Spoilers Bad Batch Season 3 - February 21st

[Turtletrekker]

I saw an interesting theory that Imperial Lieutenant Maylur, seen in a small role in the final two episodes of season 2, is actually the unnamed "Client" seen in the first season of the Mandalorian. It seems random, but there is a small hint of the accent. I don't see anywhere else they could be getting that from. Then again, that same story also had a very small and innocuous appearance by Orson Krennic from Rogue One and Dave Filoni does nothing randomly or accidentally.

 

[Reverend]

I saw an interesting theory that Imperial Lieutenant Maylur, seen in a small role in the final two episodes of season 2, is actually the unnamed "Client" seen in the first season of the Mandalorian. It seems random, but there is a small hint of the accent. I don't see anywhere else they could be getting that from. Then again, that same story also had a very small and innocuous appearance by Orson Krennic from Rogue One and Dave Filoni does nothing randomly or accidentally.

I can certainly see why someone might suppose that at first glance.
. . . However if we look a little deeper: 1) That accent is Filipino not German. 2) Werner Herzog was in his late 70's when he played that role, and given that this takes place only 30-ish years prior: this character neither looks like, nor has the rank of someone in their late 40's/early 50's. 3) Even ignoring all of that; I think if they were going to drop The Client into this, they'd have made more of a thing of it rather than have him as some random one-off extra . . . especially when they have a high level meeting of Imperial big-wigs in the episode where his presence even as a (relatively) younger man would make more sense than some junior security officer.
Personally I always saw The Client as non-military. That is to say, not an actual army or navy officer, but some government or Intelligence functionary ("non-military" being a dubious concept for any authority figure in a highly militarised totalitarian regime.) Given his ties to Moff Gideon, I'd hazard a guess and say he was the former Imperial Governor, or Minister of Mandalore during the occupation.

Speaking of which: who else but Krennic (and Romodi) would they put in a top level meeting of Imperial science projects alongside Tarkin & Hemlock? If anything it would be weird if he wasn't in there somewhere. I'm just a little surprised they went with Coburn instead of Yularen, but there's a chance that was down to Tom Kane no longer being an option.
IIRC they had already designed and built a Krennic asset for 'Rebels' that they ended up not using. It was probably relatively cost effective to adapt it to the TCW/BB/TotJ style.

 

[Reverend]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm glad they stuck with Crosshair & Omega for this one. They could easily have drawn this out by giving us another Hunter & Wrecker adventure that only ended with them receiving Omega's signal. I'd say that bodes well for this season being especially tight on pacing. Though part of me wonders if this is where the 16th episode would have gone this season, assuming they cut the total to spend more of the budget on the finale.
Random notes on this week's episode: -

• It's always funny how in Star Wars dropping unexpectedly out of hyperspace always seems to happen right by a planet, instead of the much more likely empty void of interstellar space. Yes I know. Because: plot! But still . . .
• I was wondering how they were going to deal with Wayland's location being burned. Lucky for Hemlock they didn't have time to scavenge the navi-comp, since Palpatine would have skinned him alive if the location leaked.
• One touch I like throughout this whole episode is how they have Batcher actually behaving like an animal with a mind of his own, and the other characters letting him get on with it for the most part. The usual cartoon approach is to make pets a little too much like people. It's difficult to articulate the distinction, but anyone with a cat or a dog should be able to recognise the difference.
• I'm with Hemlock. I still don't get what Nala Se's deal is, but I think that's intentional.
• One thing that's just gotten better and better since TCW & Rebels is the environmental design, especially with the urban areas. Much more detailed and really sells that lived in look. Though I suspect it's as much to do with improved shaders and light rendering technology than asset work alone.
• TK Stormtroopers in trenchcoats? I like it, though the goggles on top of the helmet seems a little but much.
• Batcher casually sniffing the lamp post. Yup. Definitely some dog owners on the crew.
• Thank goodness the Empire has restored order and justice to the galaxy, and swept away all that entrenched corruption of the Republic. Yup. No more of that, ever again!
• Speaking of which: 15,000 each? Did the galaxy undergo massive currency deflation over the next few decades, and/or did the war just cause massive inflation, since in ANH 10,000 was almost enough to buy a whole ship. Probably both.
• Cachu? Is that a variety of meiloorun, or just the local name for it? Because that's clearly a meiloorun asset.
• Face-wraps are really doing a lot of heavy lifting for the facial animation team this episode.
• For a second there I thought the bartender was a whole new droid design, but it's just an 8D unit with a different head.
• This cantina is clearly a redress of Syd's place.
• Anyone else getting low-key 'Short Circuit' vibes from this head design? At least in the neck and mouth light if not the eyes and the cap.
• This is what now, the third game invented for this show? Not that I'm complaining. It's nice when they actually add to the world building like this instead of just going with sabacc, pazaak, or dejarik every time.
• Some very nice detailed artwork for the cards too, and it certainly seems like they worked out some rules for it. They really should think about making these as actual products.
• Porgs?! I hear them, but I don't see them. That's when they're at their most dangerous!
• Another instance of Crosshair's hand tremors. Noted.
  
• Another re-dress of The Ghost/Silver Angel cockpit (the back half of it at least.) I'm not sure I like how good I'm getting at spotting such things without even thinking about it. Oh well; can't unsee it now!
• Another episode, another weird tentacled monster! Don't think this one was a rathtar. Didn't sound like one anyway. Tentacles are wrong for a blixus or a dianoga. Could be a juvenile sarlacc, or maybe it's meant to be a reference to that non-specific tentacled creature that grabbed Threepio in Jabba's dungeon?
• Weird moment for a laugh, but I guess that's just another Star Wars tradition. Plus murdering Stormtroopers in new and inventive ways never gets old!
• Back to the moon of Ryloth where they met Hera? Neat touch.
• Well the next episode is going to be awkward, but at least nobody has opened fire . . . yet.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I love that Dee Bradley Baker voices Batcher because of course he does.

 

[The Wormhole]

It's always funny how in Star Wars dropping unexpectedly out of hyperspace always seems to happen right by a planet, instead of the much more likely empty void of interstellar space. Yes I know. Because: plot! But still . . .

At the risk of dragging another franchise into this (and non-canonical info from said franchise) I remember the Stargate Atlantis tie-in novels actually stating that Earth starships (and I guess by extension, Asgard ships since that's where the tech came from) have a built in failsafe so that if the hyperdrive craps out, it will deposit the ship in the nearest star system so that the crew will at least have a chance at survival rather which they wouldn't in the interstellar void.

Granted, the idea doesn't hold up. Even if such a thing were possible, there's still a very good chance the nearest star system would not have any inhabitable planets. And while writing this, I realize there have been times on the Stargate shows where the hyperdrive has crapped out depositing the ships in the interstellar void anyway.

 

[Tuskin38]

and one time next to a blackhole

 

[fireproof78]

Given the use of hyperspace lanes and such, I would imagine navcomputers calculate routes near planets to avoid stranding crews.

 

[Reverend]

At the risk of dragging another franchise into this (and non-canonical info from said franchise) I remember the Stargate Atlantis tie-in novels actually stating that Earth starships (and I guess by extension, Asgard ships since that's where the tech came from) have a built in failsafe so that if the hyperdrive craps out, it will deposit the ship in the nearest star system so that the crew will at least have a chance at survival rather which they wouldn't in the interstellar void.

Granted, the idea doesn't hold up. Even if such a thing were possible, there's still a very good chance the nearest star system would not have any inhabitable planets. And while writing this, I realize there have been times on the Stargate shows where the hyperdrive has crapped out depositing the ships in the interstellar void anyway.

Star Wars and Stargate operate under somewhat similar but still different narrative genres. The latter is a more or less grounded sci-fi adventure story that sometimes feels the need to come up with somewhat logical explanations for plot shenanigans, while the former is a fairytale fantasy that doesn't need to at all.

Given the use of hyperspace lanes and such, I would imagine navcomputers calculate routes near planets to avoid stranding crews.

Despite what I literally just said above: I've been going on the assumption that most routes outside of the major lanes essentially planet hop from one nearby neighbour to the next, never straying too far into the void since that's how the ancient prospectors mapped the routes. Longer direct routes would be more dangerous both for the chances of encountering anomalies, and being potentially stranded in deep space.
Still, you'd have to suppose that the vast majority of travel time is spent between stars, so odds are any random, uncontrolled drop-out should statistically be in the interstellar medium 99.9999% of the time.

Part of what this is of course is just the limits of the medium. If it were a novel or other long-form narrative, then they probably would have dropped out in the void, spent days drifting until they got the drive repaired enough to a micro-jump to the nearest suitable planet before the whole thing melted. Since it's a 20-odd minute animated series, then they just have to skip that unnecessary part of the story and get the plot moving. Just like how tESB skips straight over how much time elapsed for Luke on Dagobah, or how long it takes to travel at sublight between Hoth & Bespin; because it's not important to the story.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm so damn happy I got my wish that we got (near enough) a full episode of Omega and Crosshair alone on the run. Their dynamic was a lot of fun to watch, particularly how Omega was able to convince Crosshair to do it her way for just long enough until they "finally" did it his way, complete with a Jurassic Park-esque escape diversion.

And then that tearful reunion (but without Tech ). That was earned. So was the strained conclusion. I can live waiting another week in order to get a proper scene of the four of them hashing out their differences and finding a path forward.

It's always funny how in Star Wars dropping unexpectedly out of hyperspace always seems to happen right by a planet, instead of the much more likely empty void of interstellar space. Yes I know. Because: plot! But still . . .

I thought the same thing. And not just a conveniently-placed planet, but a habitable one with a breathable atmosphere, food, water, and means of eventual escape. If it can work for Star Trek, it works for Star Wars. I still get a good chuckle out of it nonetheless.

One touch I like throughout this whole episode is how they have Batcher actually behaving like an animal with a mind of his own, and the other characters letting him get on with it for the most part. The usual cartoon approach is to make pets a little too much like people. It's difficult to articulate the distinction, but anyone with a cat or a dog should be able to recognise the difference.

Yup, I liked that distinction, too. They even sidestepped the idea that Batcher was helping Omega hustle (which I briefly thought was the case when Batcher was escorted out), which would've been a detriment for both characters.

One thing that's just gotten better and better since TCW & Rebels is the environmental design, especially with the urban areas. Much more detailed and really sells that lived in look. Though I suspect it's as much to do with improved shaders and light rendering technology than asset work alone.

The overall planetscapes, too. Holy shit, that setting in the final scene was breathtaking.

 

[Ithekro]

I seem to recall that hyperspace failure would more or less keep you in hyperspace until you are acted upon by a gravity well that pull you out of hyperspace. This would be why a hyperspace disaster in the High Republic era would have the debris from an exploded ship come out on course for planets and such since of just dump out right after the ship exploded into wherever it was when the hyperdrive ceased to exist.

 

[Set Harth]

Well, that was... something.

It's funny when Star Wars and Star Trek sometimes find themselves in the same place. As if we're in Strange New Worlds' Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, suddenly Omega's a gambling expert? Who can win thirty thousand in one sitting?

 

[Ithekro]

Well she did make a lot of money doing games at Cid's place.

 

[HotRod]

Well, that was... something.

It's funny when Star Wars and Star Trek sometimes find themselves in the same place. As if we're in Strange New Worlds' Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, suddenly Omega's a gambling expert? Who can win thirty thousand in one sitting?

A Force user.

 

[The Wormhole]

Omega's gambling abilities were already established in season 2, there's nothing scandalous going on here. Unless you're one of those clutching pearls over the fact that a kids show is glamorizing gambling.

 

[Tuskin38]

the episode guide confirms that they created a full rule set for that Card game, which they called 'Balaans'
https://www.starwars.com/series/the-bad-batch/a-different-approach-episode-guide

 

[Turtletrekker]

Omega's gambling abilities were already established in season 2, there's nothing scandalous going on here. Unless you're one of those clutching pearls over the fact that a kids show is glamorizing gambling.

Season 1, actually.

 

[Reverend]

Episode Guide & new Databank entries are out.
Highlights: the planet's name is Lau, and the game was called balaans. As a nice bonus they give a good look at the face cards in the concept art gallery! *saunters off in the vague direction of 'Tabletop Simulator' . . . *

Omega's gambling abilities were already established in season 2, there's nothing scandalous going on here. Unless you're one of those clutching pearls over the fact that a kids show is glamorizing gambling.

There's also the small matter that she's cloned from a person who was selected specifically for his proficiency in strategy and tactics. That and games theory go hand-in-hand!

 

[Ithekro]

It says they made a run on the entire game between Omega and Lt. Mann, but only included the major point for the story. The game has a full set of rules and was playtested. I wonder if Lucasfilm might someday show the entire game as a feature.

 

[Reverend]

It says they made a run on the entire game between Omega and Lt. Mann, but only included the major point for the story. The game has a full set of rules and was playtested. I wonder if Lucasfilm might someday show the entire game as a feature.

I'd settle for them just publishing the rules. I've already made custom virtual sabacc and pazaak decks for my own personal use, so it would be fun to try this out too.

Spoiler

 

[JD]

• 
  
• One touch I like throughout this whole episode is how they have Batcher actually behaving like an animal with a mind of his own, and the other characters letting him get on with it for the most part. The usual cartoon approach is to make pets a little too much like people. It's difficult to articulate the distinction, but anyone with a cat or a dog should be able to recognise the difference.

Yeah, Batcher is pretty great, I'm hoping he sticks around for the rest of the season. I always love it when writers get animals behavior right, I haven't watched in ages, but one of the things I loved about family guy was how even thought he talked and was anthropomorphized, Brian still acted like a real dog a lot of the time.
It was a lot of fun seeing Crosshair and Omega have to work together, they had a nice little opposites forced to worked together dynamic going.
I've been under the impression that Nala Se really does care about Omega, and I'm curious to see how her storyline is going to end. Part of me is kind of expecting Nala Se to end up sacrificing herself to save Omega, but I'm hoping we they get a reunion before that happens.
It was a lot of fun watching Omega hustle the people in the bar.
As an animal person I loved when they let all of the animals at the space port free.
I'm definitely curious to see how things are going to go next week with Crosshair back with rest of the Batch now.