I watched the pilot of BSG yesterday. No one told me it was 3 hours long!! We settled into watch it at 9.15 figuring for an early night and were still there at 12.15. Oh well.
It was pretty damn good. I am now hooked. The boyfriend is ordering season1. And blimey, I just realised that this will be the first time ever we've both agreed on a tv show. He hates Buffy (mostly cause he's sick of it). He really hates Smallville (probably because he's got taste). He loathed Angel, mind you so did I mostly, except I kept on watching. He's not remotely bothered about the Sarah Connor Chronicles or Heroes.
He watches anime, I have this terrible tendancy to fall asleep during anime, no matter how good it is and no matter how awake I was before. I am training myself out of this habit and we are having anime night every Wednesday whereby I just about manage to make it through half an hour. So far we've watched Gunbuster and now we're on Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop is ace. But still has a tranquilizing effect on me.
Anyway, BSG looks to be awesome. Obligatory politics bit - holy crap they've got black folks and asian folks in the future! And women!
That's not why I like it, that's a reason for not disliking it. I like it because it's epic, well scripted, and they've all just suffered a huge catastrophe. I like disaster movies, a lot. Plus, killer robots who look like us. A Commander who slips back into army mode just like that. Space stations. Space stations full of greenery and saccharine children. Who get killed. Killer robots in your mind and a right wanker who's gotta get his comeuppance. I do not want to see him redeemed, he's a bloody prick.
Anyway. Ace.
BSG- Tis a very good series mostly- there is a season in the middle that's a bit depressing, but generally it keeps its momentum. I like the fact it is so ambiguous- whose good, whose bad- and of course these issues become more and blurry as the series progress. So, you have good and bad guys on both sides- and even then it's not clear cut, because everybody has clear motives for their choices and there isn't always a 'right' choice. Who is 'a right wanker'? It's been so long this I watched the pilot- and to be honest the earlier seasons sometimes blur into each other.
ReplyDeleteThe wanker is the dude who was sleeping with the blonde cylon women and so inadvertently let the cylons into the whole defence system.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, the fact he did that isn't why I don't like him. He's just so bloody smarmy, and smug, and resembles a greasy 80s yuppy. Eugh. That's the sort of personality trait that doesn't usually get sucked away. I'm sure he'll repent and come clean about what he did, and as it was a mistake you can't hold that against him, I just think he's a self serving little git.
I've missed getting pulled into new sci-fi!
No, Gaius remains a consistent wanker across the whole series- it's the only actual constant in the show. He never confesses, or at least not to anybody that counts. I mean he is a major, complex character with very interesting motivations, and he keeps being given opportunity to change, to improve, to grow, but the self-serving wanker wins through every time. Which I kind of like.
ReplyDeleteBSG is about right, wrong, and all the shades of gray in between. No one is all bad or all good (well, maybe a couple) and most of the characters are not predictable. The storylines cover politics, culture, war, making choices, making mistakes, religion, prophecy, and lots, lots more. Sure, it got depressing at times, but it's also about hope and the human spirit. It never disappointed me.
ReplyDeleteAs for Gaius, I liked him a lot. Sure, he was a jerk most of the time, but he honestly did try to do right at times. He just was more interested in saving himself. And yet, he was probably the most complex of all the characters and... well, I don't want to spoil anything. ;)
I envy you starting watching BSG for the first time. I wish I could do the same for Buffy.
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