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Yeah. Combat scenes were decently done. I just find that “oh no fire” then nothing really jarring. Like there’s a reel been skipped.

The following scene saw Wookiee/s with a shovel so I assume it was more dirt throwing. They skipped over putting out the first fire too. I think it wasn’t About putting out the fires so much as acknowledging them and that they dealt with them instead of just ending the scene and the forest not having burnt to the ground.

I appreciate how the handled the language barrier to common. Having either Tech translate the long stuff, or Hunter respond to the short conversational stuff without repeating back what was said. It always annoys me when media has a character speak untranslated non-English and the English speaker repeats the dialogue back to them.

That said, I do “love” how every wookie ever seems to understand basic despite none of them being able to speak it.

In the end this one seemed a bit less filler-y to me, if only because it furthered the theme of encroaching empire and the batch’s growing efforts to combat them.

So what you're all telling me is...I didn't miss out on anything this season because it all turned out to be a BAD BATCH of episodes so far >.>

Get. Out.

In your bed, on your rug.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Get. Out.

In your bed, on your rug.

I regret nothing. *goes down garbage chute*

Four weeks to Mando S3.

I am excite!

You can't leave that kid out of your sight for one damn second...

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
They need to be getting their act together on this, as it’s seriously feeling like the writers didn’t plan on a second season, and don’t know what to do with the characters next.

It can't be all main quest all the time. The first season had the thread with Crosshair running through it and I can see how that would appear more focused, but as said above so far in season two we've seen the expansion of the Empire and how the Bad Batch witnesses it. If that's where they're going, the episodes should be diverse to show that no matter where the protagonists go, the Empire is either already there or about to move in. You know, create a bit of a nowhere to run mood before they figure out that running doesn't work and start fighting the Empire methodically.

Also remember that for some months the Bad Batch was presumed killed on Kamino, so they were actually free from Imperial attention for a while and could just go about their excitingly varied mercenary life without interruption. That's the real, unfocused and very much off screen stuff that happens between seasons.

I'd give it some more time. I have a feeling it'll all come together in the second half of the season.

The joy of weekly content is that it takes a LOT more for me to actually drop it.

 AduroT wrote:


That said, I do “love” how every wookie ever seems to understand basic despite none of them being able to speak it.

I assume that Wookies (and some other aliens) literally cannot pronounce Basic but can hear and understand it perfectly well. So basically it's like talking to your dog if you could understand the answers.

It does make for a nice change over other shows were everyone magically speaks with a California (or British) accent.

Oh yeah, I get that Wookies are physically incapable of speaking basic, but have we ever seen one who didn’t understand it when spoken to them? I’ve seen plenty of comments by basic speaking characters who don’t understand Shyriiwook/Wookie on the other hand.

In the old EU there was a Wookie born with a speech impediment that allowed him to speak basic. I'm not aware of a Wookie that didn't understand Basic though. Not sure I can think of any characters that don't understand Basic even if they don't speak it.

Honestly the real oddity is astromech droids that don't speak basic.

It's easy to consider that different species born in different societies would preserve their own languages even if there's a common base language that the universe uses. Even more so when there might be physical limits on the sounds they can make and thus the way they can communicate.

But for a droid its odd that they'd build a highly intelligent machine that is designed to operate with people (don't forget X Wings are basically built requiring one); but which needs a translator (X Wing computer interface or a speaking droid like C3PO) to translate for the average person.



As for not understanding basic don't forget most of the settings and places we visit, even the backwaters of Tatooine are still connected to major trade and influences from the Republic and other major power and trade groups through history


So you are left with primitive groups - eg Ewoks who didn't understand basic - and worlds seriously on the fringes or isolated in some manner. Otherwise even if you can't speak it, you really do benefit understanding Basic.

People understand the beeps and whistles most of the time. And then there's the screaming of course.

 Overread wrote:
Honestly the real oddity is astromech droids that don't speak basic.

Odder still that people can converse with them as though they were speaking basic.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Honestly the real oddity is astromech droids that don't speak basic.

Odder still that people can converse with them as though they were speaking basic.

Odder than THAT is that droids speak their OWN languages not just different languages when they were made by/for different alien species.

Remember, Uncle Owen asked C3PO if he spoke the language of moisture vaporators. Thats right. They invented an entire language just for one type of droid.

And then there’s the occasional person who can speak Astromech…

The funny this is that in the original trilogy while Luke is flying the X-wing leaving Hoth and talking to R2 it seems like there is a translation popping up on his screen in the Xwing. So outside of when he is in the Xwing Luke is probably just winging it when talking to R2. Of course being force sensitive he could also be "feeling" what R2 is saying.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 AduroT wrote:


That said, I do “love” how every wookie ever seems to understand basic despite none of them being able to speak it.

I assume that Wookies (and some other aliens) literally cannot pronounce Basic but can hear and understand it perfectly well. So basically it's like talking to your dog if you could understand the answers.

The lore for Wookies has always been that they are physically incapable of speaking anything other than Shyriwook. And the vast majority of other species are incapable of speaking it in return. But being highly intelligent they are perfectly capable of learning to understand other languages. And other species can learn to understand Shyriwook, even if it is quite difficult.

So communication is possible. It just requires the wookiee to understand the other person's spoken language and the other person to understand Shyriwook.

I always figured astromechs can't talk for the same reason my car or vacuum cleaner can't, it doesn't need to and I don't want it to.

I understand my car's beeps and lights well enough to know when to give it gas or go to the mechanic, and don't need more.

Astromech are basically rolling fix it shops and you don't need more from them than the occasional positive or negative beep.

that would be why R2 and (sigh) Chopper (totally not a Mary Sue droid) are so good at what they do. You no more suspect them of being spies and hackers than you suspect your Roomba or toaster.

And yet Jabba tortures droids that only emit beeps… closer to associate droids with animals than tools such as a Roomba, at the very least.

As for the language of moisture vaporators, at the time I took it to mean a programming language like Java. Of course it seems the lore for Bocce is much more in-depth than I expected.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/31888/why-would-the-larses-need-a-translator-droid-that-spoke-bocce

I always assumed Luke steadily learned to talk to R2D2 over time. So we see a gradual shift from him at the start of the trilogy where he can't understand a thing to the end where he's far more familiar.
And yes I distinctly recall seeing text on the screen for what R2D2 is saying to Luke. It's one of those details that's there enough to see, but not enough to be a clear read for the audience outside of a cinema so Luke also does the part of talking in a way that tells us what R2 is saying whilst adding his own bit to the conversation.

 Overread wrote:
I always assumed Luke steadily learned to talk to R2D2 over time. So we see a gradual shift from him at the start of the trilogy where he can't understand a thing to the end where he's far more familiar.
And yes I distinctly recall seeing text on the screen for what R2D2 is saying to Luke. It's one of those details that's there enough to see, but not enough to be a clear read for the audience outside of a cinema so Luke also does the part of talking in a way that tells us what R2 is saying whilst adding his own bit to the conversation.

Pretty much this. Most Astromechs can’t speak Basic. But they can be linked up to a screen and display text.

Given, in theory, they tend to have fairly repetitive tasks? I can see someone who works with them picking up what the beeps and whistles mean.

Plus they’re clearly Dog Analogues in the setting, and you can soon pick up on your Pupper’s body language, borks, growls and howls to know what they want. Usually food. Or a fuss. Or out for a wee. Chin on the sofa usually means “go on, let me up on the sofa” for instance.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I always figured astromechs can't talk for the same reason my car or vacuum cleaner can't, it doesn't need to and I don't want it to.

I understand my car's beeps and lights well enough to know when to give it gas or go to the mechanic, and don't need more.

Astromech are basically rolling fix it shops and you don't need more from them than the occasional positive or negative beep.

that would be why R2 and (sigh) Chopper (totally not a Mary Sue droid) are so good at what they do. You no more suspect them of being spies and hackers than you suspect your Roomba or toaster.

Except they clearly aren't cars or vacuum cleaners. And I say this as someone who absolutely hates machines 'talking' to me.

R2 offers to fly the X-wing (and remember this was decades before self-driving cars became a bad idea made manifest) and can do manual repairs on the fly. He can unlock secure doors, scour archives and reports for information, shut down regular functions (garbage compactor) in a foreign computer system. Also, R2 has a sensor suite that can detect all sorts of things (from intruding assassins to giant snakefish)- which you definitely want communicated, even if you (for some bizarre reason) don't want the repair status of your ship explained effectively.

R2 is probably the most intelligent entity in the star wars universe, and even for a normal astromech model undertaking its basic functions (repair and maintenance of starships), you most certainly want clear reports. Having them not talk is moronic.
And the weird thing is, its intentional. They clearly can communicate intelligibly and intelligently, either by screen-share or another droid. The designers allow them to make sounds and communicate via language, just not human-equivalent speech. That's deliberate and more than a little insane, given the magnitude of the tasks they're given (again, maintaining starships that need to keep 100s or 1000s of people alive, let alone the costs of starships).

Worth noting R2-D2 is slightly anomalous, as he’s been spared regular mindwipes, allowing him to form more of a personality than most Droids.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Worth noting R2-D2 is slightly anomalous, as he’s been spared regular mindwipes, allowing him to form more of a personality than most Droids.

Even so he still shows the basic capabilities of the droids of his make and design. Plus the first time he appears story wise (not film wise) he's even awarded a commendation by the Queen.


Droids seem to exist in a grey spot. They are almost all subservient to the needs of organic life and societies; and yet they appear to have social elements all to themselves. There's only a rare few who appear to act fully outside of that and only act to benefit organic life because its the dominant life type and thus where you'll get the most work.

I wonder if its because the Republic, and most races, consider droids to be alive and thus have rights to things such as their own languages, laws, protections and more. Remember Return of the Jedi there's a robot torture scene early on. You don't torture something you just make to serve you blindly, which indicates that whilst R2D2 is unique, the idea of machines thinking and being alive isn't really questioned. Even if you're also allowed to mind wipe them without, it seems, any stigma or laws against it.

On Jabba’s Palace, I believe the Droid torture is as much a hobby of EV-9D9 as it is a practical thing, such as extracting info from captures Courier Droids.

The Droid Gotra is still in canon isn't it?

I think so, yes. But nothing major about them thus far.

I commented on the second class status of droids before. They are very much sentient things they develop personalities outside their programming and often have to be forced to do their jobs via control bolts attached to them. R2 isn’t even remotely unique with his personality, just his competence. There’s a scene in the comics where a pilot who has a reputation for her Astromech getting destroyed is standing in front of a dozen or so of them and asking for a new partner and they all turn and leave. BB8 is even implied to flip her the bird.

And yet we see the various 'vehicle' style droids being destroyed in huge number with nary a qualm.
Seems strange that different droids seem to be programmed to have personality/emotions/sentience whilst others do not, for protocol droids it makes sense they do but why program a B1 to feel fear (or mimic fear)?