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The project that started it all with my animated arcs endeavours – though this is technically the third version for the first season. Attempt 1 in April ’20 had the basic groupings down and was very straightforward, attempt 2 in Aug ’22 was more thorough and comprehensive, and this attempt from October ’22 is the best one yet.
To frame it along the most relatable project I’ve uploaded recently – this is similar to my Rebels Arcs project: the episodes are grouped together in the relevant groups, and even if it’s not like one happens right after the other. And again, if it feels like maybe a few days or a week have elapsed since that episode ended, but it’s still the next one released, it’s still grouped in anyway because it still belongs.
As with the other SW animated projects I’ve uploaded lately, I took all the dedicated two-, three- and four-episode stories and put them in their larger stories, this time with custom title cards needed at the start of each arc/episode because of this show’s format. There is also one mega-arc again, but on more of a technicality this time.
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Once again, I always found that having every deliberate story arc self-contained as its own thing makes the story much easier to digest. And, like Rebels again – because all the episodes here are from the same seasons again, I’ve also found it makes developing as well as viewing things much smoother now than TCW’08.
Again, there are no official name of arcs this time from a Lucasfilm source, so I just used names I invented, going so far as putting them in the credits of the arcs’ last episodes in lieu of the original episode titles.
This version of the first season is distinguished from the others by rearranging the story in the first arc by having two versions of it, both with only half the episode “Replacements” included this time, and spending the season – in my opinion at least – ‘fixing’ the character of Wrecker. Specifically, I removed some of his more stupid/shortsighted moments, especially in the first few episodes – since I felt like this was doing him a bit of a disservice by essentially just making him a giant idiot (literally and figuratively). Especially on occasions that are in very sharp contrast to his appearance in Season 7 of The Clone Wars or that just don’t make sense for an elite soldier to struggle with generally.
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Season 1:
I cut the first arc into two versions again, because the whole story of the first three episodes does form one unbroken chain of events – but it’s very long, even longer than the longest stories in TCW and RBL and even short films in the cinema. Obviously it sounds very long, and it goes double for a show that is designed for TV, and not film, so I put it into more bite-sized pieces to be more accommodating.
ARC 01a. “The New Reign Begins” [Extended] – 1hr 51mins, episodes: 1x01 “Aftermath”, 1x02 “Cut and Run” & half of 1x03 “Replacements”. Having it all together constitutes the show’s mega-arc, but only in terms of runtime, hence the technicality – it’s still only 3 episodes, but it’s still a very long story start-to-finish, like the 5-episode arcs in TCW and RBL. For the title card of this version, I put the name of the episode in the same red colour as the original episode, for consistency.
ARC 01b. “Aftermath” – 1hr 11mins, and then “The New Reign Begins” – 43 mins, episodes: 1x02 “Cut and Run” & half of 1x03 “Replacements”. The name of the original arc, and the now-second part of this one, is very straightforward – Emperor Palpatine declares the Empire’s birth and the new Galactic Order starts in his wake, even at the most base level like Tarkin arriving to put the Batch to task on Imperial enemies, not Republic ones.
(.) The story changes are consistent between both of these story versions, the runtime being the only real difference with the two different cuts. I only included half of the episode “Replacements” through cutting out all of the Ordo Moon Dragon parts – because ever since the episode aired, it all just felt like something to keep the Batch grounded and occupied while Crosshair deals with the more interesting part of the episode on Onderon. So, true to form of my ‘Sidequestless’ edits of The Mandalorian, I cut that needless little segue that stalls the story out. Now it’s like the Batch crash because of the damage from Saleucami, identify the capacitor problem, Crosshair’s whole story plays out uninterrupted on Kamino, Onderon and back again, and then back to the moon where the Batch replaces the capacitor and immediately leaves.
(…) In terms of fixing the Wrecker problem in these Episodes….
In “Aftermath”: Now he no longer repeats what Tech said about the war being over once they return to Kamino, it sounds more stupid than like a joke or sarcastic mocking, so it’s gone. Wrecker no longer wonders what Omega is when they first meet her, because how can you not know what a child is, especially in a facility like that when there are child clone cadets regularly milling around for training and such? So his line and Tech’s reply to it are both gone – we’ve only just met her, so her origins are uncertain without that being pointed out by Tech as well. In the lunch hall, Wrecker no longer acts like he doesn’t remember who Omega is, since it was just a few minutes ago. During the fight demonstration, he no longer complains about not knowing hand signals – because how can you be a soldier and not have that skill, especially an elite one? Now, Hunter gives the signals, Wrecker immediately understands, gives his thumbs up and does what he has to do. On Onderon, he now no longer remarks that he thinks Tech is joking about Omega being an enhanced Clone – because there’s no outward reason to think he’s joking and no one else makes that assumption, so it feels too wrong out of nowhere for no reason. Back on Kamino in prison, Wrecker no longer shouts he can free them from confinement loud enough for their guards to hear (because, come on dude….) – now he just stands suddenly, says it in a whisper and that’s that.
Also, I did consider removing Omega’s lucky shot against Crosshair as they’re leaving Kamino, and maybe replacing it with Echo instead. Since she admits she’s never fired a blaster before and I got sick of heavy plot convenience in the Sequel Trilogy anyway. But there’s still a bit of a mystery about what makes her so special to the point Tech notes she’s ‘enhanced’ to this day, and still some theories she could be at least a partial Palpatine clone (I’d rather not, but we’ll see where it goes), so it could all make sense one day – who knows?
In “Cut and Run”, Wrecker doesn’t ask if the battle droid booby trap was him. Even with the second tripwire being harder to see, the decoy/deactivated droids only sprung up once the farm’s threshold was crossed, and he was the only one to move there over that line, so it should be easily inferred without asking.
In “Replacements”, Wrecker’s reaction during and immediately after the shuttle crashing is removed because it’s the exact opposite of that same scenario in TCW: he openly relished an LAAT shuttle crash on Anaxes, but then clearly panicked for their own shuttle on the Ordo Moon. (It could be because Omega was on board and he’s fond of her, or because it’s their own ship/home this time – but it’s not specified at all, so it feels too different for no obvious reason).
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ARC 02. “More Enemies and More Opportunities” – 44 mins, episodes: 1x04 “Cornered” & 1x05 “Rampage”. Wrecker changes include taking out his exposition of the Ord Mantell hangar supervisor wanting a bribe – everyone can tell what ‘financial incentive’ he’s referring to without it being spelled out like that. Later on, when Wrecker goes up against Fennec in the tunnel, their clash goes unseen – because he’s a physical powerhouse with elite military training, so taking him down in a single move/second is just kind of insulting – she still wins the clash, he’s still noted MIA briefly by the others & he wakes up in the tunnel and there’s still other episodes’ incidents of him hitting his head to set off his chip, so it’s all good
Name comes from the first episode, where the Batch learns they can have heat on their tail besides The Empire when a bounty hunter comes knocking for Omega, and the second episode where they enter a life of work outside the soldiering they were created for.
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ARC 03. “The Mission to Bracca” – 1hr 31mins, episodes: 1x06 “Decommissioned”, 1x07 “Battle Scars”, 1x08 “Reunion” & 1x09, “Bounty Lost”. In the episode “Reunion”, Tech no longer states the power is back on – because everyone knows that’s what he was doing while the rest of them were scouting for weapons so it seems very redundant, also Wrecker no longer pulls on the torpedo door to open it when the power comes back, because it can easily be inferred it’ll open properly now with the power restored – now the power goes on all over the ship and it cuts to the torpedo door snapping open as an easy solution. Also removed Wrecker grouching he doesn’t know what “Egress” means when they’re trying to escape through the Venator engine – even if you don’t know the meaning, it’s still very contextually obvious what it means with where they are and what they’re doing. Thirdly, removed him complaining it’s not fair Omega doesn’t have an inhibitor chip like the other Clones - just a bit childish.
The arc’s name comes from the central two episodes dealing with the removal of the Batch’s inhibitor chips and the fallout from the interest they catch there respectively. DCM works well as an episode building up to this, and BL works well as an episode following it all, so the four all flow well together as one self-contained story.
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EPISODE 04. Common Ground – 25 mins, single episode 1x10. The only change I made was taking out the Omega line on Raxus, since it didn’t seem to make sense it would slip Hunter’s mind that she wasn’t there seeing as he told her himself to her face that she wasn’t going. Because it’s a very CW-like mission, I think an even better way to handle it would be to replace “Omega” with “Crosshair” in a dub, but since I’m not sure I can find a line from Hunter and Tech at the same volume to fit in with the rest of their whispered conversation in the corridor, so leaving it out entirely would probably be for the best. Now it works out like Tech mentioning 4 Regs in the adjacent corridor, then the Senator’s aide droid immediately comes along and goes past them, trying to “help” and it carries on as normal.
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ARC 05. “Rumblings on Ryloth” – 50 mins, episodes 1x11 “Devil’s Deal” & 1x12 “Rescue on Ryloth”. This arc has the Ryloth characters taking centre stage more than the others on the heroes’ side, meaning the Batch have less lines and such than other episodes – because of this, I didn’t have to make any changes at all when making this arc, save for a custom title card, credits name tag, and transition fade between the two episodes. The name comes from the events on the planet in general: occupation, local dissidents, secretive arms race to defend oneself, and the beginnings of the long-hoped-for Clone Rebellion itself.
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EPISODE 06. Infested – 25 mins, single episode 1x13. I cut out the bit with Wrecker’s torch dropping - since it feels like it’s adding needless tension (as nothing happens off the back of it hive-wise) and makes him look more incompetent – and the reference to it later with Cid. Secondly, when the spare trolley drops down, Wrecker no longer says “maybe they didn’t hear it” because that’s so unlikely it’s redundant at best, stupid at worst.
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ARC 07. “The End of The Republic” – 1hr 13mins, episodes 1x14 “War-Mantle”, 1x15 “Return to Kamino” & 1x16 “Kamino Lost”. Wrecker changes include: In "War-Mantle”, I’ve taken out him acknowledging everyone has a point, because it’s repetitive and redundant – except Echo since that’s the one they eventually go with – now the good points made by others are just self-evident without it being pointed out. Also the line asking what Rex’s transmission was about – he told them the problem he was having and why he couldn’t solve it himself; that all seems very self-explanatory and kind of needlessly redundant to me. Thirdly, I took out Wrecker asking Tech if what Omega says about Nala Se’s private lab was true, since it’s just confirming something that’s already said literally seconds before, and once it’s confirmed you kind of see how redundant going out of the way to spell it out is. Plus taking it out doesn’t interrupt the flow of what Omega’s saying, letting the explanation continue cleanly and lets her have her moment.
(Why this name for this arc and not the first one? Good question!) The name feels a lot more at home here, given it’s the end of the season, but also a lot of Republic elements are gone for good: the Clones are phased out with the TK Troopers replacing them, the facilities on Kamino are razed to the ocean bed, and the new Empire seems to be starting on a very strong foot going forward from here.
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Season 2:
My edit of the second season, from January-March ’23 follows the same vein as V3 of the first season – so a lot of the logic with grouping the arcs, fixing Wrecker’s character, custom titles in the credits is the same and works the same way. But, fortunately, the middle seemed to take much less work this time around, with only a few episodes needing work at all for that matter, so I think the studio started to do that on their own without me.
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ARC 08. “The War Chest” arc – 46 mins, episodes: 2x01 “Spoils of War” & 2x02: “Ruins of War”. The name comes from the vast treasure trove on Serenno the Batch goes to burgle to pay their debt with Cid, and I didn’t have to do anything to ‘fix’ Wrecker this time – he seemed much more in the game and more capable right off the bat, which was good.
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EPISODE 09. “Faster” – 23 mins, episode 2x04 of the same name. Wrecker needed some good fixing here for his comment when Tech starts the race and is in a low position. I’ve changed it so now Omega informs him Tech’s in last place, and it immediately cuts to Tech stating he’s got it handled, and that’s it – no stupidly obvious comment about how winning a race works.
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EPISODE 10. “Raiders of the Lost Heart” – 27 mins, originally the episode 2x05 “Entombed”. Given the treasure the Batch seeks with Phee Genoa on Skara Nal, and the way a lot of the episode is kind of a not-very-subtle homage to the adventures of Indiana Jones, I thought this new name would be very appropriate. Once again, I didn’t need to change anything with Wrecker luckily, so the name in the title card and credits is the only change I made.
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ARC 11. “Truths and Conspiracies” – 54 mins, episodes: 2x07 “The Clone Conspiracy” & 2x08 “Truth and Consequences”. No Wrecker changes were needed luckily, the name is mostly a portmanteau of the two released episode titles, and I used the credits from TCC for the arc, as the soundtrack is more impactful. This is especially apt after an appearance from The Emperor, Echo leaving the squad and the Imperial Stormtrooper being announced to the Galaxy.
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ARC 12. “Cid’s Last Chance” – 1hr 20mins, episodes: 2x09 “The Crossing”, 2x10 “Retrieval” & 2x11 “Metamorphosis”. Wrecker changes were not needed again, and the name comes from the Batch finally reaching their breaking point with Cid and deciding she’s sealed her own fate and is no longer worth having ties to.
First there’s the dangerous mission for her, then very clear apathy when they’re stranded there on HER behalf, and when they get the Marauder back the best she can do is a very half-assed non-apology for an insulting percentage. To top it off; in lieu of any real acknowledgement of her failings here, recognising just how much they’ve actually done for her by now, or a new and much more mutually beneficial arrangement from here on out, she just makes it clear she’s still only interested in keeping them around if they keep being profitable for her – all in one story arc.
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ARC 13. “Troubles of The Mountain” – 1hr 38mins, episodes: 2x13 “Pabu”, 2x14 “Tipping Point”, 2x15 “The Summit & 2x16 “Plan 99”. No Wrecker changes, and the arc’s name is a bit of a play on words again. On Pabu you have the flooding which threatens the citizens there on that steep islanded settlement, the matters within Mount Tantiss on Wayland concerning the Clones and their future – including Crosshair – and everything at the summit on Eriadu, perhaps especially with the mess Saw Gerrera causes with his own selfish aims.
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It’s a Mega link like everything else.
Footnote: I am in no capacity a professional editor or VFX artist, so some areas are visibly mostly good as I have to be realistic with the footage in front of me and what I can do with it. If you do have any particular notes and feedback, feel free to give me your thoughts, but please be constructive and don’t be an ass about it.