Part of the joy of storytelling in the Star Wars universe is that you can – and you are supposed to – stretch the boundaries of what has been shown on screen before, because you have an entire galaxy at your fingertips, and there’s no need to regurgitate what already has been shown. “Hey, great. We’re back on Tatooine!” Said no Star Wars fan, ever. That’s why, of all the upcoming Star Wars stories, the one that has me most hyped is the teased project by James Mangold, that is reported to take place eons before the Skywalker Saga, at the dawn of the creation of the Jedi. That being said, there are still STAPLES of the Star Wars process that filmmakers get to appreciate, and one of them hit me pretty hard while watching Skeleton Crew.
Skeleton Crew, which arrived on Disney+ this week, is drenched in fun. It’s a kid-centered Star Wars adventure that, so far, catapults four adolescent suburban kids and a droid on a spaceship that brings them to unknown parts of the galaxy. And I enjoyed the first two episodes because they overloaded on creatures, locations, characters, and all new Star Wars geekery. But when the first two episodes ended, I was struck by seeing this title card:
I’ve been following Jon Watts’ career since the beginning. I liked his feature-length debut, Cop Car, and embraced him as the helmer of the Spider-Man trilogy once he was hired to shepherd my favorite character through the MCU. When Watts was tapped for Skeleton Crew, I got excited to see what flavor he’d bring to the universe. And when I saw his name in the classic Star Wars font, I actually got chills. Imagine how he must have felt seeing it for the first time?
During a press day for Skeleton Crew, I was lucky enough to ask Jon Watts and his co-creator Christopher Ford what they felt seeing their names in the vintage Star Wars blue font. And Ford’s answer didn’t disappoint. He told CinemaBlend:
We were trying to think of the question of, like, what's that kind of, ‘I can't believe this is happening’ moment. And what we were saying is, ‘It just keeps happening.’ That's the thing. It's not just one. It's all the ways. And the credits, obviously, were one of the last things we were doing. And it's like, ‘Oh my gosh. Another insane moment where I can't believe that's real.’
It would blow my mind, as well. There’s something so signature about the font. The moment you see it, in that blue, you instantly associate it with Star Wars. As Jon Watts added:
We did a lot of font research with John Knoll about, ‘What exact font are we going to use?’ They're like, ‘Do you wanna do the blue?’ We're like, ‘Yeah, I wanna do the blue! Let's do it!’
You have to, at that point. You are embracing the Star Wars universe. You have to take on all of the traits. And yet, one of the things I like most about Skeleton Crew so far – particularly in Episode 2 – are the new things it is showing all of us longtime Star Wars fans. I already feel like I have been to new places, and am intrigued by the mystery of At Attin, the hidden treasure planet.
The show has pulled in some of our top writers, who have committed to following it through to its end. Are you curious enough to follow along on this adventure, to at least learn how Jude Law fits into the puzzle? New episodes will continue to drop, one per week until the season has played out. Let’s see where this goes!
