Much like last week’s installment, this week I’m looking at unfinished ‘story reels’ for an arc called “Bad Batch.” Next week, Alice W. Castle – host of Force Ghost Coast to Coast – will be joining me for a special edition of the Star Wars Book Club, looking at Dark Disciple the, as of right now, final bit of Clone Wars media. Let’s dig into these final story reels.
1. The Bad Batch
In this arc, we meet ‘the Bad Batch,’ a crew of clones that didn’t exactly come out as designed. They have specialized skills, along with some quite different looks, and are the Clone Wars version of the Dirty Dozen or [insert rag tag gang of misfits here]. They’re a fun crew to spend some time with, even if the limited animation of these story reels hamper our enjoyment/understanding of them more than the established characters we’ve come to know over the course of six seasons.
One of the highlights of this show, as I’ve mentioned over and over again, is how well distinguished certain Clone Troopers have become as defined characters. This arc features 2 of the most fleshed out in Echo and Rex. But the Bad Batch boys are equally unique, and I really dug the design of some of them. I specifically loved Tech’s helmet adapted for his eyeglasses.
2. Echo
This entire arc is really built around the hunt for Echo, one of the five or six most key Clone Troopers in the entire series. His rescue is important to the overall tenor of the show in a few key ways. First of all, it is one of the rare times that we see a Clone willing to go outside the system to get something done. Secondly, it shows the Jedi, or at least Anakin, is willing to really stick his neck out for a Clone. This is quite different than the cannon fodder we’ve seen them be over the course of the series.
But most importantly, it is important for a really simple reason: it is a rare glimpse of hope for these Clones. Their existence is not exactly a great one, and it looks like their ends all come quickly and violently. This is a rare moment of a Clone getting out from under the boot of the war. Of course, who knows what Echo’s future holds (well, actually, it involves either killing a Jedi or removing a chip from his brain), but this was a rare win for a group of characters that rarely seem to get them.
3. Everyone’s beating off to Padme
Much like Paul McCartney and John Lennon, it appears that the Bad Batch like to have group whack sessions, as they have a horned up Padme painted on the nose of their ship. This, of course, is another connection to the World War II bombers that George Lucas is so enamored with. This seems like one of those moments that might’ve been cut in the editing process for being a little too risque for a Cartoon Network show, but it is a fun moment here, even without the benefit of seeing Anakin’s expression when he realizes who that is supposed to be (the story reel doesn’t provide any facial moments, so he looks exactly the same before and after seeing it).
4. Bat-connections
These episodes had two totally unintentional homages to Batman films. The first is that Wat Tambor’s voice is hilariously off-brand Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. I kept waiting for him to say “Let the games…begin.” The second is that when the decimator kills people, it turns them into a fine powder, much like the device that the Penguin uses on the UN in Batman ’66.
Again, I know this is nothing, but it tickled me.
5. A really good story of warfare
This is one of the best pure warfare arcs in the series. It is simple: find the POW, rescue him, give him meaning again. That gets decompressed over four episodes, but it gives Echo a ton of time to get the spotlight, and gives nice character moments for a number of other characters. There’s something about these episodes that were surprisingly intense and yet hopeful; if properly animated, these might rank among my favorite Clone-centric arcs of the entire series.
See ya next week for the stunning conclusion!
