'The Bad Batch' Cameo That Took Me Out Of The Premiere
Let me preface this by saying that I enjoyed most of The Bad Batch premiere episode "Aftermath." It shows the potential of this series and how the addition of Omega can ground the squad, keeping the series from becoming a monotonous action-fest. However, the beginning had me at the edge of my seat, and not for the reasons one might hope. It took me out of the narrative because the way that it was executed (no pun intended) was bothering me.
Sure, it was great to hear Tom Kane again. It was interesting to see 3D animated moments of Revenge of the Sith. (Though I'm not hoping for a feature-length 3D-animated adaptation, as I would rather have Lucasfilm focus on new content.) But the moment the planet Kaller was mentioned, I thought to myself, "Oh no. It's happening again..." I was dreading Order 66, but not simply for the fact that it was Order 66. Rather, this was an Order 66 moment that had already been depicted in the 2015 comic Kanan by Star Wars Rebels writer Greg Weisman.
There on the screen were Depa Billaba and Caleb Dume (who later becomes Kanan Jarrus), with Kaller looking snowier than it did in the comics. Commander Grey is now Captain Grey, according to the credits, and has different armor. The Bad Batch show up despite not appearing in the comic. We do not get the scene around the campfire at night time right before Order 66. "Aftermath" does not give us the bond between Caleb and the clone troopers. Instead, Order 66 happens in the daytime, and it feels rather cold (not just because it's snowy) not having the bonding time with the clones. The dialogue is even a bit different, and so is the color of Depa Billaba's lightsaber.
After seeing so many depictions of Order 66, this instance lacks substance, and it feels like Caleb is simply tacked onto the Bad Batch's story for fanservice reasons. I understand that the episode was trying to show Hunter and Crosshair's interactions with a young character as a way of foreshadowing how things would play out with Omega, but this could have been any other padawan and still accomplished the goal, perhaps even more effectively since not knowing the fate of a different padawan would add more suspense to the situation.
Plus, Freddie Prinze Jr.'s young Caleb voice does not sound convincing enough for this 14-year-old version of the character. I think this is an instance where they should have just recast he role. This is yet another instance of the franchise trying to have its cake and eat it, too.
The episode was co-written by Dave Filoni and Jennifer Corbett. The latter has since been interviewed by Fandom and addressed the differences
“I can tell you that that particular sequence we spent the most time on in the pilot, from writing to production to editing to reshooting, because a lot of talk went into how we wanted to portray that pivotal moment with Dave Filoni and with Brad… Everything we did was for a reason and it might not match 100% but it’s sort of just wanting to honor what existed but also give another take on it in this story.”
This follows in the footsteps of The Clone Wars season 7 not lining up with the Ahsoka flashbacks in E. K. Johnston's 2016 novel Ahsoka, as well as The Mandalorian season 2 depicting Cobb Vanth's backstory in the interludes of Chuck Wendig's Aftermath novel trilogy a bit differently. The broad strokes of all of these are pretty much the same, and not us irreconcilable as the deaths of such characters as Even Piell and Adi Gallia in The Clone Wars. These characters' deaths had already been depicted differently in the EU, I remember being bothered by those moments back when Lucasfilm said it would eventually be revealed how the TV series fits with Clone Wars era Expanded Universe content.
Of course, what ended up happening was Lucasfilm's announcement in April 2014 that only the six saga films at the time and The Clone Wars were canon, with everything else being considered Legends. The announcement also said that new content going forward such as books, comics, and video games would be as canon as the films. It seemed like the tiered canon structure in which the films could overwrite elements of books, comics, etc. was gone, but recent examples suggest that there is internally a tiered structure still in place, even if Lucasfilm will not make an announcement about such a structure.
Perhaps it would have been a bigger issue if Grey died in the series premiere, thus preventing an impactful clone trooper moment later in the comics from happening. That could still happen, and I suppose one could imagine Caleb still bumping into Hunter and Crosshair when running away, even if they do feel shoehorned into Caleb's story. Even if the revisions do not have quite the same feel, I might be able to get used to minor revisions like this, but I also worry that bigger things could eventually be revised by the films and television content. This particular instance may not be as big of a change to "justify" being super upset, but I would advise fandom to understand that the way that the events were previously depicted still mean something to some of the fans, even if it is a smaller percentage that experienced the comics than the show. Do not be so dismissive; try to understand one another.