206 replies to this topic

[D. Adam]

Yes, it did try too hard to be current, mostly by relying too much on iconic military vs. terrorist visual imagery, e.g.

Spoiler

the hoods, the homemade bomb with the exposed wiring, the people being herded into trucks

, etc. On the plus side, everything that made the show so intriguing to begin with is back in full force, namely the complex characters and moral issues; and when the show did stumble and fall back on the imagery in an attempt to be relevant, the event is effective anyway, thanks to the characters (I'm thinking particularly of

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Duck's graduation ceremony

).

Without giving too much away, it's a great start to the third season, and I especially look forward to the continuation of Starbuck's new story arc, as well as seeing how long

Spoiler

Baltar (and Gaeta, who really got stuck in an impossible position)

will survive the wrath of their fellow humans. Something else that remains to be seen is if the show can do justice to each of its characters with the story as fragmented as it is. Will some get lost in the shuffle?

So, was the show's move to New Caprica a wise move, story- and character-wise, or too gimmicky for its own good? Also, did anyone see the online webisodes about the resistance? Did you think it added anything to the show?

[Nick Alexander]

I am a newcomer to the series, after hearing tons of rave reviews about it, both online, in podcast form, and in print. (I never even got into the '79 show). I did watch the 45 minute "catch-up" episode last week, and liked it.

And then... whoa! Who's the guy with the eye-patch? What's with Dean Stockwell? I didn't recognize Lucy Lawless (then again, I never watched Xena). And why is Starbuck locked in a room... what's with that?!? The graduation ceremony... were these humans or Cylons? And, what a different tone I expected... between the cold cinematography and adult elements...

So the catch-up episode didn't really cover everything, and it was a little hard to follow, not knowing the other storylines. If this show is really as good as people say it is, I'm willing to give it a shot, but it's a challenge. (Is it usually an hour long... and was two hours bc of it being a season premiere?)

[BethR]

And then... whoa! Who's the guy with the eye-patch? What's with Dean Stockwell? I didn't recognize Lucy Lawless (then again, I never watched Xena). And why is Starbuck locked in a room... what's with that?!? The graduation ceremony... were these humans or Cylons? And, what a different tone I expected... between the cold cinematography and adult elements...

I haven't seen the catch-up episode, so I don't know who/what was in it. The guy with the eye-patch was hardly recognizable as

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Colonel Tigh, whose wife Ellen seems to think she's helping by sleeping with Cylon Dean Stockwell

, although I still think she's a Cylon. Starbuck is locked in a room

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because she's a prisoner of Cylon Leoben who thinks he can make her love him

. The graduation ceremony was

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a class of human police. Anyone who wasn't thinking "Iraq!" has been living in a cave for the last three years

.

(Is it usually an hour long... and was two hours bc of it being a season premiere?)

It was 2 hours for the season premiere, and this was unusually intense, too. Or I hope so!

[Croaker]

Wow. Is nobody watching this show anymore?

I think it's the best hour on TV right now.

I loved this last Friday's episode, and how it was centered on Adama. We learn some messy things about his past, and it finally gets Tigh out of his room. And we got to see Carl Lumbly from Alias!

I hope we get to catch up with Starbuck next episode.

The only disappointing thing about this season so far, for me has been getting a look inside the Cylon baseships. Not really what I was hoping for. The concept for the mechanics of their ship is interesting, but not very visually creative.

[BethR]

Still watching. Agree with you that it's riveting. Unlike LOST, with BSG I have no idea where they'll go next, but I feel quite confident that they have an end in mind, so each move seems choreographed, rather than engineered for shock effect or expediency (who shall we kill this week?). Repeatedly turning expected categories on end--that's what I want from science fiction.

[Ann D.]

I love BSG, but it's very nature is dark and unsettling. At this time in my life I need happy or light. I do however plan on eventually getting the DVDs and catching up, and will get season three when it comes out. Right now I'm indulging my fix with Jacob's recaps on TWOP.

[Darren H]

I just watched all eleven hours of SciFi's Battlestar Galactica marathon. Sad but true. Also, awesome.

[opus]

I'll admit it, I was totally wrong. I had a very low view of the miniseries when it aired a few years ago. That, combined with the fact that we don't have cable TV, pretty much ensured that I wasn't going to watch any of the new series. Then my wife watched the miniseries courtesy of our neighbors, who are fans, and she got hooked. So she roped me into watching the new series, and as I said, I was totally wrong.

We've both become huge fans. We just finished blowing through the second season, courtesy of Netflix, and all of the webisodes. Unfortunately, we still don't have cable, so we're going to have to wait until season three comes out on DVD.

I wrote an extended blog entry on my love for the series, but it essentially boils down to the fact that, whereas before I hated the characters due to their flaws, I've come to admire and respect them because of their flaws. As I wrote:

There are times when the characters' flaws are perhaps milked a bit too much, when the inevitable personal clashes and heartache seem a bit too contrived, their only purpose to set up some "big revelation". But the twists and turns, the defeats and triumphs, the lack of surety -- all of these prove to be intensely gripping. The tension between father and son, officer and president, lover and ex-lover, betrayer and betrayed, these things make for great drama, and the cast is uniformly up to the task.

I’ve come to respect and admire Admiral Adama, his skepticism, weariness, and determination constantly at war with eachother (and how Edward James Olmos perfectly displays that burden). President Laura Roslin may have seemed like something of a milksop early on, but has become an enigma in her willingness to do great evil for a greater good. And though I initially despised Gaius Baltar, he’s become a favorite of ours, a perfect blend of Machiavellian sliminess, insane ravings, and almost slapstick-ish hilarity.

But thankfully, the focus isn’t on just the high and mighty. The rank and file characters, those who would be considered “red shirts” in any other series, are also given moments to shine. Characters such as Helo (my personal fave because of his loyalty and devotion), Chief Tyrol, Billy, and Cally. They’re not the marquee characters, but they’re just as important and their story arcs are often as moving and powerful, even moreso, than the "main" characters.

So yeah, we're hooked. This is some really, really fine television.

Any word on when season three hits DVD?

[SDG]

Suz and I recently started at the beginning, got caught up, and have been watching live for the past few weeks. We have two big sci-fi geeks in our immediate circle (my best friend and Suz's brother) who had been grousing at us for years to watch the show. It is really, really well done.

[DanBuck]

the wife and I download it each week and watch it on the laptop.

[Ann D.]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this show. I just bought the second season (both of them) and will watch the third when it comes out. I purposely didn't watch the first part of season 3 because of personal issues. It was simply too dark and I couldn't handle it at the time. Now, though, I'm much better and very gung-ho. I only recently started watching again, seeing part of "Dirty Hands" (with Chief and the strike) and then last week's.

And wow. Last week's. I have no words for that episode.

[Peter T Chattaway]

I borrowed the first season from a monk that I know, and I thought the mini-series was so-so, whereas the first season was definitely more engaging -- I agree with Olmos when he says that the series is better than the mini-series. So opus, I wouldn't feel too bad about not liking the mini-series that much.

I just happened to finish watching season 2.5 on DVD last night, and wow, I am so glad that the show recovered after that AWFUL stretch of episodes on disc 2 of that season. How did I hate those episodes? Let me count the ways.

First: Three episodes in a row where Apollo sleeps (or almost sleeps) with three different women? I can appreciate what you say, opus, about liking the characters BECAUSE of their flaws, but there is a big, big difference between, say, President Roslin's interesting balancing act between noble ideals and the great evils she is prepared to commit in service of those ideals, or the way Starbuck uses callous recklessness as a coping mechanism, on the one hand, and the stupid sluttishness that Apollo displays in that string of episodes, on the other hand. (The fact that Dualla bounces between Apollo and the other guy doesn't help, either.) This almost descended into mere soap-operatics.

Second: The flashback structure that Joss Whedon often used in Firefly is ill-suited to the two (at least) episodes that used it here. Why? Because Battlestar Galactica does such a good job of bringing us "up to speed" in the prologue, and treating the entire series-to-date as a cliffhanger, that it becomes very confusing when the episode suddenly lurches ahead without any warning to a point in media res near the end of the episode, and then lurches backwards again, multiple times. Plus, almost every episode until now has been a straightforward continuation of the story from the point where we last left off. Stand-alone episodes aren't necessarily a bad idea, but they should at least fit into the established template. Here, I was left to wonder if the writers were floundering around while they tried to figure out what the series "arc" was supposed to be, now that they had tied up some of the series' smaller arcs (the people stranded on Caprica, etc.).

Third: The abortion episode. Ugh. Worst use of the phrase "pound of flesh" EVER.

But disc 3 of this season ... wow, the show's back. Groovy. I especially love how the season finale does the "one year later" thing. It feels like one of those Star Trek episodes where we see an alternate future that we know will never really happen. Or like one of those Babylon 5 episodes where we get a glimpse of what's to come, but we know it will take a while to get there yet. But here? Yowza. It doesn't take long for it to sink in that, yes, the entire series really HAS moved forward in time one year -- and all the stuff that seemed so "current", so "present day", is already old history. Freaky. I love it. And I can't wait for season 3 to come out on DVD.

[opus]

I just happened to finish watching season 2.5 on DVD last night, and wow, I am so glad that the show recovered after that AWFUL stretch of episodes on disc 2 of that season. How did I hate those episodes? Let me count the ways.

Heh, we weren't too fond of that particular stretch in season 2 either, and for the exact same reasons that you mentioned. I was especially underwhelmed with the Apollo/Dualla relationship, partly because I like Billy so much and partly because Dualla's transition from Billy to Apollo was not set up very well at all. They exchange a couple of meaningful glances in the judo ring, and all of a sudden they're lovers?!? Sorry, but considering how well so many of the characters' developments and transformations are done, that felt rather lame to me.

Thankfully, that's been about the only substandard stretch out of two seasons, which is pretty good in my book.

First: Three episodes in a row where Apollo sleeps (or almost sleeps) with three different women? I can appreciate what you say, opus, about liking the characters BECAUSE of their flaws, but there is a big, big difference between, say, President Roslin's interesting balancing act between noble ideals and the great evils she is prepared to commit in service of those ideals, or the way Starbuck uses callous recklessness as a coping mechanism, on the one hand, and the stupid sluttishness that Apollo displays in that string of episodes, on the other hand. (The fact that Dualla bounces between Apollo and the other guy doesn't help, either.) This almost descended into mere soap-operatics.

I couldn't agree more.

[Crow]

I've just started going through Season 1 and am very impressed. And yes, it is better than the mini-series.

[DanBuck]

My two favorite things about PTC's last post are

1. that he borrowed Battlestar Gallactica from a monk friend of his.
2. he called Apollo a slut.

[BethR]

Oh man--didn't anyone else watch the last episode of BSG season 3? Am I the only one still watching in real time, everyone else waiting for the DVDs?

Wow.

2008 is too far away, is al I can say (without spoilers)

[opus]

Oh man--didn't anyone else watch the last episode of BSG season 3? Am I the only one still watching in real time, everyone else waiting for the DVDs?

I saw that there was some sort of fracas a-brewin' over the season finale. Unfortunately, since my wife and I only watch it via DVD -- we don't have cable -- we'll have to wait a few more months to see what the big hooey is about.

[DanBuck]

Can you explain the wait without spoiling?

Did they really say they won't be making new episodes til 2008?!!!

[Ann D.]

They really did.

Beth, it was awesome. Absolutely awesome. I cannot wait to see what happens in season 4. Laura is really slipping down the slope, isn't she? And I loved Lee's speech.

Dan, I don't think I really can explain the fracas without spoiling. And trust me, you do NOT want to be spoiled.

[Crow]

I've just finished watching the Season 1 DVDs, and I'm hooked. So I've got a little ways to go to catch up with you all.

Edited by Crow, 27 March 2007 - 10:54 AM.