BSG Meta: RDM is a crappy Long-Fic Writer

[marenfic]

Have you ever read a long fanfic that spends a lot of time building up the complexity of the characters and the relationships between them amidst a plot, and then find that in the last two chapters or so the author suddenly drops all of the complexity and speeds through the plot to get the story finished? You know what I'm talking about, right?

Comments

[stoney321]

Agreed on everything here except: isn't the final Cylon Kara's ship? I thought that was the big reveal. I could be wrong.

[marenfic]

I don't think so- at least I hope not. I think they've been fairly specific that there are 12 human models and though the Viper may be a cylon, it isn't human. Maybe I missed a podcast somewhere that says something different but I haven't seen anything indicating that the ship was supposed to be the final cylon.

Did I miss something? Dude, I hope not because if the final cylon isn't a major character with a major part to play I'm going to be bummed.

I think it's Adama, for possibly stupid reasons but reasons nonetheless.

[viciouswishes]

Others have speculated that it could also be Galactica itself. Which would be lame emotional pay off.

According to an interview I read, had they not been able to make the rest of this season due to the strikes, they were going to have Billy be the last Cylon. Which confirms that RDM has no plan and that he's likely going to pull something out of his ass at the last minute.

[lucyrose22]

I thought that they were just going to bring billy back to play the part Elosha ended up playing. Ugh, who knows.

[swatkat24]

I'm nodding along with you here, but at the same time I kinda feel for the writers because the show got cancelled, and now they *have* to finish the story some way or the other. I've been particularly unhappy with the way Kara has been written, craaazy in one episode and COMPLETELY sane in the next, her characterisation all over the place. Ditto on the dropped plot points. I still feel engaged, possibly because my love for this show is still fresh and new, but yeah.

[marenfic]

Oh yeah, I agree that they *have* to wrap it up so there is some pressure but I just had a lot of hope that the writing team was skillful enough to finish the plot while also giving us fleshed out character moments.

I've been particularly unhappy with the way Kara has been written, craaazy in one episode and COMPLETELY sane in the next, her characterisation all over the place.

Oh my goodness, YES. Though I have to say that wisteria_ has been able to weave some logic out of it so I go with her interpretation and find a little more tolerance for Kara through it.

[swatkat24]

I wonder if a part of the problem is the ensemble nature of the show itself. There are *so many* wonderful characters, and they've done a good job of fleshing all their stories out, but now they have to rush and suddenly, there are *too many* characters.

[inlovewithnight]

That's a great metaphor for how this feels. I still haven't watched the last three episodes, actually, because I just...don't care, anymore, after the first part of this season, and that really bums me out. Sigh.

[marenfic]

It's such a bummer. There were several times this season when I didn't watch it live and doubled-up the next week because I didn't feel a burning need to see it. It made me sad, considering how insanely in love with the show I was.

I did sort of enjoy the last few episodes, though it was casual enjoyment and not fannish enjoyment. Let me know what you think when you watch them (if you do).

[redbrickrose]

I know we talked about this, but I really agree with you. I couldn't figure out why I was feeling the way I was about it, but that's it exactly. I want the plot to serve the characters, if the whole thing is just characters serving the plot, I get bored and apathetic. They had opportunities for some *great* character stuff, and just didn't take them.

[marenfic]

The wasted opportunities are so sad-making, aren't they? There has been so much amazing story potential but it's exactly like you stated- characters serving the plot. I just don't care about the plot if I don't care about the characters.

[a2zmom]

I do agree that the season has been extremely plot heavy. It seems like they have so many points to hit that they don't have time for anything else. And yet I still prefer that to those truly awful "let's take a complicated social situation - religious differences, labor vs management, black marketering - and solve it in 43 minutes.

[marenfic]

Ha! Yes, I do agree with that. At least the plot has been interesting and there haven't been dead episodes. I wish they had all of those filler eps back so they'd have time for characters and plot this season.

[makd]

ITA. I find the earlier episodes almost soap opera-ish , and much prefer this season's harum-scarum speed. (of course, I love action movies that are long on plot, short on characterization, so.....)

I've never watched BSG for the characters; they were always a minor part of why I watched. I watched for the Byzantine plot elements; the characters were incidental to me. They still are.

[shrugs.] It's not BtVS or AtS; it's not The Wire; it's not Deadwood....

[marenfic]

[shrugs.] It's not BtVS or AtS; it's not The Wire; it's not Deadwood....

Wow, how incredibly dismissing. Stupid me, for not getting it was a silly little plot-driven sci-fi show all along.