Battlestar Galactica
Dec. 10th, 2003 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
corilannamI knew I wasn't going to have a choice about watching the new Battlestar Galactica, once I heard that Jamie Bamber had been cast as Apollo. And I knew I was going to be hearing bitching for months about it from my old-school BG fan friends, so I might as well watch it. I hoped it wouldn't be painful to watch, but I wasn't expecting too much.
But damn. I really, really liked it.
Cutting, both for spoilers and to preserve the eyes of those who feel their childhoods have been violated.
It's fastest just to list everything I liked. I do have to get to work on my Yuletide fic tonight. *g*
What I Liked:
-- Starbuck. Okay, let's just get this one out of the way immediately. I really liked Starbuck. I don't know that I love her yet, but that's just because she didn't get enough screentime. If there's a series, I'm so there with her. Katee Sackhoff did an amazing job with what she had to work with. All the attitude and swagger totally worked for me. She's such a loud clam.
-- Adama. Both Junior and Senior made me happy, even if EJO's speech patterns made me think of William Shatner on valium, and Jamie's rare shows of emotion seemed to cause him physical pain. But the angst! The DaddyAngst! Their relationship was one of the main things that kept me interested from one night to the next. Their reunion after Apollo's assumed death was the perfect mix of love and grief and pain all tied up in layers of psychological repression that's going to take them years to work through. I liked that the reconciliation wasn't neat and tidy. It was all the more powerful for the awkward soreness.
-- The President. I wasn't expecting to be interested in her story, but she ended up one of the highlights of the miniseries for me. Watching her step up and assume the power she never expected to have, working past her own fear, was amazing. I worry when shows brag about wanting to portray strong female characters - too often they end up being feminist caricatures or thinly-disguised sex bombs. But at least with the President, I think they really came through. Too bad she's dying.
-- The music. Reminded me a lot of the Black Hawk Down soundtrack, which I love. Really worked for me.
-- The visuals. I read and watched a lot of interviews with the producers before the show aired, and they kept talking about how they wanted to make everything "real." I rolled my eyes, because cheesy sci-fi TV is cheesy sci-fi TV, and most of the time when producers talk about making space battles feel "real," we end up with a few bigger explosions and maybe some jerky camera work. But in this case, it really did feel much more authentic to me. The silence of space, the deadly grace of the Cylon fighters, the gritty plainness of the Galactica herself -- it felt futuristic without being flashy. The battles were gorgeously choreographed, brutal and beautiful at the same time.
-- I liked the sense of the culture. I liked the way the religion ran through the entire fabric of the piece, both on the human and Cylon sides. I liked the priest and the service (which didn't feel oppressively like any one Earth religion), and I liked Starbuck's prayer for the fallen.
-- I liked the brutality. I liked that they didn't try to gloss over the human toll of every hard decision, and I liked that they didn't indulge in gratuitious gore. I had a real chilling sense of the horror of living through this kind of apocalypse.
-- I liked the conflict between Adama and the President. I liked that each of them got to be right and wrong once (Adama with his resistance to computer networking, and the President with her insistence that the war was already lost). If there's a series, I hope she doesn't die too soon. I like their dynamic.
-- UST. 'Nuff said. Haven't had a really good case of that in a long time.
So while the dialogue was not at all sparkling and the pacing occasionally left something to be desired, and I was most distressed that Boomer is a Cylon, and I felt that making the obnoxious photographer a Cylon was a big ol' cop-out, overall I was really captivated. I'm feeling surprisingly fannish about it. I spent much of today thinking, "Hm. I want fanfic. I wonder if there's fanfic yet. Where could I find fanfic?"
Here's hoping for good ratings and a real series to come.
But damn. I really, really liked it.
Cutting, both for spoilers and to preserve the eyes of those who feel their childhoods have been violated.
It's fastest just to list everything I liked. I do have to get to work on my Yuletide fic tonight. *g*
What I Liked:
-- Starbuck. Okay, let's just get this one out of the way immediately. I really liked Starbuck. I don't know that I love her yet, but that's just because she didn't get enough screentime. If there's a series, I'm so there with her. Katee Sackhoff did an amazing job with what she had to work with. All the attitude and swagger totally worked for me. She's such a loud clam.
-- Adama. Both Junior and Senior made me happy, even if EJO's speech patterns made me think of William Shatner on valium, and Jamie's rare shows of emotion seemed to cause him physical pain. But the angst! The DaddyAngst! Their relationship was one of the main things that kept me interested from one night to the next. Their reunion after Apollo's assumed death was the perfect mix of love and grief and pain all tied up in layers of psychological repression that's going to take them years to work through. I liked that the reconciliation wasn't neat and tidy. It was all the more powerful for the awkward soreness.
-- The President. I wasn't expecting to be interested in her story, but she ended up one of the highlights of the miniseries for me. Watching her step up and assume the power she never expected to have, working past her own fear, was amazing. I worry when shows brag about wanting to portray strong female characters - too often they end up being feminist caricatures or thinly-disguised sex bombs. But at least with the President, I think they really came through. Too bad she's dying.
-- The music. Reminded me a lot of the Black Hawk Down soundtrack, which I love. Really worked for me.
-- The visuals. I read and watched a lot of interviews with the producers before the show aired, and they kept talking about how they wanted to make everything "real." I rolled my eyes, because cheesy sci-fi TV is cheesy sci-fi TV, and most of the time when producers talk about making space battles feel "real," we end up with a few bigger explosions and maybe some jerky camera work. But in this case, it really did feel much more authentic to me. The silence of space, the deadly grace of the Cylon fighters, the gritty plainness of the Galactica herself -- it felt futuristic without being flashy. The battles were gorgeously choreographed, brutal and beautiful at the same time.
-- I liked the sense of the culture. I liked the way the religion ran through the entire fabric of the piece, both on the human and Cylon sides. I liked the priest and the service (which didn't feel oppressively like any one Earth religion), and I liked Starbuck's prayer for the fallen.
-- I liked the brutality. I liked that they didn't try to gloss over the human toll of every hard decision, and I liked that they didn't indulge in gratuitious gore. I had a real chilling sense of the horror of living through this kind of apocalypse.
-- I liked the conflict between Adama and the President. I liked that each of them got to be right and wrong once (Adama with his resistance to computer networking, and the President with her insistence that the war was already lost). If there's a series, I hope she doesn't die too soon. I like their dynamic.
-- UST. 'Nuff said. Haven't had a really good case of that in a long time.
So while the dialogue was not at all sparkling and the pacing occasionally left something to be desired, and I was most distressed that Boomer is a Cylon, and I felt that making the obnoxious photographer a Cylon was a big ol' cop-out, overall I was really captivated. I'm feeling surprisingly fannish about it. I spent much of today thinking, "Hm. I want fanfic. I wonder if there's fanfic yet. Where could I find fanfic?"
Here's hoping for good ratings and a real series to come.
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 05:46 pm (UTC)Clam is right. And duuuuuuuude! She hits like a girl! *g*
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 06:20 pm (UTC)And really -- tell me she doesn't have the best line in the show: "Lee, shut up and hold still!"
Of course, it should be prefaced by, "Hey, flyboy, get out of that damned leather clamshell!"
Funny in the preview that JB said guys would like Starbuck for some reasons and women would like her for other reasons... I suspect *some* women will like her for different reasons than others. ;-D
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 06:46 pm (UTC)And totally the best line -- she speaks for so many of us with that one!
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 07:39 pm (UTC)Does not! *g* With a punch that wild, I'm surprised Tigh didn't just duck and then knock her on her ass. It's because he's old. And slow. And drunk. Maybe when he sobers up, he can teach her to throw down. *vbg*
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 06:21 pm (UTC)I must admit I am with you on just about everything you said about the series. You observations were quite keen and you actually had the energy to put them into words with coherent thought. How not-gen-x of you. ;)
I hope there is more fic soon. I think I am going to try and write some myself.
Oh, btw, I think that Boomer being a Cylon might be a red herring. It just seemed way to obvious or something. It just didn't feel right. But, I guess we'll find out if the series ever gets the nod.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 07:00 pm (UTC)I'd like to hope you're right about Boomer -- while I think it would be really interesting to watch her struggle against her Cylon programming, whenever it kicked in, and against the inevitable destruction of her human life and relationships, I really liked her and now that all seems different. Hopefully we'll find out.
I do think there's a good chance at a series, from the ratings it got. We'll know by the end of the month, at least.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-10 07:36 pm (UTC)I am also considering some Gen starfighter stuff. That will need a little more thought.
We'll see though, lots of other stuff to write. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-12-16 12:36 pm (UTC)