BSG Season premiere (SPOILERS!)

Michael Barnes wrote:

Yeah, last week's episode was balls out tough...it was a kind of toughness the show hasn't really had since the end of the Pegasus story arc. It had that everything's about to fuckin' GO OFF feeling. Totally tense, engrossing...it was a good payoff to the 2nd episode (which I didn't like, but now in context it ain't so bad). Baltar hemming Gaeta in with that comment about the goings-on that transpired on New Caprica was probably the highlight for me.

Cliffhanger, I dunno, kinda dumb. We already know what's going to happen. They _say_ Tigh is dead (no way, unless he's somehow going to be resurrected, possibly leading to some kind of goofy new-age bullshit where he's in the Cylon afterlife floating around with Ellen) and we can see that Bill survives but is apparently blinded.

LOVED the Bill/Tigh, Lee/Starbuck partnerin'-up, guns-a-blazin' bits.

Seriously, I was on the edge of my seat.

I think what happened was that between season 2, 3 and 4 Ron Moore and company ran focus groups with a bunch women. Yea women, execs were like BSG is the highest rated SF show for women in TV history. So all these women started saying "we want more character plots", "we want more crap about Laura and cancer", "we want more love and relationship stories about Starbuck and Laura" "We want to here about the Cylon babies". So what did we get? Crap. Total shitty writing.

I think in between season 4 and 4.5 Ron Moore and writers realized that and went back to good stuff and formula from season 1 and 2. If you look at the first 3 episodes this season you see a lot of similarities to season 2. Season 2 = Adama gets shot vs. Season 4.5 = Dee kills her self, Season 2 = Coup vs. Season 4.5 = Rebellion. Season 2 = Trust Boomer? vs. Trust Cylon Allies? Both seasons are a battle between trusting your heart or instinct vs. trusting logic. In both seasons you see a transformation of Adama. In both seasons you see an escape of Laura from Galactica to safety of a former enemy.

Just watched tonight's episode...I think it's one of the top 5 of the entire run. Completely riveting.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Just watched tonight's episode...I think it's one of the top 5 of the entire run. Completely riveting.

No cop out ending. The fact this show is reaching its climax is helping it greatly.

Last nights episode was incredible. The second half of this season is close to the first season in quality. This last 2-parter was right up there with Kobols Last Gleaming.




SPOILERS




SPOILERS




Nice to see Zarek's demise. Richard Hatch did a great job with that character. Executing the Quorum, fucking A. See that damage in Galactica's engine room (and earlier in Adama's quarters)? The old girl isn't going to last. Really looking forward to next week's ep. Best science fiction on TV in a long, long time. I'll be sad to see it go but better that than run it into the ground with second rate stories.

Back to Boring, Boring, Boring so fucking boring.

No fucking shit. Every episode since the mutiny two-parter (one of the absolute best examples of why the show was great to begin with) has been trash. As in, worse than 4th season trash. The whole "Anders lays out five seasons worth of story in one episode because he's going into a coma" crap, Ellen Tigh and all that stupid, dippy bullshit on the Basestar with Cavil, awkward and completely uninteresting tension between Caprica and Ellen, the awkward and unauthentic reunion of the Tighs...dumb, dumb shit more suited to an episode of DYNASTY with some soft-headed new age bullshit layered into it. The only interesting threads right now are the Galactica's immenent destruction and Baltar's Jim Jones/David Koresh trajectory. Too bad he's been in the new season for like 10 minutes total.

Then last night's show...strong start, I really liked the very beginning. But then it tanked. Jesus christ, could you not see that it was gonna be her dad from like the first ten minutes? What the hell, do we need fucking GHOSTS in the story now? The last five minutes were great though- classic Galactica do-or-die tension and hard-ass decisions when Boomer was trying to escape in the Raptor with Hera.

I dunno, maybe the show needs more Hot Dog...all he does is get drink, get laid, and fly a viper. He doesn't worry about all this religious claptrap, whether or not the ship is going to blow up, having space cancer, or any of that stuff. Maybe they could do some kind of all action spinoff, HOT DOG 1980 or something like that.

I've verified a couple of things about the show that I've suspected for a while:

1) The show sucks any time they spend any amount of time on a Basestar because it usually turns into someone spilling out idiotic exposition (or "jibber jabber" if you will) and it's like the worst set I've ever seen on television.
2) The show is at its best when it sticks to politics and serious issues instead of typical SF tropes.

Speaking of sets...whoever does their art direction needs to be shot and not just for the Basestar set (all it's missing is a heart-shaped vibrating bed to complete the porno hotel look). I love Ikea. We have a lot of Ikea stuff. But when I see Ikea stuff in BSG, all I'm thinking is "Hey, they had an Ikea on Caprica". There's faucets, mirrors, fixtures, shelves, and last night in Boomer and Chief's kid's room there were several stuffed animals from Ikea. I'm sorry, but if you're working in set design and props and you don't realize that Ikea stuff has an easily identifiable, idiosyncractic style then you need to be fired.

I'm really thinking that the mutiny story arc was pretty much the show's last hurrah. I'd love to see it go out with a bang, but getting mired into all these expository episodes- and the exposition being really bad- doesn't bode well for a grand finale.

Speaking of sets.. I think they're putting in all the 1980 porn set stuff in so they can auction the stuff off to the Fanboys of the show. It's a pretty good deal Ron Moore and company can buy the stuff at Ikea for $50 and sell it at BSG convention for $1000. Did you see them sell off a tube of tooth paste from the show.

reunion of the Tighs...dumb, dumb shit more suited to an episode of DYNASTY with some soft-headed new age bullshit layered into it.

That's exactly why hated this episode so much. I think it was the 2nd or 3rd worst episode of the whole series. I don't know which part I hated more the piano crap, the coma stuff or the Ellen stuff. The only thing that saved it from being the worst episode (next to the boxing flash back episode) was Boomer escape with Hera.

Or when you start to feel sorry for Boomer, then she goes and beats Athena senseless, ties her up in a closet, and makes her watch as she fucks Helo. That's hardcore.


Yeah, five minutes in you know Piano Man is a ghost. His name was Daniel, and I believe he was also a Cylon. So Starbuck's either pure Cylon or half Cylon. They're just spelling out the details for us.


I thought this episode was pretty good. Last week was total ass, though, watching the Cylons bicker amongst themselves "Should we leave? Should we stay? Hey, let's vote! Frak you, I don't care about your vote!"

Yeah, I think the writers believe that increasing the number of times the characters say "frak" somehow exponentially increases the grittiness and tension of the show. Tigh says it so much now it's almost ruined his character because it's just become silly.

Anyway, I want to meet the one or two people out there who haven't figured out that Starbuck's dad was Daniel Graystone. It's like they're trying to obscure it, but sloppy, rushed writing telegraphs it a mile away.

It would have been better if Piano Man was played by Billy Joel.

I'm one week behind, so obviously haven't seen the most recent episode. But now that I'm caught up with the discussion I felt like I'd pitch in.

Considering the lengths that they went to with the Tyrol-Boomer reunion to remind us again about Cylon projection, it seems obvious that the strange brain patters Anders is exhibiting is also Cylon projection. Possibly the reason Hera came up with the song and/or the reason behind Starbuck's hallucinations.

-MMM

Michael Barnes wrote:

Anyway, I want to meet the one or two people out there who haven't figured out that Starbuck's dad was Daniel Graystone. It's like they're trying to obscure it, but sloppy, rushed writing telegraphs it a mile away.

Me. I didn't even realise it at the end of the episode.
But to be fair it was 1am and I was falling asleep because it was all so fucking BORING (I watched the 3 episodes after the mutiny in a row).
Actually I don't even know if I saw the end. I recall something about boomer escaping. Christ I just don't care.

Well, it's good to know that even if we butt heads on WATCHMEN we can come together on this one. BSG is dead.

Friday's wasn't as terrible, but it was still mind-numbingly stupid. I almost didn't bother to tune in. Seriously.

For the first couple episodes I watched Friday night almost as soon as it came out. This weeks episode I finally watched because I bored Sunday afternoon. It was better then the week before but still pretty weak. For me the best part now is to see what going to happen with the the Baltar plot line. I can careless about everything else now.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Well, it's good to know that even if we butt heads on WATCHMEN we can come together on this one. BSG is dead.

Friday's wasn't as terrible, but it was still mind-numbingly stupid. I almost didn't bother to tune in. Seriously.

The difference is with Watchmen you'll do a Dominion style backflip when you revisit it on DVD.
BSG you just wont even be thinking about.

Well unless season 5 picks up the pace. I'm assuming there will be a season 5 since after watching episode 4.18 THERE IS STILL NO BUILD TO A FUCKING CLIMAX!
What the fuck?

Well at least we got a good boardgame out of it.