“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” has blasted off.
The first two episodes of the latest live-action Lucasfilm series are now streaming on Disney+, and within those two episodes, there are some surprising connections to some beloved Disney theme park attractions.
In “Skeleton Crew,” we follow a group of youngsters – Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern, Kyriana Kratter as KB and Robert Timothy Smith as adorable alien Neel – as they discover a hidden spaceship and take off for parts unknown. They encounter a crusty old droid SM-33 (voiced by Nick Frost) and a rascally Force-user (Jude Law) as they attempt to get back home and uncover the hidden mystery of their suburban planet.
In the first episode, the kids go to school and their bus driver might look familiar. It’s an RX droid, the type of robot that was introduced in Star Tours, the Disney Parks attraction that debuted at Disneyland in 1987 and what was known as Disney-MGM Studios and Tokyo Disneyland (both in 1989). That attraction’s droid, RX-24, was played, warmly by Paul Reubens, who got to reprise his role when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened in 2019. By then Rex, as he’s known to the fans, found a new line of work – this time as a DJ in the Star Wars land’s cantina.
In the years since RX droids have been seen recently in “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett,” but chances are that if you rode the original attraction, every time one of those droids pops up, you get a kick of nostalgia. (“Skeleton Crew” effortless evokes cinema – and theme park attractions – of the bygone era of the 1980’s.)
There’s more! In episode two, the gang winds up at a rough-and-tumble waystation, populated by rogues and rapscallions. It’s basically a space port by way of the cantina from the original “Star Wars” – full of colorful and dangerous creatures and characters. At one point, the kids spot a positively magical creature – a fuzzy red alien with a long tail and butterfly wings.
If the creature rings any bells, it’s because the creature is the same species as Fuzzball, one of the main characters from “Captain EO,” a 3D movie that opened alongside the original Star Tours at Disneyland and EPCOT Center in 1986. Fuzzball is the cohort of Michael Jackson’s title character, a captain who is drawn to a dark planet run by a witchy Anjelica Huston. (He brings light to the dark planet via music and dance, obviously.)
“Captain EO” was, famously, co-written and overseen by George Lucas, who also shepherded the creation of Star Tours, with visual effects provided by Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. But up until now they have been two separate universes. Now “Skeleton Crew” canonizes Fuzzball and his species as being part of the “Star Wars” galaxy. Does this mean Michael Jackson’s Captain EO also exists in the same space ports as Luke, Han and the gang? But more importantly, with only two of the eight episodes streaming, what other Disney Parks references will pop up?
