Star Wars: Skeleton Crewjoined Disney’s upcoming slate in early 2022, but the projects keep slipping around. It remains one of the most hotly anticipated series on the list. Disney doesn’t seem interested in pursuingStar Warsmovies, but they’ve been shockingly willing to experiment with their small-screen efforts. For every lazy, boring mess of callbacks, they throw out something unique likeAndorandThe Acolyte.Skeleton Crewseems straightforward enough to get fans excited, but it could be more than an enjoyable series of references.
Disney’s ownership of theStar Warsbrand has been a mixed bag. The franchise will always have ups and downs, but the problems are very different now.George Lucas’s badStar Warsmoviestried new things, many of which ruined considerable portions of the franchise. Disney is more precious with the source material because their main goal is to continue earning money off the backs of characters from decades ago. These aren’t rules. Lucas regularly got lazy with the prequels, and Disney tries new things at times, but the current regime seems more prepared to address the issues at times.
Skeleton CrewLooks Like an 80s Spielberg Project
Everyone seems to have the same general reaction toStar Wars: Skeleton Crew.It’sThe Goonies, but set in theStar Warsuniverse. That’s enough of a selling point to get most fans on-board. Whether they’ve seen Richard Donner’s 1985 classic adventure comedy or not, everyone has a picture in their head of aGoonies-esque project. It fits into a niche that was huge throughout the 1980s but lacks the same impact in the modern day.E.T. The Extra-Terrestrialis another great example. They’re family-friendly adventure films that follow a group of precocious kids with varying personalities as they try to do something spectacular. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment is partially responsible for most of the genre. His co-founder in that effort, way back in 1980,was Kathleen Kennedy, the current president of Lucasfilm. It seems shocking that the franchise hasn’t already conquered this genre. It is better late than never, however. Fans seem thrilled to see the concept crash into a popular franchise and potentially open a new generation’s eyes to both.
Star WarsHas Always Borrowed From Classic Media
George Lucas made no secret of his inspirations. Half ofStar Warscomes from other movies, books, and media. There are bits and pieces of old westerns, samurai movies,andDunearound every corner. The biggest inspiration is, unquestionably,Flash Gordon. Lucas started the project with the intent of making the first fullFlash Gordonfeature. The long-running comic strip made it to the screen in the form of three film serial collections during the late 1930s. Those were re-edited into features, but their serialized nature remains visible. Lucas pulled a ton of material fromFlash Gordon. He straightforwardly borrowed concepts and characters, but the tone was his most notable point of inspiration. Lucas was born in 1944, four years after the third serial collection. He loved the films and the comics, growing up during the era that saw each entry enjoy feature-length edits.Star Warsis a trilogy that came out in the 70s and 80s, but much of its DNA came from the 30s and 40s. That means that most of the recycled material that winds up in some ofDisney’s shows and moviesis ultimately just under a century old. New material sometimes cracks the bubble, but it’s always a temporary addition.Skeleton Crewrepresents a change in that pattern.
Star WarsCan Move Forward By Injecting New Inspiration
George Lucas injected the things he loves into his new universe, resurrecting concepts from 40 years earlier to spark the biggestblockbuster movement of the 1970s. Years later,Skeleton Crewis prepared to do the same by borrowing the material that may have inspired Jon Watts and Christopher Ford. Watts was born in 1981. He was four years old whenThe Gooniescame out and barely one year old whenE.T.surpassedStar Warsas the best-selling film ever made. These projects live on in the minds of the creative professionals that build modernStar Wars. The kids who sawStar Warsmay have never heard ofFlash Gordon, but that didn’t stop them from falling in love with Lucas’s take on similar concepts. Grown-ups who turned up at the multiplex in 1977may have lovedFlash Gordonjust like Lucas did, possibly heightening their experience. The same phenomenon can delight kids and adults today. This could be a huge leap forward and the new default state for theStar Warsfranchise.
No one dislikes theStar Warsfranchise for borrowing material from other stories. If anything, people hateStar Warswhen it borrows from itself.Skeleton Crewrepresents an opportunityto push the franchise forward and develop a new world of influences. Imagine theStar Warsfilms they’ll be making in 2050. It’s better that they borrowed from 2010 than 1936.
