A slightly disgruntled BSG followup

[chipotle]

I’ve gotten a few comments, on the journal and off, that are along the lines of, “Oh, that sucky ending for ‘Battlestar Galactica’ makes me feel glad I never watched it. It must have really sucked. The Sci-Fi Channel sucks. Suck suck suckity suck.” You know, in direct response to me writing that despite its problems I think it was the best science fiction show that’s been on television.

Setting aside the question of what problems the show had in its second half and to what PSI the finale did or did not blow, to me this is kind of like saying that because so many people threw tomatoes at the series finale of “The Sopranos” it must not be worth watching, or that “M∗A∗S∗H” devolving into self-indulgent moralistic drek for its last few seasons negates the mostly brilliant writing of its first few seasons.

Anyone who actually cares about science fiction on television should watch at least the first season of “Battlestar,” because not having done so is like claiming you care about science fiction in the cinema but having no interest in seeing Blade Runner and Alien. You might see them and think they’re overrated and flawed, but just not bothering to see them is, for that field, like being a literature student who’s never read Hemingway and Faulkner. Sure, you can hate Ernie and Bill after you’ve read them—but you’d better damn well read them.

Did I just compare the first season of BSG to Blade Runner? Yes. And I’d do it again. Bite me. Maybe you’ll think the show lost its way (a very defensible position), and maybe you really won’t like it much from the start. (Although if you really come away thinking that none of the writing and none of the acting and none of the story was worth engaging with, you’ll probably have to remind me just what it is we have in common.)

If you haven’t watched it, though, don’t tell me that the presence of religion or providence or Bob Dylan demonstrates that you don’t really “need” to see it in order to know how terrible it was. Because you know what? If I ever got a TV show on the air and it only “failed” as badly BSG did, I would be unimaginably ecstatic.

Now back to your regular programming, whatever the hell it is you kids are watching these days.

Comments

[barberio.livejournal.com]

There are very few occasions where I decided outright I wouldn't even bother to see something, and actively avoid it while being vocal about it, it was so obviously something I would find cringe worthy, bad and wrong.

Those were 300, and Norbit. Oh, and perhaps the bad+wrong version of 'The Spirit', which is all kinds of bad and wrong just from the trailer.

But otherwise, I try not to comment on things I haven't seen.

[graveyardgreg.livejournal.com]

If there's one thing I enjoyed about BSG is the acting. The acting was great, even at its so-called "worst". Oh, that Laura Roslin character...

[pathia.livejournal.com]

I didn't find the first season all that engaging, but then things in it made it painful for me, so I wasn't even able to finish that season itself. If I can't take the 'best' of it, I'm not really sure if I should bother trying to work through the rest. I found B5 and Farscape much more enjoyable.

[silasmouse.livejournal.com]

I admit I shouldn't make such heavy-handed comments about a show I've not paid much attention to.

It does make me wonder why so many things insist on running past their due course, though. I'm starting to wonder if "sequel fever" tends to degrade (not necessarily negate) certain achievements. Consider The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, and so many other good movies that had less impressive or downright terrible sequels. Maybe television serials (emphasis on serials like BSG, as opposed to stuff like Family Guy) would be better if the writers would stick to just one or two seasons.

[elusivetiger.livejournal.com]

Well-said.

Writing issues aside it has a lot going for it which can stand up to heavy criticism, and I do realize I could not have been nearly so let-down by the last seasons if it hadn't been for the overall quality of the first.

[kereminde.livejournal.com]

Regular programming? That'd be Alton Brown, Lost, and on occasion Guy Fieri.

What? A lot of my former favorites are canceled! :)

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm tired of the whining, too. Simply put, "Thank You".

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

Hell yes. Agreed.

[footpad.livejournal.com]

arrrrgh *squint* (skip without reading) NO SPOILERS AMIRITE?

BSG

[krdbuni.livejournal.com]

I've never commented one way or the other on the new show. I've ever seen it. I confess that, having only ever been interested in the original for the effects and the music, I found myself uninterested in the idea of a sequel. Hearing about how the final episode comported itself only reinforces the disinterest I already possessed.

Kristy

[ben-mouse.livejournal.com]

Huh.

Like I said, I watched a few episodes, and didn't like it.

Second, you and others have, both here on LJ and in other places, talked a lot about BSG over the years, good and bad. It allowed me to forulate an opinion about the program, and I don't believe it was an uninformed opinion.

Finally, my opinions are mine. I know what I want my SF to be, whether it's (focusing on visual media here) disutopian like Blade Runner, hopeful along the lines of Close Encounters, or silly-fun like The first Star Wars films and the TV clone, the original BSG.

I know what I like, and, based on the opinions of people I trust, general conversation and what I did see of the program, I'm pretty certain I would not like the new BSG.

Calling BSG the best SF show thats's been on television is a tall order too. Better than, say, the better episodes of ST:TNG? Better than the better episodes of the Twilight Zone?

You're certainly entitled to your opinion though.

For me though, "good acting," while being an important part of a good science fiction series, is only part of the picture. From what I've heard and from what I've seen, this latest take on BSG falls short in many other ways.

My opinion.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

I love the reimagined version. Long have I groused that the first series turned into the "LoveBoat in Space". This was far more believable and gritty - what an evacuation with nothing but the shirts on your back WOULD be like.

They started to really stretch my disbelief gland when they had the cylon civil war and the rebels join up with the humans. Ummm... that's starting to hurt there. The whole Uberpower in control of your destinies thing was beaten too hard as well. The lame ending of the second half of the finale really was too much - angels are the answer to every question? Come on - I've earned a better finale than that. Pooh.

Me, I pretend that the last half of this final season don't exist. I let the midseason cliffhanger on Urth be the finale in my mind. A very powerful climax where they've reached their goal, and now wander around lost and thinking "Now what?"

[jackfurlong.livejournal.com]

[info]elusivetiger wrote:
"...American television...it rarely if ever knows when to stop."

I sure did; like many folks, I watched 4 to 5 eps, and gave up.
I miss "Dresden Files", "Farscape", "The Invisible Man", "The Chronicle" and "GvsE".

The only decent thing the channel's run lately is "Sanctuary" and "Eureka"

[twentythoughts.livejournal.com]

BSG is one of Those Shows I Really Should Watch At Some Point. I've watched a few single episodes here and there, and enjoyed them. I've watched the opening miniseries, and enjoyed that. Again, though, starting to watch a TV series is a commitment these days, and the fact that I'm still 3/4ths of a way through the first season of "The Wire" two years after I first started watching it is kinda telling.

That said, I didn't have any problem committing to both seasons of the also-awesome-but-cancelled-before-it-could-end-dammit "Carnivale" show. So, hmm.