Battlestar Galactica - SciFi US broadcast thread (1 Viewer)

[Bill McCamy]

Is there a chance of a new BSG thread for those of us who held off watching the series (and miniseries movie) until its HD broadcast last Sunday?

There's no way to read this thread, or discuss the "old" news which is "new" to me, given that the posters here are discussing developments from the end of the season.

 

[David Forbes]

I think you're pretty much out of luck. The vast majority of people have already seen the full season. It's akin to waiting to talk about a television season of a show until it hits on DVD. Most everyone who wanted to see it already has, and are probably going to be watching it for the second (and maybe third) time.

 

[Bill McCamy]

I think you're right. There aren't that many HD viewers to begin with, let alone HD viewers who waited for the HD BSG, and then want to read/write about it.

Move along, there's nothing to see here.

 

[David Forbes]

Why don't you watch an episode in HD, then come here and read the comments for that ep when it originally aired? You just have to be careful not to read too far ahead...

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Just a pair of points:

It's HARD to kill yourself by shooting yourself in the head. There are many documented reports of people screwing it up, even with a shotgun under the chin. Skulls tend to deflect and bounce bullets in interesting ways, due to the way they're shaped, and so on. Not to mention the shakes, the gun slipping when you try to pull the trigger, and so on. So yes, it's certainly plausible that she botched shooting herself.

Hell, when she first put the gun to her head, I said to my wife 'you know, that's not the way to do it.'

And Adama would quite happily survive being shot twice in the gut. It's the blood loss, and eventually the sepsis, that kills you with that kind of wound. If Boomer really wanted him dead, she'd have shot him in the trunk to stop him, and shock everybody, then gone for a head shot.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I think that should be "the writers" instead of Boomer. I don't think that since Boomer didn't shoot to guarantee a kill that we can read into it that the character didn't want to actually kill Adama.

Chuck Anstey

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Don't forget though, a cylon did state to the president that Adama is a cylon as well and this might be the reason why he's "spared" since we may see he's cylon as well.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

The cylon said that "Adama" was a cylon. That could mean either the Commander or Lee.

 

[Martin Rendall]

I don't see either Adama as a Cylon. First of all, Lee isn't likely to be one if Adama isn't, since Adama would presumably know whether he had a son (or two). There's no indication that the Cylon clones are based on original human stock. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Second, if the Commander is a Cylon, then Lee is the child of a Cylon, which seems to me to be the (as yet unrealized) Cylon master plan.

So neither are.

Martin.

 

[Bill McCamy]

That's what I've decided to do. Somewhat non-participatory, but a satisfactory compromise balanced against the advantage of seeing the series unfold in HD.

I wonder if UHD will delay Season 2 in HD until the run is over on Sci-Fi. Probably........

 

[Yee-Ming]

Welcome to my world, Bill... I have to do this on almost all TV threads, since we don't get shows until at least half a year (more usually one full year) after it's aired in the US. BSG was an exception, via modes HTF doesn't allow discussion of...

 

[PeterTHX]

BTW: Galactica looks AWESOME in HiDef. Night and day with the standard cable broadcasts. The 5.1 is "ok".

 

[Chris Atkins]

Speaking of Lee, I was perturbed when he put a gun to Tigh's head in the last episode. I always figured he might turncoat on his dad, but he seemed to go along with everything until the last minute.

 

[Phil Florian]

I don't think Boomer was a bad shot or the writers cheap. I think there was a disconnect between Boomer-Cylon and Boomer-don't-wanna-be-a-Cylon which probably saved Adama's life. She shot him square and that allowed her to complete her programming but enough hesitance to keep him from guaranteed death. That has been a pretty apparent conflict with Boomer since "Water" where she fought her programming a number of times in favor of the Galactica people.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

I agree on neither Adama being a Cylon. At least based on what we have been shown so far.

 

[David Rogers]

Okay, so finally they put the set out and I've watched Season One several times through, including the commentaries.

As scifi goes, not terribly bad. As TV scifi goes, pretty good. It's not the best scifi show I've ever seen, or even threatening to be the best, but it's watchable and decent.

What I like is the situation they've been set into. They are a shattered and smashed civilization, less than 50K folks, making each human loss something to be profoundly mourned. They are adrift without any sort of support structure at all, no fellow ships, no bases, no planets, no colonies, lunar outposts, deeprange recon vessels to look for, or even their moms to comfort them! A backdrop of grand storytelling has clearly been set; trivial circumstances become much more riveting against the knowledge that every one of those 50K survivors personally knows dozens if not hundreds of people now lost in the War.

The dramatic interactions between the characters about the structure of what remains of their civilization, of how they deal with resuming 'normal' political and societal activites, and of course how they deal with their supply and survival situation; these are vastly interesting storylines I hope the show will explore.

What's really not interesting is the "everyone's a Cylon" thing. That there are human-analogue Cylons is sort of interesting (massive budget move, but kind of interesting). But focusing on them over the survival and exploration challenges facing the fleet is really disappointing.

Pointing fingers, tribunals, sucide-Cylon bombers, etc... Very annoying, not so interesting. They have some serious problems and issues facing them, and they're busy accusing one another of being Cylons. That's great, humanity's last gasp will go down kicking and punching each other. Further, they're using a single fail point as their screener.

Baltar is obviously a fascinating character, moreso based on a theory someone I know postulated to me a few weeks ago. I haven't seen it discussed online. In the pilot, Baltar is shown at his house when the blast front hits it, then next time we see him he's amid a group of refugees, and Number 6 is nowhere to be seen. Just before the blast front, Number 6 informed him she wouldn't die, because she could transfer to another body waiting for her. Baltar's last words are "I don't want to die."

It seems very arguable from this that Baltar is a Cylon who doesn't know it; they wiped him out, then transferred him to a ready Baltar model and blanked out his memory of the 'death' so he thinks he survived somehow. This gives reason for 6 to be in his head, and why she can manipulate him physically (slamming him into the corridor bulkhead, sexual acts, etc...). Supporting this theory is there has been not a single bit of cannon comment about how Baltar survived the destruction of his house.

Baltar aside .... if they Cylons can transfer their human-analogues from with the fleet, why can't they just find the humans at any point then? What I'm really dreading is if they start introducing Cylons into the fleet (smuggling them in somehow); because how are they going to insert more people into what has to be a very exactly indexed refugee-base? At this point, I'd expect every person aboard the ships has been accounted for (particularly after the Tribunal events), and further that each person has been screened for all possible skillsets. Need to know who can fly Vipers, who can turn wrenches, who can program computers, clean floors, fix life support, refine fuel, etc... Should be impossible to add Cylons in.

Basically, the "Cylons are among us" crap should have shot its wad now; no more of the two known models are present. So hopefully Season Two's storylines will refocus on the survival and journey aspects of the show. Show me the characters dealing with the loss of culture (crying over a painting because the artist of the masterpiece will never again set brush to canvas, etc...), show me the characters dealing with maintenance and materials issues amid the fleet. Show us the first wedding, to see someone getting on with their lives.

The characters are uniformly pretty good. No one's really a 'super' character; they all have faults (large or small), they all have demons of some sort or another, and all seem a little shocked by the events they've survived. Captain Adama is becoming intriguing as he stops playing nice and starts playing CAG more often, and Starbuck is starting to mature into more than a hotshot pilot. Were these normal circumstances I'd say Starbuck is being groomed for a move to staff / flag rank by Commander Adama; here she's probably being groomed to be a key tactical command asset.

So basically I'm a small bit disappointed in Season One, but thrilled some decent SF is back on TV. I'm cautiously optimistic about Season Two. As long as they don't use the "Cylons among us" crap like Trek used Borg and later 7 of 9 and later still Joleen Blaylock's character .... there's some good story ahead in BG. If Season Two stays with Cylons Among Us .... oh well.

 

[Paul McElligott]

Well, I can't say there's LESS "Cylons among us crap" in season two, but the dynamic is different than season 1, especially when you get to the mid-season cliff-hanger.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I am using an existing thread to ask a question about how I should watch BSG. I've never watched it before and am now in the middle of season 2 on my netflix blu-rays. I notice on netflix that they have after season 2, a season 2.5 and than season 3. Were they broadcast in that order? Should I watch them in that order? Any help you can give is appreciated. Avoid spoilers, please.

 

[FreyTheater]

Johnny: Seasons 2 and 4 were split into halves because there was a long break between airdates of each of the half-seasons. BSG should be viewed in the same order as it was originally aired:

1. Battlestar Gallactica Pilot/Miniseries (included in Season 1 box set)
2. Season 1
3. Season 2.0

4. Season 2.5

5. Season 3
6. Razor (included in Season 4 box set, considered episode 1 of Season 4.0)
7. Season 4.0

8. Season 4.5

9. The Plan (major spoilers, must be viewed last!)

Then, at your leisure, repeat steps 1 through 9... multiple times.

 

[joshEH]

At the very least, The Plan should not be viewed until after you've watched the episode "No Exit," which comes during Season 4.5 -- although waiting until after the finale works quite well, too.


I might also modify/add to that viewing chart you provided, adding in the various webisode series, where appropriate:

1. Battlestar Galactica Pilot/Miniseries (included in Season 1 box set)
2. Season 1
3. Season 2.0
4. Season 2.5
5. The Resistance (webisode series)
6. Season 3
7. Razor (included in Season 4 box set, considered episode 1 of Season 4.0)
8. First two episodes of the Razor Flashback webisode series (the rest are present in the extended cut of the film proper).
9. Season 4.0
10. Season 4.5 (up through "Sometimes a Great Notion")
11. The Face of the Enemy (webisode series)
12. Season 4.5 (from "A Disquiet Follows My Soul, up through the series finale, "Daybreak")
13. The Plan (major spoilers, must be viewed last!)

The Season 3 webisode series, The Resistance, provides some greater background concerning why certain characters do what they do, during the early episodes of that season, and are chronologically set in between the Season 2 finale and the Season 3 premiere.


The third set of webisodes (The Face of the Enemy) are actually quite essential to understanding what the final, key triggering event is for...a certain character's actions, he said, very non-spoiler-y...late in Season 4, and the consequences of those actions.


Of all of them, the last ones are absolutely 100% vital viewing, but of course they're the ones that Universal also left off of all home video releases, naturally (due to the new, post-strike Writer's Guild contract).

Those webisodes were excluded from all Season 4 releases because they were actually completed after the Writer's Guild of America strike ended back in 2008. Essentially, the new WGA settlement now makes it prohibitively difficult to include "internet content" produced separately from the main television production on future DVDs/Blu-Rays. ("Compensation for new media" was the official negotiation term.)
The reason the previous BSG webisode series (The Resistance, Razor Flashbacks) were able to be included is, of course, because they were filmed under the previous Guild arrangement and "grandfathered" onto the Blu-Rays, which much more loosely allowed for such content's inclusion than is now possible.
It sucks, but that's the new reality of the situation; though hopefully Universal won't let these webisodes remain unreleased forever. They're available on the Syfy website, and on Hulu, however. I just burned them onto a DVD, and watch them that way.