[WARBLING]
NARRATOR: Welcome to "Star Wars The Clone Wars Download."
In this episode, we're going to take
a look at "A Distant Echo."
- I don't like the look of this.
NARRATOR: The clones returned from a successful mission where
they discovered that the source of their intelligence leak
is on Skako Minor, but not before Anakin has
a secret liaison with Padme.
- I love you, Ani.
- I love you, too.
- Heading to Skako Minor puts the group
face to face with the Poletecs, the local natives of the area
who are upset that the group's arrival will
bring war to their village.
- We didn't bring the war here.
- Believing the algorithm to be coming from Clone Trooper Echo,
long thought dead, the clones follow
the signal to a tower of the Techno Union
and make a grand entrance.
[SHOUTING]
- Intruders.
Attack.
[BLASTER FIRE]
NARRATOR: While Anakin and the clones
are dealing with the hordes of droids,
Rex and Tech come upon a dark and scary room that hides
what they were searching for.
- Rex?
You-- you came back for me.
We took a deeper dive into "A Distant Echo"
with cast and crew.
Here's what they had to say.
- We were originally doing it-- the Bad Batch episode,
it wasn't one of the last 12 episodes, but now it is.
And so that changed the way that I had to orchestrate
the story somewhat.
For example, in these 12 episodes
there was not a single scene with Padme in it,
and it goes without saying she's an important part
of the prequel trilogy.
And while my job in "Clone Wars" was never
really to tell her story--
George did that-- or Anakin's, I do
have a job to tell how the other characters
relate to those characters.
I personally felt it was a little bit lousy
that Padma didn't have a voice in the episodes,
in any of the 12 episodes.
Also, Cat Taber, you know, had been working on the series
for a long time, and she was sad that she wasn't going to get
to be a part of the show.
So I wrote a scene that had Padme in it,
and that scene then helps gives you context for how Anakin
thinks of her, that he relies on her, that he regards
her opinion very highly.
That she knows him, that she knows Rex.
And it became an important scene,
and it alludes to certain timelines in "Revenge
of the Sith" because you see that
to us, the audience who know better, that she
looks slightly pregnant.
- The scene where Rex is guarding
the door so that Anakin can speak to Padme
is a very funny scene.
Rex has never played that kind of a character.
But it is interesting to learn that Obi-Wan,
he's kind of aware of something else going on with Anakin.
But it's also kind of sweet.
It's a nice insight into the connection of these friends,
of these co-soldiers, and these brothers.
- We went through this a lot of different ways,
a lot of different times, back to the studio, back and forth,
and Dave really finessing.
He wanted to get that scene right for everybody,
and he wanted all of us to feel the feelings
that Anakin was feeling, that Rex was feeling, and Obi-Wan.
And I get to do the cherry on top in that scene
where, you know--
I hope you at least said hello to Padme.
And it's just such a nice little tip of the hat of I
know what's going on here.
- Obi-Wan's not dumb.
He knows Anakin's in love with this woman.
I don't think he ever understands
that they got married.
I don't think he thinks Anakin took it that far.
I mean, even Obi-Wan was in love with someone.
That's not abnormal.
It's very normal.
What you choose to do and how you choose
to have a relationship, what you sacrifice,
then that becomes a bigger deal when
he's made an oath to the Jedi Order
to be selfless, to put everyone else ahead of himself.
And he never thinks that two of them
would do something so drastic.
But it dawns on him over time that they have.
- A really wonderful element of the Bad Batch story
is Rex reconnecting with Echo.
It's always very emotional to me to bring
back a clone who I thought was dead,
and we would never see again.
It's beautiful to see him revived.
- When we brought back Echo, I thought it was really--
almost like we wanted to do almost,
like, horror, monster movie.
It was kind of the idea.
This was, like, a horrifying moment of this clone who's
been trapped in this machine, so we really
wanted to make sure we got that and, like,
the cord still hanging to him.
And he comes out.
We had, like, his eyes, they go--
like, back and forth super quick,
like he's still sort of processing stuff in his head,
but he's not really there.
For his body, when Rex takes him down,
we just want him to feel limp.
Basically, he hadn't used any of his muscles in however--
God knows long.
- I knew exactly what we were going to do when
Echo falls out of that chamber.
There was no surprises to the lighting team.
Everybody knew it was coming.
We really wanted that cold light.
We wanted those moments to let you feel
like it's a sinister place.
It couldn't just be, like, your typical imperial torture
room with some Droid.
Like, this really needed to feel like an apparatus.
- It felt like some sick and twisted, demented person's
playroom.
Like, that whole room is set up just for Echo.
- I think for Rex, you have to think about it,
He has all these brothers, they're all individuals,
but they're all very similar.
He's lost so many people over the course of this war,
so I think the idea, the notion that Echo could be alive
is a very powerful thing for Rex.
And he would want to do something.
If there was any chance he was alive, he would do something.
We added that scene in the beginning, which shows him
looking at Hevy and Fives, and all
of the kind of more significant named clones
that people know that he lost.
So again, it helps give you context
for why is this so important.
Well, it's a friend of his.
And what don't you do for friends, of course?
NARRATOR: Last week, we asked for your questions
about the Bad Batch.
@simpleseal asked, the cinematic shots
and designs in the first episode were gorgeous.
Comparing this season to past seasons,
what were some of the things you guys brought to the table
when it came to cinematography?
Joel Aron, director of cinematography lighting
answered, every aspect of the way we approach
the cinematography of this season of "Clone Wars"
has evolved in great strides over where
we left off in season six.
I wanted to adopt all the lenses to emulate the ones that were
used on "Star Wars A New Hope," just
as we did on "Star Wars Rebels" and "Star Wars Resistance."
From there, I researched the effect
that each of those lenses have when in lighting conditions
that we have on the show, as well as how each lens appears
for depth of field when the background goes out of focus
and the subject in frame is sharp in focus.
This was the biggest change.
We've been making the show look as crafted by filmmakers as
possible, and with every trick we know to make the show
feel like you're watching a movie.
Have any burning questions about "A Distant Echo?"
Tweet us your questions using the #CloneWarsDownload,
and maybe you'll see your question answered on the show.
Thanks for watching.
Check back next week for our deep dive into "On The Wings
of Keeradaks."
And catch the final season of "Star Wars The Clone Wars"
weekly on Disney+.