Babylon 5 had some clunky episodes, but Londo and G’Kar? Dude, you don’t mess with them. Two of the best written characters ever.
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| Originally Posted by Pop Zeus I don’t find the Baltar stuff as irritating as you do, Devin. Its uneven, and somewhat implausible, but Callis sells it. And I like the way they drop Six in and out of the scenes. Some clever direction there sometimes, but I’ve complained about his plot line a bit in the season 2 thread. They can only do the ‘is he crazy or brainwashed? (or something else?)’ for so long before it gets completely ridiculous. |
If you’ve watched the mid-series finale, then you know that it looks like Baltar is about to get up to some mysterious shit. I really think the first season and the first part of this second season is about Baltar choosing a side. Pretty soon, I’m thinking, he’s going to be a very dangerous guy.
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| Originally Posted by Dr. Necessiter If you’ve watched the mid-series finale, then you know that it looks like Baltar is about to get up to some mysterious shit. I really think the first season and the first part of this second season is about Baltar choosing a side. Pretty soon, I’m thinking, he’s going to be a very dangerous guy. |
Yeah, that season 2 mid-finale seemed like it was partially about shifting Baltar’s ploline away from the old one and onto a new one. Also, he is still VP and next in line for presidential succession. I think things are going to turn from bad to worse for everyone.
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| Originally Posted by Seabass Inna Bun …I love that show, even if it gets a little mystical and weird in spots. There is no end to the misery and pain these people are put through. |
Actually, all this religious hoo-ha in season 2 is starting to put a damper on my enthusiasm for the series. They handle it well, but I ain’t a big fan of prophecy and scripture and quasi-biblical mumbo-jumbo…
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| Originally Posted by Jacob Singer Actually, all this religious hoo-ha in season 2 is starting to put a damper on my enthusiasm for the series. They handle it well, but I ain’t a big fan of prophecy and scripture and quasi-biblical mumbo-jumbo… |
But I do love the fact that religion is a driving force for fanaticism on the show, just like in real life.
This thread makes me want to go out and buy the DVD now. I’ve been saying for a while that the next big HBO series should be something science fiction, a la “The West Wing” in space, so I was surprised to see Devin make that comparison here.
It sounds phenomenal and I look forward to picking it up. Thanks, guys.
You wont’ regret it, Rath, and, if you do, Devin will give you a full refund.
I was describing the show to a friend and used the West Wing terminolgy. Glad it ain’t just me.
The mystical element is a part of the show I look forward to in season 2. I’m a sucker for mythology.
When Tigh’s on screen, and if I have a audience, I like to start rambling about stuff a drunk John McCain would drunkenly ramble about, whilst doing my best to emulate Michael Hogan’s delivery.
I’m better at entertaining myself than anyone else I know.
Welcome aboard, Devin. Nice shot of G’Kar and Londo, btw…the worst makeup ever, from the pilot. Deliberately the worst shot you could find, or a coincidence? I’m not a fan of the original show (one of the reasons I skipped the mini when it first aired), but, IIRC, wasn’t Apollo Adama’s son there, too? And not only does the same FX company do Firefly/Serenity and BSG, the mini had a firefly in it, out the window right before we meet Rosilyn. http://www.zoicstudios.com/ Great company.
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| Originally Posted by devincf They’re uneven. Sometimes they’re very good, sometimes really shitty. The good news is that the FX only happen in the space scenes, so they’re not integrating FX into live action scenes. I think the dogfights are staged well enough that you don’t mind the FX. |
Actually, they do a LOT of of live action FX integration, but they do it in subtle ways, like expanding the hangar decks and things. And of course, all the Cylons are CG.
The other thing is that the commentaries/podcasts from Moore and Co. are wonderful. Moore is tremendously self-deprecating and he more than owns up to when things don’t work, or worked accidentally. Listening to his podcasts after each season 2 ep aired became a serious ritual for me.
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| Originally Posted by Agent Helix Seriously though, that sorta-review, along with the glowing praise from others here, has convinced me to order the season 1 set from Amazon. |
Me too, Devin. I was saving that Best Buy gift card for a Gilmore Girls season, but your review has reawakened my testicles.
I’m about 2 hours into the mini-series after having just received Season One from Amazon. I’d never given this show a second thought, and to be honest, the only thing I knew about it was the old show had silver Stormtrooper-looking robots.
I ordered the set based solely on the word of mouth from here and another forum, and I’m already hooked. Damn, this show is brutal!
I’m a Firefly fan (not a Browncoat though), and I think this is a darker side of the coin. Both are great recent sci-fi shows, and while Firefly is probably more fun (and definitely more light-hearted), this show is vastly superior in scope and drama. I think what I like most about it is that it is not a typical “sci-fi” show, but rather a story that takes place in a sci-fi setting. I think Devin said it better in his posts, but just thought I’d throw a recent “convert’s” towel into the BG ring.
The only thing that sucks about this set is that the copy I got from Amazon has 2 Disc Fives and no Disc Three. Looks like I’ll be taking a trip to Best Buy tomorrow to get a friend to swap it out for me.
You guys who are watching this show for the first time are lucky. There are some great high points in season 1. And you also have season 2 to look forward to, which might be better.
I think part of the show’s appeal is how much variety there is in it. Yeah, there’s a lot of West Wing and some 24 type stuff. But its also a holocaust and war story and a good old fashioned Star Trek/Wars romp sometimes for good measure. Even though its primarily a drama and action show, the sci-fi allows them to collage all these subgenres together and create something totally unique.
I haven’t seen an episode of the new series. I vaguely remember having some bad BSG toys when I was a kid. I think they were relegated to stormtrooper target practice. I’m considering picking up the first set based on Devin’s recommendation and the good buzz here on CHUD (I feel I have to post an aside here: Dev essentially raves about this show, calling it a “more or less very great tv show,” and yet the hardcore fans feel the need to strenuously object to each of his quibbles? What’s with fandom these days, I just don’t get it.) However, reviews such as this one (from Gregg Easterbrook’s “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” column on NFL.com) make me wonder if I should drop cash on it. Thoughts? CAUTION: SPOILERS and mild FIREFLY criticism, as well as faint praise, follow (note that despite the very mild criticism of Firefly and the kudos given on a technical aspect, I suspect Mr. Easterbrook’s email will be bombarded by zealous and misguided Browncoats nonetheless):
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/8925120
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| Many readers including Cindy Maka of Wheaton, Md., insist I heed the new “reimagined” Battlestar Galactica, the No. 1 rated sci-fi show on television. Like Star Wars, Star Trek and Stargate, this series has the all-important word “star” in its title. Male readers have added that two Galactica regulars, actresses Grace Park and Tricia Helfer, recently posed wearing just shy of nothing for Maxim magazine. If only they’d undress on the show, I would tune in more often! Spenser, my 10-year-old, refuses to view Galactica, asking, “Why watch a show about people who are dying and helpless, plus constantly arguing with each other?” Spenser has a point. Perhaps there is admirable boldness in producing a TV show in which everything that happens is bad; but if I want unrelenting gloom, all I have to do is turn on CNN. For those who don’t know, the premise of Galactica is that somewhere on the opposite side of the Milky Way, a society of sinister robots attacks an advanced human society. The robots slaughter billions of people; the last few thousand survivors are fleeing in a convoy of spaceships defended by one gigantic military vessel, the battlestar Galactica. This “reimagined” show is based on the 1970s series, which was campy and silly. The new version is dark, tense and violent; nothing good ever happens. One of my problems with Battlestar Galactica is that the men and women in the show are depicted as so astonishingly across-the-board stupid, it’s tempting to root for the robots. The military officers are stupid; the politicians are stupid; the civilians are stupid. In the pilot, we learn that the entire defense network of the human society could be deactivated by one single numeric code. The evil robots, called Cylons, obtain the code, transmit it, and instantly all the human society’s military equipment shuts off. Planets are left defenseless as the Cylons bombard them with nuclear bombs; numerous powerful battlestars are shown hanging in space helpless, their engines and weapons shut off, as the Cylons smash them. (The Galactica escapes via plot contrivance.) Now if you were an advanced society capable of building gigantic faster-than-light outer-space battleships, would you design them so that one single numeric code renders them all totally useless at the same time? Plus the numeric code that instantly shuts off every military device in the entire human society has been entrusted to a psychologically unstable computer scientist, who accidentally gives it to the Cylons. Halfway through the first season, the computer scientist became vice-president of the survivors’ government, and everyone – including military intelligence – is so astonishingly stupid as to never realize that since scientist was the only one who had the code, he must have been the one to give it to the Cylons. Next, the show has premise problems that appears unsolvable. One aspect of the premise is that there are no other intelligent beings in this part of the galaxy – just the beleaguered humans and the malevolent Cylons. This means there are no aliens to meet in various episodes, no alien societies to depict. True, it must be hard at this point to come up with new alien ideas for sci-fi. You can imagine the scriptwriters’ conference: “Okay, how about they find a planet where people can only speak when the sun is out?” The other premise problem is that the Cylons are depicted as having become so powerful, Galactica cannot hope to defeat them. If the characters can’t overcome the Cylons and can’t meet interesting aliens, to create dramatic tension the scriptwriters are forced to have the humans fighting each other, which is what happens. Almost every episode concerns internecine fighting inside the human fleet: plots, mutinies, martial law, claims of treason, everything but people accusing each other of witchcraft. Galactica story lines have become so similar that I have trouble telling whether an episode is new or a repeat. In the most recent two-part cliffhanger, Galactica discovers that a second battlestar, Pegasus, also outran the robot attack. Do the two ships cooperate to improve each other’s odds of survival? No, their officers immediately start arguing and making threats, and at the cliffhanger ending, not to be resolved until January, Galactica and Pegasus are about to attack each other. Threatening each other is the single stupidest thing the crews of these ships could do in the situation depicted – but since the show’s premise is that there are no aliens and the Cylons are invincible, the only possible plots turn on people quarrelling amongst themselves. Perhaps somewhere in the universe there is a technologically advanced human society made up of incredibly stupid people who do nothing but walk into traps and argue with each other. But why would I find this entertaining? Upside of Battlestar Galactica: great cinematography. Characters speak slowly, there are pauses in dialogue and even scenes when no one is speaking; movie-making techniques rarely seen on television. Plot quibble: the Pegasus episode begins with Galactica detecting an enormous star cruiser approaching. Immediately the captain radios, “This is the battlestar Galactica. Identify yourself or you will be fired on.” But we’ve been told there are no intelligent beings other than humans and Cylons in this part of space, and Galactica believes itself the sole good-guy military vessel to survive the Cylon attack. So based on what is known, Galactica would assume the enormous star cruiser in the distance is a Cylon capital ship. Why does Galactica’s captain issue his ridiculous challenge to a superior vessel, exposing his location in the process? Battlestar Galactica producers, please hire a continuity director. Meanwhile Jose Marquez of Somerville, Mass., commends the sci-fi series Firefly and its new theatrical release Serenity. Yours truly found it impossible to figure out what was going on in Firefly, other than that good-looking wisecracking people were zooming around the universe. Supposedly Serenity is comprehensible, and it’s produced by Joss Whedon, who did a slap-up job with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Marquez notes that Whedon’s sci-fi has the virtue of depicting outer space as silent. Usually in sci-fi the viewer hears engines, phasers and explosions echoing through the firmament. |
Everything he hates is what I like. I like how dystopian it is. And I agree everyone is stupid. I even posted about that while watching the series!
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| Originally Posted by devincf Everything he hates is what I like. I like how dystopian it is. And I agree everyone is stupid. I even posted about that while watching the series! |
Yeah, and it even makes sense. I mean, people around here turn into drooling mongloids during a thunderstorm, I can only imagine how stupid and irrational we’d be if the human race was being exterminated.
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| Originally Posted by devincf Everything he hates is what I like. I like how dystopian it is. And I agree everyone is stupid. I even posted about that while watching the series! |
I’ll give it a shot, Devin. Meanwhile, here’s a quote from the genius that was the Face Man:
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| Originally, Starbuck was a rather small role. The show was supposed to be about Adam and his son. Starbuck was just one of the fighter pilots. I made several actor’s choices early on, to bring more dimension to him, and it worked. |
So I get my copy of Season 1 from Amazon yesterday, and wouldn’t you know it, it was mispacked without disc four. Instead, I got two copies of disc three. So I repackaged it up for a return. I did watch the first half of the miniseries first (and I really wish I’d finished watching it before I packed it up, dumb on me) but I really liked what I saw so far.
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| Originally Posted by morich74 I haven’t seen an episode of the new series. I vaguely remember having some bad BSG toys when I was a kid. I think they were relegated to stormtrooper target practice. I’m considering picking up the first set based on Devin’s recommendation and the good buzz here on CHUD (I feel I have to post an aside here: Dev essentially raves about this show, calling it a “more or less very great tv show,” and yet the hardcore fans feel the need to strenuously object to each of his quibbles? What’s with fandom these days, I just don’t get it.) However, reviews such as this one (from Gregg Easterbrook’s “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” column on NFL.com) make me wonder if I should drop cash on it. Thoughts? CAUTION: SPOILERS and mild FIREFLY criticism, as well as faint praise, follow (note that despite the very mild criticism of Firefly and the kudos given on a technical aspect, I suspect Mr. Easterbrook’s email will be bombarded by zealous and misguided Browncoats nonetheless): http://www.nfl.com/news/story/8925120 |
I love Easterbrook’s SF musings, but he’s got a shocking number of inaccuracies in his glib ponderings that makes it impossible to take him seriously on this one. In general, I think he’s just allergic to the tone of the show and he’s not even paying attention. Most of his criticisms stem from what I consider the show’s strength: that it takes its post-holocaust scenario seriously. It’s a show about FLAWED people who are worth defending. Me, I love it.
(And I don’t find the people stupid so much as trapped in an impossible situation. I look at our current gov’t dealing with any number of crises, and suddenly these people are damn geniuses.)
MILD SPOILERS:
I just loved his criticism of Pegasus’ ending, about the two ships going at it. Wow, they should’ve just worked together! And wouldn’t the Roman Empire have been better off if they hadn’t stabbed this shit out of Caesar? And those crazy kids Romeo and Juliet, if they’d just thought things through, they could’ve been collecting their Medicare.