| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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I'm watching at a very slow rate to pace myself and am only up to episode 7 (but I'm an idiot and have read about what happens in future seasons and so have spoiled myself up to "Revelations"), but, oh my God, I want to marry this show and bear its children. It's so relevant. I've had cause to talk about it in three different conversations about politics in the last week. And it's tricky -- you can watch characters you like doing sketchy things and not really notice that they're sketchy until you stop and reflect (and argue with your viewing companions), because you're so used to trusting that character to do things you agree with. This is brilliant writing. And the characters! So fascinating and multi-layered and well-written and well-acted. That moment in "You Can't Go Home Again," when Lee asks Adama if he'd abandon Lee if Lee were stranded on that planet, and Adama says, "If it were you...we'd never leave," and Lee gasps? Oh, frak me, I think I burst something. I LOVE those two. I could watch a whole season of them locked in a room together. I love how brittle and bitchy Lee is, and Adama reminds me a lot of my own dad -- reserved, lenient in some ways, strict and uncrossable in others, very admirable from afar but difficult as a father. I'm vaguely dreading the Lee/Kara relationship that's coming, since I've read that his characterization suffers for it (the sources may have been biased, but they claim that the writing skewed toward making her look strong and kick-ass by weakening him), but I can't wait to see him out of uniform (not like that) (well, yes, like that) and becoming his own person. I have heard tell of a dramatic courtroom confrontation with Roslin, and OH MAN, I cannot wait. I love their interactions now, and the promise of conflict between them is tantalizing. The one thorn in my side as regards the show is my mother, who has been insisting on watching with me and who is the worst person EVER to watch anything remotely complex with. Not only does she talk constantly and miss things and fail to follow dialogue and fail to remember events from one episode to the next, but last night she committed three grievous sins while we watched "Litmus." The first was that she got pissed at Adama for dissolving the investigatory board after his questioning because, "typical man isn't listening to a woman." Utterly failing to notice all the ethical issues clashing with each other in that scene, ignoring the slippery slopes that both sides are sliding towards, which was the whole point of that scene, which had fuck-all to do with gender or whatever "a typical man" is. (That is another argument for another time.) The second was that she felt terribly sorry for Baltar when he got arrested, because "he's a good man, trying to do what's right." Say what?! Apparently, the whole "responsible for the annihilation of the human race" thing completely sailed over her head, despite the fact that Six/Shelly Godfrey conveniently summed that all up for us at the top of the episode. She then concluded that Baltar isn't to blame because he was seduced by Six, and (to paraphrase), "I mean, come on, right? All men are powerless in the face of evil sexy women." (Even Adama? Oops, she had forgotten about that, even though it happened just minutes before.) The third was that she thinks that Sharon/Boomer have terrible taste in men, and she doesn't like Helo. ... WHAT. I mean, WHAT. Helo is the embodiment of all that is good and noble in this world, and he is so sweet and protective of Sharon (eee, I can't wait for their arc in season 2) -- how can she not like him?! Maybe her mind will change after she sees his bare arms. So I'm thinking of cutting her out of my viewing experience. She's bad for the blood pressure. "Flesh and Blood" tonight. If Gee were still around, we could swoon over crazy Callum Keith Rennie together, but....sigh. |
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Theres an episode in season 3, an extended directors cut version, that IMO makes up for any other problems. |
I uhm actually pretty much hate Helo "fuck the survival of the human species vs. MY FAAAMILY BLAH" Massive Liability Agathon, but these are problems that don't occur for several seasons. He doesn't think, that one, and his noble goodness becomes dangerous weakness....but i digress. Season 4= not a good Helo season. Oh the characters, oh the writing, oh oh oh. News Flash: Laura Roslin is the president of my heart. You may have to confirm with Rowlfe, but i do believe i spent the entire Lee/Roslin courtroom scene with a hand over my mouth whimpering "No Lee, please don't! Don't do this!" But he totally did :( She is my favourite. Ah, how much do i even type here, that's the question, when to stop. The casting is a wonder in itself. Oh Starbuck. If anyone else, any other actress ON EARTH had been her, it would be shit. Her casting + the writing created this female character that is easily the best television has ever offered, imho, and that's definitely not the kind of thing i notice or care about, much less discuss. But Starbuck, wow. Every scene with her i marvel over how perfectly crafted she is. Not overly feminine or girly looking, but surely still a girl. Undeniably tough and kick-ass without the cute *wink* of sexiness they usually throw into that mix, also not overly aggressive and trying to compensate to keep up with the lads. It doesn't seem odd when she cries, is what i'm saying. Oh she is perfectly done. ...and then there's Tigh, who's voice and face are so overwhelmingly Canadian i find it distracting and unbelievable, but ah well :/ Tigh, what a shithead. Tigh and his disgusting wife. I have nothing better to do than discuss BSG here with you until the final 10 start in 2009 *choke*sob* |
Regarding Helo, I love characters like him and, really, the whole "Honor before Reason" archetype, because I love it when you both want and do not want characters to get their way. The interesting thing about this show is that it seems to be filled with characters in this predicament I'm totally feeling you on Starbuck. I've watched a number of interviews with Katee Sackhoff (who is ridiculously cute) and her acting genius seems to lie in the fact that it comes from her gut, and her gut is never wrong. (She doesn't appear to censor herself, either, which is hilarious.) I love her (and by extension, Kara's) odd mixture of boyishness and girlishness, which you so righteously describe. And the way that just when I want someone to punch Kara, she bursts out laughing -- maybe I'm watching the wrong shows, but it seems to me that you rarely see Hot Chicks with any sense of humor, let alone ones that cackle noisily like she does. Love her. But...I love Lee, too, and I'm not looking forward to her fucking him up (even though it's totally within character and I grok why she does what she does.). I think I was predisposed to love Laura because I've had a girl-crush on Mary McDonnell since my pre-teen years, when I'd watch her and Elliott Gould in the sitcom "E/R" on Lifetime, but that aside, I'm loving the glimpses of iron through the velvet exterior we're seeing. I exaggerated earlier -- I haven't spoiled myself entirely -- and I don't quite know what's coming down the pike for her, but I believe we'll be seeing her ruthless side in the 2nd and 3rd, am I right? That should be a treat. (And speaking of Laura, and Lee, I think they'd be hot together. Yeah, I said it. That woman is smokin'.) |
I just finished season 1. So Adama can risk the fleet, the civilians, and the Entire Human Race (music cue) to save Kara, and all he gets is a lecture, while the president risks one pilot to save the human race and gets unseated and thrown in the brig, huh? (Did I mention I love this show?) Adama, you are awesome, but you are so wrong. The president was also wrong. The only one who was right was Lee, and I'm sure he'll be wrong soon. (Actually, he was already wrong -- when he picked the fight in the bar on Cloud 9 and got violent with the suspected assassin in "Colonial Day.") And Kara was wrong when she slept with Baltar, who is always, always wrong. Speaking of which, the opening montage in the first part of "Kobol's Last Gleaming" was brilliant. Don't tell anyone but I cried. It was the combination of this dialogue -- "I thought we were just sparring" / "That's why you don't win" -- followed by the shot of that plastic smile on Six's face as Baltar guiltily avoids her eye, and the music. (She's wearing the same clothes she wore when she caught Baltar with that woman in the miniseries. Great detail, there.) Add in Boomer and Helo and Sharon and everyone's damage was overwhelming. (But Lee and Adama will be my undoing. Obligatory icon reference. Yeah, that's right, this show has sent me into LJ for fanfictional purposes. I have no shame!) Anyway, THIS is how you end a season, yo. I'm so lucky that I have to wait only until tomorrow to resume with season 2 -- I'd go crazy if I had to wait, what? Six months? A year between seasons? Madness! |
On the commentary to "Pegasus" Ron Moore and David Eick point out that in the Adama-Roslin-Lee-Kara quasi-family foursome they've got, Roslin is the father figure. Adama is the one who takes care of them, the one they talk to, the one who listens to their quarrels and metes out punishments or rewards, and Roslin is the one always away at the office. I love that. I love the women on this show. Everyone is a three-dimensional, layered character with her own agenda, and both the world of BSG and the show itself takes them seriously. That's so cool. Six is not just eye-candy, and Tricia Helfer is not just an ex-model. Laura Roslin is not the main character's wife, who does nothing but show up in coda scenes to offer an ear to her husband after he's saved humanity again. Even secondary characters like Ellen or Dee have fleshed out personalities and agency and act to affect the course of the plot. I want this show to marry me and have *my* babies. It's The One for me, in terms of TV. (Although...I'm going to watch Carnivale next, and from what I've heard about it, it sounds like I couldn't have custom-tailored a series to better fit my interests. So maybe I'll be a part of a BSG/Carnivale/Spider love triangle. I can't wait!) Also. I have embraced watching TV series on DVD as the superior television viewer experience. Slower episodes (like "Flight of the Phoenix," which wasn't slow as a one-shot but doesn't do all that much to further the show's main plot) don't seem at all slow or disappointing when you haven't spent 7 days impatiently waiting for your next 43-minute installment. You also don't have time (unless you make your own time) to build up expectations unreasonably or overanalyze throwaway moments until they become huge bullet point features of the plot and overshadow the real features you've now forgotten. You also avoid getting caught up in fandom nonsense, with 298347 people all overanalyzing and fighting over interpretations and generally sucking all the energy and enjoyment out of everything. That's been my mistake in the past. |
But I got a new job, a REAL job, a career that I love and is totally perfect for me, and I have much less time for the internet than i did when i wrote that Starbuck rant (obviously, hah). I like being able to write this here so that i can remember this feeling whenever i re-read this thread in the future. Which i will be doing quite a bit i imagine. 10 episodes left oh god....! |
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As soon as Michelle Forbes showed up on screen i knew some serious shit was going to go down, and i do believe i exclaimed "Oh fuck it's that crazy bitch!!!" And Rowlfe was like "wtf you haven't even seen this episode" and i said "No it's bitch Ensign Ro, from Star Trek!" Because when she shows up on tv you know some seriously evil shit is about to go down. Because she has the ultimate bitchface and has made a career out of it. I think if i saw her out on the street i would just walk the other way quickly. I had the same reaction when she was in the last episode of Lost. |
Damn, I love her. |
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Whut. |
Seriously, I just happened to get a severe chuckle to read thru this entire thread...I never got into tv shows except for Dead Like Me, a series on cable, which I wouldn't miss. Then I bought the series' dvds. BSG never got me excited, and neither did things like Stargate. Seems that i made a pact with myself and the wee folks from outer space when I moved into my house in the woods, that i would not watch re runs of the X Files, which I liked so very much too at the time. Too scary for the middle of the woods. That's all. Nothing enigmatic. |
BSG is now my favorite show, ever. I've loved every minute of it save the episode "Black Market." Every last minute of the rest of its 3.5+ seasons has been entertaining at the least, thought-provoking/mind-blowing at its best. |
So glad to be in this thread again. Thought of it often, but work takes much of my time these days (i love work!!) Hells yeah we watched the episode! The torrent didn't come in until sunday, so i spent the weekend doing......doing what? Watching the live feed of the BSG prop auction. I hope you knew about this but i'm going to describe it anyway. Two full days, 800+ items. From HeadSix's signature red dress ($13,000 it fetched i think?), the Arrow of Apollo ($8,000) a full size Raptor, Viper, and Scar! A Cylon regeneration tank, deckhand uniforms, STARBUCK's uniforms! The 12 flags of the colonies, the book of Pythia, and the most sought after items of all- Adama's model ship and his office painting of the Cylon war. DUDE IT WAS AMAZING!!! Oh the geeky joy i had watching that auction. They sold everything basically. Every damn prop and set. Smaller items continue to be sold on eBay and i'm bugging the fuck out of Rowlfe by now with my sad wimperings for validation. "I could get a gas jug? It's only $9...? Or a med kit? A bag of Caprican coffee? They're only $50.....??" But yeah. Yeah i watched the episode. Stuff. Feelings. Tigh's disgusting wife, wtf. And Dee. She'll be happy forever...... D: Best show on television. http://www.battlestarprops.com/ http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/propworx |
(I really like James Callis, but Baltar needs to be stabbed regularly.) What's your email address, Wisper? I want to keep up the BSG talk during these last days. Will it provoke you if I tell you I still love Helo? LOVE HIM TO BLAZES, even? *nudge* |
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That said, I don't know what to think about this last episode. I found myself siding with the Quorum, for God's sake. MADNESS. I don't know what to think about Gaeta. (Though...allow me to confess that I haven't watched the new webisodes, so I don't know his full story.) Everybody's stuck between a rock and a hard place, so I can't really blame him for anything. |
(i was going to call them faggots at first, but then i remembered that i should be sensitive to the sensitivities of those that are not desensitized to the internet's use of the term 'faggots'). I am constantly frustrated both by the Quorum and the reality that this is indeed how people would ACTUALLY act if they happened to be floating lost in space. After their robot slaves turned on them. And nuked the planet. Yes. Anyhoo, the Quorum. Bunch of pussies. Now i'm not one for military rule but i do tend to believe that democracy is a silly bourgeois farce. So if you're god damn floating in god damn space and the entirety of human civilization has been decimated to the size of a small town.... it's not the time for bickering around a table about labour reform. Fuck the Quorum! Voting is a privilege for people not running for their lives in space! You follow the people with guns. You take the Adama/Roslin regime and you like it! You go work 16 hour days on the trillium ship and lose an arm and you like it! Hurumf. So of course i also think Apollo needs a punch in the face. |
Why *should* the Quorum take Adama/Roslin on their word that these nice Cylons aren't like the nasty others that killed billions and billions of humans and have spent the past four years trying to grind humanity into dust? Hm? I mean, *we* know that .... whatever Six that is is decent and honorable (I think), but the *Quorum* can't know that. |
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There's so much (actual and manufactured) cynicism out there these days. But we'll muddle through. |
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I love Alessandro Juliani, and not just because he has my brother's first name and 6/7ths of my BFF's last name. This episode marks the beginning of an unusual partnership, that of Tom Zarek and Felix Gaeta. Actor Alessandro Juliani described the experience of working together: “I’d never had much to do with Richard over the seasons, but I remember thinking to myself how strange it was: that I had gone from playing with a likeness of Richard as a child (an action figure I still have by the way) to playing with the real live Richard! By the way, he’s a way better actor than his action figure.” "Stump Serenade." Heh heh heh. BTW, that blog is awesome. You can learn so much about each episode by going through the music. |
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But you'll need a new thread because newbs definitely should not be reading any part of this one. ------ Alessandro Juliani is also the voice of Ken (or the renamed male love interest) in every Barbie movie. Sometimes I'll be in Toys R Us with Rowlfe and I'll exclaim "OH MY GOD a Gaeta action figure!" and he'll turn around excited and I'll be holding Butterfly Fairy Prince Ken, or etc. Then Rowlfe will say "But he's got an extra leg" and I'll make a sad noise and pout and put the Kend doll back on the shelf. Yeah, that's us. Heh. |
I don't understand your joke with the ken dolls yet wisper, but I hope to some day soon. |
... Incoherent mind-blown sputtering aside, I'm glad Lee (my boy!) voiced my concerns to Tigh, re: why the hell should we take the Cylons' word that they're going to help us now. On the other hand, why is he yelling at Tigh, like Tigh can help what he is? God almighty, I love this show. IT'S SO EXCITING. |
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;) |
Also, when the Quorum was, uh, taken care of, my awe of the show shot up tenfold for having the guts to go there. But Roslyn should cut the shouting -- she always sounds unnatural when she shouts (that episode when she was dragging Baltar around in the third season comes to mind). Mary McD. must be a soft-spoken lady in real life. |
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Poor Sam. Exposition Fairy no more. |
New kick ass intro thing! Almost the whole story revealed! John Hodgman!!! |
The intro was the high point. It made me all squirmy with glee and then...pffft. All the Cavil/Ellen stuff confused me as I tried to reconcile it with what we already know, and the parallels between Ellen loving her flawed creation and God loving(?) His flawed creations were unusually heavy-handed, I thought. (Plus, I'm still not over...Ellen? For reals?) And as much as I love John Hodgman (I do not believe I need to elaborate on this point), his presence was a distraction to me. My thoughts kept drifting to how he landed that role and then I'd miss what he was saying. But I'm bummed about Sam. Hopefully he'll die and resurrect soon. I like him. Not as much as Helo, but still... ;) |
As for Sam? meh. Whenever I see Sam its like "Oh right, Sam exists" Sam is to BSG what Miles currently is to Lost :P |
You can buy your very own Raptor for a mere 15 grand. I'm sorry i didn't keep up with this thread as i had hoped, Spider. My favourite place was always the SA forums, with their real-time watching thread. I love that shit. Back a few episodes ago when Lee screamed "GAUIS BALTAR?!?!" there would follow an entire page of just post in bold: GAUIS BALTAR?!?!? ahaha. I can link you if you want. It's great stuff. One episode's recap included the line, for example: "But Cavil is pissed off because he wants to be metal. So fucking metal." Anyway, i have few complaints, unlike some who hated it 100%, except i wish the last 2min never happened because that was cheesy crap imho. But when Adama gave her his ring.....oh my god. Misty at that point for sure. And Tyrol's freak out was just excellent. And Cavil's final "Oh, frak this." end was total perfection. I really am sorry. I do wish to talk BSG with you. But i was so busy at work, and i love my work, but so many late nights..... |
I've discovered the SA BSG threads recently, myself -- I usually turn to Television without Pity for my TV fandom needs, but it's great entertainment to watch people lunge for each other's throats over TV without TWoP's draconian rules to hold them back. The SA people are really funny, too. (I'll have to check out their recaps, as the TWoP recaps make me want to bludgeon the recapper.) Anyway, the finale. I'm with you on the last two minutes. Too cheesy. I also didn't like the whole idea of people going off to live by themselves. They'd be lucky if they survived for a month on their own! So I chose to fanwank that after a week of solitude they scrapped those plans and banded together again. Roslin choking for breath, Adama and the ring, Adama saying goodbye to Lee, Adama and the cairn of stones...they all made me tear up, but you know what pushed me over the edge? Also, the highlight of the episode.... Helo LIVES! |
