Skeleton Crew - Episode 4 - Episode Discussion

[abstract blade]

Episode 4: Can't Say I Remember No At Attin
Aired: December 17, 2024 or <t:1734487200:R>

Synopsis: Our heroes face a surprise in a familiar setting.

Created by: Christopher Ford, Jon Watts
Directed by: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Written by: Christopher Ford, Jon Watts

What did you think!?

[gusty raft]

My wife would leave me to give Neel a hug.

[lime moon]

and you would be honored if she does

[wild mason]

So, what does the fact that at least two of the "jewels" were established using an identical template mean?

[abstract blade]

It means that it's highly likely that one of the seven other jewels has a similar tower with similar astrogation coordinates. Beyond that immediate plot point... beats me.

[gusty raft]

Yeah my assumption as soon as I saw the destroyed number is that they'll have to try at least one of the others, maybe a couple more given where we are in the season, maybe learning more about whatever their deal was in the process.

[abstract blade]

That ||giant laser cannon on top of the school|| is likely going to come back in play again. Maybe not that exact one, but if ||all the "jewel" planets have similar buildings...||

[gusty raft]

Chekov's Turbolaser.

And yeah I expect it to be the At-Attin one, though it could be one of the others.

[wild mason]

My guess is that this mysterious captain has taken over command of At Attin

What's interesting is that apart from the isolation, the Jewels seem to have made no attempt to alter their culture -- presumably there haven't been any Jedi around those worlds for a while, but stories of them clearly persist without attempts of censorship

[gusty raft]

Ah, I did speculate early on that whatever the "treasure" is somebody was still profiting from it all these years later and that's why the status quo was still being maintained there. The captain is a good suspect for that.

[wild mason]

Whatever the project it, its huge and obviously predates the rise of the empire era, likely dating from the end of he high republic era.

Wiping the existence of those planets from the majority of astral databases, including the jedi temples, would have been a significant undertaking

But the extreme physical similarity to the physical infrastructure... beyond the capital savings such a kit build would represent, the repetition may itself be in some fashion significant to the Great Undertaking

[ripe vessel]

The jewels are giving me Fallout Vault vibes

[cold stratus]

I wouldn't be surprised if the "Great Treasure" turns out to be 'peace'.

"Oh just shoot me now" made me laugh a lot harder than it should have done.

[lime moon]

planets full of people calculating peace, sort of like psychohistory?

[cold stratus]

Maybe. I wasn't thinking that deep. I do wonder if perhaps the analysts stuff is just 'busy work' to keep the population docile and content.

I was thinking more they're all deliberately isolated planets that have been untouched by the last century or so of absolute chaos the rest of the Galaxy saw.

[wild mason]

Those security droids give me a certain secret AI overmind vibe

[digital heart]

Yeah I was wondering this as well. "Okay let's calculate some exchanges by morphing the matrix into the discombobulator and outputting the transverse rate of oscillation, got it?"

"Sure ummm, what's all this do?"

"Oh don't you worry about that it's all part of the Great Work"

[slender ingot]

Loving the teamwork dynamic evolving here

It's a joy to watch

[digital heart]

...Either that or it's all a complex pump and dump Ponzi scheme that feeds into some warlord's coffers.

"I don't know where this comes from but it makes me rich so I don't ask questions."

[cold stratus]

Obligatory feed in to Project Necromancer?

[digital heart]

"A long time ago in a galaxy far away, we mined crypto by hand"

[wild mason]

Nah, this is way before necromancer. The Jewels were lost into legend a long time before the rise of the empire, and P:N is very specifically a Palpy thing

[hollow ore]

Also, the show so far doesn't feel like part of the "everything must be connected to everything else" dynamic.

[abstract blade]

Yeah, I hope that continues to hold and we don't see any cameos here.

[hollow ore]

I was already pleasantly surprised the X-Wing pilot was not "Trapper Wolf" again.

(And used ion cannons and restraint on the ship with the kids aboard despite being fired upon.)

[abstract blade]

Makes sense that the X-Wing pilots are now filling a quasi law enforcement role.

[hollow ore]

One thing I'm wondering about is the timeline here. When do we believe 33's captain was active?

[gusty raft]

That's still one of the big questions. Could have been a long time ago back around when the planet was first hidden, I think it's more likely to be more recent than that, still pre-Empire but 50-100 years or something. Could be anywhere in between, though.

[lime moon]

Just noticed that the show is all-in on the holidays release schedule. Episodes on the 24th and the 31st this year, and January 7th next year.

[lime moon]

this is more about Mando than this show, but it's hilarious to me that "x-wing pilot" went from a fantasy of freedom (Luke flying off with R2 to find his destiny) to being violent traffic cops

[cold stratus]

While I get what you're saying, I don't think there's been a Star Wars show that hasn't somehow been 'connected' in some way or other in that manner.

[lime moon]

A lot depends on how elegantly it's done. Andor, despite being a prequel to a prequel, doesn't feel like the kind of "crossover cameo" that's so prevalent in the DC/Marvel movies, for example.

But Ahsoka popping up in Mando s2 and asking about Thrawn? Super jarring.

[cold stratus]

My initial loose musing was less about potential cameo territory, more about somehow the plot feeding in some way into the Skywalker saga.

But yes. I think it probably helps in Andor that those cameo characters had their own story on the go, and plenty of time to breathe

[lime moon]

Book of Fett doesn't try to setup/explain/justify saga stuff, IIRC

Of course it's centered around a minor character from the OT, but it doesn't have that feel of late Mando where so much time was spent on obliquely connecting to the sequels.

[cold stratus]

It did however continue to build the Grogu plot thread up, and show us the school being built

A lot of the time when they do this in my opinion it tends not to explain in detail what's going on, just provides enough flavour to make it feel connected

I'm probably using the wrong word when I say Plot (which is really about the kids getting home and their relationship with Jude Law), but I won't be surprised if the mystery of Ad Attin somehow is what connects the show to the wider universe.

[lime moon]

haha true about the school stuff, I hadn't considered that because it's so obviously shoehorned into the show that it feels like its own thing

What doesn't connect to the wider universe? You'd have to throw out anything that's star wars to get away from any of that.

[cold stratus]

There are ways it can connect to the wider universe, it's just everything thus far seems to buy in specifically in some way to the Skywalker Saga.

Using my two random musings, it's the difference between 'The Senate isolated these planets to prove peace could work' or some such nonsense, vs one where the Ad Attin is reconnected with the wider Galaxy and has abandoned the 'great work', leading to an end scene of one of the Imperial Shadow Council referring to how it didn't matter, as they'd got the data they needed for project Necromancer.

[wild mason]

Well, long enough for the body pinned to the wall to decay past putrescence and mummify

[hollow ore]

yeah - anyone with enough biology knowledge around to say how long that would take for bodies exposed to a presumably dry climate?