The new Battlestar

[Darrin Drader]

I find it interesting that the main complaint everyone has about virtually every movie or show out there (unless it happens to be one they actually liked) is bad acting. I mean, could you find a more subjective thing to slam something for? Its easy to say that an actor didn't display emotion, or act in accordance with a given situation, but who the f%^$ are you to tell someone how they should react to something? Some people are naturally deadpan in real life. Does that make their real life behavior unbelievable?

Granted, some performances are easily judged as just plain bad. I can think of an entire genre of movies that is known for abysmal acting, yet still make lots of money, if you know what I mean (**cough** Jenna Jameson **cough**).

Come on people, if you want to slam a piece of entertainment, you really shouldn't base your entire argument on someone's acting unless they're acting like your typical door greeter at Wal-Mart with their aching feet, fake cheer, and the ticking timebomb in their psyche about to go off, driving them slowly over the edge of insanity. Pick something that is actually measurable. Maybe the dialog wasn't up to par. Oh, but that's clearly not the case here since there have been numerous quotes from this show that people loved. Maybe tear it apart because there are so many all-too-real military situations that crop up through the course of the movie causing it to fall back on clichés (personally I think death is cliché. People should stop dying in battle because that's gotten too cliché).

The funny thing about this is that every review and comment I've read on messageboards either absolutely loved it or absolutely hated it. Anything that can elicit that sort of reaction is noteworthy considering the blasé reaction that most scifi shows get these days with their over the top special effects and high budgets. Lets face it, scifi fans have gotten spoiled ever since the advent of digital effects.

But to each their own. While I disagree with a lot of the mud that's being slung, I don't disrespect people's right to dislike it.

 

[jdavis]

For those that missed any of it they are showing the whole thing again Sunday night.

 

[jdavis]

I find it interesting that the main complaint everyone has about virtually every movie or show out there (unless it happens to be one they actually liked) is bad acting. I mean, could you find a more subjective thing to slam something for? Its easy to say that an actor didn't display emotion, or act in accordance with a given situation, but who the f%^$ are you to tell someone how they should react to something? Some people are naturally deadpan in real life. Does that make their real life behavior unbelievable?

Granted, some performances are easily judged as just plain bad. I can think of an entire genre of movies that is known for abysmal acting, yet still make lots of money, if you know what I mean (**cough** Jenna Jameson **cough**).

Come on people, if you want to slam a piece of entertainment, you really shouldn't base your entire argument on someone's acting unless they're acting like your typical door greeter at Wal-Mart with their aching feet, fake cheer, and the ticking timebomb in their psyche about to go off, driving them slowly over the edge of insanity. Pick something that is actually measurable. Maybe the dialog wasn't up to par. Oh, but that's clearly not the case since there have been numerous quotes from this show that people loved. Maybe tear it apart because there are so many all-too real military situations that crop up through the course of the movie causing it to fall back on clichés (personally I think death is cliché. People should stop dying in battle because that's gotten too cliché).

The funny thing about this is that every review and comment I've read on messageboards either absolutely loved it or absolutely hated it. Anything that can elicit that sort of reaction is noteworthy considering the blasé reaction that most scifi shows get these days with their over the top special effects and high budgets. Lets face it, scifi fans have gotten spoiled ever since the advent of digital effects.

But to each their own. While I disagree with a lot of the mud that's being slung, I don't disrespect people's right to dislike it.

Eh it's going to get flack, that's garanteed. If next generation got flack, just imagine how much flack it would of gotten if Picard was called Kirk, Data was called Spock, Worf was called Uhura, Riker was called Sulu, Dr Whatshername was called Mrs Bones and they were a reimagining of the first Star Trek, which no longer existed in the Star Trek world. That's pretty much what they have done with Galactica, they have changed the fundamental nature of the show, the new characters share very little with the old characters except for names and positions (and they changed most of their names to callsigns), the villians are complety different (change name of the borg to the klingon), the ships are different (as different as OG trek Enterprise to next gen trek Enterprise), and the feel of the show is different. Then tell all the fans of the original Star Trek that it was a 60's show so it wouldn't translate to the 80's, so it had to be completly reimagined or nobody would watch it (the Star Trek movies were updated and translated real well, as a continuation story with the original cast, but that wouldn't work for Battlestar Galactica?). Gee think there would of been a few people a little ticked? The new Galactica show has gotten off pretty light (Next Generation was a good show but if you make the changes I did and call it a reimaging then it would of been lucky to make it through the first season). That's why there is such a polarization here, the changes were so drastic and there were lots of people with strong feelings about the first series.

So instead of saying the acting seemed flat can I say that Starbuck was a little on the chunky side? How about that I had a hard time buying the fact that Colonial Tigh was a vertabrate (or a actual drunk either) or that it should of been obvious that Boomer was a

Spoiler

soulless robot devoid of true emotion

just by the characters interaction with other characters Have you seen Wayne's World 2, I like the part where Charton Heston plays "the good actor".

Yea I'm being a real jerk but It's finals week and I'm pulling my hair out (I got a Ventilation test tomorrow, it's got one problem on it, the example of the problem is 11 pages long.)

 

[Darrin Drader]

Star Trek is its own little ghetto these days. Oh by the way, have you caught the announcement that Enterprise is cutting 2 shows this season and may be getting cancelled? http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003-12/10/11.30.rumors If that happens, I predict that will put the final nail in the coffin of the once mighty Trek franchise. Its unfortunate, but people are tired of seeing the same old drivel rehashed an infinite number of times.

So instead of saying the acting seemed flat can I say that Starbuck was a little on the chunky side? How about that I had a hard time buying the fact that Colonial Tigh was a vertabrate (or a actual drunk either) or that it should of been obvious that Boomer was a

Spoiler

soulless robot devoid of true emotion

just by the characters interaction with other characters Have you seen Wayne's World 2, I like the part where Charton Heston plays "the good actor".

I don't know, I actually bought that Tigh was a drunk, but not so much that he was a vertebrate. But that was kind of the point. I like that they put some tension between the characters and that there's some human drama. I've been complaining for a long time that if you strip away the special effects, scifi relies too much upon the effect new technology has on a culture. Some of it without the special effects would be nothing at all (see SW episode I). Much of it is completely dry and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. I've been hoping someone would make a human story as opposed to a science story within the genre of science fiction for a while. It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone that I loved Solaris.

 

[jdavis]

Star Trek is its own little ghetto these days. Oh by the way, have you caught the announcement that Enterprise is cutting 2 shows this season and may be getting cancelled? http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003-12/10/11.30.rumors If that happens, I predict that will put the final nail in the coffin of the once mighty Trek franchise. Its unfortunate, but people are tired of seeing the same old drivel rehashed an infinite number of times.

No I hadn't heard that, but it doesn't suprise me, I only watched two episodes of Enterprise, I could never get into it and don't get me started on the Next Generation movies. Trek really needs to go away for 5 years or so and come up with something inventive and new right when fans are really getting the urge for it to return. They've overexposed the property too much and the general public is getting bored with it.

I don't know, I actually bought that Tigh was a drunk, but not so much that he was a vertebrate. But that was kind of the point. I like that they put some tension between the characters and that there's some human drama. I've been complaining for a long time that if you strip away the special effects, scifi relies too much upon the effect new technology has on a culture. Some of it without the special effects would be nothing at all (see SW episode I). Much of it is completely dry and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. I've been hoping someone would make a human story as opposed to a science story within the genre of science fiction for a while. It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone that I loved Solaris.

That's why I liked Farscape so much, it was full of character interaction, they were all full characters with enough flaws to make them believable. It wasn't dark and gritty, but I don't care for dark and gritty in my Science Fiction. I'm a true product of my youth, I like lovable rogue figures like Han Solo and the original Starbuck, or the 70's Buck Rodgers. (I loved the 80's Flash Gordon too). For me I like my Science Fiction to be Action/Adventure oriented. It's why I was never a big Trek fan, they sit around and talk too much.

 

[Jhamin]

it wasn't bad, but the baby killing in the beginning and the little girl in the stranded ship that got blown up as they faded to commerical were a little too dark for me - you just don't kill babies like that in a movie or TV show.

See, to me that just came off as lazy and overblown. We were supposed to be horrified at the awful decisions our good-hearted characters were forced to make. It was so over the top that it was almost funny.

My girlfriend wondered aloud of the producers couldn't find a basket of kittens for her to play with just before the nukes dropped. Maybe a Nun could have thrown her body in front to the blast?

It was just weak.

From my point of view, the writers had three characters make live/die decisions for others in part two, and two of the three were immediatly undercut.

*Depressurize the burning part of Galactica - Pretty harsh, but the right thing to do.
*Leave the non-ftl civilian ships to their fate, don't wait for them to x-fer passangers. Oh wait, they got blown up before we could even leave. I guess we don't have to wonder if we made the right decision.
*Pick a random guy to frame as a Cylon so I can cover my but while pointing out the cylon thingie (which was never mentioned again). How big a jerk am I for selling out an innocent? Oh wait, I guess he really *was* a Cylon so it all worked out. (OK, so it was Baltar. But now he has unknowing done a good thing for the wrong reason. IF you want him flawed, let him be.)

 

[jdavis]

More on reviews (I posted some of the review links he mentions in a earlier post): http://www.syfyportal.com/article.php?id=1211

If you check out the guy at Syfy portal's review he really loved it (headlines on the side). I figured some positive reviews would start popping up eventually. Looks like the ratings will be enough for it to go ahead too (lower than Dune or Taken but still pretty good, considering their big star was Edward James Olmos). It's going to be a mixed bag for the show but then they should of expected that.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I've read several good reviews. Most of them were local papers that posted their reviews to the Internet a day or two before they actually aired the show. They seemed evenly split between loving it and despising it. I still find that the most interesting thing about this miniseries.

I'm really hoping that this does go to series and has a few years before cancellation (or shark jumping). I would love to see where the orginal BSG would have gone, and this gives them the chance to answer that question without having to relive the huge, catastrophic mistakes that the original show made.

On the other hand, I would love to see them do a new version of the Gun on Ice Planet Zero. Just imagine what they could do with that now with this cast and these effects. That 2-parter and the season (series) finale stands as probably the pinnacle of Galactica after the pilot.

 

[Krieg]

*Pick a random guy to frame as a Cylon so I can cover my but while pointing out the cylon thingie (which was never mentioned again). How big a jerk am I for selling out an innocent? Oh wait, I guess he really *was* a Cylon so it all worked out. (OK, so it was Baltar. But now he has unknowing done a good thing for the wrong reason. IF you want him flawed, let him be.)

This is the only one that really bothered me. If he had in fact been human, it would have been far more interesting from a story standpoint.

I'm guessing that they don't want to make Baltar too despicable so that it will be easier for him to find redemption at some point in the future.

 

[jasper]

well this thread is creating a lot of BUZZ