Battlestar Galactica commentary on Farscape

[Vocenoctum]

Both of those shows mixed in a large percentage of standalone episodes, and even continuity elements in the episodes were almost always in digestable pieces. X-Files also wasn't meant to be totally understandable, much like Lost.

I'll go a step further, and say that XFiles didn't really have much of that core continuity, more like the illusion of it. If you watched a season of XFiles, very little of the "core background" was expanded really. Fans got to debate about the appearance of this guy, or that guy, but overall there weren't any explanations or any new knowledge of importance. It was a very enjoyable show, and the appearance of the background plot was good, but it wasn't really that intensive.

I watched two episodes of the new BSG, found it bland, badly acted, way too melodramatic and kind of cheesy. Opinions vary, obviously, but any military issuing the FN 57 deserves to be wiped out by Hot Robot Chicks.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Opinions vary, obviously, but any military issuing the FN 57 deserves to be wiped out by Hot Robot Chicks.

I think that's still better than issuing some decorated flash lights or plastic pieces (though in BSG a flash light can be a potent weapon )

 

[John Crichton]

I think they knew they would be cancelled at the beginning of the season. Because of that, they had to take one season to wrap up a major story arc instead of doing it slowly throughout multiple seasons.

I can say with all confidence that the producers didn't know at the beginning of season 4 about the cancellation. I had a chance to meet David Kemper and he didn't seem like a liar about such things (why would he?). They found out halfway through the season and were blindsided as everyone was under contract for a 5th (and supposedly final) season. They wrote it and produced it like they had a 5th season to wrap things up.

 

[John Crichton]

I like BSG, but It isn't as original as everyone is saying. It seems to be a cross between the old series and Space: Above and Beyond. It is higher quality then SAB, but the whole space marine thing is there and the reality tone. It is probably what SAB could have been, genre wise.

As for Farscape, I loved it in the beginning, but the last season was horrible in my opinion, They got too caught up in thier own plot. It is like a D&D adventure where the group goes from quest to quest, to saving the world. It can be great, but after 12 sessions of it, it get a little blah... I think if they had stuck to thier earlier format, where the shows were fun to watch and didn't leave you with the whole "How are they gonna fix the whole wormhole stuff" if would have leasted longer. The classic episodes to me are when something is introduced and it is resolved in a couple of episodes. Then they go back to being the group you love. That is one of the things I like about firefly. Things from earlier episodes come back and haunt them, but they still go about there business. Toward the end, Farscapes business was all wrapped up in one thing, and it lacked the variety and fun it had in the beginning.

There was some stuff in the 4th season that wasn't great but everything after the mid-season break was back to business as usual for quality. That's when the formula you described above returned (multiple 3-ep arcs).

 

[reveal]

I can say with all confidence that the producers didn't know at the beginning of season 4 about the cancellation. I had a chance to meet David Kemper and he didn't seem like a liar about such things (why would he?). They found out halfway through the season and were blindsided as everyone was under contract for a 5th (and supposedly final) season. They wrote it and produced it like they had a 5th season to wrap things up.

Then I, too, was disappointed by the last season. It just wasn't as "fun" as the other seasons. It seemed to get wrapped up in its own mythology and I always just figured they were trying to finish things more quickly than anticipated.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I think they knew they would be cancelled at the beginning of the season. Because of that, they had to take one season to wrap up a major story arc instead of doing it slowly throughout multiple seasons.

They say they didn't know. They seem to have been taken back by it, they expected one last
season. By all accounts, the 5th season was supposed to be the last and the 4th season was
mostly about setting things up for the final kabloohy, where everything would be resolved.

The Peacekeeper Wars was just all the most important bits of that final season compressed
into 2 1/2 hours.

But yeah, the 4th season was kinda slow around the middle.

 

[John Crichton]

Then I, too, was disappointed by the last season. It just wasn't as "fun" as the other seasons. It seemed to get wrapped up in its own mythology and I always just figured they were trying to finish things more quickly than anticipated.

I agree, but just about the first half of S4. It seemed like it took forever to get things going. Also, S3 was such a fantastic season it's hard to duplicate that success. For my money, I'll put S3 of Farscape on the same shelf as S4 of B5, S2/3 of Buffy, S4 of Angel, S5/6/7 of DS9 and S1/2 of Alias.

 

[John Crichton]

They say they didn't know. They seem to have been taken back by it, they expected one last
season. By all accounts, the 5th season was supposed to be the last and the 4th season was
mostly about setting things up for the final kabloohy, where everything would be resolved.

The Peacekeeper Wars was just all the most important bits of that final season compressed
into 2 1/2 hours.

But yeah, the 4th season was kinda slow around the middle.

Yeah, there was supposed to basically be a race around the galaxy, maybe a bit more with Earth and The Ancients. It certainly started looking like that once things got rolling.

 

[LightPhoenix]

The Amazing Race: Farscape.

 

[wingsandsword]

That isn't a bad observation. I would think the rise of DVD sets as well, as I know a few people who bought the whole Lost set just so they could get up to speed before S1 E1 (for example). I think that is going to become the rule rather then the exception.

I know several people who got interested in BSG after it premiered, but didn't want to start watching it until they could see the S1 DVD's and be up to speed on the entire show.

I like BSG, but It isn't as original as everyone is saying. It seems to be a cross between the old series and Space: Above and Beyond. It is higher quality then SAB, but the whole space marine thing is there and the reality tone. It is probably what SAB could have been, genre wise.

Actually, Space: Above and Beyond was intentionally an updated Battlestar Galactica clone. In the mid 90's FOX was considering remaking BSG (one of the failed comeback attempts), but the network didn't think it was worth it to buy the rights and instead wanted their own space opera series. New Galactica really just reflects the era it was in, you wouldn't see realistic Sci-Fi with a hard military look in the late 70's from anything made in the US, while the New Age Disco Pseudo-Greek motif of old Galactica wouldn't be made by any show today.