The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: December 6, 2024
SKELETON CREW HAS ARRIVED
Hello there
Good morning and welcome back to the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. It’s a fairly quick one this week, unfortunately real world demands took too much time. So there’s some thoughts on the first two episodes of Skeleton Crew and a bit of self-promotion where I appeared in another newsletter to talk about a band. No, not the Max Rebo Band. A band here on Earth.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
The song “Major Tom” but make it in Huttese.
Because 80’s German New Wave is not my wheelhouse, I had seen something recently about “Major Tom” but had just assumed it was talking about “Space Oddity” by David Bowie and they just had the title wrong. Either way, “Youngee Wim (Bunky Dunko)” is a jam. No two ways about it.
The Force Diad of the Southern Thing
If I may step away from the galaxy far, far away for a few minutes and do a little self-indulgence. This week I got to guest post on another newsletter and write about my top 5 favorite songs from the Drive-By Truckers. Christopher Bradley over at Daydreamin’ ‘Bout the way Things Sometimes Are writes about music and records and like me, is a fan of Americana. Every week he does a Top 5 with another Substack writer. So I badgered my way into doing Drive-By Truckers tunes.
It was a lot of fun, not that I need an excuse to spin DBT vinyl, but it gave me a good one. Check it out.
Skelton Crew Has Landed and the Vibes are Right
Let’s start with something right off the bat. Any time you talk about Skeleton Crew, you are contractually obligated to say it’s “Goonies in space” or “Star Wars but done by Amblin Entertainment.” You know what though, that’s absolutely spot on.
Also, since there has been a bunch of new subscribers here since the last new Star Wars series, I should probably repeat this. It is the official policy of the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter to post spoilers. It’s too difficult to talk about an episode of the show without actually talking about what happens in the show. So, fair warning.
OK, the picture of my cat and the spoiler warning are out of the way. Let’s get down to business. I’m going to state something that might be controversial. Skeleton Crew captures a certain feel of Star Wars better than anything since A New Hope. Please, put down the pitchforks and hear me out. Think of the iconic shots from A New Hope. The Star Destroyer going overhead. Vader Force choking a fool. Han shooting first shooting in self-defense. And Luke Skywalker on Tatoonie, staring at the twin suns and wondering how he was going to get off this sand-covered rock that was the furthest thing from the bright center of the universe. That’s what Skeleton Crew gives you right off the bat, that sense of adventure where anything is possible.
For Skeleton Crew, they’ve replaced Tatoonie with something even more relatable, Southern California in space. I’ve joked for a while that I wanted to see Star Wars suburbia, and we finally got it. You can’t tell me Skeleton Crew didn’t intentionally channel the SoCal of the 80’s movies like E.T. or Back to the Future. We’ve got the mountains, the perfectly manicured lawns, the neighborhood where kids ride their speeder bikes around. It’s an idyllic world in a galaxy where you very rarely see one. It’s no wonder Wim wants out. If you’ve filled up your childhood with tales of the Jedi and their adventures, At Attin would seem pretty boring.
Keeping on with the homage to the 80’s movies, even the kids fit the archetypes.
Wim is the dreamer. He’s not a bad kid, he just can’t always keep his head out of the clouds. Yoda said the same thing about Luke.
Neel is the rule following nerd. Also, I would fight a band of space pirates to protect Neel.
Fern is the tough one who probably is using her tough exterior to hide some vulnerability. Also, as someone who occasionally would enjoy telling a tall tale simply to see if I could convince the other person to believe, I think Fern is awesome.
KB, aka Baby Lobot, is the smart one. What’s with the cybernetics getup when we didn’t see any of the other kids at school with one.
What I really appreciated was the writers wrote the kids, as kids. These aren’t fully formed adults written as kids. Wim and Neel are best buddies but they still have their disagreements. Fern thinks the boys are stinkos. Neel worries about school and the big test tomorrow. KB admonishes Fern when she think Fern has been mean. These are all things kids do and all things friends do. Friendships are messy. Adults are boring. School is dumb. It’s more fun to try to go have an adventure.
Speaking of school, long time readers know one of my true loves is The Simpsons, and when the kids have to take their career assessment test, all I could think of was The Simpsons and the episode “Separate Vocations” from season 3.
Fern’s mom is asking the kids about their dream jobs and the kids respond with some pretty nerdy choice. When the Ithorian kid says he wants to be an analyst and the human kid next to him says he does as well, I honestly thought it was a reference to Martin Prince. Showrunners Christopher Ford and Jon Watts are roughly my age, there’s a pretty good chance they’re Simpsons nerds as well.
We have to talk about what’s probably my favorite part of the show so far. At Attin. What the heck is up with this planet? The pirates at Port Borgo say the planet doesn’t exist, it’s just a myth and there’s treasure. Like a lost city of gold. The kids don’t know what stars look like, they pretty clearly have never been on a starship before. There’s some kind of barrier, called the barrier, that presumably keeps everyone on At Attin in, and the rest of the galaxy out. I also wonder if the barrier acts as some kind of invisibility cloak, for lack of a better description, that keeps the planet hidden from the rest of the galaxy. It’s probably been going on for a while, since Wim’s money gets referred to as Republic credits, not New Republic credits. At school, again the Republic is referred to, not the New Republic. What’s the Great Work (it was capitalized in the sub-titles)? Sounds very cult like. After a little digging on Wookieepedia, the Great Works date back to the High Republic, which dates 500 BBY to 100 BBY. Has At Attin been cut off from the rest of the galaxy, did they even know about the fall of the Republic and the Empire? Finally, do the droids run the planet? Sure, it’s possible that on At Attin, it’s such a great life that the sentients just let the droids do everything, a la Wall-e. But I think there’s something else going on. Maybe the droids run the planet. Maybe it’s some kind of artificial consciousness that runs it. I’m not sure yet. But it’s a good mystery.
Three final things of note, so I can wrap this up. First, what’s in Neel’s garage? A friend of mine, best described as the Crazy Old Wizard living out beyond the Dune Sea in Tarrant County, texted me asking what the heck this is? Is it religious iconography, or is it the equivalent of a St. Pauli Girl beer sign?
Second, Wim’s dad = Drip King. I want that jacket for the winter.
And finally, I’m actually a little surprised the show runners got away with this, but thanks to Skeleton Crew, we have confirmation that the Star Wars Holiday Special is in fact canon. Neel’s siblings watch the holo-circus.
Hopefully they’ll just leave it at the holo-circus and not get back into Lumpy’s VR quasi-adult entertainment. Man, the Holiday Special is messed up.
This Day in Star Wars History
Only one thing to mention this week. There were a bunch of comics released on December 5th, if you want to check the list there might be something you’ll like.
In 2019, the Rise of the Resistance ride opened at Disneyland. I haven’t been to Disney, Land or World, in over 20 years. I did go on the OG Star Tours at Disneyland back in 2002. I hear Rise of the Resistance is a cool ride. One of this days…
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
A short one that normally I would have skipped, but for the source. Go with me here. This week we’ve got Tractor Beam 52-N1. It’s a tractor beam on the Death Star. Not super interesting. But the source material is.
The Power of the Force Death Star with Darth Vader figure. I had a lot of PTOF2 figures back in the day, but that one didn’t ring a bell. I think it’s referring to this one.
I don’t see anything on the packaging that specifically talks about tractor beam 52-N1. As far as I see it, the only logical solution is to buy the figure and investigate myself.
News From the HoloNet
We Can’t Stop Obsessing Over Neel’s Hair on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
Neel is sure to be 2025’s IT boy.
Darth Bane, we hardly knew ye.
Disneyland’s Festive Star Wars Meal Is a Life Day Letdown
Paying too much at Disney? Surely you jest.
STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW FIRST REVIEWS: A BREATH OF FRESH AIR FOR STAR WARS FANS
Wait…people are allowed to like Star Wars again?
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
I was stunned when I saw the Holiday special referenced. Poor George is getting really embarrassed somewhere right now, haha. I loved the show! Everything about it is great so far. I am hooked and it just feels so new. Super excited to see where it goes, and I hope it keeps this sense of wonder that I just have not felt from more recent Star Wars products.
The best part about the Holiday Special now being canon? It means that Kevin Smith and I can finally get “the holiest of holies,” our “Cantina Barmaid Bea Arthur” action figures.