Wow. Been awhile since I posted one of these. And whaddya know. It's a good one, because holy crap! It’s a first in Star Trek history! An entire episode dedicated to (as JMS put it) moving around the furniture.

One where the real payoff doesn’t happen for another year-and-a-half.

The mind…she boggles!

I need a moment…

I remember seeing this episode first-run many, many moons ago. I never caught it in reruns at all, so I’m watching it via the magic of DVD for the first time in *mumble mumble* years.

I remember that at the time I watched it I thought it was a pretty boring and pointless episode. Even the not-very-exciting chase scene in the middle of the episode couldn’t disguise the fact that nothing really happens.

Imagine my delight that, upon re-watching it, I realized that I was dead wrong. It’s not pointless. In fact, it’s so entirely pointy that it physically hurts.

( Episode 11: Vortex )

As I said: If you watch the episode of no knowledge of what’s to come, it’s a bit of a “meh.” But, if you’ve seen the whole series through, you’ll be jumping up and down with the sheer joy of watching it.

You may recall that the crew on Deep Space Nine had a less-than-satisfactory first First Contact already.

They should've taken it as a sign that they're about to embark on the Mother of All Losing Streaks.

Yes, folks. It's true. The home team is about to go 0-2 in the First Contact game.

While it's too early to tell for sure (unless, of course, you've seen the whole series), a picture is beginning to emerge: First Contact is not actually something the folks on Deep Space Nine do well.

Or, y'know, competently.

( Episode 09: Move Along Home )

What can I say? The episode amused me. There were some witty lines that made me laugh out loud, great character interaction, and a distinct lack of holosuites gone wrong that are usually the bedrock of episodes like this.

It’s a cute little episode hampered by plot holes and some leaps in logic (I suspect bad editing more than anything else). Watch it for the amusing character interactions, but don’t watch it for anything more than that.

I forgot just how fantastic this episode really was. I'll be sure not to forget it in the future.

( Episode 07: Dax )

‘Dax’ is an all-around gorgeous episode. It’s gorgeously shot, georgeously lighted, gorgeously directed, gorgeously acted, and gorgeously written. I would put it up there with some of the later season stand-out episodes that explore the same rich vein for other characters, like S5's ‘Nor the Battle to the Strong’ and S6's ‘Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night.’

I failed to drink any coffee today. I am now paying the price. *clutches head*



( Episode 05: Captive Pursuit )

Ooooo. A two-fer tonight. And what an awesome way to end it.

( Episode 03: Past Prologue )

We shall now return to our regular fannish programming...

Inspired in part by a local friend's decision to watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — aka DS9 for those "in the in-crowd" — for the first time ever, and inspired in part by several FLister's who are watching Babylon 5 for the first time ever, I've decided to go on my own private DS9 re-watch.

Let me make one thing clear: I love Babylon 5. I've re-watched the series from beginning to end 4 times: 1 time first run, 1 time on TNT reruns, 1 time on SciFi reruns, and 1 time on DVD.

DS9? I've seen only twice. Once first run, although I missed a significant chunk of the first and second seasons. And once on TNT reruns, although I often missed at least one episode a week.

So needless to say, there are quite a few DS9 episodes I've only seen once *waves vaguely* years and years ago. Yet, oddly enough, there are quite a few episodes that have stayed with me over the years, despite the fact that I have seen them only once or twice.

Weirdly enough, I loved both B5 and DS9 when they were running concurrently. Those of you who were online during that time period can attest just how big of an unpopular opinion that was. In fact, there's a whooooooooole history of wank that runs about as long as War and Peace between not just the two fandoms, but between the production teams at the highest levels of both shows in a grudge-wank that has never been matched before or since.

Ahhhh, Usenet. Back in the days when even series creators would cheerfully engage in flamewars with trolls. (Have I ever mentioned that JMS was spectacular at the art of the flamewar? No? Well, he was. Trust this first-hand eyewitness. It was a thing of pure beauty.)

Not to delve into the tip-of-the-tip-of-the-iceberg wanker-y between B5 and DS9, but...Were the shows similar? Well, yeah. And it's more than just the surface issue of both B5 and DS9 taking place on space stations. There are some surprisingly similar thematic issues that crop up in both DS9 and B5 (and even a couple of secondary and tertiary character names look...ahem...similar). This despite the fact that the universes, worlds, races, and political intrigue (yes, there is at least one Star Trek show that actually had political intrigue) were very different between shows.

( The Dirty, Dirty Secret of DS9 )

Okay, yeah. Definitely singing the praises there, hunh?

Anyway, while I've been undergoing my great DS9 re-watch, I was disconcerted by the fact that the first season of DS9 has aged better than the first season of B5. Part of it is because the budget for DS9 was huge in comparison to B5. So the interiors and exteriors and the special effects shots have a solid, professional look that are sometimes *ahem* lacking in B5. The other part is that the acting from the DS9 cast, while somewhat shaky as the show works out the kinks, is slightly better than the acting we saw out of most of the B5 cast. Certainly the guest stars on DS9 where head-and-shoulders better than the guest stars on B5.

The other thing that helps put first season DS9 slightly ahead of first season B5 is that DS9 came with baggage. That baggage helped DS9 as much as hurt it over the show's run, but when it comes to the traditional first season liftoff, DS9 was definitely helped. The most DS9 had to do that first season was introduce the characters and paint the situational background in broad brushstrokes (and, unlike just about every single Star Trek show that came before and after, plant the seeds for most of the story arcs that came over the next seven years). B5 had to build an entire freaking universe that first season. End result? First season B5 got stuck with lots and lots of awkward exposition to not only introduce the characters and the B5 universe, but to also "move around the furniture" (as JMS calls it) to set up the action for the remaining four years.

Although I admit that DS9 had solid advantages over B5 — especially when it comes to the traditional first-season set-up — I found myself warming almost immediately to the first season DS9 when I started re-watching. This is in contrast to B5 which — much as I love it — takes me until at least until 'The Parliament of Dreams' (7 hours' worth of watching time) before I can fully immerse myself in the B5 universe.

Oh, dear. It may turn out that in the long run, I prefer DS9 over B5 after all.

Quick episode reactions under LJ-Cuts to preserve innocent eyes...

( Episodes 01 and 02: Emissary )

Overall, I think this re-watch started off with a bang. I can't wait to move on to the rest of Season 1.

My ranting on this post got a little bit long over the *mumble mumble* weeks I wrote this. So, it's in two parts...

Well, here we are for yet another edition of Lizbeth Rewatches Battlestar Galactica — 1978.

Tonight's episode: 'Lost Planet of the Gods, Part 1'
Episode Subtitle: Sweet Mother of Jesus, Stop Calling Them "Girls"

Re-watching "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part 1" after many, many years of not watching it was a voyage in self-discovery.

As in, "My, how my tastes have changed."

Where once I had Starbuck-love, I now have Starbuck-meh.

Where once I was Boomer-who, I now am Boomer-awesome.

Where once I had Apollo-meh, I now have Apollo-love.

And yes, Adama is still as crazy as a shit house rat.

And as for the 1978 Battlestar's attitudes about women in uniform, Christ, where can I possibly start?

As some of you may (or may not) know, I decided to cut back on the Netflixing and rewatch the DVDs I actually own (as well as rewatch other people's DVDs).

At any rate, I had just finished rewatching Battlestar Galactica the new series up until 'Lay Down Your Burdens' (as a sidenote, if you re-watch the first two seasons back-to-back without a break, Season 3, especially 'Crossroads,' makes a whole fuckload of sense...but I'm getting away from the subject...)

Once I finished up the new Battlestar Galactica, I cast my eye around to find out which new series I was going to watch. Lo and behold, my eye fell upon the next series I owned. It just so happened to look like this:


Oh, Lordy me.  What's a girl to do?

Could I dive back into the the 1970s, cold war paranoia, Mormon recruitment tool that was, in fact, the original Battlestar Galactica with its reach-for-the-Emmy moments, lines that go *thunk* in the night, men with pretty-pretty hair, questionable physics, and plots that make no sense whatsoever?

Rest assured, good people, I resisted. I resisted hard. But, no! I had made up my mind. I would grit my teeth and march boldly backwards into my childhood when Battlestar Galactica was the one fandom that ruled my heart.

And so, I started right at the beginning, with 'Saga of a Star World.'  I should note that the title for the original 2-hour and 15-minute mini-series that kicked off the regular ABC extravaganza (which was broadcast over 3 nights) was not at all evocative of Star Wars. Really.

What can I say about 'Saga of a Star World?'



So, it's time to keep score, peoples. In 'Saga of a Star World' we see:

• The first sighting of a Humolon in the wild (Serena)
• Conclusive evidence that Apollo = manpain, regardless of Battlestar incarnation
• Proof that Starbuck always kills Zac. Frakking is optional. I think. I saw the way that  "Zac" was checking out "Starbuck," so I'm not 100% on the frakking part.
  
• The roots of the "throw Boxey and that damned daggit out an airlock" fan movement.
  
• A big ol' gapping hole where Laura Roslin desperately needs to be
  
• Cassiopea's significant presence almost making up for no Laura. Almost.
• Ample evidence that humanity's so stupid that it doesn't deserve to live.
• Much more ample evidence that humanity is still alive only because the Cylons are slower and stupider, no matter what the writers keep telling us
• Proof that Dirk Benedict can't emote for shit

And, so, class, what is our moral lesson from 'Saga of a Star World?'

"The military rools and the civilian government drools."

Read it, memorize it, love it, and live it, because you're going to get this lesson pounded into your head for the rest of the series.

I give 'Saga' a big Three Minutes of 1978 Baltar chewing the scenery while 2003 Baltar complains about how the other Baltar keeps blocking his close-up.

Feel. Like. Crap.

Which means I've been laying like a blob on the couch after I get home from work and unable to move.

Know what sucks about being sick and single? Still have chores to do and no energy to do them. Bleh.

I think I've watched more teevee in the past three days than I have in the past two weeks.

( On Mythbusters, ST: Voyager, Enterprise, CSI, Inside the Actor's Studio, Apollo 13, Idiocracy, Psych, and Arrested Development )

Blurgh. I need to go lie down. My head feels too spinny and my eyes hurt..