Skeleton Crew’s Giant Crab Monster Was a Practical Model Packed With Star Wars Easter Eggs

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The latest episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is noteworthy for many reasons. The characters escaped the planet Lanupa. We saw a frank, heartfelt discussion about disability. It was directed by rising Star Wars superstar Bryce Dallas Howard. And, of course, there was a giant trash monster ready to eat our heroes.

That last part is not just super freaking cool, it’s super freaking real. Lucasfilm just released an excellent behind-the-scenes clip from the episode revealing the creature, named “Tet’niss” for all its sharp objects, was created and controlled by the team at Tippett Studios, founded by Phil Tippett. You know, the legendary team behind other Star Wars stop-motion moments like Empire Strikes Back‘s AT-ATs and Return of the Jedi’s Rancor. On its own, that would be noteworthy, but Tet’niss—which is referred to simply as “Monster Trash Crab” in marketing materials—has some very cool Star Wars Easter eggs too. Here’s the video.

The official Star Wars website has a great article with even more details. “If you look closely at the junk on his back, it’s not just random parts,” art director and fabrication supervisor Mark Dubeau told the site. “There’s pieces of the Millennium Falcon in there. There’s pieces of an Imperial Walker. There [are] droids stuck in there! I just wanted to make it look as bizarre as humanly possible.”

However, series production designer (and fellow Star Wars legend) Doug Chiang also told Dubeau not to go overboard. So while, yes, there are astromechs and protocol droids in there, they were put in carefully. “Doug was very specific,” Dubeau said. “He didn’t want it to look like there was an X-wing sticking out of it. So, it’s very well disguised.”

So well disguised in fact that you probably can’t even see it on TV. But it’s there. It’s in the DNA. And that’s what matters. Oh, and you can also just head over to the Star Wars website to see a few more close-ups.

The sixth episode of Skeleton Crew is now streaming on Disney+.

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