The Bad Batch Brings Back The Clone Wars’ Biggest Droid Meme

The opening scene of Star Wars: The Bad Batch references a line of dialogue from a Battle Droid in Star Wars: The Clone Wars that’s become a popular meme. As the sequel series to The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch is packed with references to its predecessor and helps connect the iconic animated series to the Star Wars original trilogy. With the prequel era being the source of numerous internet memes, it was a surprise, to be sure (but a welcome one), that the often breathtakingly incompetent Separatist Battle Droids got to have at least one last moment of absurd antics before The Bad Batch closed the book on the Clone Wars era.

The Star Wars prequel trilogy was met with mixed reception from critics and viewers alike, initially. Over time, however, the general opinion on the trilogy has softened greatly, which spinoff material like The Clone Wars has helped, thanks to its largely positive reception. The memorable (if not occasionally perplexing) dialogue in the prequel trilogy has led to numerous internet memes being made. Some of the series’ biggest meme moments include Obi-Wan Kenobi’s warning to Darth Vader that he has the high ground during their duel on Mustafar, Palpatine’s declaration that he is “the senate,” and General Grievous’ hobby of collecting lightsabers. Prequel-era memes were not limited to the films, however, as The Clone Wars was the source of numerous memes as well.

A particularly joked-about moment from The Clone Wars was at the beginning of the season 1 episode “Downfall of a Droid.” During the Battle of Bothawui, Anakin Skywalker outsmarts General Grievous, having clone AT-TE walkers fire on Grievous’ warships from behind. As the general’s command ship sustained critical damage, Grievous fled, leaving an ill-fated Battle Droid officer behind. The bewildered droid remarks “Well, I guess I’m in charge now,” shortly before the ship is destroyed. In the opening battle of The Bad Batch’s pilot episode, “Aftermath,” the clone commandos easily dispatch a formation of Battle Droids. At the end of the skirmish, only a small number of B1 Droids remain, with one grunt saying “I guess I’m in charge now” before being blasted by one of the clones.

This is far from the first time that the Star Wars franchise has acknowledged its various internet memes. In the Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic series, a not-too-subtle reference is made to Obi-Wan’s infamous “high ground” line. Star Wars Rebels has Sabine Wren complain about sand in a similar (albeit less awkward) manner to Anakin in the prequels. The infamously poor marksmanship of Imperial Stormtroopers is constantly referenced in both Rebels and The Mandalorian, though their incompetence makes far less sense than that of the Separatist’s Battle Droids.

Notably, the Separatist Battle Droids were nothing more than mindless drones in their first two cinematic appearances, but in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, they’re noticeably more vocal and even snarky at times. This behavior was occasionally seen in Legends-era material, such as the Clone Wars Adventures comics, and the in-universe explanation was that it came from glitches in the droids’ AI. In Canon, most Clone Wars-era Separatist Droids behave this way, which might imply that the more vocal and less competent droids are technically an upgrade from the models seen in the first two prequels. In either case, the droids’ foolishness became the source of one of Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ biggest memes, which Star Wars: The Bad Batch endearingly brought back one last time.

About The Author

David Miller
(628 Articles Published)

David Miller is a staff writer for Screen Rant, indie comic writer, and life-long lover of all things Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. He was born and raised in New York and has a degree in English from Rider University. He relates to Peter Parker maybe a little too much.

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