After 47 years, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
has subtly embraced one of the coolest ideas in science-fiction. Mark Hamill recently described Star Wars as a fairy tale dressed up as science-fiction, and he’s right; it’s a story of space wizards and smugglers, with a dash of hyperspace travel and planet-destroying superweapons. Skeleton Crew, the latest live-action Star Wars TV show, revels in this.
Skeleton Crew is unlike any of Lucasfilm’s other shows. It’s the perfect Christmas fare, a story in which a group of kids get stranded in the wider Star Wars galaxy and must figure out how to get home. Surprisingly, though, it also imports some pretty cool “hard” sci-fi ideas – although it does so in a subtle way that’s easy to miss.
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At Achrann Proved The Environment On The Jewels Of The Old Republic Is Artificial
The kids in Skeleton Crew hail from At Attin, one of the lost “Jewels of the Old Republic.” They’re attempting to get back home, but instead find their way to At Achrann, another of the Jewels – a planet ravaged by generations of war. In the opening scenes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew episode 4, their ship – the Onyx Cinder – flies past a network of defunct orbital satellites. Intriguingly, there’s some evidence the same kind of satellite network can be found at At Attin, with red pinpricks in the sky.
It’s not hard to figure out what these satellites are. The two Jewels of the Old Republic we’ve seen were clearly designed to be identical, and there’s no way two planets could be so similar without a degree of terraforming and environmental manipulation. At Achrann’s satellite network is broken, explaining why the weather conditions there have changed. Finally, after 47 years, Star Wars has embraced the idea of terraforming.
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There is Star Wars precedent for a network of satellites that manipulate a planet’s weather. In fact, in Chuck Wendig’s “Aftermath” trilogy, the Empire weaponized this when their 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 Jewels 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 unlocks the truth about At Atten and the Jewels of the Old Republic, explaining what they really are. The “Great Works” are traditionally tied to the expansion of the Old Republic, most notably in the High Republic Era, and I think that’s what is going on here. The Old Republic sought to create new worlds that would be key to its secure expansion into the Galactic Rim, the Unknown Regions, and Wild Space.
This theory even explains why the Jewels of the Old Republic were targets for enemies. As seen in Star Wars: The High Republic, pirate groups such as the Nihil objected to the Republic’s expansion, and launched devastating attacks. Even a Jedi stronghold known as Starlight Beacon was targeted. Did pirate groups – perhaps even the Nihil – threaten the Jewels of the Old Republic, leading to their being fashioned under the cover of nebulas that disrupt scanners?
If so, the Old Republic failed to protect their Jewels from the pirates. Eight of the worlds fell, and the ninth was lost, becoming nothing more than a legend. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy, the people of At Atten continue their Great Work, fashioning what was supposed to be a major hub of the galaxy – one that has drifted into legend by 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 their exploration and encounters with diverse worlds and characters, presenting themes of friendship, discovery, and the quest for belonging.
