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And Battlestar Galactica fandom goes wild!
I don't write a lot about neoBSG here, but I'm hooked on the show for sure.
Jeezus. RDM can always make me weep like a baby. He plays my fiddle strings like no other television writer can.
Maelstrom? This episode right here? This is why neoBSG will go down as one of the best damn U.S. televised SciFi shows EVaR. Between the writing and that dream cast? Never again will you see something like this bless our screens when neoBSG passes from the airwaves.
Now the fact that I'm saying that about BSG in any form is enough to make me slap my head and call me an idiot.
And let me stress: much as I love the cheesy 70s version for its cheezy-ness, it was not art. It would never be confused with art. Original BSG and art were not even in the same galaxy, let alone the same room. And I wrote fanfic for the original series. No shit.
Maelstrom was just...it was just...it was transcendent.
RDM will fuck your shit up, yo! Having watched his career avidly over the years, I can pretty much categorically state that Kara is sooooooo not dead.
Total spec on my part.
Kara's either one or both things:
1) The "Eye of Jupiter" wasn't the signpost to earth. It was the cyclone storm that Kara got sucked into. She just stumbled her ass on the path to earth, but she had to be willing to face to death to cross the threshold to get onto that path via the cyclone storm.
2) Remember that ovary they stole from Kara? I say they cloned the bod and it's waiting in one of those resurrection baths of theirs. I say the Cylons snatched her or her soul mid-transit and transfered her consciousness to another bod. Kara's not one of the Final Five. She's a new kind of Cyclon. How Kara reacts to her "destiny" should be awesome to behold.
Also, from what I understand, RDM says in the podcast that the closing scene were EJO trashes the model ship was not in the script. He just did it because it felt right.
The model ship was worth a few thou.
That's right. EJO trashed a very valuable model ship that wasn't own by production, on camera, because of an acting choice.
Oh, EJO! Shine on you crazy diamond. Shine on.
Now, I won't be discussing spoilers here. Just will point you to the spoiler board where I read something very interesting about the final four episodes and state my immediate thought and reaction. That thought and reaction will be omigawdSPOILER!
You have been warned.
Begin Spoiler Reaction
Now, total spoilers over on the TwOP BSG Spoiler Thead
All I've got to say is: HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!
Four of the final five have been revealed. Suddenly the whole of it, all of the Cylons' schizophrenia about their plan, suddenly makes a whole lot of fucking sense.
The humans annihilation was a means to an end. And the fact that the Cyclons are holding back from completely crushing what's left and trying to beat the Fleet to earth.
Going by the four of the five, I think it's not about killing humans.
I think it's all about a fucking Cyclon civil war.
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!
End Spoiler Reaction
I'll be over here shivering with anticipation. Eight months until the series picks up again? Eight months after the series finale?
My brain's gonna 'splode. That's all I'm saying.
As for RDM...man, he really wants to be the anti-Trek doesn't he? Listening to his and Eick's commentaries on S1 neoBSG is incredibly enlightening about the process they go through in putting the show together.
The commentaries are also refreshingly honest.
The most interesting comments are actually about the stylized ways that SciFi series are usually shot for television, and, I think, the comments are dead on for the most part. I also like RDM getting into how some of the choices made for BSG were made specifically because he didn't want to get stuck writing technobabble for BSG, ever.
Really, if you own the S1 DVD sets, the commentaries are well-worth listening to.
Jeezus. RDM can always make me weep like a baby. He plays my fiddle strings like no other television writer can.
Maelstrom? This episode right here? This is why neoBSG will go down as one of the best damn U.S. televised SciFi shows EVaR. Between the writing and that dream cast? Never again will you see something like this bless our screens when neoBSG passes from the airwaves.
Now the fact that I'm saying that about BSG in any form is enough to make me slap my head and call me an idiot.
And let me stress: much as I love the cheesy 70s version for its cheezy-ness, it was not art. It would never be confused with art. Original BSG and art were not even in the same galaxy, let alone the same room. And I wrote fanfic for the original series. No shit.
Maelstrom was just...it was just...it was transcendent.
RDM will fuck your shit up, yo! Having watched his career avidly over the years, I can pretty much categorically state that Kara is sooooooo not dead.
Total spec on my part.
Kara's either one or both things:
1) The "Eye of Jupiter" wasn't the signpost to earth. It was the cyclone storm that Kara got sucked into. She just stumbled her ass on the path to earth, but she had to be willing to face to death to cross the threshold to get onto that path via the cyclone storm.
2) Remember that ovary they stole from Kara? I say they cloned the bod and it's waiting in one of those resurrection baths of theirs. I say the Cylons snatched her or her soul mid-transit and transfered her consciousness to another bod. Kara's not one of the Final Five. She's a new kind of Cyclon. How Kara reacts to her "destiny" should be awesome to behold.
Also, from what I understand, RDM says in the podcast that the closing scene were EJO trashes the model ship was not in the script. He just did it because it felt right.
The model ship was worth a few thou.
That's right. EJO trashed a very valuable model ship that wasn't own by production, on camera, because of an acting choice.
Oh, EJO! Shine on you crazy diamond. Shine on.
Now, I won't be discussing spoilers here. Just will point you to the spoiler board where I read something very interesting about the final four episodes and state my immediate thought and reaction. That thought and reaction will be omigawdSPOILER!
You have been warned.
Begin Spoiler Reaction
Now, total spoilers over on the TwOP BSG Spoiler Thead
All I've got to say is: HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!
Four of the final five have been revealed. Suddenly the whole of it, all of the Cylons' schizophrenia about their plan, suddenly makes a whole lot of fucking sense.
The humans annihilation was a means to an end. And the fact that the Cyclons are holding back from completely crushing what's left and trying to beat the Fleet to earth.
Going by the four of the five, I think it's not about killing humans.
I think it's all about a fucking Cyclon civil war.
HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!
End Spoiler Reaction
I'll be over here shivering with anticipation. Eight months until the series picks up again? Eight months after the series finale?
My brain's gonna 'splode. That's all I'm saying.
As for RDM...man, he really wants to be the anti-Trek doesn't he? Listening to his and Eick's commentaries on S1 neoBSG is incredibly enlightening about the process they go through in putting the show together.
The commentaries are also refreshingly honest.
The most interesting comments are actually about the stylized ways that SciFi series are usually shot for television, and, I think, the comments are dead on for the most part. I also like RDM getting into how some of the choices made for BSG were made specifically because he didn't want to get stuck writing technobabble for BSG, ever.
Really, if you own the S1 DVD sets, the commentaries are well-worth listening to.
no subject
*nods*
That was the word I was looking for this afternoon. Brilliant episode, wonderfully acted by all, but especially for that final moment with EJO. I'm trying to resist the spoilers (resistance is futile), but your speculation about Kara is fascinating.
BSG fandom goes all 'splodey
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Someone's insurance is going up.
I'm just amazed at how pissed some people are about it, a lot of them I remember from Jossverse fandom who used to cackle with glee over "character deaths" in those series. Suddenly they're pissed because it's a different show? Wha?
That was one damn fine hour of television. And if Sakoff and Olomos (and Maitlan and Hogan) don't at least get nominated for Emmies...there is not freakin' justice.
But seriously, man. Get your hands on the S1 DVDs because the commentaries are just awesome. RDM and DE are also really good about being honest about what they thought worked and didn't and different episodes. It's just nice to hear producers take responsibility for the good and bad (rather than blaming the audience or the studio for "not getting it" when they screw up). Definitely the commentaries are on par with JMS's commentaries on Babylon 5.
And this is why I caved and ordered the S2.0 and S2.5 discs. For the commentaries. I am weak like veal.
If you give into temptation on the spoilers, there's enough left vague around the main spoilers are vague enough that it's not soul-destroying to see them. But, yeah, my reaction was: "WtF!" Followed by, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
no subject
I've heard people complain about RDM's podcasts, that he is a bit off the wall in some of them, so I've been a bit leery of the commentaries. Some were pissed that he didn't mention Katee's work in this episode in one podcast, but I see in another interview that he thinks this was her very best work yet, and was thrilled with it.
There are people on my flist who are all bent out of shape that RDM would "kill off" their favourite character...reminded me of the kerfuffles on BTVS. To me, the story is the thing, and characters come and go, according to the author's vision. I have to trust in RDM's vision, and ability to tell his story.
Oh, man. I'm so tempted by the spoilers. I'm trying to be strong!
BSG
The first season was great, and the 2nd had its moments as well. Loved the Pegasus episodes - that Admiral was downright scary...
But sometime during 2nd season, the show seemed to lose its cohesion. At first I thought I'd missed a few episodes, because it began referring to scenes I'd never seen in, as a critic rather aptly put it, the "Not actually previously seen on BSG" intro. Remember how Adama put the Chief Engineer in command of the Pegasus? No? Me neither.
And don't let me start on Apollo and Starbuck and Whatshername the little ensign... where did she suddenly come from? There's that sparring scene between her and Apollo, and next ep they've been practically dating for months? Huh? What happened? And why? This is Chakotay and 7-of-9 all over again... Thank God someone put poor Billy out of his misery.
And Gaius Baltar... now don't get me wrong, he's great as the "Am-I-crazy-or-not-guy", especially once you see "Caprica Six" and find out that SHE has delusions(?) of HIM - damn, that was great. But how come that nobody in the whole fleet ever comments on how their VP is a complete and total whackjob? "Yeah, he looks good on the screen... but last week I caught him talking to a bulkhead..." He looks like a cross between a fashion model and the proverbial Mad Scientist and spends most of his time talking, arguing, fighting and having sex with himself - In. Public. (at least partially).
Okay, sorry for the rant, that got to be a bit longer than planned. I like the show, I really do, but I feel like they dropped the ball somewhere in S2.
Jens
Re: BSG
Why? 'cause RTL2 (the channel broadcasting BSG over here) is making fuss. Frakkers.
Re: BSG
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Of course, they are still in the talks, and no script has been given out as of yet, but it may shorten your suffering.
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Adama's reaction was gorgeous!
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I'm sure that whatever is revealed about Kara will be thrilling and I am determined not to be spoiled. Just wish that I could have been a little more moved by the interregnum between death and -- what is to come.
A more mundane possible mechanism ...
I.e., she jettisons and is picked up by the raider. No resurrection.
Oh, they might tease us with resurrection dream/hallucination sequences a la Baltar, but I do think a more prosaic, and simpler scenario awaits.
Occams Razor, baby.
Re: A more mundane possible mechanism ...
Did he? I thought he was looking at Kara and so never did see it.
In any case, though, I like your explanation. Having her be one of the final five seems too easy, but it's too obvious that she's coming back somehow.
Re: A more mundane possible mechanism ...
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Awesome.
Other than that, I've pretty much loathed this season. Starbuck's been a heinous psycho, and we're supposed to like her because her mommy was mean. What the heck, ever. Biggest unearned reaction since the death of Cat, who was roundly portrayed as an unlikable jerk, and posthumously canonized. That damn photo of her hanging in the hall of the dead has gotten more love than her actual character ever did...
Starbuck's been defined as a vile unlikable train-wreck of a character, and throwing that turd amongst even more vile and unlikable turds doesn't make her any more yummy looking, IMO.
Some of the most *human* characters on the show are frakkin' Cylons. It was a great little one-note bit in the movie A.I., but basing an entire series around unlikable characters just makes me want the Cylons to swoop in and blast them out of their misery.
Except maybe Sharon, Helo, Hera, Gaeta and Dee. They can escape and end up on a deserted island somewhere.
And what is the obsession with making mother / wife figures into nasty pieces of work? Sure, Tigh's wife, that would be one, and if she was the only one, cool. Then Callie, rapidly turning into Keiko O'Brien, urging her husband into all sorts of wrongdoing and endlessly complaining about everything. Now, ex-Mrs-Adama was an abusive mother to Lee. Oh, and Starbucks mom, too. Was there a non-Cylon woman in the twelve colonies who didn't massively suck?
Roslin's the only one who isn't actively nasty, and even she is a scary, scary woman, sitting there, after having been proven monstrously wrong, smiling that smug little grin of, 'I don't need any stinking facts, I'm always right.' I keep waiting for her to lose her temper and start shouting, 'Mine is a holy name!', she's so disconnected from the morality of her actions.
So anywho. I'm not so big on the transcendent train. I keep waiting for it all to come together, wanting a payoff for why these characters personalities change so radically from episode to episode. This week, Lee's the one defending Sharon from Starbuck, next week he's all 'frakkin' toaster' this and 'kill 'em all' that, and going after Helo for sticking up for Sharon. I'm just like, 'Huh, why's Lee suddenly reading Tigh's lines?'