I’m in the middle of Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, it’s above average in my book (especially when there’re so many really shitty series), but it has crappy moments and the potential to go totally crappy as the years roll on. I don’t wanna invest large swathes of my life on crap, so can anyone tell me, does BG deteriorate through the years, and is it worth staying with for the long haul?
I had a nasty experience of sorts with Alias a couple years ago, invest several days of my life going through years 1-4, yeah it was repetitive and at times a catwalk show of Jennifer Garner, but when final season 5 rolled around and proved itself to be TOTAL CRAP, that really pissed me off.
BG jumped the shark and I hated the ending a lot. :fume:
I’m having a similar problem with Lost right now. I quit watching The Shield, but started again because the last season was good. Glenn Close is just a great actress.
Eh crap. Well if I get a couple more to back that up I might just terminate at the end of season 2 then.
The middle of this season of Lost was disappointing, but the beginning and now the end kinda pays off somewhat for all those years of watching and waiting. They coulda done better with the middle bits this year though. Still, just 2 more episodes/3 more hours to go and it’ll be all over.
Where do you think they jumped the shark – which season?
I liked the ending a lot. They managed to close up nearly all the loose ends (OK, the Starbuck thread was a lost cause, imho, but I wasn’t into her character anyway; and the Bob Dylan song was a bit of a stretch, but then I like Dylan). But I give them props for answering nearly all the questions and cleverly building interest in the new Caprica prequel series. And I really liked how some characters I really didn’t care for early on eventually become points of view I can start to see, and then even root for. That’s what I enjoy most (in recent memory, the only other thing that made me completely re-evaluate characters is George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire)
The 2nd half of the final season could have been condensed into a couple of episodes - they really dragged that out. But the 3-part finale was well-done: lots of action, interesting to see the different types of centurions working with and against each other, addressing most of the character stories, plus reaching back to give you a sense of who the main characters were before and after the series.
If I were watching it again, I’d speed thru the 2nd half of that last season. But overall, it’s a series I’m keeping
Where do you think they jumped the shark – which season?
I liked the ending a lot. They managed to close up nearly all the loose ends (OK, the Starbuck thread was a lost cause, imho, but I wasn’t into her character anyway; and the Bob Dylan song was a bit of a stretch, but then I like Dylan).[/quote]
I’m totally with Goose Egg on this. I loved the final season (sure season two wasn’t the best, but once you’ve watched the whole thing it all makes sense - for me watching it again was a treat). The finale was very emotional, and if you’re a teary bloke you may even shed a tear or two (not saying I did!).
Here’s the song Goose Egg is referring to:
It has some scenes from the finale of season 3, but if you haven’t seen it yet it doesn’t really give anything away.
I don’t agree that the Starbuck thread was a lost cause though. I thought it was pretty cool, but don’t want to give any details as it would seriously spoil it for you.
Agreed. There were so many new threads that came up and I loved the “Where did the Cylons come from, and why did they turn on their masters?” thread. At the end of it I felt like these people were family or long lost friends, and I totally loved how they turned it all around in the finale with a twist making it all have relevance to us (again, I don’t want to give details as it would seriously spoil it for you).
Totally, that was brilliant. The “Final Five” thread was also awesome.
I quite liked the suspense and the build up to the end. On the one hand I didn’t want it to end, but on the other hand I wanted to know how it all ends. And when it was over I was sad that it was over and I wouldn’t be able to watch BSG anymore. As a result I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Caprica series.
Here’s a BSG Tribute, but it has some spoilers if you haven’t watched it all, but it may give you an idea of whether you want to sit through season 3 and 4.
The ending made it worth it and gave it a more optimistic tone. In between is was a bit dark, being chased once again through space, like every episode. But the end and the last season even it all out.
Agree with the Goose and bismarck. I enjoyed BSG, with the various shadings of grey that each character goes through, redemption for some, falls from grace for others, and the evolution of the relationship between humans and cylons. I like the continuing bleakness, and although there are some duff episodes and a growing religious tone, the series as a whole stands comfortably in my top five. The changes and development of Athena, Tigh, the Sixes (especially Caprica Six), Gaeta, Baltar, Leoben and many more are well executed and interesting.
I’d say it’s definitely worth watching through, as even the naff filler episodes (the one with Scar springs to mind) develop characters and exhibit the same great production values as the others. The whole story arc is multi-layered, and (mostly) coherent - there are a couple of unsatisfying things about the ending, but overall it worked. These things are never perfect (even The Wire had its flaws), but Battlestar Galactica is pretty damn good in my opinion. Now Caprica, on the other hand:
[quote]… a similar problem with Lost right now.[/quote] First season, I watched ten minutes of Lost and thought it was way crap. Beginning of the second season, ABC (if memory serves) aired a two-hour special that I read was designed to hook new viewers. Being in the market for being so hooked, I spent another fifteen minutes or so of my life on Lost and came away not thinking but knowing that it was TOTAL crap. It was as bad as a cheap slasher movie, just no resolution whatsoever to whatever hokey plot point plopped up next.
Never spent another minute on Lost. Ranks right up there with my decision, five minutes in, to walk out of Battlefield Earth and into U-571 playing next door.
In the middle of new caprica now, or i should say just starting (S3) - yeah seems a little ah stretched to fit current US issues a la suicide bombers, occupation, etc I’ll give it a couple episodes then jump the arc
But, whatever you do, don’t miss the relief of New Caprica! When the Galactica returns is an absolutely awesome episode.
I kind of liked the New Caprica part as it deals a lot with the development of Baltar. You end up either feeling sorry for him or hating him, or a little of both. There are also elements that are developed during this period that become important later.
Shit!!! Why’d you have to go say that. Ruined my whole week, I tell ya, now I gotta wade through 20 episodes of S3 just to see if you’re right… this is some kind of S Afr vengeance on us 'murkins for bein… well, American, isnt it
Hopefully you’ll thank me, and not curse me at the end of it!
Thing is, if you skip it, there’ll be too much that won’t make sense later, and you wont understand a lot of the new dynamics between the characters. And the Galactica coming back is pure gold! You get to see the Adama Maneuver! Genius!
Another thing I liked about this section was the thoughts about certain characters, “What would I have done were I (insert character here)?”
Edit: Talking about it here actually just makes me want to watch the whole series again. I think I’ll do just that after I get through Rome, which I’m watching again for the third time…
Aw man Rome is 1000% excellent, you know I read they canceled it not because they weren’t making money, but because they weren’t making ENOUGH money!!! Fuckers… Well, I also read they’re doing a Rome movie, so maybe there’s more.
[quote=“TwoTongues”]Aw man Rome is 1000% excellent, you know I read they canceled it not because they weren’t making money, but because they weren’t making ENOUGH money!!! Fuckers… Well, I also read they’re doing a Rome movie, so maybe there’s more.
Ever see Dexter?[/quote]
Nope. Any good?
Heard the same thing about Rome. A movie would be awesome. Pity Vorenus died, but I hope we get to see something of Pullo in the movie. I was disappointed that it was cancelled. A lot of attention is always given to Julius (and rightly so!), but I think Octavian’s rise to Emperor is also worthy of more attention.
Yeah, it never made sense to me why Rome was canceled.
Dexter is GREAT. One of my favourite shows.
Back to BSG, that episode with the Galactica jumping back to New Caprica was the one I was referring to earlier as well. Best episode, has the most amount of “holy shit!!” material.
BSG definitely has weaker episodes - their mid-season stretches are often poor - but I think the ending worked pretty well. It got A LOT of hate, but I was fairly happy with it.
I thought the New Caprica arc was among the finest five or six hours of television history.
There was a final (?) episode/ movie of Battlestar Galactica, called “The Plan” - it gave the cylons’ point of view, and attempted to retrofit a justification for those years when the show kept saying “And [the cylons] have a plan.” It tied up a few loose ends and I was happy to revisit the show, but I wouldn’t try too hard to find it.
Got halfway through the first season of Dexter. Thought it was OK but since I haven’t watched in about a year I guess I wasn’t riveted.
I’ve been meaning to get to Deadwood and The Wire for so long that those DVDs may be starting to rot.
