This season of 'The Bad Batch' has been a real rollercoaster. The highs of "The Solitary Clone" to the lows of episodes like "Faster". This week, the show once again elevated itself with a 2-episode drop that feels like a spiritual sequel to the great 'The Clone Wars' episode "Clone Conspiracy". In fact, the first part of this 2-part story arch, aptly named "The Clone Conspiracy", doesn't even feature our titular characters. These 2 episodes also felt like a great companion piece to last year's 'Andor' as we focus again on political intrigue and dangerous secrets. The tension is palpable and the presence of returning characters feel natural in this given situation. But the biggest revelation is that we finally have a clear understanding of the fate of the clones. There's still plenty to explore in this show, but after these 2 episodes, it has easily justified its status as must-watch Star Wars.
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SSSW - Star Wars Podcast Day - 2023 Preview - Bonus Episode
We are proud to be taking part in "Star Wars Podcast Day 2023", a celebration of all the podcasts who are covering the galaxy far far away. This is our first year taking part, and as a special bonus episode just for the occasion, Rachel and Julian look ahead at all the Star Wars content coming to Disney+ and beyond. 2023 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Star Wars content in some time, what with 'The Bad Batch' already well underway, and 'The Mandalorian' season 3 just around the corner, the hype levels are already through the roof. Looking later into the year with 'Ahsoka' and 'Skeleton Crew', and although little is actually known about them at this point, it's hard not to get excited about the prospect of live action Thrawn. That's without even mentioning 'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor' the follow up to the hit game from EA. Plus more 'Star Wars Visions'. It's almost too much! … almost.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E6 "Tribe"
Now we're cooking with gas! After two very insular episodes that felt very light and fluffy we're back to something with a little more (furry) meat on the bones. "Tribe" kicks off with a very moody space station sequence that leads up right into the reintroduction of a fan favourite character from 'The Clone Wars' in nonother than everyone's favourite Wookie Jedi, Gungi! He's is looking a bit older but still clearly an adolescent having dealt with a lot after Order 66. This episode does a nice job of adding stakes with the Wookies and injects some nice world building as we learn more about the state of Kashyyyk after the war. A nice change after both of those elements were barely seen in the last two episodes.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E5 'Entombed'
Sure, we were a little harsh on last week's episode, 'Faster'. It felt like a diversion that was unfortunately timed to come immediacy after a standout episode of the entire series in 'The Solitary Clone'. Coming off of this week's 'Indiana Jones' inspired treasure hunt episode, we learned the show was capable of being even more aimless than we already thought possible. Wanda Sykes' character Phee Genoa returns, and we learn she's less of a pirate and more of a treasure hunter, which admittedly is a cool refinement. Unfortunately, the nature of this "mission of week" which finds the Batch exploring a desolate uncharted planet means that there is little to no plot movement for the larger story. To make matters worse, despite some relatively interesting lore possibilities (hello 'Jedi: Fallen Order'), there's also no character work here either. It's the ultimate "filler" episode. I term I loath to use, as its meaning has largely been lost in the popular lexicon, but in this case, the shoe fits.
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Episode 182 - The 2022 Tobie Awards
As the calendar flips to a new year it's always nice to look back at the best-of-the best from the last 12 months. It's become a highly prestigious tradition here at Tower of Babble - 6 years running. Therefor, as is tradition, the ToB hosts, Julian, Jeremy, and Rachel, gather together to discuss their top 3 ranked favorites in film and television from 2022. If you've been listening (or watching live!) throughout the last year, some of these picks might be predictable. That being said, there was a lot of great content to pick from so don't be shocked if something comes out of left field. Congrats to all of this year's Tobie winners!
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E4 "Faster"
Last week's episode of 'The Bad Batch' gave us a topsy-turvy, through the looking glass examination of the jingoistic "adventures" of 'The Clone Wars', seen through the eye's of a compassionate, respected, and likely regretful, veteran of those wars. It was near perfect - chefs kiss*. This week... well this week we got a pseudo-podracing episode that attempts to flush out Cid's past, but unfortunately it doesn't do a great job at the racing OR the character building. Tech gets some interesting things to do, and the voice cameos are fun, but largely speaking this episode feels quite disposable.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S1E3 "The Solitary Clone"
Think back to ‘Revenge of the Sith’ - after Kenobi finishes off Grievous, Commander Cody, Kenobi’s good friend and colleague, gives him back his dropped lightsaber. This is only moments before he shoots him down when Order 66 is enacted. That moment is the last time we had seen Cody from a timeline perspective. A lot has happened since then: countless Jedi murdered, the rise of the Galactic Empire, and with it the iron boot of oppression. How does a lifelong soldier, and a man who believes he killed one of his only friends grapple with that? Well, this episode of ‘The Bad Batch’ asks those very questions as we are treated to a Clone Wars-esque mission, complete with a separatist planet and battle droids, all seen through the eyes of Crosshair. A clone who he-himself is struggling to understand where he fits into the Imperial machine. The rest of The Batch is absent from this episode but you won’t even notice in this action packed, emotionally charged installment.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch Season 2 Premiere
After a short holiday break, Julian and Rachel return to Star Wars, this time in the animated form, to discuss the premiere of ‘The Bad Batch’ season 2, which encompassed two episodes, “Spoils of War”, and “Ruins of War”. The two-part premiere saw The Batch take on an extremely risky “get rich quick” scheme that takes them to the planet of Serenno, Count Dooku’s old haunt, to steal a fraction of his EXTREME wealth, which is being gathered up, and shipped off-world by the Empire. With plenty of interesting themes and story threads to digest, and even a new Clone Captain to meet, there’s a lot to discuss. Join us as we break it all down!
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ToB Film Club/Christmas Special - Die Hard (1988)
Hard to believe it's already the Holidays already. Seems like just yesterday we were reviewing 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation'. Oh what a time... we were laughing, snow was falling, things were merry and bright. Well the weather is cold again, and the only way to warm up this year is with EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE! That's right, we're dusting off the action, comedy, Christmas classic 'Die Hard' for this special season. Essentially a perfect action movie, there's very little to critic, but boy is there a lot to love. Join Julian, Jeremy, and Rachel as they break down all the fun one-liners and over the top kills, plus enjoy some bonus Christmas stories from the ToB Crew to kick things off. It's Christmas miracle! Happy holidays everyone!
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ToB Interlude - Avatar: The Way of Water
It’s been over 10 years since we first visited Pandora (I.e. Not-Kansas), but its been worth the wait. Visionary director, James Cameron, has put together an epic sequel that rivals some of his best. Not only have the visuals taken another leap forward, with nearly photo real effects, but the action and story have also taken a big step forward. This is a complete movie (you’d hope so, considering it comes in at over 3 hours long), full of character exploration, in depth world building, family drama, action on a massive scale, and a strong heart and core message. It’s a movie that deserves to be seen on as big of a screen as possible, and yea even the 3D is good. Needless to say, we liked the movie, so please join Julian and Jeremy as they break it all down!
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