New Planet Skeleton Crew Episode 4 takes a page from Netflix’s creepiest place

Contains the following spoilers for Star Wars: The Crew Season 1 Episode 4, “Can’t Say I Remember It’s Not In Atlin.”

Star Wars Episode 4: Crew of the Skeletons stars Jodh Na Naud (Jude Law), Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kira Armstrong), Kay Bee (Kyrianna Crater), Neal (voiced by Robert Timothy Smith) and S.M. -33 (voiced by Nick Frost) is finally back in the kids’ hometown of Atlin…or so they think. In reality, they land on At-Atlin, a planet that is identical to At-Atlin down to the layout of the city, but has been ravaged by a long war. Akhran is a strange, perpetually foggy landscape where the young heroes encounter the lone surviving child, Haina (Hala Finley), who reveals she is trying to escape the evil Khatans. Later, this prominent child character introduces Strix (Mathieu Kassovitz), a warlord who trains child soldiers and whom Heina refers to as “Dad.” Hey, doesn’t that remind you of something?

The situation seems to pay homage to Netflix’s hit sci-fi mystery horror series Stranger Things, where people constantly find themselves in an upside-down state. It’s a desolate, barren and perpetually foggy version of their own world, where Season 1’s lone child survivor, Will (Noah Schnapp), tries to escape the monsters. The series also features the famous children’s character Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), whose scientist father Brenner (Matthew Modine) trains superpowered children and whom Eleven calls “Dad”.

Aside from the “dangerous and ruined version of the familiar world” concept, At Achrann’s visual design feels like an upside down in many parts of the episode. While the planet is still a Star Wars setting, there are moments when it’s easy to expect Stranger Things villain Vecna ​​(Jamie Campbell Bower) to enter the frame and slowly retreat after will understand that it is not in that series.

Early series Star Wars: The Crew of Skeletons was heavily inspired by Amblin, so it’s not too surprising that the show pays homage to other forms of entertainment as well. While Stranger Things is itself an Amblin-inspired series and thus a natural port of call for seasoned nods, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schneidert also Daniels from “The Swiss Army” and “Everything everywhere and at once”. — also fill Episode 4 with some even more awesome tributes.

At times, “Can’t Say I Remember No At Attlin'” pays homage to the post-apocalyptic vibe of the Fallout franchise, a faux 1950s vibe. In others, it borrows a trick from Disney’s Treasure Planet (2002) with its SM-33 amnesia storyline. It even continues Daniels’ established penchant for casting familiar faces from years past; this time, famous actor and director of the 1990s and 2000s, Mathieu Kassovitz, appears as Haina’s father, General Strix. Then again, the directing duo are hardly the first to bless the show with obscure references. After all, the director is David Lowery “Skeleton Crew” episode 3 dug deep into the bag of honor references to Disney’s The Sword in the Stone.

Thankfully, none of these homages take away from the episode itself, which is a reliably entertaining watch that reveals whole new sides to the kids’ home planet, as well as SM-33 and Neal. If this trend continues, discovering new love interests in the remaining episodes of the series should be a fun side quest for viewers.

New episodes of Star Wars: Crew of the Skeletons air Tuesdays at 6:00 PM PT on Disney+.