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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
 Posted - 03/21/2006 : 10:48:32 PM
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BSG Review
Before diving into my overall thoughts on the second half of the BSG second season, I figure a brief review of each of the episodes will help highlight my mindset. I do not listen to any of the commentaries provided at the SciFi website. So, if something I talk about is covered there, I claim complete ignorance and as such bliss.
Resurrection Ship Part 1:
Ah, we return to find out how the writers will get us out of the corner they painted us into in Pegasus. Their basic solution is that Cain will sacrifice anything to hurt the Cylons. She will delay getting rid of Adama, delay executing Helo and Chief, and leave civilians stranded to die. In some ways, I believe her entire character is meant as a way of saying, “Here is what would happen if there wasn’t a civilian, democratic government and the military was in charge.” I will give them credit for giving Roslin some ice in her veins. However, why they didn’t play it closer along the lines of having Roslin promote Adama above Cain or having her attempt to issue orders to Cain, I don’t know. The sudden jump to assassination is somewhat jarring.
Resurrection Ship Part 2:
Instead of an interesting battle, we get Lee floating like a dead goldfish. Also, the whole battle plan is very similar to the battle plan developed to destroy the mining facility. As Scotty said, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Using ships as decoys to lead the fighter squadrons away will work once. Using the same general template against an intelligent enemy that is guarding a much more precious cargo is most likely disastrous. The battle though is pretty anti-climatic. I will admit to being surprised that both commanders backed down in their assassination attempts. To get out of the situation of simmering distrust between the two commanders, we suddenly have Six escape with the help of Baltar. Why there are no cameras or more than one guard, especially when they kept showing two earlier, is left to the frustrated viewer to determine.
Epiphanies:
These episode titles are starting to make me think of Babylon5. Again, Roslin shows ice in her veins by declaring that Boomer’s baby is to be aborted.
Now we have “peace” protesters sabotaging military equipment and blowing holes in space ships. Suddenly, Cain, may she rest in peace, seems like the more intelligent person here. You’re in space, a highly dangerous environment, being chased by relentless machines, barely existing as a species, and we want to have committees to study the resolution to table the proposal to agree to the recommendation to accept the plan to jump from the just arrived Cylons. Why?
Black Market:
The Bablyon5 flashbacks are fading a bit. Lee hooks up with a prostitute!?!? Not just for casual relations, but he’s in LOVE. Which writer came up with that idea? I know your characters should have flaws. But, as a general complaint, the BSG writers too often make you wish the Cylons would just end it already.
The idea that there is a black market is a good concept and really could have been interesting. Instead we end up with child prostitution and Lee being a complete idiot. I can handle rationing for critical parts, food, and medicine, but can imagine that allowing markets to exist for luxury items would be a good thing. Anyways, since no one is really making new luxury items, the markets are not going to last forever. The episode could have explored this facet of their situation. Also, at least in Western societies, child prostitution is frowned upon so much that even criminals typically have nothing to do with it. Did all of the pedophiles and the lowest of the low criminals make it onboard the fleet?
Scar:
No more Babylon5 yearnings, free at last! We’re back to the cross-cutting with a non-linear story, much like Resurrection Ship, Part 2. Do they have something against presenting a nice linear combat story? Of course, based on the way the humans act, I was severely tempted to root for Scar to win. He showed intelligence and commitment to his purpose which is more than can be said of the humans. The concept that even the pilots are reborn is good.
Small quibble here, they try to highlight that they are getting new fighters by mining additional materials. Of course, I would assume they didn’t bring the myriad of factories necessary to create the necessary components. I will give them an ‘A’ for attempting to explain how they are replacing fighter losses.
Sacrifices:
Hmm, limited mobility, small community, and extremely cramped quarters, yet everyone seems to be able to get a bomb or gun. This time it’s people who want revenge against the Cylons and Sharon is handy for lynching. Lee’s gotten over his prostitute lovin’ and has decided to steal Dee from one of the few decent characters, Billy. Billy, of course, dies and the body count adds up. The population numbers are going the wrong way and Lee seems to play hostage a lot.
The Captain’s Hand:
Like “Black Market,” this episode has the opportunity to explore the issues the humans face due to their extreme situation. However, the writers come up short again with a crude abortion debate. You need babies. Without babies, humanity is doomed. Plus, this really would have been the episode to explore removing women of child-bearing age from dangerous positions. Bluntly stated, the number of women able to bear children is critical at this point. Each woman lost drops humanity’s chance of surviving. On top of that, they could have explored the possibility of enforced pairings based on genetic factors. I know that often good sci-fi deals with the issues of today. The problem is that this isn’t a society with 6 billion people that can safely have the debate. This is a remnant of humanity with fewer than 50,000 souls. You have to write stories that fit the situation and not shoehorn in stories that don’t fit.
Downloaded:
Suddenly, Cylons are acting more like humans, at least some of them are. This whole episode was a disappointment. Cylons need to be different and alien. Having them act more like humans weakens the series. If they disagree about plans and actions, fine. But, their reasoning has to be alien to what humans (in this case Western society) consider being logical.
No mother is going to notice a kid with a glowing spine.
Lay Down Your Burdens, Parts 1&2:
Is that Bablyon5 floating in the background? Actually, these episodes had me flashing back to Star Trek Voyager. One episode, Janeway is the Iron Lady. The next episode, Janeway is the lone pacifist in the quadrant. One episode, Roslin splits the fleet in the attempt to find Earth, is willing to space Cylons without prejudice, and recommends assassination. This episode, Roslin can’t steal a simple election to prevent Baltar, who she believes is working with the Cylons, from gaining power and leading them to what she believes is a fatal mistake. Adama goes from being willing to start a shooting war with a superior officer and plotting that officer’s assassination to being unwilling to steal an election to prevent Balt…..you know the explanation by now.
Its one year later, and everyone is pretty much still living in tents? Baltar is such an incompetent lush that no one would follow him. Add in that close to half of the people wanted to continue searching for Earth (based on their vote for Roslin), it seems to me that the more likely outcome would be that half the people would have stayed with Baltar on the planet and the rest would have continued on their quest.
Do they have an endless supply of paper? There seems to be a lot of it and no one hesitates to use it.
It was previously established that it takes time for the FTL drives to warm up for use. Suddenly they can now use the drives at a moment’s notice. I can believe that with the military drives but not the civilian ships.
My Thoughts (Such as They Are):
BSG is a very frustrating show for me. At times it flirts with greatness. Then it comes crashing back to mediocrity. Too often this happens in the same episode.
I will start by saying that their jump ahead by a year to show the colonists down on the planet was a great move. If they had made it a dream sequence, I would have been screaming. Other parts of the season had some good concepts, like the resurrection ship and the attempts to look at the human plight. You can sense great possibilities, but something keeps them from achieving that greatness.
The first problem, as I mentioned above, is that most of the characters are just plain unlikable. Starbuck is a drunk, jerk, and a whole host of other bad adjectives. Apollo is busy stealing Dee while pining for Kara and bedding a prostitute. Dee meanwhile proves the axiom of “Nice Guys Finish Last.” Roslin actually improved some this season but as discussed above is wildly inconsistent at times. Adama also suffers from “Janeway Syndrome,” to a lesser degree. The problem with Adama is that he isn’t really dynamic. Lorne Greene really had some charisma for the part. Adama makes poor personnel decisions and seems to be about to fall asleep half of the time. So, he isn’t unlikable, just not motivating. Baltar, well, he’s supposed to be the bad guy. Helo is love struck with a Cylon and the last episodes really point to his stupidity. The Chief is likable, but the plotline using him to pull in another Cylon character was pretty lame. Cally is fairly likable, but is a minor character. The Doc is fairly likable. The point though is that the main characters, for the most part, are uninspiring or downright repulsive
Another issue is the “Are Cylons like humans?” thread that keeps running through the show. First, Cally kills the Cylon Boomer and gets some brig time. That’s it. No serious debate ensues. Next, Helo and the Chief kill an officer, albeit accidentally, and in the end suffer no serious consequences. If the Cylons are considered human, in the sense that they deserve certain humane treatment, then Cally should be looking at some serious consequences for her murder of a POW and Helo and the Chief have a valid defense for their actions. However, if they are considered machines or sub-human (they just slaughtered billions, I could understand a “Letting you breathe is too good” attitude.) then Cally’s brief brig time makes sense from the military discipline aspect. But, Helo and the Chief have no defense for their actions in protecting Sharon. Some may say that the show tries to address the issue but not provide easy answers. My claim is that it only addresses the issue in a way necessary to advance the plot in whatever way the writers decide. Need a rape scene with tension, then the Cylons are human. Need someone to look tough, then the Cylons are airlock fodder. Based on past human actions, the Cylons are most likely going to be considered nothing more than advanced machines and treated accordingly. Helo’s knowingly cavorting with a Cylon would quickly make him persona non grata at a minimum.
Greg Easterbrook of TNR and Tuesday Morning Quarterback fame made a point about BSG that I think holds true. In general, his statement is that the Cylons are so powerful that it leaves the writers only writing stories about intra-human conflict. The problem with this is that you end up with people acting really stupid considering their situation. And acting really stupid in their current situation means extinction. Once the survivors had pulled together and were on the run for the Cylons, do you think the first thing going through their minds was how to reform a democratic government? That’s not even close to a major priority on the hierarchy of needs. The big concerns are going to be, food, water, air, medicine, and how to escape the Cylons. In situations like this, people are going to follow whoever exerts authority and meets the priorities just listed. And they won’t care a lot about how that is accomplished. The first moron who walks up and demands some civil right or an election is most likely going to find themselves on the wrong end of an airlock malfunction. It’s going to be a regimented and very ordered society for awhile. It has to be, otherwise, they are going to die. Anti-social types may find that it’s hard to breathe vacuum. You can write some good stories about that type of situation. (The original BSG show had the same problem. However, the original never really took itself as seriously as the current BSG.)
Okay, I’ve rambled enough. Thank you for your patience and most likely complaints about my illogic. Again, I want to state that I believe the show has some good facets. Right now though, the writers keep missing opportunities.
The ROPe gives you three options, convert, submit, or die. There is a fourth, resist. |
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CDiehl
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
361 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2006 : 09:48:58 AM
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The thing that drives me up the wall about this show is that it seems to expect us to give a damn about the Cylons and their precious "plan," which to me looks like they (either the Cylons themselves or the writers) are making it up as they go along. I've found that with each passing episode, I care less about the toasters and their crap and more about the machinations going on among the humans. They really don't have a lot of time to explore the Cylons, since the vast majority of the characters are the people of the fleet, and the Cylons have to be shown in relation to them.
Now, about all the screwing-up people do in the fleet, I think the point of the show is that people will continue to act like people even when facing extinction. Also, the time for Adama and Roslin to crack the whip on the fleet is long past. When they started out, those two, especially Roslin, decided they wanted to continue their society as normally as possible under the circumstances. Of course, with such a ferociously pragmatic leadership, a lot of episodes would never have been possible. Remember, this isn't supposed to be Star Trek; we aren't seeing the best and the brightest, because they all died with the Colonies. The around 50,000 who set out with the fleet are just the people who lived by random chance. For want of a nail, any of them could have wound up dust in the wind, or dying of radiation poisoning, or strapped to some Cylon impregantion machine on a farm someplace. Being normal people caught in extremely abnormal circumstances, you really can't expect them to make all the right choices all the time.
You know Grand Funk, don't you? The wild, shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The ... adequate drumwork of Don Brewer? |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2006 : 3:55:13 PM
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I think the writers are making up a lot of things as they go along. That is why I think you get a lot of uneven characterizations. However, I think covering some of the Cylon thinking, beyond "They want to kill us," would be fine. But as I stated before, their thinking needs to be fairly alien to what we would consider rational. Giving them some religious fixation doesn't really cut-it. I agree that it is a frustrating feature of the show since the Cylons are really becoming a lot more human in their reasoning.
With regards to people screwing-up, I agree and disagree. Yes, these are not necessarily the cream of the crop. (Somewhat interesting sidenote, in the novelization of Star Trek:TMP, part of the initial backstory was that Earth had originally sent it's best and brightest on exploration missions but failed miserably because they kept falling to the lures of exotic civilisations. It took more than brains to be good at exploring. I have always found that to be an interesting concept.) Yet, this group of people is almost too stupid to live. Having them make perfect decisions all of the time would be boring. Right now though, they make decisions that are just plain stupid. Making subtle mistakes is sometimes more interesting than blatant blunders. Normal people often show a lot of wisdom in there decision making while groups of experts are blinded by their expertise. I just don't think that can be used as an excuse for stupid behavior. I don't know if you watch "Lost", but there you have a group of people with flaws who don't always make the right decisions. Yet, they are likable characters. BSG really struggles in creating likable characters. The head of CBS recently stated that their main goal in creating shows is to have shows where people work together to accomplish something. They found that that is what people want to see. Does that preclude internal conflicts, no. Look at CSI, where people do have flaws, but they aren't so flawed that you can't like them.
One additional point, what is the point of the religion of the colonists? I mean, only once have I seen it referenced as a point for behavior (the abortion episode, of course it was the religious parents opposing their daughter's abortion). Otherwise, religion seems to fall under the typical Hollywood stereotype of religion is about making you feel good, but doesn't or shouldn't effect decisions in life. Looking at their religion could really be an interesting exploration. I don't think they would handle it well though.
Thanks for the reply.
The ROPe gives you three options, convert, submit, or die. There is a fourth, resist. |
Edited by - Terrahawk on 04/07/2006 3:58:39 PM |
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Battlestar Galactica Season Review
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