Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Top drawer animation with storylines that rival the very best the franchise has to offer.

Gripping and engaging, the Bad Batch is a worthy successor to the Clone Wars and a notable entry in the franchise.

With a plot centred on propelling the narrative of Palpatine's fledgling Empire, fans will find much to enjoy as we are shown the paradigm shift from the perspective of many worlds we are familiar with.

It's a difficult transition from the Clones point of view, as they find themselves having done their duty and a changing world that no longer requires their services.

Poignant and powerful are the few episodes dealing with this specifically.

Bravo.

My favourite part of The Bad Batch is whenever the episodes aren't focused on them. I wholeheartedly believe that if the series focused more on the morality of the clones and the ethical dilemma that they present it would be far greater than it already is. By far the most interesting and mature theme of the show is seeing the clones get cast aside for the new Stormtroopers. As well as seeing the development of the Empire. Seeing how they are mistreated and abused is so heartbreaking and thought provoking it's the PERFECT theme for the show. I just wish the theme was consistent across the series. But the gems that do touch on this subject is what makes this and 8/10 for me.

Yes there are filler episodes, but I urge you to remember The Clone Wars. Quit making excuses and watch The Bad Batch. What are you waiting for?

It is really disappointing that a lot of this series is just filler and doesn't add anything at all to the story or to the characters. This could easily be half the length.

My original review is below, and I'm happy to report the show does indeed go in interesting directions. Basically, half the episodes are standard "mission of the week" type filler that can be skipped. However, hidden away in this show about defective clones is some of the most important SW backstory and setup for plotlines that carry all the way through to the new First Order era of content. And it's fantastic. Not just the stories, but the style, animation, soundtrack, etc, are fabulous. I grew up with the original trilogy, and this is some of the best content I've seen in the entire franchise. Do yourself a favor and find a list of the essential Clone Wars and Bad Batch episodes and watch them. You don't have to sit through all the boring filler - there's still hours of epic stories and character arcs to be enjoyed.

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Interesting start to this new series, but it's already slipping into tired, formulaic plots that we've seen many times before. The characters already feel stale and annoying. There is promise here, so hopefully they will take the show in interesting directions. However it's worrying that episodes are already starting to seem like filler.