Battlestar Galactica Season 3 (Oct 06) (1 Viewer)

[Charlie Campisi]

For me, it's not enough to be better than everything else, and I don't think it is anymore. This last season did not live up to its past nor to the show's potential. To me, that's a major problem. It was and could be better. But instead, we got plots and facts that are inconsistent with what we knew. Not that they are plot twists, which would be fine, but rather that they don't make sense with what we were told were facts. So ... it needs to be saved.

 

[Scotian.]

That's pretty funny. Thanks for posting the link.

 

[Robert Anthony]

See, I still think season 3 was better than season 2, overall. The problem with season 2 was that it weaved a lot of important storylines straight through some pretty subpar episodes. You can't just chuck Captain's Hand, Sacrifice or even really Black Market, because if you didn't watch em, the finale wouldn't make sense. Season 3 didn't do that, mostly. If there was a bad episode, it was a bottle episode, and you could forget it. There's no need to ever watch Woman King, Hero, or Day in the Life (although Hero was pretty good, actually) ever again.

Season 2 hit some high highs, but it was mostly cruising along at a consistent "fairly fracking great" clip. Season three was more up and down, but when it went up, it went so far up as to dwarf moments in seasons 1 and 2 almost EFFORTLESSLY. Those high points cast long shadows.

When I balance it out--to me, even if you jettison about 4 or 5 episodes this year, the overall impact the series hit me in the eyes with this year beats what they gave me in season 2. It says something that the high points they hit were so high I can chuck 4 or 5 episodes completely and STILL think the season is better than 2.

Dave: I thought there were plenty of comedic moments in the last 2 episodes, the last one specifically, where all the shit goes down. The episode STARTS with a joke, Baltar, in the middle of being railroaded by Gaeta's perjury, gets off one of the better one-liners on the show, period, and Tigh, as it's being REVEALED that he's a cylon, drops an inherently funny reaction. Kara's lighthearted reaction to Lee's dumbfounded look--there are plenty of moments of light in this show between the dark, enough to keep the hallway lit so we can stumble down it, pupils wide open, waiting to see what trap we're going to fall into next.

The old show was shit and never even approached entertaining, especially in comparison.

And I can already tell that the redefinition of cylon to include ideas that don't equal "enemy" is going to be a lot harder for some viewers than not. Not that they didn't lay the groundwork with "Downloaded" anyway, or the entirety of Athena's character arc. There's going to be a widespread redefinition of "Cylon" which might need to redefine "Human" and will probably highlight how fundamentally flawed and different the remaining 7 models of what we currently think of and react to as "Cylon" are. This show is nothing if not thoughtful and deep, and working from THOSE questions doesn't seem like a recipe for failure if you're trying to dig deeper.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

Robert,

I couldn't disagree more on S2. Nothing in S3 has approached the stuff that happened which Pegasus which was possibly the shows apex. For me the New Caprica stuff was different but up to par. The rest of the season has been below that level. The show just wasn't captivating must see TV like it was for the first 2 seasons.

I can also see the danger of this show going on too long. If the end of next year is the logical place to end then thats where it should end. it far better for a show to go out on top than like X-Files or Buffy.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

So far, I think each season has been worse than the one that preceded it. But season one is the best season of television I have EVER seen, so that's not a huge slam on the second or third season. Season two was pretty consistently solid with minor quibbles like Billy's death, Black Market and Dualla's inexplicable attraction to Lee.
Season three started and ended with a bang, but alot of the middle lost me. My biggest problem is with "Eye of Jupiter". After Pegasus, I expect a real peak for the mid-season cliffhanger. The temple business just didn't give me that. And I still hate "Maelstrom."

I love "Heroes" more now, but it never reaches the level of that finale.

 

[PeterTHX]

Gotta disagree with you there.

It may have been cheesy & campy, but it was entertaining and FUN. It had characters you could admire and root for. BSG's current characters are too emo and getting on my nerves. I'm starting to root for the Cylons.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Another problem with those 4 being Cylons.

Didn't at some point, Baltar finish testing everyone? What, did he lie about their results as well, like he did about Boomer's? And if so, he wouldn't have been so freaked out about the final five, and he possibly being 1 of them. (at least there would be lower odds, and who's to say he wouldn't have also tested and found the fifth one).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don't think he did; my understanding was that he basically gave up.

 

[Robert Anthony]

This might be "The plan," actually

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

I don't think the 12 models necessarily correspond to the zodiac signs, as the BSG correlates the zodiac signs with the 12 gods of the human religion.

The 12 models represent what the cylons consider to be the 12 archetypes of human personality, and I rather suspect those archetypes involve negative traits (as the cylons undoubtedly have a fairly negative view of humankind).

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

I don't remember if it was this thread, or another BSG thread on another forum I post at, but someone mentioned the Sagittaron storyline.

I'm convinced that ripping that storyline out of the Sagittarons from season three is the reason season three feels so off. If you look at the individual stories of each episode, they aren't really all that different from what we've been getting, but while we were watching the "standalone" episode in which prisoners took over the Astral Queen, we were still watching the ongoing B story of Helo and Athena on Caprica, which gave us a sense of connection to the larger story even as we watched Zarek prance around and spout platitudes.

I understand why they had to cut it. The conclusion of the Sagittaron story contributed nothing to Baltar's trial. Fine. I just wish they'd replaced it with something else.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Didn't Baltar alter the test to stop producing positive results altogether after the confrontation with Sharon?

 

[Nick_Scott]

Didn't Baltar make some offhand comment like "Scanning every human would take years" because it was an extremely time consuming process. Someone mentioned that it took 12 hours per person?

Plus, he needed a NUKE to make the test work, and he ended up giving that to SIX for the Season 2 cliffhanger?

Even if they were tested, there are lots of ways to explain it. Ie the original 5 were hybrids, then CREATED the other 7, which is why they were fundementally different.

nick

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

How would that work? If the 5 are hybrids themselves, how could they be the creators of the original biocylons? If the seven aren't the original biocylons, who is?

 

[Dave Moritz]

I believe that Baltar started testing then the elections came along and Baltar was busy tryin to get elected. Then they ended up on new caprica and I do not think the testing ever saw the light of day after that. I do not remember anything mentioned about testing after they rescued the humans from new caprica. Its like its not important and I just do not get that testing never seemed to be completed. Can anyone here say for certain if the testing was actually finished or did the testing seem to stall after Baltar ran for president? I can not wait to see what happens with all the cylons bearing down on Galactica? Will they get help from Starbuck or will she try to convince them that these cylons are there friends?

9 more months till season 4 starts! :frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

BSG Season 1 sometime this year on HD-DVD

 

[Sam Favate]

I got the impression that Baltar never really did actual testing. He pretended to, and got himself a nuke in the process, but (and this is from the last time I saw season 1, which was on DVD in the fall of '05) I thought it was never for real. Remember the scene where Sharon goes to see him to find out whether she is a Cylon and he sort of fumbles around and tells her no, she isn't. She's relieved, but we all know better.

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Nope, he discovered that she was a Cylon. He fumbled because he didn't know whether or not he would tell her, and at the end just decided it would be easier if everyone passed the test.

 

[PeterTHX]

I got the impression (and it was debated here) he knew she was and was lying to her because he was afraid of what she might/could do to him. Remember with Baltar *he* comes first, everyone else's safety is second.

After it was revealed Boomer was a Cylon I assumed they gave up on the tests because obviously it didn't work, because Sharon was tested and "passed".

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

It was pretty clear. Baltar says that if the screen turns red, she's a Cylon, green means human. He runs the test, the screen turns red. Six starts talking to him about how he's found his first Cylon, and chides him about whether or not to tell her. He doesn't tell her. Watch the scene again, there's no doubt.

 

[Holadem]

You know the stupid thing I did? I watched the first and second seasons before the miniseries. As such, I spent most of S1 wondering if Sharon was a Cylon, I thought it was supposed to be ambiguous :rolleyes. So the whole thing with Baltar and the test was never clear to me. That and a few other things the mini-series finally made clear (like the fact that Cylons had a homeworld -- I thought it was a Terminator style rebellion, followed by the near anihilation of the 12 colonies). Well, somewhat. I won't really know the extent of the damage till I watch S1 again.

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H