The mighty GKarsEye watches Battlestar Galactica

[GKarsEye]

... just the miniseries, last night, on DVD.

Yes I saw the old one, no I don't care if it's "true" to the original because it sucked.

The good:
- They spent a comfortable amount of time getting up to the destruction of their worlds thing, setting up characters and relationships.
- I LOVE the president. Secretary of education She's really enjoyable to watch, I think my favorite character right now.
- Captain Adama- acting and writing conveys tired old war leader excellently.
- Starbuck- fun character
- Baltar- wow, I was really impressed with where they went with him. Nice conflict setup.
- The fact that they accused a guy of being the enemy based on crappy "evidence" and then turned out to be right made me feel very uncomfortable, which is cool.
- Awesome visuals. Camera style remeniscent of Top Gun.

The bad:
- All the sex seemed like a cheap way to reel in the key demographic.
- It did that child-killing is worse than adult-killing trick that I HATE (ie, children's deaths pulling at the heart strings).
- Apollo- just lousy acting and an annoying boring character so far.

Unsure what to make of that "twist" ending, where it's impliead that the scout chick is a Cylon.

 

[PillowRock]

Unsure what to make of that "twist" ending, where it's impliead that the scout chick is a Cylon.

It depends on whether you tend to think of the mini-series primarily as a stand-alone mini-series or as the setup for a longer, ongoing series.

I think that it is fairly clear that they (TPTB of Galactica) were leaning in the second direction, especially with that ending.

 

[GKarsEye]

I think that it is fairly clear that they (TPTB of Galactica) were leaning in the second direction, especially with that ending.

The pacing of the miniseries itself made it obvious to me that they were planning a series.

 

[Recoil]

The bad:
- All the sex seemed like a cheap way to reel in the key demographic.

Although it takes a bit, this part DOES die down in the series. I was just commenting to a friend the other day that there aren't a fraction of the skin scenes that the miniseries and first couple episodes have.

This makes me think back to an issue JMS had with TNT on Crusade, and how TNT wanted more sex and skin in the show (generically speaking). JMS's stance was to put his foot down and stand his ground. End result: show got killed.

This is where I think that Ronald Moore MIGHT have gone differently (if he was ever under pressure to show some sex and skin to get ratings and that key demographic that is). It seems they went the route of giving the network maybe what they wanted at the start. Then the ratings came in. Now its been on enough that perhaps the network isn't looking over their shoulder, so they can tone it down a bit and focus more on the story and characters.

I like that method better than the JMS method. Why? Because in the end I still get my show, and its still good quality.

 

[Recoil]

BTW GKE,

One thing I like about this series (1/4 of the way into Season 2 now) is that apparently, no major character is truly "safe." They have been throwing out some interesting and unexpected twists and character directions this season like crazy.

 

[GKarsEye]

For what I understand about Moore through his writing and interviews, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted the sex stuff. Moore felt very restrained by the "safe" and bland nature of Trek by the time he left, and I'm guessing he's ecstatic to do something different. Latter-day Trek sex is practically non-existent- not just in the lack of skin scenes but in the "feel" of the show.

They have been throwing out some interesting and unexpected twists and character directions this season like crazy.

Well I hope it's at least logical, as I only have room for one series that has "surprise" twists that don't make sense and it's called 24.

Though I would think Adama, Apollo and Starbuck are pretty safe.

 

[hypatia]

This makes me think back to an issue JMS had with TNT on Crusade, and how TNT wanted more sex and skin in the show (generically speaking). JMS's stance was to put his foot down and stand his ground. End result: show got killed.

Now, is that really, fundamentally, true? I thought the number watchers concluded that B5 didn't help them in the demographical areas they wanted help in, and kind of looked for a reason to can a show they'd already bought.

 

[Recoil]

Hyp,

That is a short, short, synopsis of things with TNT and Crusade. There was a lot more to it than that. I also don't want this to turn into yet another TNT/Crusade hate thread (there are plenty on this site to search through). I was just drawing two general parallels.

GKE,

You might have a point, although I don't think he wanted it in there just to have it there, or to get a certain demographic. I do believe 100% he wants this seperated from the blandness of recent Trek (although even Trek tried to go down this road slightly with the skin-tight 7of9 and T'Pol).

 

[KoshN]

The bad:
- All the sex seemed like a cheap way to reel in the key demographic.

Although it takes a bit, this part DOES die down in the series. I was just commenting to a friend the other day that there aren't a fraction of the skin scenes that the miniseries and first couple episodes have.

This makes me think back to an issue JMS had with TNT on Crusade, and how TNT wanted more sex and skin in the show (generically speaking). JMS's stance was to put his foot down and stand his ground. End result: show got killed.

This is where I think that Ronald Moore MIGHT have gone differently (if he was ever under pressure to show some sex and skin to get ratings and that key demographic that is). It seems they went the route of giving the network maybe what they wanted at the start. Then the ratings came in. Now its been on enough that perhaps the network isn't looking over their shoulder, so they can tone it down a bit and focus more on the story and characters.

I like that method better than the JMS method. Why? Because in the end I still get my show, and its still good quality.

Except of course that youi're forgetting that TNT-Atlanta was out to kill Crusade any way they could, because they found out that their core wrasslin'-sports-westerns audience doesn't like sci-fi. Hell, that audience probably sees a Pak'ma'ra, Centauri, or Minbari and immediately tunes out. Who knows, maybe the TNT core audience would have liked Crusade if they'd made Crusade a human-only show (completely dropping continuity with the B5 universe), and included lots of strippers.

 

[PillowRock]

GKE,

You might have a point, although I don't think he wanted it in there just to have it there, or to get a certain demographic. I do believe 100% he wants this seperated from the blandness of recent Trek

I think that a good argument could be made that (at least as you go forward through the series) the sex is not "just there". It is important to the characters and the story, and most of the time is not really all that titillating (and therefore of somewhat limited value in terms drawing lowest common denominator viewers).

I suppose that it could be argued that scenes could be shortened ..... or staged in a more "modest" manner (characters completely under sheets so that only heads are visible, or something similar). The problem is that those solutions wouldn't match well with the look, tone, and feel of the whole rest of the show.

 

[Recoil]

Yea I agree.

I TOTALLY know what GKE is talking about though. Myself and my roomate had the exact same reaction that GKE did when we first watched that Miniseries.

Within the first 5 minutes of the show starting you had the opening scene of the blonde Cylon making out with the Colonial guy as the station was blowing up, the Chief ripping off Boomer's clothes just outside the hanger deck and going at it hot and heavy, quickly followed by Baltar ripping off the blonde Cylon's clothes and those two going at it.

We were both like "damn, what is this Skinemax?" There were a lot of sex scenes VERY early on, really to the point where it was all you remembered about the first part of the miniseries.

I have to say there isn't that much of it from that point on. Not so overwhelmingly so at least. Those first few minutes were way too much too close together IMO.

 

[GKarsEye]

I'm sure Moore isn't chasing demographics.
To me personally, sex, like violence or anything else, is not "bad" or "good," as long as it serves a purpose.

I did not see a purpose for the Cylon chick to makeout with the ambassador before blowing him up. He was gonna die anyway. Heck, what was the point of her even being there if all they wanted to was kill him as a starting point for renewed hostilities with humans?

Then the sex scene with Baltar does make sense because her hold over him is crucial.

Then the engineer guy and the scouting chick- it shows us that they're involved, ok fine, but with all the sex before that maybe it would have served the pacing a bit better if they implied that with a bit more subtlety.

(although even Trek tried to go down this road slightly with the skin-tight 7of9 and T'Pol).

The Trek catsuits were the least sex thing on TV ever. I'd sooner get an erection from Sesame Street. Sex content isn't about outfits, it's about what they do and how they act, and both of these characters are so asexual that when they did tried to make them sexual (namely T'Pol) it felt like cheating. The only believably sexually people on Trek were Kirik, McCoy, Warf, Troi and Dax.

 

[Sindatur]

While it was overdone, it's does serve a purpose to drive home the point that Cylons can have sexual relationships with humans. They back off on having sex as the first season moves forward, but, the ramifications of sex with Cylons, is an important plot point.

Really, GKE, you didn't find Kira to be believably sexy?

 

[GKarsEye]

No. Most of the time she exuded no sexuality. Only her evil-universe self did, but it was so affected that it was more comical than sexual.

By the way, I'm talking about "sexual," not "sexy," big difference. Kirk is sexual, but I don't find him sexy.

 

[Sindatur]

I was actually talking about the mirror universe Kira, but that apparently didn't qualify for you either.

 

[KoshFan]

Re: The mighty GKarsEye watches Battlestar Galacti

I just watched the miniseries myself last night, in one sitting. (Right after watching the last six episodes of S6 of Buffy, also in one sitting, because evidently I'm a glutton for punishment.) I have to say I really, really enjoyed it. Having heard you folks commenting that the sex stuff was to get the demographics involved, I basically ignored it.

Things that impressed me:

The President. Clearly very tough. Evidently they make high-quality schoolteachers in the future.

Gaius Baltar. It would be extremely easy to hate him, with his selfishness etc., except for that scene where he doesn't steal the old woman's seat.

The plot grip. I mean, I've always enjoyed watching desperate battles against incredible odds... but they're trying to preserve the entire human race on a tiny flotilla, with their only defenders being museum pieces and their crews seemingly riddled with enemy agents.


It seems that once again I'm coming to a very good TV show late, and I'll have to wait to see it on DVD.

 

[vacantlook]

Re: The mighty GKarsEye watches Battlestar Galacti

Gaius Baltar. It would be extremely easy to hate him, with his selfishness etc., except for that scene where he doesn't steal the old woman's seat.

Ah, but he only doesn't steal it because he's afraid he's being caught trying to decide if he can steal her seat and he knows his ass would be beat down if he was caught.

 

[GKarsEye]

Re: The mighty GKarsEye watches Battlestar Galacti

Still, Baltar's awfulness isn't because he's EVIL, like the original Balter, just that he's weak and self-involved. That's not a defense, but it is a but unique for TV.

 

[Demon]

Re: The mighty GKarsEye watches Battlestar Galacti

One of the many things I loved about BSG is the humanity of the characters. They all have weaknesses, even the good guys, and they all have strengths, even the bad guys.

And the Cylons are sometimes even more human than the humans. I won't give any spoilers, but wait until you see the episode where they capture a Cylon spy...

 

[Galahad]

Re: The mighty GKarsEye watches Battlestar Galacti

I think the actor who plays Baltar does an excellent job. Although Baltar betrayed humanity by his actions. Watching him try to wrangle his way out of schizophrenic conversations with 6 when other people are present is a joy to behold. It always brings a smile to my face.