The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

calibellus — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:44:53 -0000

Well if you're done with BSG, any chance you want to tell us what you think of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles?

My main issue with it is that has few, if any, likeable characters. (Pretty much the same problem BSG has, actually. Though I do like Helo and Athena, aka the only functional couple in the show.)

On the other hand, I find Agent Ellison fascinating, along with Cameron. And the show's had a number of very strong non-white supporting characters. (Ellison's still a supporting character, though I'd rather watch him than John Connor any day of the week.)

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

bago — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:25:05 -0000

At least watch until the atmospheric raptor launch. It's way more epic than the trench run in Star Wars.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Roger Tompkins — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:37:21 -0000

For me, as a fifty year SF fan ,(still can bring my self to accept "Sci Fi"), it worked as drama but not as SF. The heart of the SF writer is "What if...." and the requirement of the reader is suspension of disbelief. To follow most SF you have to know enough science to take the speed of light as a limit and the writer has to help you say "ok, now that we are past light speed ..." BSG did good characterizations but little to aid me in accepting their wide "What if..."

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

undercat — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:23:41 -0000

I'm a Sci-Fi fan who never liked BSG. Too ponderous, too heavy, too self-serious and congratulatory, and with some very skeevy race and gender issues. Then again, I was raised on TOS and classic British Sci-Fi (Old Who, Blake's 7, Sapphire and Steel, etc), so I'm constitutionally unable to tolerate SF shows that aren't a bit camp.

Anyways, no need to take back the membership card from TNC just because he doesn't like a single (overrated) show.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Doug — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:48:18 -0000

I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only nerd who found BSG non-compelling. Ultimately, I found the central "what does it mean to be human" theme uninteresting, simply because the novels of Greg Egan (specifically Diaspora) had already blown my head wide apart on that score.

And regarding Venture Bros. - Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Anonymous Coward — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:58:02 -0000

Well at least you got to find out that you have bad taste. That's probably useful knowledge.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Thomas R — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:51:03 -0000

There are science fiction authors and editors who don't like the show. Granted that's a different world than "Sci-Fi", but I think there's Sci-Fiers who dislike it too.

I'm in a weird place on it, weirder than any other show before. That being I'm fascinated by it, and will watch it to the end, but I don't exactly like it. I don't really find any of the human characters likeable and a good chunk of the Cylons are also unlikeable. For me I have to have a character to "root for" if I'm going to like a show.

The only experience like this I've had is the movie "The Great White Hype." I hated all the characters, to varying degrees, but found the movie kind of fun. Although it's not a movie I'm very interested in seeing again.

My opinion is dragged down by the fact I could never get into Mad Men or The Wire and obviously by my weird political views.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Robert M — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:37:10 -0000

Where did you get to?

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Scott in AL — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:58:59 -0000

Now you can watch Firefly!!! You can watch the whole thing in a few nights. Its even on hulu.com.

http://www.hulu.com/firefly?c=Science-Fiction

Scott

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

lighthouse — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:08:27 -0000

Pffftttt! As the Official Spokesperson for Federation of Sci-Fi,I hearby revoke your Sci-Fi Nerd Credentials. Of course you remain a member in good standing with full privileges in the Nerdom of Fantasy and Magic. And your special Comic Book Expertise pip for Sci-Fi remains in effect (not sure how that works with the badge revoked but I only speak for the powers, I dont have to understand)

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

M.C. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:21:55 -0000

I love Baltar, if only in the love-to-hate sense. And I hate the cylon-in-the-head stuff, in a hate-to-hate sense. It could have been good, but it drags.

It's one of my favorite shows overall, but only when I am in certain moods. When I'm in those moods, I get a stack of disks from Netflix and watch them straight through. The rest of the time, I can't imagine doing that.

There are books like that too. Whether they sit right or not depends on what else is happening in life.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Caleb Das — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:52:06 -0000

Agreed with the Venture Bros. But honestly, you should probably check out Frisky Dingo first.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

sv — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:20:24 -0000

"Man, I only hunt black vampires, I don't know what the PC term for that is." -Jefferson Twilight, The Venture Bros. (see under 'Crippling Overspecialization')

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

lemmycaution — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:18:10 -0000

BSG opened great. A great first act: The first season or so was great for the tone of doom and catastrophe and desperation. Very well done. It was always best when Starbuck and Bill Adama --the best actors with the best parts-- were front and center. All the "mythology" stuff always seemed half-baked in the mode of X-FILES. Yeah I couldn't stand Gaius or the platinum Six: characters for the 13-year old boy demographic. The episodes with the badass female Admiral were terrific though. The "political" stuff was always heavy-handed, even while provocative. When I rewatched the entirety of THE WIRE recently, I realized these shows were on entirely different levels in terms of acting, writing, and social content.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

tricstmr — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:25:36 -0000

Too bad... but I understand..

Personally.. I find it especially dangerous to start watching shows where everyone else has said "this is SO TOTALLY AWESOME, YOU'LL LOVE IT!".. because often, I don't then..

Reverse expectations problem.. perhaps.. which is why I'm kinda leery of netflixing The Wire.. which all have assured me is super duper awesome..

Well.. maybe I'll do it anyway.. and then I can see.. (not that I have all that much time to watch anything right now..)

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

EvilCornbread — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:25:15 -0000

BSG can be a tough show to love. There's tons of stuff that I find almost unbearable (most of the Baltar stuff, Sharon, etc).

But at the same time, it has some absolutely brilliant stuff. Adama and the President. Starbuck and Apollo. Hell, just how Apollo has changed throughout the series.

And the Battlestar's freefall into the atmosphere, jumping away before it hit the ground, stands as one of the all-time-great sci-fi moments.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

SeanH — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:39:27 -0000

Same thing almost happened with me and Lost during season 3 (I am not alone).

Word. If it weren't for the wife I'd have tuned out on both BSG and Lost quite a while ago. Personally, I kind of like them, but I'm also glad the two of them are nearly over.

In a month and a half The Tudors will be back on and along with the two sci-fi shows I have Life to watch in the meantime so I'm pretty happy with the quality of TV lately.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Ovid — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:35:44 -0000

"But what majority are we talking about here? The majority of Sci-Fi channel watchers? The majority of the geek community? I like the show, and at one point, thought it was the best show on tv not named The Wire (which means we obviously have opposite tastes--no biggie), but in tv terms, there are probably more people who don't know the show exists than who watch it." - Incertus

The majority of people who are willing to give purportedly intelligent television at least one season before coming to their own conclusions? Point taken, though.

Oddly, I really like BSG partly for dealing with Big Philosophical Questions, but when I watched The Wire I felt like I was in a sociology lecture by a particularly partisan lecturer. I think there's something alienating about sci-fi as a genre that allows that sort of issues-based abstraction, whereas I was much less forgiving of The Wire.

The Shield, on the other hand, was a true masterpiece.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Gully — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:27:03 -0000

Once you said how much Six was bothering you I was on a death watch for this post. Sure she was blah... but I didn't find her actually irritating. Knew it was just a matter of time.

But there is still Mad Men.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

BBG — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:22:06 -0000

Ahh well.

Personally I hate 2 & ½ Men; but supposedly 99% of the Amrican audience loves that dreck.

To each his own…

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Matthew Struhar — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:07:28 -0000

I love Battlestar, but I get why people wouldn't keep watching. I was like that with Heroes, falling in and out of love with it during the first season, being one of the few who actually enjoyed the second and now am completely tuned out. Same thing almost happened with me and Lost during season 3 (I am not alone).

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Deborah — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:49:16 -0000

@HIcks: Maybe it's that I'm a science geek, married to and friends with same, but Baltar's role as some sort of uber-human, the greatest brilliance married to the greatest self-regard, his automatic "not my fault!" reaction to everything that was his fault, which is very human....I kept finding myself in little "What does it mean that Gaius Baltar represents me? Gaius Baltar!" fugues.

And then season 4.0 that became explicit, with Chip Elosha pointing out to Laura that you can't justify saving humanity using only your favorite exemplars--if humanity is worth saving, it has to include Gaius and Caine and Callie and the other very human humans.

Laura and Gaius attempting to negotiate with the hybrid was The. Funniest. Thing. Ever. And so very human, trying to get their heads around something not human.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Incertus (Brian) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:47:25 -0000

Screw majority opinion.

Indeed. That's why I don't watch American Idol.

Okay, there are other reasons why I don't watch American Idol. But what majority are we talking about here? The majority of Sci-Fi channel watchers? The majority of the geek community? I like the show, and at one point, thought it was the best show on tv not named The Wire (which means we obviously have opposite tastes--no biggie), but in tv terms, there are probably more people who don't know the show exists than who watch it.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Jonathan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:46:52 -0000

Honestly TNC, I had given up on the show too, at the end of the 3rd season. But then my brother ended up getting into the show, so I started watching Season 4 with him. The first half of four is just as aimless as the third season, and I almost didn't come back for the last half-season that's currently airing.

The last four episodes to air have been some of the best that Battlestar has to offer. "The Oath" stands with any of the best episodes in Season 1. It's not unsurprising that the writers have stepped their game up with a firm end in sight, but it's also likely that this is a case of too little, too late. So I'm not telling you to plow through in the hopes of some awesome payoff at the end. Just that the last 4 episodes have contained some of the most compelling and entertaining drama and action I've ever seen on TV.

Re: Battlestar Blogging: Endgame

Incertus (Brian) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:40:46 -0000

Don't feel bad--I disagree with the people who say that BSG took time to get into. I think that if the show didn't grab you in the first couple of episodes, it wasn't going to, simple as that. For the life of me, I can't understand why some BSG fans loved seasons 3 and the beginning of 4, but some obviously did.

But if you want to give it an old school try sometime, there's always the chance that the original could be resurrected.