AdmundfortGeographer
Getting lost in fantasy maps
Gotta be the absoloute worst episode to date. No contest. An hour of my life I'll never get back.
BattleStar Galactica:Season 3.0--12/1/06--Arc 8
- Thread starter Truth Seeker
- Start date
dravot
First Post
Volaran said:
Agreed. As long as it's every now and then, an episode without toasters or dogfights is just fine. The acting was very good, the writing was excellent, and we learned some interesting stuff about the characters. Kara's choice was fascinating. Actually, I was sorta wondering if Lee's obligation to D. was going to make him bolt...and Kara did it first, not because of commitment, but because she's afraid of commitment. And how did she avoid commitment? By getting married.
Now we understand better why she's having problems with Anders. It was more than just being cooped up with Leoben, and getting psyched out by the little girl.
How does that make it a bad episode?
BlueBlackRed
Explorer
Excellent episode and perfect for mid-season filler.
It answered some lingering questions, and then added a few.
It answered some lingering questions, and then added a few.
wingsandsword
Legend
I honestly don't get these "worst episode" and "filler" comments.
Really, not every episode is about the Galactica slugging it out with Base Stars, blowing up Raiders in Vipers, and big shootouts with Centurions on Caprica/Kobol/New Caprica/Galactica's Interior.
This was a big character growth episode, one that answered a lot of questions about what happened in that missing year on New Caprica, one that had a lot of character progression for Starbuck and Apollo, some character growth for Adama, some for Tyrol. We saw that life on New Caprica was pretty decent at first, and that Baltar's presidency wasn't a total frack-up from the beginning and the first few months were at least acceptable, and even festive at times.
It was well written, and well acted. The show would suffer a lot if every single episode was like this, but the occasional one to round out characters and tie up some loose ends, and give a change of pace is good writing.
If this is the "worst episode" or "filler" in BSG, it's still leagues ahead of the typical episode of just about any sci-fi show ever on TV. Compare that to "worst episodes" of say TNG (Shades of Grey) or Voyager (Threshold) where people remember them with woe many years later, or filler episodes of B5 (Legacies) that had no lasting effect on the characters or plot and could be completely skipped to no ill effect, this isn't that, Starbuck and Apollo are mending fences after being bitter with each other for over a year now, Adama looks like he's going to be a bit more of a hardass given that speech about letting his crew get too close to him, and Tyrol looks to have gotten a dedication to his job back we haven't seen quite so much since before settling on New Caprica.
Really, not every episode is about the Galactica slugging it out with Base Stars, blowing up Raiders in Vipers, and big shootouts with Centurions on Caprica/Kobol/New Caprica/Galactica's Interior.
This was a big character growth episode, one that answered a lot of questions about what happened in that missing year on New Caprica, one that had a lot of character progression for Starbuck and Apollo, some character growth for Adama, some for Tyrol. We saw that life on New Caprica was pretty decent at first, and that Baltar's presidency wasn't a total frack-up from the beginning and the first few months were at least acceptable, and even festive at times.
It was well written, and well acted. The show would suffer a lot if every single episode was like this, but the occasional one to round out characters and tie up some loose ends, and give a change of pace is good writing.
If this is the "worst episode" or "filler" in BSG, it's still leagues ahead of the typical episode of just about any sci-fi show ever on TV. Compare that to "worst episodes" of say TNG (Shades of Grey) or Voyager (Threshold) where people remember them with woe many years later, or filler episodes of B5 (Legacies) that had no lasting effect on the characters or plot and could be completely skipped to no ill effect, this isn't that, Starbuck and Apollo are mending fences after being bitter with each other for over a year now, Adama looks like he's going to be a bit more of a hardass given that speech about letting his crew get too close to him, and Tyrol looks to have gotten a dedication to his job back we haven't seen quite so much since before settling on New Caprica.
TwistedBishop
First Post
I'm fine with character development and emotional arcs, but this was presented very poorly. Around the fifth time seeing the same flashback I just stopped caring.
I put the entire blame for this on the writers and the director. The actors? Eh, they did the best with what they had.
I put the entire blame for this on the writers and the director. The actors? Eh, they did the best with what they had.
dravot
First Post
TwistedBishop said:
That's why I think this was a good, but not a great episode. They've used flashbacks as a storytelling device more than enough, and need to stay away from it for a while. I did like how we saw the same scene at the beginning, without all of the facts, and then at the end, and the context changed a lot. That was pretty cool.
TwistedBishop
First Post
dravot said:
Yeah the technique does have potential. Babylon 5 did that a lot -- not direct flashbacks, but playing with context to give a scene new meaning. I just think they handled it poorly in this episode.
Similar Threads
