Star Wars Skeleton Crew Season 1 Review

[00:00:00] This is the Star Wars Podcast on TV Podcast Industries and we're talking about Star Wars Skeleton Crew Season 1 Episodes 1 to 8. No, the coordinates are gone. Yeah, they're gone. Who would do that? I did. Why, were you looking for those? You destroyed them? When?

[00:00:27] When I was here before, with my old captain. You were here? Why would you destroy them? Destroy what? The coordinates. Coordinates. What you just said to At-At-In. Can't say I remember no At-At-In. Stop saying that!

[00:01:02] Welcome back fellow crewmates to the Star Wars Podcast on TV Podcast Industries. This time we are discussing all things Star Wars Skeleton Crew Season 1 Episodes 1 through to 8. I am one of your army hearties crewmates, John. Welcome back pirates. I am one of your other hosts, Derek. We did it. We're actually going to talk about Star Wars Skeleton Crew. We have lost one of our crew.

[00:01:32] He couldn't make it, Chris. Chris, of course. Couldn't make it, unfortunately, for our coverage of Skeleton Crew. Mainly because I'm keeping him in reserve for the next podcast we're doing, which is Invincible, which starts up in just a couple of weeks. And we'll need him every week for 8 weeks. So I'm keeping him in reserve. He's the reserve battalion of vocals. Of our crew here at TV Podcast Industries. Exactly. Exactly. But we are here to talk about another Star Wars show for the entire season of Skeleton Crew, which just finished this week. Yes, absolutely.

[00:02:02] We're going to go through each episode quite briefly. Just our kind of main point kind of from each of those episodes. And, yeah, just get into the discussions and bits and bobs around those, to be honest. I think, you know, just generally for me, I didn't quite know what to make of sort of episode one. Well, not what to make of it. I just didn't know really how it was going to go.

[00:02:32] And then by the end of it, it was just like, yeah, this is good fun. It is. Really good fun and a really good set of main protagonists here in the four kids from Assassin, you know, Wim, Fern, KB and Neil. Yeah. Really, really good. Can I ask who your favorite is? Or I'd say who's your favorite kid in a TV show? I really liked Wim.

[00:02:57] I thought he was really kind of just embodied that inquisitive, outward-looking kid with a sense of adventure, you know, a sense of imagination and stories. And that really came across and kind of driving the others, you know. And I liked the counterpoint of Wim, his best friend Neil, who was kind of like cautious, scared, and kind of being helped along. So I thought this was a really nice little dynamic. Absolutely.

[00:03:27] And I have to say my favorite is KB. I think a person that can put her mind to anything and can fix absolutely anything. She's cool to have around. Fern was great, too, though. A really strong character, able to push back against Wim throughout the series. I thought that was fun. But Wim has that kind of wide-eyed avatar about him. It's like you watch it and go, oh, well, that definitely would be me if I was 10 years old, looking out at the stars, going, I wish I would be out there. Right, exactly. Rather than getting a job in data processing and analytics, which is basically my job.

[00:03:55] So I think I would feel just like Wim at that age. Absolutely. I want you to think about the others, the non-children, the adult characters here. Jude Law, fantastic. He was, wasn't he? As Jod Narwood, which I think is the final name they settled on by the end of the season. He had about four or five straight at the season. But he's so good. And he's carrying scenes where he's dealing with very young actors around him.

[00:04:21] And he has that menace of an adult around them and sometimes being the guiding force in front of them. And then he's dealing with all the creatures and all the pirates. He really is holding the show together. But he's that great an actor. You know, he can really turn his hand to anything. And I think he did a great job on the show. And I must say, I really enjoyed SM33, voiced by Nick Frost. You know, it's weird. It took me a whole episode of hearing him. A while to realise it was Nick Frost.

[00:04:49] He's just doing Nick Frost's voice as well. It's not like he's really hamming it up. It just sounds like Nick Frost doing a pirate's voice, which you've heard before. Yeah, no, exactly. But he's great. He's so much fun. It was really good. Yeah, I really enjoyed almost that sense of robotic chaos that he brought. I think all droids, whether it be SM33, Chopper, you know, the more chaos they bring or the more dysfunctional they are, the better.

[00:05:19] Yeah, and like K2SO in, well, soon to be in Andor Season 2 and also in Rogue One loved that sarcastic droid. Absolutely. It was really great. L337 in Solo, who was voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was up for the droid uprising all the time. They just had some great droids throughout Star Wars history. And I think SM33 is another one there.

[00:05:43] I think we spent the entire last six or seven weeks going, I can't say I know nothing about Noah's hat, even if that's not exactly the line. Well, I'd be making up all manner of different versions of that. Absolutely. But he's great. Again, he's in the pantheon now of Star Wars droids. And wow, how many times did that droid die? Yeah, exactly. Or got chopped off or turned off. I love that he had a power button on his back as well, where you could just turn him off if he annoys him too much. Yeah, exactly. But that makes sense.

[00:06:13] Yeah. Like unplugging a toaster. Exactly. Literally. Exactly. And I guess we learn, as the season goes on, we learn that he is a very old droid as well. He'd be in the range of the droid from Ahsoka that was played by David Tennant. He'd be a much older droid, way before the ones that we've seen usually in the movies and TV shows. Excellent stuff. But just before we get into our spoiler-filled discussion of the full season of Skeleton Crew,

[00:06:40] please remember, fellow crewmates, that you can subscribe to TV Podcast Industries over on tvpodcastindustries.com. We can sign up on any planet-loving or space-faring podcast player of your choice. I wrote that. You did indeed. Oh, I forgot. I think I wrote that a few weeks ago. I remember you asking me as well, what would be... What kind of podcast players would you say for a pirate-y show? That's not bad, though, isn't it?

[00:07:11] That's pretty good. We'd also love to hear from you. I know we're only doing one episode on Skeleton Crew, but we'd love to hear your thoughts on the show. You can email us to feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com. Before we go into it, in case you haven't watched it, because not everybody tunes into every Star Wars show, would you recommend our fellow crewmates go and watch Skeleton Crew, John? I would. I would recommend it. I'm not going to say that it would be for everyone. I would put that kind of heavy warning out there for our fellow crewmates.

[00:07:40] Yeah. And fellow rebels and other Star Wars enthusiasts. Yeah. But I think it's certainly a good watch. I think if you've got kids as well, it's a really good watch. Yes. I mean, what was the thing that... I think one of the reviews that we saw, it's like Saturday morning cartoons brought to life. Absolutely. It does have that aspect. I thought it was a really accurate sort of description of it. And I always loved my Saturday cartoons.

[00:08:09] I always like going back into, you know, the world of children's myth and excitement and adventure. You know, there's a lot here drawing from your own childhood, let alone it being Star Wars, which is my childhood. Yeah. But there's huge Goonies references here as well connected in with this show. Yeah.

[00:08:38] As well as just the whole pirate thing. You know, it's really kind of cool. So, yeah, I would recommend our fellow crewmates to watch this. And for me, I'd probably say what I said after watching the first couple of episodes. I'd say if you have a kid in the range of about seven to ten or maybe a little bit older and you're trying to introduce them to Star Wars, this is probably a great starting point. It's exciting. It's fun. About four or five episodes in, I was really looking forward to each episode coming up.

[00:09:07] I felt the first couple, I was kind of going, yeah, it's okay. It's fine. Not for me. Not my Star Wars. Yeah, I agree. I think the first one, yeah, I think certainly pushed through that. Yeah. And I think like, you know, some really good episodes. I think episode six for me was a standout. Really kind of emotional, meaningful coming from the characters. Yeah. I'm going to make sure that John doesn't spoil anything. No, exactly. Because this is our non-spoiler piece.

[00:09:36] And there's also, you know, there's some real elements of darkness in this as well. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's why when people say it's reminiscent of those 80s children's adventure movies, they pick things like The Goonies. And, you know, that's well known as being a movie that was a bit darker than the kind of movies that were out there for kids at the time. Yeah. A bit of a surprise that it was a PG movie.

[00:10:01] You know, this show definitely centers around kids, has that touch of darkness in the Star Wars universe. And this mild peril, I would say, would be my description of the show. But it was a lot of fun to watch. And the kids are great. Really enjoyed them. By the end of the season, really enjoyed them. But I didn't do with peril, whether it's mild or not. You love a bit of peril, John. Yeah, I do. Exactly. But, Derek, let us get on with our spoiler-filled discussion.

[00:10:30] Give us some of the season details. Absolutely. First up, the showrunners for this show are John Watts and Christopher Ford. John Watts we know very well here over on TV Podcast Industries because he was behind Tom Holland's Spider-Man trilogy. He did all three of the movies with Tom Holland. He and Christopher Ford actually worked together multiple times before they did the first Spider-Man movie. But both of them wrote Spider-Man Homecoming together. And this is the first project they've had since then.

[00:10:58] But it was developed together between the two of them with John Watts and Christopher Ford. So that's kind of cool. Yeah, that's really good. You know, you can kind of see this would be something that was kind of playing around in their mind. They're young enough guys. They probably did know each other for many years before they worked together on Spider-Man trilogy. So this is their adventure that they worked on together. It's kind of cool. Yeah, really good. And for episode one, episode one called This Could Be a Real Adventure was written by John Watts and Christopher Ford and directed by John Watts as well. Excellent.

[00:11:27] So, John, do you want to give us the quick synopsis for episode one, This Could Be a Real Adventure? Sure. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, following the defeat of the Galactic Empire by the Rebel Alliance, trade routes are plagued by pirates. In one such group, led by Captain Silvo, his crew overthrow him after yet another failed heist.

[00:11:49] On the planet at Atten, four children, Wim and his friend Neil and Fern and her cybernetically enhanced friend KV stumble across a galactic starship. Wim accidentally activates the ancient ship, sending them into the far reaches of the galaxy. Great stuff. And as we said, we're going to talk about some of the major things that happened in each of the episodes, something that, you know, may have stood out to you. So we call these our saber points in our Star Wars podcasts.

[00:12:17] So the first one really is that opening sequence, the pirate attack at the beginning of the episode where we see, we can say it now, we've seen all the episodes, where we see Jod in a mask called Captain Silvo here with his crew. He's trying to lead them all on this heist and get them some money effectively. So I suppose the setting that we have here is after Return of the Jedi. And it's a time when we now have the new Galactic Republic, but pirates are still out there trying to make a living as pirates.

[00:12:47] So we're checking in with a group we don't see very often in live action shows, which is kind of cool. Yeah, exactly. But the attack itself was so cool. Oh, yeah, it was really good. Sort of that updated, enhanced sort of attack on the high seas, but in space. It was really good. Like, it's interesting how you kind of think about how they were doing.

[00:13:11] I loved kind of the pods shooting out from the pirate ship and sort of just burrowing into the side of the other ship that they're targeting. I love the fact that, you know, despite that, you know, the ship under attack was firing, blowing those up, and you just kind of had people. It's almost like taking the rope and swinging across that gap from one ship to another.

[00:13:38] In this case, it was kind of being propelled across in space in order to put sort of little detonators on the ship to blow up the cannon, the laser cannon. And so I kind of really enjoyed this. I liked the pirates as well themselves, you know, ragtag group of multiple different species throughout the Star Wars galaxy as well. You know, it was really good. Absolutely.

[00:14:07] It felt very reminiscent of that, and I thought it was like a real big opening. It was. Yeah, it was really exciting, really, really interesting. And I thought quite adult for what I thought the show was going to be. You see quite a lot of people getting killed in that opening sequence. All the crew of the ship they're attacking, apart from the captain, are all killed on screen, which I thought was a bit of a surprise. I did love some of the touches of it, though, where we had the three-eyed alien who gets shot in one eye.

[00:14:35] And for the rest of the season, you see him one eye patch over one of the eyes. I thought that was a great little touch. And then they capture the captain and try and get him to show them where the hall is supposed to be. And it ends off. There's only one credit in there, which leads to Silva being ousted from his position and Brutus taking over as the lead of the pirates. So lots of good setup of that side of the story of the pirates in that first episode. I thought that was cool. Yeah.

[00:15:03] And I think then it contrasts really nicely with kind of going to this really strange at-to-at-in society. And it's really unusual. I don't think we've ever been to suburbia in Star Wars. I mean, even if you just think of Coruscant, it's high-rises across the planet. Mega, mega-rises.

[00:15:21] Most of the cities that you see, you know, it's either kind of really hyper-developed or really slightly under-developed, almost like the mud huts are on Tatooine and all this kind of stuff. So this was really strange to see the suburbia. Yeah. And seeing it immediately raised my hackles, really, because you don't expect it.

[00:15:49] And, you know, suddenly something felt immediately wrong with this pristine, seemingly quite peaceful planet of At-At-In. Yeah. With the usual stuff, you know, kids going to school and sort of a very sort of orderly society with the great purpose that they're all aiming for. You know, their parents all assigned jobs.

[00:16:17] It's kind of one of those either utopian or dystopian, depending on how you look at it, where, you know, at seemingly post-school or at birth, you're assigned a particular role in society in order to keep this peaceful, perfect, harmonized society. Get your employment ship over here. Yeah. And you're kind of wondering what is underneath this.

[00:16:44] So, yeah, it was kind of interesting. And you find out that, you know, there is this great squall of nebulous gases as well surrounding the planet. Yeah. You know, there's bits I loved about this.

[00:17:02] And I realized a couple of weeks later why I was so set off almost, I'd say, by that first episode and the suburbs being there, because it doesn't feel like something in Star Wars. And what I realized a couple of weeks later was that I was finding the problem with it is in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, the Marvel movie, they have a similar setup.

[00:17:26] They have a planet that the Guardians go to that looks like Earth and its suburbs and its aliens inside a suburb. So it's loads of animals that have come to life and look like humans all living like humans on a planet. And it's the same setup. It's almost exactly the same, the spaceship arriving on this planet. And when I saw this episode, this first episode, that's all I could think of. That was the thing that was in my head. Oh, it's going to be revealed that this is a clone of Earth or we're actually on Earth here almost.

[00:17:56] But thankfully, as the episodes went on, it isn't that at all. It makes a lot of sense why this place is cookie cutter, let's say, which is the worst description, I suppose, of a suburb. It is just little boxes on a hillside, as the old weeds theme used to say. Well, absolutely. But the idea is that they've set up this planet to be completely self-sufficient. Nobody ever leaves the planet. It all looks the same and everybody lives in the same street, same road, does the same thing every day. It's a boring society.

[00:18:26] So I kind of get the idea why it would look like a suburb to us. It is a bit different, but everybody lives in a very rich looking house, let's say. But I kind of like the idea that they've transposed the basic suburb concept and put it into this space planet because it's completely closed off from every other world and every other galaxy.

[00:18:46] And it's interesting as well because, as well, with Wim's father, at least for maybe the first two episodes, I wondered whether it was an outpost of the Empire. Yes, yes. Like you're not seeing stormtroopers or anything like that. You're not seeing the symbols of the Galactic Empire on Atasim.

[00:19:11] But there's something that feels immediately suspicious about Wim's dad. Right. But I think it's being told through the fact that he knows about the society. Exactly. You don't get told the purpose of the society until after your assessment in your final year at school.

[00:19:35] And so he comes across as being manipulative and a bit shady because he's keeping Wim and sort of his son away from that knowledge. Exactly. And so you think there's other nefarious stuff. And that this society is hidden and has very little interaction with the outside world.

[00:19:59] You're kind of going, I was kind of thinking, is this somewhere where Grand Admiral Thrawn would have been in order to sort of keep himself hidden from the New Republic? So, yeah, there was all that suspicion for the first maybe two or three episodes. Yeah, it was great. And again, I enjoy that intrigue.

[00:20:20] And just to quickly reference, you know, we talked about in our Acolyte podcast, one of the challenges there was that they had a central mystery that even their major characters are not telling you the story. They're hiding key pieces of information from you. I think that it's handled much better here in Skeleton Crew that the central mystery actually goes into the background for a while for a few episodes. It's not something that you have to focus on to find out whether you enjoy the story or not. Acolyte felt like that.

[00:20:48] You needed to know the mystery and solve that mystery before you could work out whether you could enjoy the show. Whereas Skeleton Crew just has a lot of fun around it. But there is the mystery in the background. It's intriguing. What is At-At-In? What's the society? But actually, yeah, it's secondary to everything else. And ultimately here, it's seeing At-At-In society and Wim's imagination and, in a sense, his expectation for adventure. Like, he loves stories. He loves reading about the Jedi.

[00:21:18] Yeah. And in the end, puts him on an adventure on At-At-In, which leads him to activating an ancient ship, which makes him leave At-At-In. Yeah, exactly. And into, and with hyperspace, very far away from At-At-In. Absolutely. And I think, on to episode two. Well, I was just going to say one final thing about the episode. I do love that Wim sees that button and goes, I'm not going to press it, I'm not going to press it. And then presses it. Yeah, no, exactly. Really fun.

[00:21:48] The adventure had to start somehow. Somebody had to press the button. So, I love that Wim is that kind of kid. Don't touch it. He's like, oh, I've got to do it. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, let's get on to episode two, way, way out, past the barrier, also written by John Watson, Christopher Ford. This episode was directed by David Larian. One of the things that's really interesting about Skeleton Crew is the directors that they attracted to this show. Really interesting. David Larian most recently directed the movie The Green Knight with Dev Patel, a really well-respected movie.

[00:22:15] Really different kind of the artistic angle. Yeah, but it's kind of like they got a lot of very up-and-come directors, people that have done some really interesting indie movies and indie films and said, hey, do you want to do a Star Wars show? Do you want to do a bit of Star Wars? Pop on over here. Join us for Skeleton Crew. So, really interesting to see David Larian jump over and do this episode of Skeleton Crew. John, do you want to tell us what the synopsis is for the second episode? Sure.

[00:22:41] The kids meet the ship's droid SM-33, and Fern convinces him she's the new captain. Unable to return them to Atatin, 33 takes them to a pirate outpost, where the children are thrown into the brig when the pirates hear they are from the lost planet of Atatin.

[00:23:01] They meet Jod Nanawood, formerly known as Captain Silvo, where they learn he is force-sensitive as he offers his help to them to escape in return for taking him with them. Yes, so, Jod, in prison with the kids, or in the brig with the kids, I guess, is how that episode ends. But we do see this massive pirate outpost. We get to meet SM-33 in this episode, so lots of other big settings here.

[00:23:29] Again, I love that the episode opens, that they're going, how the hell do we get back home? We've just hyperspace jumped from our planet, having never left our planet before and never knowing that was possible, even. Yeah, but I mean, also, interestingly, is that SM-33 comes to life here, it's kind of reactivated, and is almost like the co-pilot, the pilot droid here for the previous captain.

[00:23:56] And kind of says, yeah, I'll take you home. And they're all thinking it's back to Atatin, but it's not. It's to this pirate outpost, which is glorious. It does sort of have this kind of sense of, you know, a space outpost, but it has that vibe of Tatooine or Mos Eisley. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and it's really, really cool.

[00:24:22] Just lots of, like, dubious characters selling their words and backstabbing other people and double-crossing others, you know, as these four children come off their ship and are kind of, like, just walking around wondering, effectively, what to do. It's like, well, this isn't our home. Exactly.

[00:24:51] And I like how they become the center of intrigue because they provide, and again, this is kind of the first clue to their home planet. They provide Old Republic credits. Yes, they do. Yeah. Not galactic credits, not New Republic credits, but Old Republic credits. Yeah.

[00:25:12] So that's a real nice moment where, like, they're buying some food, Wim and Neil, and he pays with some Old Republic credits that he's got. Yeah. I love the fact that later on as well, because people just keep asking him to pay more and more in order to get these credits. Mm-hmm. He starts stuffing them into his sock. Absolutely. So they don't get stolen. This is kind of like his pocket money, you know, and I'm going to lose everything.

[00:25:40] But that's kind of what I love, you know, just that little thing in the back of your head that you're going, and at Atten, this was just his lunch money for the week. Off planet, everywhere he's going, one coin of that is basically buying someone a house, you know? That's the intention here. Atten is a very expensive place, but they have nothing to compare it to because they all have lots and lots of cash flowing around, you know? Whereas off planet, everybody's looking at one of these strips of coin going, I need more of that. Oh, my God. Well, that's it.

[00:26:10] With the meal, he puts down one, and then the chef behind the counter is like, oh, no, it's four of those. And, you know, they just become the center of attention, unwanted attention as it happens. Yeah, I must say, I loved this pirate outpost. That was the first Sabre Point that we had, the pirate outpost itself, the whole setting of it. You know, if you work in Star Wars and you don't take the opportunity to put in some hive of scum and villainy, then you're not doing Star Wars right.

[00:26:38] We've been playing a lot of Star Wars Outlaws, the video game that came out on the PlayStation and Xbox. We've been playing a lot of that over the last couple of months, and I felt you could see maybe Kay Vest in the corner somewhere there, the main character of Outlaws. You could see her probably somewhere in the corner there. It links in with that, links in with Solo and Calrissian, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, it's really, really good. Very cool. But here they ultimately find themselves being put into the brig. Yeah.

[00:27:04] And this is where they come across Jod Nanaud and the Jedi. You see that he has some Jedi powers. Or does he? Or does he? Exactly. I kind of love this. Or is he just Force-sensitive? Yeah, this is kind of the second Sabre Point, I suppose, is Jod the Jedi, is he or not? I think as the show was going on, you get that revealed, what it actually is all about.

[00:27:32] But even in this episode, there's something about Jod and the way that he's using the powers that he does have in front of the kids that he doesn't feel like a real Jedi or Sith. He feels like someone that's able to manipulate the Force in some way, but that's kind of it.

[00:27:49] And because of our coverage of Ahsoka and because of the other shows that we've been watching over the last couple of years, the Clone Wars and Bad Batch, we kind of now understand it a bit more that not everybody has to be either a Jedi or a Sith if they have access to the Force. Other people can have access to the Force, like Sabine Wren and Ahsoka and Rebels have access to the Force but aren't necessarily massively experienced or chosen aside like Jedi or Sith.

[00:28:17] But having a character like Wim meeting the first ever person he's seen able to control the Force, I love that instantly himself and Neil introduce himself and they're instantly on the side of Jod. They're saying he's a Jedi. They're instantly there with him. Whereas KB and Fern don't even give them their names. They're going, who's this weirdo? Let's keep him away from us. They don't trust him at all. He was in the brig. Let's not trust him.

[00:28:43] It's this glorious starting point as well for Wim's ultimate disappointment and letdown across the whole of this season as to, you know, this Jedi that he's kind of so excited to meet feels is being rescued by him.

[00:29:03] And ultimately, the promise of what Jod, the Jedi, is, the reality of it is very different and becomes a huge disappointment. I think it's quite sore for Wim. Very much so. You know? Yeah.

[00:29:20] And it doesn't necessarily get explored like that, but you, it's just the change in their relationship because it's one of kind of real excitement to him realizing he's a bad guy. Yeah. And he's not a Jedi who is always in his stories that he's read, the Jedi have been the good guys. Exactly. And it is to the point of the last episode's title, you know, here come the good guys. The real good guys. The real good guys.

[00:29:50] Yeah. And it really does sort of play out quite nicely in that sense, having this sort of huge fireworks of this meeting of Jod the Jedi for the four kids. I love it because, you know, effectively, it's like you being, you know, reading comic books. You know, if you're on Earth and you're reading comic books and you're reading Doctor Strange, for example, and, you know, then you suddenly are on another planet and you meet a sorcerer there. You go, oh, my God, this is the greatest thing ever.

[00:30:15] You know, if you think about it from Wim's point of view, 15 minutes earlier, really, he was on his home planet having never met a Jedi and reading them in storybooks. Oh, my God. These are out there. And then he meets one in the same room as him that's going, I will use my Jedi powers to help you out and get you home. Yeah. It's like it's the most amazing moment for Wim. And that's why, you know, that's why he's instantly trusting Jod. But I do love the girls just going, not a chance. Who's this? Who's this guy? Great stuff. Great stuff. Episode two. So I'll to episode three then.

[00:30:45] Episode three is called? Very interesting as an astrogation problem. Astrogation problem. Yes. I guess that comes from Kim, the astrogation owl. Yes. I guess navigation. Astro navigation is what I would normally think it was called, but astrogation is what they've called it here in the episode. Once again, I think actually all the episodes are written by John Watts and Christopher Ford. But the episode was directed by David Larry again, who directed episode two. And John, do you want to give the synopsis for this one? Sure.

[00:31:13] As their parents on Atatin try to locate them, Jod helps break them out of the brig and brings them to his map-making owl-like associate, Kim. She gives them coordinates for what she thinks is their home planet. But when Jod realized she was trying to turn him over to the New Republic, he convinces the kids to flee the planet and make their way home. Another really fun episode. This one, my first one I want to shout out definitely is Aaliyah Shaukat playing Kim, the owl.

[00:31:41] Aaliyah Shaukat from Arrested Development played the cousin Maybe in that show. And it's so weird that she's here doing the voice of this ancient owl. She's putting on a very old woman voice. And all I can think of is Aaliyah Shaukat. And that show was only 14 or 15 when she started out. She was into her 20s, I think, when it was finishing, playing a character of 14 and 15. And now she's playing this ancient owl, wise owl. What a great bit of casting. So kind of cool seeing her in there or hearing her in there at least.

[00:32:09] But for saber points on this episode, things that really stood out, I have to say the escape from the pirate outpost at the beginning when they get Jod on board the ship, on board the Onyx Cinder with the kids. And then they send him back to get SN33. And then he comes back again. And they won't leave without SN33.

[00:32:28] But the actual escape itself, where they can't detach themselves from the fueling station and pull on the fuel line and then wrap them all together, destroying loads of ships at the outpost and then eventually breaking free. I thought it was so cool. It was a really exciting scene. Yeah, no, that was really, really good, that escape. Because you're kind of wondering, are they going to be able to escape that tether? And it's not even that they just pull away.

[00:32:56] They go into hyperspace. So they do a hyperspace maneuver. And the line gets pulled out and whips back into the pirate outpost, causing a fair amount of destruction. And you have Brutus coming to the fore. He's taken over from Captain Silvo's crew. Yeah, the wolf-like leader. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:33:23] And actually, you know, in the escape, as they try to escape, you have Jod Nanawood trying to get SM33 out of kind of the droid rubbish bin. Mm-hmm. Where he meets what the guy overseeing that, and he's like, well, why would Brutus let you go just before your trial? And so that was kind of quite cool as well. And did you know who that was? No. That was Dr. Octopus himself, Alfred Melida.

[00:33:53] Ah, nice one. I did not recognize the voice there. It's quite cool. It's quite cool. And what's really interesting as well about that escape, I think I mentioned this to you a few weeks ago, Jod, that my eldest brother, when he got his first ORV, his first recreational vehicle in the US, it was absolutely massive. And he did basically the same thing as Jod did here when he was leaving a petrol station. He had the petrol pump still stuck in the back of the car.

[00:34:21] Sorry, the back of the ORV he saw from his rearview mirror after driving away. It was a couple of miles down the road. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, so thankfully there was some kind of shutoff valve in the petrol station. Oh, thankfully, yeah. Or else it exploded and we never found out. Yeah, well, I think you would find out about an explosion of a petrol station. Probably now, yeah. And I guess they would be on camera. Definitely. Oh, my goodness. Well, as long as he paid for the petrol. He did, yeah. Because you just prepaid with your card. So he was able to do that.

[00:34:49] But yeah, don't give an Irish man a 50 or 60 foot vehicle. Anyway, that was the Pirate Outpost. We talked a little bit about Kim. What did you think of Kim, this owl-like creature that meets up with Jada the kids? It was really unusual. I'm not entirely sure I get it fully. But I guess, yeah, whatever you want to do. Yeah, I guess there's loads of different types of species. You know, because birds are so delicate.

[00:35:19] Because they've been flung across the room as this owl, I just thought, oh, the bones are going to break. Oh, yeah? I know. It's not going to be very robust, Kim fighting against Job. But again, it's like, fine. Grant, I gradually just accepted it. And it's a kind of cool concept in some respect. But I kind of like the introduction of the owl brings two things here.

[00:35:45] One is that you get really the first concrete kind of notion as to why Assassin isn't available on any of the star charts. It's an old Republic planet. And it's a collection of, I think, six planets, six or eight planets that were all destroyed except for Assassin. Yes.

[00:36:14] And it was from the old Republic. They are hidden. And so, you know, you have to get the coordinates to jump back. You can't just use the Navi computer. Exactly. Exactly. So there's that element to it. She sees, I think, one of the symbols on the back of Fern's backpack. Yeah.

[00:36:36] And sees then the other symbols of these different planets that were part of the old Republic. Some network of planets that had importance for the old Republic. Yeah. It's like Fern's prefect badge. It's like, you know, it's almost military in style. So that's how she's able to connect it or something that at least allows to connect. I kind of like the idea. But the other thing that brings in, the second thing that I presume you're going to say, the other thing that brings is, again, underlying nobody should trust jobs.

[00:37:06] Even people that he's bringing the kids to as friends to help guide them home are going, don't trust him. And if he ever turns on you, call me and I'll help you out. You know, that's the final line that King says to KB. She casts doubt and suspicion over the reliability of Jod here. And, you know, he's kind of sort of backtracking and trying to say, like, kids get out. She's trying to sort of undermine us rather than help.

[00:37:33] And, you know, this is where you kind of start to get this break in the relationship of the children from Jod, even though he's just saved them from the pirate outpost. Yeah. Although he does do one of the cool thing in this episode that kind of binds them together again, which I think was cool. That's the other saber point that I'd pull out from the episode is the second escape. This one from the New Republic X-Rings, because it's, again, really exciting.

[00:38:03] But Jod's the one that gets each of the four kids in their positions. He's got KB running the computers on board. He's got Neil in the pilot seat, which is really cool for Neil since he's so averse to any kind of action or excitement. But then he gets Fern in one of the gun turrets and Wim in the other one. Really reminding you that Fern is Han Solo here and Wim is Luke Skywalker, right?

[00:38:29] Just like in A New Hope where you had Luke and Han being the ones in the two gun turrets. So this is the moment when the two of them get to do something really exciting. I was totally expecting them to shoot each other with their laser cannons. But we do see a bit of a hit on one of the X-Wings. Fern gets us and Wim claims it was him that got the hit. But there's two kids going up shooting down X-Wings. You know, the police of the galaxy at this time. Yeah, that is true.

[00:38:58] I mean, ultimately, they are trying to avoid the X-Wings, you know, because they're kind of doing a grid pattern search for them. So they are trying to avoid them. But once they are spotted, they have to provide a bit of fire before they can jump to hyperspace. Exactly. And we do hear the X-Wing pilot say to Kim afterwards, since it was the kids there, they didn't want to attack. They didn't want to injure the kids. So it wasn't really a dogfight between the X-Wings and the kids. They just got a lucky shot. Excellent.

[00:39:28] Yeah. So a good one, a fun one. And again, I love the building of this doubt of who Jod is and what his motivation is. Definitely. And let us get on to episode four. The title of this episode is probably one of the sayings from this show that I just can't stop saying. The episode being called, episode four being called, I can't say I remember, no assassin. There you go. There you go.

[00:39:58] It's the first time Jod's got it right. In three weeks as well. Well, that is true as well. Once again, episode written by John Watts and Christopher Ford. And in another twist of where do they pull the directors from? This is directed by the Daniel, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schneinarsch. Both probably most well known from their movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was absolutely magnificent. Yeah. In concept, in design, in filming and acting. Absolutely brilliant.

[00:40:26] One of my favorite films of the year came out. It was really, really good. Two years ago, I think. And here they are doing an episode of Skeleton Crew. No. It's like cool. Excellent. This is interesting. Yeah, it really is interesting. John. Do you want to tell us what they gave us with this episode four synopsis? Sure. Following the coordinates they retrieved from Kim, Jod's associate, the missing kids think they have arrived home, but mistakenly land on a war-torn sister planet at Akron.

[00:40:55] As a reward for helping the child soldiers of one of the warring factions out, the children and Jod are brought to the fallen sanctum. Once, this held the coordinates of their home world at Atten. But they learn that SM-33 had been here with his previous captain and had been instructed to destroy the location and kill anyone, asking for directions to the planet. When the droid tries to kill the kids, Neil distracts him while Jod turns him off. Mm-hmm.

[00:41:25] Yes, that switch in the back. Off and on again. Give him a reboot. Absolutely. But Neil, again, building on his character, becoming much more outgoing. He's the one that saves them. You know, the episode really is about Neil this time. It's about him getting more confident, him finding another little love, I think. Absolutely. In the child leader of the sort of army of children. Yeah. Yeah, I like this.

[00:41:54] It felt kind of, you know, the lion in Wizard of Oz, finding his courage. Exactly. That inner confidence. Yeah. Which was really, really good. One of the things that I want to point out that I thought was really interesting in the show, if you look at the cast list at the end of each episode, they switch the positions of each of the four child actors. So it's not the same positions each episode. The point of that is, as the episodes focus on different characters, they get the lead credit, I guess.

[00:42:22] It always starts with Jude Law and then follows up with one of the different child actors. So this episode, episode four, is the actor who played Neil. Excellent stuff. Yeah, yeah. Shall we get on to the saber points? Let's do it. First off, at Akron. Nobody knows nothing about no at Akron. Yes, this is basically a copy of At-Aton, but with child soldiers this time. I must say, I love the idea of it.

[00:42:48] I love that even when the kids are getting there and when we're watching it as the fourth episode of the show, you're kind of going, have they fallen through some kind of wormhole? And there's a hundred years later and At-Aton has fallen apart, you know, because it's exactly the same. The layout is exactly the same. They're walking into buildings like their homes that look exactly the same, except they've fallen into rack and ruin. And then they meet up with the child soldiers on the planet. They haven't left their home planet because they're fighting over scraps, whatever's left there on the planet, which is an interesting idea to put in this fourth episode, I thought.

[00:43:18] Yes, it's kind of, it's almost like children's version of Mad Max in a sense. You've got these different warring factions. Society has gone kaput. But actually the majority of the foot soldiers, the front line, at least for one of the factions, are the children. Yes, there are still some adults there.

[00:43:44] Yes, they are doing training, but they give much more responsibility over to the children much earlier on. Exactly. It's like Bugsy Malone in that way. Yeah, I guess so. And then, like you say, it is effectively Atacent, but it's one of these other old Republic planets at Akron. I love it as they get out of the Onyx Cinder that you have Jod just going, yeah, it tastes like sauce or something. It was really, really good.

[00:44:14] But yeah, as you move through here, you do have sort of the growth of Neil here. Yeah. Because they're being forced to go into war effectively to fight on the side of these child soldiers. And he's like, but I can't do that. I don't want to. This isn't me. I'm afraid effectively. Yeah. Like, this is too much too soon. I'm a kid. I want to be doing the sword fighting like we saw him and Wim do in episode one. Absolutely.

[00:44:44] But I'm not going to fight with a real gun. You don't actually want to be in a war. You know? Now, obviously, this to me is where it stretches over into a kid's TV show because, you know, this isn't something that you would normally get written into any other type of show other than kids arrive on planet. That kids have to be part of the local army and are put out front to do the scout work as well. These brand new kids that are there are put out front of scouts. To test them. Yeah.

[00:45:12] But the whole point of it, I guess, is to say, to show the kids how safe and sterile their lives are on Atlatan and how they should have appreciated that a bit more as well. You know? Their lives could have been like this. They could have been in the middle of a war. You know? That's kind of the point. Agreed. It is another kind of adventure that they're going through, which is far removed from their childhood that they've had on Atlatan. Yeah.

[00:45:40] Yet this is in a place that looks like their home world but is not the same by a long shot. Exactly. Yeah. So really good. There but for grace go there, I guess. But I also like the resolution to the child soldier moment is Jod and the cash that he stole from Wim, basically. So he just buys them out of the situation and they're able to get themselves. Yeah. He gets the creatures as well.

[00:46:05] The kind of donkeys, I guess, of the planet that had been stolen by the other faction. He gets them back for the money that he pays, effectively. So that solves the issue and they're able to go to the security tower, which is exactly the same position that they would have seen on their own planet. Which they call the fallen sanctum. And moving on to our other Sabre point here is that of the people there, SM33 has previously been here on Atakron.

[00:46:35] I really like this. I like how it's written and I love how Nick Frost plays this moment where they're able to see the coordinates of all the other three planets, including Atakron, that they're on. And then they get to what should be Atakron and it's been burnt out. And Fern's kind of looking at it going, how's it been burnt out? And SM33 goes, I did it the last time I was here with my captain. And they're kind of trying to work out going, why didn't you tell us that when we landed on the planet that you've been here before? You know, it could have saved us a lot of time.

[00:47:04] It could have saved everybody a lot of worry and stress if you just told us that it happened. But the trigger that's been built into him by his captain is if anybody says Atakron, he has to hide any reference to it. And then if they want to find their way there, he has to crush their bones and kill them. But I think what's really good about it is that leading up to that point, all we can hear generally from SM33 saying is, can't say I remember no Atakron.

[00:47:32] Every time the kids are talking about, you know, it's just a general conversation. They're talking about their homeworld of assassin to the other child soldiers. And you just have, I can't say I remember anything about no assassin and all this. And that's the thing. That's the line that keeps getting repeated. And you start going, okay, this, you know, there's something in this. But it's that kind of earworm. Exactly. Gets into your head.

[00:47:58] And then all of a sudden they're at the top, you know, they've been taken to this fallen sanctum. And all of a sudden it's like, oh yeah, I do know where it is, but I can't tell you. And yeah, I have to kill you. Exactly. And it is. It's really good. That's a great moment. Great moment. And I suppose that solves the issue that I had when I watched the first, was it two or three episodes that came out in the first day? Two episodes, I think.

[00:48:22] Like, when they meet SN33 aboard the ship and he's already been on assassin and they're going, just take us back to where you were. And you're going, why don't you just use the Navi computer? Why don't you just look at the logs on the ship that you have and take them back to where you took them from? You know, that should be an easy resolution to the show. How is it going to last eight episodes while they try to get back home? And here's the resolution. He has it built in to his programming that if anybody asks, he has to kill them.

[00:48:49] And if he is asked about Atatan himself, he has to say, I can't remember no Atatan. So really like it. Just love that they're able to resolve that here. And again, seeing this planet Alakran falling apart, that kind of answers that it was just built as a suburb like Atatan was. But here it is falling apart and falling into Rack and Ruin. And so by the time we get to episode four here, I'm totally on board. And now I'm really enjoying the adventure of how are the kids going to get home? I love this stuff.

[00:49:18] You know, like the breadcrumbs are starting to form together and to just bring about that wider context. And it's done really, really well. I enjoy this stuff. As you said at the opening, John, this isn't for everybody. This is my type of storytelling that I really enjoy. It's probably why I love playing video games. The idea of, okay, the next level is a mission that gets me to this point. I have to work out this task or this piece of the puzzle that will lead me to the next point.

[00:49:47] And eventually all of those things put together will lead me home. That's the kind of storytelling I like. And that's exactly what's being given to me here in Skeleton Crew. So really enjoying it. Speaking of that, let's get on to episode five. We have that big cliffhanger in episode four as they turn off SM33 and Neil passes out. We go on to episode five, which is you have a lot to learn about pirates. This episode written by Myung-Joy Ovesner, who also writes episode six.

[00:50:17] Very good. So not every episode written by John Watson and Christopher Ford. No, absolutely. Two here in the middle. I think it really ramps up here as well, the show in episode five and episode six. I agree. And it's really, really nicely done, I think, by Myung-Joy Ovesner. Absolutely. Absolutely. And another interesting director for this episode as well. This episode was directed by Jake Schreier, who is the director and showrunner of the series Beef,

[00:50:44] which starred Steven Yeun, and also directs the upcoming Marvel movie this year, The Thunderbolts. So someone that we're going to be talking a lot about later on in the year. Thunderbolts Asterix, in fact. Thunderbolts Asterix, that's correct. Yes, yes. Can't forget the Asterix. No, you can't. Do you want to give us the synopsis for this? Sure. The kids subdue SM33 and learn his former captain was famed pirate Tak Renard. They make him take them to his former base to find the correct coordinates to Atatin.

[00:51:14] But another associate of Jod's alerts his former crewmates to their whereabouts. With the pirates on their trail, Jod and the kids make it to the hidden lair just beneath the spa. When Jod learns that their home planet is an old Republic mint, he turns on the kids, winning the captaincy of their ship from Fern. Wim challenges Jod with a lightsaber he found, but drops it and saves the rest of the kids by sending them through the booby-trapped exit.

[00:51:43] So there we go. Aye, absolutely. Yeah, all exciting there. Again, a bit more information here with Atatin being the old Republic mint. I also remember mint being a word used to mean that, wow, that's cool that. It was mint, was it? It was mint. Yeah, yeah. It was, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. It's just the old Republic cool place. Yeah, dead cool is Atatin. Let's get on to the saver points and things that stood out for this episode as well.

[00:52:13] I'm going to start with the lair that SM33 is bringing them back to for his old captain's lair, Tak Renaud. I absolutely love the idea that because Tak Renaud has been gone for so long and all of his crew are probably dead and SM33 didn't return from Atatin, they've turned the planet into a spa. I love this idea. It is so, so good. Absolutely. An adults-only spa, no children allowed, of course.

[00:52:42] I love this. You know, there's the hot mud baths outside. It's really cool. I love the fact that the bellhops at this spa look slightly kind of military police. They do. Like they've got a hard hat on. And I like that, you know, seeing the Onyx Cinder arrive, the lady at reception is kind of like, well, we've got a banking sort of conference going on, so security is really tight.

[00:53:10] We can't have any issues with, you know, people trying to sort of steal from the banks and so on. Well, exactly, yeah. And then immediately takes all the bribes that John gives her to keep his name, his presence all quiet here. But yeah, I think just the overriding premise that this famed pirate's lair is now a spa is really, really good.

[00:53:36] And it does, you know, this, I've said it, there's the Goonies element here. And this is where you really get the sense of the Goonies. And it's a bit like One-Eyed Willie's plays because you've got the golf club. And now this, you have the spa. And I love the fact that it kind of, they go down below the spa through the secret hole.

[00:54:02] And there's just this vat of acid sort of guarding the entrance to where Tack Renard's sort of lair is. And, you know, with the little riddle as well in order to access it. Yeah. Really, really good. But totally gave me the sort of lovely nostalgic feeling for the Goonies. I really love that movie. Yeah.

[00:54:28] And I know you're not a fan of it in the same way, but I really like it. That's the thing. Derek is an oddity. I am a little bit. I think it's just that I can't be stuck in nostalgia anymore. There's so many new good things out there. I'm not as tied to nostalgia. I like seeing... Well, neither am I, but I do like films. Yeah, but I kind of like seeing new things in that world. That's why I'm enjoying things like Star Wars Skeleton Crew. You know, I've seen Star Wars a billion times, a hundred million times. Give me new stuff in that world.

[00:54:58] That's good. And I'll enjoy it. I love seeing new Marvel movies. I don't like just going, oh, the first Captain America movie was one of my favorites. I'll just watch that over and over and over again. Which you do. Of course I do. Of course I do. But I don't just like doing that. And I didn't just watch the Goonies on loop. But having watched the Goonies quite recently, I kind of went, oh, maybe it's just not for me anymore. I really enjoyed it when I was a kid, but maybe it's just not for me anymore. That's kind of all. But you're totally right.

[00:55:26] The reference to the Goonies is plain out there. Right down to a really good little Easter egg in there. Tack Renad, the former captain of the Onyx Cinder. If you look at his surname, it's Renad. And that backwards is Donner. And the director of the Goonies was Richard Donner. Yes. So an Easter egg right on the top there as well. But I really like it.

[00:55:46] And I love, as we see throughout the episode, SM33 getting more and more angry about the fact that this, his own hive of scum and villainy, his home has been turned into a luxury spa. I really like that. I thought that was really good fun. And I love the fact that they put a restraining bolt on him.

[00:56:35] I was with him when all the kids are kind of going, actually, I'm going to go over and check out that cool thing over there on the other side of the hotel. And Fern's going, oh, I'm going to check out something on the other side of the hotel. And KB's thinking she's going to check out something else. And John's going, no, you don't seem to understand. There's pirates after us. We need to get this done. And we need to get you home. Just shut up and follow my lead. He just has that really exasperated thing of a single pair with four kids. That's what it feels like. At a luxury hotel where they all just want to make.

[00:57:05] It's like when they get into the room and they're kind of excited. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah, exactly that. Exactly that. But you can kind of see it. But again, there's that little extra darkness in this, which I like. I don't think kids should not be exposed to darkness in their shows. So I really kind of like that moment when they make their way through the acid and get in to this hoard of treasure when they get there. And then John just presses the button to release the acid on the other pirates from his crew. Absolutely.

[00:57:34] I was quite surprised we saw pretty much all of those crew back later, but not with burn marks. But it felt this really dark moment where he just killed them all with the acid floating in. Yeah, I mean, I don't think he killed all the pirates that went after him. But it's just that those that were, you know, because they're trying to break through. They're trying to get information as to the coordinates of Atatin and what Atatin means. And this is where they find out it's an old Republic mint.

[00:58:02] You know, you see the old Republic credit signs lighten up in Jod's eyes. And as I said, then the relationship deteriorates even further. Yes. Where he then takes control of the Onyx Cinder from Fern. I have to call out the performance of Ryan Keira Armstrong as Fern in this scene with Jod. I think it's really, really good.

[00:58:28] I think it's her best moment in the season where Jod challenges her to the captaincy. You know, up until this point, it's not that it's been a game to her. She's always been the more serious one of the four. Yeah, she seems the eldest. You know, she is the kind of Thanos. I mean, the Josh Brolin of the Cuny group. I get that. I see that now. In a sense. Yeah, yeah. But she kind of took the responsibility on. But now Jod's telling her, no, no, kid, there's an adult in the room now. You need to give me the captaincy. Yeah, the stakes are higher.

[00:58:57] And if you're not going to just hand it over to me, I will kill you for it. You know, it's a really strong moment. And I think she plays that moment really well. She suddenly feels, oh, no, oh, no. How do we trust this guy? He's turning on all of us. I think it's a really good moment. Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other side of this is the reason why those pirates are here. And it's our second Sabre point. Is that Jod bumps into another associate here.

[00:59:24] But in the form of Kelly MacDonald, who's kind of all sort of this white creature called Pocket. And it was like, I didn't even recognize her until maybe 20 seconds in. Yeah. I'm like, that's Kelly MacDonald. It's woods you hear that voice. You know, she was in Trainspotting. She was in Harry Potter. And she'd been in loads of other stuff as well. Yeah, absolutely. But those are the two big, big things that you'd recognize her voice from. So, yeah, kind of cool to see her.

[00:59:50] But, again, it's just that thing of Jod meeting people all across the galaxy who know they can't trust him. And she turns on him. And that's why the pirates arrive. I do like it as well that it's kind of like in Cloud City when the Falcon arrives there. And it's escorted in by two ships. And we have the Onyx Cinder having that treatment as well here at the spa.

[01:00:14] So, the pirate ship as it comes in is also greased by these ships to escort us in. You know, part of the luxury experience. Yeah. And they just blow it out of the sky. The two ships out of the sky. And I thought that was quite funny. It was really good. Yeah, I really liked that. That was really funny that they took out the two ships that are there. And I think at this point of the series, five episodes in, and suddenly I'm kind of going, ooh, does Jod going to make it to the end of the series? You know, he started out the series getting his entire pirate crew turning on him and getting stuck in the brig.

[01:00:43] And now everywhere he goes, all of his associates are turning on him. First, Kim calls in the X-Wings, the police of the galaxy to arrest him. And now, Pocketeer Kelly MacDonald is calling in the pirates and telling them where he is. So, can he go anywhere? Will he actually reach at Atten at all by the end of the series if this many people are chasing after him? Yeah, absolutely. So, I thought that was just a nice twist. And it has that Han Solo vibe. It's very different. But there is that vibe about being chased across the galaxy. Absolutely.

[01:01:13] Absolutely. Absolutely. That's the first thing we learned about Han Solo in the first movie is that Jabba the Hutt's chasing him. So, yeah, it does seem like that. But I think when he turns on the kids, you go, oh, no, this isn't our good guy. This is the bad guy of the show. But maybe in the next episode, there's something that's going to come up that will forgive what Jod's done, I suppose. That's the feeling that you get by the end of episode five. Yeah, absolutely. Let us get on to episode six, Zero Friends again.

[01:01:41] And this episode written once again by Myung-Jo Westner and directed another great director here. Bryce Dallas Howard. She's directed episodes of The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett after this episode and those episodes as well. So, her Star Wars movie can't be far away, can it? You would think it would be there or even just her show. Yeah, absolutely. You know, for TV or her movie. Yeah, definitely.

[01:02:10] I mean, this was really standout for me, this episode. And I think it's because of the heart from the kids here as they kind of split up. So, I really thought this was great. And, yeah, fair dues to both the writer, director, and, of course, the cast. Because I just thought this really, this to me felt like the best episode of the series. Me too. To be honest. Yeah.

[01:02:39] And it was good fun as well in parts with the old, the techno crabs. Follow, follow, follow. Mmm, food. Food, food, food. Yeah. Yeah, really enjoyed that. But, John, do you want to give us the synopsis for this episode? Sure. After escaping from Jod, KB is angered by Fern's insistence she can do anything. So, she chooses to follow Wim's plan of following trash crabs to lead them out of their predicament.

[01:03:07] Neil doesn't want anyone left alone, so joins Fern on her long climb up the side of the mountain to escape back to the spa. Both groups learn that they have to work together to overcome these huge obstacles. And eventually find their way to their ship, the Onyx Cinder, and escape the planet. Meanwhile, Jod is recaptured by his former crewmates. Mmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Back with the pirates. Oh, Jod.

[01:03:34] And they are now with a brand new version of the Onyx Cinder, the kids. I think for our Sabre points, this episode for me is all about KB and Wim's side of the story. That was so interesting to watch. I just thought the emotions that KB is going through when she is trying to deal with a friend who believes in her, who believes that she can do everything she used to be able to do. We hear that KB had an accident which has left her with these augmentations that don't always work.

[01:04:04] And something that's been kind of touched upon throughout the first couple of episodes of the show when it cuts back to her. Her mom's at home who are really worried about KB that she could have an incident that they're not there to help her with. Yeah, absolutely. There's not much detail they go into about what the accident is or what caused it. But I love this story of what KB is going through where she's trying to tell her friend she's not the same person as she used to be. And probably Fern is thinking, I'm just going to treat her like I used to treat her.

[01:04:34] That's what she'd want. She's still my friend, you know? And I think the other thing, it's heightened here on the spa planet. And we kind of just have slight hints at it from the previous episode because the steam, the salts in the air, I guess, are affecting some of her augmentations. In particular, her power cells and the metal.

[01:05:01] And this is really where, you know, you have this moment where, and I like how KB puts it to whim after it is resolved. And she goes, yeah, I could have had a full systems failure. Or you could say that you saved my life. Exactly. And it's really, really, it's a great scene.

[01:05:30] It's filled with heart, soul, but from a child's perspective. Absolutely. And it really, really is written so well. And I loved both Wim and KB here together as Wim is trying to save, effectively, his new friends. You know, it's also that realization that they have been on this adventure together.

[01:05:55] Because up till now, and it's certainly, you know, absolutely explicitly made clear here as there is a split in the group. You know, you've got Neil and Fern going off and Wim and KB. But up till this point, that's not been the split in the group. Exactly. It has been the girls against the boys, you know, in traditional parlance in that sense. You know, where you've had Wim and Neil who were friends.

[01:06:24] Wim, in a sense, a little bit jealous of Fern, who's a little bit older, and KB. And we saw that in episode one where you see them using speeder bikes to get to school. So, him and Neil are just on a boring old bus. You know, they're effectively having adventures getting to school by cutting across the forest. Yeah. So, that's been the split in this group. That's where there's been the friction.

[01:06:53] And here, the friction is between those groups where KB and Fern are falling out, as you say. Yeah. You know, Fern is saying that she wants to climb up the mountain to get the most direct way, let's say, to get back to the Onyx Cinder. And instantly goes, we have to do it. Look, KB's on my side. Without even asking KB. And KB is saying she can't do it. And you find out, as the episode goes on, that effectively, if this had happened to her while climbing up the side of a mountain,

[01:07:21] if her power had shut down, climbing up the side of a mountain, she'd be dead. There's no way that she would have been able to do the work that she needed to do with Wim or gotten Fern to fix her while she was hanging off the side of a mountain. That's not possible. But there's such a great line when she is saved by Wim. And she says to him, I bet she thought that saving a life would be more exciting. And then says, thank you, Jedi, to him. I thought that's absolutely lovely. Really cool.

[01:07:47] And the other side reciprocating it again, Wim having a really good moment here where KB's opened her heart to him saying, you know, I couldn't tell Fern about this because I'd lose her. And then I'd be back to having no friends again. I'd be back to zero friends again, the title of the episode. And without a beat at all passing, Wim says to her, well, then you can just be friends with me and Neil. Like, you're friends now. Like, you know, it's not like losing Fern is the worst thing. You don't have zero friends. You have us. You know, and it's so automatic from Wim. Gave a little tear in my eye, I must say. It's so good.

[01:08:16] And it absolutely was fantastic. Yeah. I completely loved this. And all the while, you've got kind of Fern and Neil. They don't kind of go on quite the same journey. But they do to some extent. Neil's being sort of, you know, is nervously going up this ladder to get to the top of this huge rock outcrop where the spar is.

[01:08:43] And in the end, Fern is helping him, pulling him up, giving him a system so that he's not focusing on the huge drop below him. But he's just focusing on, like, one step at a time to get up to the spar. But it's also in his own way, Neil, similar to KB, can't do everything because he's got short arms and short legs. They're much shorter than Fern. So he can't reach between the steps. So she has to take account of that.

[01:09:10] And Neil's willing to stand up to her and say, look, I can't do what you do. So Fern has to learn in this moment that not everybody can do what she does. And she has to take account of Neil. So it's a good lesson that comes in there for the four kids here as they develop together, as they learn new things. They never had to learn when they were all at home on Alhatton. Exactly. Which I really liked. I think the other saber point here is all trash crabs great and small. Absolutely.

[01:09:38] Where you have the win is his plan in a sense and it's probably slightly nonsensical. And like they have kind of escaped the clutches of Jod and they found themselves in this kind of waste zone where all the refuse from the spar is taken. But there's all these crabs using the trash from the spar as shells or like hermit crabs, really. Basically, yeah.

[01:10:08] And he's kind of like, oh, if we follow the trash crabs, they'll lead us out of this waste, this dump, effectively, and back to the spar. And in a sense, you can see Fern's point. She's like going, but the spar's there and there's like a route up to it. And the trash crabs take him in a totally different direction to where the spar is going.

[01:10:32] And I think KB just goes with Wim as well to anger Fern, you know, and have a jab at her. She would have died if she planned out the mate. Absolutely. And Fern wasn't listening. But I do love that it's kind of a little bit of the you hear what you want to hear from Wim because he starts talking to the creatures saying, should we follow them? And they respond with follow, follow, follow.

[01:10:59] And in his head, he's hearing them actually talk to him, say, follow us and we'll save you. But actually, they're just repeating words that he said, which he learns very much later when they meet the massive trash crab. And he goes, oh, I think we're food. And all the trash crabs are going, food, yes, food, food, food. Yeah, we're never going to get home. And they're still saying, home, home, home. Yeah, so absolutely. They're really good fun. And the giant trash crab is a practical effect. Fully practical, yeah. It's really cool.

[01:11:29] It was done in the old style of the stop motion creature. So very cool that they did that. You know, like one of the things that people love about the old Star Wars movies, the early Star Wars movies, the first three, is how much was done with small miniatures, with very big miniatures as well. And done as practically as they possibly could. And then, you know, obviously CGI came along and special effects came along and has come along.

[01:11:53] But at least relying on that old style at times, they've still kept within the Star Wars framework, I suppose. And it's cool to see it again here with the giant trash crab. Yeah, I think just slightly as well, a third saber point here, because we do have a butterfly. Emerging from the chrysalis here. So the Onyx cinder their ship. At the start of when they find this ship and they meet SM-33.

[01:12:23] SM-33 warns them about hitting this button, which might all start the demolition sequence. And because of their predicament of being attacked by this huge, I guess, trash compactor, effectively. It's a walking trash compactor. A walking trash compactor. Always dangerous in Star Wars. They hit the emergency demolition sequence.

[01:12:43] And out from underneath the shell of the old Onyx cinder comes this much sleeker, much more streamlined Onyx cinder. Which looks very cool, actually. You want this, don't you? You want a Lego version of this or a statue of this, don't you? Yeah, definitely. It looks cool. It looks really, really nice. Yeah. I don't know if it would have survived this trash compactor.

[01:13:09] It's fairly sort of, it's like an attritional trash compactor. It just keeps on coming. I mean, the kids are trying to get the old Onyx cinder out from its clutches. Because it's kind of, as it's scooping up all the other trash, its hooks grab onto the Onyx cinder. They fire at it. The blasters don't work. So in the end, their only option is this demolition sequence.

[01:13:37] Yeah, it's just a tiny pet peeve of mine when CGI creators are doing these kind of scenes. And they keep layering in things that are totally unbelievable that people couldn't possibly get out of. And I do think in this scene, as that trash compactor is getting closer and closer and its teeth or its claws are getting inside the ship. You know, you can see it reaching inside and getting so close to Wim that he should be dead.

[01:14:04] You know, he's so close to the front of the ship that the rest of the kids should be dead. And then they still are able to pull away. I don't really know how that works physically. I just don't know how it would work when the, I'll call it teeth again, when they're so embedded in the outer core of the Onyx cinder. I don't know how they would get away. So it's just a little pet peeve. It's not as bad here as in some other films, like The Hobbit is my usual go-to example of overuse of CGI.

[01:14:33] But at least it leaves us with an awesome version of the Onyx cinder. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. On to episode seven. Yes. We're going to be in so much trouble. Yes, they are. Yes, they are. Back to writers John Watts and Christopher Ford for this episode. And this one directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who directed the movie Minari, starring Steven Yeun. And last year had a big box office success with the sequel to Twister, aptly titled Twisters. And he's also directed an episode of The Mandalorian as well.

[01:15:03] So he's used to Star Wars too. But a really interesting choice again for the show, isn't it? Yeah. I'm loving the directors that they've got on the show. It's really interesting. I love Twisters as well. It was fun. It was fun. No, I mean the ice cream. Oh, okay. That's true. Yes, yes. John, do you want to tell us the synopsis for the penultimate episode of The Skeleton Crew? Sure. The children's parents finally get a message out of At-Aten's atmosphere to their kids to lead them home.

[01:15:31] As they arrive, Jod and his former crew are waiting. Jod kills their new captain, Brutus, and retakes leadership of the pirate crew. He forces the kids to take him to At-Aten under the guise of a visiting Republic emissary. The droids in charge of the planet show him the vaults of treasure of the Old Republic mint as the kids finally reunite with their parents.

[01:15:58] But Jod interrupts the happy moment and ignites his lightsaber. I'm really sorry. I think I wrote imperial mint in the synopsis because imperial mints are quite a famous brand of mints over here. Nothing to do with the imperials. I just made a mistake there with the Old Republic and imperial mints. That was all. Yes, I did have to edit that on the fly. Sorry about that, Jod. I'll do better next time.

[01:16:25] The one I want to call out on our Sabre Points, the opening moment here, I really enjoyed the pass the parcel of the parents trying to get this message out from At-Aten. I thought it was really good. You know, this thing that's been going on in the background throughout the season is the parents are also trying to find their kids. With very limited success so far, breaking this barrier and getting a message out to the wider galaxy is obviously massively difficult. We don't know how long the planet has been shielded and kept away from the rest of the

[01:16:54] wider galaxy. But here in the opening scene, having them pass this communication device so they can finally get a message out to their kids to tell them how to get home, I thought was really good. It was a really interesting opening. And having the droids use the stun guns on the parents, knocking each one of them out as the next one takes the ball. Yeah, it was kind of good, wasn't it? Really exciting version of American football. It was. It was really good.

[01:17:17] But this probe that gets the message out to bring the new Onyx Cinder to At-Aten. But equally, you have Brutus and the pirates waiting there as well. And I do like the fact that, you know, over the course of this episode, we have Jod reinstating himself as leader of this pirate crew. Absolutely. You know, he's the bound.

[01:17:41] He's effectively speaking all this guff, really, about, again, At-Aten. And because of what happened in episode one, where they open up, you know, the ship that they've just attacked right in the opener. And there's just literally one credit there on the floor. You know, Brutus is still kind of pushing back against how, you know, Jod, as anyone that you should take any notice of, even though we know he's telling the truth here in this instance.

[01:18:11] But he does persuade Brutus, you know, well, I'm still your prisoner. What's the harm in going to this location? You know, and then you get the probe coming up and it's spotted, you know. So it ends up with Brutus and his ship there in orbit as the Onyx Cinder comes in. I like the fact that they do send one of their own down who just gets blown up. Bruns up and dies.

[01:18:37] And so this swirling nebulous of cloud is a defense mechanism surrounding At-Aten. I will say, I do take Jod's side here. And the pirate crew are really stupid to trust Brutus. So Jod knows this planet has been hidden for centuries. He knows it's a mint. He knows the kids came from there. And Brutus is going, the minute they get there, Brutus is going, hang on a second. This is just a gas planet. Kill them. Yeah.

[01:19:06] Jod's kind of going, you know, what did you expect? You got to a hidden planet. There's going to be some task you're going to have to complete to get down to this mint, right? So I'm with Jod on that. But I do love how Jude Law plays this moment with Brutus where he's going, uh-oh, I'm going to be thrown out of the airlock. I have to come up with an idea really quickly to get the team on my side again, you know. I thought that was really good. You could see it in his eye, just flashing in his eyes going, oh, I really need something really fast. I like that. Yeah, no, definitely.

[01:19:36] And again, it turns very quickly. We have the Onyx Syndicum here gets caught in the tractor beam. And as it's brought onto the deck of the pirate ship, then, you know, this seals Brutus' downfall. And it becomes quite dark as Jod just blasters him in the face, really. And obviously you don't see any of that.

[01:20:02] But you have the kids pretending to be sort of a big monster in the darkness using the claw of the Onyx Cinder to sort of grab Brutus to prevent him from getting aboard. And he is sort of held by this huge claw, mechanical claw. And this allows Jod then to sort of take the reins back and execute Brutus and take control of the pirates.

[01:20:30] And ultimately begin or start to begin his attack effectively on Assassin. Yeah, and I suppose another lesson for the kids to learn, you know, these four kids, not all of them knew each other at the beginning of the season. They now form this really tight bond. And they kind of believe the rest of the galaxy follows those rules, I guess. You know, you spend time with each other and you'll care about the people that you're aboard a ship with, let's say.

[01:20:58] So the threat that they had for Brutus was none of you get on board. Everybody step back or we'll kill him. We'll kill your friend. And Jod takes the opportunity to just shoot Brutus and take over the pirates. So they've learned a really, I suppose, a terrible lesson that not everyone in the galaxy cares about human life the way they do or other life the way they do. So I thought it was a real shock of a scene for Jod to do that and shows you the kind of person that he is as well. He'll do anything to get the leadership back. Definitely.

[01:21:27] But they do manage to switch it around in order to escape from the pirate ship. They think they've, with SN33, they use him effectively taking control back of the Onyx Cinder because the pirate code doesn't allow Jod to be both the captain of the Onyx Cinder and the pirate ship. Exactly.

[01:21:55] And I love the fact that it gets really kind of childish with, like, I call claimsies, says Fern. And Jod is kind of like, no, no, I am the captain. And it's like Wim going, I claim reclaimsies, you know. But you have SN33 effectively expelling all of the pirates on board of the Onyx Cinder out into the hangar on the pirate ship.

[01:22:21] And they look to make their escape. But you have Jod having gotten back on the Onyx Cinder and really then taking control as he slices the head of SN33. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And again, from Jod's point of view, it's just that moment of, oh, I'm almost there. But these kids, they're just getting in my way and not allowing me to just achieve the simple thing that I should be able to do.

[01:22:50] And he just steps back and goes, right, shut up. I've got a headache. I don't want to hear a word from you. Let me think about what my plan is going to be when I arrive there. And I suppose the final saber point, it turns out actually that it's pretty easy. He is expected as the emissary of the Republic and is accepted as the emissary of the Republic from the automatic protocols on the planet. And part of that's...

[01:23:17] And on the Onyx Cinder because it is also an old Republic ship. Well, yeah, that's the big thing. That's the only way he's able to get there. The reason why he's accepted is because the Onyx Cinder is able to make its way through the defenses of the planet because it is a ship of the planet at Atten. Yes. And without that, he couldn't have gotten in there. So he's instantly accepted as the emissary. All the droids that are there are laying down and showing him everything about the place.

[01:23:44] They show him one of the vaults that houses millions and millions of credits. They got really excited about it. A very small bag full of credits at the beginning of the season. And here he is just surrounded by more than he could possibly get. Absolutely. And it's only one of 1139 volts as well. Yeah. And you have the kids finally getting reunited.

[01:24:05] But ultimately knowing there is this huge peril in the form of Jod as he is being accepted as an emissary, even by their parents. And he has threatened the children. You know, if you say anything, I will kill your parents. And, you know, so it all becomes a bit ominous as he ignites his lightsaber right at the end as it goes to credit.

[01:24:33] So there's a good little ending here, I think, just before the final episode, which I think we can get on to now. Absolutely. Episode 8, The Real Good Guys. Yes, the finale written by John Watts and Christopher Ford and directed by John Watts. Once again, it's like the premiere episode. John, a little bit of a bigger synopsis for this one because it is the final episode which wraps up everything. So do you want to tell us the synopsis for the final episode of Skeleton Crew? Sure.

[01:25:00] On Atatin, Jod Nanawood introduces himself as the Republic emissary to the kids' parents. He tells Neil's mum, Wim's dad and KB's mums to keep them grounded and sends droids to watch over them. Meanwhile, Jod takes Fern and her mother to meet the elusive supervisor. But the supervisor quickly learns that Jod is a pirate trying to take over the Republic mint and tries to stop him.

[01:25:26] Jod uses his lightsaber to destroy the supervisor, shutting down the power to all the droids on the planet. At home, the kids concoct a plan to get a message to the Owlish, Kim and the New Republic. Wim and his father team up with Fern and her mum to take down Jod and restore the planet's power, while KB and SM-33 fly the Onyx Cinder through the barrier with gun of support from Neil.

[01:25:53] As the X-wings, B-wings and cruisers of the New Republic arrive to take back the planet, grounding Jod and his pirate ship. Big exciting end on the planet Atastin. Yeah, absolutely. And a few little shades of hell from 2001's Space Odyssey as well for the old supervisor. Yes, Stephen Fry voicing the supervisor. With a nice big red eye. Yeah, a very recognizable voice to anybody over the side of the Atlantic as well.

[01:26:23] So I think he's been in everything that we know of for many, many years. So kind of cool to have Stephen Fry and Star Wars there as well. Not a big shock, though, that the supervisor was a droid all along. Makes it easy to keep everybody in place when everybody just sticks to the plan that the droids have been programmed with effectively. So not a huge surprise. What was the big sabre moment for you for this episode, the big sabre point for this episode for you?

[01:26:49] I think for me it's kind of Jod's backstory here that we guess very briefly. And, you know, actually in the end it's really quite sad. I mean, you know, the relationship he's had with his children has just disintegrated. And there is sort of no coming back from it.

[01:27:11] But here we realize that, you know, his force sensitivity, his skills with the force, you know, being able to sort of bring the key over at the pirate outpost where he was imprisoned with the kids. All that Jedi skill has come from some minor training that he received from a Jedi who was ultimately hunted down and murdered while he was made to watch.

[01:27:39] And so it brings his real darkness into Jod's world here. You know, he tries to tell the children, you know, the galaxy is dark with a few pinpricks of light. It's not the childhood optimism that you think it is at this moment of time of your life as a child.

[01:28:02] It's kind of the galaxy weary older grown up who's had the life excitement and imagination sucked out of him. And we see that, you know, he was in prison because he kept failing to get the big bounty of treasure. Exactly. And he's been chased from one side of the galaxy to the next throughout this whole series. Yeah.

[01:28:30] He's finally gotten to the point where, you know, he's holding trillions worth of credit and can control this mint. Yeah. And it's kind of interesting, you know, he has this moment where Fern's mother is like, why are you trying to destroy everything? You know, we will let you go.

[01:28:51] We just take what you need and we can destroy the security and let you out of here as long as you don't harm anyone. Yeah. And he's like, I don't want to destroy anything. He wants all this in place so he can have this hidden outpost. This is the pirate's cove that is hidden from everyone. Yeah.

[01:29:14] And like, and you have Kim here as well, the owl saying, you know, some of the best pirate hunters are the New Republic. Mm-hmm. So, you know, the New Republic is becoming, is, I guess, the Royal Navy of the High Seas. And they are the pirates. Yeah. And I just kind of like how, you know, all this potential for John has always been kind of taken from him.

[01:29:43] And here again, it's slipping through his grasp. Yeah. And his admission that the galaxy is dark is borne out by, in a sense, not just the story we've seen in this series, but also from when he was much younger. Exactly. And, you know, like we see with any good villainous character, I suppose, he doesn't believe he's villainous. He's saying the galaxy is dark with a few pinpricks of light, and he's just trying to chase those pinpricks of light. Yeah.

[01:30:13] But we'll do anything to get them. And if that means killing people in front of him and killing families, that's what it means. But what he really wants is, can he not just walk in there, take over the supervisor's role? You guys do everything you did yesterday, and I'm just the one that takes the money from the mint rather than the supervisor and the droids, right? That's kind of all he wants.

[01:30:31] Now, it doesn't align very well with him bringing in the pirates who instantly, as they arrive in, just open fire on everything around, randomly shooting everybody, grabbing people, shooting them, killing them as they arrive. He doesn't make much kind of comment about that. It's not like he's saying, if you give me the codes, I will stop their attack. He's kind of going, well, the pirates are here now, and you guys go back to work, and you all work for me from now on.

[01:30:59] But he doesn't really make any mention of what the pirates are actually doing on the planet outside that door. Maybe he's just avoiding talking about it. That's something John would definitely do. But, again, it's to Kim's warning to the kids about Jod. It's also in terms of pocket on the spa planet. Don't trust him. Don't trust Jod and the Gnarwood.

[01:31:26] And here, yes, he is saying, look, it will all be fine. It will all be nice. Look, you just carry on what you're doing. But, effectively, the pirates are rampaging, pillaging, burning down the city around him as he's trying to sort of sweetly tell them that nothing will change. Well, it's all changing in front of him. Exactly. Exactly. So I thought that was, like, really, really kind of an interesting aspect to this episode. It was, and a better choice than what I thought.

[01:31:56] And I think most people had a suspicion that what the original choice for the story was that Jod was another of the Jedi kids that had escaped Order 66 himself. And that's where he had a little bit of training and had learned a little bit of the Jedi abilities. I kind of like that, actually, it was a Jedi that was on the run who taught Jod in the small time that she spent with him, taught him a few Jedi tricks, and then got killed herself. I kind of like that.

[01:32:23] So he's not another person that escaped from Order 66. He's not a Jedi himself. He only just learned a few things being a fourth sensitive kid, I guess. Yeah. I kind of like that choice. It was different enough that it adds something else. It does. And I do like that they've kept Jod's ultimate resolution here quite open in the story. We don't see him getting arrested by the New Republic.

[01:32:51] We effectively see the kids leaving him down in the belly of where the supervisor was because they want to go up and find out what's happened to KB because she's the one that's gone up in the Onyx Cinder to get the New Republic. So he's there on his own. And his whereabouts, we don't know by the end of this.

[01:33:20] Yeah, I think he's accepted his face is the way it looks. But there is a moment where Wim, I know we said the relationship can't be mended, but I think Wim on hearing the story is willing to almost take Jod back in. Jod refuses. Yeah. So Wim kind of goes, you know, come with us, Jod. You're one of us almost. And Jod's going to go, nope, that's it. End of. The plan has failed. I'm going to be arrested. So he's kind of accepting his fate. But it's not totally written out that that's what's going to happen.

[01:33:48] They could have a second season and Jod could be allowed away for the help that he did give the kids to get home, I guess. That could be the way it goes. And for the final Sabre Point for the episode, really, I loved the arc of what happens with the kids here. You know, at the start of the season, it was all about going day to day. You know, the problem with school, you know, the excitement of reading adventures of Jedi.

[01:34:11] And by the end of the season, the four kids have a better plan of saving the planet of Atatan than their parents do, which I absolutely love. Wim's father doesn't believe that his son would be able to come up with a plan. He doesn't want to trust him. And Fern's mother just wants to keep her safe and alive, doesn't want to do anything that could possibly jeopardize her at all or anybody else.

[01:34:37] So when we have KB, Neil, Wim getting together to save Fern, they're doing this really exciting plan all based on all the things they've learned when they've been off planet. What a great way to end the season, having them use all the things they've learned. You know, the plan they come up with is let's get on board the Onyx Cinder. Let's contact the people that we met along the way as the people that can save the planet here. You know, we know there is hyperspace jumps. That's exactly how they got away from Atatan.

[01:35:04] So the X-Wing's arriving in two flaps, as Kim says in her hourly parlance. That makes sense, right? So now the X-Wings, the new Republic police force, are able to come to Atatan and save the planet from the pirates. That's a great way of doing it. It all feels really quick, of course. But that's what you expect from the Saturday morning cartoon being wrapped up after our episode. It was very quick.

[01:35:31] I was thinking there was some kind of sort of epilogue going to happen. Like seeing Jaws being kind of arrested by the new Republic. That was the worst. All, you know, the kids sort of being friends at school. Yeah. You know, once all the dust has settled or even just some kind of new Republic intervention of some description. But it finishes quite quickly, really.

[01:36:00] It finishes with the cheers. It finishes with, yay, the Republic are here. You know, nothing's ever going to be the same effectively, you know. So I just don't think they wanted to pin their flag to the mass, really, for another pirate reference there. What I did love is seeing Wim see the X-Wing pilots come in. We see one very young pilot in that X-Wing group that comes in. He looks about 15, 16 to me, anyway. And I'm kind of going, Wim's probably seeing these people and this is what he wanted to do.

[01:36:27] When he was supposed to take the assessment in that first episode, he said, I don't want to be an analyst. I don't want to be a data analyst. I want to be someone that's there to help people. And they were kind of laughing, going, well, the helper droids do that on our planet. But now he sees a trajectory. He could be the next person joining the Republic. If we see another season of Skeleton Crew or at least this cast coming back in the future, they're going to be older. We've seen them in interviews. They're already coming into 13, 14 years old now.

[01:36:57] So the next time that we see these kids, they will be much more grown and could be members of the Republic. And very likely they will be. Definitely. I hope we do get more of this cast and this story. Yeah, me too. As I say, I think it would be great to see some other iteration of the Skeleton Crew season two. That'd be cool. And one other thing I really liked about the plan and how it all came out was that KB was aboard.

[01:37:25] Onyx Cinder had SM-33 beside her holding his head in her hands while he piloted the ship. Really cool. Neil, who had been the gunner on the planet that they were on at Akron. He's now the gunner protecting KB's ship getting off. Wim and his father on their speeder bikes rushing in to save the planet. Wim using his absolutely terrible convincing skills to distract Jod at least while his father turns the power onto the planet.

[01:37:51] I just love that each of them were using the skills that we know they have. Even the bad ones, like not actually being able to convince anybody of anything, but just talking as much as you possibly can with Wim. I thought that was great. So overall, John, what are your final thoughts on Skeleton Crew season one? For me, I really, really enjoyed the Skeleton Crew season one by the end. You know, I kind of was looking forward to the next week to watch the next episode.

[01:38:20] I think, you know, I would kind of give this three and a half assassins out of five. I think it's not for everyone. It's certainly maybe not only is it not for everyone, I think the first episode, maybe the first couple could just be a little bit off putting just for someone watching them. And because you don't get the sense of it.

[01:38:46] But I think once you start to get the sense of the planet and, you know, that their parents aren't nefarious, they're not kind of just working for the empire. There's a real heart, soul and adventure to this. And it's really backed up nicely by these four children in these roles. Yeah. I think Jude Law has a great anchor role as well.

[01:39:10] There's so many nice sort of big names, you know, Kelly McDonald, Stephen Fry, all kind of in here just doing little cameos. Alpha Melina. Yeah. Alpha Melina. I love SM33 as the robot. For us, fantastic. And, you know, the earworm of a saying which really got me, which is I can't say I remember, no.

[01:39:38] And so from that, I really thought this was a great little show. And as another person who has said more appropriately, you know, it's Saturday cartoons brought to life. Exactly. And I really, really enjoyed it. So, yeah, I would absolutely say, you know, give it a try. Skeleton Crew season one. Yeah. Lots of fun. Lots of fun. Really enjoyed the show as the weeks went on. Sorry we couldn't cover it weekly.

[01:40:06] For those of you who follow TV podcast industry, we do usually cover the shows weekly. But just the time of year came out with us doing What If from Marvel every single day for a few days. It took up a lot of time. And we did have some of the things on. But I'm glad we were able to talk about Skeleton Crew season one. I'm very positive on it. I think a lot of people who watch the full season have really enjoyed it. Yeah. A lot of our listeners and a lot of our, a lot of the viewers of Star Wars who've watched the full season have really enjoyed it.

[01:40:32] And it didn't seem to be getting as much of the usual hate that you get online for Star Wars, thankfully. It seems to be a little bit exempt from that. And I hope it stays that way because it's just a fun show. And if you've got kids, sit them down in front of this with you. And hopefully by the end of it, they'll share your excitement for Star Wars. That's kind of what I'd hope. Yeah, absolutely. Great stuff. We do have a little bit of feedback in from our wonderful fellow crew members.

[01:40:59] First up, Donald Dennis says, it got much better after the first or second episode. It ended up being really good. Yeah, I definitely concur with that, Donald, for sure. Yeah. And also, Anne Kissinger-Verst says, I don't necessarily want more Skeleton Crew, but more quality Star Wars shows with a longer season, more episodes and longer weekly episodes. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I can see that. I think, you know, we always like a little bit more. Absolutely.

[01:41:27] Leave them wanting more, as the old phrase goes. Yeah, I'd love to see a bit more. Personally, I'd love to see more of the Skeleton Crew. I hope we see them in the future. I hope they form part of that Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Boba Fett series that goes into the Mandalorian Grogu movie. That would be really cool. Yeah. To see the kids here from Skeleton Crews in some sense in that future movie. That would be very cool. But also, I want a few Star Wars shows every year. It feels like there's a big gap all the time between Star Wars shows.

[01:41:56] Hopefully, we're going to get Ahsoka later in the year or early next year as well, seeing season two of that show. As that's dialing up, I guess, or gearing up for its filming for second season at the moment. Yeah. So hopefully, we'll see that pretty soon. We saw the new casting for Bale and Skull, the replacement for Ray Stevenson, who sadly passed away after the filming of Ahsoka. Then we're going to see Rory McCann taking over that role of Bale and Skull.

[01:42:21] Rory McCann, who played the Hound in Game of Thrones and was also in Hot Fuzz as well. Yeah. So really, a really good actor. Really interested to see what he brings to the role. Bale and Skull was a really interesting character in Ahsoka. So really excited to see that story continue, what it's going to be like in season two. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I think there's hopefully plenty of good Star Wars to come.

[01:42:45] I think Andor season two as well in three months' time, really. Coming out in the middle of our busiest season. So we will definitely say that, unfortunately, we're not going to be able to cover Andor weekly yet. Yeah. We have said if we do have time. We'll see. If we have space, we will cover at least the full season like we have done with Skelton Crew and with The Acolyte. We're hoping that we'll be able to at least do a wrap-up at the end of the season because we did love the first season of Andor.

[01:43:16] We'd like to cover that first and then do one on the second season of Andor. Yeah. But we'll see how that goes. If you like what you heard on the podcast, if it's your first time hearing TV Podcast Industries, pop on over to our website at tvpodcastindustries.com and subscribe to us over there. We've got lots more coming up this year. If you haven't heard our wrap-up of 2024 and our preview episode of 2025, we have announced loads of shows coming up. Next up, Chris and I will be back from February 6th with Invincible Season 3.

[01:43:44] So that'll be our show for February. And then all three of us hope to be back for Captain America Brave New World after it releases in cinemas from February 14th. Yes, absolutely. Perfect date, February the 14th for all those in love comic fans. Yes, well, I'm kind of in love with Captain America and my husband, John. Sorry. Excellent. Of course. You come first, John. You come first.

[01:44:14] Yes, it would be perfect Valentine's Day. It would be a Valentine's Day for us two, to be honest, going to the cinema to watch Captain America. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, love it. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll talk to you again next time. Yeah, excellent stuff, fellow crewmates. Thanks so much for joining us for this tour of Season 1 of Skeleton Crew. Until next time, keep watching, keep listening, and of course, keep being wizards. Bye. Bye.

[01:45:00] So that'll be our episode together for the next. So that'll be our show in, I'm saying our last time. I don't know. That's fine. Captain. Captain.