Book Review: The High Republic "Mission to Disaster"

A little background

Mission to Disaster is a middle-grade novel book in The High Republic series and was released not long after The Fallen Star although the storyline takes place before events in that book. As with most junior novels, it’s a gentler, shorter story with greater enjoyment on a narrative that children can engage with more.

As with all things book-wise so far, I’m consuming my Star Wars via Audible.

This book is by Justina Ireland who has written previous “junior” novels in this series and is narrated by Keylor Leigh as opposed to Marc Thompson who does most of the main High Republic Books. This means that the range of voices is considerably more limited and less distinct, but Keylor does a decent job of adding some distinction. The usual background sound effects and music are still there too but perhaps less polished and less advanced than in the other main books.

The total length of the audible book is 5 hours and 6 minutes, although that’s including the intro and credits. This is around a third of the length of the main books in the series thus also adding to that younger audience appeal. Although technically there are 35 chapters (of about but mostly 5 minutes each), there is also a prologue and epilogue.

The “Crawl”

“The Jedi think the dreaded Nihil marauders have been all but defeated. Their leader is on the run and their numbers have dwindled. Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh hopes this means she will finally have time to really train her Padawan, Imri Cantaros—but reports of a Nihil attack on Port Haileap soon dash those hopes. For not only have the Nihil attacked the peaceful outpost, they have abducted Vernestra and Imri's friend, Avon Starros. The two Jedi set off for Port Haileap, determined to figure out where the Nihil have taken their friend. Meanwhile, Avon must put her smarts and skills to the ultimate test as she fights for survival among the Nihil—and uncovers a sinister plan. Can Vernestra and Imri find their friend before disaster strikes?”

The story

Here's my overview of each chapter to show roughly how the story flows:

Chapter 1 Avon Starros is working on creating a replica kyber crystal of the one she stole from Imri. The facility she's at though is attacked by the Nihil and she is captured.

Chapter 2 Vernestra and Imri are training on a planet with Imri practising force jumps. Vern has a vision of Avon in trouble and the duo head to her assistance after getting confirmation of the Nihil attack.

Chapter 3 Avon awakes to find herself locked in a cargo hold with several other children who have been captured by Nihil. She quickly starts to work on finding a way to get a message to Starlight asking for help.

Chapter 4 Imri and Vern arrive at the port attacked by Nihil. Whilst Imri helps with the damage, Vern searches for Avon and meets up with J6, Avon's Nanny Droid, who both continue the search.

Chapter 5 Avon devises a plan with the other children which they put into action when a guard brings them food. Avon escapes the room and searches for a Comms outlet but is apprehended by a strong Nihil who takes her to meet the boss.

Chapter 6 Imri and Vern discuss options as they learn Avon was kidnapped. They leave the port with the keen J6 to head to another outpost recently attacked by Nihil and also reporting missing people.

Chapter 7 Avon is taken to meet the boss of the Nihil ship, a one Lorna Su (name sounds like anyways). Avon gives little info about herself, and Nihil boss suggests they are recruiting for new Nihil. A very short conversation.

Chapter 8 Vernestra communes with the force and hears Avon and the name of Nihil boss but no location. They arrive on Dalna and meet Jedi master at local temple for dinner and discuss reports of missing people on the planet.

Chapter 9 The captured children are brought a box of games which Avon instantly takes apart to work on a door release mechanism. Once completed she gets to the corridor outside where a Nihil is waiting and instructs her to help on a job.

Chapter 10 Back on Dalna, Vernestra, Imri and local Jedi head into town. They stop at the government building as Imri waits outside and meets Honesty who tells him there is something going on high up in the government.

Chapter 13 - Vern and Imri meet up with Honesty and his partner to discuss what the latter saw one night. They then head out in shuttle along with a few temple Jedi to an area near the mountains where a Nihil ship was seen.

Chapter 14 Avon is taken to the lab aboard the Nihil ship by the resident Doctor and is put to work on helping create Nihil gas bombs.

Chapter 15 The Jedi deal with angry animals roaming about and finding a child hiding in a building. Avon sneaks out of the lab at night to send a message of help but is caught by a Nihil.

Chapter 16 The Jedi reunite the boy with his parents who are in the government. J6 receives Avon's message. Turns out the signal is coming from the planet!

Chapter 18 Very little happens other than Imri waking up and going to where the investigation is being held and Vernestra asking him to go to Starlight to get help to repair the broken relay orbiting planet.

Chapter 19 Officials and Jedi discuss the next options and settle on all heading to a location known as a junction where they think it's most likely nihil might place explosives. It's a two-day trip though ...

Chapter 20 On Starlight, Imri greats a concerned Senator Starros over her daughter, Avon. Later, Imri has a disturbance in the force and rushes to the Vice President of Dalna's room to find they are unconscious after being attacked.

Chapter 21 Avon helps the Nihil scientist create synthetic kyber crystals, albeit secretly flawed ones. She's then taken to see the ground quake machine the scientist has been constructing.

Chapter 22 & 23  Vern, Jedi and officials experience a short ground quake before a young boy runs out on them, hungry, and tells them he knows Avon. On Starlight, Imri and a republic official are mystified over the attack on theVIP.

Chapters 24 and 25 Short chapters - Avon meets the other children again and continues to put her plan into motion. Vernestra and the gang finish quizzing the boy who escaped the Nihil before a few of them continue onwards.

Chapter 26 The Nihil scientist starts the machine with the flawed crystals Avon created leading to much disruption. Vernestra and Co arrive to see off the Nihil but the scientist escapes.

Chapter 27 Everyone, including all the children, arrives back at Jedi Temple. J6 reunites with Avon. The Jedi receive a distress call from the capital city.

Chapters 29 + 30 Vern and co arrive at Dalna city to find it already attacked and the President fled with Nihil. On Starlight, Imri convinces Jedi to take Starlight to Dalna to help with the evacuation.

Chapters 31 + 32 Starlight Beacon arrives at Dalna as more volcanos and earthquakes occur. Vernestra and Avon head in a shuttle to Starlight where Avon is still troubled by her use of Imri's Kyber crystal in the Nihil weapon. On Starlight Avon confesses all to Imri who comforts her. When Senator Starros greats her daughter, Avon suspects something is amiss as her mum seems to know a lot of information about her kidnapping adventure. Starlight Beacon arrives at Dalna as more volcanos and earthquakes occur. Vernestra and Avon head in a shuttle to Starlight where Avon is still troubled by her use of Imri's Kyber crystal in the Nihil weapon. Vernestra meets up with Avir who invites her on a mission to head to the Nihil base and end this conflict.

The end.

My thoughts

The main bulk of this book is centred on Avon. She’s an appealing character due to not only being very chatty in her thoughts and to others, but she’s also very clever and bright, as well as eternally positive. We see probably most of this story more from her perspective because of the time taken with her capture and her “aiding” and learning of the Nihil whilst she is stuck with them. Venestra and Imri are the next central characters but really their story doesn’t advance much as they play second fiddle as they learn about Avon’s capture and then look to track her down. Probably Imri gets more character development in this book due to the unique use of his force abilities to calm others and his lead in discussions with authorities on Starlight.

I really enjoyed the time spent with Avon. As said before, she is arguably the principal character in this book and is blessed with bundles of plus-points for reasons to like her. If you don’t like chatty clever children though you will probably struggle with this book because she’s just a bundle of energy and creativity to levels of, well, almost Jedi degree in terms of her knowledge of science and engineering. Her experiments and thoughts on kyber crystals along with what the Nihil are doing is a prelude perhaps to the Empire and the Death Star. She shines throughout this book and makes the time spent with the Nihil seem rather like a trip to a holiday camp. The Nihil Doctor she “teams” up with is also the most interesting Nihil as we learn more of his past, his quest for science but also for destruction. The rest of the Nihil in this group, even their leader, is really part of the furniture in terms of the story.

Vernestra and Imri are a great padawan and master team – and probably the one I personally have felt more like I have spent the most time with due to them being in multiple novels so far. We also get a chance to see Vernestra’s unique sabre whip in action! Imri is a good sidekick in many ways but he’s also hard to work out at times as he dances between playing the complete juvenile in this book to an almost elder stateman in another chapter. It’s a little odd in that respect.

It feels interesting as a general mystery story – what are the Nihil up to, who in government is turning a blind eye or working with them? This is an interesting narrative to keep us going. The inside working of the Nihil is made more interesting with Avon and the bonkers Doctor who warms to her almost like a parent would and is totally taken in yet not totally surprised when Avon sabotages matters. Can’t wait to meet the Doctor again in the future.

Pros: Avon’s personality and creativity is a blast. The Nihil doctor is intriguing and the mystery of what exactly the Nihil are doing is compelling.

Cons: It’s a simple story really but that’s no bad thing and totally understandable as a junior novel. There is though much to take from this story along the way. Imri’s characterisation I found a little odd at times.

Rating

7/10 – Despite the gravity of the situation, a fun story thanks tremendously to Avon.

 

Book Review: The High Republic "The Fallen Star"

A little background

The Fallen Star is the 3^rd main book in The High Republic series after the opener The Light of the Jedi and The Rising Storm. There are of course other books and comics in the series, but Fallen Star is like the feature films, in that it’s part of the main storyline, where all the important stuff happens (well, sort of!). For sub-plot though, I really recommend all the other books and comics to help you get up to speed. As with all things book wise, I’m consuming my Star Wars via Audible. This book is by Claudia Gray and narrated by the awesomely talented Marc Thompson who does all the various voices, adding emotion and drama, along with some good background sound effects. The total length of the audible book is 13 hours and 31 minutes, although that’s including the intro and credits. Although technically there are 35 chapters (of about 20 minutes each), there is also a prologue and epilogue.

The Story

As I was listening to the story, I tweeted out summaries of each chapter. This way I felt I could capture the most important plot points in small concise chunks. Some chapters were combined because mostly the same thing was happening, and some chapters had a couple tweets to capture the slightly busier moments.

So, what the heck happened? Well, the main characters that get the bulk of the time in this book were Jedi’s Elzar Mann, Stellen Gios, Bell/Burry, The Crew of the Vessell and the antagonist’s Nan/Chancy. Marchion Ro is of course lurking, but the story here focuses almost exclusively on Starlight Beacon and everyone who is on it during the dramatic events that entail. Think of this book as Star Wars Meets ‘The Possidon Adventure’ or ‘The Titanic’, and you’ll understand quickly what you’re likely to get as Starlight Beacon’s light is well and truly turned off.

The official summary for the book is:

Time and again, the vicious raiders known as the Nihil have sought to bring the golden age of the High Republic to a fiery end. Time and again, the High Republic has emerged battered and weary, but victorious thank to its Jedi protectors - and there is no monument to their cause grander than the Starlight Beacon.

Hanging like a jewel in the Outer Rim, the Beacon embodies the High Republic at the apex of its aspirations: a hub of culture and knowledge, a bright torch against the darkness of the unknown, and an extended hand of welcome to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. As survivors and refugees flee the Nihil's attacks, the Beacon and its crew stand ready to shelter and heal.

The grateful Knights and Padawans of the Jedi Order stationed there finally have a chance to recover - from the pain of their injuries and the grief of their losses. But the storm they thought had passed still rages; they are simply caught in its eye. Marchion Ro, the true mastermind of the Nihil, is preparing his most daring attack yet - one designed to snuff out the light of the Jedi.

The crawl to the book pretty much goes through that summary and introduces another fact that Avir Kriss is still pursing Lorna Dee. There are a few interesting wordings at the end when it refers to 'an old enemy' being unleashed on the Jedi by Marchion Ro. Sith? Or is this just referring to the leveller in some way? This isn’t much clearer by the end of the book really. However, let’s get a snapshot now of each chapter.

Chapter 1 - We get to see several different Jedi parties chasing down Nihil across the outer rim and having success. These Nihil seem to be mostly Lorna Dee ships though. Meanwhile, someone is running an errand for Marchion Ro on his ship, the Gaze Electric.

Chapter 2 - Jedi, with Starlight Beacon towed into orbit, are helping a planet recovering from the Nihil. Nihil also begin an attack on multiple worlds elsewhere designed to get the Jedi's attention. Stellan is gifted a droid, nicknamed “45” (who is an absolute blast thanks to Marc’s voice). And Nan, former Nihil, who readers will know if they have read the other secondary novels, arrives on Starlight as a prisoner.

Chapter 3 - Elzar Mann is away on another planet meditating in water. Orla Jareni is his guide. They finish their away time on this distant planet, meet up with the crew of The Vessell (there’s a one of many brilliant Geode moment here). Marchion Ro dispatches a handful of loyal nihil to perform a secret mission.

Chapter 4 - Bell and "Burry" talk about Loden as Nihil spies start secretly wrecking starlight comms (they easily arrived on Starlight in a ship claiming to have Rathtars as cargo which no one bothered or wanted to check – make note here, as one of numerous Jedi failings), Marchion Ro is ready for a new crew to arrive, and The Crew of The Vessell run into Nihil on way to Starlight.

Chapter 5 - Quiet chapter really. The Vessell tangles with the Nihil briefly by disrupting comms for a few minutes which felt pointless. On Starlight, well, not a lot happening. A few dealings with ingoing’s and outgoing.

Chapter 6 - On Starlight, Bell and Burry spar together but sense something is amiss. In a hanger bay, plenty of wounded are arriving from the various Nihil attacks on other planets, to which Indeera (Bell’s Jedi Master) also senses something is wrong but cannot ascertain what. Elzar Mann questions the prisoners ... Sort of. More Jedi begin to feel something on the edge of their consciousness that wasn't right, or missing, but do nothing about it. Nihil spies continue to sabotage Comms.

Chapter 7 - On Starlight, there's more Jedi sensing distant oddities but doing nothing. A strong hint that the Drengir are coming back comes via Stellan's dream, who dismisses it. Sigh. Briefly we see Avir pursuing Lorna Dee

Chapter 8 - Still on Starlight, The Vessell lands in the hanger bay. Some greetings aside, Leox notices a "rival" of sorts, which concerns him. Orla and Reginald (another Jedi) briefly investigate the uncertainly they are feeling but are called away.

Chapter 9 - Still on Starlight, bit of a quiet chapter. Elzar Mann meets up with Stellan Gios who is quite troubled by his dream which seems to have started to cripple him. Leox spars verbally with his rival. The Nihil spies hear about the Nihil prisoners.

Chapter 10 A remote Jedi temple is obliterated by the Nihil. Starlight Jedi begin tentative investigation into strange feelings. Leox's rival snoops about The Vessel. Marchion Ro's new crew arrive in the form of illegal Enforcer droids.

Chapter 11 Orla, Reginald, and Indeera break rules to investigate force oddities in Starlight. They head down to lower decks, to cargo hold where they split up. Reginald calls out in pain, Indeera also struggles against an invisible unknown foe, Orla later finds a dead Reginald.

Chapter 12 and 13. Geode’s flirting is lighter side of matters as Elzar Mann heads to check out poor Reginald and Indeera. The Nihil spies break out Chancey (who was captured at same time) and Nan and put them to work.

Chapter 13 Ro gets all loved up on Gaze Electric, Stellan Gios is still feeling hopelessly like a failure whilst Bell and Burry look over an unconscious Indeera.

Chapter 14 - This is when the shit starts to hit the fan! Not long after Avir Kriss returns to Starlight in the Jedi Cruiser. Explosives are laid by the Nihil spies on Starlight which explode by the reactor core. Everyone is startled. At this point Starlight is split into half and we never get to find out much about the top section where Avir Kriss is. The story concentrates on the lower section.

Chapter 15 Jedi in multiple locations all realising that Comms are down and they've no idea what's going on. The Leveller is loose too. I thought the Drengir were lurking too but turns out not. It’s all a little confusing here but there seems to be multiple creatures behaving like the leveller did at the end of The Rising Storm on Loden. Then the news comes that both sections of Starlight are stuck in gravitational pull.

Chapter 16 Chancey and Nan leave Nihil trio and try to flee station. All over station everyone starting to realise that docking bay doors, escape pods and Comms are down. Stellan Gios discovers that station is caught in gravity pull.

Chapter 17 Bell and Burry use a droid to send a Comms to nearby medical ship requesting assistance and learn of station’s dire situation. Leox and crew alert Stellan Gios that Comms aren't blocked as they thought, and he calls for help. Orla confronts the leveller.

Chapter 18 Bell and Burry use maintenance shafts to get up a level or two and meet Elzar Mann near the hub. Chaotic scenes in the hanger bay as panic starts but Geode stands tall.

Chapter 19-21 Chancey and Nan are trying to save their own skins. Later they bump into Affie (of The Vessel) who are all looking for escape pods. There's a minor confrontation before Nan and Chancey flee.

Chapter 19-21 Orla is discovered by Bell and Burry as a dead husk. Elzar Mann brings back power cells to the docking bay. Stellan Gios confronts the Leveller.

Chapter 19-21 Starlight is totally split into two by this point by another explosion. Both sections in gravitational pull although one section Stellan Gios believes might be able to avoid crashing.

Chapter 22. Stellan Gios evades the Leveller and makes it back to Elzar Mann but in a much-reduced mental and physical state. More preparations on planet below for crash of starlight, and Bell and Burry discover the husk of Burry’s master.

Chapter 23 Elzar Mann is now in charge. Bell and Burry organise a crew in bay to seal off lower deck with the Leveller in. Senator Starros (Ro’s lover and spy in the Republic) is uneasy with droids on Gaze Electric. A mutiny is growing in docking bay as top half of starlight breaks up.

Chapter 24 Elzar Mann works on getting Stellan Gios better. Avir makes contact through the force. Bell, Burry and Leox and crew continue to separate off sections of the lower levels.

Chapter 25 Elzar Mann ponders how to get through the radiation sections of Starlight. Meanwhile, Bell and Burry find themselves battling a bunch of Rathtars. Yes, one of the Nihil spies ships actually did have them onboard.

Chapter 25 & 26 Bell uses explosives to separate medical tower from starlight. Nan & Chancey give up on escape pods and lurk in cargo bay. Elzar Mann & Burry use obscure system to create path for ships through starlight.

Chapters 28 and 29 - A mutiny in the main docking bay is averted bravely by the star of the book, Geode. Elzar Mann and Burry battle Rathtars as Elzar Mann gets the cargo bay door open to allow smaller ships to escape.

Chapters 30 - Chancey and Nan head to try to fix the positional thrusters but meet the Nihil gang. Affie devises plan to use leftover power cores to power the escape pods.

Chapter 31 - Chancey and Nan battle the Nihil trio and defeat them. Elzar Mann is heading in their direction too. Bell tries to enter starlight cargo bay but ends up staying outside and giving aide.

Chapter 32 Elzar Mann has a close encounter with the leveller on route to bottom of station. Bell helps escape pods launch. Lenox has a plan to open docking bay doors.

Chapter 33 An enraged Elzar Mann takes out Chancey before Nan escapes. By this time, it's too late to use the thrusters. Ooops. Leox blows open bay door mechanism allowing ships to escape but gets caught in gust of wind ...

Chapter 34 Elzar Mann confesses to Stellan Gios. Nan escapes Starlight. Leox is alive after using a parachute to land on planet below! Stellan Gios sacrifices himself by staying at the controls to redirect Starlight from crashing into a populated area.

Chapter 35 Avir and Elzar Mann mourn the loss of Stellan Gios. The Jedi on the planet help repair Local facilities. The Nihil host a celebration of the century in deepest space.

Epilogue - Marchion Ro broadcasts his victory speech to the entire system, boasting bragging rights and that this part of system is his.

My thoughts

Overall, this book is a slow burner. It’s not really until halfway through that thing really pick up when the first explosions happen. I enjoyed the book although I kept getting a very strong sense of things being deliberately kept from us, especially concerning the … what shall we call them … the anti-force beings or animals that the Nihil brought to Starlight? At the end of Book 2 we saw one animal of sorts attack Loden, and I also had from memory that Bell was affected too, but this is not mentioned at all. It’s hard to understand the threat when it’s not overly clear enough. We know that these animals essentially turn off the jedi’s connection with the force, or mute it, but it’s inconceivable that this doesn’t get a proper investigation by the Jedi in my view. Yes, they’ve been stretched thin by going off to help planets attacked by Nihil, but there are droids and non-Jedi on Starlight? Later on though we get Jedi using force abilities and realising it’s a struggle, which is fine given what little we know, but the huge leaping about stuff with lightsabre doesn’t really seem like a struggle. All in all, I found the whole threat from the anti-force animals too vague and cryptic to comprehend. I like having this anti-force threat and it is delivering serious results but it’s far too vague to have the true impact.

That’s another thing, it’s totally unclear how many people are on Starlight. It’s hinted that lots died from destruction of Starlight but most of the time we only stay with the same few Jedi, those in docking bay, and droids in medical wing. It’s hard to fathom who else is there, and what they were doing as it appears only Stellan and Elzar mostly are running the show. In previous books it has been hard to keep up with all the Jedi but in this book when you’re on a station full of people, some text to demonstrate how busy it is could have really helped in this case. We know a lot were lost, but how many?

Nan, Nan, Nan … I find her so confusing. She loves the Nihil, hates them, wants to be with them, doesn’t want to be with them, helps being reliant on others, wants to be part of a group … she is defiantly complex but so random in what she’s thinking.

On the plus side, this is an epic story with epic consequences. Perhaps not made as dramatic as it could and should have been but nevertheless it was highly significant in the loss of Starlight. I totally buy how Nihil having the blueprints through their Senate spy could achieve this complex task of sabotage and the extra burden Marchion Ro places on the Jedi to distract them literally and through the force. I don’t totally comprehend it did get as much investigation as it did, but maybe there was more that’ll come out in the comics and secondary novels.

We get further development of Elzar with his love/hate relationship with the force and his ability to quickly tap into the dark side without a blink of the eye. He’s certainly going somewhere. Of course, his confession to Stellen is now moot given Stellan’s fate and he says he’ll tell others, but I wonder if he ever will now?

The crew of the Vessell, and Bell/Burry, were the plus points of the book for me. Geode stole the show so many times with his persona and actions. Leox is a happy go lucky positive amusing character no matter what the situation. Bell and Burry are the most Anikan/Obi-Wan Jedi pairing and work so well together in an enjoyable way.

We lost a few Jedi along the way. Stellen, a pillar of the Jedi who was very morale and abiding to the jedi Council, sacrifices himself. In a way, we never really got to know him. He was so stiff and giving out advice and orders, it doesn’t really feel like a huge loss to me. Reginald was a great funny character, like a jedi Leox, and I just knew he was doomed to die when they concentrated so much on him in beginning, however, too soon to mourn him. Indeera I didn’t feel I knew either. However, the one that affected me the most was Orla. I just loved her. She was intelligent, comprehensive and knew lots about the ways of the force. I was somewhat surprised she couldn’t fight the anti-force animals any better than anyone else. I will miss her. I don’t count Burry as dead as I reckon he did survive. I would miss him though. What’s not to like about a Jedi Wookie?????

Pros: The Crew of the Vessel, especially Geode and Leox are worth the entrance fee alone, the progression of a complex Elzar, the continuation of a deeply serious anti-force threat to the Jedi, a significant turn of events in the Nihil’s favour with the destruction of Starlight … and a big shoutout to an amazingly amusing and sarcastic “45” voice by Marc Thompson.

Cons: Strangely, the anti-force threat, despite being severe and devastating, it’s unclear what is happening, and that’s not a good thing for the story in my opinion. It’s a slow-burning first-half of the book, and somehow, the absolutely drama of the crashing of Starlight is not delivered in quite the way it could have been, especially as the only tangible danger to life comes across as limited to those in a medical bay and docking bay.

I don’t really like to rate Star Wars because I’ll watch/read it and enjoy it no matter what, but it’s always a little fun to try to pinpoint things in a review. As I never wrote a review for previous High Republic books I’ve read, I’ll quickly say that I’d give Light of the Jedi an 9/10 and The Rising Storm 7/10.

Rating

7/10 – An epic story of huge consequences in The High Republic series which shows the frailties of the Jedi at this time and the canniest abilities of the Nihil.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch - S01E11 "Devil's Deal"

 

Wowsers. I was totally unsure what I was watching for a good ten minutes here. I’m all for telling more stories but the unexpectedness of telling us about Ryloth and the Syndulla’s really took me out of what we’d usually been watching. I liked it! Do not get me wrong. It was just so unexpected that it felt surreal for 90% of the episode of which the Bad Batch had only a few minutes in. Are we watching ‘Rebels’, Clone Wars or The Bad Batch? This week it was a mixture of all three.

It is an important tale to show – the Empire stamping it is ground so quickly after the war ended. There are going to be planets where peace, even one with Imperial troopers everywhere, is going to be better than what they were used to. Clearly the Empire are up to no good with the mining facility. Quite what seeds have been sown to convince some that having clone troopers around is automatically a bad thing I’m unsure as that’s not really explained. We all know these misgivings are going to prove correct but how some have reached a conclusion so quickly is not really spelt out.

This episode is full of characters most of us know inside and out if you’ve watched every ounce of Star Wars content but seeing Hera and Chopper!!! Well, my mind was blown, and initially totally blown so much that I lost all track of what was going on. Hera’s voice also sounded … odd. Italian? I don’t recall her having any accent much in Rebels. Anyhow, it was just so unexpected it was hard to appreciate initially. It also felt like we had seen all there was to see about Ryloth and the Syndulla’s before. I didn’t think there was much more to tell and although this didn’t really expand a lot on it for me personally, it was enjoyable nonetheless. The visuals once again were absolutely sensational so many times.

Questions though remain after this episode. It ends with the feeling that the next episode is going to continue the story, with likely the Bad Batch helping smuggle Hera out? Is this where we’re going with the gang? Are they going to be in the formations of the rebellion? Where the heck are they much later down the road? Why is Crosshair and the Empire not fully invested in tracking down the Bad Batch at this point? And what’s happened to all the Bounty Hunters after Omega? And is that one commander clone not under order 66 as he’s still painted and hair combed to suggest he’s not following order 66 programming?

Star Wars: The Bad Batch - S01E10 "Common Ground"

Well, this wasn’t quite as exciting as previous episodes but it was nonetheless an enjoyable ride with a simple narrative. Perhaps a filler episode of sorts but it did move the story along. Thanks to Omega, the Bad Batch debt is cleared. One must think she’d won a lot of games in the time the Bad Batch did one mission. Betting games seem to be better rewarded than that of extracting people from dangerous locations? I’d guess Cid had the fact Omega was a child as a tactic to extract extra money from bets but it worked and she won a ton of games. We have also discovered that Omega is one heck of a strategist. Is this her special skill or one of many? Where does this leave Hunter? Not suggesting Omega will lead the gang anytime soon but if she’s this clever, Hunter’s tactics could be called into question in future. I bet they will. Is this also the end of our time with Cid? I’m still waiting for a degree of betrayal from her so maybe she’s still around next week for that. The gang aren’t worth as much to her now so I’m figuring she’d got to be thinking about the bounty on the gang soon.

The actual extraction was a simple plot with no overly complicated matters. Even taking over the clanker has been seen before although quite miraculous as I thought it had had a direct hit at the rear. I was also half expecting the senator to be up to no good and somehow leading the gang into a trap especially when he and his droid looked at each other on one occasion. And his droid? GS-8 was it? She sounded like there was someone inside the metal. I was half expecting the droid to say at the end “But I’m really a human hiding inside and I love you senator”. Didn’t happen though. Now that would have been a twist! Interesting to see what was happening on the planet with the Empire taking over. A little confusing though as at start of the senator speech he was being cheered despite his words supporting the Empire? Also, is it me or did the Bad Batch only ever stun the clones rather than kill?

Bit of a filler, but the story progressed.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch - S01E09 "Lost Bounty"

Taun We - condemmed to death from the minute this order was given.

Another highly entertaining episode injected with a degree of peril as Omega finds herself stuck between a battle of bounty hunters; Fennec and Cad Bane. We discover that Fennec was hired personally by Nala Se without the knowledge of the Kaminoan PM. This adds credibility to Fennec’s “caring” persona towards Omega in this episode and the previous time when one was unsure how sincere Fennec was back then. Turns out, she was actually more truthful than we thought. As she dramatically fights it out with Cad Bane, memories of The Clone Wars episodes are constantly reignited in my mind. Their jostling for advantage in battle is clever, as is their armoury and tricks of the trade. One might think Cad Bane has had it when tied up and sent flying over the edge, but alas those rocket boots save the day! His arm flame throwers also never fail to be dramatic. An absolutely delicious tussle in what can only be described as atmospheric (quite literally) and gorgeous scenery. The mist/dust/cloud effects were like butter melting on top a baked potato – absolutely dreamy. One assumes this is an old Kaminoan factory now abandoned for some reason? On a different planet? Different star system to Kaminoan? Whatever fell out one of those massive glass tubes looked a little Snoke like but think I saw big eyes on it so probably not, and it’s far too early for a Snoke wannabe to lurking about. Still, very intriguing. 

Cad Bane’s sidekick droid Todo was the star of the episode. As undoubtedly useful to Cad as he is, he’s also rather hapless at times, being totally misled by Omega initially, and failing at quite a few tasks subsequently. Still, he was a hoot and very much added to a great episode. The quick escape from Crosshair at the start was unexpected as one thought that had all been concluded somewhat last week but nevertheless that was the only minor oddity to the episode for me. Everything else was top notch entertainment. We also got even more reinforcement of Hunter becoming a father figure to Omega as previously it had really been only Wrecker shown to have the best relationship with her. Of course, one totally knows the end sentence is going to end up slapping him in the face with his promise of her never going back to Kamino. She’s SO GOING BACK TO KAMINO! 100% guaranteed now he’s said that. Also, given we find out exactly what it unique about Omega now, and it’s nothing to do with force power DNA as the conspiracy theories might have thought, but she’s essentially Boba’s sister? Alpha was Boba and Omega is, well, Omega. The only other last remaining clone of original pure DNA goodness. The likelihood of Boba showing up has now just gone up a big notch too. 

She's so going back to Kamino!

Star Wars: The Bad Batch - S01E08 "Reunion"

The one we'd been waiting for and wondering when the gang would be reunited with Crosshair. I was starting to think it might be left for the finale or mid-season cliff-hanger but thankfully they've given us a taste of the conflict sooner. In some respects it's a little bizarre it’s taken this long as sometimes it has seemed like the Empire were after them and then not really bothering. With three shuttles worth of troopers (Clones one assumes) and Crosshairs Stormtrooper wannabes squad in toe, we get a really good equal matchup between the remaining Bad Batch and the Empire. Quite why it never occurred to any of the Bad Batch that Crosshair would anticipate their plans I don't know. Hunter is a leader, but he's not as yet been shown to be that clever. I would have expected Tech to have thought that Crosshair would be likely figuring out their plans given they kept to their typical routines. I suppose we had to see an episode where the Bad Batch would learn the hard way that Crosshair would be aware of what they might plan, and this is it, but you'd think they'd have thought about that previously.

Fantastic comradery between the Bad Batch once again this episode. Omega is really one of the team now, which makes the ending all the more potent. If this had happened a few episodes ago I doubt we'd have been as heartbroken, but it's clear now that Omega fits in perfectly with the gang and they are learning and growing to utilise her in everything - Tech called Omega up to help him on the bridge. Sure, it was to do a simple task, but it shows she has integrated. We still don't know what's special about her yet, although I'm sure a few hints have been put in place. The Kaminoans refer to her as part of their contingency plan. Contingency for what? If the Empire saw no use for their clones? That seems the most likely reason but it's all hush hush. What's the plan? Omega is a much better clone? Maybe she can control the other clone? She needs to be cheaper too as it's unlikely that even a super clone (which in ways the Bad Batch already are) is likely to be something the Empire are interested in given their desire to spend money elsewhere. Death Star anyone?

All the scenes in this episode are atmospheric and gorgeous. Big vibes of The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker here with the insides of downed Star Destroyers. Loved the textures, the creaky sounds, the clanking of rusty metal - absolutely beautiful. And then, the surprise appearance, which even for me was totally unexpected - a reunion with a beloved character from The Clone Wars in Cad Bane. This is Afterall The Clone Wars Season 8 in all but name and Dave Filoni has the opportunity of a lifetime to continue stories from The Clone Wars and hell he's going to do so. I remember a scene from one of the unfinished episodes with Cad Bane against Boba Fett? Was it Bane? Didn't Boba kill him? Well, it was unfinished episode and I guess it never happened in that respects. It was dramatic to see him back and a real tense moment. You know Cad would be quicker even though Hunter is a clone. It had to be Cad who won the battle or pointless bringing him into the scene. He was awesome. But how did Hunter survive the shot? Not really explained although he's clearly winded or injured at the end.

The stakes are rising in this show and I'm loving it.

Feedback Hub – Six Painful years later.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

A much-debated question for decades.

In terms of Microsoft it’s, “If I submit something to the Feedback Hub, will Microsoft respond to me?”

This is easy to solve because it’s no.

I wrote about the top 5 most annoying issues with the feedback hub in 2015, and about its cousin app, The Insider App (Feedback Hub + Insider material) in 2016. We’re 5 years later and you’d hope things had improved, but alas it’s still the same problems. Thus, it’s time to limber up my finger muscles and vent again about why I feel the Feedback Hub is about as useful as writing your problem on a piece of paper and then throwing that paper in the recycling bin.

In many ways I’m wondering why Microsoft, and especially the Insider programme, bother with the Feedback Hub still. Just this year Microsoft began closing down its UserVoice communities - which one can understand because in many ways they were just webpage versions of the hapless Feedback App. There are also ways these days that Microsoft actually does user feedback much better! Yes, really. I’ll come to that in a bit.

First though, lets’ have a look once again at all that is wrong with the Feedback Hub; these issues have existed since it’s inception, so the usual response of “Oh, it’s new, it'll get better” no longer applies. In fact, to even think that anymore is just rude.

1. SLOW

It’s so slow searching and filtering through feedback that you’ve actually got more than enough time to reconsider your life and not bother submitting anything. The key to getting the public to engage and tell you what’s good or, more normally, what’s bad, is to make it simple and quick to give that feedback.

If you launch the Feedback App it’s a good 5+ seconds until you get to do anything, and then if you want to search to see if someone has posted about what you are “feeding back” before, the twirling ball of time appears like an omen of doom.  If that’s not bad enough, suppose you want to read the comments in any feedback post, it’s another 5+ seconds of hell until you see them.

It’s simply too slow.

2. SPAM

Something I’ve noticed in the last few years especially is that the Hub has become full of rubbish. I’m not referring to the problem of people submitting problems that aren’t problems, or giving suggestions for improvements that just are ludicrous, but literally posts and comments that are nothing short of spam. There are swear words, politics, and offensive matter lurking in the feedback hub. Comments for threads – which seemed like a very good idea at the time – on the whole add next to no value to any thread. The “I agree”, or “Fix it!” or “This is a stupid idea” really are like standing in the middle of a pavement and waiting for someone to take any notice of you.

Spam is a fantastic demonstration of how even Microsoft doesn’t look at the Feedback Hub anywhere near enough, because this Spam stays in the Hub for not just weeks, but months, and almost a year.

IF … and this is a big IF … Microsoft was really listening anywhere near attentively enough as it says it does, and that the feedback in the hub was divided adequately between different teams to examine and deal with … then this Spam would not exist.

Clearly something is very broken with the Feedback Hub in terms of how Microsoft responds to feedback (see next point) and looks at it … if they even do.

Let’s have a look at some of this spam so you can all see what I mean.

A great way to find spam posts is to search for Trump or Biden. It’s entertaining, and enough to make you cry with laughter and tears.

The above was posted 3 months ago. It’s not in anyway useful or actionable. Why is it even still there?

What’s worse about the above, is not only that it’s 3 months old, but that a Microsoft Engineer took the time to respond to it when it’s clearly Spam and not actionable.

This one above is perfect example of Feedback Hub Hell. Not only has it been there for 10 months, but it just shows that there’s no one is checking posts anywhere near enough.

This one has been there for a year! Whoever has the job to check the Apps/All Other Apps is clearly AWOL.

As clear as spam can be yet it’s still there after 2 months.

Clearly there is zero autodetection for swear words in the Feedback Hub. Not only that, but MS Engineers don’t seem to mind being insulted. This post is 8 months old.

Useful. But only as a sign that no-one is checking this section of the Feedback Hub.

Windows Server has left the Feedback Hub Building folks … about a year ago.

Proof not to use Feedback Hub in any emergency. No one will come to your rescue.

Conclusion: There’s little to no automatic spam detection in the Feedback Hub and manual monitoring is very suspect.

3. ONE-WAY

And herein lies the main problem with the Feedback Hub. I’d be fibbing if I said it was entirely one-way, but suffice to say, the vast majority of suggestions and problems you submit to the Feedback Hub will go without any official comment or acknowledgment. The default “We’ve got this!” message that the app gives you is like a kick in the teeth and means nothing, except that much like actually getting a kick in the face, it hurts. You know they’ve got it because you submitted it and can see it. But then what? It’s like tossing a twig into a stream and hoping it actually keeps going but knowing it probably won’t.

Out of the ~100 posts I’ve made in vain to the Feedback Hub over the last 6 years, a mere 15 have had an official response. It’s totally soul destroying. Why do I bother? There’s only so many times you can do something without any reward before you just simply give up. No one expects a personal response every time or even action from someone, but a sign perhaps that there is someone alive in the Feedback Hub HQ who can at least send some response, even if it’s a sentence, would be great. It would mean all the world and make a vast difference. It’s not as if Microsoft couldn’t do this, because they already do in other feedback departments. Yes, really.

I give you two examples; Microsoft Word and Microsoft Edge.

With Microsoft Edge, you can send feedback through the main menu, and I’ve done this a handful of times. Guess what? Every time I’ve done this, I’ve got a response! Yes, every time.

Example, 9^th March, I fed back a rather simple issue:

One day later, I got this:

In the space of 24 hours I felt valued. I knew someone was listening to me. They were going to keep me posted which is the total opposite of the Feedback Hub. Not only that, but what I reported was acknowledged as an issue and I’d helped to make Edge better. Ok, they already knew about the issue, but I found out that a future build of Edge had a fix in it. Likewise with Microsoft OneDrive, I submitted feedback on a problem I had and got a response the next day!

In a very surprising development too, in Microsoft Word I submitted an issue I had with comments and gave a suggestion for improvement. I got an email within 48 hours asking me for more information!

Microsoft is capable of very good feedback, and making their customers feel valued for contacting them, but the clear exception is the Feedback Hub which feels more like a trophy cabinet for failed suggestions and problems.