Directors: Kyle Dunlevy
Writers: Matt Michnovetz, Brent Friedman
Cast: Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, Terrence ‘T.C’ Carson, Tom Kane, Matthew Wood

‘The Bad Batch’ Air Date: 21/02/2020
The Clone Wars: The Final Season is currently airing on Disney+

The Clone Wars is back! It feels really good to be able to write that and I’m very happy to report that not only is the premiere episode, The Bad Batch, everything I’ve missed about the show, but it also has improved drastically in the nearly ten-year period it has been off-air. 

Now streaming on Disney+ for its final season, The Clone Wars is back after a sudden cancellation when Disney bought LucasFilm. However, The Bad Batch is a story that many fans will probably already know. When The Clone Wars was originally cancelled there were many episodes already in production and although some stories were eventually turned into books like Star Wars: Dark Disciple and comic books, there were some stories that were already well into production and could be watched in there unfinished glory, and this was one of those stories. The full story-arc was screened at Star Wars Celebration in 2016 and then the episodes were uploaded online sometime after. I watched them all years ago, and although I remember the general story-beats, there are some notable differences here — besides the finished quality to the episode.

We know that this final season is ultimately going to lead to Ahsoka and Maul coming together for their big battle, but the season is starting with the heart of The Clone Wars – the clones. And it’s a powerhouse performance from Dee Bradley Baker here who is nearly doing a one-man show. 

Captain Rex and Commander Cody have a theory that the droids are somehow getting information about their attack formations since the droid army is countering their attacks so well. So, they team up with a brand new squad of clones to head behind enemy lines to infiltrate a base and find out the truth.

This new squad called ‘Clone Force 99’ refers to themselves as ‘The Bad Batch’ and they’re not your usual clones. They’re a mutated, unorthodox group and look like the cast of Predator with names to suit: Hunter, Wrecker, Tech and Crosshair. They fit into perfect stereotypes of this type of 80’s one-man army group with one being the leader, another the tech, another the muscle and the last the silent assassin. And yes, I’ll have a Black Series figure of all of them.