It’s Star Wars Day, May 4th, and Disney commemorated by released the 70-minute premiere episode of Lucasfilm Animation’s latest Star Wars series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, onto Disney+. The show picks up where Star Wars: The Clone Wars left off, taking the deviant troopers of Clone Force 99, introduced in Clone Wars‘ final season, into the early days of the Galactic Empire. With the episode now live, reviews are also appearing online, and thus far, the show is faring well. Though RottenTomatoes has only registered eight critical reactions at the time of writing, all eight have been positive, including ComicBook.com‘s take on the episode published earlier today:
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“The team behind Star Wars’ animated installments are bringing everything they’ve learned in the more than a decade since The Clone Wars debuted to the table for The Bad Batch. The first episode has to do some heavy lifting to set the stage for what’s to come as it puts the Bad Batch together with Omega and sends them on the run. While the gloomy tone makes the episode a bit staid compared to the high adventure shows that preceded it, it sets up an exciting premise as the Bad Batch becomes an A-Team-like entity searching for a place in a galaxy going through tremendous upheaval. It’s also interesting to consider that this is the first Star Wars animated series that doesn’t have a clear endpoint to shoot towards — no apparent Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith or Star Wars: A New Hope to presage — while the questions surrounding Omega adds a dose of intrigue into the mix. It’s a solid first outing for a new show that seems poised only to get stronger as its characters grow and its mysteries unravel.”
The episode included a few surprises for fans. It reveals the identity of the mysterious Omega and has a cameo from a younger version of a fan-favorite character.
According to the show’s official synopsis, “Star Wars: The Bad Batch follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch—a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army—each possess a singular exceptional skill that makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew.”
New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch will debut on Fridays on Disney+.
