Smudger9's Bad Batch Movie Series [EP1 & EP2 RELEASED; EP3 WIP] — Page 3

Episode 2 now virtually complete. Just 3 music transitions to sort and it’s good to go. Aiming for a release next week. Run time locked in at 2h 37mins.

Episode 2 is Finished! PM for links.

Final Runtime 2h 37mins.

Have to say, this is probably one of the most satisfying edits I’ve done. Season 2 was a bit of a mess TBH. Far too many paint-by-numbers filler episodes, and even some of the potentially epic episodes such as the opening pair, didn’t really go anywhere.
However, there is a really strong story core story running through the season. Teasing that out and intercutting Crosshairs story has been really satisfying.

Link to the opening 10mins. https://vimeo.com/929382084

Full Changelog:
Act 1 (62 mins)

• Lucasfilm Logos
• Star Wars Opening crawl & pan down to oceanic planet.
• EP1: Opening scene with the Batch on a mission for Cid. Score altered so the big base notes start as soon as the Batch appear from the trees. Cut Omega jumping off the
  Marauder, she remains dangling from the line. End of the sequence re-scored using “More then Jewels” and “Revolt”.
• EP7: Opening senate scene discussing the defence recruitment bill. Some unnecessary exposition from Bail Organa has been cut.
• EP7: Wipe transition to Cade and Slip in the bar discussing the destruction of Kamino. Trimmed their walk outside. Cade is shot and Slip escapes.
• EP1: Wipe Transition to Marauder in hyperspace. Echo talks to Hunter about doing more to help clones. Cut reference to Dooku’s fortune. This scene is included to set up
  Echo separating from the Batch at the end of act 1.
• EP7: Transition wipe to external shot of Senate. Rampart and Mas Amedda discuss the events on Kamino. Senator Chucci offers to help the clones and meets Slip.
• EP1: Transition wipe to external shot of Old Mantell from EP4. The Batch return to Cid’s bar with the haul. The Batch meet Phee. The mission to scavenge Dooku’s fortune
  is discussed but Hunter doesn’t agree to the mission. The remainder of the episode is cut.
• EP7: Transition wipe to Chucci discussing her demands for the clones with Rampart. Chucci receives a secure communication.
• EP7: Clip of Slip on the run - this scene originally occurred earlier, but it has been moved to coincide with Chucci & Rampart searching for him.
• EP7: Chucci meets with Organa and she discusses her clone contact with information about the destruction of Kamino. Wide shot at end of the scene is cut to speed up
  the pacing.
• EP7: Rampart Orders the Operative to attack.
• EP7: Chucci & guards v Assassin. Rex stuns the operative. Edited so that Rex only fires once.
• EP5: Transition wipe to Wrecker and Omega trawling through a scrap yard. The Batch are at Cid’s listening to Phee. Cut Echo “this story changes every time she tells it”.
  Omega and Wrecker arrive. Phee notices the treasure map. Cut Omega “co-ordinate markings”. The Batch agree to join Phee on a treasure hunt. AI line inserted for Phee
  telling the Batch to wait for her to contact them - This connects with their next scene where they’re waiting aboard the marauder when Echo contacts them, and also sets
  up the opening of the Pabu episode in act 2.
• EP7: Rex Interrogates the operative.
• EP8: Wipe to Old Mantell with The Batch waiting aboard the Marauder. Cut Omega’s references to Gungi. Echo contacts the Batch asking for help. Change Wrecker “I’m
  tired of waiting around for Cid” to “I’m tired of waiting around for Phee”. The Batch agree to go to Coruscant.
• EP3: Wipe to Crosshair being awoken by an alarm. He is summoned to Ramparts office and given a mission. Rampart AI dialogue used to change the mission from Dessex
  to Barton IV. Mission specifics have been cut.
• EP8: The Batch arrive on Coruscant. Coruscant approach trimmed. Cut Omega’s “Hello”.
• EP12: Crosshair meets his mission commander and they depart Coruscant.
• EP8: Cut to Cucchi discussing her plan with Organa. Cut Omega “very” and “who’s that”. Omega’s entire visit to the senate has been removed along with the scene in
  Burtoni’s apartment.
• EP8: The Batch retrieve the data from the Venator - the shipyard infiltration sequence has been edited to shorten it and the V-wing sequence has been cut out.
• EP8: The Batch get the data to the senate and Rampart is exposed. The emperor appears and introduces the stormtrooper program.
• EP11: Hemlock arrives on Tantiss. The assets are implied to refer to clone troopers rather than the Zillos. Hemlock threatens Taun We in her cell. This scene is placed here
  to continue the clone storyline. Hemlock is immediately introduced as the new antagonist as Rampart is removed.
• EP8: Echo and the Batch go their separate ways.

Act 2: (55 mins)

• EP12: Crosshair’s shuttle exits hyperspace. They land on Barton IV and meet the clones troopers stationed at the base. Cut some of Lieutenant Nolan “where is your supervisor” and “where you let the majority of your squad get killed”. Cut Crosshair/Mayday interaction about the Lieutenant. Insurgents attack the base. Crosshair and Mayday pursue them into the caves.
• EP13: The Batch and Phee negotiate over the artefact. They grab it and escape.
• EP12: Crosshair and Mayday continue their pursuit of the insurgents. The pressure mine sequence has been cut.
• EP13: Batch and Phee in hyperspace. Cid contacts them due to their absence. Cut Phee’s references to cutting ties with Cid (they turn up at Cid’s in act 3) but keep the
  rest of the scene.
• Crosshairs & Mayday discover the insurgent base and attack. They cause an avalanche and are buried. Crosshair emerges and rescues Mayday. Scene scored using “Arc
  Troopers” to provide more emotional weight and a better transition to the next scene.
• EP11: Lama Su arrives on Tantiss.
• EP12: Crossshair hauls Mayday slowly back to the base. Nolan refuses to help Mayday. Crosshair kills Nolan.
• EP13: The batch arrive on Pabu. Cut Wrecker “you’ve got some competition”. The Phee-Echo romance has been largely removed in the edit.
• EP12: Crosshair wakes up in a cell on Tantiss.
• EP13: The Batch are given a tour of Pabu by Phee.
• EP14: Clone troopers are ushered aboard a transport. The transport enters orbit and is attacked by Echo & crew who disable it and rescue the clones before escaping.
  The ship docking sequence has been slightly shortened.
• EP13: The Batch Enjoy dinner on Pabu. Omega views the sunset from a boat. Cut Echo “I am not seeing anything”. The Tsunami sequence and aftermath have been cut.
• EP14: Echo delivers the clones to Chucci on Coruscant. Echo departs to contact the Batch about the data he collected from the Imperial ship.
• EP14: Hemlock Interrogates Crosshair. The subsequent Crosshairs escape sequence has been cut - it adds nothing to the plot and makes Tantiss seem less secure.
• EP14: Cut to the Batch on Echo Arrives on Pabu. Cut mention of the Batch becoming an integral part of the community. Part of Omega’s flying lesson is cut.
• EP14: Tarkin and Hemlock discuss the attack on the Imperial shuttle and the Summit.
• EP14: The Batch decrypt the Imperial data. Cut mention of Crosshair’s warning signal - since he doesn’t escape in this edit, he can’t send a warning signal.
• EP14: Hemlock again interrogates Crosshair. Mention of his escape have been cut.
• EP15: Echo finds out about the summit and the Batch prepare to leave Pabu. The saying goodbye to Phee scene has been cut.

Act 3: (40mins)

• The Remainder of EP15 and all of EP16 play out with minor trimming to speed up the pacing and remove the some unnecessary dialogue.

I’ve PM’d those that have requested a link. If you have the link for my Season 1 edit, the Season 2 material is in the same folder. Let me know what you think of it!

PM sent

Hey Smudger, would love to watch these when you get a chance. Haven’t seen Season 3 yet but want to binge before the end, and could definitely use a refresher on previous content. This seems perfect for that!

TheDimitrios said:

Not completely through, but in the beginning when the clones leave tje bar there seems to be a “ghosting” effect on the footage.

Ahh yes. Good spot. The speed of that segment was slowed slightly with frame blending on. Must have been a remnant from a previous cut.

I’ve adjusted and will & upload a new version tonight.

Acbagel said:

Hey Smudger, would love to watch these when you get a chance. Haven’t seen Season 3 yet but want to binge before the end, and could definitely use a refresher on previous content. This seems perfect for that!

Of course. PM sent.

Thanks Honstable. Reviews are always very much appreciated.

This season was a challenge because it was very fragmented with far too many mission-of-the-week filler episodes.

I agree with your thoughts on the killer crabs. I really wanted to leave them out, but I felt that we needed to open with the Batch and give them some sort of story to intercut with events on Coruscant. I also needed to include the Echo-Hunter conversation about “doing more” to set up Echo leaving the group.

That meant the opening needed to have Echo and involve them retrieving something to lead into the scene where the batch first meet Phee.
Unfortunately there wasn’t really another option. The Serrano plot was a 2-parter and much too long. I tried entombed, which would have allowed me to open with the batch already knowing Phee, but entombed is long and weak. I then tried tribe, but that couldn’t be condensed down. All I had left were the crabs 😞. I did manage to cut out Omega jumping down from the Marauder, so it’s not as bad as the original scene 😊.

As for continuity issues due to the cut material, hopefully there won’t be any as there was so much filler. The only issue I’ve come across so far in season 3 actually relates to me cutting Ryloth from season 1, but that should be easy to work around. There may be an issue if the Zillo beast makes an appearance. Hopefully it won’t.

The updated file has been uploaded to my Bad Batch folder which corrects the ghosting effect from the first Slip scene.

I just watched the first film of Smudger’s series here and I have to say, for what you set out to do (Season to movie adaptation), this edit was seriously done perfectly. I don’t think there is any way to break down this whole season into a better movie than how you did it. From the editing tricks to making the storyline make perfect sense from start to finish, to the added worldbuilding through Echo’s flashback, indistinguishable small uses of AI lines, and more, I was never left confused about the overall structure of the plot.

Technically, the edit is in a near-perfect state as well. No distractions from soundtrack changes, the quality was great, and I didn’t see any visual bugs. The only tiny thing was I thought some of the added wipe transitions were a little fast, the one that stood out the most was when they’re traveling back from the snow world in the opening scenes, I believe the original was a slow fade to black but here it was changed to a quick wipe. I think I noticed a couple of times where the transitions were altered and the wipes flew by too quickly, but this was quite minor overall.

If you are looking to consume a season of the Bad Batch in one sitting, this is absolutely 100% the best way possible to do it. You don’t need an episode guide flow chart, or timestamps to skip to the ends of certain episodes when the main plot moves, just watch Smudger’s edits! You will get the series’ core storyline in the best presentation possible.

While I do think that this is a 10/10 for accomplishing a quality Season-to-movie goal, I do have to point out that there are some inescapable narrative challenges with such a format. Particularly in the development of relationships between characters, there is just no possible way to show their bond grow over time when considering the need to tell this story in ~3 hours max. Omega’s relationship with the Batch did not initially feel like a natural growth, as obviously, Smudger has to cut a large number of side adventures in order to preserve this single movie format. I could definitely tell as a viewer that I was missing something because Omega bonded with certain members of the Batch way too quickly and it felt like I had missed the reason why. For example, since we primarily jump from Episode 1 almost immediately to Episode 8, we’ve missed about 2 hours of stories where Omega connects with certain members of the Batch through these side adventures (and yes, many of these filler episodes are indeed boring and do not impact the events of the main storyline whatsoever, but they do serve to pace out the bond formed between characters as each episode does usually contain a moment or two of growth). So when we jump through half a season, Omega suddenly out of nowhere shows extreme care and concern for Wrecker when he is getting his chip removed and calls him “My friend”, even though they have not shared any character moments together and appear like strangers to a new viewer. This is again noticeable when Omega says to Wrecker, “Can you show me how to arm this kind?” as she points to an explosive, referring to a previous episode where Wrecker and Omega go through a trial in disarming a bomb together, but since it’s a filler episode that was cut and we don’t see it in this movie, this character moment is lost but as a viewer I can still tell she was referencing something I never saw. Again, this isn’t Smudger’s fault, it’s an impossible challenge to solve in a Season-to-movie format, but for people watching TBB the first time through this edit, you should be aware that characters do have quite a bit of bonding that occurs outside the main storyline that you won’t be able to see. I noticed similar trends with the pacing of which Crosshair searches for TBB as well, but these missing character moments were the only storyline distraction as the actual events of the main plot work perfectly in the way you’ve structured it.

With that said, I do again want to stress this is seriously a 10/10 edit for the goal it tries to accomplish. You cannot edit a season into a better movie than how Smudger has done it, so for anyone looking for a single sit-down TBB experience, or wanting a refresher before watching Season 3, this is 100% the perfect edit for you. Thanks, Smudger, for all the hard work! It was perfect for what I needed as a recap as I tried to catch up on this show.

Acbagel said:

I just watched the first film of Smudger’s series here and I have to say, for what you set out to do (Season to movie adaptation), this edit was seriously done perfectly. I don’t think there is any way to break down this whole season into a better movie than how you did it. From the editing tricks to making the storyline make perfect sense from start to finish, to the added worldbuilding through Echo’s flashback, indistinguishable small uses of AI lines, and more, I was never left confused about the overall structure of the plot.

Technically, the edit is in a near-perfect state as well. No distractions from soundtrack changes, the quality was great, and I didn’t see any visual bugs. The only tiny thing was I thought some of the added wipe transitions were a little fast, the one that stood out the most was when they’re traveling back from the snow world in the opening scenes, I believe the original was a slow fade to black but here it was changed to a quick wipe. I think I noticed a couple of times where the transitions were altered and the wipes flew by too quickly, but this was quite minor overall.

If you are looking to consume a season of the Bad Batch in one sitting, this is absolutely 100% the best way possible to do it. You don’t need an episode guide flow chart, or timestamps to skip to the ends of certain episodes when the main plot moves, just watch Smudger’s edits! You will get the series’ core storyline in the best presentation possible.

While I do think that this is a 10/10 for accomplishing a quality Season-to-movie goal, I do have to point out that there are some inescapable narrative challenges with such a format. Particularly in the development of relationships between characters, there is just no possible way to show their bond grow over time when considering the need to tell this story in ~3 hours max. Omega’s relationship with the Batch did not initially feel like a natural growth, as obviously, Smudger has to cut a large number of side adventures in order to preserve this single movie format. I could definitely tell as a viewer that I was missing something because Omega bonded with certain members of the Batch way too quickly and it felt like I had missed the reason why. For example, since we primarily jump from Episode 1 almost immediately to Episode 8, we’ve missed about 2 hours of stories where Omega connects with certain members of the Batch through these side adventures (and yes, many of these filler episodes are indeed boring and do not impact the events of the main storyline whatsoever, but they do serve to pace out the bond formed between characters as each episode does usually contain a moment or two of growth). So when we jump through half a season, Omega suddenly out of nowhere shows extreme care and concern for Wrecker when he is getting his chip removed and calls him “My friend”, even though they have not shared any character moments together and appear like strangers to a new viewer. This is again noticeable when Omega says to Wrecker, “Can you show me how to arm this kind?” as she points to an explosive, referring to a previous episode where Wrecker and Omega go through a trial in disarming a bomb together, but since it’s a filler episode that was cut and we don’t see it in this movie, this character moment is lost but as a viewer I can still tell she was referencing something I never saw. Again, this isn’t Smudger’s fault, it’s an impossible challenge to solve in a Season-to-movie format, but for people watching TBB the first time through this edit, you should be aware that characters do have quite a bit of bonding that occurs outside the main storyline that you won’t be able to see. I noticed similar trends with the pacing of which Crosshair searches for TBB as well, but these missing character moments were the only storyline distraction as the actual events of the main plot work perfectly in the way you’ve structured it.

With that said, I do again want to stress this is seriously a 10/10 edit for the goal it tries to accomplish. You cannot edit a season into a better movie than how Smudger has done it, so for anyone looking for a single sit-down TBB experience, or wanting a refresher before watching Season 3, this is 100% the perfect edit for you. Thanks, Smudger, for all the hard work! It was perfect for what I needed as a recap as I tried to catch up on this show.

Thanks so much for the detailed review. It’s great getting quality feedback on these projects.

Thanks for the wipe feedback. I tend to vary the type of wipe rather than the duration, for some reason it never occurred to me to vary the timing. I’ll look at doing that going forwards.

I agree about the loss of character moments, and as you say, it’s a necessary evil with this format as a lot of those moments occurred in “filler” episodes. My main goal with these is streamlining plot, and as a result the character moments often have to go. The season 2 edit manages that side of things a little better.

Sirius said:

I watched your edit of season 2, and first I want to thank you for sharing your edit. When I watched the edit I thought it was excellent, despite there being some parts where the narrative is very slow. Something told me that Crosshair’s arc had been more significant when I watched the second season, but I couldn’t say exactly what. It was then that I remembered The Solitary Clone, and man, I think this episode makes a significant difference to the story of Season 2.

I would like to ask honestly, did you remove it because you considered it filler, because it wasn’t to your personal taste, or for another reason? Because, personally, I think there is a possibility of cutting some scenes from the political arc at the beginning, as well as some scenes from Pabu, without affecting the overall pace of the edit, and including at least the core scenes from The Solitary Clone. Of course this is your edit and you know what makes the most sense to you in the story, but in my personal experience, when I watched your edit, I felt that the dramatic weight surrounding the Crosshair uprising in Barton IV was much lighter than when I watched the entire season, and that’s due to the absence of this episode.

During this arc, we see Crosshair’s blind loyalty to the Empire in a clearer way than in the first season, as well as his level of dedication to completing a mission, even if it doesn’t make sense, due to his mantra of “good soldiers follow orders”. And then, when Crosshair finally realizes that the empire sees the clones as disposable, we remember all the loyalty, all the dedication he gave, and just like Crosshair, we realize that it was for nothing. And The Solitary Clone shows all this dedication of the character, helping the audience to understand the anguish that Crosshair feels at this turning point. Furthermore, the fact that Crosshair learned that Cody, a clone he respected and who was also loyal to the empire, rebelled, adds an additional layer to his decision to rebel later. And the fact that Rampart, an official of the empire, mentions that Cody is another one of the clones who defected, also helps us realize that this is not just a movement organized by the Bad Batch or Rex, but that this is probably happening with several clones throughout the galaxy, as they are seeing that the empire is no good and that even the inhibitor chips are not stopping the clones from rebelling, as Cody shows.

In short, I consider this episode important mostly because for me it is a build up to Crosshair’s change of side, and this is one of the most important moments in the Bad Batch show. Without it, his decision loses some impact. But again, I thought your edit was really great. You made me feel like Pabu’s scenes are important to the story lol, something I failed to realize while watching the original season. Also, I was going through a pretty stressful week when I watched your edit, and it helped me distract myself and disconnect from my problems, so thanks again 😄

Thanks for the input. When I was putting together this edit my initial cuts had some scenes from Solitary Clone to bolster Crosshair’s story. They ran alongside the clone conspiracy plot in act 1. It basically involved the Rampart and Cody interactions with a short, heavily edited infiltration of the Seperatist world.

However, when I started to watch the edit, the first act was far too slow and long and I ultimately decided that the Solitary Clone needed to be cut to speed up act 1. The political arc is the core story so I didn’t want to take any more of those scenes out, and the Pabu scenes were needed to provide a slower-paced second act and set up Pabu as their new “home”, which would become relevant in season 3.

I felt that it worked well to not see Crosshair until act 2 and Rampart’s opening lines tell the audience that he’d been left stranded on Kamino. Whilst it was nice having Cody included, ultimately he appears and defects and we don’t need to see that. In terms of Crosshair’s journey, we knew from season 1 that he is happy to blindly follow orders and his decision to remain with the Empire despite seeing the destruction of Kamino and being left abandoned there reinforced that. I felt The Outpost alone was enough to justify Crosshair’s decision to reject the Empire.

That being said, we still have 3 episodes of season 3 to go and that may warrant changes to episodes 1 and 2.

Season 3 edit!

As the final season draws to a close I thought I’d share a few ideas about my edit. When the season started off I was expecting to make 2 movies out of season 3 because it got off to a cracking start and seemed that every episode was crucial. However, the last few episodes have gone back to the paint-by-numbers mission of the week with very little plot progression. As I’ve started putting things together it’s yet another case of having enough material for about one and a half movies! The idea of a movie trilogy is very appealing so I’ve started putting together a potential single movie edit and I suspect this is the way I’m going to go. The structure so far is:

Act 1: (58mins)
Opening Crawl & Pan (2mins)

EP1: Confined (20mins)
Largely intact as the opening, but with the material slightly condensed from 3 daytime cycles to two.

EP2: Paths Unknown (completely cut)
Dead end plot that doesn’t help the Batch find Omega. The young clones don’t seem to be important.

EP3: Shadows of Tantiss (22mins)
Minor edits

EP4: A different Approach (10mins)
I have used the start and end of this episode. The opening scenes are intact upto the point where Crosshair and Omega reach the spaceport. When crosshair says about taking out half the guards before they realise, I cut to a Tantiss scene from another episode. We then cut back to Omega and Crosshair in the middle of the gunfight at the port and they escape. The cut is a touch comedic, but I think its much better than including the gambling scenes and the accent-switching Imperial Office. Plus it allows me to cut 10mins and gets us to the Batch reunion as quickly as possible. The other thing that I have cut is Dr Hemlock’s presence on the planet, searching for Omega. It’s inconsequential and contrary to Tantiss being presented as a fortress that nobody leaves unless essential. The hunt for Omega is conducted solely by the Stealth Clone.

EP10: Identity crisis (4mins)
A potentially controversial take on this episode. I thought as a stand-alone it was fantastic and dark. However, in terms of a larger movie edit I’ve decided to cut most of it. Bane the child snatcher is something we’ve seen before and is more fan service than essential plot. I’m also cutting the scenes with the kids. One theme running through this edit will be the mystery of the vault, so it will become a recurring theme that we see characters going into the vault but not the vault itself. We won’t see the inside of the vault until Omega does. We get a clue from the images on Emerie’s data pad, but nothing else.
The only scenes that will be retained are the Emerie taking on Nala Se’s role, Emerie talking to Nala Se about the vault and the Tarkin/Hemlock/Stealth Clone scene. These scenes are intercut with the Ep4 Scenes.

Act 2: (49mins)

EP5: The Return (23mins)
Only minor edits. A slightly frustrating episode in that it’s essential because it resolves the issues the Batch have with Crosshair, however, it doesn’t really move the plot along. That being said, this may be where I use a bit of AI dialogue to get the Batch to Tantiss - it all depends on how the last 3 episodes play out.

EP6 & EP7:
Completely cut. This is crucial to the single-movie edit. As things currently stand it’s not essential to the plot. The batch do find out that the Empire is still hunting Omega, but that is already implied, and some M-count exposition, but that has so far been a bit of a dead end.

EP8 & EP9:
Completely cut. EP9 may have to be re-instated if Ventress appears in the finale - it would be a strange decision to bring her back from the dead just for a stand alone episode.

EP10: Point of No Return (19mins)
Just minor edits here.

EP11: Juggernaught (7mins)
Just the Tantiss scenes. Hopefully the Rampart prison scenes can be cut but I guess we’ll see over the next few weeks.

Act3:
The finale - space for about an hour of material - I’m not worried about achieving a 1-hour finale cut, the issue will be whether the finale will require parts of the cut episodes to be included in act 2.

TheDimitrios said:

Just an idea: Maybe 4 movies total might give some leeway?

That was my original plan, but I’m not sure there is enough quality material to justify that. The last 3 episodes will dictate the outcome. I may have to go to 4 movies if there are essential tie ins to the mid season content.