The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: February 23, 2024
Our favorite defective clones are back! So is an awesome 80's tune.
Hello there
Good morning and welcome once again to the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter. Season 3 of The Bad Batch is finally here and we’ve got three whole episodes to discuss. There was a lot. Unfortunately, and I feel bad that I’ve been saying it a lot this year, it’s going to be a pretty short newsletter as things in the real world have been taking my time and attention. The real world is so overrated. The galaxy far, far away is much better.
As always, I appreciate all of you who read this each week. If you like what I’m doing, please forward the email or tell a Star Wars loving friend of yours.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
One of the fun parts of writing Death Star HR is getting Star Wars memes from people. This one was from Mom Mothma.
It’s worth asking, how is a golden retriever able to sense the presence of Darth Vader but the entire Jedi Council can’t detect a Sith Lord that they have standing Monday meeting with?
Bad Batch Begins By Busting Out
So close to getting some good headline alliteration.
Just a reminder that The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter contains spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
The first three episodes of the third and final season of The Bad Batch dropped on Wednesday. There’s a lot to process over three episodes. We got a lot clearer direction as to just what exactly the Empire is up to. We got to see Palpatine in all his creepy, campy glory. And Omega and Crosshair are back to being BFF.
The first and third episodes focused on Omega and Crosshair. They’re both guests of the Empire in Mount Tantiss. One of them wants to get the hell out, one of them has just given up. They manage to make up and escape a lot quicker than I thought they would. I had figured it would at least take until episode 5 of the season for them to get out of the cloning facility. I am looking forward to Crosshair getting back with Hunter and Wrecker though. Hope they can all just hug it out and let bygones by bygones and not get hung up on who tried to kill who or who abandoned who to go work for the Empire. Water under the bridge.
These two episodes along with Andor highlighted something I’ve always found interesting, the bureaucracy of evil. The name of this newsletter is a nod to that. Yes, the idea of a human resources department on the Death Star is funny, but when you have a space station the size of a small moon, it has to be staffed with people1. By the time the Death Star is in orbit, Clones have been phased out of the Empire2. Sure Palpatine is a capital B bad guy. But he’s not the one signing the paychecks or scheduling an exterminator to get the dianogas the trash compactor. Some Imperial flunky had to do it.
In the Mount Tantiss cloning facility, we see the scientists going about their business, working on a solution to let Emperor Palpatine clone himself so that some version of the Empire can go on forever. Other than maybe the fantastically named Dr. Hemlock3, none of them seem like they’re true believers in the Empire. These aren’t the Sith Cultists out on Exegol we saw in The Rise of Skywalker. Emerie is just doing her thing running blood samples.
Side note, are there more female clones that look like Emerie? It looks like there are but you never really get a good look at them.
Second side note. There’s something going on with Crosshair’s hand, and Dr. Hemlock wears a glove on his left hand. I’m calling it now, there’s a connection. I just don’t know what.
The middle episode of the night was the Hunter and Wrecker show. They’re doing what you’d expect, looking for Omega. We got a nice callback to season 1 with Roland Durand the Devaronian failson and his overbearing mother.
Hunter and Wrecker land on the jungle planet Setron that they think has Dr. Hemlocks lab, only to find it abandoned and overgrown. While looking around they find some teenage Clones who were left on the planet before the Imperials destroyed it. They also discover slither vines, a bio-weapon gone horribly wrong that in its final form, looks a lot like a sarlacc.
One of the themes of Star Wars, and especially the Filoniverse is finding your family. Whether they’re your blood relatives, your chosen family, or you just grew up together with the same DNA. The three teenage clones Hunter and Wrecker lost their Clone brothers, but still have each other and after getting dropped off on Pabu they get a chance to find a new family and leave the Empire behind.
It’s worth taking a minute and noting just how messed up the Republic was. They have an army of people who didn’t sign up to fight under their own free will, they weren’t even conscripted into service to fight for their planet or their galaxy. Instead they were grown in a tank and from day one don’t have any other choice but to be soldiers in a war that they had nothing to do with. Oh, and they’re lead by the Jedi. An elitist religion who takes children from their parents only to turn them into child soldiers.
The Republic was pretty problematic if you think about it. Certainly not as bad as the Empire. But certainly not as pure as they liked to think they were.
Here’s my main question though. Are they going to pull a Sabine and give Omega some kind of Force powers? Everything talked about in episodes 1 and 3 are on a through line all the way through Mando and the Sequel Trilogy. Moff Gideon and Dr. Pershing needing Grogu’s blood for cloning and then Force using clones like Snoke and Palpatine 2.0. Omega having a high “M-Count” which can’t stand for anything other than Midi-chorians would lead us to believe she could have some kind of Force using abilities, even though we’ve never4 seen any kind of Clone Jedi. My gut reaction is I don’t like this development. Not everyone has to be some kind of secret Jedi. But I’m willing to keep watching with an open mind.
Episode 4 drops next Wednesday, and I’ll write all about it next week. Or I’ll briefly mention it and go on a tangent about something that’s sort of but not really related to the episode.
Great Moments in Star Wars Merchandising
Look up the word “banger” in the dictionary and you’ll see this.
Long time friend of Death Star HR and long time real life friend “Darth Vo” sent me this. Purchased somewhere in the frozen tundra of Hoth, aka Michigan in the winter, it made it’s way to me via Jawa sandcrawler. I had no idea what it was when he sent me a picture, but I wasn’t about to turn it down. I have a group of friends that all collect vinyl, the standing rule is if you’re out shopping you see a Star Wars album, text me. Are you ready for some hot, 80’s action? Just give it a listen.
That’s, uh, that’s something. Isn’t it? The Urth is not a real band, they were created just for recording this song. As you noticed, the song is in Huttese, Ewokese, and English. The song was also a collaboration. Lucasfilm sound engineer Annie Arbogast wrote the first set of lyrics in English that Lucasfilm sound effects guru Ben Burtt translated into Huttese. Burtt also wrote the Ewokese lyrics. The English lyrics were written by Joseph Williams who is the son of composer John Williams, the lead vocalist for the band Toto, and the vocalist for the adult Simba in The Lion King. The band, Urth (again a one off for the song) did the music and Williams did the vocals. I think there wasn’t anyone in the band Urth besides Williams but I cannot be 100% certain. Got all that?
Interestingly enough, this was an official Lucasfilm remix, dropped to promote the release of Return of the Jedi. It was published by Bantha Music, with is (or maybe was) the publishing arm of Lucasfilm. Scrolling through their Discogs page was a lot of things you’d expect like Star Wars and Indiana Jones soundtracks. And then randomly they put out an album from Buckethead. Anyway, it’s time to cue up Lapti Nek again and get down.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
Speaking of songs, this week we’ve got “Starlight by Moonlight.” Per our good friends at the Wookieepedia, it “was a song played by the music ball given to Elscol Loro by her husband Throm for their third anniversary.”
Probably not the jam that Lapti Nek is.
News From the HoloNet
Dee Bradley Baker on saying goodbye to Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Did not realize he voiced the Frog people in Mando.
Harrison Ford Forgot This 'Star Wars' Script in an Apartment He Rented During Filming
It could have been yours for only $13K.
The Acolyte has a tentative release date
Set your galactic calendars for June 5th.
OK, we need a hoolock gibbon cameo in the next movie.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
The Legends book “Death Star” by Michael Reeves and Scott Perry told the story of, among other people, a bar tender on the Death Star.
At least until this gets retconned.
A bit on the nose with the name there.
At least as far as I know. But it’s a big Expanded Universe.