The Star Wars Thread

[Julius]

Just finished Episode 12 of The Bad Batch. Show just keeps getting better and better! 

Spoiler

• music in this episode was great. The makeshift, post-Clone Wars Imperial theme that we heard at the start as Rampart walked over to the cell was very pompous and sinister, I'm sure we've heard it before but I don't think it was this explicitly highlighted. And the Clone theme from TCW being subverted gave me chills. Ominous music at the end when Crosshair gets his permission, too.  

• yeah, that last scene when Hera leaves Omega for whatever reason - probably the music and just how well the dialogue was written - definitely had my eyes going a bit cloudy, even more so when Hera says how lucky Omega is to have brothers when you remember Thrawn deduced that she had one who died tragically young too, she's seen a lot.

• The dialogue in this episode was fantastic, some great lines. Favourite was probably. "I have seen how you treat your allies, Admiral. I prefer to be your enemy." Probably followed by Tech's remark that "Yes, your dangerous and uncontrolled maneuvering is as confusing to them as it is to us."  

• Howzer, awesome guy. I love that we're getting more hints of a potential Kamino Uprising (!), and having a "reg" choose to fight against the Empire and get his brothers to walk away with him was great. Definitely feels like foreshadowing, like a smaller incident you'd read in a Wikipedia article that hinted at a larger upcoming conflict in real life. Thought he was going to die when we saw Crosshair looking at him from a distance, but thankfully not! 

• Chopper's karate chop stun had me laughing  and the way he just barges that stunned astromech out of the way too  

• man, the animation in this show has been great, particularly in the environmental shots, but the look of being conflicted and torn up inside by Crosshair at the end...they've made leaps and bounds with how well these animated characters emote over the last decade or so. There's this dry smirk but then you can just see how his face almost quivers, very powerful stuff.  

• Omega made this episode for me. Not that I disliked her in earlier episodes, but her earnestness and kindness just shone through. I think it's just as important that we have fierce female warriors as it is caring and genuine ones, it's just great to see.  

Don't think it's much of a surprise that our first multi-episode arc since the start of the show is a great one. Rebels had some great arcs, but The Clone Wars in particular really had a chance to shine through them. Fingers crossed things start ramping up now towards the finale! 

[Happenstance]

Started buying some of the old Legends Star Wars comics that Marvel have been re-releasing in their Epic Collections and have been enjoying them so far. There are a few different lines but some are out of print so I’ve been focusing on the ones I can hopefully get full runs of. At the moment that’s The Empire and The New Republic stuff.

I do own some of the canon comics as well digitally but I’m holding off buying those again physically to continue the story until they release some bigger editions. There’s too many volumes at the moment.

[Ronnie]

Spoiler

1 hour ago, Julius said:

• The dialogue in this episode was fantastic, some great lines. Favourite was probably. "I have seen how you treat your allies, Admiral. I prefer to be your enemy." Probably followed by Tech's remark that "Yes, your dangerous and uncontrolled maneuvering is as confusing to them as it is to us."  

My two favourite lines as well.

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Thought he was going to die when we saw Crosshair looking at him from a distance, but thankfully not! 

I thought Crosshair was going to take him out. I need to rewatch the episode because I didn't notice much conflict in him, even if it was subtle.

1 hour ago, Julius said:

and the way he just barges that stunned astromech out of the way too

The Rebels vibes was strong there 

Looking forward to the (2 part?) season finale.

EDIT: Never mind, there are 4 eps left, d'oh!

Edited July 17, 2021 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

Another top notch Bad Batch episode. Well I really loved it, I suspect the internet will just call it 'filler', but I had a great time. Sid is brilliant, love her 

The Batch themselves continue to endear themselves. Well except Echo 

I think a lot of people have been proven wrong about this show, myself included. When it was first announced I was like meh, but it's definitely a quality show, even just a dozen episodes in.

[Ronnie]

The guy behind the video...

has been hired by ILM/Lucasfilm as a Senior Facial Capture artist!

Well done him!

[Julius]

Another good episode this week, but the writing and depth of the writing has definitely started getting a bit shaky as we head towards the final few episodes, as there are definitely some episodes, like this one, where there isn't a "moral" or something to take away that we haven't already seen up to this point, it doesn't exactly drive the story forwards, and for me if you miss those, it's about getting among the weeds and focusing in on a particular character/way of life, but that doesn't exactly happen in this episode either. So it was a bit of a letdown for me, though at least we're starting to get hints at what we might see in a hypothetical season 2. 

20 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Another top notch Bad Batch episode. Well I really loved it, I suspect the internet will just call it 'filler', but I had a great time. Sid is brilliant, love her 

The Batch themselves continue to endear themselves. Well except Echo 

I think a lot of people have been proven wrong about this show, myself included. When it was first announced I was like meh, but it's definitely a quality show, even just a dozen episodes in.

See, based on what I think this episode doesn't do that I mentioned above, I do think that it could be considered "filler", but I think the problem is that there's a negative connotation around calling something "filler" that seems a little too harsh. It's not a bad episode, just nothing beyond a hint of a certain group turning up next season really happens here. 

I think of The Passenger from Mando and I think people are missing the point of the episode when they call that "filler", truth is that they were annoyed it didn't carry on the story as directly as the first episode of the season, which makes sense anyways because it was about setting up the conflict. It still managed to do one of the three things I think you would need to do to not be filler: it was a character-centric episode which focused on growth and interaction. 

But I just didn't see that in this episode of The Bad Batch, and I think for me it's a bit different at this point in the season too just because I've been expecting things to start ramping up for weeks now towards a final arc, especially with how great the preceding two episodes were. In the pacing of the overall season I think it just gets in the way and slows things down, again when we really should be starting to pick things back up, and it's not like we haven't had pretty similar episodes in structure/events/morals already this season. I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it if I didn't know that the team behind this show is capable of infinitely more, and I'm personally just a bit disappointed as it feels like we've already had episodes like this where there's nothing really gained from the episode other than it raising the episode count. 

On the whole I've been pleasantly surprised by The Bad Batch so far, I'm holding off on further judgment until this season is over as I'm waiting to see how/if they stick the landing here. While I have enjoyed it, thinking back to the first arc of the season, I think what I really want to see from this team is not necessarily the number of shows that they're working on piling up, but short yet meaningful arcs (almost movies) put out by them instead, like the Siege of Mandalore in TCW and the opening arc to The Bad Batch, and maybe adapting some of the stuff we didn't see in The Clone Wars to animation from its written form -- such as the Son of Dathomir stuff. I think their strength is in telling concise and focused stories, I think once they have to start thinking of potential future seasons and stretching out this one to meet an episode count to get their budget, things can get shaky. It could just be first season jitters as they get used to things, though, like we saw with The Clone Wars and Rebels. 

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

The guy behind the video...

has been hired by ILM/Lucasfilm as a Senior Facial Capture artist!

Well done him!

Cue the Luke's academy series articles by "insiders" in 3, 2, 1...

But yeah, that's awesome! While I was really glad about that scene in Mando, as soon as I saw his face I wanted to peel my eyes out, and knew someone could do better -- this guy is one of them. You know, other than maybe getting Sebastian Stan in for his face. I think deepfaking is definitely the future of this process for CG animators, rather than having to work things from scratch like we saw with Tarkin in Rogue One, which for me gave mixed results (looked fantastic in certain lighting and when static, but as soon as he started walking the uncanny valley erupted), and so I'm happy to see him onboard, crazy to think of how far this could be pushed with more people working on the process and with the right backing. 

[Ronnie]

Really fair points. I do agree the episode needed another string to its bow, like some character development for Sid, Tech or Echo. It's certainly not one I'll go back to very often, but I found myself more entertained by it than the Ryloth arc (who's whole premise has also been done plenty of times before in the animated shows). 

Growing up watching a few of the Star Trek shows I'm more than happy with standalone episodes that don't connect to much. The internet seems to have this weird fascination with episodes needing to either a) advance the overall plot, or b) answer some questions. I'm just happy being entertained. 

49 minutes ago, Julius said:

But yeah, that's awesome! While I was really glad about that scene in Mando, as soon as I saw his face I wanted to peel my eyes out, and knew someone could do better -- this guy is one of them. You know, other than maybe getting Sebastian Stan in for his face. I think deepfaking is definitely the future of this process for CG animators, rather than having to work things from scratch like we saw with Tarkin in Rogue One, which for me gave mixed results (looked fantastic in certain lighting and when static, but as soon as he started walking the uncanny valley erupted), and so I'm happy to see him onboard, crazy to think of how far this could be pushed with more people working on the process and with the right backing. 

I was fine with that scene in Mando, like Tarkin it looked good in some shots, less so in others. I do wonder whether they'll update the visuals down the line though. No fanfare or announcement or anything, it'll just happen behind the scenes. The show isn't on sale anywhere, it's only on Disney+, so it's definitely plausible as the tech improves they could make subtle tweaks.

[Julius]

8 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Really fair points. I do agree the episode needed another string to its bow, like some character development for Sid, Tech or Echo. It's certainly not one I'll go back to very often, but I found myself more entertained by it than the Ryloth arc (who's whole premise has also been done plenty of times before in the animated shows). 

Growing up watching a few of the Star Trek shows I'm more than happy with standalone episodes that don't connect to much. The internet seems to have this weird fascination with episodes needing to either a) advance the overall plot, or b) answer some questions. I'm just happy being entertained.

Yeah, as much as I enjoyed the Ryloth arc, I do agree that it definitely felt like we'd seen something similar before. 

For me personally it depends on what the series is, but when it comes to Star Wars animated shows and I know there are going to be X number of episodes in the season, I really just want them to put their foot down and go for it. I find that I prefer arcs because we see more development for a story, character, or location in those episodes than we do in ones like these. It felt like this episode could've been in the middle of the season, and now that I think about it, it has so little connective tissue to the other episodes that it feels like it really could have slotted in anywhere else. 

I really just hope things pick up now, because I'm starting get the feeling that the stuff I want to see is being saved for a likely second season. 

8 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I was fine with that scene in Mando, like Tarkin it looked good in some shots, less so in others. I do wonder whether they'll update the visuals down the line though. No fanfare or announcement or anything, it'll just happen behind the scenes. The show isn't on sale anywhere, it's only on Disney+, so it's definitely plausible as the tech improves they could make subtle tweaks.

Yes, I've been hoping for the exact same thing! Personally I don't mind the CG in the prequels for example, but I know many do and so I think it could also be thrown into the mix, and I think if you give the CG stuff just tweaks to bump their quality as time goes on and like you said the tech improves, almost Special Edition-style, I think it could look way better in the future. 

It's a tough one, because in Luke's case I genuinely think you could throw some makeup on Sebastian Stan and you'd already be pretty close, and if they do ever do a show about post-ROTJ Luke then that might be the more cost effective solution, but I guess in any cameos this route would probably be better. 

[Eddage]

9 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I do wonder whether they'll update the visuals down the line though. No fanfare or announcement or anything, it'll just happen behind the scenes. The show isn't on sale anywhere, it's only on Disney+, so it's definitely plausible as the tech improves they could make subtle tweaks.

It's definitely not out of the question, they updated the final scene in Wandavision to add more tress around the cabin as well as some other small changes.

[Julius]

32 minutes ago, Eddage said:

It's definitely not out of the question, they updated the final scene in Wandavision to add more tress around the cabin as well as some other small changes.

They also digitally removed Jeans Guy from Chapter 12 of Mando 

[Ronnie]

Never forget.

[Julius]

Another solid episode. A whole lot of fan service too, which I won't complain about 

Spoiler

Gregor. Vader's ANH theme / Imperial Attack throughout (honestly as they were stepping out of the shuttle I almost expected Vader to turn up). Then there's Scorch from Republic Commando and the clone commando armour being everywhere (probably tied as my favourite clone armour along with Phase III). McQuarrie's stormtrooper designs. Heck, the entire episode felt like an appreciation of the original trilogy (the Yosemite-like Endor-esque planet, inside of the base being the Death Star).

And more and more nods that we're going to see the Kamino Uprising we've been waiting for, especially with the potential execution of Lama Su -- and I say potential because the doors close and it's heavily implied that he's executed, but weirdly you don't hear blaster fire? Not sure what that was all about. Unfortunately, with only two episodes left, I don't see - or want - them to touch Kamino Uprising properly, unless these are going to be longer episodes, because it doesn't feel like it's been set up to have enough time spent on it before the season ends, as they've now set up Hunter needing to be saved and the opportunity to resolve the main conflict of the season - with Crosshair - is right in front of them. 

Minor nitpick with the episode was that I don't think it was obvious at all in the opening scene that the clone running away was Gregor, what with the haircut and lack of beard compared with when we last saw him in The Clone Wars, and even though the armour itself if that if a commando, it was plain, unlike his, which was a bit weird considering Scorch had his fully customised armour. Episodes like this definitely highlight Dee Bradley Baker's work, hearing Gregor go a little nuts with his chuckle at times is always fun, if a little sad. 

Speaking of Scorch, though, I do wonder if Crosshair's conflict is resolved by the end of this season if Delta Squad could be the antagonists of a potential second season? It would be a natural escalation in terms of going head-to-head, good fan service and a great excuse to see them back in action again, and I know Filoni loves Republic Commando. Heck, even if Crosshair's conflict isn't resolved, he could hypothetically take Sev's place as the sharpshooter on the squad. Fingers crossed. 

Lastly, finally we get the slightest sense of Echo having some character shine through this episode. It's such a shame that he's been pretty much tossed aside so far, because as the only reg with the Bad Batch you'd think he'd have some interesting opinions and inner conflicts over everything going on, and I'm surprised he hasn't talked about Fives at all. 

Oh and Omega's theme kicking in when Gonk plugged in to power things back up was chills-inducing. 

A couple more to go, but it's been a fun watch so far. So long as they don't drop the ball now, I think it's safe to say it will have had the best opening season of any Lucasfilm Animation project to date across the board, and considering I don't think they really show off their great character writing and explorations until later seasons usually, we could be in for a real treat. 

Half expecting the final episode to have a post-credits 'Season 2 is coming in 2022' tease as we've seen in the final episodes of some other Disney+ shows so far. 

[Ronnie]

Another cameo!! Who'd have thought!

Enjoyed the episode as usual, but having seen the "someone needs to be rescued from a base/data needs to be salvaged from a base" storyline a million times in Rebels and now Bad Batch, it's getting a little old at this point. I feel like it's their go-to story when there's surely so much potential out there to frame the episode a different way. 

Great action though, that's always top notch. And enjoyed the Kamino angle and the cliffhanger ending a lot.

Spoiler

On 31/07/2021 at 1:44 PM, Julius said:

Unfortunately, with only two episodes left, I don't see - or want - them to touch Kamino Uprising properly, unless these are going to be longer episodes, because it doesn't feel like it's been set up to have enough time spent on it before the season ends, as they've now set up Hunter needing to be saved and the opportunity to resolve the main conflict of the season - with Crosshair - is right in front of them. 

Definitely feels like a season 2/series finale storyline at this point, with the remainder of season 1 to be tied in with Hunter/Crosshair.

On 31/07/2021 at 1:44 PM, Julius said:

Lastly, finally we get the slightest sense of Echo having some character shine through this episode. It's such a shame that he's been pretty much tossed aside so far, because as the only reg with the Bad Batch you'd think he'd have some interesting opinions and inner conflicts over everything going on, and I'm surprised he hasn't talked about Fives at all. 

I really struggle to like Echo, he's just the epitome of bland and personality-less. Hopefully they do more with him and I'll come round to him eventually.

Definitely agree that this has been a really strong season though. My only nitpicks are the similar storylines and cameo-fests. Instead of focusing on another Clone Wars/Rebels character why not give us an insular episode like Trials of the Darksaber for Tech or Echo. I'm sure they'll come but it just seems like season 1 we should be focusing on the main cast more.

I wonder if it's a Lucasfilm/Filoni thing or a Disney thing, the latter being a case of them wanting to 'MCU' Star Wars.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

Great episode! Watched it with my nephew.

Spoiler

 

Brilliant music, nice twist that I wasn't expecting at all, visually beautiful and a great cliffhanger.

I always prefer the episodes that focus on the Batch instead of the latest side character, so this one really worked for me.

 

 

[Julius]

Another great episode this week. 

Spoiler

As soon as I heard the Kamino theme - man, the prequel soundtracks are outrageously good - I just knew we were going to see Tipoca City destroyed in this episode, and it became more and more apparent as the episode went on. My big question coming out of this episode is if the Empire went all the way and eradicated all other major settlements on Kamino - kind of mirroring how they "sterilised" Geonosis - or if the focus was purely on Tipoca. The final shots of an emptied Tipoca really hit hard. 

Hearing Tarkin say the thing always puts a smile on my face, but I guess this puts any odds of a Kamino Uprising firmly off the table. 

That being said, based on earlier episodes too, I still think a clone uprising could be on the table. We saw how fiercely Kamino was defended by the clones in The Clone Wars when attacked by the Separatists, and the destruction of their home city could easily be used as a way to band together some of the remaining clones. This is assuming the clones being sent "off planet" isn't code for "to a farm" and they've been killed, but the Empire went through the trouble of taking all of the clones not yet ready for battle as we saw in previous episodes, so I guess they could just be used as peacekeepers for the time being. I know in Battlefront II Boba was hired to lead the Empire's forces against the uprising, but depending on if it's a show-ending event (assuming that it happens), I'd like to see it be Vader and the remaining forces of the 501st having turned Vader's Fist. 

Crosshair provided a great moral foil for the Batch this episode, happy with how his arc has ended up playing out, and their theme belting when he joins them to attack the training droids was great. I just hope he isn't worked into the team permanently, but I also don't want him to sacrifice himself, so after being betrayed by the Empire I hope he starts having second thoughts. 

Roll on next week's episode! 

[Ronnie]

50 minutes ago, Julius said:

and their theme belting when he joins them to attack the training droids was great.

That was awesome, loved that moment. This show and Mandalorian have been great at having instantly recognised main themes.

Spoiler

I’d be happy if Crosshair joined them permanently from next season tbh, depending how he gets there from here.

 

[Ronnie]

The quality of this show is staggering at times. That was quite a finale, especially given how relatively 'quiet' it was compared to others, but the atmosphere, visuals and script made it a brilliant way to round off a brilliant first season. It's really surprised me and I'm already gutted having to wait till next year for season 2.

Audio and visuals absolutely top notch as usual. 

I'll leave it to @Julius for the more indepth thoughts 

[Julius]

13 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

I'll leave it to @Julius for the more indepth thoughts 

Great timing as I finished it up just a little while ago 

Spoiler

I agree with you that it was definitely quieter, and smaller stakes, for a finale, but given how much happened last week, I thought it worked surprisingly well. This was more about giving some sense of resolve, for once we finally see a finale not centred entirely on action but instead character interactions, and talking things out. It still felt like a finale, though, but just zooming in and what would be some final climactic battle (think Vader vs Luke in ROTJ) and focusing on the discussion of their differences rather than the action. 

It really did look phenomenal throughout. The shot on the bridge with Rampart mirroring Vader on the bridge in Empire, the exterior shots of the collapsing Tipoca, the underwater shots, and just the way the lighting and particles all interacted. Do I dare say that this might be their best animation yet, up until the rain stopped that is? The change in models and some of the lighting there looked a little odd at times, but that's just me nitpicking. 

As for what actually happened in the episode, the hesitation of the clone when reporting to Rampart definitely suggests to me that a clone uprising / rebellion may still be on the cards, especially with the context of everything else this season. 

Omega's Theme we got a few times throughout, and I love it more every time. I've said before that it really reminds me of Tears of Life from that first Pokémon movie, and I stand by it, because it connects just as well for me emotionally. As for Omega herself, genuinely think she's been the standout character of the entire season, and I think it's more than enough evidence that child characters can be written and executed well in the GFFA. I'm shocked at how much I cared, and I think Michelle Ang's voice acting NAILED every part of the character, which, when coupled with some amazing facial animation work from LFLA, contributed to that being the case.

I can't wait to see how she grows more as the show continues, and speaking of which, I like just how well she was handled in this episode. There's still the innocent naiveté of being a child there, such as when she recklessly dives down to try to save AZ, but on the other hand, there's also a loss of innocence in this episode for her, when she admits to Crosshair that she was hoping that his inhibitor chip was what was making act the way he did, and realising that some people will just act of their own accord - good or bad motivations behind them - is a great final piece of character growth for her in this finale. 

Crosshair is still holding his head a lot, to the point that I'm starting to wonder if he did really have his chip removed. Was he lying about getting it removed to the Batch to try to act higher and mightier than them? Was he lied to about it being removed by Rampart and co? It does make you wonder. 

Also, Nala Se meeting that scientist clearly working the same gear that we see Pershing donning in Mando is obviously going to be setting off a lot of alarm bells. I find it difficult to believe that we won't see Nala Se again in the show, so I imagine we're going to get a deeper throughline threaded through to both Mando and potentially the sequel trilogy too, likely in the form of proto-Snoke tie-ins or some other potential experiments. A bit gutted we didn't see any of Delta Squad in amongst those commandos, but it is what it is. In a way I guess this could go some way to helping flesh out Palpatine's return in TROS, in a similar fashion to how The Clone Wars fleshed out almost every facet of the prequels, but Anakin in particular. 

A fantastic final episode to this first season, and yeah, I'm pretty bullish now about this having been the best opening season to an animated show we've had from them so far. I cannot wait to see where it all goes from here -- for now, the not-so-long wait for Visions next month begins! 

I know we've treated it like fact before anyways, but might as well pop the confirmation from last week of the second season coming next year in here too:

And also the next set of major announcements - for Star Wars and other Disney-owned properties - are seemingly set to come on Disney+ Day, which will be Friday 12th November 2021. 

Exciting times! 

[Ronnie]

Clone uprising definitely still on the cards. I assume that'll be a series finale type thing. Tech and Wrecker survive, Crosshair and Hunter don't, the former probably saving Omega, the latter saving Crosshair.

I wish I was more musically aware to pick out a recurring Omega's theme. I'm pretty rubbish at that unless it's really in your face like Leia or Rey's Theme.

Loved the subtle trepidation from the Clone trooper and Omega's shift in attitude. It's all great stuff, and such a strong foundation for an even better season 2. They desperately need to develop Tech and Echo though. The former especially in my selfish opinion 

Agree that the ending with Nala Se was a little anticlimactic, but it couldn't fit anywhere else and I'm just relieved they didn't do a big cameo reveal. I definitely think you're right @Julius that they're planning to flesh out the sequels' whole cloning thing. Same with Mando. 

11 hours ago, Julius said:

And also the next set of major announcements - for Star Wars and other Disney-owned properties - are seemingly set to come on Disney+ Day, which will be Friday 12th November 2021. 

Not expecting anything like the mind-blowing show last year, but maybe that's where we'll get our first trailer for Boba Fett. Maybe even a tease at Andor? I feel like that's a Q1/Q2 2022 thing. The dream would be to announce a Thrawn/Ezra spin-off show. Rumours of that happening from Kessell Run Transmitions a while back.

I reckon:

Dec/Jan: Boba Fett
March/April/May: Andor
June/July/Aug/Sep: Bad Batch S2
Nov/Dec: Obi-Wan

Real question is where does Mando S3 fit in. Considering they've not started filming yet it could fit in before Obi-Wan, but I reckon it could be a Jan 2023 thing.

Anyway, what a time to be a SW fan. Said it before but I've been happy to thrilled with almost everything since the takeover. Long may it continue 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

 

[Ashley]

 

[bob]

Well now that just looks crazy enough to work.

[Julius]

2 hours ago, Ashley said:

 

Looks fantastic, very much looking forward to this. Fingers crossed for some interesting music too! 

Also, can't wait to see the Star Wars fanbase revive the subs vs dubs debate on a scale never seen before  I think I'll have to go with the dub on first viewing just because I tried watching the sub trailer and found myself not wanting to look away from the eye candy on screen. But maybe the second or third viewing...

[Ronnie]

Looks great!! Definitely English dub for me, no way I'm looking at anything but the amazing visuals.

I wish this was a weekly release and not all at once though 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

Real shame they're all being released in one go, I was looking forward to it being a weekly thing. Probably suggests each short be quite, well, short. Maybe like 5-10 minutes each.

Cool poster though!