I really enjoyed Water because Boomer was an early favourite of mine and I really felt for her struggles in this episode.
If you had to pick a single character from the ensemble to hold up as a primary protagonist for the show, who would you say it is?
Sharon would be a good choice, if only because she represents both the fleet and the Cylons, and got the opportunity to explore destiny/willpower/duty in the form of Athena and Boomer. Personally I always thought of Bill and Laura as the protagonists, followed by Starbuck and Gaius. It is the actions and journeys of these four that set most of the plot in motion and touched everyone else’s lives.
Who has the most consistent characterization, in your opinion? Who has the weakest?I think characterization was one of BSG’s greatest strengths. That being said, I found that Lee and Bill’s characterization had the most ups and downs. Maybe Lee was meant to be wishy washy, because I found his rotating loyalties to not always make sense. Pilot. Coup leader. Pilot. Lawyer. Pilot. Politian.
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Sharon would be a good choice, if only because she represents both the fleet and the Cylons, and got the opportunity to explore destiny/willpower/duty in the form of Athena and Boomer.
I keep thinking about how much fun it must've been to play Sharon (and by extension the whole line of Eights) for exactly this reason. Athena chooses humans, thumbing her nose at her Cylon programming, and Boomer, so sympathetic in these early episodes and on New Caprica immediately after her download, goes through such a change that it's difficult to remember why I liked her early on. It's tough to be a Sharon, but what a great role for an actress.
Personally I always thought of Bill and Laura as the protagonists, followed by Starbuck and Gaius. It is the actions and journeys of these four that set most of the plot in motion and touched everyone else’s lives.That's a good point. I always have trouble thinking of Gaius as a protagonist because I feel like I should always have a underlying sense that I'm rooting for a protagonist even if I don't
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I have to say I love the whole early setup between Laura and Bill as a definite us-versus-them thing. It's played on so nicely from the very start, and this episode does nothing to squelch that perceived animosity. That way, when it comes to a head with Leoben, Laura's accusation makes sense. It's kind of a beautiful oblique buildup to later plot.
Good and complex questions. Let me see if I can do them justice.
If you had to pick a single character from the ensemble to hold up as a primary protagonist for the show, who would you say it is? That's a really tough question. I don't believe the show actually has a primary protagonist, seeing as how it's the epitome of "ensemble." Every highlighted character has a bright and shining moment as well as a moment of complete and utter failure. The sentimentalist in me wants to pinpoint Laura as the primary protagonist, because it's her goal from the moment she takes office to the moment she dies to protect humanity, and that's what's accomplished during the course of the show. If I want to play devil's advocate, though, I can say that it's the Borg collective Cylons in general who are the primary protagonists: they direct the action, they're in control, they even know the outcome. If I have to narrow it down to Angels Six and Baltar I could, but it would be against my better judgment. They become more of a Greek chorus over the course
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The sentimentalist in me wants to pinpoint Laura as the primary protagonist, because it's her goal from the moment she takes office to the moment she dies to protect humanity, and that's what's accomplished during the course of the show.
I like that reasoning. I think she'd be a good choice.
Maybe the primary protagonist is the ship itself, Galactica. It is the single most consistent entity of all.
Heh! A good point.
I'm actually going to give my personal award for most consistent characterization to Tom Zarek, he who never changes even though we all really want him to.
Good call! Zarek is very consistent. I think he's kind of a pleasure to watch. After New Caprica you get just a tiny bit hopeful that he might become an actual friend instead of just an enemy of the enemy, but he never changes his stripes.
I wish I could discount the first half of Season Four, because they really screwed the pooch with Starbuck and Tigh, both of whom could easily have been my picks for most consistently characterized until then.Yeah. I
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Great point about Dee. I felt she was used for exposition or as a sounding board for other characters at points and that was not fair. Plus her ending did not have enough context to understand. In the finale when Bill gives his admiral pins to Gaeta's boyfriend, sorry I forget his name, I remember thinking, that should have been Dee.
Dee's ending was tragic and unexpected. Maybe if she'd had your icon, she wouldn't have been so upset by what happened to Earth. I do think she got a raw deal all the way around, but that's not where the fault lies. Pretty much everyone got a raw deal all the way around, but their characterization didn't suffer for/because of it.
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If you had to pick a single character from the ensemble to hold up as a primary protagonist for the show, who would you say it is?
Sharon would be a good choice, if only because she represents both the fleet and the Cylons, and got the opportunity to explore destiny/willpower/duty in the form of Athena and Boomer. Personally I always thought of Bill and Laura as the protagonists, followed by Starbuck and Gaius. It is the actions and journeys of these four that set most of the plot in motion and touched everyone else’s lives.
Who has the most consistent characterization, in your opinion? Who has the weakest?I think characterization was one of BSG’s greatest strengths. That being said, I found that Lee and Bill’s characterization had the most ups and downs. Maybe Lee was meant to be wishy washy, because I found his rotating loyalties to not always make sense. Pilot. Coup leader. Pilot. Lawyer. Pilot. Politian. ( ... )
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I keep thinking about how much fun it must've been to play Sharon (and by extension the whole line of Eights) for exactly this reason. Athena chooses humans, thumbing her nose at her Cylon programming, and Boomer, so sympathetic in these early episodes and on New Caprica immediately after her download, goes through such a change that it's difficult to remember why I liked her early on. It's tough to be a Sharon, but what a great role for an actress.
Personally I always thought of Bill and Laura as the protagonists, followed by Starbuck and Gaius. It is the actions and journeys of these four that set most of the plot in motion and touched everyone else’s lives.That's a good point. I always have trouble thinking of Gaius as a protagonist because I feel like I should always have a underlying sense that I'm rooting for a protagonist even if I don't ( ... )
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If you had to pick a single character from the ensemble to hold up as a primary protagonist for the show, who would you say it is?
That's a really tough question. I don't believe the show actually has a primary protagonist, seeing as how it's the epitome of "ensemble." Every highlighted character has a bright and shining moment as well as a moment of complete and utter failure. The sentimentalist in me wants to pinpoint Laura as the primary protagonist, because it's her goal from the moment she takes office to the moment she dies to protect humanity, and that's what's accomplished during the course of the show. If I want to play devil's advocate, though, I can say that it's the Borg collective Cylons in general who are the primary protagonists: they direct the action, they're in control, they even know the outcome. If I have to narrow it down to Angels Six and Baltar I could, but it would be against my better judgment. They become more of a Greek chorus over the course ( ... )
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I like that reasoning. I think she'd be a good choice.
Maybe the primary protagonist is the ship itself, Galactica. It is the single most consistent entity of all.
Heh! A good point.
I'm actually going to give my personal award for most consistent characterization to Tom Zarek, he who never changes even though we all really want him to.
Good call! Zarek is very consistent. I think he's kind of a pleasure to watch. After New Caprica you get just a tiny bit hopeful that he might become an actual friend instead of just an enemy of the enemy, but he never changes his stripes.
I wish I could discount the first half of Season Four, because they really screwed the pooch with Starbuck and Tigh, both of whom could easily have been my picks for most consistently characterized until then.Yeah. I ( ... )
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Dee's ending was tragic and unexpected. Maybe if she'd had your icon, she wouldn't have been so upset by what happened to Earth. I do think she got a raw deal all the way around, but that's not where the fault lies. Pretty much everyone got a raw deal all the way around, but their characterization didn't suffer for/because of it.
(I really am so enamored with your icon!)
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