The Bad Batch The Bad Batch 1.05 - Rampage - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Boils down to this, 5000 planets in the galaxy, but only 100 characters on them, and they all know each other lol.

 

Blink and you miss it moment I caught in this episode. Once again it's on Tech. When the camera shifts from Hunter to Echo before he followed Cid inside at the end. Tech can just barely be seen starting to walk around Echo. Look for the little red light on his coke bottles. This guy is a human FBI Survaliance van. I remember from the Bad Batch arc in TCW he has a hobby of recording everything.

 

Another thing that I like in The Bad Batch (and can also be seen in The Mandalorian) is a sense of realism from a certain perspective. Sure, it's another episode where Hunter and the team had to do a side quest to obtain information and credits (ala The Mandalorian), but I just like it that the Storygroup shows the need for the team to buy food and purchase fuel. I like this sense of realism where it shows the other side required from going place to place. You don't just have endless fuel reserves and food stores, you need to stop and re-fuel and re-stock. And on top of this, one's credits are not just an endless supply too. You need to do small jobs continuously to build up your credit supply.

Seeing this "realism" stuff in The Bad Batch and The Mandalorian puts it into perspective for me how much planets like Alderaan bank-rolled such a large organisation such as the Rebellion and how much the Centrist planets post-ROTJ bank-rolled and helped create the large organisation of The First Order.

And on a funnier note, it puts it into perspective when Palpatine loses it in one of Robot Chicken's parodies when Vader phones him and tells him the first Death Star has been destroyed.

 

Yah I was kinda bummed when it was Jabba's Rancor (maybe? Probably?) because Luke done crushes it's head with a door, maybe it's a way to generate sympathy for the Rancor Keeper moment.

Anyway, they finally gave Omega a wrist-comm and told her to stop wandering off so maybe that'll take care of the Echo Wanders Off plotlines.

Oddly, the self-contained adventure with connections tot he film vibe of this episode felt a lot like Resistance to me, which may be intentionally since I believe the showrunners worked on Resistance.

 

Yea that been the case with all of Star Wars. Not saying you can’t critique it, but just saying don’t expect it to go anywhere. I can’t name a single canon story that doesn’t have some connection to something else.

 

Spoiler

Bib mother****ing Fortuna, baby! I was pleasantly surprised finding out that Muchi was a rancor! I still believe Fennec was commissioned by Boba who was hired by Kamino!

 

For all we know, Jabba may have had a stable full of Rancors.

 

There could be more than one. I just really like how the idea of Muchi being the one Luke kills recontextualizes that scene.
Pateesa hasn't been uncanonized yet and doesn't have to be, but anything's possible.

 

Well the writer of the episode said this so obviously the writers intention was for it to be the ROTJ rancor

 

Very true, and im all for connection, but lately it has become overkill.

 

It will probably be way worse in BOBF

 

I agree with everyone saying that Star Wars being a "small universe" is just a part of Star Wars at this point. And has been for a very long time - ever since Vader became Luke's father and Leia became Luke's sister!

 

I don't mind having parts of Aftermath retconned, and would be happy if they retconned all of it.

 

7/10 - animation for the monsters was a bit weak but at least Wrecker's got his mojo back just in time for his headache to return that's totally not foreshadowing anything ominous

 

Yeah, I just think the episode could set these kinds of things up better. Right now, what we've previously seen about the Batch is they can analyze any situation quickly and figure out how to respond. They're not only experienced military, but they have an intellectual genius part of the team.

I'm not saying it's impossible for them to ever be captured, but the execution needs to be better for me to buy it.

 

I didn't have a problem with the Batchers getting caught easily. Only one of them was an ARC Trooper. The Bad Batch is established as being bad at stealth which is something Mercenaries and people trying to lie low should be good at. The Batch are learning they can't do this in their sleep. They need better plans than the smash and grab. The Zygerians weren't a joke the last time around in the Slaves of the Republic Arc. They made pretty short work capturing Rex, Obi-wan, Ahsoka, and Anakin.

I think this will be built on in the story. I was probably harsh on Hunter not doing much leading and seeming off. He knows just as much as the others, nothing outside of life in the GAR. None of these guys are dumb including Wrecker. They just seem slow because they are learning as they go. Omega is obviously smart but she still has little situational awareness and will approach anybody which is what happened in this episode. She doesn't go up to Cid because all four of the Batchers are there to protect her. To go with that Hunter is making decisions entirely around Omega. Finding out who Fennec is may not have been the right one either. I wonder if one of the other Batchers will eventually take Crosshair's side and start crap with Hunter over his leadership.

The Bad Batch, IMO including Tech who is one of the books smart people just aren't the smartest or most free-thinking clones around. Both Rex and Fives are/ were smarter, more creative, and freer thinking. Echo really shined in this episode because he seems smarter and savvier even with what happened to him on Skako Minor. He's the ARC Trooper. That makes sense. I have often had the idea Domino Squad all came out of the jar much smarter which is the real reason why they kept failing the test. Echo has had a few moments atleady between now and going back to "Unfinished Business" where he's given Fives a run for his money. Fives is the guy it took Palpatine to outsmart him.

The reappearance to the Zygerians selling people as property again is also an immediate reminder of things changing. Back on Pantora people were dancing in the streets cheering the end of the war. The new Empire. The Zygerians celebrate their slave business being legal and even in demand. The slaves not so much. Maybe they were slaves of the Republic a week ago. I bet these people we're glad to see Clones show up for a change. I wonder if they think the Republic or the Empire saved them from slavery when they saw those helmets.

 

I gave this 8/10.

I'm liking the series, I like the character development and action. This episode was interesting for 2 reasons, it serves as a bridge episode to finding out who hired Fennec, which is interesting and I can't wait to see where it goes. Also it makes Fennec an early post-ROTS character. It also was cool that it added to the known Canon. Finding out how Jabba got his rancor was cool but honestly I felt bad for her. Overall good episode, can't wait for Friday.

 

Aren't those actually set on Garel? The spaceport seen in Rebels? The purple lighting and matching architecture style would lead me to that conclusion:


The Q'ira and Jyn's Trade shorts look distinct enough that they could be Ord Mantell, or they might be Takobo (from Future of the Force, also in Rebels), but the others all seem like obvious Garel ones to me. In fact, Takobo shares an uncanny resemblance to Ord Mantell:


Also, the Wook says that some of the street sets on Takobo were reused Dark Disciple assets, meant for Pantora, so I wonder if any of those same sets got reused again for Pantora in Bad Batch?

 

I think a reason why I just wasn't feeling this episode as much is I'm ready for an episode that's more cerebral again between last week which was fun and this week which is entertaining and is developing the characters moving them forward. There's just not as much to it.

 

Loved the episode! They had Rancors in TCW in one of the Felucia, but it was awesome to see a baby version of the species.

I really think SW Fans love to find stuff to complain about. Seriously, It never crossed my mind about all the "Small Universe" comments/complaints. SMH.