Review | Star Wars The Bad Batch (Episode 1: Aftermath)

“Aftermath is a great launch for The Bad Batch. It’s a captivating premiere delivering fun and action. It turns the page on The Clone Wars and opens a brand new chapter of Star Wars storytelling!”

The Bad Batch is here to usher in a new age of Star Wars storytelling.

Last year brought The Clone Wars to an end with the final season of the Emmy-award-winning series. Fans of the series including myself had waited for so long to see a conclusion to our beloved series. However, this was not our only surprise as not long after, a spinoff series was announced – Star Wars: The Bad Batch! Today is finally the day we can watch the series premiere of the newest Star Wars series! And what better day than Star Wars Day to release it! As the title indicates, The Bad Batch brings back the unique squad of clones – Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, and Crosshair adapting in a world post-Clone Wars.

The first episode is entitled “Aftermath” and is a special premiere as it’s 70 minutes long. Yes, it’s basically a movie and I couldn’t have thought of a better way to start this series!

The End Of The Clone Wars

Right from the start, this series acts as a sequel to The Clone Wars. The opening title is the title card of The Clone Wars finale that melts into the title card of The Bad Batch. It puts us directly in the mood and with this, we get one last intro narrated by Tom Kane.

Because it’s the end of the Clone Wars, you know it has to be darker and so it is. This episode captures the fun and action of the Bad Batch arc from The Clone Wars but also adds a serious and dark tone to it because it’s required for the period.

The animation is at the same level of detail and beauty as the last season of The Clone Wars. Lucasfilm Animation never disappoints in terms of visuals! It’s amazing to see the evolution of Star Wars animation. At the beginning of The Clone Wars, there wasn’t as much detail on the characters, now when there is wind, their hair moves. But also when a ship lands on a planet you can see the dust.

Familiar Faces

As seen in the trailer, this show is bringing back familiar faces like Tarkin and Saw Gerrera. Every time Tarkin makes an appearance in Star Wars animation, he adds another reason as to why we hate him! Stephen Stanton always does a great job at voicing him. I honestly couldn’t see another voice actor capturing Peter Cushing’s voice the way Stephen does. Like every character in the final season of The Clone Wars, Tarkin gets a model update. It is more representative of how he looks at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

Saw Gerrera also gets an update. You can see he is no longer the man we knew from the battle of Onderon but he is not yet the radical man from Rogue One. It’s always nice to see the evolution of this character and how he is slowly turning into a radical rebel.

Clone Force 99

What makes this show work is this untypical group of clones. Each has a different personality, a different armor, a different face, and different skills. Despite being all different, you can see there is a little bit of the basic clone face that is kept for each of them.

Hunter is the leader and the moral compass of this group. He is my favorite and I’ve loved him since the beginning of the tribute to Rambo with his hair and his bandana. Wrecker is the muscles and the comic relief, he always says some funny stuff to lighten the mood. Crosshair is the sharpshooter but he is also the least likable member of the team. Tech as his name suggests is the tech guy.

We also have the new recruit – Echo. I would also describe him as the tech guy. It’s pretty much what he does too but he can do more than Tech. As he is part machine, he has features that allow him to access doors or control panels as the astromechs do. This makes him a valuable member of the team. He finally has armor that suits the rest of the team. I love the use of the kama as it’s a callback to his time as an ARC trooper.

Omega

Then, we are introduced to Omega. She is a new character who was seen in the trailers. I won’t say much more about her but she will definitely become a fan favorite!

Star Wars The Bad Batch - Omega

Verdict

“Aftermath” is a great premise to the series. It turns the page on the Clone Wars and opens a brand new chapter! It’s a captivating premiere bringing fun and action!