Tom Holland “Spider-Man” trilogy director Jon Watts has been busy working in a galaxy far, far away. He recently did an interview, and let some details for the upcoming “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” show slip. Watts said this is not just an all new show with all new tech. It will instead mix and match with tried and true methods. This means using motion capture along with stop-motion, and more old-school tactics.
“I got to use all the cool stuff on my most recent Star Wars show. We had pre-viz, MOCAP, we shot on the volume, we did everything,” Watts told Collider. “But the most fun part was we also used all the old school techniques as well. We got Phil Tippett to do stop-motion. We did matte paintings, like real old-fashioned matte paintings. We got an ILM painter out of retirement to come out and do that. So to me, all that stuff is fun, but it’s just another tool, and it depends on how you use it.”
Bringing Tippett once again into the “Star Wars“ universe is a great way to connect the current shows to the franchise’s history. A titan in the realm of stop-motion animation, Tippett has made pioneering contributions to the field of early visual effects. His work left a mark on the original “Star Wars” trilogy, particularly through his innovative development of motion control technology. This technology was instrumental in animating the lifelike movements of the AT-AT walkers in “The Empire Strikes Back.” He and his team were responsible for many of the effects in the modern ‘Wars series “The Mandalorian,” and “Book of Boba Fett.”
What’s more is that you don’t need to be familiar at all with the “Star Wars” universe to dive into “Skeleton Crew”. It’s an entirely new story set in that world it’s going to be a great jumping off point for many young Jedi. A new synopsis does sound strangely like “Star Trek: Prodigy,” though. “In the first episode of the series, we meet four children who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet and become lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy.”
For people who watched the original movies, back before the special editions, this is pretty exciting news. I for one really loved the puppetry and stop motion. Now with Tippett returning, I have even more reason to tune in.
“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” is scheduled to launch on Disney+ later this year.
