Battlestar Galactica

[phillyidol]

Ok fellow geeks, the end has come. I always knew I loved the show. For 5 years I watched every friday night and never missed out. Well, at first I passed out and had to see it the next day. But the final show...was the best it could ever be. I loved it and will miss it even more. The writers never let me down and it left me thinking for the past 3 days. GREAT GREAT JOB! Very sad its gone but they really wrapped it all up. I will be buying the dvd set when it comes out so I can figure out all the stuff I missed.




Worlds GREATEST Photographer!

[obs]

I thought the series was overrated, and the finale was a pile of dung.

The writing was absolute shit. The writers came up with grand ideas, but were in over their heads. A lot of the stuff they made up aa they went along. I know that a TV series is difficult to plan everything out, but they should have some sort of idea.

The whole thing of Cally's baby (who's the father) is a prime example of the directionless writing of the series.

A saga based on divine intervention just doesn't cut it for me.

[phillyidol]

Canada huh?




Worlds GREATEST Photographer!

[MARV]

Philly, thank for starting this thread. Obs, thanks for your predictable pattern of fresh optimism. As always.

Battlestar Galactica is a triumph on every level. In the tradition of all science fiction, it brings forth critical socio-political issues of the day to a much broader audience. Consider the following subject matter central to the series' episodes:

Torture
Religious Fundamentalism
Genocide
"Stolen" Elections
Terrorism (Suicide bombers and kamikaze pilots)
Insurgents
Secret Sleeper Cells
Secret Tribunals
War Crimes

BSG was always carefully and thoughtfully written. It never offered solutions to these scenarios but it did remind people to think about them while presenting both sides of the debate.

But the true genius of BSG is how mythology is so imbibed within it. As you know, mythology speaks a universal language that defines our spiritual centers. The scientific truth of mythology is moot; it's service to the sociology of humanity will always be it's single most important accomplishment.

I know I probably come across as a geek who gets wrapped up in science fiction stories. And that’s certainly true. But think about it, what stories inspire you? What novels, movies, and TV series speak to the very thread of your life, of your humanity and place in the world? Great writers employ the same archetypes with different stories and characters, all to the same end. Success, longing, failure, hope, risk, betrayal, redemption, these tropes play out in all the stories we watch or read. Battlestar Galactica brings all this and more to bear, combining drama with comedy, fantasy with realism.

But really, why does this matter? I believe that without mythologies, without stories, without narrative, we cease to be humans. We need — and crave — stories to tell us about our hopes and dreams, to show us how we can be, to provide us with heroes and role models. Without that thread of narrative, what are we? What tales do we tell ourselves and our children? Can you really imagine a future where we recount tales of the latest reality TV show to our kids as a bedtime story? Or will Cinderella endure?

Anyway.....I thought the truth of who fathered the Cally baby was an effective plot point designed to throw the audience off as to the truth (in the broader scope of the series) of the so called Cylon/Human hybrid future.

[phillyidol]

Well put Marv. I can tell we had the same teachers and schooling because we think alike. I thought that it was very well thought out also.To me, the ending was epic. Yes there were things to pick at as in everything. But why? I got 5 years of great entertainment that really made me reflect on the events of today. After the show I felt like I lost a friend. Every friday for the last 5 years I had this show to look forward to and it helped me escape for an hour. It will be missed. Can't wait for the 2 new shows coming!Oh and Marv you are right with the topics on the show. They let us watch others and how they deal with those situations so we can question how would we handle them. We look at others so we can look at ourselves. This show really did a great job of that.




Worlds GREATEST Photographer!

[obs]

[i]>Consider the following subject matter central to the series' episodes:

Torture
Religious Fundamentalism
Genocide
"Stolen" Elections
Terrorism (Suicide bombers and kamikaze pilots)
Insurgents
Secret Sleeper Cells
Secret Tribunals
War Crimes[/i]

I don't deny these were great topics that were covered, but these individual storyline doesn't cover up the fact that the entire series was directionless. Read some of the interviews with the producers (eg. Lee + pigeon had no purpose other than "it was cool".)



[i]> Anyway.....I thought the truth of who fathered the Cally baby was an effective plot point designed to throw the audience off as to the truth (in the broader scope of the series) of the so called Cylon/Human hybrid future.[/i]

It was because from the onset, they didn't plan out who the cylons were, so they had to backtrack after deciding that Tyrol was a cylon.


"Kara Thrace is the harbinger of death."

Of her own death, yes.

What it should have been was: Kara Thrace, you are a GPS to the planet Earth.


I guess God must have eradicated all the cylons, right? Because surely, the entire cylon population couldn't have been at the hub. They must have long left the Twelve Colonies, right? And a single Raptor, which managed to fire off eight nukes when the pilot was dead, due to divine intervention, managed to take out a massive cylon installation when it wouldn't have been able to take out a single baseship.

[phillyidol]

I'm making a list on who to invite to my next party.




Worlds GREATEST Photographer!

[Frau_Blucher]

Kidding of Obs aside, there were definitely periods of directionlessness. My biggest gripe was the long stretch of about late season 2 to sometime in season 3 where they dwelled on the whole concept of the flawed characters/heroes. Yes, yes, YES FOR FUCK'S SAKES, I know they're flawed, now stop hitting me over the head repeatedly with that fucking theme! At a certain point, they go from [i]flawed[/i] to [i]cunts[/i]. Kara definitely lost me at some point during that time. I didn't really give a shit about her anymore.

Definitely some drift. All in all though, a great series that I'll miss.

[randy]

Ok-its over and done and I enjoyed it. Now get on the stick with Ashes to Ashes while it is only 3 episodes into it.
[;)]

[MARV]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>Kidding of Obs aside, there were definitely periods of directionlessness. My biggest gripe was the long stretch of about late season 2 to sometime in season 3 where they dwelled on the whole concept of the flawed characters/heroes. Yes, yes, YES FOR FUCK'S SAKES, I know they're flawed, now stop hitting me over the head repeatedly with that fucking theme! At a certain point, they go from [i]flawed[/i] to [i]cunts[/i].
[/quote]

I still don't see this time period in the same way. But then I enjoy articulated, drawn out character sketches. Hard for any meditative character pieces to be too much for me. They're all unlikely heroes, all anti-heroes.

[obs]

[i]> Kidding of Obs aside ...[/i]

Well, I guess that's what happens when people don't want to hear opinions different from theirs, yet decide to start/participate_in topics on a public forum.


[i]> YES FOR FUCK'S SAKES,[/i]

Don't you mean "FOR FRAK'S SAKES"?

[zill]

I'm a little slow, you know, and only just made it to the end of BSG on DVD. Overall, I thought it was a great series, though it was never as edge-of-your-seat-good as the initial half dozen or so episodes. But as a whole, it was well done.

The final episode(s) threw me for a loop. I can't decide whether to be happy or annoyed that the whole series was so neatly wrapped up. It seems unbelievable to me that every single one of the remaining 38,000 human cunts would decide to cast away their few remaining creature comforts, technology, weapons and only means of escape and live a tribal existence. I take some gratification from knowing there is at least one baseship full of cylons out there that can potentially come back and blast everyone - Armageddon?

I'd still like to know if the human versions of the cylons age. I mean, were Caprica 6 and Athena still hotties long after Baltar and Helo were wishing they'd saved some viagara before sending the fleet into the sun?