After 47 years, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
subtly embraced one of the coolest ideas in science fiction. Mark Hamill recently described Star Wars like a fairy tale disguised as science fiction, and he's right; is a story of space wizards and smugglers, with a dash of hyperspace travel and planet-destroying superweapons. Skeleton Crewthe latest live action Star Wars TV show, enjoy it.
Skeleton Crew is unlike any other Lucasfilm show. It's the perfect Christmas meal, a story where a group of children are trapped in a wider area. Star Wars galaxy and must figure out how to get home. Surprisingly, though, it also imports some really cool “hard” sci-fi ideas – although it does so in a subtle way that's easy to miss.
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In Achrann proved that the environment in the jewels of the old republic is artificial
The children in Skeleton Crew they come from Attin, one of the lost “Jewels of the Old Republic”. They are trying to return home, but instead find their way to At Achrann, another of the Jewels – a planet devastated by generations of war. In the opening scenes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew episode 4, your ship – the Onyx Cinder – passes through a network of defunct orbital satellites. Interestingly, there is some evidence the same type of satellite network can be found on Attinwith red pinpricks in the sky.
It's not difficult to figure out what these satellites are. The two Old Republic Gems we saw were clearly designed to be identical, and there's no way two planets could be so similar without a certain degree of terraforming and environmental manipulation. Achrann's satellite network is broken, explaining why weather conditions have changed. Finally, after 47 years, Star Wars embraced the idea of terraforming.
There is Star Wars precedent for a network of satellites that manipulate a planet's climate. In fact, in Chuck Wendig's “Aftermath” trilogy, the Empire used it as a weapon when its forces launched attacks on many worlds as part of a brutal strategy called Operation Cinder. Still, we've never seen anything like this on screen before.
Terraforming is the key to understanding the gems of the Old Republic
But is this just a cool detail… or is it actually a really important clue? I think it's a clue that reveals the truth about At Atten and the Jewels of the Old Republic, explaining what they really are. The “Great Works” are traditionally linked to the expansion of the Old Republic, mainly in the High Republic Era, and I think that is what is happening here. The Old Republic sought to create new worlds that would be fundamental to its safe expansion into the Galactic Rim, the Unknown Regions, and Wild Space.
This theory even explains why the Old Republic Jewels were targets of enemies. As seen in Star Wars: The High RepublicPirate groups such as the Nihil opposed the expansion of the Republic and launched devastating attacks. Even a Jedi stronghold known as Starlight Beacon was targeted. Could pirate groups – perhaps even the Nihil – threaten the Jewels of the Old Republic, causing them to form under the cover of scanner-disrupting nebulae?
If so, the Old Republic failed to protect its jewels from pirates. Eight of the worlds fell and the ninth was lost, becoming nothing more than a legend. Isolated from the rest of the galaxy, the people of At Atten continue their Great Work, creating what should be an important center of the galaxy – one that became a legend in the time of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
Set in the Star Wars universe, Skeleton Crew follows four young adventurers as they become lost in the galaxy while searching for their home planet. The series chronicles her exploration and encounters with diverse worlds and characters, presenting themes of friendship, discovery and the search for belonging.