Spoilers Bad Batch Season 2 - This Fall

[Ithekro]

Maybe it wasn't them hiding it, but someone else who found it that was trying to keep it hidden, but wanted a way in just in case.

Alternatively, and berserker weapon. Designed to kill any advanced live that might come to this planet to prevent them from threating the creators of the device.

 

[Reverend]

Yeah, everything about this being a mystery is indeed kinda the whole point; we're not supposed to know the who, why, and what of it all.

It doesn't take much thought to come up with dozens of possible scenarios from: "The wardroid was one of many made as guardians to protect that world from invaders, but they worked too well and destroyed the civilization that built it in the process. The decedents of the survivors who had long since lost all the knowledge of their forebears then built the temple around what they thought was their god, so that only the worthy my enter the inner sanctum. One day, millennia ago, slavers came and abducted or killed everyone living there, taking the compass with them, never really knowing what they had. Since the tavern owner on Ord Mantel refused to barter it to cover their tab, the raiders thought it was worthless and tossed it in the trash."

To: "It's a leftover war machine from a conflict between two mighty force wielding civilizations, waged across the stars eons ago, but now all long forgotten. Someone eventually found it, thought they could sell it, so they stashed it inside an old temple, and buried the whole thing so only they would be able to find it in the century or two it would take them to cryo-jump along the purrgil trails to the nearest civilized world. But they got mugged and killed by some random street thugs before they could meet with the buyer, and the compass was traded and passed though dozens of hands throughout the centuries before ending up in that junk yard on Ord Mantell. Since it's meant to be controlled through the force, without a valid pilot on board it just defaults to defence mode and attacks any foreign technology in range."

Or: "It's a really old, really powerful, really broken terraforming tool, abandoned when the transplanted biosphere just didn't take. The puzzles and traps were built by some crazed hermit that lived there alone for a few centuries . . . because that's the kind of thing crazed hermits that eat way too much of those sparkly purple mushrooms do with their free time when they're not yelling at the stars or getting into staring contests with rocks."

And just about anything else in between and beyond. It's all incidental to the actual story being told, so the episode is under no obligation to fill in the blanks. It's what I like to call "having an imagination", though I gather there are those that struggle with that whole concept.

 

[Ithekro]

I imagine this will come up again. This is just the sort of thing you want to keep out of the hands of the Empire. While the compass is gone, the Empire would be interested in the wreck.

That or the Bad Batch will come across similar technology later in the series.

 

[Reverend]

I doubt it. It's just a little one-off adventure. It's a huge, ancient galaxy, and if the exploits of the likes of Phee, Aphra and even Lando are any indication; stuff like this is littered all over the outer rim.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

You making me hope they do make the Lando series all of a sudden.

 

[cooleddie74]

I've been hoping. And Donald Glover keeps saying he's still involved with the project so we'll see.

 

[JD]

Tech already confirmed that the etchings were very old. Like multiple thousands of years old, so that part at least seems to check out. If it indeed predates the Jedi, then by definition it also predates the Sith, and possibly the Old Republic too.
So while there's no conclusive proof that it was a Zeffo weapon, between the age, the look, and the fact the Zeffo did build guardian droids armed with powerful beam weapons, and their eventual fall to the dark side makes it plausible they'd go in for giant planet devastating war machines; there does seem to be some significant circumstantial evidence.

I kept thinking it reminded me of something else along with the Horizon Longneck, something from Star Wars, that must be what it is.
As for the people complaining about this being pointless, I really think the point of it was giving us a bigger introduction to Phee.

 

[Reverend]

There may be some Horizon Zero Dawn inspiration in there, but really both designs are just channelling a sauropod, so perhaps it's not deliberate, just convergent design which naturally comes from starting with the same basic idea; "what if dinosaur, but also robot?!"

What did seem like a deliberate reference to a videogame however was the mention of the "Belmont Diadem", which sounds like a Castlevania reference if ever I heard one!

Oh and I had a closer look at the glyphs, and they really don't look anything like Zeffo glyphs, so I think we can eliminate the idea that they had the Zeffo specifically in mind when they made this.

It looks like something entirely new, not based on any of the other ancient scripts SW usually features.

 

[Ithekro]

Or the species that made the compass and traps was not the designer of the mecha., but took inspiration from it (the rocks were carved similarly to the crystal at the center.)

 

[Reverend]

Or the species that made the compass and traps was not the designer of the mecha., but took inspiration from it (the rocks were carved similarly to the crystal at the center.)

I was only speaking to the intent of the show's makers, not the infinite storytelling possibilities (which I've already gone over.) If they'd intended there to be an explicit connection, then this would be the place they'd make it, and it's just not there.

 

[Skywalker]

I really enjoyed the Indiana Jones-style musical cues when they were exploring the "tomb" and figuring out the various puzzles.

 

[Tuskin38]

Yep this was the Gungi episode. They made some vague references to the undeveloped Kashyyyk arc from the Clone Wars that the Bad Batch would have been in. Including those riding animals the Wookiees used.

I think something happened between script and screen, because Hunter referred to those flame tanks as imperial, but those were clearly separatist tanks. He also said they left tread marks, but uh they hover. Unless he meant the imprint the repulsors left on the ground.

 

[Reverend]

More than a few things recycled from the unfinished TCW arc here it seems; the kinrath (originally from KoTOR) were to have had a much more antagonistic role. Judging by the concept art, the burned out village they find in this episode does indeed appear to be the one from that arc, as are the Mylaya mounts, and the whole thing about the Wookiees talking to the trees which was also to be to introduce there.

Solid episode overall, though weirdly choppy in places. Mostly the part where they dig ditches to stop fire from spreading. Both times they just cut away to the aftermath, which makes the pacing feel a little weird. Also everyone should have been a LOT dirtier after all that. Also seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity not to have Cid in the mix here somewhere, for obvious reasons.

I think something happened between script and screen, because Hunter referred to those flame tanks as imperial, but those were clearly separatist tanks. He also said they left tread marks, but uh they hover. Unless he meant the imprint the repulsors left on the ground.

It was indeed an AAT, but if you look close you'll note it has Imperial markings. Makes sense that the Empire would capture and repurpose a lot of old Separatist Alliance hardware, even if they mostly just hand it off to allied irregulars like the Trandosians. These thing may have been crewed by droids, but the controls were still analogue and in theory could be operated by anyone with minimal adaptation.

Interestingly, the unfinished TCW Bad Batch/Kashyyyk arc would have featured Trandosians using a tank, though it would have been a snail tank instead.

 

[The Wormhole]

I enjoyed it this week. Though something I'm noticing with this season in general, every episode starts with the Batch going off on a task which they believe will lead to them getting paid, but every time there's a snag and by the end of the episode they don't get paid. Well, aside from the race episode, they were paid there, but there were still severe complications. Now, I get the message they're trying to send with these episodes is that doing the right thing is more important than a pay day, but at the same time, how much more money can the Batch afford to lose before they become officially bankrupt?

 

[cooleddie74]

Gungi was my favorite part by far of this episode. Not a particulary great episode in many respects but it was a chance to revisit Kashyyyk and during the early days of Imperial control so that was welcome.

 

[Tuskin38]

Interestingly, the unfinished TCW Bad Batch/Kashyyyk arc would have featured Trandosians using a tank, though it would have been a snail tank instead.

Oh yeah the lead Trandosian is from that arc too.

Did the batchers meet Venomor in the Clone Wars arc? They don't seem to recognize him here, at least there's no dialogue about it.

 

[Christopher]

A pretty good one. It was nice to get some worldbuilding for Wookiee culture, and the character design and animation on the Wookies was excellent, with distinctive and expressive faces.

I'd forgotten that Gungi was a recurring character in TCW -- I had to look him up. I guess he's a few years older now. So yet another Jedi survived Order 66, huh? There sure seem to be a lot of them. Well, I guess that's why the Empire needs Inquisitors. I have to wonder what will happen to Gungi, given that there's no sign of him in stories set later.

 

[Reverend]

Is it that time of the year again? Do we really have to do the complex and highly detailed Order-66 survivor arithmetic? Are we doomed to repeat the same lazily thought out arguments and complaints about "yet another Order 66 survivor!" over and over like some very nerdy groundhog day?

OK, one more time won't hurt I suppose: 10,000 Jedi KNIGHTS were around during the Clone Wars (yes, Masters count as Knights too.) Assuming a 10% casualty rate during the course of the war, and that Order 66 is 99% effective (both very generous assumptions) that still leaves approximately ninety fully trained Jedi Knights in the wind at day zero of the new order.

And what about Padawans? Well let's be really stingy and assume that only 50% of all active Knights and Masters had a Padawan in tow. So that's 4500-5000 apprentices knocking around when all hell breaks loose. Again, assume 99% success rate in clone based surprise murders, that's a very conservative total of forty five padawans at various stages of their training, running loose galaxy wide; befriending pirates, and getting gainful employment as scrappers, part-time mechanics, agricultural labourers, and future insurgent spymasters.

So now our estimated running total is up to One Hundred and Thirty Five Masters, Knights and Padawans running every which way, and Vader hasn't even got his damn boots on yet!

But what about the Initiates? Well however many there were, it's a fair bet that MOST of them were at the temple (but not all) and thus most of them didn't make it . . . but we know of at least two that did (granted one ended up an Inquisitor anyway, and we still don't know what the hell happened with Grogu . . . yet) but it's clearly possible.
So again let's make the wildly broad assumption that there were about 2000 Initiates at the Temple and elsewhere, and that 99% of them ran into Master Skywalker and the boys of the 501st. So that's 20 partly trained, masterless Initiate survivors aged about 5-14, fleeing down to level 1313 to start an exciting new career in streetratting, and learning fun new skills like "not being eaten alive by conduit worms in your sleep when the local power grid goes out".

So that brings our final total up to approximately One Hundred and Fifty Five partly or fully trained force sensitives Richard Kimbleing it across the galaxy.

Let's assume for a moment that Vader and his inquisitorius get the most work done in the early days and that by the end of year one, that number is cut in half (often literally), leaving only 77 Jedi to half-hearted celebrate the first Empire Day. But what about later on? Well it's survival of the fittest, so whoever made it this far is going to be twice as hard to find and twice as hard to capture or kill. So let's say that each subsequent year the percentage of survivors eliminated goes down by half compared to the previous year.
Now we're into diminishing returns as Vader's interest level wanders, spending most of his time discussing architecture and resurrection spells with a possessed mask of a dead Sith Lord, and the Inquisitors get ever more competitive and backbitey to the point of actively sabotaging one another.

That means that within 5 years, all progress has effectively ground to a halt with the Inquisition barely Inquisiting one actual Jedi a year, instead focusing on kidnapping new ly minted force sensitive "recruits" for Wayland's genetic research and bio-mass harvesting program.

At that rate, by the time of ANH there could potentially be something in the order of 40-odd survivors of Order 66 still at large (not accounting for non-redblade related deaths along the way.) Whether many of them would still consider themselves Jedi at this point is of course another matter. Most have probably long since moved on. Abandoned their sabres, forgotten most if not all of their training, started families of their own, and have zero interest in going anywhere near a set of robes ever again.

So no, it's not a stretch to add one more survivor to the list, especially that it's probably less than 18 months since the end of the war.

Oh yeah the lead Trandosian is from that arc too.

Did the batchers meet Venomor in the Clone Wars arc? They don't seem to recognize him here, at least there's no dialogue about it.

It seems they kept it ambiguous on purpose, and it's hard to really tell one way or the other since we don't really know the plot of that arc, let alone the fate of that one character.

 

[fireproof78]

Is it that time of the year again? Do we really have to do the complex and highly detailed Order-66 survivor arithmetic? Are we doomed to repeat the same lazily thought out arguments and complaints about "yet another Order 66 survivor!" over and over like some very nerdy groundhog day?

Yes.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Episodes 1&2: Pretty good.
Episode 3: Really good. Crosshair is a compelling character. Liked seeing battle droids actually looking scary.
Episode: 4: It was fine. Tech got to do something different, there was some humour. The actual racing stuff was meh though.
Episode 5: Felt weirdly empty to me. Indiana Jones stuff was generic, no real character moments, nothing lost or gained. They just blew up a big robot and went home.
Episode 6: I like Wookiees (who doesn't!), Gungi is cool so I enjoyed it. Felt really rushed though? Possibly because it was a compressed version of a lost Clone Wars arc. Could have been a two-parter to allow more time for Gungi to spend with our heroes and develop the Wookiee village a bit more (the stuff about them talking to trees felt shoe-horned in.)