Star Wars: The Bad Batch
- This article is about the Star Wars animated series, for the article about the 2016 film starring Keanu Reeves see; The Bad Batch (film)
| Star Wars: The Bad Batch | |
|---|---|
 "They are a real bad batch alright." | |
| Format | Series |
| Created by | Dave Filoni |
| Starring | Voice Actors |
| Theme music composer | Kevin Kiner |
| Country of origin | Space |
| Language(s) | Human |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lucasfilm |
| Production company(s) |
Disney |
| Distributor | Disney |
| Broadcast | |
| Picture format | 1080p |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Star Wars Rebels |
Star Wars: The Bad Batch, or just The Bad Batch, is a 2021 animated Disney+ show set in the Star Wars universe. Created by Avatar Dave Filoni, the series starts a few minutes before Order 66 is activated by Emperor Palpatine. The show follows the Bad Batch, who were last seen in Season 7 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Clone Force 99 consists of Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, and replacing Crosshair (as he decides to stay loyal to the newly founded Empire) is Omega, a young female clone. Perry the Platypus returns to voice all the clones, while also recording lines for his role in James Gunns' The Suicide Squad as a rat.
Production[edit]
Creation[edit]
Since Disney had no ideas for any Star Wars projects, they awoke Dave Filoni from his mighty slumber and asked (not very nicely, I might add) him to create a new Star Wars series. Since Dave was busy working on The Mandalorian, he took the Bad Batch who only appeared in four episodes of The Clone Wars and gave them their own animated series.
Casting[edit]
With Disney being too lazy to hire new voice actors, and the fact that Dave Filoni wanted to use the same voice actors from the other series for "continuity" reasons, Perry was kicked off Phineas and Ferb season 5 and bought into the studio to voice some clones. For other continuity purposes, Ming-Na Wen would voice her live-action character Fennec Shand, along with Stephen Stanton as Admiral Chicken Teriyaki and Andrew Kishino as Bone-Saw Gerrera.
Cast and characters[edit]
The Bad Batch[edit]
- Hunter: is the leader of the gang. His power, or mutation to be exact, is that he has heightened senses. So think if Spider-Man and Boba Fett had a child. Perry the Platypus voices Hunter.
- Wrecker: is the brute of the Bad Batch. And with his strong strength power, comes great dumbness. The guy could lift an entire Republic Gunship, but can't figure out that 1 + 1 = 2. Perry the Platypus also voices Wrecker.
- Echo: is a member of the Bad Batch. He doesn't have any special mutations as he was originally just a normal clone that fought under Anakin Skywalker in the 501st, but after the Separatists gave him a screwdriver for a hand, he joined the Bad Batch. Perry the Platypus, yet again, voices Echo.
- Tech: is the nerd of the group, as his mutations made him a gamer. He is always on his iPad, and doing hacking stuff. You guessed it, Perry the Platypus also voices Tech.
- Crosshair: is one of the most deadly marksmen in the entire galaxy, luckily, he is apart of the Bad Batch, right? Nope. He joins the newly founded Galactic Empire after the Bad Batch refuse to follow Order 66 after their inhibitor chips don't work due to their mutations. Crosshair is voiced by Perry the Platypus, but with a British accent.
- Omega: joins the Bad Batch as a replacement for Crosshair. She is a younger clone, who is also from the genes of Jango Fett, but female. Her mutations are not said in the first season of the series, however, it is hinted at that she might be force-sensative. Omega is voiced by Michelle Ang.
The Bad Guys[edit]
- Fennec Shand: After the events of The Mandalorian season 2, Fennec Shand is sent back in time to an animated universe. She is hired by the Kaminoans to retrieve Omega. She is voiced by Ming Na-Wen
- Cad Bane: Before making his live-action debut in The Book of Boba Fett, Cad returns from The Clone Wars to stand in the way of The Bad Batch. Corey Burton reprises his role from The Clone Wars.
- Dr. Hemlock: An evil Imperial scientist that always has an itchy hand. Also immune to poison gas and bad writing. Voiced by Jimmi Simpson.
- Vice Admiral Rampart: Just a guy that likes to sit around and give orders. Voiced by Noshir Dalal.
- Emperor Palpatine: Shows up for less than a minute and steals the entire show — like, it's gone now. Voiced by the one and only
Sam WitwerIan McDiarmid. - Governor Tarkin: That old guy from the first... fourth(?) movie. Voiced by the Robot Chicken.
Plot[edit]
Season 1 (2021)[edit]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Season One" | Steward Lee, Saul Ruiz & Nathaniel Villanueva | Jennifer Corbett and Dave Filoni | May 4, 2021 |
|
The series debut featured the same voice-over introduction by Tom Kane as we saw in every episode of The Clone Wars showing scenes from Revenge of the Sith in animated form. After the narration, the episode begins only a few minutes before the final act of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and during Episode 11, Season 7 of The Clone Wars. The Bad Batch meet Jedi Padawan Caleb Dume, who is one of the main characters in Star Wars Rebels. With the transition from the Republic to the Empire starting, the Bad Batch aren't interested and go rogue (one) with Crosshair staying behind and loyal to the new Empire. While escaping Kamino, the group kidnap their sister. In order to acquire basic assets like food and fuel, the team must now do jobs for people such as; painting walls, becoming garbage truck drivers, and even male strippers. After a while of doing these random jobs for petty cash, they end up working as smugglers and arms dealers for Cid, a Trandoshan. Most of the season is just the Bad Batch being sent on missions by Cid. With some of the missions being successful, and some — not so much. Fennec Shand (from The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett) shows up and delays the Bad Batch for a few episodes. Towards the end, Crosshair and his new Stormtroopers, along with Bounty Hunter Cad Bane (also from The Clone Wars — who also makes his live-action debut later in The Book of Boba Fett) they capture Hunter and take him back to Kamino – meaning that the group has to rescue their leader. They rescue Hunter and the Empire blows Kamino to hell. | |||||
Season 2 (2023)[edit]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | "Season Two" | Steward Lee | Jennifer Corbett | January 4, 2023 |
| The Bad Batch continue to pull jobs for Cid, but after Tech wins a podrace, the group leave to start their own racing team. However, after pulling an Indiana Jones, the Batch have to retire to Hawaii and stop a tsunami. Crosshair gets lost in the snow and switches sides — as when he got back to base, all the Stormtroopers wouldn't help him start a fire. The new main baddie, Dr. Hemlock, gathers all other big baddies from the movies for a meeting, in which the Bad Batch have to catch a train to. While there, the ticket inspectors find out that Tech didn't have a valid Myki and throw him off the train, killing Tech, and making all of his character development this season go to waste. With Tech now dead, Omega gets captured and put in the Empire's Clone Jail with Crosshair, setting up the third season in which the others have to rescue them. | |||||
Season 3 (2024)[edit]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | "Season Three" | 2024 |
Reception[edit]
The webiste Rotten Tomatoes rated the show a 66% from fans and 88% from critics. The 66% score was mostly due to an internet campaign to correlate with the in-universe quote from Emperor Palpatine; "Execute Order 66", which was first heard in 2005's Revenge of the Sith, which The Bad Batch is set during and after.
With 14/15 of the episodes being the usual 20-30 minute runtimes, the premiere was an hour long. This raised viewers expectations, hoping that all the episodes had a long runtime, but when episode 2 dropped the following week with a 20 minute runtime, Star Wars cosplayers raided Skywalker Ranch and beat up Dave Filoni.
Out of all the Elite Clone Squads to get their own series, fans are not very happy that it was the Bad Batch. Not that they aren't an 'Elite Clone Squad', many Star Wars fans would of preferred if it was Delta Squad — who Scorch, a member of the Delta Squad, made a cameo appearence in a few episodes of the first season.
Season 2 was originally planned for early to mid 2022. However, with the new Kenobi series set to release on the 25th of May, Bad Batch season 2 was pushed back to later in the year. Fans were pissed, Filoni was pissed, Perry the Platypus was pissed, and the drunks were pissed. Eventually, it was released in January 2023.
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, it was confirmed that The Bad Batch would get a third and final season — with half the episodes still being filler, much to everyone's surprise.
