show – Kristopher K. Online

Hello there and welcome to another installment of the Star Wars timeline marathon. This time we’re talking about the three season television show “The Bad Batch”, which ran from 2021 to 2024.

Originally introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars, they are a crew of “defective” clones, hence the name. They aren’t built like the standard clones but they each have unique enhancements and skills that make them differ from others. The crew is Hunter as the leader, who has enhanced tracking, Tech as the tech guy, Wrecker as the muscle, Crosshair as the sniper, and Echo who was added at the end of Clone Wars as he was turned into a cyborg by the Separatists.

The show takes place soon after Revenge of the Sith and the extermination of Jedi from Order 66. In fact, the beginning scene is the crew of the Bad Batch and their perspective when it went down.

They didn’t receive the orders to kill all Jedi like the other clones, and were very surprised and confused when the clones turned after working together with the Jedi seconds before.

They didn’t participate. The Jedi master was killed, but Hunter chased after her padawan and secretly let him go. Crosshair was frustrated that they weren’t following orders.

After Order 66, the clones were ordered to return to their home planet Kamino. There they learned more about the start of the Empire, and started to see what the end of the war meant.

Enter Omega

Omega is a unique clone that takes an interest in the Bad Batch. She is also a direct unedited female clone of the original Jango Fett just like Boba Fett. She has also noticed that the place has changed since the Empire took over.

She tries to let the Bad Batch know, and when they were tasked with hunting insurgents against the Empire, they discovered that it was just civilians they were ordered to kill. Hunter refused to do it, and when they returned Crosshair reported them. This eventually makes the crew minus Crosshair to run to escape the Empire with Omega.

Most of the rest of the season has the crew trying to find their place in a post-Clone Wars world, and not get caught by the Empire since they now basically adopted Omega. The Empire is wanting to capture her for some secret cloning project the Emperor wants. I won’t spoil the rest of the series, but a majority of the episodes are its own story of them trying to survive, with a long arcing plot centered on Omega.

Favorite episodes –

Season 1

Kamino Lost: S1 E16

This is the season finale of the first episode, where the clones start to learn what the Empire has in mind for them in a post-Clone Wars universe.

This is part 2 of a 2 part storyline, in which the Empire’s Vice Admiral Rampart has just ordered his ships to fire on and destroy the cloning facilities and entire city of Kamino.

The Bad Batch and Crosshair were still in the city when the Empire opened fire, so they had to find their way out and back to their ship before they drown.

I really like this episode because it focuses a lot on what the season was building up towards. Since Crosshair and the gang split, there was a build up of confrontation between them that culminated in this episode. Crosshair admits in this episode that he stayed with the Empire because he thinks following orders, no matter what they are, will help him earn a place in the Empire and feel important. Wrecker tells him that they’d always welcome him if he decided to leave the Empire and join them.

By the end of the episode, The Bad Batch escapes on their ship, and Crosshair is left in the wreckage waiting for the Empire to find him.

Season 2

The Outpost: S2 E12

A Crosshair-focused episode. He is assigned to join a Lieutenant Nolan who hates clones to visit an icy planet to find and stop insurgents from stealing cargo their base is holding.

A clone named Mayday is holding the fort with just a couple other clones who survived the recent ambushes. Nolan reprimands him and takes charge of the base, ordering them to guard the mysterious cargo.

Crosshair and Mayday work together to repair parts of the equipment they have with the gear they can salvage. The Empire has not delivered any equipment Mayday requested.

The base got attacked and cargo was stolen. Crosshair and Mayday were ordered to go recover it. They find the base of the insurgents and discover that the cargo is new equipment and armor that Mayday could have used if the Empire cared. They get caught in an avalanche and Mayday is injured. Crosshair drags him back to base and begs for a medic to save Mayday. Nolan refuses because “clones are expendable” and they didn’t come back with the cargo.

Nolan enrages Crosshair, and he shoots Nolan before passing out due to his injuries. He wakes up in a cell in an unknown location.

I really like this episode because it humanizes a really serious character and shows the start of growth he will have in the series.

Season 3

Juggernaut: S3 E12

The final episode I will talk about in depth as a favorite of the series is Juggernaut.

A bit of background for this episode: in season two, Vice Admiral Rampart was condemned to prison because the public found out about the destruction of Kamino after saying it was a freak storm. At the end of season two, Omega was captured by the Empire and held in a secret location where a scientist was running tests on clones for the Emperor. A lot of season 3 is about The Bad Batch trying to find that secret location.

Juggernaut is a fun episode because The Bad Batch has to reluctantly break out Rampart from prison because they think he knows how to get to where Omega is being held. It’s a very action packed episode where they steal a tank and drive it into the prison as they’re escaping.

Meanwhile, Omega finally discovers what they have been testing: they have been trying to recreate clones with high midi-chlorians which are essential to using the force. Omega is a clone with the highest M-count they’ve seen. She also discovers that the lead scientist has force sensitive children being tested on in a secured vault.

I do encourage people to watch this show. The characters are very fun and the episodes are a mix of fun action and drama in a changing political landscape that is approaching fascism in the Empire. It was hard coming up with a single episode to list with each season because there were a lot of great ones.

That’s all for this Star Wars post, but tune in next time when I talk about the first video game on the list.

I finished the first show on my Star Wars timeline marathon! Young Jedi Adventures is a show for toddlers and families that released May 4 2023. Before watching this I didn’t realize this show is only a year old. The last episode released this year in February. I think that means there’s a possibility for season 2?

The show features the main 3 Jedi in the first Episode: Kai Brightstar the human, Lys the purple haired alien, and Nubs the blue teddy bear alien. In the first episode they leave the temple on Coruscant to visit the outer parts of the galaxy. They leave with a young pilot named Nash to live and train on their new temple located on Nash’s home planet: Tenoo.

The Jedi land and immediately have to save a diner from some pirates harassing and stealing supplies. This is Taborr and his crew of a robot and young alien pig. More on them later.

The Young Jedi go on many Adventures during all 25 episodes. They face many different trials and villains: Taborr and pirates, wild animals, eco-terrorists, other pirates, and some self-made conflicts.

My favorite recurring villain has to be the chicken-man alien, Raxlo (Haley Joel Osment). He appears in only three episodes, but his villainy is a joy to watch.

Raxlo first appears in episode six: “Forest Defenders”. He is seen cutting down an entire forest with a machine, becoming the opposite of the Lorax. He wanted to cut down the wood and sell it for money. The Jedi stop his machine, and Raxlo escapes to figure out a new business plan.

He then appears in episode 13: “Tree Troubles” where he blocks off water that is supporting the ecosystem of a tree, to be able to mine the hardened sap that formed underneath the tree. He was again defeated by the three Jedi.

The third and final appearance Raxlo has in the show is in episode 19 “Raxlo Strikes Back”. In this episode, he is now visiting a snow planet the Jedi frequent, to melt the snow to mine the rare gems underneath. The problem with melting the snow is that there are some space walruses who lay their eggs in the snow, and if it gets too warm the eggs will never hatch.

I really enjoy Raxlo because in this final episode he gets redeemed. He’s trying to make a profit to sell the gems in this episode, and his machine is stopped and the snow comes back, but the nice thing is that the people on the planet help him find a new place to dig for the gems. A place without space walrus eggs. After this episode I don’t think he’ll come back as a villain again.

There are redeemable villains in the show, and some who probably will be bad forever.

My least favorite episode has to be episode 11: “The Ganguls”. Nash the pilot has her new speeder stolen by a kid working for a gang of pirates. The pirates operate in a nearby town, and it is revealed that they have taken over the town and scared the residents into submission.

My problem is that the gang consists of three pirates total. I have no idea why the town of 15 or 20 shown people are afraid of three loud pirates, and that they even threw the mayor out of town.

The Jedi kids show up to town and convince the townsfolk to stand up to the pirates. I know this is a show for toddlers and creates life lessons for them, but come on..

There were some really nice episodes that I enjoyed in the series. One of them involved a recurring pirate villain Taborr. Taborr is a kid pirate who often tries to steal things from people to make a name for himself and get respect from the other pirates.

In episode 12: “Off the Rails”, Taborr and his small group of pirates try to rob a train taking logs of wood to a nearby village to build homes for them. Kai and Taborr fight and the train car they’re on disconnects from the rest, and they need to work together to not be stranded on the tracks.

I enjoyed this episode because when Taborr learned that the logs were going to help peoples’ homes, he had a change of heart and decided not to steal from the Jedi. Taborr was the first villain the young Jedi fought in the show, but in this episode it seems like there was more to him than just being a bad guy, and the Jedi learned that not everything had to be solved with fighting.

I think my absolute favorite episode of the show has to be episode 23: “The Caves of Batuu”. Kai had doubts about himself and wanting to be a perfect Jedi after failing to complete a trick with his lightsaber, and the Jedi Master he was training under took him to some nearby caves to clear his head.

This episode was done really well because there were no villains in it, just self-doubt. The Force took Kai through multiple visions in the cave to learn who he is and who he wants to be. For an episode that only runs for 11 minutes, I think this was the best was to show the mystical side of Star Wars for kids.

The show ends with episode 25 “The Prince and the Pirate”. Taborr is focused more on in this episode than the Jedi, and this episode runs the entire 30 minutes. A new space station called Starlight Beacon is officially opening the day they visit, and Taborr wants to steal the dedication plaque to make a name for himself and get respect. The young Jedi confront him, and I won’t spoil how it happens, but in the end it seems like Taborr does have a change of heart and seems to change his ways.

Starlight Beacon does open and the dedication plaque gets placed where it belongs. The group of friends watch the ceremony and are excited for what is to come in the future.

According to the Wookiepedia info on Starlight Beacon, two years after the grand opening of the station, Starlight Beacon is attacked and blown up by some terrorists to the Republic, and the space station is destroyed. Many people die, including some Jedi who help evacuate the station. I don’t actually know if there is a season 2 or 3 planned for this show, but hopefully the kids never come back to this station.

Overall, I thought the show was a good introduction for kids to get into Star Wars and learn some good life lessons along the way. If you have a kid or enjoy watching shows for toddlers, I think this would be a good selection.

I will be continuing my Star Wars timeline marathon, so be sure to check back on the main page for any updated when I finish something and write about it!

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Star Wars: The Bad Batch Review