Skeleton Crew, the show that could have been anywhere

The world is nuts right now. It's probably always been nuts, but now it's all on TV, everyone knows it's nuts, and everything keeps happening faster and faster. Somehow, in the 50 years since Star Wars first came out, we've moved into a spot where, instead of a lark, looking at a technologically advanced world of adventure, it is, at it's best, a quiet return to a simpler time. To wit, Skeleton Crew was tremendous. 

The sequel trilogy really struggled, particularly in the final installment, and part of the issue was that it continued to try to consume the entire galaxy in it's breadth. It took every thing from the Star Wars universe and just threw it into the same pot. The Last Jedi was disparaged by some, but a thing I appreciated about it was the bid to make Star Wars more tactile again, and make the movie smaller in scope. It wasn't perfect, but it set something up that could have been much better. 

It seems as though Lucasfilm is figuring out something I have thought for a while. We don't necessarily need fan service at every offering, but simply good stories that live in the universe. It's such a sandbox to work with, and feeling a need to return to Palpatine and the Skywalkers at every turn only drags things down.

The Mandalorian worked because they featured new characters as leads. Personalities and arcs could go anywhere, and need only graze the existing canon. The Book of Boba Fett was disappointing in many ways, but a big cause was bringing a galactically important character with an already remarkable backstory AND following, and tried to shoehorn a story around that.

Recent disappointment and burnout drove poor viewership to The Acolyte, but it wasn't a bad show. It was a moody character driven mystery that sort of typified where Star Wars is at. It felt more akin to Andor and Skeleton Crew than to the core films. It was a decent show that had the trappings of Star Wars, but didn't need to be trapped in them. Andor and Skeleton Crew took this mindset and executed it even better.

Andor is a gritty war series that demystifies the idea of war, and brought the origins of a rebellion to a grass roots level. The fact that Cassian Andor was in Rogue One was incidental. It felt like the major plot points and internal motivations could have come from our timeline, or at least they seemed recognizable and real. 

Skeleton Crew was basically a kids adventure that was well written enough that grown ups got into it as well. There was almost no correlation to the extended Star Wars universe, except to provide the setting, rather than fixed plot destinations, and the show itself felt more like Goonies in space than another typical Star Wars offering. 

And that's where the Lucasfilm offerings have excelled. It excels when Andor's renegade is allowed to be a renegade, and the kids in Skeleton Crew are allowed to be kids, and heck, Luke Skywalker in a New Hope was a bored teen, and was allowed to be a bored teen, and all of whom happen to be in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars is best when it is not making itself a character.