Happy Star Wars Day!
One year ago we watched as one of the fan favourite characters to come out of the Clone Wars animated series dealt with the execution of Order 66 following her siege of Mandalore with the 501st. It was the end of an era and something folks like myself have been waiting years to see.
Ahsoka fought side by side with the troopers of the 501st for years as Anakin’s apprentice and was heartbroken to watch them all turn on her without any warning whatsoever. The plan that Sidious had put into motion several years before was finally coming to fruition and the Sith would rule the galaxy once the Jedi had been extinguished.
Today we were shown the beginning of a new saga with Star Wars. The Bad Batch aired its first episode today, which is 70 minutes. Might as well have been a full animated movie with that kind of run time. I watched it today, splitting my viewing time between this morning before leaving for work and my lunch break. I want to avoid spoilers for the show, but there were a couple of great cameos that fans of rebels will definitely recognize. The real highlight of this show though is the title squad, the Bad Batch. Having been introduced to them in the final season of the Clone wars, they quickly became a fan favourite.
In Jon Favreau & Dave Filoni we trust.
Each member of the Bad batch has their own unique quirks and mutations that make them ideally suited for the type of work they do.
Wrecker- Super strong/durable
Tech – Ability to understand and splice almost any type of technology
Crosshairs – Incredible marksmanship
Hunter – Heightened senses and ability to sense electrical signals at great distances.
Echo- Former Arc Trooper and now Cyborg with CIS protocols and passcodes installed.
The squad themselves proved back in the final season of Clone Wars that they were definitely a force to be reckoned with both on the battlefield and not. They were instrumental in helping Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex rescue ARC trooper Echo from Seperatist control and bring him back to the Republic. Following their brief 4 episode backdoor introduction in Clone Wars, Echo joins the team and they depart for missions unknown, well that was, until today.
The show picks up almost right away and we are shown the Bad Batch reinforcing a Jedi general and her Padawan (bonus points for the young Caleb Dume/Kanan Jarrus cameo) on an outer rim world besieged by the droid army.
Order 66 occurs and things start to go off the rails for our loveable band of misfits. Like I said, I don’t want to get into spoiler territory. I highly recommend the first episode of the new show which is a staggering 70 minutes in length. Most animated DC movies are only around 74 minutes. So this was definitely a treat!
The show is definitely going to be something to see and with a reported 16 episode season, I’m sure we’ll get to flesh out the characters and their adventures in no time! I’m holding out for my boy Captain Rex to show up once again to help these “rejects” in any way he can!
Episode 1 of the Bad Batch is now streaming on Disney+ with new episodes set to air each week!
The Multiverse 
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