- Created by Dave Filoni
- Developed by Dave Filoni and Jennifer Corbett
- Directed by Brad Rau (Supervising)
- Based on Star Wars created by George Lucas
- May 4, 2021 to Present
- Disney+
Starring
- Cut Lawquane, Captain Rex, Captain Howzer, Captain Wilco, Commander Cody, Commander Mayday, Commander Wolffe, Gregor, Scorch, Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, Crosshair, Barton Coburn-Dee Bradley Baker
- Omega-Michelle Ang
- Nala Se-Gwendoline Yeo
- Doctor Royce Hemlock-Jimmi Simpson
- Emerie Karr-Keisha Castle-Hughes
- Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious-Ian McDiarmid
- Lady Isa Durand-Anjelica Huston
- Mox-Daniel Logan
- Asajj Ventress-Nika Futterman
- Captain Mann-Harry Lloyd
- Fennec Shand-Ming-Na Wen
A group of clone troopers on the run with genetic mutations that help them resist Order 66 take on mercenary missions in the aftermath of the Clone Wars.
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Infiltration
- Directed by Steward Lee
- Written by Brad Rau
- March 13, 2024
Not much action here in Infiltration but rather a lot of atmosphere and general setup for the larger storyline of Season 3. If I had any complaints, it is that there were a lot of clones in this episode. Clones come with the territory but when there are so many individual characters that are all clones I admit to having a little trouble keeping track of who is who when the appearances are fairly similar. I know that sounds silly and I’m sure I will get some flack for that.
One thing Star Wars can do well-and it does it in this episode-is take environments that could be found somewhere on Earth and science-fictions them up just enough that they’re familiar yet alien. The episode opens on a planet that works like any number of generic Middle Eastern cities from a movie complete with onion domes and roughhewn streets yet is foreign enough that you feel like this is another planet.
The costuming of the clones in Infiltration is reminiscent of an Assassin’s Creed game given the factors that were involved in the opener. I’m curious if that wasn’t some kind of homage to those games.
Despite not much here Infiltration is still good and the show has not yet suffered a serious downturn.
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Extraction
- Directed by Saul Ruiz
- Written by Jennifer Corbett and Matt Michnovetz
- March 13, 2024
This may seem a little contradictory when I say it but while there is enough story in Extraction there’s barely enough story. And the more I think about it when it comes to Star Wars animation the more that’s true. Maybe it has to do with it being a narrative that arcs through an entire season and not a self-contained story. Only in the case of Extraction you’re getting Chapter 7 of a multi chapter story.
The whole point of this episode is to begin to sow some chaos amongst the clones. Wolffe and Rex meet again and that’s pretty much the point of the episode. They just have to get out of the facility. There’s also the deepening of the mystery surrounding the mysterious assassin. Who is he? We don’t know yet but the online community has theories.
Despite there being just enough here, it’s still very fulfilling. Good, but not quite what it should be.
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Bad Territory
- Directed by Nate Villanueva
- Written by Matt Michnovetz
- March 20, 2024
Fennec Shand shows up in this episode. For some reason the idea of a small galaxy and everybody being able to run into each other works much better in Star Wars than it does in Star Trek but I’m getting a little off track here. You could play a version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with Star Wars characters. Anywho…
The story is all about getting information on what the M-Count is. And what I like is the answer doesn’t really come in this episode. The viewer knows what it is, but the characters themselves do not. Shand, while helpful, is acting as an intermediary for that information source. Given everything that we know that has been leaked and so forth we know who the mysterious person that Fennec Shand is talking with in the closing moments.
It feels like most of an episode but not a complete episode. And that’s my only real gripe about it. I’m not saying the first few minutes of an episode but maybe half of to 3/4 of one. Previously we had barely enough and in Bad Territory we get slightly less than enough.
The trip to the planet and the action that accompanied the getting Shand’s quarry was good. And the ending was a nice tease for what was to come. The animation and Star Wars action with alien-animal-of-the-week made this entertaining. I think this could have benefitted from more dialogue.
Not a great episode, but a good episode.
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The Harbinger
- Directed by Steward Lee
- Written by Jennifer Corbett
- March 27, 2024
Asajj Ventress makes everything cooler. Much like the Emperor she comes in and does shadowy Asajj Ventress stuff and then leaves. Since her first appearance she was basically like bacon to Star Wars. She made a good thing better. The big reveal of this episode is that she was the one that Fennec Shand was talking with but the Internet already knew that.
I must note that the ocean creature encountered in this had a nice little detail. There was a color changing shimmering effect that it engaged in action above the surface. A nice little bit of animation detail that made it seem a little more real. Not that this show has ever been soft on the details.
This feels like more of a standalone episode than any of the others. Ventress shows and then breezes out and it’s basically about testing Omega. What’s clear is that she’s not telling the truth. She’s holding something back. Anybody should be able to figure that out, but nobody seems to be really calling her too strongly on it to her face. And Omega seems to have some kind of blind trust in her. Really? “Everybody can change” seems to be pretty shaky ground to base trust on-especially when it comes to a former Separatist assassin.
This is a rare mention of midi-chlorians in the current Star Wars universe. Unless you’ve been living under a rock and or you just are now venturing into the world of Star Wars you know how controversial of an addition to Star Wars mythology midi-chlorians were at the time and still are. What gets me in this episode and at the base from earlier episodes the testing for them seems to be a complicated process. Yet Qui-Gon Jinn tested for them with something no larger than a woman’s razor. If you don’t get that joke then you don’t know enough about how they made the props for Phantom Menace. Anyway…
And how does nobody in the episode get that Ventress was testing Omega’s Force connection rather than an actual count? Clone Force 99 may not be intimately knowledgeable of The Force, but they are smart enough to know the difference between a skill test and a medical test.
A good episode that adds a lot of possibilities to the finale of the series but not without questionable elements.
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Star Wars: The Bad Batch is still enjoyable, but I think Filoni and pals may have been stretching things out to make it to their arbitrary episode count. I hope they don’t continue this. I don’t think it will make them bad but rather not nearly as exciting as anything Star Wars should be. Still have high hopes for what is to come though.
Warren Watched A Movie 