Battlestar Galactica - newby.

[Funt Solo]

Chiefly, it was the misanthropic/misogynistic point I was making.  I just spent a long time making it, is all.

Why shouldn't Apollo be seeing a hooker?  Anyway, his and Starbuck's self-destructive personality traits are due to their feelings of guilt and self-loathing over the (historical, and therefore not really a spoiler) death of his brother.  Also, to complicate matters, they're in love with each other - and yet both feel that they can never successfully realise that love.  You can argue that's all very trite if you wish, but you can't argue that there's no reason behind their behaviour.

Tigh killed his wife because it was his military duty, as she betrayed the rebel army. As leader, his only other choice was to stand down, and anyway, he knew that his second in command would kill her if he didn't.

Boomer's husband, callsign Helo, is a bit of a blank slate - I'll give you that.

[Bico]

There's no point mentioning his name.  As soon as I navigate away from this page, it'll be forgotten.


SPOILERS BELOW (can't do tags off the top of me head)































I understand that much about Tigh supposedly needing to kill his wife, but I find the reasoning a bit off.  She was passing information on in order to save the life of the ringleader of the rebellion - it might be hard to swallow for a great many people after the fact, but it's not indefensible.  Given Tigh's character was one used to isolation even before the rebirth of the mutually-destructive relationship with his wife (and he was notoriously contrary bastard), and the colonists were just about to make an all-or-nothing escape attempt, it seems too much to suggest he wasn't the kind of person prepared to ride the river with his wife once her collaborating became public knowledge - to date, he'd already given up his career for her.
The suicide bombing was a weak bit, too.  There was a suicide bombing, and everyone said it was a bad thing.  Then they said no more about it.  I was rather hoping they'd say a bit more about it - the 'family man who loses his family' angle seemed a bit too pat, but I can certainly understand why they didn't go into this in any depth.

[Eldritch]

"I was responding to your comment that it was focus-group led"
That was philtâ??s post, not mine, and you posted: "there's an odd absence of African-American actors for a show whose original iteration boasted a black character in 'the big three' and a black guy as second in command" *before* he mentioned focus groups.

"The Sunday Times, you say? ahem..."
Well, quite.  It was a very poor article, and the only reason I mention it is because it was trying to make cheap and weak points about the show, for example: the actor who plays Starbuck find it tiring to be angry all the time; Mary McDonnell has to fight to change her lines sometimes -- none of which is exclusive to women actors -- but which the article was trying to say was typical of the raw deal women face in television science fiction.  The point being that even they couldn't detect misogyny, despite their obvious agenda.

You haven't been able to give examples of misogyny either (pretty much all of the characters do both good and bad things in the show, male or female), although it seems from a later post that you are backpedalling away from that somewhat.

While I don't like to see them using Humvees, MP5s, Skorpion machine pistols etc it goes hand-in-hand with less-than-authentic physics in a TV show; I think we're meant to see them as analogues while simultaneously understanding there are budget constraints.

[The Adventurer]

Let me get this strait. There are people here complaining about the space physics of BSG? BSG has the most awesome space battles of any sci-fi show ever. The Newtonian physics and physical ballistic weapons are a big part of that.

I mean, dudes.
the

[philt]

No it doesn't. The assault on Babylon 5 by Clark's forces in "Severed Dreams" set the base mark for TV SF battles. BG's battles simply mimic what B5 did 10 years ago. Just like everything else about Battlestar Galactica, someone did it before and did it better.

[Funt Solo]

S P O I L E R S



::"I understand that much about Tigh supposedly needing to kill his wife,"

And yet in your previous post you said that you had literally "no idea" of his motivation.  So, now you're saying you did realise his motivation but disagreed with it.  There's a big fucking difference.

Why don't you make up your mind what you really think before you post.  These moving goal posts are making my head spin.

[Funt Solo]

philt, you're forgetting one important FACT:

"Babylon 5's a piece of shit."

[philt]

or "Babylon 5's a big pile of shit"

[Funt Solo]

You know I don't mean it!  I never got into B-5, but one of my pals was a hardcore fan - very passionate about it.  I think it must have been like Farscape was for me.  Brilliantly long story arcs and a hardcore fanbase, but (after a while) a bit inaccessible for new viewers.

So, I never saw the battle scene you're talking about.

At least we both enjoyed Spaced.

[Funt Solo]

::"As for the physics, you can't use bullets in space"

Tell that to the Russians.  Their Salyut 3 military space station apparently destroyed a satellite using an onbaord aircraft cannon.

(Also: see "creative license".)

[philt]

+At least we both enjoyed Spaced+

Quality programme. "Defending the fantasy genre with terminal intensity"

[The Adventurer]

"Babylon 5's a piece of shit."


or "Babylon 5's a big pile of shit"

You're both very very wrong. It's not the best, and it actually has not aged particularly well. But it's still an excellent series.

The Last 10 or 15 years have been pretty good for space based sci-fi shows.

Babylon 5
Space: Above and Beyond
Battlestar Galactica
Stargate SG-1
Firefly
Doctor Who
And various anime series (actually not as many spaced based sci-fi ones though. Ultimately you can't beat Super Dimension Fortress Macross I guess.)

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L130VcwKG7M" target="_blank">Did I mention Macross kicks ass?

[worldshown]

"Babylon 5's a piece of shit."


or "Babylon 5's a big pile of shit"

Adventurer, you've missed the Spaced reference.

This is what Simon Pegg's character says to his new boss to get sacked and go back to his old job.

[philt]

Just to clarify I think B5 is the second best TV show I've ever seen. Edge of Darkness just shading it.

Spaced is fantastic. If you haven't seen it I unreservedly recommend it

[the shutdown man]

"Space: Above and Beyond"


God, I can't believe someone else remembers that. :)  How I loved it so......