"The Bad Batch" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars - Season 7, Episode 1

Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu meet with Captain Rex and Commander Cody, discussing the Republic's recent struggles to protect Anaxes from falling to the Separatists. Rex believes that the Separatists have somehow gained possession of his strategic algorithm -- and the only others who ever knew of the program were Echo and Fives, who are dead.

Windu dispatches Rex and Cody to take a small squad of troopers and infiltrate the Separatist cyber center. If the Separatists are using Rex's algorithm, they'll find evidence there.

Rex and Cody speak in private. The decorated captain feels uneasy, wondering if Echo may still be alive. "I don't have another way to explain how the Separatists got the algorithm," he says. Cody tries to ease his friend's mind, and readies to introduce him to the unit they'll be working with: Clone Force 99, a squad of defective Republic soldiers with desirable mutations. They call themselves...the Bad Batch.

Wearing black-and-red armor, the Bad Batch arrive at Anaxes. Consisting of team lead Hunter, the hulking Wrecker, stats-minded Tech, and the sharpshooter Crosshair, they don't look -- or act -- like normal clones.

En route to the Separatist cyber center, battle droids spot the clones' gunship and blast it out of the sky. Cody suffers a severe abdominal injury in the crash...and a droid battalion closes in on the squad. The Bad Batch decide to handle things their way, and takes the fight to the clankers!

The four clones charge, each using their own particular skills to wipe out the opposition. Following the battle, droids contact Admiral Trench, reporting that the clone attack matches no known strategies.

The clones set up camp. Tech explains that Hunter has heightened senses; he can detect the data center's electromagnetic frequencies. With Cody still suffering from his injuries, Rex calls in evac and takes command. But Crosshair questions the captain's authority, and tempers flare. Finally, things calm down and they move out.

When they arrive at an outpost, the clones storm the entrance, blasting their way into the tower. Tech hacks into the system and detects a whole platoon of droids heading their way, and the Bad Batch decide to grab some speeder bikes and flank them from the back.

The clones finally reach the cyber center, as does the droid platoon. As Rex creates a diversion, the Bad Batch blast their way through the complex and take control of the command center. But the fight isn't over yet, as super battle droids join the attack! The Bad Batch hold off the Separatists as Rex heads to the command center to join Tech.

Tech finds not a program, but a live signal coming from another planet called Skako Minor. He patches Rex in, and they hear something that sounds almost human...and utters the code "CT-1409." Rex stammers back in shock as the clones make their exit.

The droids contact Trench, confirming that a connection was made with Skako Minor -- which alarms the admiral.

Safely away from the cyber center, Tech asks Rex what the number they heard meant. "CT-1409. That was Echo's number," Rex says. "That was Echo."

Originally planned as part of Season Seven, the Bad Batch arc began production in 2012. The episodes were fully scripted, voiced, and animated up to the “story reel” stage. Those story reels were later released online in 2015.

The rocky planet of Anaxes featured in this episode shows up later in the overall Star Wars timeline in Star Wars Rebels. In Star Wars Rebels, the planet has suffered a cataclysmic event which leads to the former Republic base floating in an asteroid belt.

Mace Windu underwent quite a few updates for his appearance in this season. His Star Wars: The Clone Wars body was always very slim, similar to Anakin’s, rather than the more solid build we see in the live-action films. Mace now has a thicker neck, bulkier chest and torso, shorter tabbards, and boots that are a closer match to those worn by Samuel L. Jackson in the prequels. This is also the first time that Mace Windu has had eyelashes!

Echo was thought dead after the events of the Season Four episode "Counterattack," in which he was caught in an explosion when trying to escape the Citadel prison.

The Bad Batch’s official squad name, “Clone Force 99,” is an homage to 99, a malformed clone with genetic defects. 99 sacrificed himself to save Kamino, "home" of the clones, and became an inspiration to his brothers.

While designs for every member of the Bad Batch had been finalized in 2011, the design team revisited the unfinished digital models in late 2018. They felt that each character’s unique personality had resulted in designs for a group of soldiers that looked almost too distinct from each other, and not enough like clones. Thus, developed newly for the final season on Disney+, the remodeled Bad Batch heads are all variants of the Rex model, with features accentuated or modified. The one thing they all share is the same eyes, which are intentionally almost identical to Rex’s.

Speaking of eyes, every hero character in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been updated with smaller eyes. After several years making Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Resistance, the team took the lessons they'd learned on those series and applied them to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, bringing the characters more in line with recent productions.

A poster inside the Batchers' ship seems to be from a magazine named “History Monthly.”

The battle droid lines “Do you know what’s going on?” and “Maybe it’s another drill” are echoes of stormtrooper dialogue on the Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Each member of the Bad Batch has a skull icon -- their unofficial logo -- emblazed on his armor.

The models used for Anakin and Obi-Wan in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars have been updated to better reflect their look seen in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

The models used for Anakin and Obi-Wan in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars have been updated to better reflect their look seen in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

"The Bad Batch to me reads as a more remarkable feat from a voice acting standpoint. If you just listen to these guys, they are more distinct and unique. However, from my standpoint, it feels easier. Because they have so much separation between them, it feels easier for me to jump from rock to rock in the stream, so to speak." - Dee Bradley Baker ("Rex" and all clones)

"With the Bad Batch arc, it's a lot of me talking to myself. We just went straight through it." - Dee Bradley Baker ("Rex" and all clones)

"The way we jumped into it was to fully finish the Bad Batch arc, which we had done before, and in some ways was a lot more challenging than doing a clone-heavy arc." - Dee Bradley Baker ("Rex" and all clones)

"I listened through the original record that we did [in 2012], but there are modifications that were made to the storyline. So I didn't want to exactly replicate what we did...It was more a question of making something that integrated seamlessly into what we already had recorded numerous years back." - Dee Bradley Baker ("Rex" and all clones)

Tech character illustration by Kilian Plunkett

Anaxes Separatist Security Outpost control room interior by Andre Kirk

Wrecker character illustration by Kilian Plunkett

Bad Batch transport rear cabin by Kilian Plunkett

Thermal detonator

Bad Batch transport interior posters by Kilian Plunkett

Clone barracks interior by Kilian Plunkett

The Bad Batch and the clone's camp concept art by Jason Boesch

Admiral Taranch by Wayne Lo and Pat Presley

AAT concept art by Thang Le

Anaxes Cyber Center exterior by Andre Kirk

Anaxes battle concept art by Jason Boesch