Battlestar Galactica: SPOILERS for season 4
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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
- It's time to try defying gravity
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I don't like Gaius as a person, but James Callis is so excellent that I find him compelling anyway. I'm guessing people do think he's a bit batty but write it off as being the quirks of genius.
I'll be interested in your reaction to the finale and to season 4 as a whole. The show really is far more than the sum of its parts, but I still have serious qualms with how the religious themes are woven in. I didn't notice it nearly as early on as you did, though, and was rather taken back (although in rewatching that surprise isn't particularly justified).
I'll be interested in your reaction to the finale and to season 4 as a whole. The show really is far more than the sum of its parts, but I still have serious qualms with how the religious themes are woven in. I didn't notice it nearly as early on as you did, though, and was rather taken back (although in rewatching that surprise isn't particularly justified).
And it is said by the Eldar that in the water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the sea, and yet know not what for what they listen.
Even though I don't like Gaius' character, what bugs me most is how improbably trusting people are of him. It particularly drove me nuts that he was asked to create the cylon detector with absolutely nobody watching or investigating or questioning or anything. The commander assigned him an assistant when it first came up but the writers quickly dropped the idea and by the time it was done he was working on it completely by himself. Why isn't anybody asking if the shifty weirdo is maybe cylon too?? Argh! There have been several odd and implausible things like that in his story lines and the fact that I don't like is character to begin with only makes it worse...
There were several events in season one which we are explicitly pushed to believe were "acts of god". At first I imagined that they were going perhaps somewhere a bit more psychological with the whole idea but by now, especially with all the prophecy stuff that keeps coming true, the idea that there is a god controlling all these destinies feels pretty certain. I certainly won't mind if I'm proven wrong!!
Off to start 2.5!
There were several events in season one which we are explicitly pushed to believe were "acts of god". At first I imagined that they were going perhaps somewhere a bit more psychological with the whole idea but by now, especially with all the prophecy stuff that keeps coming true, the idea that there is a god controlling all these destinies feels pretty certain. I certainly won't mind if I'm proven wrong!!
Off to start 2.5!
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
- It's time to try defying gravity
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- Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:35 pm
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Deus ex machinas are always fun!
As for Baltar...they did once question whether he was involved with the Cylons, and I'm guessing that after that was proved untrue, they were much more willing to chalk things up to eccentricity rather than going Cylon hunting. I'm not saying that's logical, but it could have made them much slower to accuse him a second time. Just a thought.
That is true, but I somehow managed to completely ignore that. It didn't gibe with my sense of the show nor my inclinations, so I brushed it to the side and thus was taken off guard by Season 4. Six and Baltar's relationship with God also gets overshadowed by Roslin and her Arrow of Apollo plotline, which I much prefered, I think because it felt less preachy and more mythic. I'm not going to say anymore, though, because that would get spoilery.There were several events in season one which we are explicitly pushed to believe were "acts of god".
As for Baltar...they did once question whether he was involved with the Cylons, and I'm guessing that after that was proved untrue, they were much more willing to chalk things up to eccentricity rather than going Cylon hunting. I'm not saying that's logical, but it could have made them much slower to accuse him a second time. Just a thought.
And it is said by the Eldar that in the water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the sea, and yet know not what for what they listen.
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Yes, that's a thread all through the culture (of desperate grief-stricken people on the run who have to fight for their lives and know they may well die tomorrow, so it seems like a very probable crutch for them to turn to; plus it can be manufactured pretty easily). I do like that they don't flinch from showing the problems it causes.
Oh, and I have to say that Season Three may well slay you. The writing, not the drinking. And there is a long visual-effects-dependent sequence in the fourth episode that . . . well. Just . . .
But don't worry, in the next episode they get back to exploding your brain with the writing and acting.
Oh, and I have to say that Season Three may well slay you. The writing, not the drinking. And there is a long visual-effects-dependent sequence in the fourth episode that . . . well. Just . . .
But don't worry, in the next episode they get back to exploding your brain with the writing and acting.“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Did you mean that in a good way or a bad way? I'm on Ep7 of Season 3 and I felt the story lines get much strong so far.Primula Baggins wrote:Oh, and I have to say that Season Three may well slay you. The writing, not the drinking.
Which one did you mean? Is that during the crazy escape sequence?Primula Baggins wrote:And there is a long visual-effects-dependent sequence in the fourth episode that . . . well. Just . . .
OW MY BRAIN!Primula Baggins wrote:But don't worry, in the next episode they get back to exploding your brain with the writing and acting.
I was really hoping that Gaius would change after the horrific trauma of his presidency but nope, same old weird, weaselly Gaius.
But yes, I'm happy to say that Season 2 was close to losing me but Season 3's got me way into it again. The New Caprica storyline was an extremely bold move of the writers but it really paid off!I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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You're watching a lot faster than I realized!
Yes, I meant the crazy escape sequence, particularly Galactica's arrival on the scene. I'm not normally a special-effects spaceship battle type—they're fine and, if not too long, can be entertaining, but I show up more for the characters and writing as a rule.
But that sequence was insane.
(And I meant Season 3 will slay you in a good way. )
Yes, I meant the crazy escape sequence, particularly Galactica's arrival on the scene. I'm not normally a special-effects spaceship battle type—they're fine and, if not too long, can be entertaining, but I show up more for the characters and writing as a rule.
But that sequence was insane.
(And I meant Season 3 will slay you in a good way.
)“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
It's not my fault I had to keep watching till past 2am after getting home Thanksgiving night! Damn you BSG!!Primula Baggins wrote:You're watching a lot faster than I realized!
(And yes, that sequence was edge-of-your seat fantastic. I've marveled many times at how damn expensive this show looks.)
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
After watching yet one more episode highlighting the supposed romantic tension between Apollo and Starbuck (this time thru boxing of all things) I gotta say that every attempt at adding romance to these stories has failed for me. There are a lot of things the show is very, very good at but IMO love and romance is not one of them.
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
- Posts: 40005
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
- Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
- Contact:
It's coming from a very unromantic worldview in every sense of the word, certainly. But IMO, love ends up mattering a lot, for better or for worse. When I started crying in the final episode, that was why. Just sayin'.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
One hopes that Starbuck's "destiny" wasn't TO GO F*&%$ING INSANE AND COMMIT SUICIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
- Posts: 40005
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
- Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
- Contact:
Isn't it nice when a TV show can make you care? 
<cackles sadistically>
<cackles sadistically>
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
