Disney+ has swooped in and revived the Star Wars universe after some less-than-loved movies with the unlikely savior of serialized TV shows. The Mandalorian, which wrapped its second season in December, quickly became the streaming service’s killer app by giving us all the galaxy-spanning bounty-hunting adventure we could handle. That opened the floodgates for a whole pile of other shows, and the newest one—The Bad Batch—premieres this week.
Who Are The Bad Batch?
If you’re into Star Wars, you probably know about clone troopers, the disposable legion of Republic soldiers copied from bounty hunter Jango Fett to fight the Separatists. Even though they’re based on a guy, the Sith did some tinkering with their genetic code to make them less independent. And they’re also subject to manufacturer error. And that’s where Clone Force 99, aka the Bad Batch, come in.
Each of the five members of the squad diverges from the norm in at least one important way. Hunter, the leader, has enhanced senses that extend to the electromagnetic spectrum, letting him track with supernatural accuracy. Tech is a linguistic and mechanical genius, able to translate on the fly and penetrate computer systems to give the team access to whatever they need. Crosshair can enter a state of absolute stillness with his sniper rifle, allowing him to make seemingly impossible shots. Wrecker’s physical strength and durability is several standard deviations above the norm, and Echo—the only member not from the original group—has been cybernetically modified by the Separatists, with hidden technology that comes in very handy.
The idea for the group came from George Lucas himself, who wanted to explore the idea of variance within the homogenous Clone Troopers. The team was originally conceptualized in 2012 before Cartoon Network cancelled The Clone Wars.
With the Empire rising to power, the Bad Batch find themselves at a crossroads in their lives. What will be their role in this new galaxy, and how many of their former targets are out there gunning for revenge? Throw in Order 66 and you’ve got a real problem.
What Is Order 66?
One of the most important elements of Star Wars canon bridging the prequel trilogy with A New Hope, Order 66 was how the Sith secured their power at the fall of the Galactic Republic.
Unbeknownst to the Senate, each of the Clone Troopers birthed from the tanks on the planet Kamino had a behavioral-modification chip implanted in their brain. Ostensibly, this was to keep them obedient to the chain of command, but the chip held a secret command—Order 66. Upon activation, the clone trooper would immediately begin attacking any Jedi they saw, not stopping until they were dead.
Some Jedi learned about the plan when a clone trooper was activated early by accident, but they were unable to spread the word before Palpatine was exposed as Darth Sidious, which led the Sith leader to flip the switch and activate Order 66, purging the galaxy of nearly all its Jedi. How the Bad Batch manages to overcome this programming—if they do—is bound to be a pretty major plot element of the series.
What Should I Watch First?
This isn’t the first rodeo for these guys. The Bad Batch made their debut in the seventh and final season of The Clone Wars, over a four-episode arc that begins with the first episode of the season. This served as a sort of “backdoor pilot” for the concept, and in it, series regulars Commander Cody and Captain Rex team up with the squad to raid a Separatist outpost. During the mission, they discover that Rex’s old cohort CT-1409, thought killed in a previous episode, is alive but changed.
If you dig that quartet of episodes, reach back to previous seasons for a little more on Echo’s backstory. He first appeared in the Season 1 episode “Rookies,” as well as an arc in the third season that ended with his supposed death.
Some other side characters we’ve seen in the trailer have appeared in previous Star Wars media as well. Saw Gerrera has been both in Season 5 episodes of The Clone Wars as well as in Rogue One. Badass gunslinger Fennec Shand from The Mandalorian is also slated to show up here. She’s also apparently in the upcoming The Book Of Boba Fett series. Busy girl!
That said, we’re pretty sure that Lucasfilm is going to include enough material to catch up new viewers on The Bad Batch without doing any homework, so don’t stress it too much if you can’t find the time before May the 4th.
Why Isn’t This Live-Action?
Good question! The biggest reason is that The Clone Wars was animated, so the character models and voices are all set and ready to go. That hasn’t stopped other characters—Ahsoka Tano made the jump to live action in The Mandalorian, with Rosario Dawson playing the part. However, this show involves a lot more characters who already have established appearances and voices. Recasting all of them, especially when the last season of The Clone Wars just wrapped, could further confuse the issue.
It’s also a way to further legitimize the animated Star Wars properties and make them accessible to adult fans. Real heads know that some of these shows have been among the very best the franchise has to offer, with strong plotting and memorable characters filling in the gaps between the first and second trilogies. That period, as the Empire rises to control the galaxy, is among the most fascinating in Lucasfilm lore. But it also involves big battles with lots and lots of characters, the kind of thing that live-action TV struggles with.
The Star Wars animated properties have carved out a very distinctive visual style, employing high-end 3D graphics but skewing away from reality toward an almost caricatural depiction of its living beings. Although it might seem distracting at first, you quickly get used to it.
The Bad Batch debuts on Disney+ in the US beginning May 4, 2021, at 12:00 a.m. PT.
