Star Wars: The Bad Batch

[Palanan]

New trailer, for the show absolutely no one asked for.

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And, looks even worse than first expected.

Essentially every 80s cliche you could imagine, together with Hank's energy bow. As wielded by...some weird clone kid? Or something? Who's along for the ride?

And in the grand Star Wars tradition of rehashing minor characters, looks like Zam Wesell is back.

Gah. Just gah.

[Lord Raziere]

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Well at least they are honest about its quality in the title.

but yeah A-Team meets Star Wars I guess. I've never watched any A-Team, I'm pretty sure its before my time, but even I can tell that is what this is.

I guess people are getting more non-jedi Star wars as some people always wanted. hope it doesn't end up being a monkey's paw wish.

[dancrilis]

I don't mind it - I didn't want it and think the overall idea of super clones is daft - but I don't mind it.

Spoiler: In case you haven't watched the trailer

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Tarkin might be a nice addition (unless they mess him up) I quite liked him in Rebels and in Clone Wars, so hopefully he will be done decently.

Think I would prefer if they just worked for him though rather then being rebels themselves - but they likely want the main characters to be 'good guys'.

I will give it a chance anyway - likely much better then 'Resistance' at any rate.

[Peelee]

I don't mind it - I didn't want it and think the overall idea of super clones is daft - but I don't mind it.

I was going to make a joke about how I would like to return it for something else, but I should really have your mentality instead and not rain on the parade of people who are excited for it.

[Mechalich]

I was going to make a joke about how I would like to return it for something else, but I should really have your mentality instead and not rain on the parade of people who are excited for it.

Making a Clone Wars spinoff show is far cheaper than making an all-new original show with completely new animation assets, so I totally understand why they did this. And I also support the approach of having the animators churn out a show that will, at worst, just be harmless fun, while keeping them employed doing Star Wars so they can make a new show with a bigger scope later.

[Trafalgar]

I bet the kid is force sensitive.

[Dire_Flumph]

In the early section, I really got the vibe of Clone Academy Frat boys running pranks on Dean Tarkin (CLOOONE HOOUUUSE!!!!, shakes fist)

Wasn't impressed by the characters in the Season 7 intro, but I'll give this a try. The Republic to Empire era could be an interesting one for stories.

[pendell]

This looks interesting to me... where will it be streaming? Disney Plus, of course. Is it exclusive, or will it be available elsewhere as well?

ETA: Thing is, this looks like it would make a better video game, in the style of Republic Commando, than a TV show.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Trafalgar
I bet the kid is force sensitive.

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Originally Posted by Dire_Flumph
The Republic to Empire era could be an interesting one for stories.

It could indeed, but I have a feeling this won’t be the vehicle for those stories.

And the trailer raises a relevant question:

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When we met the Bad Batch, they were blasting battle droids during the Clone Wars.

Now the Clone Wars are over, but the Bad Batch are apparently still blasting battle droids. So whose droids are they? Why are there still battle droids out there, and why would the Bad Batch be blasting them when they're on the run from the Empire?

[Dire_Flumph]

And the trailer raises a relevant question:

Spoiler

Show

When we met the Bad Batch, they were blasting battle droids during the Clone Wars.

Now the Clone Wars are over, but the Bad Batch are apparently still blasting battle droids. So whose droids are they? Why are there still battle droids out there, and why would the Bad Batch be blasting them when they're on the run from the Empire?

Spoiler: Not the droids you were looking for?

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If you mean the ones at the end, those didn't look like Separatist Droids, or at least not anything I remember seeing in the Clone Wars, so privately owned Droids that weren't shut down by the signal at the end of RotS I assume?

Even so, it wouldn't be unusual. There are precedents for combat droids outside of the Clone Wars. The Remnant had the Dark Trooper program going in the Mandalorian, and I can't imagine that was the Empire's only initiative that involved droids.

[Peelee]

And the trailer raises a relevant question:

Spoiler

Show

When we met the Bad Batch, they were blasting battle droids during the Clone Wars.

Now the Clone Wars are over, but the Bad Batch are apparently still blasting battle droids. So whose droids are they? Why are there still battle droids out there, and why would the Bad Batch be blasting them when they're on the run from the Empire?

I can answer the bolded:

Because it's a show aimed at children so having robots allows characters to actually be shot (said characters, of course, being the robots).

[Dire_Flumph]

I can answer the bolded:

Because it's a show aimed at children so having robots allows characters to actually be shot (said characters, of course, being the robots).

I don't know, while that would have been true in the 80's Ezra Bridger has a higher kill count than a superhero in a Zack Snyder film.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Dire_Flumph
*snip*

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They go through a squad of battle droids at 0:37, and while that might be a flashback, I had the impression that was part of the new storyline.

That said, yes, private security droids are all over the place. At first glance I thought the droids at 1:49 were the Trade Federation's commando droids, but looks like they're a slightly different model.

Although I suppose the battle droids could have been salvaged and reprogrammed, since that happened (though not very smoothly) in Resistance.

Originally Posted by Mechalich
Making a Clone Wars spinoff show is far cheaper than making an all-new original show with completely new animation assets, so I totally understand why they did this.

Cost may have been part of it, but more likely it was the fastest option for getting new Star Wars content out there. It looks like they're reusing the glider-lizards from Season 3 of Clone Wars, so yes, probably a lot of off-the-shelf creatures and droids in there.

Originally Posted by Dire_Flumph
I don't know, while that would have been true in the 80's Ezra Bridger has a higher kill count than a superhero in a PLEASE DON'T IN A STAR WARS THREAD film.

And not just Ezra. I'm remembering a scene at the end of Rebels Season 1 in which the bumbling, lovable Imperial agents are simultaneously decapitated by a red lightsaber, under Tarkin's approving gaze.

To say nothing of the entire Black Sun ruling council being decapitated by a whirling red lightsaber in Clone Wars.

.

[Peelee]

I don't know, while that would have been true in the 80's Ezra Bridger has a higher kill count than a superhero in a Zack Snyder film.

Explosions are nice. You don't need to see any blood.

They wouldn't even let Ezra have a laser gun for a long time (the standard go-to for replacing bullet-guns). He had to used this super weird energy slingshot.

[Mechalich]

Cost may have been part of it, but more likely it was the fastest option for getting new Star Wars content out there. It looks like they're reusing the glider-lizards from Season 3 of Clone Wars, so yes, probably a lot of off-the-shelf creatures and droids in there.

Time is money, especially in animation, so this is basically the same thing. It's worth noting that the Bad Batch specifically, compared to many other TCW characters, benefit from the circa-2019 digital animation technologies used to produce Season 7 and not the now a decade old methods used in the original run of the show.

I hope, very much, that someone at Lucasfilm animation has gone back to the concept art stage for some big new show in a different era that will come out in a couple of years.

And not just Ezra. I'm remembering a scene at the end of Rebels Season 1 in which the bumbling, lovable Imperial agents are simultaneously decapitated by a red lightsaber, under Tarkin's approving gaze.

To say nothing of the entire Black Sun ruling council being decapitated by a whirling red lightsaber in Clone Wars.

They very carefully cut away from that shot so that it is 'heavily implied' that the agents are executed, but not actually shown. Ratings boards are weird and rate specific types of violence in strange ways. Rebels has scene after scene of Zeb smashing Stormtroopers around or cracking their skulls together in moves that would almost certainly result in death a substantial percentage of the time, but this is somehow considered 'less violent' than shooting said troopers with a blaster, which due to their armor might actually be less lethal.

It's important to note that TCW and Rebels had different ratings. Rebels was rated TV-Y7, while TCW was rated TV-PG. The latter is much, much more permissible in the sort of violence that can be shown on screen (especially in terms of fantastical animated violence). The Bad Batch will almost certainly also be TV-PG and therefore much more like TCW than Rebels in terms of how it handles onscreen violence.

Of course, droids remain useful antagonists in animation beyond reasons of ratings because it is expected that they will be identical models and not have complex, difficult-to-animate features like human faces. Animation loves a good faceless horde and Star Wars is a franchise filled with many, one reason it converts well to animated series and video games.

[Fyraltari]

[Trafalgar]

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No!

[AdmiralCheez]

I'm still disappointed that they wasted a good portion of the last season of Clone Wars as a backdoor pilot for this. That said, it does look interesting, and I look forward to more Tarkin. Not sure how I feel about the kid or the fact that they seem to be going rogue/rebel already. Maybe just once they could tell a story about Imperial soldiers that don't end up defecting. It's unlikely, but we'll see.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by AdmiralCheez
I'm still disappointed that they wasted a good portion of the last season of Clone Wars as a backdoor pilot for this.

Gah, yes. And that episode arc was…unexceptional, to say the least, and seemed to spend 95% of its time blasting droids.

Originally Posted by AdmiralCheez
Maybe just once they could tell a story about Imperial soldiers that don't end up defecting.

That’s a much harder sell, because dedicated Imperial soldiers are onboard with brutal repression and genocide.

[AdmiralCheez]

Gah, yes. And that episode arc was…unexceptional, to say the least, and seemed to spend 95% of its time blasting droids.

That overly elaborate rescue mission was a one episode story. Maybe two. Definitely not worthy of four episodes of a 12 episode special final season.

That’s a much harder sell, because dedicated Imperial soldiers are onboard with brutal repression and genocide.

Yeah, that's why I said it was unlikely, especially for a Disney-backed animated series. I guess that's a concept for the fan films to tackle.

[Hopeless]

The more I watch this the more I wish they had started introducing regular stormtroopers, which should have been the case.
Have these aging clones being left stranded out in the field and assumed killed in action with no idea about Order 66.
So they return only to discover the Republic has become the Empire and they've become the enemy they had been fighting.
That would explain why they eventually go rogue as Rex reaches them before their inhibitor chip was activated thus they remain free of Imperial control.
Thus whilst Rex remained undiscovered the Bad Batch ends up becoming Public Enemy no 1 as they attempt to flee their former commanders and try to rebuild their lives but their inherent qualities that made them a great team inevitably brings them to the attention of the Empire maybe resulting in their own final battle?

[Darth Credence]

I think it looks great. I know a large number of kids that are really looking forward to it, so the idea that no one asked for it is just wrong.

Zam Wessel is not back, she's dead. If you are referring to the woman with a veil covering the lower half of her face, that's clearly Ming Na Wen's voice, so the character is Fennic Shand.

[pendell]

I was going to make a joke about how I would like to return it for something else, but I should really have your mentality instead and not rain on the parade of people who are excited for it.

What is the Star Wars show you would ask for, if I may ask?

If I had my druthers, I'd want a show demonstrating Talon Karrde and Mara Jade's adventures prior to the events of the Zahn Trilogy.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Fyraltari]

What is the Star Wars show you would ask for, if I may ask?

Darth Bane.

[Dire_Flumph]

What is the Star Wars show you would ask for, if I may ask?

Wraith Squadron

[Peelee]

Wraith Squadron

Dinner Squadron.

[Dire_Flumph]

Dinner Squadron.

Yub, Yub commander

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Darth Credence
Zam Wessel is not back, she's dead.

Didn’t think about the timeline, but clearly you’re right here. It was the falling from the airspeeder that put me in mind of her.

Originally Posted by pendell
What is the Star Wars show you would ask for, if I may ask?

You may indeed. I’d be happy with just about anything that gets us out of the very narrow fifty-year window between Phantom Menace and Rise of Skywalker.

But my absolute dream would be a show that gives us the earliest origins of the Jedi and Sith, going back 25,000 years or whenever the early Force-users began to develop their philosophies. I know virtually nothing about that period, and would love to see it explored in depth.

I’d been dreaming of seeing this in big-screen trilogy format, but a series on Disney+ would work just as well, if not better. It gives us the chance for entirely new characters that hopefully have no relation to anyone living between 20 BBY and 30 ABY.

New aliens, new droids, new leads, the dawn of the Republic and the dawn of the Jedi. If done right, it would open up a whole new era in all respects, from visual style to characters and themes. I would want the series to really explore the early Force-users, perhaps show us a whole range of practices and philosophies, and give us a sense of how those differing beliefs interacted with each other and with galactic politics to eventually produce the Jedi Order and their Sith opponents.

That’s my dream show. But as long as I’m dreaming, I’d like a pony.

[Peelee]

You may indeed. I’d be happy with just about anything that gets us out of the very narrow fifty-year window between Phantom Menace and Rise of Skywalker.

[Michael Scott thank you gif]

[Aeson]

Dinner Squadron.

Don't forget Silly Squadron.