![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
No, there won't be a spoiler cut here. Just glance overt his post or trust me to not ruin your fun if you haven't caught up yet to Sunday's Season Finale.
Battlestar Galactica (current TV version) [BSG] is the anti-Babylon 5 [B5]. While I had great interest in B5 when it first came out -- right up until the Telegothis thing and then I dropped out -- I can't stand to watch it in re-runs. Once I am no longer surprised by the twists and turns of the story, the actual lines of dialog that flatten every character into a caricature, coupled with the embarrassing incompetence at, or lack of desire to, actually work said lines into something worthy of being called a performance on the part of most of the actors, just becomes too painful to watch. Once I know you will flatten a planet three episodes from now there is no point in watching you say single-minded crap without a hint there's more to your character than a vessel for getting the morality play from point A to point A-and-a-half in this particular episode.
In contrast, the last couple of episodes of BSG have had atrocious sequences of situations, but god are the actors running with what they got. The best example is the character Lee Adama delivering a speech in a situation where the fact that he was delivering that speech was so insultingly absurd it almost seemed a dare from the production staff to turn the TV off and never watch the show again, if it wasn't for the fact that the actual lines and progression of the speech was so good, and Jamie Bamber was working so hard, down to the faint almost-crying croak in his voice, with such great results (as always) that turning off was impossible. The actors all have been doing riveting portrayals of actual people trying to stay sane in an impossible situation, or entities looking for order but being corrupted dealing with these messy emotions foisted on them by interacting with messy humans. I am buying who they are, something half the cast in B5 never did for me.
The Season Finale is doing a down-the-line BSG Season Finale, though:
It was all there. And if you couldn't predict the last minute the moment Lee went off to check out the sighting, you have just not been paying attention.
I hope all these ideas and coincidences start getting put into a coherent framework with some answers next season. I have it on second-hand personal account that Ron Moore is not that interested in a strict description of 'reality' as much as telling a great story; supposedly even he hasn't decided what the Six is in Balthar's head as long as the episodes stay good. He'd better start making up his mind fast; as Lost and Twin Peaks showed, there's only so much dicking around the audience can stand before they want some satisfying answers for their investment in the mystery.
Ok, so now that I ranted about science fiction television as if anyone cares, I might as well go all the way into LJ minutia: breakfast was a smoothie of a splash of OJ, a splash of cranberry juice, a splash of blueberry juice, a banana, frozen blueberries and frozen dark raspberries, and 40 grams of whey protein powder (natural flavor). Then I had a bowl of a combination of muesli and a flax-based cereal with milk, and a glass of water with my vitamins.
I did not cut myself today, not that I have that habit. But this is LJ after all, and if I am going all the way I thought I should mention that too.
Battlestar Galactica (current TV version) [BSG] is the anti-Babylon 5 [B5]. While I had great interest in B5 when it first came out -- right up until the Telegothis thing and then I dropped out -- I can't stand to watch it in re-runs. Once I am no longer surprised by the twists and turns of the story, the actual lines of dialog that flatten every character into a caricature, coupled with the embarrassing incompetence at, or lack of desire to, actually work said lines into something worthy of being called a performance on the part of most of the actors, just becomes too painful to watch. Once I know you will flatten a planet three episodes from now there is no point in watching you say single-minded crap without a hint there's more to your character than a vessel for getting the morality play from point A to point A-and-a-half in this particular episode.
In contrast, the last couple of episodes of BSG have had atrocious sequences of situations, but god are the actors running with what they got. The best example is the character Lee Adama delivering a speech in a situation where the fact that he was delivering that speech was so insultingly absurd it almost seemed a dare from the production staff to turn the TV off and never watch the show again, if it wasn't for the fact that the actual lines and progression of the speech was so good, and Jamie Bamber was working so hard, down to the faint almost-crying croak in his voice, with such great results (as always) that turning off was impossible. The actors all have been doing riveting portrayals of actual people trying to stay sane in an impossible situation, or entities looking for order but being corrupted dealing with these messy emotions foisted on them by interacting with messy humans. I am buying who they are, something half the cast in B5 never did for me.
The Season Finale is doing a down-the-line BSG Season Finale, though:
It was all there. And if you couldn't predict the last minute the moment Lee went off to check out the sighting, you have just not been paying attention.
I hope all these ideas and coincidences start getting put into a coherent framework with some answers next season. I have it on second-hand personal account that Ron Moore is not that interested in a strict description of 'reality' as much as telling a great story; supposedly even he hasn't decided what the Six is in Balthar's head as long as the episodes stay good. He'd better start making up his mind fast; as Lost and Twin Peaks showed, there's only so much dicking around the audience can stand before they want some satisfying answers for their investment in the mystery.
Ok, so now that I ranted about science fiction television as if anyone cares, I might as well go all the way into LJ minutia: breakfast was a smoothie of a splash of OJ, a splash of cranberry juice, a splash of blueberry juice, a banana, frozen blueberries and frozen dark raspberries, and 40 grams of whey protein powder (natural flavor). Then I had a bowl of a combination of muesli and a flax-based cereal with milk, and a glass of water with my vitamins.
I did not cut myself today, not that I have that habit. But this is LJ after all, and if I am going all the way I thought I should mention that too.
