7 Easter Eggs You Missed From 'The Bad Batch' Premiere
Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode 1 “Aftermath” premiered on Disney+ on May the 4th and it did not disappoint. It was a supersized episode (75 minutes!) of fun, intrigue, and many many Easter eggs and nods to The Clone Wars and other Star Wars canon stories. It brought some amazing animation and started to answer questions regarding the aftermath of the Clone Wars. Not to mention all the Easter Eggs that popped up in just this one episode. Here are a few key ones that you may have missed the first time around.
7. “Well, I guess I’m in charge now.”
During a battle on Kaller, Clone Force 99 proceed to do what they do best and take down an entire unit of battle droids. As the droid numbers rapidly decline and their tanks are pushed off the side of a cliff by Wrecker, one of the droids mutters, “I guess I’m in charge now.” This is a callback to “Downfall of a Droid” from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where one of the battle droids assumes that he must be in charge after General Grievous ignores him. This line has become a meme because of its hilarity. Of course The Bad Batch had to reference it.
6. “Good soldiers follow orders.”
When Hunter lets Padawan Caleb Dume go, Crosshair disagrees with him and tensions begin to rise. After Order 66, Crosshair seems to be the one who is most interested in following the order to execute all the Jedi, whereas it doesn’t seem to affect the others as much. This is in part due to their genetic differences. Crosshair, however, seems intent on following the order, and while trying to win over his superior officer, he utters: “Good soldiers follow orders.” This same line gets repeated multiple times throughout the episode. It is a nod back to “The Unknown” in season 6 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In that episode, Tup keeps slipping into a trancelike state, which leads him to execute the Jedi Tiplar.
5. "Imperial March"
John Williams and Star Wars are synonymous since Williams created such a beautiful masterpiece soundtrack for A New Hope. And the Star Wars TV shows have often utilized elements and bars from John Williams’ scores to call back to key moments from the main movies. Of course, The Bad Batch does this as well. If you are listening to the soundtrack underneath the scene when Palpatine is giving his ominous speech to herald the dawn of the Galactic Empire (the same speech, incidentally, given in Revenge of the Sith), you can hear a few bars of the iconic "Imperial March" theme underscoring the important moment and giving the viewer a little taste of what might be coming.
4. V-Wings
When Clone Force 99 drops by Kamino and their home after their fight on Kaller, they are met with a request for their clearance code. They are surprised by this extra security, but get by with no problem. The vessels seen around them are V-Wings, which have appeared in multiple Star Wars stories and media since debuting in Revenge of the Sith. This episode also sees several other returning vehicles, including Republic landers and tanks used by the Separatists. A probe droid is also seen on Onderon, just like the probe droids in The Empire Strikes Back and The Phantom Menace.
3. Dark Troopers
On Kamino, Tarkin is trying to test Clone Force 99 through a battle simulation. They do well in the first round, but he orders that live rounds be used against the Clone Force and a small unit of droids are deployed that look suspiciously like the Dark Troopers that have been most recently seen in The Mandalorian. These are obviously very early versions of the same design and, of course, not nearly as powerful, but the resemblance is clearly the same Dark Trooper design. The Empire clearly had this design for a while, sat on it, and it was eventually perfected by Moff Gideon. We have also seen DT-series sentry droids in Star Wars Rebels.
To further this, once Crosshair’s programming is messed with by Tarkin, and he is completely turned against his friends, Crosshair returns to battle dressed all in black. This isn’t 100% the same style as the Dark Troopers in the simulation. It could be a nod to another kind of trooper. Crosshair could potentially be among one of the first Death Troopers produced by the Empire.
2. Galactic Republic Logo
Since The Bad Batch follows the forces of the Republic as Palpatine’s transition to the Empire begins in earnest, you can naturally see the familiar spoke-wheel logo of the Galactic Republic scattered around the episode. One is very clearly painted on the side of a crate being used as a table in Clone Force 99’s living quarters on Kamino.
1. Tarkin’s Palpatine/Vader Entrance
There is a pretty cool callback to old-school Star Wars with Admiral Tarkin’s entrance on Kamino. He is greeted by two regimental lines of clone troopers. Tarkin’s ship opens with a puff of steam and ominous trumpets, and he marches through the soldiers with utmost authority. Of course, this entrance is purposefully reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader’s respective hanger arrivals in Return of the Jedi.
Source(s): Screen Rant