The Glade 4.0

So, I finally got around to this "Netflix" thing. That's actually pretty cool. After watching like every episode of Top Gear, South Park, and a couple of other things, I finally got around to watching what I actually got it for. BSG. I've wanted to see it for a while, and never really got around to it. BBC America was going to rerun the entire series from the beginning, and I set my DVR... but I missed the first 4 eps. So I said Frak it (actually, I didn't say Frak, but still), and got me some Netflix.

First impressions... Brilliant. Well done FX, cinematography, and Bear McCreary's score is just epic. 4 seasons later, Last Impressions... WTF?

So, that's the TL;DR version.

The somewhat longer version?

Its... complicated. I absolutely love my sci-fi like my cheese. Hard and sharp. No bloody Treknobabble, real characters having to deal with realistic situations. They suffer, and grow, and then triumph and then suffer some more. Overall, with a few exceptions, it made internal sense (for the most part), was well written, and ended fairly well (with a few exceptions.).

A couple of questions that I don't think were sufficiently answered.
Where the hell did Starbuck go? Where did she get the Viper from? Why did they tack on that BS at the very end with Baltar and Caprica? Other than those exceptions, the ending made internal sense. I get the need to "start over", and that didn't bother me too much.

Season by season though, Season One was fan-frakking-tastic. Season Two was almost as good. Season three kinda fell down near the middle around about where they found the "Eye of Jupiter". And Season Four? It wasn't... bad. It tended to drag a bit, and I wasn't fond of them handing the Idiot Ball to Gaeta during the coup. That felt a little... I dunno, out of character for him. I actually had the thought when Tigh was wading into the ocean on Cylon Earth that he was looking for a shark to jump. The battle against the Colony was awesome. Utterly awesome. I cheered when Tyrol got his vengeance. As for the ending... Yeah. I think they went a little too far towards the metaphysical. I was glad that Helo didn't bleed out, and Adama and Roslin got their happy ending (after a fashion). Caprica 6 and Baltar was done well (Gaius' line about 'I know a little about farming' /sniffle, had me a little choked up.). Change the Starbuck end, pull the 150,000 years later bit and its a FAR more solid ending.

In any event, technically I felt it was brilliant. The SFX were pretty solid, the space physics were pretty believable, and the Vipers and Raiders moved like they were in space in space, and in atmo they moved like atmo. (The Galactica jumping into the atmo on New Caprica was *particularly* epic. Adama has some *serious* cojones.) The camerawork (lots of steadicam and handheld stuff with zooms and pans and stuff) really helped with the immersion and was continued into the CGI stuff. And the music. Oh gods the music. Bear McCreary is a musical genius. The music worked so well with the show and was almost another character at times.

So, overall, I loved it. Right up until Starbuck went poof.

END OF LINE.

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Holy shitsnacks!

The problems was that the writers didn't know what they were doing --the much vaunted "plan" of the Cylons was not really defined by the writers. It was just a story hook and sounded good but they didn't flesh it out in pre-production so scrambled to make something of it.

Heck, they didn't even decide there WOULD be a final 5 cylons until much later, let alone that they were all survivors of the Holocaust the Cylons initiated.

Starbuck 2.0, Head Baltar, Head 6, and Head Leoben are all agents of some higher power

its vaguely hinted that Head Baltar & Head 6 are agents of the Devil ("he hates being called that (God)") , and Starbuck at least is an Angel of God.

I watched every episode once and only once. And I enjoyed it, even if it got a bit too mystical/religious0y for me in (many) parts. I have not gone back to watch any episodes a second time, and probably never will.

That's pretty much how I feel about the series. A fun romp once through, but after that: yeah I'm done.

I didn't even bother with the spin-offs or mini movies (other than Razor).

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

My wife and I just finished this (and Firefly...go go free trial month of Netflix!!!) and it is a rare series that makes my wife get the "it's 1 AM and I have to work tomorrow, but let's just watch one more episode" thing going.

Watched "The Plan" afterward and it explained a few things that left my head scratching (like how the Six that accused Baltar disappeared) and provided a few boobies to boot.

I'm rewatching the original BSG...about 2/3 way through, and it has one thing going for it over the new: hotter women. Jane Seymour = top hottie. And whoever played Athena...I'm be in my bunk (and I now know where that little catch phrase came from too!). And all the models they hired to play girl pilots. Them too. And Cassiopea. And the green Orion slave girl. (j/k).

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One of my fondest television moments was the lead-up hype to the start of the third season. They left off season 2 in quite a predicament and promised all sorts of awesome to resolve it. It most definitely lived up to its hype, both with the poisoning and that fantastic drop-in-and-jump-out Galactica maneuver. So much awesome.

It had its down moments later on for sure... I remember a particularly bad episode about boxing. But all in all it kept fairly awesome. I liked the religious aspects to it a lot, though I'm a time-tested sucker for religious undertones in any series, especially if they grow in importance for the main plot's climax. It helps that I'm not too nitpicky about the mechanics of how all that sort of stuff may work for in-universe lore and whatever else, probably.

I have yet to rewatch the series at all. I'll come back to it someday though. And it will be frakkin awesome.

This indeed was terrible. In fact, I think that's where took an extended break from my Netflix BSG marathon.

The boxing episode was one of the best.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Still need to watch this.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Theres something wrong with you people. The boxing episode was special. Lee and Starbuck going at one another after all that love and angst and codependance... It was brilliant. You never had a love hate relationship in your lives?

I really loved the series starting with the Pilot episode, I can't think of a more chilling scene than the one with 6 and the baby. The thing about it that makes it work IMHO is there is something for everyone. Political intrigue, religious mumbo jumbo, space fights etc. I don't think I have met anyone that loved every episode and I know some that didn't like large chunks, but loved the rest. I thought it was really well done even though there were a few episodes here and there that I didn't care for.

Oh and the jump into atmo, fighter deployment and jump out was one of the most amazing scenes to me in all of sci fi.

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I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil

I have to agree. It was one of the best in my mind. Then the fight with Commander Adama and The Chief...great stuff.

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Raell Kromwell

I didn't get that impression at all. I just re-watched that scene, and Baltar says, "you know he doesn't like that name." Referring to being called God. I don't see how that implies that he's the Devil. It seems to me, like he's some sort of higher power, but not an all powerful "God-type" figure, and therefore doesn't like to be referred to that way. And the fact that they all but say that Starbuck is an Angel, and the many, many references to God's Plan, and the Hand of God, I really don't think that they were trying to imply that the Devil was the true power behind everything that happened. But I could be wrong.

All in all, I frakkin' loved the entire series. There were a few weaker episodes scattered throughout, but overall, it was fantastic. And I'll echo some of the earlier comments about "The Jump" that Galactica made in-atmosphere. Truly. Frakking. Epic.

I know a lot of people didn't like the way the series ended. I am not one of them. I loved the last episode. I thought it ended really well. Many people felt the whole "Starbuck as an Angel" thing came outta nowhere, but I disagree. As I said earlier, they referred to God's Plan and the Hand of God from the very first episode. And it was clear that at least a few of the characters believed there was some higher power at work, so I don't think the Starbuck = Angel thing was out of the question.

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"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian

I've only seen it one time through, final season just recently but it's been a while for the previous ones.

I think Starbuck was saved by those .... things... from the original series in the bright white crystal ships. I believe Starbuck called them angels in that series.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Wow they even had action figures in all white from those episodes in 1978:

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Sorry one more =p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Lights

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

They had to wear all white, and all their equipment had to be white? Was this while they were on one of those ships, or in the presence of them?

Interesting. Let me add that my "Similarities between Battlestar Galactica and the Mormon religion, because the writer was Mormon" rolodex in my brain. I should really watch the entire series I suppose to really catch all the references.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

From what I remember, the white ships would kinda come up behind them when they flew in their vipers, they'd make a loud hum noise and the people would black out. When they woke up they were all dressed in white, on the alien/angel ship. They were called Seraphs which is a not very subtle reference to angels.

In one episode the Seraphs fought a demon in the form of a human who ended up getting elected to the presidency of the human colonies.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe