Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney+)

Return of PG-rated Star Wars! About darn time! I'd say it's about fucking time, but we're PG now.

It's SO cute. The little blue elephant kid is adorable, and I love that the alien planet could pass for modern day Earth. Kids there play with action figures and pretend light sabers. Just like real kids.

It's the real-world credibility that adds to this project. Andor impressed some people (and polarized others) with its grounded, real-world recognizable approach to the franchise. But while we saw our own world in that show's bureaucracy, I think we see our world in this show's idea of suburbia. It's a very different type of Star Wars for that reason, and so far I am greatly enjoying it.

Excellent premiere. 4 stars.

Oh, my God! Star Wars is fun again! How long has it been? Honestly? I'm guessing the last time Star Wars was legit fun was the Original Trilogy. I'm not even jiving. Even WITH Jar-Jar, it seems to be that from the Prequel Trilogy on, the franchise took itself too seriously. I mean, Jar-Jar wasn't serious. But he sure as hell wasn't fun either.

And it turns out Wim is liability. He's the obnoxious kid who presses the wrong button the second after he's told "Don't press that or we'll all die!" I see much of Shortround in him. I hope that kid's actor grows up awesome to make up for it.

The Pirate Droid SM-33 is pretty great.

And the mystery role for Jaleel White turns out to be a badass pirate! I was gonna guess Urkel-Droid.

Can we enjoy Star Wars again? Like unironically and everything? Are we finally allowed that? 4 1/2 stars.

Wow, Alia Shawkat is unrecognizable as Kh'ymm. Maeby has an old lady voice now.

For the record, I trust her more than Jod at this point. And not just because her owl / cat self is cute. But she seems to have the kids' best interest at heart and he does not.

SM does NOT like Jod. His story of "What he knows" that he'll only say once was great and unhelpful. For his part Jod seems a bigot against Droids. SM pushing the bowl onto the floor says he won't be putting up with it.

Neel is still almost TOO adorable. I really like that kid.

Solid episode. 4 stars.

Never trust a Pirate Droid.

Neel is just the cutest. His reaction to the kiss was adorable. I love that he fainted at the end. The girl was right. He is kind.

First Star Wars project where a main character suggests if there was ever a real conflict, they would just apologize. How amazing is this kid?

I love Jod is all "Just shoot me now." The flag shit is too confusing. Also Jod is useful.

I was guessing time travel was involved at the beginning and I'm glad I was wrong. Time-travel is inappropriate for Star Wars.

Honestly, the premise of child soldiers is not a good fit for the tone of this show, but they bought back everything before it started getting horrific. Besides it was essentially just a high-concept "Planet of the week" Sci-Fi premise that science fiction TV does from week to week. I'll allow it. 3 1/2 stars.

It's like if The Goonies had legit dramatic stakes.

Jod's heel-turn strikes me as ill-advised. Even learning At Addin had a mint didn't actually change his and the kids' deal. And damn, these kids are smoother than he thought. Betraying them is probably the most ill-advised thing he could do.

Look at them befriending the giant squiddy guy by telling them stories. They have value because people actually like them. There are very few people in the Star Wars Universe worth liking. That's more valuable in this Universe than Jod's shaky Force skills.

Man, Wim lighting up the lightsaber backwards was brilliant. They were setting us up for an awesome debut Jedi hero moment, and the series refuses to forget they're kids. Good for the show.

Honestly, even before Jod broke their deal, I think the kids probably didn't trust him after he sicced the acid bath on their followers. Whatever else Jod is that makes him a murderer. And in fact one who they all witnessed murdering a group of people. If these kids are nice, he's on their shit list now.

Prediction: When the kids meet Jod again Fern is going to challenge him for the captaincy again, and this time Jod will be forced to yield for some new reason. Probably involving somebody else he doublecrossed.

This show is so much fun. 4 stars.

Wonderful. Great KB spotlight.

When she went down and Wim was freaking out I said aloud, "Wait for it..." And boom. Yup. That's how it works.

I love when KB says if she and Fern can't make up again she'll have zero friends again. And Wim somewhat unironically says "You'll still have me and Neel." And that's a nearly insensitive opinion about the situation, or least it would be if you were an adult. Because KB is a kid, it comforts her instead.

All of those kids are SO damn cute. You know, not every kid in the world is cute. But they somehow hired the cutest ones and one of them voices this adorable little blue elephant guy Neel to boot. There is just no part of the show you can hate with those kids in it.

The irony? For many sci-fi fans, children are poison to the genre. I've never agreed with that assessment, or at least I've never FULLY agreed with it. But I love this show (and Stranger Things) for proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the idea that "kids ruin everything" is patently untrue. 4 1/2 stars.