Since the new episode just dropped I figured we may as well move the ongoing episode to episode discussion here so those that haven't had a chance to see them yet don't get spoiled in the old season 7 discussion thread. As I already saw the story reel version some years back I don't have much to say about this first episode, beyond a few technical notes. Not surprisingly the animation looks better than ever with the characters in particular having a much greater fluidity to their movements, even compared to the later seasons of TCW. As mention when the preview clip came out, there's been some slight, but not totally insignificant changes made. Most notable the premise for the episode has been greatly streamlined (for the better.) In the SR cut, there was this whole backstory about a tactical algorithm Rex had developed with Fives & Echo, with the assumption being the droids' sudden new ability to check their every move meaning they got a copy of Rex's algorithm off of Echo's body and it's Mace that orders them to go to the data centre and find out. This time around they droids are just naturally analytical but their new counters are suspiciously specific to Rex's way of doing things, and it's Cody's idea to go to the data centre to find out what's going on. Moreover, all mention of Echo was removed from this scene and put in a brand new scene between Rex & Cody in barracks before the Bad Batch land. Rex even holds back from telling Anakin his suspicion that Echo might be alive, which is entirely new. Most of the rest of the episode seems as it was with the only little addition I noticed being a fyrnock creeping around their campsite, which is a neat bit of retroactive continuity!
Could we have any spoilers from the animatic versions spoiler tagged? I know the thread has a spoiler tag, but some people might assume that's just for the aired episodes, and not everyone watched animatics.
First episode wasn't all that interesting mostly because the animatic was still fresh in my mind. Looks like it will end the same way.
Those aren't exactly spoilers though, are they? I mean it's the same episode so no real difference plotwise AND it's been freely available for years... I mean if we're talking about the SR version of the 3 episodes yet to air, I'd probably agree, if only for the sake of those that never saw them, but once the final version has dropped it should be fair game.
I never got around to watching the animatic version yet, so this was totally new for me, and I loved it. The Bad Batch characters were all pretty cool, and another example of one thing the series has really excelled at, fleshing out the Clones and turning them into real characters. The animation in this one was gorgeous, they've definitely come a long way for the early blocky character models. We got some pretty good action scenes too, with the attack on the data center as a highlight.
Fun first episode and definitely a slight improvement story wise over the animatic for the reasons Reverend mentioned. The animation was excellent and I saw a big difference with Admiral Trench, even though he was a hologram. The additional detail in his eyes was really cool.
I enjoyed the first episode a lot. I always enjoyed the clone heavy episodes of TCW, and the Bad Batch are interesting characters (and I always like getting more with Rex).
Episode guide is out for Bad Batch https://www.starwars.com/series/clone-wars/the-bad-batch-episode-guide
Interesting. It didn't even register with me that they'd removed Windu's vambraces until now, though it makes sense since as with Anakin's look, they'd need it to line up closely with RotS. Looking back at the trailers now it looks like they've done this for all the Jedi; Plo Koon, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Depa Billaba & Caleb. All of them are in full robes and not a white armor piece in sight. Also between his long sleeves, Anakin's hair, switching Obi-Wan to full robes and even I think with Ahsoka's lekku they're being a lot more liberal with the hair/cloth type simulation (something that was avoided as much as possible in the original run.) Either a sign that the tech has moved on leaps and bound and/or they're willing to spend the extra render budget on these episodes to make them special.
Hmm so does the scene with Rex covering for Anakin while he talked to Padme mean he knows about them? I loved Obi-Wan's telling Anaking to tell Padme he says hello, it's nice to know he's not totally oblivious. I was really surprised they found Echo so soon, I thought rescuing him was the whole story of the arc.
I think the joke is everyone knows. There was even a cartoon they did that shows that even Ashoka knows.
You can kind of get away with something with an actress or singer since that tends to fit their image, but it feels especially innapropriate for someone like Padme.
I've liked both of these episodes a lot. I liked the clone focused stories in TCW, and Rex is a good character. The bad batch are pretty interesting, if not the most original characters. I hope that this season keeps this kind of momentum up throughout the whole run.