Jump to content

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Coopdaloop22 (talk | contribs) at 01:58, 7 May 2021. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch
File:Star Wars The Bad Batch logo-2.png
Genre
Created byDave Filoni
Based onStar Wars
by George Lucas
Developed by
  • Dave Filoni
  • Jennifer Corbett
Directed byBrad Rau (supervising)
Voices of
ComposerKevin Kiner
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes1
Production
Executive producers
  • Dave Filoni
  • Athena Yvette Portillo
  • Jennifer Corbett
  • Brad Rau
ProducerJosh Rimes
Running time21-75 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkDisney+
ReleaseMay 4, 2021 (2021-05-04) –
present (present)

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is an American animated series created by Dave Filoni for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, acting as both a sequel to and spin-off from the series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The Bad Batch is produced by Lucasfilm Animation, with Jennifer Corbett as head writer and Brad Rau as supervising director.

Dee Bradley Baker voices the clone troopers in the series, including the titular squad of elite clones with genetic mutations, reprising his role from The Clone Wars. Michelle Ang stars as a new character, Omega, who joins the Bad Batch on their missions. The series was officially ordered by Disney+ in July 2020 as a spin-off from The Clone Wars, with Filoni, Corbett, and Rau attached.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiered on May 4, 2021, and will consist of 16 episodes.

Premise

Clone Force 99, also known as the Bad Batch—a group of elite clone troopers with genetic mutations that were first introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars—take on daring mercenary missions in the aftermath of the Clone Wars.[1]

Cast and characters

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [8]
1"Aftermath"Steward Lee, Saul Ruiz, and Nathaniel VillanuevaJennifer Corbett and Dave FiloniMay 4, 2021 (2021-05-04)
Near the end of the Clone War, The Bad Batch, a squadron of genetically altered clone troopers, are sent to Kaller to aid Jedi Master Depa Billaba and her padawan, Caleb Dune. However, shortly after their arrival, Order 66 is executed leading to Billaba's death at the hands of the clones that served under her. Hunter lets Dume escape, which makes Crosshair suspicious. The Bad Batch return to Kamino only to learn the Clone War has ended and the Empire has replaced the Republic. They meet Omega, a female defective clone, but soon after, Admiral Tarkin arrives to evaluate the clones' viability. After a battle simulation shows how skilled the Bad Batch are, Tarkin sends them to eliminate a group of insurgents on Onderon. After traveling to the planet, they discover that these insurgents are actually Republic fighters led by Saw Gerrera who refused to fight for the newly formed Empire. The Bad Batch decide to abandon their mission and return for Omega, who Tech deduces to be genetically altered in the same way that they were. But when they return, they are arrested for treason. Crosshair, who had previously shown signs of being susceptible to obedience programming (unlike the rest of the Bad Batch), has his programming enhanced by Tarkin to turn against his teammates. This forces the Bad Batch and Omega to flee Kamino without him.

Production

Background

By September 2016, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels supervising director Dave Filoni had stepped back from that position on the latter series so he could focus more on the series' writing as well as the development of future animated series for Lucasfilm.[9] In July 2018, Filoni announced that a final season of The Clone Wars would be released on the streaming service Disney+ in 2020.[10] The season includes a four episode arc introducing a squad of clone troopers with genetic mutations known as the Bad Batch; the episodes previously existed as story reels for an earlier, unfinished season of the series, and came directly from the plans of Star Wars creator George Lucas.[4]

Development

Disney+ officially ordered a new series from Lucasfilm Animation in July 2020 titled Star Wars: The Bad Batch, a spin-off from the final season of The Clone Wars following the Bad Batch clones in the aftermath of the Clone War. The announcement described the series as Dave Filoni's vision, and he serves as executive producer alongside Lucasfilm's Athena Portillo, supervising director Brad Rau, and head writer Jennifer Corbett, with Lucasfilm's Carrie Beck and Josh Rimes as co-executive producer and producer, respectively.[1] Filoni described the series as "very much in the vein" of The Clone Wars and said it would stay true to Lucas's vision for that series of telling epic, exciting adventure stories.[11]

Casting

The first trailer for the series was released in December 2020, and confirmed that Dee Bradley Baker would return from The Clone Wars as the voice of all the clone troopers in the series, including the members of the Bad Batch and Captain Rex.[2][3] It also revealed that a younger version of the character Fennec Shand from the series The Mandalorian would be appearing in the series, and actress Ming-Na Wen soon confirmed that she would reprise her role as Fennec from The Mandalorian.[7] Additionally, Stephen Stanton and Andrew Kishino reprise their roles as Admiral Tarkin and Saw Gerrera, respectively.[3][6]

Music

Kevin Kiner was confirmed to be scoring the series in January 2021, after previously scoring The Clone Wars and Rebels.[12] He wrote the Bad Batch Theme for the final season of The Clone Wars.[13]

Marketing

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy promoted the series at Disney's Investor Day event on December 10, 2020, revealing the first trailer for the series. Jacob Oller of Syfy Wire felt the trailer made the series look like a more action-heavy version of The Clone Wars, and compared it to the 1980s television series The A-Team.[2]

Release

Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiered on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, Star Wars Day,[14] with a special 70-minute episode.[3] The second episode will be released on May 7, 2021, with subsequent episodes releasing weekly.[3] The first season will consist of 16 episodes.[5]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 93% approval rating with an average rating of 7.22/10, based on 29 reviews.[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[16]

Jesse Schdeen of IGN gave the premiere episode an 8 out of 10 rating, stating that the series is "a worthy successor to The Clone Wars, so much so that it could easily be rebranded as an eighth season" and that "it uses a loose end from that show to build a brand new story about the plight of clones after the war's end, and it's one that immediately resonates". He also added that the show "captures a lot of what made The Clone Wars so great (including the slick animation style and the vocal talents of Baker), but it doesn't entirely escape that show's flaws, either".[17]

References

  1. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 13, 2020). "'Star Wars: The Bad Batch': New Animated Series To Debut On Disney+ In 2021". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Oller, Jacob (December 11, 2020). "Star Wars' (Almost) Most Famous Clones Are Back in The Bad Batch First Teaser". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; December 12, 2020 suggested (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Whitbrook, James (March 30, 2021). "Star Wars: The Bad Batch's New Trailer Puts Clones on the Run". io9. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Leong, Tim (March 2, 2020). "Clone Wars EP Dave Filoni breaks down the first episodes of the final season". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Keane, Sean (May 3, 2021). "Star Wars: The Bad Batch crew talks season length, Omega and Imperial oppression". CNET. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Skrebels, Joe (March 30, 2021). "Star Wars: The Bad Batch Will Begin With a 70-Minute Premiere". IGN. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Baver, Kristin (December 16, 2020). "The Return of Fennec Shand: Ming-Na Wen on Finding Her Voice as the Elite Assassin in The Mandalorian". StarWars.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  8. ^ "Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  9. ^ Anderton, Ethan (September 26, 2016). "Lucasfilm Animation Makes Some Big Changes Behind the Scenes for 'Star Wars Rebels' & Beyond". /Film. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  10. ^ "Star Wars: The Clone Wars to Return with New Episodes". StarWars.com. July 19, 2018. Archived from the original on July 19, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  11. ^ Russell, Bradley (December 17, 2020). "Dave Filoni teases Star Wars series The Bad Batch, saying it will "follow the legacy" started by George Lucas". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  12. ^ "Kevin Kiner to Return for 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch'". Film Music Reporter. January 13, 2021. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; January 15, 2021 suggested (help)
  13. ^ "First Track from 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' – The Final Season Soundtrack Released". Film Music Reporter. February 21, 2020. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  14. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray; Ramos, Dino-Ray (February 24, 2021). "Disney+ Sets Premiere Dates For 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' And Marvel Studios' 'Loki'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  15. ^ "Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  16. ^ "Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 1". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  17. ^ Schdeen, Jesse (May 4, 2021). "Star Wars: The Bad Batch Series Premiere - "Aftermath" Review". IGN. Retrieved May 4, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Star_Wars:_The_Bad_Batch&oldid=1021857088"