Star Wars: The Bad Batch

[Monica Stone]

Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company announced that Star Wars: The Bad Batch — the next Star Wars animated series – will debut on May the 4th, a.k.a Star Wars Day, exclusively on Disney+, with the second episode premiering on Friday, May 7. Subsequent episodes will premiere on Fridays. The series follows the elite and experimental troopers of Clone Force 99 (first introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch, as they prefer to be called — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill, which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew.

What are your guys' thoughts? Are you excited? Anything in particular you would like to see from this show?

I absolutely love The Clone Wars and am really excited to be following a group of clones immediately following order 66. So much untapped story potential. Did the bad batch execute order 66? Did they discover the inhibitor chips? Do these particular clones even have them? So many possibilities!

Dave Filoni will be executive producing this and I love his general work in Star Wars. I'm really looking forward to this.

[Catspaw]

I love Clone Wars too so this looks awesome! I hadn't heard about this yet so thanks for sharing, Monica! Like you, I can see lots of story potential.

[Steve]

This totally has potential to be very good! I didn't love the Bad Batch Clone Wars episodes, but I'll give this a shot. I generally trust Dave Filoni to make good TV.

[Monica Stone]

I noticed Fennec Shand from the Mandalorian is in the trailer! I'm surprised but excited. I'm very curious to see what her role in the show will be. Ming-Na Wen confirmed she is reprising the role in the Bad Batch.

I enjoyed the bad batch arc in season 7. It wasn't mind-blowing or an achievement in storytelling, but it was a lot of classic Clone Wars fun. I enjoyed how the characters worked off each other.

[Dr. Watson]

I love anything Star Wars so this should be awesome. It will be interesting to see how they handle the Bad Batch post-Clone Wars, if they are primarily anti-Empire or if they go underworld against bounty hunters etc.

[Monica Stone]

Whereas the last trailer was basically just a teaser, now we have a full trailer.

Following their literally explosive introduction in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Clone Force 99, a.k.a. the Bad Batch, will soon step into the spotlight. Star Wars: The Bad Batch arrives May the 4th with a special 70-minute premiere on Disney+, starring our new favorite squad of elite clones as they find their way in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War.

A 70-minute long premiere? That's almost the length of two Mandalorian episodes! I'm excited. Also Rex is briefly in this trailer. I'm so excited!

[Catspaw]

Thanks Monica! This is awesome. That is definitely a long premiere - it makes me wonder if it means they're dropping two or three episodes, since that would be a very long episode otherwise, especially compared to 22-ish minute Clone War episodes.

The Bad Batch continues to look very good. Is it just me or does it look a little different visually than Clone Wars? Maybe it's just a bit of an advance in technology, or a desire to look a little less cartoon-y, or perhaps just my imagination.

[Reddo]

My wife says the animation looks too good.

[Catspaw]

Haha, that's an interesting way to describe it. I know some people talk about the "uncanny valley" where animation is creepily realistic, which doesn't really fit in this case, so maybe "too good" is the best way to put it.

[Monica Stone]

The show was confirmed by a producer to be 16 episodes! I think that's a record for a Disney+ show (correct me if I'm wrong).

The premiere came out yesterday and it was amazing! I had my expectations above average (I trust The Clone Wars team) and my expectations were exceeded! I'm so excited to watch the next episode this Friday!

I love Omega already. She's precious! I'm also very intrigued by her. There seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding her especially in light of the fact that the Kaminoans are hiding her from the Empire. Some are speculating that she is Force-sensitive due to her conversation with Crosshair and her ability to read his emotions like a book and her precision with a blaster, having never before picked one up before. I'm not sure about the theory. It could be a part of her genetic mutations. And I can already tell they're setting up a father/daughter type dynamic between Hunter and Omega and I dig it.

We saw another Order 66 scene, this time with Kanan (aka Caleb) and his master. I distinctly remember how Kanan talked in Rebels about his trauma regarding clones and Order 66 and that made the scene more impactful than it already would have been.

As I suspected, the inhibitor chips didn't work on the Bad Batch as they would regular clones. Well, it worked on Crosshair a bit (but not to the fullest extent). It was interesting watching the Bad Batch rediscover their surroundings post-Republic and try to figure out what was going on. The second I heard Crosshair mutter "Good soldiers follow orders", I was chilled. I enjoyed watching the clash between Hunter as he tries to do the right thing and Crosshair who is somewhat affected by his inhibitor chip (but is still struggling with it) and wants to follow orders and doesn't see the difference between the Empire and Republic. After Tarkin enhanced Crosshair's inhibitor chip and he made his grand entrance to the rest of the Bad Batch, I was on the edge of my seat. The dynamics are going to be fascinating going forward.


The transition from the Republic to Empire is really dark and chilling. The tone was captured perfectly.

All and all, I thought the episode was incredible. I'm already very invested in the story and characters. It was a good decision to release a 70-minute premiere instead of stretching this episode's content into 2-3 episodes.

[Catspaw]

I'm not clicking the spoiler tag because I haven't watched yet (thanks for using that, Monica) but I am really looking forward to it. I saw that the first episode was over an hour long and the second one was half an hour, so I assume that the first one was the anomaly and the rest will be a more conventional half hour. I didn't realize there were going to be so many episodes! That's awesome.

[bookworm]

New season coming soon:

[Catspaw]

I still haven't watched the first season. I meant to because it looks really good and I like Clone Wars, but I just never got around to it. My brother and I were going to watch together (probably in separate locations while talking on the phone) but we both keep busy enough that we were always watching something else that seemed more likely to be time sensitive when we did have time to watch (like Obi-Wan - we really didn't want spoilers).

[Patterson]

We're only a few episodes in, but season 2 is really good so far. It has a darker tone, but that wasn't uncommon for the later seasons of the Clone Wars either.

[Catspaw]

I still need to get around to season one. My brother and I almost managed to watch the first episode the other day (via talking on the phone and hitting play on our respective devices at the same time), but we just watched hockey and chatted about random stuff instead, so we remain increasingly behind. Good to hear that season two is good so far!

[Dr. Watson]

I still need to get around to season one. My brother and I almost managed to watch the first episode the other day (via talking on the phone and hitting play on our respective devices at the same time), but we just watched hockey and chatted about random stuff instead, so we remain increasingly behind. Good to hear that season two is good so far!

While hockey is an acceptable substitute, you should totally watch it!!


I'm liking season 2 so far, especially the most recent episode and the return of Gungi from the Clone Wars.

[Termite]

Well, season two is over, and I am NOT okay brb, gonna go cry some more with Aeva.

. . .but in reality, the writing was SO well done. In summary: the choices we make directly impact the direction of our lives. The Kiner Brothers rocked the music, and the animation was stunning.

Hopefully season 3 will be announced at Celebration later this month!

[Catspaw]

I saw that the season two finale was streaming...and I still haven't started season one. One of these days! I love seeing your high opinion of the show, Termite, because it reminds me that it sounds worth watching.