How did Trek Become Such a Phenomenon?

[ggroy]

As to quality assessment, I think the "IMO" is implied, but you'll find plenty of critical opinions and review aggregators that support BSG.

More generally, aggregator/critic ratings at best only tells me whether something is really really horrible. Higher aggregator/critic ratings don't necessarily tell me that something is "good".

In the case of really really horrible stuff, aggregator/critic ratings don't tell me whether something fits into the "it's so bad that it's good" category.

 

[The Shadow]

I dispute your assertion Sir (throws glove down on the ground)

Pistols at dawn...

I'll be your second! B5 certainly had its bad moments, but it blows DS9 out of the water.

And BSG? Great acting, no question there... but terrible plotting. If they'd had a JMS style arc planned out from the beginning, it would have been SO much better. They were making everything up as they went along, and it shows. Oh, does it ever show.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I like how this thread has become BSG vs. DS9 vs. B5!

As for BSG being "better", I don't know. I couldn't finish watching BSG - it was so unrelentingly grim that I found it implausible and downright unpleasant to watch. Now, for some that is better, but I dont' think we can call it universally so.

I can totally understand most of your opinions of BSG, but what did you find particularly implausible about it?

...Other than the starships, the jump technology, and the androids, of course.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I like how this thread has become BSG vs. DS9 vs. B5!

No surprise there.

As to BSG, I think the so-called darkness is a natural product of the early 2000s zeitgeist. The late '80s and '90s did not produce a lot of dark shows, but post-9/11 fiction is different. Taken as a whole, the show has a lot of emotional colors, and the end is far less dark and gritty than the beginning was.

 

[Umbran]

Would Homeland be more controversial if it were on a regular network rather than on Showtime?

Probably. I think that's on Showtime because no broadcast network would have it. Remember that showtime is a subscription service, not advertising-driven,a nd that means it has different tolerances for some types of programming (and less for others).

I can totally understand most of your opinions of BSG, but what did you find particularly implausible about it?

I thought I was clear - the grimness. As in, after a season and a half, I could not understand why the people on these ships were not committing suicide in droves.

And, if you feel it is plausible, that's fine with me. I don't really want to argue that point. I found it *unpleasant*. There are times in this word when we have to deal with unpleasant things, but my leisure time TV isn't one of them.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I thought I was clear - the grimness. As in, after a season and a half, I could not understand why the people on these ships were not committing suicide in droves.

And, if you feel it is plausible, that's fine with me. I don't really want to argue that point. I found it *unpleasant*. There are times in this word when we have to deal with unpleasant things, but my leisure time TV isn't one of them.

Ah, okay. No, that wasn't clear to me. I guess I just take it for granted that most people will cling to life with their last bloody breath, thanks to that stubborn irrational ol' survival instinct. But then, the only time humanity was in extreme danger even vaguely comparable to that of BSG was the Ice Age, so I'm not going to argue the point either.

For what it's worth, there are suicides here and there in BSG -- the most memorable one was, tragically, in the second-to-last last episode.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

No surprise there.

As to BSG, I think the so-called darkness is a natural product of the early 2000s zeitgeist. The late '80s and '90s did not produce a lot of dark shows, but post-9/11 fiction is different. Taken as a whole, the show has a lot of emotional colors, and the end is far less dark and gritty than the beginning was.

Indeed. BSG is actually the only scifi show that I ever recommend to non-scifi fans, prefaced by "It starts really dark and gritty, but it's great, and gets lighter as it goes on."

BSG is essentially an action soap opera with a scifi veneer.

 

[ggroy]

Probably. I think that's on Showtime because no broadcast network would have it. Remember that showtime is a subscription service, not advertising-driven,a nd that means it has different tolerances for some types of programming (and less for others).

Wonder what made the show "24" palatable for network television (for 8 seasons on Fox), while Homeland isn't. (ie. Besides the sex scenes and bad language in Homeland).

 

[billd91]

Ah, okay. No, that wasn't clear to me. I guess I just take it for granted that most people will cling to life with their last bloody breath, thanks to that stubborn irrational ol' survival instinct. But then, the only time humanity was in extreme danger even vaguely comparable to that of BSG was the Ice Age, so I'm not going to argue the point either.

On a macro scale, perhaps the Ice Age was the last time humanity as a whole was somewhat threatened, but there are plenty of much more recent examples of communities living in incredibly grim circumstances for years without suicides in droves. I don't find enduring through grim realities implausible at all.

 

[Umbran]

Wonder what made the show "24" palatable for network television (for 8 seasons on Fox), while Homeland isn't.

Didn't watch beyond the first season of 24. In that season, it does not turn out that the hero was a sleeper agent for a terrorist organization. That might have something to do with it.

Not to mention that the sociopolitical climate was a tad different when 24 established itself.