Battlestar Galactica

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/12/06 at 8:32pm

I just watched the mini series and first two episodes of the series -- WOW. I had no idea it was THIS good -- I have the rest of season 1 and season 2 next on my netflix (along with season 2 of Veronica Mars). I wish I knew before how good this show was!

Question for those of you who watch it (and please don't tell me if this is something I shouldn't know - I may have just missed this...)

Are both Boomers Cylons? It's not like one is human and one is a Cylon -- they both are -- but don't know they are, right? (At least, this early on).

I'm also assuming that they'll explain Baltar's fantasies a little bit more -- he is SUCH a great character!!

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/26/06 at 11:24pm

bump...
So no one on the board watches this?

I at least know the answer about both Boomers now...

This show is amazing.

[Vera Charles2]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 11:28am

Jason...it's a great show...well-written with lots of plot twists at seemingly every turn (and Apollo ain't so bad on the eyes, either!). If you've only seen the first few episodes then you just need to keep watching! All will be revealed in time. If you get through both seasons before Ocotober you'll be ready to watch Season 3 as it airs (and I, for one, can't wait).

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 11:45am

That's my goal -- to try to watch the two seasons before then - I have just 4 eps. left in season one.

Baltar is one of THE greatest characters on TV - now or ever. I love how every gesture and every word has a double meaning because of Six. The scene where they started having sex in the lab and Starbuck walked in was absolutely priceless.

[Vera Charles2]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 11:54am

If you love Baltar, you're going to think Season 2 rocks! (and that's all I'm saying)

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 12:01pm

I can't wait. I mean, the rest of the characters are great - there's not a weak one in the bunch (well, I could do without the Billy/Dualla thing, but that's minor) - but Baltar just steals every episode. I admire the casting too -- getting Olmos and Mcdonnell really gives the show the weight it needs to work. Both are incredibly strong actors and always fascinating to watch. I also love how the show puts the sci-fi stuff on such a huge back-burner - behind the human drama and the political aspect, the sci-fi runs a distant third.

[Vera Charles2]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 12:09pm

I also love how the show puts the sci-fi stuff on such a huge back-burner - behind the human drama and the political aspect, the sci-fi runs a distant third.

Somewhere I read an interview of one of the creators who said that was their intention with re-doing the old (kinda cheesy) show. They wanted to bring realism into BG instead of the expected sci-fi. These were/are people who have just witnessed horrors. How do they react? How do they carry on seeing what they have seen? He said that there will be further character development as the show continues and the "shock" of Caprica's destruction wears off...so sounds like they want to continue exploring characters (which is a good thing) and leave the sci-fi aspects as a backdrop to the actual storytelling.

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 12:14pm

It's the same formula that works for Lost -- have the sci-fi background, build a mythology, but keep the show centered on character development. As a writing teacher myself, I love how THIS formula is the one that seems most effective -- it gives support to everything I try to teach my students.
The only mis-step I've seen so far, and the commentary track on the episode acknowledged it (I had to listen because this bothered me) was Tigh's wife appearing out of no-where. Now, she may be a Cylon which will explain things (though there is a VERY quick glimpse of the screen when Baltar says he'd never tell what she is of the green squares - though we know from Boomer that he can change it), but if she is in fact human her existence is WAY too coincidental for me. At least the creators realize that fact.

[Vera Charles2]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 12:20pm

Not technically a spoiler...so I will tell you that after a full season two, Tigh's wife is still apparently human (we've gotten no clues otherwise). Who knows what will happen in season three!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 4:24pm

I remember the original with Lorne Greene. Critics called it a space aged Bonanza with greene running the whole thing as he did in Bonanzar

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 6:55pm

I assumed she's human -- the answer Baltar gave definitely made me think that he was just playing - that she really was human.
I've never seen the original - anyone who's seen both - comparisons?

[Vera Charles2]

Posted: 8/27/06 at 7:59pm

Jason...the old one with Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict was fun for network TV (this was a couple of years after Star Wars after all) but looking back it was pretty cheesy in comparison to the new version. The Cylons were metal robots with scanner "eyes" kind of like the car, "Kit", on Knight Rider had across its front grille (not to mention their monotone computer voices that weren't even as good as the computer's voice in "War Games"). It was HEAVY on the sci-fi and light on the characters and writing (think 1970's "I'm OK, You're OK" dialogue). It was more a vehicle to sell copies of "Tiger Beat" or "16" with Hatch and/or Benedict on the cover. I'm so much happier with the new version from the Sci-Fi Channel as it comes off more realistic and less of a fantasy.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 6:20am

I've been netflixing this after all the great buzz on the show, and I am an instant fan! I'm truly impressed by the acting, writing, direction, special fx--all of it. I'm falling in love with Mary McDonnell (hope I spelled that right). She is such a fantastic actor.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 7:41am

Mary McDonnell, were there ANY justice in Hollywood, would have already received two Emmy nominations and won at least once.
I'm starting Season One with the BF right now and it's just phenomenal.
The miniseries alone stands as an impressive event in itself...

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 8:55am

it's criminal that she hasn't been nominated. the show deserves much more respect than it has gotten.

I also am in love with the cinematography and the attention to reality in both the fx and in the writing.

and, yes, apollo is dreamy. as are other actors on the show. I lost it when I heard apollo's british accent in the extras. I instantly became a gooey mess.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 8:58am

Like that's different than any other day.

I think, unfortunately, BG is under the Buffy umbrella: quality show, wrong genre.
In fact, I think it's Slate who gave BG the 2nd Annual Buffy Award for best show on TV that's criminally underrated.

[Vera Charles2]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 8:13pm

Hummina, Hummina!! Let's have a big YOWZA for Apollo (and his yummy Britishness when he's just being plain old Jamie Bamber)

Updated On: 9/9/06 at 08:13 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 8:26pm

I'm now all caught up on DVDs - up to half way through season 2 - waiting with bated breath for the rest of Season 2 in a couple of weeks to arrive from Netflix.

Edward James Olmos should have received a nomination for that last episode - his absolute underplaying of the reaction to Cain's arrival was nothong short of brilliant. Mary Mcdonnell continuously impresses me, as does James Callas and Grace Park.

I still don't get those opening credits - why frak are Tyrol, Tigh, Gaeta, Dualla etc NOT in the opening credits....?

[Plum]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 8:54pm

I stopped watching partway through Season 2- the Pegasus story-arc didn't really do it for me, and I don't have time for much TV. But I just want to register my absolute and utter adoration of Mary MacDonnell and Roslin as a character. She's just fantastic, and her push-pull with Olmos' character made for one of the best relationships on TV, period. (The King and I vibes abounded. )

Updated On: 9/8/06 at 08:54 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 9:16pm

Plum - I only saw the start of the Pegasus story arc since they haven't released the rest yet, but my God, Olmos's acting alone is worth watching. The way he manages to convey so much with just a look is incredible.

I'm still trying to figure out what universe this takes place in - there are obvious connections to "us," but at the same time, it's clearly NOT. Will they find us here on earth if they ever get here? The mythology and references to things that seem to be hard to believe others not raised on earth would come up with are confusing. For example, would another group of humans, raised on another planet from scratch, come up with things like glasses, books, and card games? It's an interesting idea...how much of what we've created is limited to us and what would develop regardless of location given similar genetics...

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 9:46pm

I just finished 2.0. this is the best show on tv by leaps and bounds. I dare anyone to watch it and not think it's excellent.

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/3/06 at 8:06pm

Bumping this in honor of the show starting again on Friday. I'm still about four episodes away from ending 2.5 (just watched Sacrafice and after the comparatively weaker Black Market and Scar episodes -- WOW!!!).

BG easily ranks up there with Lost and Veronica Mars as the best of the best on TV right now. If you haven't been watching this, do yourself a favor and start renting it -- just get the mini-series, if that doesn't hook you, well, not much I can do for you, but WOW is this a good show!