Amid the thrills and adventure of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’s exciting first episode, one scene summoned a deep-seated memory among some Star Wars fans, a memory that beckons from a very long time ago and far, far away.
When Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) finds Neel’s (Robert Timothy Smith) siblings sitting around their home’s holo-table, viewers might recognize the flamboyantly-dressed performers in the holographic circus troupe, and perhaps the music that accompanies their dancing, juggling, and tumbling act. Yes, this is the same holographic circus performance seen in 1978’s The Star Wars Holiday Special.
The circus hologram — used as a playful pastime for youngsters in the Holiday Special — serves the same purpose in Skeleton Crew, and was painstakingly recreated from the 1978 original. The obscure inclusion became a bit of a passion project for show creators Jon Watts and Chris Ford.
“I was worried at some point that we were going to get a call that you can’t do that, but everyone was into it,” says Watts. “I was really surprised.”
The Holiday Special circus scene is a deep cut, to be sure, but one that both Watts and Ford found endearing and perfectly suited to Skeleton Crew’s adventurous spirit and allure of the unknown.
“For me, it’s this thematic thing for the show because for us as kids, we grew up with a certain amount of Star Wars, but you always wanted to know more. You always wanted to find out stuff,” says Ford, referring to the obscure nature of the 1978 televised special. “And so that’s the feeling our characters have going into the Star Wars universe. It fits.”
While Watts and Ford hoped they could simply use the hologram elements from the 1978 original, they quickly discovered that wouldn’t be an option.
“It was shot such a long time ago and the angles were all wrong,” explains Watts. “So we went and got the original wardrobe sketches and rebuilt all of the costumes from scratch.”
“The amazing thing about recreating that moment was how much work it took,” adds Ford.
The costumes, originally created by fashion designer Bob Mackie, were reconstructed down to the finest detail by Skeleton Crew costume designer Louise Mingenbach using reference material found at Skywalker Ranch.
Getting the costumes made was just part the battle, however, since both the performances of the players as well as the music would have to be matched.
“Our stunt coordinator [Colin Follenweider] had been in Cirque du Soleil for many years, so he’s the lead dancer,” says Watts. “We gave him all the old footage and it was his job to get a troupe of dancers together, re-choreograph it, and try to recreate it.”
Along with stunt coordinator Colin Follenweider’s green ringleader character, stunt performers Jack Kalvan, Elizabeth Carpenter, and Chris Silcox rounded out the orange juggler and red tumblers troupe. Their choreographed performance required multiple takes to capture the various perspectives atop the holo-table shot inside Neel’s house.
Finally, the music from the original performance needed to be recreated from scratch as well, since no copy of the original recording could be found in a quality high enough or a length long enough. No written records could be located either.
“We couldn’t find a copy of the written score so we had to give it to our composer [Mick Giacchino], who then had to transcribe it, figure out what instruments they were playing, and then re-record that,” explains Watts.
“And then we also did that with a full orchestra,” adds Ford, who found the contrast between Giacchino’s symphonic score and the tinny circus music amusing. “I think the musicians got a kick out of it.”
In the end, both filmmakers felt the scene delightfully adds to the texture and tone of Skeleton Crew, and are glad to give a loving nod to the obscure 46-year-old scene that inspired it.
“It made me so happy every time I would get to see that footage,” says Watts of the Skeleton Crew remake. “It was a labor of love.”
All episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew are now streaming, only on Disney+.
