![]() ![]() After a cafeteria fight between them and the rest of the regs ensues, Tarkin invites them to show off their combat skills in a practice arena – a test to see if their unorthodox approach will make them the perfect tool for the Empire. When the team returns to Kamino, they're met with a clone force that is changing into Stormtroopers before their very eyes. The tragedy of The Clone Wars is that the clones have no agency, while the beauty of The Bad Batch is that there are a few clones that do. They're clones, yes, so they've been subjected to countless experiments and have only known a dingy barracks on Kamino as home, but they're empowered enough to be able to choose a path when faced with the potential horrors that this new world order will impart. ![]() While we get a brief glimpse into what it's like for a clone to resist his programming in The Clone Wars season 7 episode 11, the Bad Batch operates in a really unique space that helps fully flesh out the horrors of the burgeoning Galactic Empire. We've seen the order to betray the Jedi play out enough in Star Wars media that the threat of it being overused lingers, but The Bad Batch deftly handles the Order 66 retread, even if Caleb is one of three major cameos in the 72-minute long episode. It's a smart move (even though Caleb's somewhat oddly voiced by Freddie Prinz Jr., who sounds a bit too old to be playing a teen), as we're given an instant emotional connection to the victims of Order 66. Less than five minutes into 'Aftermath', we're introduced to a young Caleb Dume, the Jedi Padawan who survives Order 66 and ultimately becomes Star Wars: Rebels' Kanan Jarrus. However, it's also clear from the opening moments that The Bad Batch has to carefully toe the line in what has now become the Dave Filoni Star Wars Cinematic Universe. And the writing is more toned down and nuanced than that of earlier Clone Wars seasons, which could sometimes fall a bit too close on the children's show side of writing. There are a few moments in this episode that are jaw-droppingly gorgeous: two figures standing on either side of a snow-covered chasm, rain lashing against a window on Kamino, scores of clone troopers standing at attention in front of a giant Emperor Palpatine hologram. The animation is lifelike but still hyper-stylized, and the composition of each shot feels consistently cinematic. It's clear from the opening moments that The Bad Batch looks good – even better than the final series of The Clone Wars. And while it may be hard to imagine an animated series without the core trio of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano, the first Bad Batch episode is clearly trying to take the baton and run it over the finish line. ![]() Even the title of this first Bad Batch episode – "Aftermath" – points to a direct continuation of the events we saw at the end of The Clone Wars season 7, when Order 66 instigated the fall of the Republic.īut The Bad Batch creators want to forge a path that strays somewhat from The Clone Wars, or, as Dee Bradley Baker tells me in an interview, "knocks it out of the park" after the previous show teed it up for success. After the Lucasfilm and Star Wars logos flash across the screen, the voice of Clone Wars narrator Tom Kane bursts forth, as we're treated to never-before-seen (in animation) scenes from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. From the opening moments of the new Disney Plus show, Star Wars: The Bad Batch feels like an extension of the final season of The Clone Wars. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |