jedishampoo | Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi

Explain Battlestar Galactica to me. :) Please, someone with better watching or understanding skillz than I, tell me why this show feels crappy to me though I used to like it very much?

Watch out for Spoilers below the cut.

Inspired by a post from

xchelsynessx, I tried to think about how I felt about Friday's BSG. I've come to the conclusion that it was crap. No build-up for Lee/Kara. Just... out of the blue. We're drunk and OMG WE LOVE EACH OTHER!!! OMG NOW WE'RE TORN APART THE ANGGSSSSTTTT!!! It's like a bad bad fanfiction.

I begin to suspect that the writing on that show is becoming craptacular.

I begin to suspect that the writers of that show play with
characterization to fit the episode, rather than write episodes to play up the character traits. There's something.... off in the characters. If as a writer you build your characters correctly then watchers/readers could pretty much guess what the characters might do in a given situation, and there's as much excitement in that as there is in spontaneity. But in BSG all bets are completely off, 'cause they're all COMPLETELY UNPREDICTABLE AND PSYCHO. Looks like Starbuck. Voice sounds like Starbuck. But it ain't her. Don't know who she is. A Cylon replacement? That would explain it, I guess.

A month or so ago I was beginning to think that Adama Senior was the only one with any consistency. Then the whole thing with leaving a man behind even though they really didn't think there were Cylons there? Huh? Just 'cause the writers wanted Adama angst?

But now I realize that the only consistent character is Gaius Baltar. He, at least, can be counted on to be completely and deliciously self-serving in any instance.

Wah. I used to look forward to that show. Now I think Dr. Who is better. It's crap, but at least it is crap that's rarely pretentious and rarely takes itself seriously. Let's figure out how to kill the bad guy/get the Tardis back.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sorry, I can't help you. BSG used to be one of my favorite shows, and here I am, writing it off in Season 3. I totally agree with you on the characterization. If you can't even consistently imagine how a particular character might react to something because everyone's batshit insane, what does that say about the show's characterization? Sigh.

Hearing others gush over BSG, I'd wondered if it was just me. Glad to know it ain't so and I wasn't just batshit insane myself. :)

But I had to add above in my post; I wasn't a huge fan of Doctor Who, just had to sit through it when my roommate watched it (constantly). But really, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and my roomie jumped up and down when after last night, I said I was starting to look forward more to seeing Doctor Who on Friday Night Sci-fi than BSG. (And I hear Heroes is good also.)

Yeah, fortunately my friendslist has a healthy helping of people who are similarly disillusioned with BSG :). They still love the show over at TWOP, though, haha.

I quite like the new Doctor Who - first season more than the second - and I'm interested in where they'll go for Season three. I definitely highly recommend Heroes, though! That's my latest thing :).

I've said it from the beginning: the characters are there to serve their grand, overblown story, when the plot really should be serving characters. From the beginning, though I've seen it get much worse recently, in season two and then gone wild in season three. They were angling towards Lee/Kara and then, suddenly, Lee/Dee (where the hell did that come from?! Even Ron Moore said that they took that for granted a little and it was a mistake. One they didn't bother to fix, apparently)! And then, suddenly, Lee/Kara again! I've seen a lot of pissed off fans lately, and the die-hards as well. Meh.

Season two Doctor Who sucks ass. I say that as a die-hard fan of the series' forty-odd history. I've moved on to Captain Jack-centric spin-off, Torchwood, though that looks like it might lose me before it's season is done as well. It's a crappy time to be a fan; at least four of the shows I loved have tanked or have gone in misguided directions.

Peace, Ghani

Yeah, I was starting to suspect that about BSG a few months ago but people told me, "no, they have a plan, and it's all just character-building." Yeah, right, those people are all now "Ewww BSG sucks." ;)

Well, they've gotten off-track before and then come back with a few good episodes. Let's hope they can do it again.

Doctor Nine is a bit too angsty here and there... and Doctor 10 is a little less of that but overall you're right, the episodes are a little weaker. Except that one with Madame de Pompadour. I used that one to demonstrate to Sharpeslass: Now THAT'S chemistry. None of your Doctor/Rose stuff that the writers try to SUBTLY SHOVE DOWN YOUR THROAT until you wanna puke.

Squee, I ♥ Reinette & the Doctor! To be truthful, though, i just don't like David Tennant in the role. I know I'm massively in the minority on that one, and the angst was a bit too much in the first season (didn't like the last of the Time Lords story to begin with; really didn't need it pushed at me). Doctor 10 just plays up the worst aspects of preciousness with him and Rose, in my opinion, with cute references to their first "date" and that awful, forced laughter at the beginning of Impossible Planet. And, oh God, the speach about settling down in that episode! Hurl! That said, Loved Tooth and Claw, loved Girl in the Fireplace,/i> and liked Anthony Stewart Head in School Reunion verruh much indeed! (I'm one of the only classic series fan you'll find who didn't care for Sarah Jane's return, either; they just made her so pathetic!)

Came to hate Rose with the fiery intensity of twenty white-hot suns, but generally like Billie Piper, so I'm scared the new assistant is going to be as annoying as Rose but without with personality any sort of decent actress could bring to it. *Shudders in dread*

And, yeah, I'm still sticking with BSG; What can I say, I'm pretty faithful. They have the opportunity to fix it a bit, but with their attitude and obliviousness to the fans reactions, I'm kinda dubious. Shrug. It was never a favorite favorite of mine, ya know? And I like the Lee/Dee pairing a lot. They seriously need to punch up starbuck a little again, though, God, what a waste of a great character!

Oh, and I agree: Heroes equals awesome!

Peace, Ghani

I've never been a Dr. Who fan, but I decided to give the new series' a shot, and I find that they're enjoyable and a lot of fun at times (especially with David Tennant as The Doctor). I have to confess that I've seen more of the second series that I did of the first, and I only initially looked into it because of Billie Piper. :D

I'm on and off about BSG (more off than on, truthfully). It has its moments, but you said it better than I could about how there seems to be a lack of consistancy with the characters and the storyline. Too much grey-area and not enough black and white, imo. More searching for the Thirteenth Colony and mechancial Cylons is what I want. Yes, that sounds very old school BSG, but that was their original target audience, and if they want to keep them....

Anyway, that's just my two cents worth.

I agree; some of the action episodes have been much better. It's been a very angsty show overall, but lately they've overdone it. :)

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi

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