Monday, November 8, 2021

Star Wars Month 2 - The Clone Wars Season 7 Arc 1 - The Bad Batch

It’s Star Wars Month 2



One of my reviews from the original Star Wars Month was The Clone Wars. Whilst season 5 had a good ending and season 6 sewed a few seeds for Revenge of the Sith, there were definitely some loose ends that could be picked up on. There were a few more stories that were in production but not completed, but were released as lost stories online.

There were 2 main stories released as such, the Crisis on Utapau, featuring the location where Obi-Wan fought Grievous in revenge of the Sith, featuring the debut of Anakin’s revised hairstyle to match the aforementioned film and was the first time I’m aware of that they mentioned the plan to harvest Khyber Crystals, something that’s referenced repeatedly now. The other was the Bad Batch, which we’re going to cover as it was remastered for the Disney+ Season.

Other works related of note include Son of Dathomir which sees the revelation that Darth Maul is in fact the son of Mother Talzin and his capture at the end of the s5 episode Lawless was part of plan to finally end her, which unfortunately does happen. Something else that happens is Maul’s crime syndicate starts backing out after facing repeated separatist attacks, not sure if that part’s still canon given what happens in his story this season.

Another is Dark Disciple, which was released as a novel, probably would’ve been the show’s most ambitious storyline featuring another attempt to assassinate Count Dooku by Asajj Ventress, this time with Jedi Quilan Vos. Ventress dies in this storyline although there was some ambiguity there if they wanted to bring her back.

As for Mandalore, a lot of it was up in the air, but it was revealed in the Ahsoka novel, and hinted at during Rebels that Ahsoka was directly involved in a Siege of Mandalore by the Republic and we find out in Rebels that she saw Anakin not long before the events of the film. Ahsoka’s future in the Clone Wars was less certain, with one rough-cut animated scene of her crashing a speeder bike.

OK, but let’s get to business, I don’t know what the rights deal was with Cartoon Network, who originally hosted the show but evidently, it’s been resolved as all of The Clone Wars is available on Disney+, and, exclusive to that streaming service, a final season of 12 episodes to cap off the show’s run. 12 episodes is not massive so a few stories that were planned still didn’t make the cut. Cad Bane, a long-running antagonist of the show, wouldn’t show up again until The Bad Batch spinoff show. There was an episode planned with him and Boba Fett. Plus, we aren’t getting adaptations of Son of Dathomir or Dark Disciple. Crisis on Utapau will also remain in its current form, no upgrade for that one.

Were these episodes always planned out to be the way they were, I don’t know. Maul’s control over the underworld post the war was only ever established in Solo and I think that may have caused them to backpedal on Maul’s underworld crumbling like it was doing in Son on Dathomir. But one episode that was planned from the beginning was The Bad Batch, why did this episode get a remaster, well because it has rampant spinoff potential. As of writing this, The Bad Batch has had one season and has been renewed for a second. It’s actually occupying a fairly unique period in Star Wars history, the stage of transition between the Republic and the Empire. Most stories in this period begin with the Empire fully realised.

But I’ve just spent a whole page of my review with preamble and usually this bit is only a line or two, let’s take a look at the first of these stories and see how Star Wars bids farewell to the Clone Wars for the third time.

The Bad Batch

Ah, opening narration by Tom Kane. Man, first Jim Ward now you, Alzheimer's is a bitch.

But long story short, a Republic Base on Anaxis is being attacked by a separatist Armada, leading the attack is Admiral Trench, the cybernetic spider.

Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu are on the ground trying to defend one of the Republic’s largest shipyards but it’s a losing battle. Rex believes the droids are analysing their attacks and coming up with counters to his specific strategies. He believes that taking a small squad to investigate a relay may help confirm this.

Rex is next seen in his barracks looking at a photo of himself, Heavy, Fives and Echo, all of whom have been killed in battle. He and Cody have a talk, he believes Echo might be alive, the intel the separatists have is seemingly based on old battle strategies Echo and Rex came up with together. Cody is sceptic. The squad they’re gonna be leading in on this mission is Clone Force 99, defective clones with mutations that enhance them.

Gotta give credit to Dee Bradley Baker voicing all the clones and making all the Bad Batch sound distinct. The leader is Hunter, their strong guy is wrecker, their smart guy is Tech and they have a sniper named Crosshair. Cody, Rex, and a couple of other clones whose names I don’t recall.

They begin they approach but the droids spot them and shoot down their gunship. Unfortunately, Cody is trapped in the debris. Wrecker is able to lift the gunship away but Cody is badly injured, and worse a droid army if on approach. Using a piece of the debris as cover, the bad batch advance with tech using his mind to advise the perfect timing for activating EMP grenades for maximum damage. They destroy the entire attacking force without a single casualty.

A super-tactical droid arrives to survey the damage and open a com-line to Admiral Trench who tells them do the very obvious and search for them, basically. Hunter has heightened senses, we find out after this. With Cody injured, Rex has called in evac for him and our two nameless clones will stay behind with him, leaving just Rex and the Bad Batch

They come to a droid outpost and capture it with minimal effort. They discover from the outpost that the coms centre isn’t exactly well guarded, unfortunately another droid platoon is about to land, Trench is informed about their attack on the outpost and works out their plan. Though they capture the coms centre pretty easily, the re-enforcements catch up with them and soon have them pinned down. Crosshair is dispatched from his sniper position to procure them a ride.

The algorithm they’re looking for isn’t on the planet, the station is receiving a live feed from Skako Minor, using Echo’s identification. They manage to escape and Trench is none too happy to hear they made the connection to Skako Minor.

This is an action heavy episode with a few minor bits of characterisation. The world building is a distant third priority.

Rating 7/10

A Distant Echo

Hunter is convinced that it’s a trap, but offers his squad to go along with Anakin and Rex, if only to say ‘I told you so.’ But Anakin has something he needs to do first, Rex is asked to stand guard outside the barracks so Anakin can have a private conversation with Padme Amidala. She is holding her stomach throughout, definitely an indication that her pregnancy has started.

There’s an amusing moment of Obi-Wan coming to find Anakin and Rex trying to stop him and… He knew, he knew exactly what he was doing and… I think it was always reasonably obvious that Obi-Wan knew about their relationship and was covering for him. Anakin expresses his concerns about Rex to Padme, who advises him to trust his instincts as he has Anakin’s on many occasions.

The Council is not exactly all for this mission but Anakin never really cared anyway. They arrive on Skako-Minor, but the atmosphere is quite foggy so it’s not the easiest landing. The side of the planet is home to the Poletecs, a supposedly primitive group that worship flying reptiles, like the one attacking their ship right now. Anakin, in a surprising display tries to reason with them, but ends up captured as another couple of them arrive, dropping his lightsabre because they need to make the Bad Batch look good and Anakin dropping his weapon means he can’t solve the problem himself.

Hunter grapples onto one of the reptiles and hitches a ride to the village. Anakin’s attempts to communicate are hampered by the fact he doesn’t know how to speak their language. Rex tells the clones to shoot to disarm only and thanks to a rolling stone they get them to surrender. Basically the don’t want the war on their planet, Tech serves as a translator allowing them to communicate and they agree to leave as soon as Echo is rescued.

The chief agrees to take them to Tambor city, as in Wat-Tambor of the techno union, who supposedly has corporate neutrality in the war but has been very much been siding with the Separatists, his fate is to get his head cut off by proto-Darth Vader. They get as far the Poletecs will take them, but at that point the signal from Echo has disappeared, further fuelling the fire that it’s just a trap.

Another sandstorm is brewing and the signal is soon back so they head into the tower, blasting a few of the Techno-Union’s battle droids which are even more useless than usual. Anakin seems resistant to get into the action, maybe it’s because this was supposed to be stealthy or maybe it’s just so the others have more time to shine but it isn’t like him. So thankfully he gets trapped in a small space between 2 droids. He still has to be saved by crosshair which is tragic.

Naturally it’s a trap, and droids have them surround them but Anakin decides he can actually get involved this time and begins to turn the tide. Tech opens the door for Rex and they find a stasis chamber, with Echo plugged in. Rex promises to take him home.

This one is a bit more character-focused but damn does Anakin seem bland, except maybe early on with his chat with Padme.

Rating 7.5/10

On the wings of Kerradaks

The fight continues with the droids, leading to the bad batch having to seal themselves inside the control room. Tech needs more time to disconnect but Tambor has a droid that can cut through the doors. Echo is freed and tells them their only means of escape id through an exhaust vent. They leave and Wrecker blows up their systems so they can’t try it again, at least until they build a new one.

Echo has access to the Techno-Union database and has a way out for them, crossing a dangerous pipe. They’re soon surrounded by droids. Tech recorded the sounds of the Kerradacks, the flying creatures we saw in the last episode. It also appears that the techno-union droids can fly, go figure.

They head back to the village for some reason and the Poledacks are not happy about that, still they’re horrified by what the Techo-Union have done to Echo. Re-enforcement droids arrive at the village, finding it seemingly empty, they deploy a similar boulder-run tactic they used before to thin the heard, still, the Poledacks do face losses in this battle, and then the big guns arrive, with even more re-enforcements.

Anakin gets to do something do something badass by taking out a walker single-handedly, even force-pushing it into another one. The droids are defeated, and Watt-Tambor says that before they tell the separatists what happened, they need to consider a way to recoup their investment. The Poledacs are now allies to the Republic apparently and Rex is elated to have Echo back, even if Echo, now half merged with machines is less than sure of himself.

Gotta be honest, most of this episode felt like padding. You could skip from episode 2-4 and not miss an awful lot.

Rating 6/10

Unfinished Business

Anaxis is still posing a problem, but Echo believes he has a solution. The Bad Batch escort him to the coms base on a dreadnaught over the planet, he plugs in and feeds them false strategies, allowing the Republic to anticipate their moves instead. This plan relies on the techno union being idiots and not informing the separatists of Echo’s rescue but thankfully we saw from the last episode they are absolutely that stupid. Still, it’s a plan that relies on your enemy being stupid, so this meme still qualifies

And so the plan begins, with Anakin and Rex accompanying the bad batch to the dreadnaught. Echo distorts the shuttle’s signal so the droids let it aboard the dreadnaught. Meanwhile Obi-Wan and Mace Windu launch of series of gunships and fighters to the main droid outpost. Trench believes they’re playing right into his hands.

The strategy can’t just be a load of gobbledygook though, or Trench would immediately suspect something was up, so he calls for all the droids to converge on the assembly line, where the brunt of the attack is now, and plans to create a feedback pulse that shuts down all the droids in that area. Tech is somewhat suspicious but it’s not like they have a choice at this point.

Of course, bringing all the droids to them means there’s a real possibility of them being overwhelmed and they have about 5 clones left at this point. Still, the feedback pulse shut down the droids. But Trench has a backup plan, a bomb in the complex that could take out the entire planet because what’s Star Wars without a planet destroying doomsday weapon?

Echo can see if he can shut it down, but Anakin goes to try and convince Trench to do it himself. Windu is alerted to the bomb threat and heads into the reactor to try and stop it from his end. Think this is the most we’ve seen of Windu outside of the films. He finds the bomb but it’s protected by a force-field. Still, Windu can use the force but needs the code, Echo is able to provide all but the last digit before the signal is traced back to him and he’s knocked out.

Anakin confronts Trench, quickly taking out his security detail and threatening him. He gets the last digit and Windu is able to shut down the bomb. Trench attempts to shock Anakin but Anakin kills him, and retrieving a detonator. Trench’s death is toned down considerably from how it went down in the in the incomplete version.

Anyway, the escape and blow up 3 dreadnaughts, pretty much ensuring their victory on Anaxis. Clone Force 99 and Echo are congratulated but the Bad Batch aren’t planning to stick around and offer Echo a place in their ranks since he’s an outsider like they are. Rex is prepared, though a little saddened to allow Echo to do so and now the setup for the spinoff series is complete.

It is my opinion that the Bad Batch Storyline is okay, it does a decent job setting up the Bad Batch themselves, each with their distinct personalities but everything around them falls kinda flat to me. Trench is the least interesting of the Star Wars villains of this era, well, except for maybe Watt Tambor. I feel this story could’ve been done better if it were just 2 episodes instead of 4, it felt pretty bloated to me.

Rating 7/10

No comments:

Post a Comment