jedi_bendu

Knight of Kalee said:

Will Crosshair have a Kallus-like arc, where he learns of how expendable he is for the Empire?

My guess would be that he’s taken the first step on that journey of realisation. I hope that Rampart carelessly ordering his death with the destruction of Kamino proves to be a fatal mistake.

I love the episodes Reunion, War Mantle and Return to Kamino, and I’m fond of a few others, but overall I’m not big on the season. With only some golden moments, I felt it was mostly a mishmash of cameos and fumbled plot lines. It had an odd structure, and favoured connectivity and fan service over much needed character development. Although characters like Hunter, Omega and Wrecker are endearing, they don’t grow very much… I think the batch do learn to “adapt and survive” as Saw said, and Omega influences their idea of what an outcast soldier should do faced with completely different circumstances, but all this is quite subtle and it’s not sufficient for a compelling season. I wanted to see characters like Tech or Wrecker put in situations where they can’t use their usual skillset to survive, I wanted to see Echo grapple with his past or his identity as part of the Batch, I wanted to see Omega grow as a person other than just becoming a resourceful warrior. Crosshair is very interesting, but his story is full of twists, turns and uncertainties and they’ve almost lost my interest at this point.

Fan service can be important. But I much prefer it when it’s properly serving the story. Cad Bane appeared as if being introduced as a new main antagonist, and I thought - great! But he was introduced only to have his ass handed to him the following episode and we never see him again. Fennec also seemed to be set up as a main antagonist, but appears in only one more episode then drops out of the season, just half way through. These are cameos are their worst. Tarkin seemed to be the main villain of sorts, then gets replaced by Rampart, who is still a little bland right now. The whole season just seems to be a bit of a mess for me.

The one thing that’s exciting me for season 2 right now is the possibility that this is Wayland from the original Thrawn trilogy. It seems too much of a coincidence that it’s a secret Imperial base built into a mountain on a forest planet and a chief cloning scientist is working there. This would be very cool, but I don’t like that the one thing I’m hyped for is another bloody connection to other star wars media. The batch have much more potential as individual characters than has been realised so far. I hope they step this up in season 2!

I think my favourite is possibly Return of the Jedi. Also love Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi like a lot of others here. I remember speculating with my friends before the release of TLJ about who this ‘last jedi’ was going to be.

I agree, actually. This season has been an absolute see saw of story quality imo. That final few minutes of this episode in particular make perhaps one of my favourite moments from Star Wars overall.

Concept artists designed Kamino to look sterile, cold and eerie. I find it very touching that in The Clone Wars, as the clones’ individuality grew we saw how much Kamino meant to them as their home, and got used to the life they brought to it, to the point where seeing Tipoca city destroyed is really saddening.

Goodbye old friend…

Very interesting that this is another post-TROS story, even if non-canon. The Lego Star Wars holiday special must have been successful and I wonder if this means anything for more future post sequel media.

Worth noting that a couple of the shorts from Visions will be set after TROS as well.

To be actually on-topic about the Halloween special itself, it sounds very like the ‘Vader’s Castle’ comics Cavan Scott wrote for IDW for Halloweens in 2018 and 19. I wonder if they actively used a similar premise without consulting Cavan, because he says he hasn’t been involved at all. I hope not, but Disney do have a bad habit of not consulting authors - Chuck Wendig had no idea his character Cobb Vanth was going to appear in The Mandalorian, for example.

I’ll be sure to pick up his final book. RIP Jonathan Rinzler. The Force will be with him always.

JackNapier said:

I absolutely despise all the people hating on Chris Chibnle’s run on Doctor Who.

Does this include reasonably-put criticism? I despise anyone who just hates for the sake of being angry or looking cool or any reason other than actually helpful criticism. But if you hate the people who just don’t like it and are being perfectly nice about that, I don’t think that’s fair.

ZkinandBonez said:

Sorry to harp on this again, but the word “filler” has quickly turned into my biggest modern pop culture analysis pet peeve. How exactly was last episode filler? They saved Cid (despite her having taken advantage of them for most of the season), they helped the Devaronian gangster guy, they even got involved with the pikes. I can see much of this, if not all of it, becoming really important in future episodes. And even if it doesn’t then it was still a full story which had a point to tell at the end. That’s not filler. Walter White chasing a fly for a full 50 min. episode of Breaking Bad because of broadcast requirements not matching the already mostly spent budget, now that’s filler.

Believe me Bonez, I don’t use the word lightly. When people call episodes ‘filler’, I’m often skeptical because those episodes have turned out to be important character development or bonding time, or just a crucial step back from the story so it isn’t far too overwhelming or fast paced. A lot of episodes people call ‘filler’, I wouldn’t. I don’t call any Clone Wars episodes filler because it’s an anthology series aiming to explore the full scope of the war, and that includes dwelling on smaller stories or characters. But TBB is a linear series; I certainly wasn’t feeling like the story was moving too fast, and the episode felt like they were running out of ideas for new episodes.

Sorry for rambling on about the term, but there are also no Rebels episodes I’d call filler (and maybe that seems a stretch…) ‘Droids in Distress’ explores Zeb’s history and past trauma while setting up the Ghost crew’s involvement in a larger Rebellion; ‘Fighter Flight’ uses a goofy fruit-finding mission to develop the brotherly bond between Ezra and Zeb after previous fallings-out; even Iron Squadron provides a look at Commander Sato’s relationships with Thrawn and his nephew, and it introduces Mart. ‘Infested’ from TBB had pretty much no character development as far as I could tell. Cid proves herself slightly honourable by wanting to save Omega, which I liked, and Omega proves herself a kind and compassionate person for the hundredth time… I just felt like it dragged a bit and didn’t do much to make the characters of the Batch more memorable. But I’m maybe being too harsh on it, because the show IS aiming to explore this period in the star wars galaxy and taking a look at the criminal underworld is an important part of that. And I hope we see the pikes again.

I fully believe Ahsoka’s whereabouts during events of the original trilogy will be cleared up at some point. Dave Filoni and the Rebels team did make sure that the other two Jedi characters, Kanan and Ezra, were safely out of the way before ANH. I’d love Ahsoka to have been on some kind of spiritual journey for a higher purpose, called away by the Force simply because it isn’t her destiny to help Vader see the light again, but Luke’s.

If we don’t get any kind of explanation like that, yeah I’ll be pissed too.

Well, although episode 13: Infected felt like little other than pure filler, episode 14 put the series really back on form. Returning to the Kamino plot and exploring the transition from clones to stormtroopers is really taking advantage of the current state of the star wars galaxy to make the series more interesting. Sure, we got a bit of the same ‘hunter doesn’t want to do thing, omega says it’s the right thing to do, hunter reluctantly agrees, they do the thing while omega sits it out but steps in to save the day at the end’ story that we’ve already got a number of times with this season, but it definitely felt like there were higher stakes and a much better focus on the characters of the Batch - for example Echo using the comparison of his rescue from Skako Minor to show his personal investment in what happens and to move the plot forward.

Also, something that Star Wars Explained picked up in his review of the episode was that the intermediate clone-stormtrooper design seems to be inspired by Ralph McQuarrie’s stormtrooper concept art. Lucasfilm animation has a great track record of using McQuarrie concepts as direct inspirations and I’m glad The Bad Batch is continuing that!

I agree, it’s great to see Lucasfilm taking fan creators seriously! Good for Shamook, I think I’ve watched a lot of his work and he deserves this new job.

Very good news recently that Claudia Gray will be writing the next main High Republic novel, The Fallen Star. I have some of her Star Wars books but haven’t got round to reading them just yet; from what I hear she’s perhaps the best author from the Disney SW era.

Meanwhile, I’ve just started Cavan Scott’s The Rising Storm and am on chapter 7. I’m enjoying it, and although it hasn’t taken off for me just yet I’m certain it will. I keep seeing people talking about how dark it is and that the last few chapters are devastating, so frankly, I have a bad feeling about this…

Servii said:

Also, I didn’t realize that Luke said “Well, more wealth than you can imagine!” to Han. I always heard what he said as “Well, more well than you can imagine!”

Same. And I agree with NevararGreat, the word is skimmed over a little bit. George’s favourite direction - faster with more intensity - has some drawbacks!

Luke’s sacrifice was never meant to end the war. The First Order still had forces and still controlled much of the galaxy - that was a thread that still needed resolving. The point of Luke’s sacrifice was simply him finding purpose in helping the new generation live to fight another day, as Ben Kenobi once did for him, Han and Leia.

Fifth brother and seventh sister don’t exactly represent the best of Rebels - they were mostly just fill-in villains for Vader. But maybe the show can make Fifth brother a more interesting villain.

I’m also interested by the rumour that a young Leia will be a focus of the show. I’ve been worried about why Obi-wan would leave Tatooine and risk leading the Empire back to Luke, but if Leia is threatened somehow it’s a very good reason for him to do that. In Rogue One and ANH, Bail also knows that Obi-wan IS available to be called upon in times of desperate need, so it would line up. I’m happy about this.

Well, the MCU seems to have just embarked on a new saga.

Cadavra said:

This would allow us to spend time with the heroes at peace and show a glimpse of the free galaxy they fought for in the OT.

Just seeing this thread now. This made me realise that one of the most major flaws of the sequels right from the off was not showing us the good to come out of the new republic before everything goes to shit. Plunging us right into pretty much the same dire situation we were presented with in ANH can create a sense that the original trilogy’s fight didn’t matter as much. A key advantage of the rewrite, and something that can differentiate the sequels from the OT, is that we watch the situation unfold.

Love the titles, by the way!

fmalover said:

Poe, Finn and Chewie arrive on Coruscant to present irrefutable evidence of the IR’s growing threat over the past three decades before the Senate, and suddenly the Imperial Remnant launches a surprise attack and Kylo, alongside two other Knights, personally takes Leia hostage. Upon sensing Leia’s Force potential, Kylo is puzzled about a Force wielder such as Leia not using her position to exert greater control upon the population through the Force, to which Leia responds that giving up such power is the true meaning of strength.

I really like this debate about the use of power and the contrast in ideologies. I also really like that Coruscant is back in this version.

I like the touch of Lando using his past connections to help the New Republic, and I’m glad he appears in ep 8 instead of 9.

Also really like Kylo maybe revisiting locations from the OT, like the cave on dagobah. It’s fanservice perhaps, but like how fanservice was used in TLJ (Leia hologram, yoda’s appearance) it also serves an important story purpose.

fmalover said:

Rey has been training under Luke, however unbeknownst to Luke, her fateful encounter with Kylo Ren has created an unusual Force bond between her and Kylo in which Rey represents embodies the light with a touch of darkness, and Kylo the dark with a touch of light.

This is a tricky one: I wonder if it’s possible to have a more meaningful explanation for this force bond/dyad than just ‘it happens, but it’s unusual’. TROS barely has an explanation, but at least there Rey is palpatine’s ‘granddaughter’ so it’s the grandchildren of vader and palpatine being connected in a sense. Maybe, like so many things that happen because of the force - such as force ghosts - it simply can’t be explained and is there because the story needs it. I must say I’m really interested in the plot point of Rey accidentally finding out about the planned attack because of the force bond.

Knight of Kalee said:

The only downside would be the death of Orn Free Taa, despite his role in the Lords of the Sith novel.

Don’t worry, Orn Free Taa isn’t dead - he’s still moving after being shot and Admiral Rampart calls it an ‘attempted assassination’. Crosshair shot him in the lekku instead of the head. I’m very relieved they paid attention to his role in the novel.

ZkinandBonez said:

I think this episode is another great example of how cameos can work well for both fans of the other series and for people who are new to the cartoons. I really enjoyed seeing Cham, Hera and Chopper again, but it was so well written and relevant to the themes of this series that I don’t think this episode would feel to off to someone who’s not seen TCW or Rebels. That is, apart from the obvious absence of Batch for most of the episode, however I won’t mind if this series decides to take a TCW-esque approach to future episodes where the main characters can take a step back to let other interesting characters shine. And I also think making Crosshair the main focus, as far as the Bad Batch characters are conerned at least, was really clever.

I’m agreed with this. And I loved seeing Hera again. Worked far better than the Kanan cameo at the beginning of the season imo.

Currently reading Ciaran Carson’s translation of the Tain Bo Cuailnge, a book of Irish mythology featuring the legend Cu Chulainn. He does a great job of the translation, despite the experimental poetry which I find frustrating, but ultimately the story isn’t that great. Based off the biggest contrivance in the history of fiction, and dissolves into a repetitive structure of cu chulainn defeating soldiers of the army invading Ulser, overpowered protagonist that he is. It’s not easy to root for him, either. One minute he’s an honourable guy and very friendly, the next he turns into the Irish mythological version of the Incredible Hulk and slaughters a field of men, women, children, horses and dogs for no discernible reason.

My random thought is that as of today, I’ve been on OT.com for a year. I just wanted to thank everyone for making it so enjoyable for me!

https://youtu.be/b9Gr9gKFxpE

At lightspeed, I payed for an entry fee for Anime Expo last-minute which meant I got to see the Star Wars Visions panel. Lots of exciting stuff - what’s maybe most interesting is that Lucasfilm are completely disregarding canon for this one. I couldn’t be happier with that; it’s given the creators more creative freedom and I have no doubt what we see this september will be nothing short of wacky, wonderful and possibly the most unique star wars stories ever.

Thus proof the sequel trilogy was being planned out all the way back in 1999 😉

Nothing much to discuss about that episode. Another very standalone one and a change of pace. Needed more character development or conflict I think, but I still really enjoyed it and loved seeing the Empire use iconography of the Republic - like V-wings and AT-TEs, as well as of course clone troopers. Makes me wonder if we’ll see one of those repainted venators this series. I really hope so.