I am done Battlestar Gallactica!
I just finished the series last night. I watched the whole thing over the last week and a half! I haven't watched The Plan yet (the roommate wants me to wait to watch it with her), but I just watched the pilot of Caprica.
- I'm glad I abandoned my love for Lee/Kara, because WOW, yeah, worst ship ever. I started rooting for Adama/Roslin (cutest ship ever!) and after we found out that Anders was a cylon, I started really liking Anders/Starbuck, too. That ship didn't have a satisfying ending either (what IS it with Starbuck's love life?!?!), but at least they died together, sort of...
- I was PISSED when Starbuck vanished into thin air. I hate it when shows or books don't let characters get together until the very end, but I was pretty certain that Lee and Starbuck would be together at the end of BSG -- or at least they would continue to be in each others' lives as friends. And then Kara says she's going to go wander the world, and my heart sank. And then she DISAPPEARS INTO THIN AIR. Ugh. So, I guess she was a corporeal angel, or something? Ugh. At least she's with Anders now. Sigh.
- Poor Lee. I didn't even ship him and Kara (much) in season four because he just becomes SO unattractive. I don't know what it is exactly. Mostly I think it's the floofy 80s hair. And he looks horrible in suits. He looks HOT with cropped hair and in a flight suit, but in a suit with 80s hair, he just seemed to lose his fire. I still would have been okay with him and Starbuck getting together for old times' sake, but, I don't know, without their adversarial relationship, they just don't seem as appealing as a couple. (I also found him a bit annoying as a politician. It was what Roslin said. He was idealistic in a way, but it was a very liberal idealism that couldn't make way for the reality of individual situations.)
- I really liked the first half of the finale, the Battle for Hera. And, for the most part, I also really liked the second half. I LOVE the idea that BSG is HISTORY, not the future. But an alternate history - one where this happens over and over and maybe this time it will be different. I like the idea that history isn't this constant march of progress (which isn't true anyway), but an imperfect cycle.
- I was not as happy with the settlement on the new Earth. I don't understand why they spread out, often with one person going to a place alone. You're not going to propagate the human race that way! How will they defend themselves if attacked? And without their ships, they would never see each other again. I just find that depressing. As one article about the finale said, it's hard to believe that they would give up all their technology. The flash forward was hella cool, though.
- It's neat that the Cylon Angels really were angels. Or something like it. Does this mean that in the BSG world there really is one God (even if he doesn't like that name?). That would add a layer of meaning to the Caprica series (although I don't like how it's so similar to our society's own dominant religion -- seems less fantastical that way).
- One thing I LOVE about BSG is the little details. Like how everyone says 'GODSdammit' and 'oh GODS', etc -- even the atheists. And the fact that paper and books are not squares and rectangles, but have tapered edges. These signal that we are in a different world at a different time. I like the way details like that challenge our own ideas of absolutes -- the dominant religion, the predominance of right angles.
On Caprica: Related to the point above, I'm sad books on this show are rectangles. What happened to that continuity?
The show seems interesting so far (I've just seen the pilot). I've heard that many people fine the show disappointing. I'm not sure if it goes downhill, or if BSG fans expected it to be more similar to BSG. I can definitely see the latter being disappointing, and I'm glad I knew it was going to be very different - a sci fi family drama. It's neat to see the beginning of the Cylons, and it's REALLY neat to see Caprica City in its heyday and all the crazy technology. Basically, it's a Jetsons world with a Terminator undertone. You know that very soon this "progress" will all backfire, and that alone produces riveting dramatic tension.
I'm less thrilled about the predominance of monotheistic religion in the show. I loved the polytheistic religion in BSG, partly because it was so different from our own, and that allowed us to view it without our own preconceptions and cultural baggage. For the same reason, I don't like the One True God theme here, even if it's a subculture and not the dominant culture. It's it's too close to our world for my taste. But we'll see how it plays out.
What did you think of the BSG series finale and the Caprica pilot? (No spoilers for The Plan and the rest of Caprica in the comments, please!)
- I'm glad I abandoned my love for Lee/Kara, because WOW, yeah, worst ship ever. I started rooting for Adama/Roslin (cutest ship ever!) and after we found out that Anders was a cylon, I started really liking Anders/Starbuck, too. That ship didn't have a satisfying ending either (what IS it with Starbuck's love life?!?!), but at least they died together, sort of...
- I was PISSED when Starbuck vanished into thin air. I hate it when shows or books don't let characters get together until the very end, but I was pretty certain that Lee and Starbuck would be together at the end of BSG -- or at least they would continue to be in each others' lives as friends. And then Kara says she's going to go wander the world, and my heart sank. And then she DISAPPEARS INTO THIN AIR. Ugh. So, I guess she was a corporeal angel, or something? Ugh. At least she's with Anders now. Sigh.
- Poor Lee. I didn't even ship him and Kara (much) in season four because he just becomes SO unattractive. I don't know what it is exactly. Mostly I think it's the floofy 80s hair. And he looks horrible in suits. He looks HOT with cropped hair and in a flight suit, but in a suit with 80s hair, he just seemed to lose his fire. I still would have been okay with him and Starbuck getting together for old times' sake, but, I don't know, without their adversarial relationship, they just don't seem as appealing as a couple. (I also found him a bit annoying as a politician. It was what Roslin said. He was idealistic in a way, but it was a very liberal idealism that couldn't make way for the reality of individual situations.)
- I really liked the first half of the finale, the Battle for Hera. And, for the most part, I also really liked the second half. I LOVE the idea that BSG is HISTORY, not the future. But an alternate history - one where this happens over and over and maybe this time it will be different. I like the idea that history isn't this constant march of progress (which isn't true anyway), but an imperfect cycle.
- I was not as happy with the settlement on the new Earth. I don't understand why they spread out, often with one person going to a place alone. You're not going to propagate the human race that way! How will they defend themselves if attacked? And without their ships, they would never see each other again. I just find that depressing. As one article about the finale said, it's hard to believe that they would give up all their technology. The flash forward was hella cool, though.
- It's neat that the Cylon Angels really were angels. Or something like it. Does this mean that in the BSG world there really is one God (even if he doesn't like that name?). That would add a layer of meaning to the Caprica series (although I don't like how it's so similar to our society's own dominant religion -- seems less fantastical that way).
- One thing I LOVE about BSG is the little details. Like how everyone says 'GODSdammit' and 'oh GODS', etc -- even the atheists. And the fact that paper and books are not squares and rectangles, but have tapered edges. These signal that we are in a different world at a different time. I like the way details like that challenge our own ideas of absolutes -- the dominant religion, the predominance of right angles.
On Caprica: Related to the point above, I'm sad books on this show are rectangles. What happened to that continuity?
The show seems interesting so far (I've just seen the pilot). I've heard that many people fine the show disappointing. I'm not sure if it goes downhill, or if BSG fans expected it to be more similar to BSG. I can definitely see the latter being disappointing, and I'm glad I knew it was going to be very different - a sci fi family drama. It's neat to see the beginning of the Cylons, and it's REALLY neat to see Caprica City in its heyday and all the crazy technology. Basically, it's a Jetsons world with a Terminator undertone. You know that very soon this "progress" will all backfire, and that alone produces riveting dramatic tension.
I'm less thrilled about the predominance of monotheistic religion in the show. I loved the polytheistic religion in BSG, partly because it was so different from our own, and that allowed us to view it without our own preconceptions and cultural baggage. For the same reason, I don't like the One True God theme here, even if it's a subculture and not the dominant culture. It's it's too close to our world for my taste. But we'll see how it plays out.
What did you think of the BSG series finale and the Caprica pilot? (No spoilers for The Plan and the rest of Caprica in the comments, please!)