Battlestar Galactica

i don't think any show has such a wide gulf between greatness and mediocrity. its like two different shows sometimes. last night was great. the last episode before the hiatus was good. but the road the get here was not an easy one for a viewer. previews for next week have me worried a bit. looks too much like a standalone episode that could fit in anywhere. hope not.
 
Zak Forsman said:
i don't think any show has such a wide gulf between greatness and mediocrity.
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Interesing, but I'm starting to think that's going to happen to any show that aims for greatness. Shows like the Sopranos, Six Feet Under were either brilliant or middling, whereas something like 24 has mostly been consistent in quality but never truly great. It's like home-run hitters. They tend to be league leaders in strike-outs as well. When you swing for the fences, you're more likely to miss completely.
 
wartez said:
So the cylons created the humans? Everyone's a skin job?
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I think the better question is did they really find Earth? The Cylon prophecies (the final five will reveal the way to earth) seem to contradict the human prophecies (the Leader will not reach earth). Radio waves reach out into space so the Cylon colony could have picked up "All Along the Watchtower" and everything else that Earth pumped out into the heavens.
 
Bob Gruen said:
The Cylon prophecies (the final five will reveal the way to earth) seem to contradict the human prophecies (the Leader will not reach earth).
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I think you're putting too much faith in "the prophecies". They could just be wrong, or made up, and I wouldn't put it past Moore to do that to the characters.
 
Zak Forsman said:
i don't think any show has such a wide gulf between greatness and mediocrity. its like two different shows sometimes. last night was great. the last episode before the hiatus was good. but the road the get here was not an easy one for a viewer. previews for next week have me worried a bit. looks too much like a standalone episode that could fit in anywhere. hope not.
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I see what you're saying but I don't think that I would say mediocrity, maybe between greatness and excellent or extremely good. The only episode that really annoyed me was from the second half of season 3, called The Woman King. The episode wasn't necessarily written badly. It was shot and lit well. The acting was fine, but it just seemed to be kinda pointless, especially that far into the story arc of the series. Sure we get to learn something about the Gemenese people, but the whole plot of this episode should've been worked into another episode as a B storyline or something.

I've noticed with BSG that the early episodes and the later or closing episodes are more often than not, the best ones. The original miniseries was amazing. 33, the season one pilot was intense and really draws the viewer in. Pegasus was like a punch in the gut, as was the season two finale and the first five episodes of season three. Same thing with the rest of the seasons, they seem to save the heavy hitting dramatic stuff for the beginning, middle, and end of the season finale. I suppose they could've done something more dramatic with the in-between episodes, but sometimes those are pretty interesting because they are not so tense, we get to see a different side of the characters and their daily lives. Take season one's Colonial Day for example. That is one of my favorite episodes that shows the audience a whole different side of the fleet.

Sure some episodes are not as good as others, but when I look at the connectedness of the narrative, I don't really feel like I need to complain about any one episode. The slower, less compelling episodes seem to be necessary in setting up the best stuff.

Plus, I'd rather have a show like this that is told more like a novel than a formulaic CSI cop drama. For what we get pretty consistently with Galactica, a small price to pay it seems.
 
I dunno guys, this is devolving into the most maudlin and depressing soap opera in history. Now I know why Dee did what she did. She got a look at the scripts for this season and couldn't take it...
 
haha. my heart sank when they left New Caprica so quickly. I was ready for a full season in the vein of German occupied France. show never really recovered after that.
 
Well I can only assume they read the message boards and people were like: "This planet sucks!" and Ron Moore said: "Holy crap, we'd better get the hell out of here ASAP!!!!"

But you gotta admit, when Adama jumped the ship into the atmosphere, launched his vipers and jumped out again, that was some Chesley Sullenberger **** right there.
 
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David Jimerson said:
I've enjoyed the ride, but I'm ready for it to be over.
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Well, it will be. The thing I've really liked about this show is that I never got the sense that the show creators were just jerking me around. I always sensed that there was an endgame in sight, unlike other shows (-cough- Lost- - cough - Heroes). They came close to pushing the reset button a few times, but even diversions like New Caprica had consequences still being felt, and took the characters to new places. Also, it seems like every character is getting his or her due, like Gaeta, who I never cared for until now. My only beef with the new season so far is that Gaius has gotten short shrift, but I'm sure that will be remedied soon.
 
Well, that's the point. Those other shows get milked way beyond my ability to care anymore. This is one is avoiding the trap of going on too long -- though I think the sweet spot would really have been three kick-ass years. Still, four is fine. Five would have been too long.
 
Batutta said:
Well, it will be. The thing I've really liked about this show is that I never got the sense that the show creators were just jerking me around. I always sensed that there was an endgame in sight, unlike other shows (-cough- Lost- - cough - Heroes). They came close to pushing the reset button a few times, but even diversions like New Caprica had consequences still being felt, and took the characters to new places. Also, it seems like every character is getting his or her due, like Gaeta, who I never cared for until now. My only beef with the new season so far is that Gaius has gotten short shrift, but I'm sure that will be remedied soon.
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Wow, that's funny because I feel LOST has a MUCH tighter plan than this show...at times it seemed that they didn't but with the new season, I am pretty convinced they know exactly what's up.

Heroes lost me in season 1, so I dunno...
 
Mark Harris said:
Wow, that's funny because I feel LOST has a MUCH tighter plan than this show...at times it seemed that they didn't but with the new season, I am pretty convinced they know exactly what's up.

Heroes lost me in season 1, so I dunno...
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I said I have NEVER felt BSG has been jerking me around. Lost recovered last season, but jesus, the previous seasons were the pinnacle of jerking around the audience, to the point of offensiveness. They are back on track, though.
 
But BSG did jerk us around a few times.

The first was with the Cylon PLAN. They have a PLAN. Oh, it's a PLAN. Get it? They have a PLAN. Oh, wait, screw that. New plan. What WAS the original plan? Dunno. But they've got a new one now. Oh, wait; no they don't.

The second was the totally arbitrary transformation of the three most heroic and human characters into Cylons. That was a slap to the face. (And they just now tied up a loose end from that by making Cally unfaithful and the "real" father of Nicky someone we never, ever saw Cally have any relationship with before.)

Then, there was minor stuff. In the season 3 finale, when Starbuck returned, it was pretty clear she knew she had been gone for a while; he dialogue made that clear. Then, in the next season opener, she gets out of her Viper and acts like she thought it had only been a couple of hours.

And some other stuff, too.
 
i've sat in on writer meeting with the showrunners at Lost. they've always known where they were going. but that was equally a hinderance as season two exemplified a fear of getting there too soon.
 
Zak Forsman said:
i've sat in on writer meeting with the showrunners at Lost. they've always known where they were going. but that was equally a hinderance as season two exemplified a fear of getting there too soon.
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Well and at that point they did not yet know how long they would have. I think when they were granted the last three seasons, they knew how much time they had, and like Batutta said, really got back on track and now they can just put the peddle to the metal.
 
Zak Forsman said:
i've sat in on writer meeting with the showrunners at Lost. they've always known where they were going. but that was equally a hinderance as season two exemplified a fear of getting there too soon.
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What irritates me to no end on Lost is the way they always dance around answering questions, and when they do, it is in the vaguest, most cryptic way possible. It bothers me because it often makes the dialogue unrealistic. And too often, right before we are about to get answers from someone, they are killed. This s fine once or twice, but after the tenth time it gets highly annoying. Don't get me wrong, I like the show, otherwise I wouldn't be watching it, but I think it's veered from great to downright terrible. BSG has veered from great to, meh, but I've never downright HATED a single episode.
 
Batutta said:
What irritates me to no end on Lost is the way they always dance around answering questions, and when they do, it is in the vaguest, most cryptic way possible. It bothers me because it often makes the dialogue unrealistic. And too often, right before we are about to get answers from someone, they are killed. This s fine once or twice, but after the tenth time it gets highly annoying. Don't get me wrong, I like the show, otherwise I wouldn't be watching it, but I think it's veered from great to downright terrible. BSG has veered from great to, meh, but I've never downright HATED a single episode.
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Well dude, I got the answer to the numbers already. It's simple. It's...wait...what's that...what are you doing in my house! ahhhh!!!! No! NO!

UGH. gasp....
 
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