The newest installment in the Star Wars galaxy had its two episode debut last night, and critical reception is overwhelmingly positive. The show created by Jon Favreau mixes notes of Stranger Things, The Mandalorian, and even a little Spider-Man in there tonally. Officially, Goonies was one of the direct inspirations, and you can tell. Unlike everything else in the Star Wars universe, this show in centered around a group of kids who accidentally get lost in space. The show is very different from anything Star Wars has given us before, and fans are responding to it.
As of this morning, the day after the premier, the show is sitting at a solid 94% out of 45 recorded critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The show is notably different for showing a part of the Star Wars universe we have never seen before – a civilized, almost Earth-like planet with a society that is very reminiscent of Counter-Earth from Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Because of this, it’s easy to see why this show is such an intriguing project – it really is a new corner of this franchise we’ve never explored before. And apparently, based on the pirates’ reaction to finding out where the kids are from (a planet called At Attin) in the second episode, they’ve never explored there either and actually consider their home planet to be a myth. Wait, what? Okay, now that plot thread has me intrigued.
According to some of the critical reviews:
“As much fun as some previous Star Wars shows have been, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is the series that I’ve been waiting for all my life. It’s a throwback to the classic Amblin movies that I grew up watching. There’s this sense of awe and wonder and it’s something we really need right now.” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
“This is a show which delights in its wretched hives of scum and villainy.” – John Nugent, Empire Magazine
“Watching a Star Wars property can make you feel like a kid again. But the extremely special aspect of Skeleton Crew is that it gives this universe to the kids. Quite literally. Told from the perspective children of At Attin, Skeleton Crew asks: What if The Goonies was in the galaxy far far away. ” – Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
“The way it stands now, after these first two episodes, there’s a lot of good momentum carrying Star Wars: Skeleton Crew forward after it’s set up its “Goonies in Space” cast of kids who escape the suburban doldrums and find themselves hurtling toward adventure and conflict with cartoonish space pirates.” – Sam Barsanti, IGN Reviews
“When you see where the story is heading at the end of episode three, you see the absolute potential.” – M.N. Miller, FandomWire
Now, this isn’t the first Star Wars show to pull a solid Rotten Tomatoes score as The Mandalorian (90%) and Andor (96%) have also hit that milestone. However, unlike Andor the reception for this series feels a lot less split and a lot more confident, and the excitement feels reminiscent of when The Mandalorian came out. Other shows, like Ashoka, Bad Batch, and the Book of Boba Fett unfortunately did not fair as well and at the end of the day all ended up on the ‘less than memorable’ side of the tracks. The Skeleton Crew seems like the right combination of ingredients that the franchise needs injected into it once again.
Did you watch the premier episodes, and what did you think? Sound off on our social media, and stay tuned for our review of the first few episodes coming later tonight!