Battlestar Galactica
Mar. 15th, 2009 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bop_radarThis post is about the spoilers for the Battlestar Galactica finale that Katee Sackhoff leaked in Portland. If you do not want to be spoiled for the finale PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS POST.
For anyone who does not know, Katee Sackhoff spilled the beans about Kara/Lee versus Kara/Sam in the finale. You can see what hear said here. Basically she talks a lot about Michael Trucco's accident and how they did not know if he would walk again and how what she and his other friends were feeling for him influenced the scenes they were shooting and led to greater emotional intensity between Kara and Sam. While there are lots of interpretations of her words flying around, I personally take from her words:
1. The writers had planned a Lee/Kara relationship ending (note her 'the writers had a Starbuck and Apollo relationship that was going somewhere').
2. Instead we are going to see her end up with Sam.
If you are hanging on to hope despite this, more power to you, but really I don't want to hear about it. For me, this is the final straw and I don't think there's any point in me holding out hope--it would only hurt me more to be let down again.
The crux of it for me is that the writers did not have a clear enough vision of Kara's endpoint as a character. If they did, they would never have wasted time like this vacillating between Lee and Sam and ultimately deciding who she ends up with based on real life context (however tragic). This is a failure of authorship. Yes, Kara is more than who she's with in a relationship sense--the writers could have decided she was going to end up alone--but if so, then why play the relationship stuff (BOTH relationships) so heavily in the build up to the finale?
Also, if this is so, it doesn't just show that Kara's end was malleable and unfixed, it shows that Lee's was as well. Lee even more than Kara has been defined by the Lee/Kara relationship. Gaius even commented on it in this week's episode! 'Why does everything have to come back to your feelings for Kara Thrace?' Well, if it does then Lee is SCREWED, isn't he? Yet apparently not originally... INCIDENTALLY SCREWED. Wow, writers. Wow.
What I keep thinking is that TPTB are going to live to regret this. In fandom, sure, there are lots of Kara/Sam shippers, but in the casual viewing audience? Hardly ANYONE thinks Kara/Sam is the big epic OTP of the series. Even if they don't actively ship them, the casual viewer thinks Kara/Lee is the main romance. BECAUSE IT WAS. If they'd really wanted to write K/S then they should have started writing it much more clearly (without alterna!ship angst!) from a lot earlier in order to sway the audience in that directioon.
This is the final straw in a series of failures of storytelling and authorship that I have seen in Battlestar Galactica over the last season and a half. I'm not going to go into those here. If you don't share my opinion, that's fine, but I believe that the final arcs have been very badly told indeed, that the writers have handled viewer expectations very badly, and that the series has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer these days.
I don't blame Katee for influencing the writers--we have no idea how much she actually openly asked for the ending to be changed. Regardless, it comes down to the writers, and Ron most of all. If he was influenced into changing the ending of the series because of Michael's accident then that tells me all I need to know about him as an author. I'm sorry. Your creative vision should be independent of real life events. A serious creator respects the internal truth, the integrity of their story. They control the start and middle in such a way as to build to a specific end for all their major characters. I don't think RDM knows the first thing about integrity in storytelling.
Other people have discussed why the ending on the show is redundant. What I like best about![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rawles's Kara/Lee shipper manifesto is that it includes the statement 'I do not respect BSG as a narrative in any way at all'. Nor should we, imo, since it is probably the best example of a failed narrative I've ever seen on television.
And I watch SMALLVILLE and have seen the episode REQUIEM. <<--do not underestimate these words!
BSG is 'spectacular' and 'epic', yes, in the SPECTACULAR EPIC FAIL sense. It started with such a clear vision and it's quite obvious that this just gave way to RDM's need for shock and novelty, indulging personal whims and playing around with ideas in a messy and ultimately not very satisfying manner.
TPTB claimed to have a clear endpoint for the show in mind. Er... really? did that include spending the first hour of the final three in flashbacks? Don't get me wrong, I loved the flashbacks--infinitely more entertaining than the rest of Season 4 (I particularly loved the Gaius material!)--but it doesn't seem like this endpoint needs a lot of screentime, does it?
I don't think I'll watch the finale. And I'm not saying this in a flounce-y melodramatic way. I just really don't need to, y'know? My BSG, my pilots, my Lee, my Kara, they existed earlier... they will always exist in my heart. Frak the finale!
For anyone who does not know, Katee Sackhoff spilled the beans about Kara/Lee versus Kara/Sam in the finale. You can see what hear said here. Basically she talks a lot about Michael Trucco's accident and how they did not know if he would walk again and how what she and his other friends were feeling for him influenced the scenes they were shooting and led to greater emotional intensity between Kara and Sam. While there are lots of interpretations of her words flying around, I personally take from her words:
1. The writers had planned a Lee/Kara relationship ending (note her 'the writers had a Starbuck and Apollo relationship that was going somewhere').
2. Instead we are going to see her end up with Sam.
If you are hanging on to hope despite this, more power to you, but really I don't want to hear about it. For me, this is the final straw and I don't think there's any point in me holding out hope--it would only hurt me more to be let down again.
The crux of it for me is that the writers did not have a clear enough vision of Kara's endpoint as a character. If they did, they would never have wasted time like this vacillating between Lee and Sam and ultimately deciding who she ends up with based on real life context (however tragic). This is a failure of authorship. Yes, Kara is more than who she's with in a relationship sense--the writers could have decided she was going to end up alone--but if so, then why play the relationship stuff (BOTH relationships) so heavily in the build up to the finale?
Also, if this is so, it doesn't just show that Kara's end was malleable and unfixed, it shows that Lee's was as well. Lee even more than Kara has been defined by the Lee/Kara relationship. Gaius even commented on it in this week's episode! 'Why does everything have to come back to your feelings for Kara Thrace?' Well, if it does then Lee is SCREWED, isn't he? Yet apparently not originally... INCIDENTALLY SCREWED. Wow, writers. Wow.
What I keep thinking is that TPTB are going to live to regret this. In fandom, sure, there are lots of Kara/Sam shippers, but in the casual viewing audience? Hardly ANYONE thinks Kara/Sam is the big epic OTP of the series. Even if they don't actively ship them, the casual viewer thinks Kara/Lee is the main romance. BECAUSE IT WAS. If they'd really wanted to write K/S then they should have started writing it much more clearly (without alterna!ship angst!) from a lot earlier in order to sway the audience in that directioon.
This is the final straw in a series of failures of storytelling and authorship that I have seen in Battlestar Galactica over the last season and a half. I'm not going to go into those here. If you don't share my opinion, that's fine, but I believe that the final arcs have been very badly told indeed, that the writers have handled viewer expectations very badly, and that the series has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer these days.
I don't blame Katee for influencing the writers--we have no idea how much she actually openly asked for the ending to be changed. Regardless, it comes down to the writers, and Ron most of all. If he was influenced into changing the ending of the series because of Michael's accident then that tells me all I need to know about him as an author. I'm sorry. Your creative vision should be independent of real life events. A serious creator respects the internal truth, the integrity of their story. They control the start and middle in such a way as to build to a specific end for all their major characters. I don't think RDM knows the first thing about integrity in storytelling.
Other people have discussed why the ending on the show is redundant. What I like best about
rawles's Kara/Lee shipper manifesto is that it includes the statement 'I do not respect BSG as a narrative in any way at all'. Nor should we, imo, since it is probably the best example of a failed narrative I've ever seen on television.And I watch SMALLVILLE and have seen the episode REQUIEM. <<--do not underestimate these words!
BSG is 'spectacular' and 'epic', yes, in the SPECTACULAR EPIC FAIL sense. It started with such a clear vision and it's quite obvious that this just gave way to RDM's need for shock and novelty, indulging personal whims and playing around with ideas in a messy and ultimately not very satisfying manner.
TPTB claimed to have a clear endpoint for the show in mind. Er... really? did that include spending the first hour of the final three in flashbacks? Don't get me wrong, I loved the flashbacks--infinitely more entertaining than the rest of Season 4 (I particularly loved the Gaius material!)--but it doesn't seem like this endpoint needs a lot of screentime, does it?
I don't think I'll watch the finale. And I'm not saying this in a flounce-y melodramatic way. I just really don't need to, y'know? My BSG, my pilots, my Lee, my Kara, they existed earlier... they will always exist in my heart. Frak the finale!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 11:50 am (UTC)I can honestly say I have never been so upset about any other TV show, it's ridiculous and I thought they couldn't do that to me anymore.
People are rationalising it that the writers/producers saw that they could get something extra out of MT and KS performances because of their friendship and that's why they went in that direction. But that doesn't make it any better, if this wouldn't have been the final season, okay, but they this was going to be the end, they should have had their priorities sorted. Sometimes you have to pass an opportunity up to keep with the overall goal and integrity of what you're doing! And to be honest they didn't exactly blow my mind in those scenes, was it really worth it? worth 4 episodes?
The crux of it for me is that the writers did not have a clear enough vision of Kara's endpoint as a character. If they did, they would never have wasted time like this vacillating between Lee and Sam and ultimately deciding who she ends up with based on real life context (however tragic). This is a failure of authorship
I'm pretty sure they didn't have any vision of anyone's endpoint as a character, they might have had a thought on how to end the show plot wise and struggled with filling in the middle part. The whole seesaw of Kara's love life is seriously the most dreary thing to watch and eats away at both romantic stories.RDM reminds me of someone who has written the first and last page of a novel, thinking he was a genius for crafting that. But these are the easier parts, the intensity and appeal is helped along by the newness or respectively the nostalgia of the approaching end. There is nw way the finale can redeem the show no matter how "profound and surprising" it is. It's like a novel with a good, solid start and a remotely poetic last line but pages full of disjointed sentences and a few smilies drawn in between, you can't call that literature!
I wish Katee had never let that slip and we would have never known about an alternative to this season's mess, but on the other hand it does explain a lot of things. The disjointed storylines, the build up to nothing, the absence of storyline consistency. I'm still dumbstruck at the thought that the writers seem to have forgotten everything about story construction, drametic effects, how you use already established stories and character points and build up on them. But then I remind myself that these are the same writers that thought suggesting the lack of love could kill a baby, was a good, edgy idea (instead aof an appallingly stupid one). I jsut wish RDM would overcome his own ego for one second, read a good book with well developed characters and realise he screwed up on various levels!
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Date: 2009-03-16 04:51 am (UTC)Hee! Nah, I enjoy your snark. ;)
o be honest they didn't exactly blow my mind in those scenes, was it really worth it?
*lol* It's have to be bloody mindblowing TV to justify it, imo. And it really wasn't THAT great. I wouldn't even say it was the strongest material we've seen on BSG!
.RDM reminds me of someone who has written the first and last page of a novel, thinking he was a genius for crafting that
Hee! Seriously. I'm an editor and I am just constantly ITCHING to edit the fuck out of him. He needs to be sat down and told some very basic home truths about writing and storytelling. Like 'if something is going to be significant later in the story, introduce it earlier on so it doesn't look like it comes out of
your assnowhere' and 'don't expect your audience to accept all leaps in logic on goodwill alone'.pages full of disjointed sentences and a few smilies drawn in between, you can't call that literature!
HEE! I think the middle's more like some really purple prose and a handwritten note from the author in the margin saying 'wasn't this bit AWESOME!?!!?!'
the writers seem to have forgotten everything about story construction, drametic effects, how you use already established stories and character points and build up on them
Yes, yes they have. I'm so chuffed someone else is noticing this and it's not just me, I just needed to chorus my agreement. ;)
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Date: 2009-03-15 11:51 am (UTC)I don't know if they will, it's the end of the show anyway and noone expects Caprica to have big ratings. But yes I agree a lot more people seem to come out of the closet and admit to be upset about it even in fandom, the regular viewer, idk, there are not that many left and I just can't imagine them to have high expectations after all the jumbled mess of the last eps. I find it amusing how especially David Eick always says about the ratings that the name of the show harmed it, like that explains why the ratings dropped continuously, liek all of the sudden after season two people went: "wait what's this called? I'm outraged and shall stop watching" yeah good logic there!
Katee herself feels quite disconnected from the fans, otherwise she wouldn't have said what she did, just like that, she probably focuses on herself, not that it matters, she's not the one telling the story.
About the flashbacks, I can't even enjoy them, because it's just yanking our chain. no storyline purpose whatsoever. All the quotes I've read from RDM just goes to show that he separates characters from plot, like they're two unconnected aspects of the show, he says so himself, so I guess it's no wonder he couldn't hold up the whole narrative, in conclusion a failure of storytelling, I completely agree.
Apparenty I could rant on forever so I'll just stop now.
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Date: 2009-03-16 04:55 am (UTC)I was kind of pleased I did manage to enjoy the flashbacks (mostly: I squirmed at the gender stereotyping of Kara and Laura) despite the surrounding nonsense.
he separates characters from plot, like they're two unconnected aspects of the show,
And therein lies the problem. I think his days on DS9 probably did him no good there.
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Date: 2009-03-16 11:47 am (UTC)Ha spot on, especially the last bit! I think you're right, maybe with some footnotes added saying "I originally planned on doing this and that, so this used to make more sense but I left it all out to write some more perverted sex scenes and pimping women out and figured the readers would know what happened off the page."
Mmm, I guess I am naive but I sort of want to believe that RDM will look back on BSG later in life and think 'we could have ended that better'
I don't know, I think he'll always have enough people sucking up to him to sustain his ego, but who knows. That whole attitude of BSG being a innovative philosophical masterpiece of television is so irritating to me, if more people just acknowledged that it's a mediocre TV series like many others, I think I'd be cooler about it.
But then I remind myself that out of all my RL friends two people are aware of the shows existence and both have stopped watching after season 2, if I told any of the others that I'm really depressed about how a show called bsg was ruined for me they'd laugh in my face! (and these people are politics, sociology and philosophy students, I doubt they would consider BSG a meditation on what it means to be human, ridiculous)
I'm much calmer and detached now that I know the ending and have resigned myself to it, so I think that's one good thank coming out of Katee's comments, watching it unfold unspoiled would have been terrible. I still admire your determination to cherish the first seasons, because in my mindset right now, I've got absolutely no desire to rewatch anything, or read fanfic maybe after some time has passed.
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Date: 2009-03-15 12:50 pm (UTC)Too bad this didn't really translate on screen. KS and MT still have all the spark of wet cardboard, comatose or not.
Too little, too late.
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Date: 2009-03-16 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 02:47 pm (UTC)Yes. This.
Also, at this point, I'm feeling very zen (or numb) because we're so close. I'm very...curious...just to see how it all plays out from a story standpoint.
I do hope someone asks RDM after it's all over if it's true that they changed an original K/L ending to a K/S one because of real-life events. (I hesitate to believe Katee can affect these things as much as she thinks she does.)
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Date: 2009-03-15 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:57 am (UTC)(gorgeous icon)
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Date: 2009-03-15 03:22 pm (UTC)Seems like a bad way to run a show.... along with the 'this seemed like a cool thing' comment on podcasts... cause then you have to dig yourself out of that really cool.... plot hole LOL
I'm gonna wait to see what happens next week. I have five shippers coming in from across the US to hang out with me for a few days. Katee does say some cracky things... it's her right, and she was never required to be a shipper, so *shrugs*...we'll see...
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Date: 2009-03-16 05:01 am (UTC)Sounds like watching with other shippers will be good fun! If the worst comes to the worst at least you'll have a support group right there. ;)
Katee has a right to her own opinion, of course, but I'm not really sure she had a right to spoil everyone--didn't she sign a confidentiality agreement?
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Date: 2009-03-16 12:32 pm (UTC)I'm very happy to have some friends to watch it with... and cleaning the entire house from end to end kept me busy mostly this weekend! LOL
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Date: 2009-03-17 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 03:29 pm (UTC)I used to hold out hope that Lee was important but they were hiding him in plain sight, but they just can't use him. I don't get it.
I also don't get why the series went downhill so quickly. I was ok with all the S3 stuff, even the fat suit (sort of), but almost nothing in S4 has gripped me at all. I'm going to have a lot of spare icons spaces soon...
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Date: 2009-03-16 05:03 am (UTC)I will keep my Lee icons (he rises above the rest of the muck in BSG for me *G*) but I may ditch the rest. Sigh.
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Date: 2009-03-17 01:01 am (UTC)The Baltar/Lee scene also sounds spiffy. I shall wait for it after four hours of Adama histrionics and Samlove.
I might keep some of the Lee icons (you have great ones) but the Lee/Kara one is definitely going.
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Date: 2009-03-17 02:11 am (UTC)I shall wait for it after four hours of Adama histrionics and Samlove.
Sadly that is NOT an underestimation or exaggeration of any form.
I am keeping this Lee/Kara icon forever, because I think of at as 'the REAL Lee and Kara watch that Season 4 shit and laugh their asses off'. :D
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Date: 2009-03-15 04:08 pm (UTC)I am still in the *rage* step, and I don't know if I'll ever move on to acceptance or numbness. I don't know if I can watch past Kara/Lee scenes, knowing that they won't be together because the writers failed to allow the integrity of the show to be independent of RL. They have lost any respect I've ever had for them.
Also, my opinion of Katee has lowered drastically. Not because her worth is determined by who Kara ends up with, but because 1) she revealed this information in a PUBLIC place (in front of fans!) BEFORE THE FRAKKING EPISODE, and 2) she let personal feelings get in the way of the telling of a story. I'm angry with myself for believing this show could ever give me anything and for sticking around when I should have just abandoned the frakking thing.
And yes, what I'm most pissed about is that Lee is going to get screwed over because of this. He's always getting shortchanged by the writers. They never know what to do with him, so they throw in random OOC moments (Black Market, anyone?) or they change characters' storylines at the expense of Lee's. And that just infuriates me.
Frak, they should've just killed Lee off after the trial. Maybe had that guy he punched actually have a gun and then BAM. It would've been so much better. The angst levels would be ridiculous. The last time Adama spoke to him, Adama belittled Lee. It would've been interesting to see the fallout from that had Lee died before they could make up. (Because you know we would've gotten those scenes, what with how the writers are obsessed with showing Adama in ever scene possible.) And then Starbuck would come back just hours later and find out that Lee's dead, and then there would be guilt and angst and Starbuck being screwed over. (Which is what she deserves, after this season. My love for her is completely gone.)
I'm going to pretend that the show ended in mid-S3. They got to the algae planet but the food wasn't able to be processed, and almost everyone died from starvation or committed suicide to avoid that. And then the supernova happened and all evidence of humanity was wiped out.
And Baltar found the real Earth using Hera and the Cylons continued their wretched existence there until their pathetic Civil War happened and they wiped themselves out.
And then the universe's only humans were the people left on the colonies, like the resistances that were probably present on colonies OTHER THAN CAPRICA. It always bugs me that the writers never thought to add something about how people in the Fleet are pissed that Caprica got a rescue mission, but none of the other colonies did. Wasted opportunity. Again.
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Date: 2009-03-15 04:31 pm (UTC)this is actually less depressing then the Ron's ending to me!
And then the universe's only humans were the people left on the colonies, like the resistances that were probably present on colonies OTHER THAN CAPRICA.
I said the exact same thing to a friend a when we watched that plotline, it's a pretty logical conclusion that there are other survivors on other planets but they aren't worth saving 'cause Starbuck's bf isn't one of them! My friend pointed out that Caprica is like the "America" planet and it's common knowledge that in the future any significant event always happens in America and that's where all the saviours of the universe come from! :D but yay for Ron's brilliant cultural and political insights!
And yes, what I'm most pissed about is that Lee is going to get screwed over because of this. He's always getting shortchanged by the writers.
Word! and from what we've heard now about the writers personal relationships and preference playing a big role it's fairly obvious that they don't respect Jamie either.
I mean come on, it's not that hard to come up with ideas of what they could do with Lee, they didn't put any effort in it! It goes with my impression of RDM not really wanting anybody to doubt or disagree too much with him!
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Date: 2009-03-15 04:48 pm (UTC)Caprica is like the "America" planet
Oh, totally! Everything you said I agree upon. It's always made me angry that no one in the Fleet raised this point. In that cut scene from Pegasus (it's in the extended version) they could've had Roslin point out the ramifications of going back to only one colony and not the others, et cetera et cetera. But of course the writers aren't smart enough to think of that. I HATE that so much of the show has become centralized around Anders. He represents so much of what I think has gone wrong with this show. I hate him. There was a time when I was moving towards tolerating/liking him, but then Demetrius happened, and that possibility ended pretty damn quick.
they don't respect Jamie either
This makes me angry as well. I'm sure the writers like Jamie, but I'm wondering about how much they respect him as well. I wonder if Jamie felt cheated when the ending was changed to K/S. I mean, he's spent years of his life on this story, as this character, and now he's getting the short end of the stick. It makes me angry.
What I'm surprised by is that Jamie says the finale is "sublime" and he gave that interview (I don't know if you saw this) that the ending was "all about Adama and Kara for Lee." When I first heard these things, I was in my rage-y, disappointed view of the show. Jamie gave me a bit of hope. But now I'm playing devil's advocate, because he said for Lee it was about Kara. He didn't say that it was about Lee for Kara, or even imply it. My hope has been permanently extinguished.
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Date: 2009-03-15 05:27 pm (UTC)What else could Lee's story in the end be about? He never got anything unconnected to Adama and Kara since the mutiny in Season 1/2. I'm not counting that halfhearted attempt at a poltical storyline that none of the writers had any interest in or capability to write in an intriguing way. (If you think about it, the most poignant and well written scenes about that were the court scenes back in season 3 and he had to write them himself!) I think he's making the most of it and he hasn't got a big a big ego, so he wouldn't hold any lack of screen time against them. Still I hope he doesn't have to work with anyone of them again.
Oh and btw, I agree that Katee's comments were very inconsiderate! it's not her fault the writers had no plan what to do with any of the romantic couples and or specifically with Lee, but she could have thought about how her comments would be perceived before she opened her mouth and that they're not very complimentary towards Jamie.
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Date: 2009-03-15 06:48 pm (UTC)Well... I'm going to add that this isn't the first time Katee made the point in public of how awesome Trucco is, and not the first time she dropped major spoilers.... and the cast and RDM in general are pretty crappy about keeping secrets. As much as I think nothing saves the final five Cylon plot because its so stupid, it might have been more fun if the actors involved (aaron douglas in particular) hadn't spelled out the entire plot before season 4.1 began and also revealed ellen as the final Cylon. I mean jeez people, shut up.
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Date: 2009-03-15 09:00 pm (UTC)You know I have no problem with Katee prefering Trucco, it seems they're more on a wavelength than Katee and Jamie but I do think it's a bit unprofessional and thoughtless to gush so much publically and imply that it influenced the show, and I still feel like it's more polite to avoid the who's hotter question, I would expect no less from Jamie, but you know I'm finding it hard to care about these things that much. It's not like I'm very appreciative of the show or the narrative nowadays so I don't care about spoilers anymore.
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Date: 2009-03-16 05:13 am (UTC)For me also. And I too had times when I could deal with him. Demetrius was the breaking point for me with him as well. Since then I don't even pretend I don't hate him. I despise everything he represents as a character and I hate the plot affect he has had on the show too.
he said for Lee it was about Kara. He didn't say that it was about Lee for Kara, or even imply it.
*nods* and I can so see that happening... I am sure that Jamie will play it beautifully and it will be totally heartwrenching and gorgeous as he loses everyone he ever loved (as I'm sure he'll lose Adama and Laura too right?). So yeah, I'm sure it will be 'sublime' in that sense. Sublimely heartwrending that Lee basically never gets reciprocity from Starbuck. *cynical*
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Date: 2009-03-16 05:07 am (UTC)they should've just killed Lee off after the trial
ITA. I've felt that for most of this season. It's just been too much to take, the drawn out agony, misuse (or total non-use) of Lee and the final ship rejection to top it all of.
I'm all for writing your own ending! :) I did that with one of my all-time favourite kids books when I got to the last chapter and they KILLED my favourite character! I just could not accept it. So age 9, I sat down and wrote a different end. Fandom endorses your creativity! Go for it.
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Date: 2009-03-15 04:11 pm (UTC)I'm not fannish about BSG, so I'm not really invested in it at all, for all the reasons you've stated here. I totally agree with your remarks pretty much across the board. What's always struck me about the show is the weird slavish fanbase who seemed to believe all the malarky about narrative planning that I never saw in the actual show. I just DO NOT BELIEVE that they had this planned out, or if they DID? They're horrible storytellers. I don't understand why the creative team get what amounts to a scifi ghetto pass from the audience.
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Date: 2009-03-15 06:52 pm (UTC)And because fans who kiss ass get treats. No the story was NOT planned out and RDM started admitting it in season three and not only are there fans who still believe the origanal party line of "we had it all planned" but there are also fans who get snitty if you note that there was an origanal party line. Now apparently, pointing out that lie is wrong since RDM has admitted to not planning it out.
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Date: 2009-03-15 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:44 am (UTC)Is the spin off even a definite thing? And Lee's not in the spin off so it's weird the flashbacks included a fair bit of him.
the weird slavish fanbase who seemed to believe all the malarky about narrative planning that I never saw in the actual show
Hee! Yeah. That's been the hardest thing to take about the fandom. I really wouldn't have so many issues with BSG if everyone admitted/acknowledged that it is a rambly crazy nonsensical show run by a horrible storyteller... I mean I watch (and love) a LOT of flawed TV shows! ;) But I'm really uncomfortable when this show gets more critical acclaim than others because in some fundamental ways (characterisation, storytelling, continuity), it falls short of the mark, especially in these later seasons.
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Date: 2009-03-15 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:38 am (UTC)Yes, regardless of what happens in the finale I think it is a mistake to have given so much screentime to Trucco just because he was unwell. And from a purely dramatic standpoint, dude-in-goobath is not all that compelling viewing. ;)
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Date: 2009-03-22 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-22 10:11 pm (UTC)*THIS* post is mainly about the failure of followthrough on the Lee/Kara relationship, however BSG had disappointed me on a number of substantial grounds (gender politics, the implausability of a Cylon-human alliance, the hideous LITERAL religosity, etc) long before that. It was more a case of the ship being the one last thing I might possibly get out of the show even though it had become a shitfest.
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Date: 2009-03-23 06:08 pm (UTC)I was a bit uncomfortable with the religiosity myself... but tbh it's been in the series from the beginning, and it kind of has to be because the show is basically the iliad/aeneid. I can't comment on the gender politics worries though...
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Date: 2009-03-23 09:03 pm (UTC)I liked the religiosity when it was ambiguous (in the first season and a half) but I bought in to the realism of the show. I also expected it to be SCI FI, not explain everything away as 'God's Plan'. So my expectations of the show did not match up with the writers' plans. But I do feel that the writers did not clearly signal what type of story they were telling. For instance, they held out on making it 100% clear that it really was just all 'God's plan' until the finale... but that cheapens the whole show to a fan like me, and if I'd known it was going to be like that I would have bailed a lot earlier. So I kind of feel cheated.
Gender? Well Slate's article explores only some of it, in my view. I've found it increasingly painful to watch the female characters reduced to stereotypical gender roles, killed, bashed, raped or character assassinated. That's a big reason I pulled back from the show as a whole early in season 4.
I have massive character fan loyalty to Lee, so I kept watching for that, and through him for the ship. But I was really disappointed in their use (or lack of) Lee in Season 4 and so it got so that the only thing I though they MIGHT resolve in a satisfactory way was the ship stuff, which emotionally would have pleased me, yeah. Even though I'd still have been snarky and grumpy about the surrounding show. But turns out even watching with shipper blinkers is unfulfilling.