Authored by: evening on Monday, January 30 2006 @ 07:33 PM

whatever indeed.

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Authored by: casey on Tuesday, January 31 2006 @ 12:36 PM

You know, prior to readding the NY article, I had tried to watch BG, largely because you geeks had so regularly sung its praises. I found the first epsisode tedious, common, and full of self-conscious gravitas. the NY piece actually made me go back to it! Now, having watched almost all of the first season, I find it tedious, common and full of self-conscious gravitas. But I'm hooked, nonetheless. Groundbreaking SF? Hardly. It's Star Trek with Ridley Scott-isms.

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"Where a beast has fangs & claws, I have talent."

-Klaus Kinski

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Authored by: billsimmon on Tuesday, January 31 2006 @ 02:35 PM

I find it tedious, common and full of self-conscious gravitas. But I'm hooked, nonetheless. Groundbreaking SF? Hardly. It's Star Trek with Ridley Scott-isms.

Casey, I actually mostly agree with your summation, though the "Star Trek with Ridley Scott-isms" remark was cold, yo. It's not grounbreaking SF. It really is groundbreaking TV-SF though, but not for the reasons stated in the NY piece. BSG is inhabited with characters that are actually 3-dimensional and behave in ways that real people behave (for the most part). What you call "gravitas" might be what I mean: in most (maybe all?) previous TV SF, if you stripped away all of the SF trappings and just had the characters in a room talking about mundane, everyday stuff, the conversations would be cheesy caricatures of real people speaking (seriously, even the icons of good TV-SF--put Picard and Mal Reynolds in a room together talking about the weather and it would be funny for us nerds to watch but everyone else would be all "what's that gay British guy doing with that dumb space cowboy?"). The BSG characters, however, could just as easily be cast in NYPD Blue or the West Wing and be as believable as those shows' characters. So I think the better way to put it is: BSG is NYPD Blue in space. (I was going to write "JAG in space" but the BSG charaters are way more real than the JAG ones.)

BSG has all of the qualities that make a really good TV show: 3-D characters, clear & compelling motivations, sharp dialogue, etc. It is quality TV like other critically acclaimed shows are and everyone is freaking out because oh my god, it's a scifi show! We SF fans are not surprised, just pleased that it fianlly happened.

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Authored by: evening on Tuesday, January 31 2006 @ 09:08 PM

exactly Bill. except calling Picard/Stewart gay. He is so not!

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Authored by: casey on Wednesday, February 01 2006 @ 08:56 AM

I call you geeks, but I am a sci-fi fan as well. Maybe not quite as
devoted as some — there IS music, after al! — but enough to feel
confident with its talking points.

I agree with Bill's statement that BSG is like NYPD Blue in space.
Well, maybe not NYPD blue; more like TJ Hooker. Hmm, wasn't
Shatner in that? Kidding, kidding.

I guess I'm just waiing for Six Feet Under or the Sopranos (season
1-4, anyway) in space. 'Til then, ol Galactica will have to do.

PS: I grew up watching the original. I still have my Cylon Raider ship
somehwere.





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"Where a beast has fangs & claws, I have talent."

-Klaus Kinski

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