tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post9193457419651167449..comments2024-03-28T14:52:13.218-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: Things That Chap My Ass About The Battlestar Galactica FinaleJim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-50896097462038975712009-05-01T14:57:00.000-05:002009-05-01T14:57:00.000-05:00I agree with this review, but I do think there is ...I agree with this review, but I do think there is one child who was not special on a sci fi show, Molly Obrien on TNG and DS9.wchfilmshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00167775892408561426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-86960531134155640082009-04-15T14:20:00.000-05:002009-04-15T14:20:00.000-05:00I see all your points, boss.
I liked it, but I th...I see all your points, boss.<br /><br />I liked it, but I think I liked it from a character arc completion stance in some areas less than I had a problem with the "God done it" schtick getting overplayed. <br /><br />SPOILER HERE<br /><br />Starbuck's end was a left turn. <br /><br />I can see her being the one "head character" everyone had flitting around in their melons. I can even stretch that to include her pristine return-trip Viper (might even explain why it's receiver was the only one detecting the signal). But Starbuck's end and the little dust-up that they worked in to define her first meeting with Lee seemed geared toward a different end for those two. All the "double dog dare you" crap made me expect Lee to ask her to stick around and haunt him or something. Don't think that would've been better or worse, but from a dialog/structure standpoint, I think they jinked when they should have rolled. <br /><br />The biggest stumbling block I had the first time around was the death of Cavill. At first, it just didn't ring true. I ended up rationalizing it: you've lost all hope of resurrection, the CIC is going to hell in a hand basket, and you had your little poetic yammering about your inefficient body being unable to properly appreciate a super nova. Sure, if this is all you have to look forward to...why not take all that rage and turn it into a decisive act. Almost a little Hemingway/Ketchum in that respect. <br /><br />Adama disappearing with Roslin, I can get. Lee letting him go and not eventually going back to take care of his father, though? C'mon. <br /><br />The unanimous abandonment of tech troubled me, too. As did the statement of "we'll bring them language" when in reality, complex communication was the first step toward all the stuff they just hocked. <br /><br />The last few minutes, with Head Six and Head Baltar in NYC I think was a nod to the obvious; the whole show was about however many current events topics that RDM and Eick wanted to strawman for us, this was the one that should capstone it, even if it was obvious and heavy-handed in its delivery. The mitochondrial Eve bit? I think the messianic child thing got a little under-explained and overblown there at the end. For X number of people to die for one child when this is the sum totality of the human race remaining as far as they knew when they raided the colony was bad ORM in the most explicit sense. <br /><br />I will allow for a little hope here, though: a lot of the "Recently, on BSG" stuff at the front end in the latter half of season four included cuts that actually weren't in the previous episodes here and there. I've heard rumors that up to an hour of material was cut from the finale alone, including a much longer conversation between Starbuck and the Old Man in the tank room with Anders. Maybe some of those missing scenes will mitigate some of the discontent some of us are feeling. <br /><br />I wanted a scientific explanation for the Head characters all along, but what I failed to realize was that Moore and Eick had all along forbidden the use of technobabble. They literally steered clear of all the things that McGuffin'd Trek in some instances. I had all sorts of outlandish theories about submolecular antenna arrays for cylon download tech and whatnot to explain how Six and Baltar had some mind-swappage on Caprica during the blast and umpteen other things that would've been very interesting, but in the end, it likely would've been a long James Callis expos that would've put a lot of us to sleep. <br /><br />I don't know. The first time through, I was just happy to finally reach the journey's end. About the fourth time through, I started picking at it. Now, I'm just hoping the out-takes fix some of it.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16418987113438669699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-56047559483761413052009-04-07T09:18:00.000-05:002009-04-07T09:18:00.000-05:00Vitrol is sort of my thing, Anon.Vitrol is sort of my thing, Anon.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-70038285429550669692009-04-07T08:27:00.000-05:002009-04-07T08:27:00.000-05:00A very good review. I agree 100% but with a little...A very good review. I agree 100% but with a little less vitriol - Hollywood is as Hollywood does LOLAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-77628515699354721412009-04-01T22:12:00.000-05:002009-04-01T22:12:00.000-05:00Your opinion of Farscape is pretty much the same a...Your opinion of Farscape is pretty much the same as mine, then. The first two seasons were pretty good, but then Scorpio started drooling a lot...<BR/><BR/>Now that I think of it, the "magic baby" effect was in Atlantis too. Teyla's child and the search for its father, which was the last season I watched. <BR/><BR/>I liked the first half of the BSG finale. Great space battle there.MWThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09446603415730525882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-9600872935792398512009-04-01T16:44:00.000-05:002009-04-01T16:44:00.000-05:00I was okay with season 3, actually. After the amo...I was okay with season 3, actually. After the amount of stress they'd been through in the first couple of seasons, seeing the wheels come off was to be expected.<BR/><BR/>Season 4 really lost it's way. Moore made the decision that he could only wrap things up emotionally or logically. He chose emotion.<BR/><BR/>It was a deliberate choice - I watched the special before the series finale and Moore said that he decided that "the plot didn't matter."<BR/><BR/>I think he'll regret making that decision. I certainly regret his decision.Chris Gerribhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09484367221527860100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-41364250039030444282009-04-01T16:16:00.000-05:002009-04-01T16:16:00.000-05:00Had to read this being a fan of the show, plus rea...Had to read this being a fan of the show, plus reading the top quote from Desperado...brilliant. Loved your rant...and much agree. Enough to piss off the pope it was...what a cop out.Juleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09649114965502950965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-79783888733888205982009-04-01T15:32:00.000-05:002009-04-01T15:32:00.000-05:00I've been watching BSG on dvds as fast as Amazon c...I've been watching BSG on dvds as fast as Amazon can ship them to me, and I'm at the beginning of season three and not liking it at all. Well, that's not true. I was happy with the first few episodes of 3, until they started focusing so much on the Cylons and Baltar. He's a whiny little prick and they should have had Gaeta kill him when he had the chance.<BR/><BR/>Thanks everyone for the spoiler warnings. I don't know how much worse it will get but unfortunately I will have to find out on my own.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02458727475454361013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-39996541510355409042009-04-01T11:36:00.000-05:002009-04-01T11:36:00.000-05:00Karl, rent the original two part, 4-hour mini seri...Karl, rent the original two part, 4-hour mini series. It's excellent. Somebody with extensive military background gave the director very good advice.<BR/><BR/>Hell, a large number of the props are actual surplus/salvage navy equipment. I can't count the number of sound powered phone handsets and 12MC squawk boxes I saw floating around. <BR/><BR/>But see, that's the whole problem. If the series had been silly scifi garbage from the beginning nobody would have given a crap - most especially me. But the mini-series was terrific, and the first two seasons of the series were even better - it really was "the best hour of television" each week. But according to an interview with the show's creator, Ron Moore, basically said that at the beginning of season three he decided that the show was really about emotion and people. OK, as a writer myself I'll buy that - but then he went completely away from action and mystery and into angst-ridden soap opera. The last two seasons were like being trapped in a house full of dysfunctional family members who are drunken louts that hate each other. Christ, if I want that I'll watch reruns of Gene Simmons Family Jewels.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-58896220947883601932009-04-01T10:44:00.000-05:002009-04-01T10:44:00.000-05:00I heard someone mention this yesterday (I have no ...I heard someone mention this yesterday (I have no perspective since I didn't watch any of it after 1980) and they summed it up as:<BR/><BR/>"Yay, it's over - like Yay, my rash is gone."<BR/><BR/>Is that about right?<BR/><BR/>Maybe I'll rent a season and see what I 'missed'.Karlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11854671368992589012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-14165546000683465222009-04-01T10:01:00.000-05:002009-04-01T10:01:00.000-05:00Spoiler? Oh the hell with it...Jim, I think you'r...Spoiler? Oh the hell with it...<BR/><BR/>Jim, I think you're right in that there were a whole bunch of Chekhov's guns lying around which didn't get used. The Cylon goo -- could've annealed the hull breaches when the Galactica made its last jump. Miraculous! Or it could've become an infection and damaged all tech -- I LIKE that possibility because it gives them a reason to go back to nature AND dissolving technology would explain how they don't find a Raptor 150,000 years later, etc.<BR/><BR/>I agree that the colonists, who've been abused from one end of the galaxy to the other and haven't agreed on one damned thing for four years, couldn't possibly unanimously agree to go native.<BR/><BR/>Dumb.<BR/><BR/>Dr. PhilDr. Phil (Physics)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11943336276878704753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-71045374282256136412009-04-01T08:42:00.000-05:002009-04-01T08:42:00.000-05:00Thank you, Jim.I haven't watched the show, but you...Thank you, Jim.<BR/><BR/>I haven't watched the show, but you summed it up rather nicely.<BR/><BR/>Now I can BS my way through a BSG themed conversation, should the need arise.Some dude stuck in the Midwesthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00852056495927941030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-86417065089738074372009-03-31T23:53:00.000-05:002009-03-31T23:53:00.000-05:00Spoiler______________________Anne, I think you put...Spoiler<BR/>______________________<BR/>Anne, I think you put your finger on it. It was a hackneyed, happy ending, sailing into the sunset ending. And it really didn't fit the show. Everybody suddenly shucks their battle weary, shell shocked, homesick angst and they all live happily ever after.<BR/><BR/>Personally I'd like to see them revisited a year or so later. About the time they realize that while <I>they</I> once traveled the stars, their <I>kids</I> will poke in the ground with pointy sticks and fear the night sky. Covered in bug bites and wishing desperately for a handful or antibiotics and a couple of feminine napkins and indoor plumbing...Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-7873016191162300492009-03-31T23:45:00.000-05:002009-03-31T23:45:00.000-05:00Oooh, I like that ending, Jim.I didn't mind the an...Oooh, I like that ending, Jim.<BR/><BR/>I didn't mind the angsty (though I usually do - I didn't like Farscape much, mostly because of Browder who I thought was a one trick pony - granted, I saw most of the 15-20 eps I saw out of order) because it made sense considering that they'd been "a sea" for two fraking years. About time for them to start coming apart at the seams.<BR/><BR/>***********SPOILER***************<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>However, the easy "God Did It" out annoyed me too. <BR/><BR/>In general, the finale seemed too <I>nice</I>. I'm not sure it's a spoiler to say I think more people should have died. Call me blood thirsty, but "and they lived happily ever after" is not really what I was looking for from such a "gritty" show.<BR/><BR/><BR/>***********END SPOILER*************Anne C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09444051201220766948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-62112738563413406882009-03-31T21:12:00.000-05:002009-03-31T21:12:00.000-05:00Dr. Phil, my beef isn't that they couldn't end it ...Dr. Phil, my beef isn't that they couldn't end it this way. They could, but they got lazy about it.<BR/><BR/>___________________<BR/>spoiler<BR/>___________________<BR/>Take the whole back to nature thing. Sorry,just don't see 30,000 folks who've been through hell suddenly deciding they'd like to live in a mud hut without cable for the rest of their (short and brutal) lives. <BR/><BR/>It's contrived.<BR/><BR/>If they needed to strip the refugees of their technology, then find a believable story line. The BSG is going to explode/leak radiation/suffer a catastrophic FTL spacewarp distortion of the dialithium crystals, the weird cylon goo is nanotech that suddenly runs away into the classic gray goo nano apocolypse - which, oddly enough, would fit with the whole "runaway technology" meme. Everybody needs to abandon ship, take only what you can carry before it spreads to the fleet, which it will. Boom. Stranded. <BR/><BR/>I can think of a dozen ways to get the same ending without God Did it. I can think of a dozen endings that allow for God Did It, that make the hair stand up on the back of your head.<BR/><BR/>I can think of a dozen ways to close the plot holes, but you would have had to had shit happen in season four other than the angsty crying and drinking bit.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Imagine: The final scene: A crack of light, a fall of dust, and crash of stone and a crypt that has not seen light in 160,000 years is opened high in the mountains, deep in the bedrock. The remains of a Raptor, the mummified remains of a man wearing Colonial Admirals bars. A messenger. In his skeletal hands are crystalline data stores, the knowledge and lessons of his long lost civilization, and a warning, a description of the cylons. <BR/><BR/>The camera pulls back. The tomb raiders are...<BR/><BR/>:::glowing red eye:::fade to black:::Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-66899617696339871792009-03-31T20:56:00.000-05:002009-03-31T20:56:00.000-05:00MWT, actually I liked Farscape a lot. Especially t...MWT, actually I liked Farscape a lot. Especially the first couple of seasons when they weren't afraid to try weird and new things. I loved the concept of the Peacekeepers and Crichton's adversarial relationship with them - and his complex relationship with the rest of the core cast. I especially loved the conflict between Crichton and Crais. I wanted to know more about the Peacekeeper society, their vast city-like ships, the way they treated duty and honor and conflict, they reminded me of the Steel Angels from George R. R. Martin's Federal Empire stories. In Fact, a lot of Farscape reminded me of GRRM.<BR/><BR/>Ben Browder's smartass response to the hostile universe and the way he interacted with it appealed to me, because it is probably exactly how I would act in a similar situation.<BR/><BR/>I began to lose interest when the show became about Scorpio and whatever weird mindfuck inside Crichton's head the writers came up with that week. Once the magic baby arrived (in this case the baby spaceship, and then Areyn Sun became pregnant) the show went downhill rapidly. <BR/><BR/>The last season I barely watched, though I have all the episodes on DVD.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-83498571611045176382009-03-31T20:55:00.000-05:002009-03-31T20:55:00.000-05:00Over on my LJ blog I commented that there was alwa...Over on my LJ blog I commented that there was always a good chance that they couldn't end this without pissing everyone off. This would not be the first SF series where I refuse to accept the actual finale as part of the canon. (grin)<BR/><BR/>Since SF/F tends to get manhandled by idiots in the front office, there's a part of me that can't get too hepped up about all this.<BR/><BR/>Then there's the part which would remind those front office types that unlike the Cylons in the original BSG -- I know how to shoot straight. (grin)<BR/><BR/>Dr. PhilDr. Phil (Physics)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11943336276878704753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-79220755889781945672009-03-31T20:22:00.000-05:002009-03-31T20:22:00.000-05:00Bearing in mind that I like angst, and I'm not sur...Bearing in mind that I like angst, and I'm not sure if I saw the finale or not (did the title have a "Part I" in it? because that's the last one I saw) ...<BR/><BR/>I actually came into it with the opposite reaction. I didn't really start watching it until somewhere in season 2, because the show looked like a soap opera to me. The first season, we got tossed into a whole slew of complex, already-established relationships, most of which was over my head (I figured it was because I'd never seen the 70s version), and I couldn't get into it. Then the Athena character caught my attention, and I started watching to see what happened with her, which led me to watch it for everything else.<BR/><BR/>Looking at your above-spoilerline comments about angst, I'm curious: what did you think of Farscape?MWThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09446603415730525882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-91404405473524605582009-03-31T19:41:00.000-05:002009-03-31T19:41:00.000-05:00I felt the same. A cop-out, nothing more, nothing ...I felt the same. A cop-out, nothing more, nothing less, by the writers.<BR/><BR/>Season 1 and 2 were some of the best episodes I've ever seen of a tv show. Then they ended up on New Caprica and it sucked. There were several good episodes in the second half of Season 3, but then Starbuck dies or whatever the hell happened and it just got... lame.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-30048695721892384232009-03-31T18:47:00.000-05:002009-03-31T18:47:00.000-05:00I agree with every single part of this review. I w...I agree with every single part of this review. I was going to rant about it myself, but then thought "hey, someone else has probably done it better" - and here it it. Hats off.<BR/><BR/> - ChrisChris Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14515745918100143145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-39483995891136764742009-03-31T18:20:00.000-05:002009-03-31T18:20:00.000-05:00No, Janiece, even with my deep, and abiding faith ...No, Janiece, even with my deep, and abiding faith in a loving God, etc. I thought the BSG finale was a colossal copout.<BR/><BR/>But, I had given up on it long before, when the angst really set in. When even the trailers are nothing but people crying, and fighting, and whining and whatnot, I realize there's going to be little of value in the final product.David Klechahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18294981356889237568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-25299296737901552752009-03-31T18:09:00.000-05:002009-03-31T18:09:00.000-05:00Jim, I felt cheated, too, although I have to wonde...Jim, I felt cheated, too, although I have to wonder if someone of a more...<EM>spiritual</EM>...persuasion might find it more satisfying.<BR/><BR/>In my book, "god did it" is never a satisfactory answer.Janiecehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14190655869710465713noreply@blogger.com