no one wears glasses
7:34
in Star Wars I think that's kind of dumb
7:36
but but to your point that their teeth
7:38
are
7:39
fine right right all I'm saying is there
7:44
are little things that annoyed me but if
7:47
I watched any kid show I would find a
7:50
million little things that would annoy
7:52
me this was like an average number of
7:56
annoying things so uh I did hate it
8:00
episode three opens with we meet the
8:03
parents of the kids who have disembarked
8:06
I'll tell you more so this is put up the
8:07
spoiler warning Allan if you would so
8:10
episode one and two we meet Jude Law's
8:13
character at the very end of the show
8:14
who helps the kids
8:17
Escape uh he has been they imprisoned in
8:20
the same place they escape we just meet
8:23
him more Adventures take place with jna
8:28
nowood and this group of children in the
8:31
third
8:32
episode which puts them at Peril and I
8:36
got to say Jude Law I like him he is his
8:39
character uh J na nowood is kind of a a
8:43
a Han Solo roguish at
8:46
a-hole who has Jedi like Powers I'm not
8:50
sure if he's actually a Jedi we'll see
8:54
we will see but I like the way he's his
8:57
take he is taking it dead
9:01
seriously if you're gonna be believable
9:03
you take it seriously and there is comic
9:07
relief with uh
9:09
sm33 uh the kid characters always like
9:12
you know you suck and know you it's it's
9:14
like it's very much for kids um but at
9:17
the beginning of the third episode We
9:19
Meet the Parents you meet a single dad a
9:22
single mom Neil's parents the elephant
9:25
kid as a mom and a dad and you meet one
9:27
of the characters of par parents KB she
9:32
has two moms it's like Disney cannot
9:35
help themselves they have to have two
9:39
moms and I'll say it's eight episodes
9:43
short 30 minutes
9:46
um I I'm not going to watch it week to
9:49
week I don't think we'll be reporting on
9:50
it every week it's not uh it's not worth
9:53
it but doesn't break any lore or really
9:57
anything you know it's a simple for kids
10:00
and the tone they hit it they hit the
10:03
tone of that kind of
10:05
80s like you know
10:08
sensibility so I don't know I think this
10:11
show is fine it won't be lore-breaking
10:14
like like you know um acolyte was
10:19
there's nothing in it that would make
10:20
you um that would be upsetting in terms
10:23
of ah they ruined this they I I I I
10:25
honestly I was like uh I did not hate
10:28
that kind of had fun fun and it brought
10:30
me back this is the Ewok Adventure this
10:33
is Caravan of Courage which were in the
10:37
80s two TV movies made about families in
10:41
the Star Wars universe and what it's
10:44
trying to ad do it aspired to a certain
10:47
thing and it hit that thing and like
10:51
anything Disney now there's a ton of
10:53
little nitpicky annoying things but I
10:56
could see myself watching the show with
10:59
my kids if they were you know under 11
11:02
and they would probably like it so you
11:05
know I'm giving this kind of a mild
11:07
recommendation and a wait and see you
11:09
know but uh what did you think Allan
11:13
yeah you know um the sense I got was
11:16
that uh Skeleton Crew uh is meant to get
11:19
kids excited about Star Wars and and
11:22
saying that uh nine-year-old me uh got
11:25
excited about Star Wars thanks to this
11:27
little movie what's it called it's
11:30
called Star
11:34
Wars I I
11:37
mean I mean look I I posted this on on X
11:42
last night and I got I got dozens of
11:46
comments saying yeah I was three when I
11:47
saw Star Wars or I was seven when I saw
11:49
Star Wars I was eight when I saw Empire
11:52
Strikes Back um my issue is kids deserve
11:56
better uh especially if you're going to
11:58
slap the star war brand on it uh you
12:01
know like again when the first Star Wars
12:03
came out in the theaters I was NY old NY
12:07
old when when it came out um most my
12:09
friends were well all of my friends were
12:11
nine year old nine years old at the time
12:13
um we can handle this stuff we we know
12:16
what a good story is we we know what
12:18
this world is like and we fell in love
12:19
with it and uh and instead of giving us
12:23
Star Wars we get this um yeah it's fine
12:27
it's a kids movie and or kids show kids
12:31
like I say kids deserve better um the
12:33
issue I have with this uh is that it's
12:38
uh again this is what Disney and a lot
12:41
of other studios are falling into uh
12:43
there's no real story here other than a
12:47
quest uh Moana to goes Moana goes on a
12:51
quest here it's it's kind of a quest you
12:54
know the kids find themselves on a ship
12:56
by mistake accidentally uh activate it
13:00
and now they're lost in space so they're
13:02
on a quest to get
13:04
home but my issue and that's all it is
13:07
that's all these kids are doing is
13:08
trying to get home and they go on an
13:10
adventure they meet Pirates uh okay
13:13
that's fine but still uh these kids I I
13:17
don't know what
13:20
they're kids can handle the hero's
13:22
journey there is no Heroes Journey here
13:24
it's get home uh there in terms of their
13:28
character in terms of of the struggles
13:30
they have at being a child in this time
13:32
is not challenged at all uh I'm not and
13:36
I speak to this only in the sense of
13:39
look uh you're you're telling a very
13:41
Bland story with a lot of cool Star Wars
13:43
characters in it um but you know at at
13:47
least at minimum you should have at
13:48
least some kind of a morality tale that
13:51
that little uh that our little hero
13:53
protagonist here has to deal with and
13:55
that's not happening it's just him
13:57
trying to solve the puzzle of how to
13:59
deal with pirates of how to get out of
14:01
this situation uh and and I feel like
14:04
that you know to say that the hero's
14:06
journey is solely for adults I think is
14:08
not true I think you can tell tell the
14:10
hero's journey uh even in kids films and
14:13
this would be a great opportunity to do
14:15
that maybe they do it in the in the next
14:17
few episodes maybe there is some kind of
14:19
hero's journey that I'm not aware of but
14:21
you need to establish these things in
14:23
the first episode uh in minimum the
14:26
first two episodes and we're not there
14:28
yet and so um yeah is it a kid show yeah
14:32
uh am I being overly critical of it
14:34
possibly but I think kids deserve better
14:37
and three you know uh as as a father who
14:42
has a child who watched Disney shows who
14:45
watched uh descendants over and over and
14:49
over again and who watched zombies over
14:52
and over again um you know at least
14:55
there was some story there there were
14:56
characters that she was attracted to
14:57
there were characters with wants and
14:59
needs with
15:01
motivations uh and I'm just not getting
15:03
any of that with this and uh like I said
15:06
kids deserve better they abely do um
15:10
well I I agree with you and I'll just
15:12
say this the bottom for Disney is for
15:17
when it comes to Star Wars has been
15:19
dropped so far that even something like
15:24
this right comes along and you're like
15:26
oh my expectations were so low for
15:29
acolyte after Obi-Wan that like it was
15:33
like you even exceeded those it was even
15:36
below those expectations so my
15:38
expectations are so low for Star Wars
15:41
that even something with a pulse like
15:43
this I could sit you know oh I see
15:45
things I really can enjoy but I agree so
15:48
I while I agree with you I'll still
15:50
still give it a mild recommend haven't
15:52
seen the whole show we probably uh the
15:55
mild recommend is this is the best Star
15:57
Wars Disney has put out since the
16:00
Mandalorian
16:02
that's it is it is I agree with you I
16:05
mean first of all you you mentioned it
16:08
you know the the special effects the
16:09
sets the production is amazing what
16:12
happened with the acolyte what happened
16:14
with o with Kobi with Obi-Wan why why do
16:17
those so shows suck so much in terms of
16:20
production when when they had the access
16:22
to this you know the other thing is
16:25
there what's what's happening with Star
16:27
Wars and why it's dying is cohesiveness
16:30
look in the acolyte we had witches here
16:32
we have Pirates it doesn't feel like
16:34
they belong in the same world or that
16:35
they're part of the same world um you
16:38
know there's just there's no singular
16:39
Vision when it comes to Star Wars and so
16:41
even with the the Tony Gilroy um uh
16:45
Andor as much as I like it it feels very
16:49
different from this uh as much as I like
16:51
the production values uh and it just
16:54
there's no cohesive when it comes to
16:56
Star Wars uh as a brand in general
16:58
Disney has has ruined that um yeah uh I
17:03
will you look it's it's a cute Adventure
17:05
but it it needs more it needs more dep
17:08
okay if you had to give it a number
17:13
rating give it a five I go five and a
17:17
half okay five and a half which is like
17:20
look miles above acolytes MH and it's
17:24
it's it's worth there there were things
17:26
that were clever that felt like oh this
17:28
sort of brought me back to why I love
17:30
Star Wars or the kid version of the
17:33
things the kid version of me liked about
17:35
Star Wars but I agree with you well the
17:38
original Star Wars which I saw when I
17:40
was like 11 yeah uh like you know I
17:46
mean yeah I mean you used to you used to
17:51
say regarding Star Wars great
17:53
storytelling and you can't say that
17:55
anymore yeah uh you know and um
17:59
um yeah you know okay oh yeah this is
18:02
the point I wanted to make if you
18:03
removed everything Star Wars in this
18:05
would you have pretty much the same
18:08
story I I would not care about it I
18:11
don't know that I'd care right so I mean
18:14
it's so so Star Wars adding the Star
18:18
Wars overlay onto it makes it more
18:20
interesting than if you didn't have it
18:22
which which again it's not good
18:24
storytelling yep I would agree although
18:27
I'm curious to see where Law's
18:29
characters only been introduced in the
18:32
at the end of episode two we get more of
18:35
him in three and he's the to me he's
18:39
driving the show for me yeah that third
18:44
episode takes over in the third episode
18:46
in terms he takes over and he's
18:48
interesting yes and the if if this whole
18:51
show was just the kids I would not be
18:55
interested I'd be out but Jude Law
18:59
is like damn he should have been in the
19:01
movies I mean he could have been in
19:03
Mandalorian or the sequels whatever that
19:06
guy's solid he is yeah amazing in this
19:11
so he's the one that like it again like
19:14
I said only the kids I'm out yeah here's
19:17
the thing more characters keep it keep
19:20
it you know to me I'm I'm interested now
19:23
here's the thing kids when when I was a
19:25
kid and I watch shows like this uh
19:28
there's always
19:29
some character which I'll call the
19:31
protagonist that you want to be that you
19:34
aspire to be you know the kids are fine
19:37
but there there's nothing that stands
19:39
out about them other than the fact that
19:41
they're they're kids one of them one of
19:43
them's a stem Specialists the others got
19:46
weird goggles but it's not until Jude
19:48
Law shows up to where you think to
19:50
yourself maybe I want to be like him
19:52
maybe this is maybe he's great I a Jedi
19:55
or whatever maybe I want to be this
19:57
character and and now all sudden I think
19:59
kids become more engaged in the show
20:01
thanks to him look look in terms of a
20:04
character Jude Law is fantastic in this
20:09
and he's the reason to keep watching and
20:12
I I will keep watching and we'll do a
20:14
round up or uh we'll review the series
20:17
when it concludes but I don't think
20:20
we'll be covering it week to week um
20:23
final thoughts we'll go to chat yeah
20:26
just another blind series from Disney uh
20:28
I mean I I do wrestle I'm sitting here
20:32
thinking is this better than descendants
20:34
is this better than uh than zombie High
20:38
uh you know I mean as much as I cringe
20:41
when I think of those shows uh I feel
20:44
like that at least they're more
20:46
interesting you know because you have
20:48
characters in them that you like and
20:50
you're drawn to I don't know that I
20:52
don't think these kids and we're talking
20:54
like niney old nine years old and under
20:57
maybe 12 um I don't know that I'm
21:00
exactly drawn to it or kids will be
21:02
drawn to it and so uh I feel like it
21:05
this shows a little bit of a misstep but
21:08
look I've been wrong before I I think
21:10
just because it's Star Wars kids will
21:12
like it and it'll do well and they'll
21:13
succeed blah blah blah
21:28
what
#TV Shows & Programs
#Animated Films
#Family Films
#Science Fiction & Fantasy Films

