Skeleton Crew Offers A Hilarious First For The Star Wars Universe

Spoilers for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" follow.

Even though the "Star Wars" universe of series, films, and the like take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, they share plenty of familiar elements with struggles in the human world of Earth. There's romances aplenty and heartbreak, as well as strife as people of different classes attempt to realize their dreams. Oh, and there's also parental problems, primarily (but not entirely) comprised of daddy issues. Luke Skywalker didn't know his own mother, who died in childbirth, and he only realized that his father Anakin was actually the terrifying villain (who eventually breaks good) Darth Vader right after Vader chopped off his hand. And it's not just limited to the original trilogy, either; leaving aside the fact that Luke's mom Amidala dies in childbirth, Anakin himself only has a mother and seems to have been the product of something akin to an immaculate conception. And the beating heart of the sequel trilogy, Rey, is orphaned and only eventually learns that she's the granddaughter of the absolutely awful Emperor Palpatine. 

The point here is that "Star Wars" loves itself some daddy issues almost as much as it loves action sequences and goofy robots. That's why the new "Star Wars" series "Skeleton Crew" has begun in particularly promising, singular, and darkly funny fashion. It's not that there's anything truly hilarious about the fact that this may well be the first time in more than 40 years of the franchise that we've seen main characters with loving and kind parents, but ... sincerely, how is it possible that this is the first time that's happened? But it's true; while there's still plenty of story left to unfold over the next month or so on the Disney+ limited series, this much seems to be true: the main characters of "Skeleton Crew" don't realize how good they have it because their parents appear to — gasp! — love them. 

After the two-episode premiere, "Skeleton Crew" has shown itself to be as indebted to the classic "Star Wars" films as it is to action-adventure stories of the 1980s. The new series takes place after the events of the original trilogy, on a well-to-do planet where kids like Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) and Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) go to school to be taught by passionless droids about the ways of the galaxy before they take all-important career assessment tests that will determine what jobs they serve the New Republic in the future. And while that's all well and good, neither Wim nor Fern really care that much about what they're going to be when they grow up. That's because Wim has fantasies of being a Jedi, like in the stories he's read about the past of the Galactic Empire; and Fern is much more at home zooming around her suburban neighborhood on a makeshift speeder that she wants to race against other kids even though that might get her in a bit of trouble anyway. Wim and Fern, along with their friends Neel and KB, wind up on an entirely different adventure that may get them in trouble, once they discover a buried starship near their neighborhood and inadvertently send it (and themselves) flying across the galaxy to parts unknown.

Even before they wind up sailing through the stars via hyperspeed (which serves as the conclusion of the first half of the two-part premiere), Wim and Fern are overseen by single parents. Wim's father Wendle (Tunde Adebimpe) is overworked, perhaps, but still a kind and loving father. And Fern's mother Fara (Kerry Condon) literally ends one conversation with her daughter by saying "I'm just so proud of you." Now, in the world of past "Star Wars" stories, you might think that such proclamations are a guarantee that Fara's not long for this world, but (at least for now) there is no heartbreaking tragedy or loss for our juvenile heroes. Certainly some of the ways in which Wendle and Fara interact with their kids hints at the '80s-style choice to have parents who don't fully get their kids and aren't quite clear on the shenanigans going on under their noses. But the first episode ends with Wendle being helpless as he watches with horror as the starship flies off with the quartet of kids screaming in confusion and terror (seeing as it takes place in a heavily wooded forest, it's oddly reminiscent of the end of Spielberg's "E.T.," if Elliott had gone on the ship with the eponymous alien).

In the second episode, while we don't see Fara, there is just enough time to get a brief glimpse of Wendle still in the forest, baffled and terrified about what may lay out in the galaxy for his son and the other three kids on the ship as he feverishly tells some safety droids about what he saw. And no doubt, once the kids wind up at a spaceport riddled with pirates (partially realizing that they're only at the spaceport because the ship they've taken is a pirate-owned vessel), it's clear that Wendle is right to be concerned. Just as Obi-Wan Kenobi once warned Luke that Mos Eisley was a hive of scum and villainy, so too is it true that the galaxy outside of their comfortable planet is riddled with the scum of the earth who are all too willing to separate these kids from their space credits.

Now, it's true that we're just one-quarter of the way through the full eight episodes of "Skeleton Crew," meaning that there is plenty of time for us to learn that Wendle or Fara (or another parental unit) isn't as kindly as they seem, or that they have some mysterious plots up their sleeves. But let's hope that's not the case. Let's hope that the two-part premiere sets the baseline for potential future "Star Wars" stories, in which parents do not exist either as a sign of a terrifying future or as a prop to be killed. If "Star Wars" wants to keep breaking boundaries, they may want to try this one on for size. Isn't it nice, for once, to watch one of these stories and to see parents and their children co-existing (relatively) happily?

New episodes of "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" drop Tuesdays at 6pm PST on Disney+.