SM-33

SM-33, called Thirty-Three by the children of At Attin, is the battered first mate and shipboard droid of the Onyx Cinder. He has served several captains, including the legendary pirate Tak Rennod, and his surviving memories conceal information that other characters desperately want. In Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, his loyalty to a captain can protect the children one moment and place them in danger the next.

His enormous, damaged body and blunt manner give him the appearance of an intimidating pirate, but his importance lies in the ship's history, the rules governing his command, and the practical work of getting an inexperienced crew through unfamiliar parts of the galaxy.

An old pirate ship and a first mate with history

The Onyx Cinder lies buried on At Attin long before Wim, Fern, KB, and Neel discover it. To the children it first looks like an abandoned vessel and a chance for adventure. The machinery instead carries them beyond the planetary Barrier, revealing that their sheltered home is only one part of a much larger galaxy. SM-33 is among the objects and systems the ship has preserved from its earlier voyages.

Unlike a newly manufactured assistant, SM-33 has a visibly worn body and an uncertain personal history. His equipment is functional enough to guard the ship and help operate it, yet age and past damage affect what he remembers. That tension is important because people treat him as a source of information about the Cinder even when his own access to that information is limited.

Captain Tak Rennod and the old pirate command

SM-33 previously served Captain Tak Rennod, a notorious pirate associated with the Onyx Cinder. Stories of the captain become part of the crew's search for At Attin because Rennod knew how to reach the hidden planet and hid records of its coordinates. SM-33's remembered orders are therefore connected to the same treasure hunt that attracts Jod and other pirates.

The droid's loyalty is defined through the office of captain. It does not work like a friendship that necessarily follows the person with whom he has spent the most time. Whoever legitimately holds command aboard the ship can direct him, while instructions left by an earlier captain may continue to shape his behavior. This makes him useful but also leaves the children vulnerable when another adult challenges their authority.

Fern becomes captain

Fern asserts command when the children first explore the abandoned ship. SM-33 accepts her position, giving the young crew a degree of practical authority over equipment they barely understand. Fern's confidence is helpful because someone must make decisions, but issuing orders to a large, armored pirate droid can also give a child the misleading impression that every consequence is under control.

Fern's developing leadership depends on listening to Wim, KB, and Neel as well as commanding SM-33. The droid follows an operational hierarchy while the children learn a more collaborative kind of responsibility. When circumstances change, they discover that possession of a title is not the same as understanding the ship's full history or the obligations that travel with it.

Starport Borgo and the trouble outside At Attin

The Onyx Cinder brings the children to Starport Borgo, where they become targets for pirates and other opportunists. SM-33's familiarity with pirate customs does not make the group safe. They have entered a setting where the old money they carry is exceptionally valuable, adults often conceal their intentions, and a group of children has little standing to demand assistance.

Thirty-Three's presence gives them protection and technical help, but he cannot independently solve every political and social danger. The children end up imprisoned and must escape with the help of Jod Na Nawood. SM-33's continued place in the group makes the shipboard command relationship important in later confrontations with Jod.

Lost coordinates and a dangerous memory override

When the crew seeks the coordinates of At Attin on the war-torn world of At Achrann, SM-33's incomplete memory becomes a central obstacle. Fern attempts a memory override in the hope of discovering information that was deliberately concealed. Instead the procedure activates instructions from his previous captain and sends the droid into a violent response to the mention of At Attin.

Jod and Neel help stop the attack. The incident illustrates a practical distinction between access to a droid's memory and control over what that memory will cause. Data can carry commands and restrictions as well as useful information. When the children try to retrieve a location, they encounter an earlier owner's attempt to determine who may learn it.

The secret lair beneath Lanupa

The crew eventually travels to Lanupa, where Rennod's hidden records lie beneath a former pirate fortress now repurposed into an expensive spa. The children must navigate a guarded social environment, avoid people who recognize Jod, and find the route to information that can bring them home.

SM-33 is fitted with a restraining bolt during the visit, making his already contested autonomy more precarious. The device permits others to impose obedience without relying on Fern's captaincy. The fact that a single piece of hardware can reassign control highlights how pirate culture combines informal promises with the direct material capacity to compel a machine's actions.

Jod seizes the title of captain

In Rennod's lair, the party learns that At Attin contains the last Old Republic Mint. Jod immediately turns against the children and challenges Fern for the position of captain. Under threat, she yields. SM-33 then becomes subject to Jod's orders, despite having traveled with Fern and the others for much of the adventure.

This reversal gives the droid's rules concrete stakes. His connection to the children has become familiar and even affectionate in places, but it cannot automatically override the command system through which he understands his duties. Jod uses the symbols and procedures of legitimate shipboard leadership as a tool for betraying people who placed their trust in him.

A return through the Barrier and a broken body

The Onyx Cinder is essential to returning to At Attin because it carries the means to navigate the Barrier protecting the planet. Fern and the others try to regain control and return to their families, but Jod stows away. When the ship reaches At Attin, he uses a lightsaber to sever SM-33's head and subdue the children.

The damage interrupts the droid's ordinary work, but it is not the end of his participation in the story. KB later activates what remains of his systems and uses his assistance to fly toward outside help. His mechanical survival depends on maintenance and cooperation, showing that a damaged machine can retain significant value when someone knows how to use and repair it.

Snowball and the unexpected inhabitants of a machine

A small creature nicknamed Snowball lives inside SM-33's machinery. The detail gives the pirate droid a distinctive presence beyond his metallic shell and threatening voice. A machine that serves as workplace, archive, and guard post can also provide shelter for another living being, although that arrangement is hardly what its manufacturers intended.

Snowball becomes part of how the children recognize and remember Thirty-Three. The connection is not evidence that the droid has a conventional biological household. It does show how continued use, damage, and shared travel can produce relationships around equipment that its original design never anticipated.

Repairs, old orders, and the material record

SM-33's tall frame, weathered armor, uneven memory, and damaged internal systems make his earlier service visible. He carries traces of past voyages on a ship that has been transformed from pirate vessel into the children's means of returning home. These marks should not be treated as interchangeable signs of age: one type of damage affects movement, another memory, and another the power other people can exercise over him.

His repaired body also demonstrates how a crew depends on technical labor. Piloting, navigation, and security are not accomplished by the captain's commands alone. The vessel must be maintained, sensors read, systems activated, and damaged parts kept working. Without that largely uncelebrated work, neither pirates nor children could make the journey.

Anthropological assessment: command, memory, and personhood

SM-33's story is a specific study of authority over a droid rather than an abstract argument about all machines. His rules require loyalty to a recognized captain; his memories preserve dangerous orders from an earlier one; and a restraining bolt can place him under external control. These mechanisms shape when he protects the children and when he becomes a threat.

His participation nevertheless has a social history. The children call him Thirty-Three, rely on his skills, and continue to use his help after his body is damaged. The Onyx Cinder's command hierarchy does not capture every aspect of those relationships. SM-33's value to the crew rests partly on machinery and partly on the trust, routines, and shared danger through which he becomes recognizable as their companion.

Lucasfilm Databank: SM-33 · Jod Na Nawood · Skeleton Crew

Collector note: SM-33 is a distinctive droid subject for collectors because of the pirate design, damaged construction, and Nick Frost’s voice performance. Cards or images showing the Onyx Cinder help place the character in context.