'Skeleton Crew' Breakdown: Similarities Between The Series And 'Treasure Island'
Image Source: Simon and Schuster
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has a wealth of inspirations connected to it. We already discussed the elements of real-world history that influenced the story and its characters, but now we’ll focus on the other pieces of fiction that influenced the series. Today we’ll be focusing on one of the most well-known and impactful pirate adventure novels ever, Treasure Island, and see how its characters and the novel’s plot could have played a role in the development of this series.
The Characters
Right off the bat, there are not many direct character connections between Skeleton Crew and Treasure Island. Skeleton Crew has many more female characters, for one, and beyond the dominance of pirates in both narratives, there are no easy one-to-one connections to be made. But the two that do exist are incredibly strong. First, we have the links between Wim and Jim Hawkins, and then those between Jod, who goes by Captain Silvo, and Long John Silver. Starting with Wim and Jim, both names sound the same, both are young, both are brave, and both also have an impulsive streak. They also both come from single-parent households, though in the case of Jim, the death of his father is early into the novel. We could suggest that maybe Wim’s mother only recently passed away, but with no suggestion of a timeline there, that particular link is stretched.
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Image Source: StarWars.com
Jod as Captain Silvo and Long John Silver though, have many equally strong connections. Both names sound similar (much like Jim and Wim), both are deceitful pirates questing after treasure, and both have a ruthless side they show off as they need to so they can get the job done, but both also have a bond with their respective ward. Other details between Silvo and Silver will be explored in the discussion of the plot, but the bond between Jim and Silver is something worth highlighting as it relates to Wim and Jod.
The two share a moment, Jod giving some bad though honest advice regarding family and attachments, and even after everything that happens in the second half of the season, Wim still cries out for Jod in The Supervisor Tower’s elevator while Jod stays behind. Their parting, and for right now, its lack of conclusion, is also something mirrored in Treasure Island. Silver gets away with some of the treasure, and vanishes, and while Jod is unlikely to vanish from the Mandoverse, he might just escape justice, and with some of those shiny At Attin dataries wherever we catch up with him next.
The Plotlines
Image Source: StarWars.com
The plots of each story share some notable crossover elements. The biggest is the core premise, that a group of pirates is hunting down a treasure connected with a legendary pirate of the past. While we don’t know the timeline for when Tak Rennod set out, it is likely older than that of Captain Flint in Treasure Island. The treasure also doesn’t belong to Tak Rennod as it does to Flint, but they still each have a hand in leaving behind clues to its location.
Other points of the plot crossover as well. The idea of mutiny, while executed differently in each story, is still prominent in both stories. In Skeleton Crew, Silvo is ousted and then ousts Brutus in return while Long John Silver's mutiny against the non-pirate crew keeps him on top for the second half of the story, before there is a threat of further mutiny at the end of the story. On that theme, the lack of treasure at key moments ties both stories together. In Treasure Island, when the pirates, Silver, and Jim have all found what appears to be Captain Flint’s treasure, it is empty. Turning against their captain, the group is soon defeated when Jim’s allies emerge to rescue him. Meanwhile, in Skeleton Crew, we see Jod’s command fracture at the very start of the series because of the lack of riches in the freighter’s cargo bay, and we later see the constant threat of the lack of treasure play upon Jod’s life.
Treasure Planet
Image Source: IMDb
Strangely though, it is one of the less prominent adaptations of Treasure Island that Skeleton Crew appears to be drawing from though the reason for this may be accidental due to the nature of the adaptation. Treasure Planet, an animated Disney film released in 2002, brings the world of Treasure Island into a science fiction setting and has several parallels to Skeleton Crew. Both pieces of media have a droid that struggles with memory issues and was part of the now-dead pirate captain’s crew, B.E.N. in Treasure Planet, and SM-33 in Skeleton Crew.
Both also feature the idea of a lost or hidden world of ancient wonder possessing great riches, though At Attin’s history does not currently feature any hints toward some kind of precursor history on its world many years before the Republic-era settlement. The last notable connective tissue involves the characters of Jim Hawkins and Wim having father-based issues drawn from similar sentiments of abandonment. For Jim, it is because his father abandoned the family when he was a kid, while for Wim, it is the sense of abandonment at a father who is too busy and leaves him alone in an empty, dark house most nights. Both struggle because of these problems, and both find some degree of respite in the presence of Silver and Jod.
Conclusion
Image Source: StarWars.com
The links we’ve outlined today between Treasure Island and Skeleton Crew are a result of how iconic that novel became in the years after its publication. It helped define the image of pirates in the eyes of many for decades, and that influence has made its way into countless other books, comics, and more in the modern age. Treasure Planet, as an adaptation of the original, also influencing Skeleton Crew is also quite fascinating, and we hope readers enjoyed this look at the interplay between each of these stories and the marvelous end product of a truly spectacular show.
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Source(s): Skeleton Crew, Treasure Island, Treasure Planet
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