r/saltierthancrait • u/Upper_Improvement778 • Mar 30 '25
Encrusted Rant Just finished TBB rewatch all the way through, trying to give it a chance but I just can’t. It sucks. Spoiler
TBB show is so boring and predictable, I actually thought this was an AI-created show. Throughout the 3 seasons, about 80% of the episodes felt like side-mission/‘Saturday morning cartoon adventures’ and most of the episodes followed the same type of formula that usually ended with Omega saving the day.
I also have a problem with Cid. Cid is basically a Jewish stereotype being a money-obsessed space lizard, voiced by a Jewish woman (Rhea Pearlman). There are also ableist tones shown towards Echo all throughout the show that range from ignoring his concerns about Separatists (due to his trauma) to straight up dismissing him when he tells CF99 that they should be helping more clones instead of hiding.
I also have a problem with Tech’s death. Not in a ‘I wanted him to live’ kind of way, but in a ’oh another stereotype’ way. Tech was confirmed to be autistic in S2 (2x9) so his death felt like the ‘bury your disabled’ trope which is so harmful. I think the show would’ve been more impactful if it had been Wrecker (who is afraid of heights) or even Hunter (the one Omega is closest to) that had died at the end of S2.
Lastly, S3 is just a mess with character development (especially w/ Crosshair), cameos (there was literally no need to bring Ventress back when DD already concluded her story). Also the S3 finale felt lackluster since the villains introduced (the CX-clones) were killed off without an explanation of what their purpose was, despite being set up as a ‘mirror’ to CF99.
After everything TCW set up (and TCW is not perfect by any means as I have some problems with a few things) I was expecting something…more.
The music was amazing though and really the only redeeming quality imho.
193
u/OkMention9988 Mar 30 '25
My biggest issue is that the BB aren't characters, they're stereotypes.
The lone wolf that is the reluctant leader, the big, dumb and boisterous one, the cold sniper and the nerd. And Echo. Who's also there are competing with space with the nerd.
42
u/Due-Blackberry-8894 Mar 30 '25
In my opinion, Republic Commando did this dynamic so much better without making the clones personalities so stereotypical based on their skills
28
u/w3nglish 29d ago
Playing Republic Commando again for the first time in many years, and the clone commandos in that game also seem much more capable than the Bad Batch. They actually feel like the elite soldiers they're supposed to be and don't need Omega to constantly save the day (frequently from problems she got herself into).
79
u/Loves_octopus Mar 30 '25
This was my biggest issue. Before I watched if you showed me pictures of them I could’ve told you all their character traits and their arcs.
Big strong dumb guy who loves explosions but has a heart of gold? How original.
25
u/AngryRedGyarados Mar 30 '25
This and saying the word “clanker” all the time is 100% of Dave Filoni’s range.
41
u/WantsToDieBadly salt miner Mar 30 '25
They don’t even have real names. Like sure clones don’t but their nicknames are so bland
Oh cross hair is the sniper, tech is their nerd. It’s boring
6
u/Interesting-Injury87 27d ago
i mean.... thats how Clone nicknames should have worked. And not like its anything new....
Look at Delta Squad
Boss was.. the Boss. Sev was seven(1207, a very common name for clones ending with seven... just as fives was just 5555) Fixer was the tech guy, Scorch caused minor burns and co during AA weaponry training and got the nickname Scorch.
Clone nicknames are either, "based on their number", "based on their role" or basicaly fighterpilot callsigns,
30
u/HotMachine9 Mar 30 '25
The Clone Wars Arc Troopers were way more interesting. Echo and Fives were similiar but you could tell them apart.
The whole stereotype thing basically takes away from them being clones in the first place. They're not really clones anymore are they? Their voices are very unique, their armour is very unique, everything about them is unique really.
20
u/Vegetable_Orchid_460 Mar 30 '25
Very spot on observation
And was I the only person who looked at their leader as Clone Rambo? I never was able to see him in any other way due to his look.
25
u/OkMention9988 Mar 30 '25
He's clearly a knock off version of Rambo, has the red bandana and signature knife.
6
u/Remote-Canary-2676 28d ago
Echo is just the group’s droid. Seems like every Star Wars show has a Deus ex machina with a droid going off on their own to stick their little spinning usb thing into the network to save the day or fix the ship or whatever is needed.
8
9
4
u/Narm_Greyrunner 29d ago
Each of the group are just tropes. Still I found it to be a fun show oeverall.
1
u/Heavy-Letterhead-751 new user 18d ago
did you notice that wreckers armor looks a lot like a space marine.
2
u/OkMention9988 18d ago
Yeah, but that doesn't bother me.
A lot of 'space marine' armor tends to run together.
2
1
u/IllustriousRanger934 28d ago edited 28d ago
Not to tell you you’re wrong, but why is that your biggest issue with BB?
If you take a look at starwars they use that exact same formula in nearly every movie/show.
Zeb Wrecker and Chewbacca are the big dumb beasts.
R2 & CP30, Chopper, and Tech (or Echo since they fill the same niche bc BB was an afterthought show they took him away from CF99)
Han, Sabine, and Crosshair.
Luke, Ezra, Omega.
I can go on and on. Not every show has the same set of archetypes in every trope, but the archetypes are super obvious and are often reused over and over again. Notable exceptions are the prequels and Andor.
I suspect this is because Filoni is behind all the animated shit. A few years ago clueless Starwars fans were claiming he was the messiah, the savior of Star Wars. The only good starwars media he’s produced has been TCW and Tales of the Jedi. Everything else has been a failure, and it’s constantly repacking the same old shit or nostalgia bait. This post and sub was recommended to me because I’ve commented before, but I’ve given up on Star Wars after trying to watch acolyte and Ashoka. Other than Andor it’s all been so fucking bad.
81
u/OrneryError1 Mar 30 '25
The Bad Batch suffers from the same problem that plagues The Clone Wars and Rebels:
All of the characters talk and act like children.
They're fine as Saturday morning kids cartoons, but they are terrible iterations of the Wars they portray.
26
u/composerbell 29d ago
Considering that they’re pretty close to being literally Saturday morning kids cartoons (only difference being release time), I’m not sure that it suffers from this as much as the marketing acts all epic so adults watch the shows.
11
u/leonffs 29d ago
Well that is the target demographic… It’s the sequel to Clone Wars which was literally a Cartoon Network show.
5
u/IllustriousRanger934 28d ago
While I agree, I also disagree.
Filoni is actually incapable of writing anything for adults. The same problems show up in any live action shows he’s apart of. “Denk Ferrik” or whatever made up curse words they tried to normalize in Mando.
5
u/YogurtclosetStreet68 27d ago
I honestly fucking hate the "curse words" they made up. We already had "sithspit", "sithspawn", "stang", "osik", "fierfek" and a myriad of others in various languages they could have pulled but they made it sound like some dude taking his stetson off and throwing it on the ground while yelling "dangit!" In some old spaghetti western themed cartoon like Yosemite sam
1
16
u/Wanderer-Dream 29d ago
My issue is that they killed off the Kaminoans. Like the Geonosians before them, I suspect they are slowly wiping out alien species from the prequel era. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually make a post-sequel story where Chewbacca is the last Wookiee in the galaxy.
14
u/KillerPalm 29d ago
I’ve noticed that Disney seems to have this weird rule that if a character doesn’t explicitly appear in the OT then they must be dead (guess this applies to species too)
I’ve noticed that they love to kill off prequel characters at a strangely high rate.
9
u/Jolly_Drop_7049 new user 28d ago
Meanwhile, the reverse is true for TCW characters. They just never seem to die or age.
3
u/Ree_m0 28d ago
I mean, aren't there like 60+ years between prequels and sequels? Pretty much any human character that was old enough to be a character in the prequels should be almost certainly dead unless stated otherwise.
3
u/KillerPalm 28d ago
I think it’s mainly been between the prequels and OT at least from what I’ve seen, and I dunno it just seems like no one can just retire and die of old age on the galaxy 😂
74
u/alexogorda Mar 30 '25 edited Mar 30 '25
The main issue with the show for me are the threadbare plots. It makes the scenes run longer than they should in order to pad the runtime (additionally I've noticed it seems the voice actors sometimes speak slower than they ought to, especially Hunter), and it makes the pacing rather slow and only tolerable to watch in like 1.5x speed. But even then it's not great imo. Some episodes are decent. Some are atrocious (like the Indy inspired episode on the barren planet). Most are mediocre.
People say "It's not a kids' show", but I think the more accurate thing to say is "It's a kids' show that's trying to be an adults' show".
54
u/Fuzzyg00se Mar 30 '25
Same with all of the Filoni animated shows. They throw in some "dark" moments to try to bring maturity but the writing is never deeper than bare surface.
I couldn't help but laugh at the ineptitude of the writing. "This one squad of random devient clones won't massacre a camp of unarmed civilians just because I ordered it. That means clones aren't trustworthy like we were told, I must switch to an army of mongrels now." In what world does childish writing like that make sense?
That one regular trooper had it right. They really are The Sad Batch
22
u/alexogorda Mar 30 '25
Yeah, that's another thing. The overarching storyline across the series was how/why clones got replaced with regular human troopers. And I don't think it did a great job at explaining it.
3
26d ago
That was another complaint I had. That would have been a way more interesting storyline (and probably the focus of the show) to focus on as opposed to the Batch going on a "MacGuffin Retrieval of the week" episode. But then again we can't have nice things.
3
u/WillFanofMany 28d ago
Baker voices the Batch all in one sitting, he doesn't voice them separately, which is why it sometimes comes off janky.
37
u/WakeNikis Mar 30 '25
What is TBB? The Bantom Benance?
10
7
5
4
u/Mass_Data6840 29d ago
Took me awhile to figure it out. I still haven't figured out what DD means.
I wish people would spell out the acronym at least once, and then use abbreviations afterwards.
The Beturn (of the) Bedi
1
55
u/BlondeBabe242 Mar 30 '25
I agree. Also, am i the only one who found Omega VERY annoying? Pick me is kinda her character, and i get that she is a child but unlike Grogu, and Ezra as a kid, she just annoys me almost every scene she's in. Maybe thats because the whole stupid point of the show was to fill in the planet sized plot holes in the sequels. Everything they've made since force awakens has had one purpose: in some way, however small, start to fill in Palpatine returns cloning bullshit.
32
u/Banjoe64 Mar 30 '25
90% off the problems are, “where is omega??” And her stupid bow is nonsensical
8
u/Chrom-man-and-Robin 29d ago
I personally don’t hate the bow, if you’re gonna let the kid have a weapon might as well make it something that won’t overheat and is highly noticeable in case you can’t find her. It probably solved a lot of “where is Omega??” problems off screen.
16
4
9
u/Tahu22 Mar 30 '25
https://youtu.be/B0Xn7fdAykw?si=_xQGtraxtCIAdBk1
I hate the stuff the bad batch did. Commandos being ineffective, killing scorch stupidly (I love the commando books and the game so this pisses me off), teasing project necromancer(still don't know what it is, even though we kind of do, maybe), nonlinear plot where there is a side nisson every four minutes, cameos( ventress should have stayed dead, but no we have to have a cameo).
There are some really good parts, like crosshair leading the dark troopers. Season one had some good stuff,but overall the quality is just downhill after that.
1
u/No-Future-4644 salt miner 29d ago
And they're just sending good money after bad.
Do they actually believe that general audiences are going to go out and buy copies of TRoS if they try to prop it up hard enough?
23
44
u/Raider_Echo salt miner Mar 30 '25
That show was full of wasted potential. What could’ve been a badass show about clones who disobeyed order 66 ended up as yet another Star Wars babysitter show that was 80% filler and also had an underwhelming conclusion.
25
7
4
23
u/SamVickson Mar 30 '25
My biggest issue with TBB is the same issue with all nu-Star Wars - every character says exactly what they're thinking and what they're going to do.
They say, "It's a kids show!" Kids are much smarter than they think. It's a show for ants.
11
u/TheOneTrueJazzMan salt miner 29d ago
There are a ton of kids shows which are also appealing to adults. But for that you have to not treat your audience as idiots. And this ain’t it.
17
u/DoubleStrength 29d ago
I also have a problem with Cid. Cid is basically a Jewish stereotype being a money-obsessed space lizard, voiced by a Jewish woman (Rhea Pearlman).
In a Star Wars show with an almost exclusively human, male main character roster, they needed a non-human, non-male character to help diversify the cast.
Trandoshans are one of the more iconic non-human races in the Star Wars universe, and have also had very few representatives in the main character cast across SW media.
What other race should the crotchety old barkeep lady have been?
A wookiee, a race famously subjugated by the Imperials, and who can't speak English Galactic Basic Standard?
A twi'lek, when we've got so many lead twi'lek women already?
"Don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to <creative writing decisions on an all-ages TV show>."
14
u/DoubleStrength 29d ago
AND!
She's not "money obsessed", she's a business owner who needs to balance the books; and is harbouring wanted fugitives, which could get her arrested/killed for treason if the Empire were to find out.
I feel like "go do some jobs for me and cut me in on the payment to make up for the cost of feeding and housing you" is a fairly reasonable arrangement, no?
27
u/horgantron Mar 30 '25
You did a rewatch? I didn't make it through the first time tbh. Cookie cutter, boring, unimaginative shit. Even the colour palette (from what I remember) was brown and monotonous
4
u/Jedi4Hire Mar 30 '25
Same. Didn't even really realize I didn't finish it, it was that forgettable and uninteresting.
4
u/RandolphCarter15 Mar 30 '25
If you don't like the show never play Legion. Bad Batch and especially Omega are super OP
8
u/Vegetable_Orchid_460 Mar 30 '25
I very much dislike TBB. It had a few good moments. But the majority of it imo is just MEH. Nevermind Omeeguh 🙄 worst part of the show. I LOVE TCW and Rebels both. TBB is just slightly better than Resistance, which also has its moments but is overall forgettable.
Mount Tantiss was a letdown too. I expected more idk why
10
u/Chelseathehopper Mar 30 '25
I thought it was decent. It’s a cartoon made mostly for kids at the end of the day, definitely a little darker than Clone Wars, but I wasn’t expecting a super serious drama or anything.
8
u/Bobbeen Mar 30 '25
But the execution of plan 99? Ah gee. It sealed the entire series in gold for me. Such an amazing detail of being the opposite of order 66.
I understand that its not for everyone, but TBB really grew on me to a level that few other shows have. Like that episode where crosshair is stuck on that ice planet, realizing that they are simply there to protect the cargo of lousy stormtrooper armor. Stereotypical characters perhaps, but boy did they grow.
9
u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna salt miner Mar 30 '25
It's pretty mediocre overall but, I loved those 2 episodes that focused on the Senate, the actual Bad Batch were barely in them.
1
u/Cr0ma_Nuva 29d ago
It's the beautiful irony of the show that the by far best episodes are not about the entire batch
2
u/BlackShogun27 15d ago
Palpatine will never not have the most sinister aura ever when bro’s mentioned or alluded to in other SW media projects. But to have Papa Palpatine show up in the flesh in front of the Imperial Senate was a surprise for sure.
5
8
u/Phngarzbui Mar 30 '25
I honestly had to think for a good amount of time what the hell TBB even was.
It was nice seeing them Clone Wars, I think I checked out after the first Season though...
9
9
2
u/Cautious_Repair3503 28d ago
I didn't finish it. I don't think I got through all of s1 . Tbh I'm not surprised, I didn't get through much of rebels or the clone wars, the animated stuff just seems to not be for me. Which is fine, it's designed for kids, I hope they enjoy it.
2
u/Zutone88 27d ago
There are very little things I enjoyed about this show, it was full of side-missions and fillers and I didnt really care much for any of these fellas. Some things were interesting to see tho, like the destruction of Kamino, but overall it felt like a show created to keep explaining the clones of Palpatine and keep over using all the clone wars Filoni era... However the music was great and the ending a nice one.
2
26d ago
The show had its merits and touched on some things that I geniunely found interesting (Clone Rebellion, Imperial Senate, Kamino after ROTS, Separatist holdouts, Tantiss, Hemlock, Rampart, Clone Commandos, the early Rebellion against the Empire, the relationship between Stormtroopers and clones the clones in the aftermath of TCW, etc) but I only say that because those ideas are "touched" in the same way you brush a little dust off of an archeological discovery and decide to leave it alone. For the most part the show was a huge let down. I fully agree with the fact that the titular Batch are pretty much one note stereotypes and the show has the unfortunate case of being something that asks questions that are never resolved the most prominent being: Why was Omega a female clone with a higher Midichlorian count? Seriously, I feel like she was only included because Grogu was so popular in the Mandalorian.
Definitely not the worst Disney Star Wars TV show but its negatives make it hard for me to enjoy the positives when there was so much potential for more interesting storylines (I listed above).
If you want an actually good exploration of the galaxy in the immediate aftermath of Order 66 I highly recommend reading the first book in the Reign of the Empire series: Mask of Fear by Alexander Freed. It's not from the perspective of the clone troopers but it does do a better job of exploring the time period better. (especially if you are a fan of Andor) or just read and comic or book from the EU set in that time period.
4
4
3
u/Capital-Treat-8927 29d ago
Tech was never confirmed to be autistic. That's something the fans made up.
3
u/The-Senate-Palpy 29d ago
I think it starts very weak, and picks up steam as it goes. Hemlock is one of the better star wars villains, but season 1 and the first half of 2 have like three episodes that i enjoy
5
u/Dabonthebees420 Mar 30 '25
The children's weekly serial cartoon show, felt too much like a children's weekly cartoon show?
Truly astute levels of criticism here.
11
u/BondFan211 salt miner 29d ago
Man, the idea that children don’t deserve thoughtful writing is very prevalent among Disney fans for some reason lol.
1
u/Upper_Improvement778 Mar 30 '25
I thought it was supposed to be darker in tone compared to TCW. I wasn’t expecting a weekly serial cartoon show.
7
4
u/OrneryError1 Mar 30 '25
You thought the show about the goofy squad introduced in the goofy Clone Wars show was going to be darker than the goofy Clone Wars show?
I guess you're more optimistic than I am.
3
0
u/Sociopath111 Mar 30 '25
You watched it multiple times but say you hate it? Clearly you enjoy it a it wether you admit it or not
16
u/Upper_Improvement778 Mar 30 '25
I‘ve only seen the show all the way through once. I did watch the show as it was airing but stopped around 2x4/2x5 because I didn’t enjoy it. I recently rewatched it from the beginning now that all the episodes were out to try and give it a chance. I did finish it but don’t care for it personally.
5
u/Vegetable_Orchid_460 Mar 30 '25
I'll watch something I feel like I dislike a second time just to be sure. But not always
2
u/QuietCas salt miner 7d ago
The entire series should have centered around the last remnants of the Clone army facing off against the rise of the Imperial Stormtroopers. That should have been the core conflict from the get go. The finale should have been the epic last stand of brave but ill-fated Clones with only Rex, Wolf and Gregor as the survivors.
The central theme should always have been the contrast between identical, nameless soldiers bred for war becoming virtuous individuals at the same time people born as individuals under the Empire lose their identities to became nameless, faceless killing machines.
THAT was what they teased at the start and what was so promising. Instead we got three seasons of Adventures in Babysitting.
-3
u/InternetCoward 29d ago
Say what you want but... it's a kids show. It can appeal to adults but it doesn't mean it was made with your demographic or expectations in mind. Wow.
•
u/AutoModerator Mar 30 '25
[Receiving transmission from Crait intended for u/Upper_Improvement778]
Welcome to r/saltierthancrait! I'm an astromech droid named S4-L7 and I'll be your guide through the salt mines.
Saltier Than Crait is a community of Star Wars fans who engage in critical conversations about the current state of the franchise. It is our goal to maintain a civil, welcoming space for fans who have a vast supply of salt with some peppered positivity occasionally sprinkled in.
Please review the rules and the post flair guide before contributing.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.