And you thought I was done with this topic.
Ran across this post regarding BSG's finale, from Peter Watts, the author of this wonderful bit of vampire metafiction (careful, it's in powerpoint!). Wish I had been reading him at the time, would have saved a lot of dithering.
This in particular accords well with how I was thinking about the Centurions:
More proximately, I found that whole Centurion backstory thing either unconvincing or deeply unethical. We are told, after all, that it was the Centurion models that first developed self-awareness, that entered into the deal with the Final Five, that developed the paradigm of the One True God. And yet, the skin jobs lobotomized them with these “telencephalic inhibitors” that Cap Six unplugged at the start of the civil war.* How did that happen? How did these newly-arisen sentient beings allow their own progeny to dumb them back into mindless cannon fodder? How did the skin jobs justify the enslavement of their own kind? And why did the Final Five, who presumably had traveled all these thousands of years to warn the colonies of the perils of meat-machine conflict- why did the Final Five let that happen?
Indeed. That last will likely be poorly addressed by the movie The Plan, which will be released at the end of October.
Watts has also coined a new term: Torchica Syndrome, which applies to TV science fiction that is "95% front-loaded genius, blown in the final stretch":
only to spit in our faces at the end and tell us the mystery didn’t even matter because it was “all about the characters”. As though you can have plot or people, but not both. As though narrative rigor is somehow the enemy of good drama.
Anyway. Lately have been nosing around for new SF, finally got around to watching Eureka (which is largely dreadful), RDM's latest Virtuality (also largely dreadful), and the new GREY'S ANATOMY IN SPACE, Defying Gravity (what it says on the tin! 100% RDA of FAIL) (I refuse to link to any of these). All very much reminding me how terrific BSG was, before the end. Just rewatched Season Three's _Torn_ (ep 6), and marveled at the music. In the past I have griped about how overhyped Bear McCreary's score has been, but minutes 40-42 deserves that hype. Simple, moving.
Oh and this wouldn't be a proper BSG post without a screencap:
Kara cutting off her extensions
*Not Cap Six, but Natalie. Yes I am a nitpicky nerd.
This in particular accords well with how I was thinking about the Centurions:
More proximately, I found that whole Centurion backstory thing either unconvincing or deeply unethical. We are told, after all, that it was the Centurion models that first developed self-awareness, that entered into the deal with the Final Five, that developed the paradigm of the One True God. And yet, the skin jobs lobotomized them with these “telencephalic inhibitors” that Cap Six unplugged at the start of the civil war.* How did that happen? How did these newly-arisen sentient beings allow their own progeny to dumb them back into mindless cannon fodder? How did the skin jobs justify the enslavement of their own kind? And why did the Final Five, who presumably had traveled all these thousands of years to warn the colonies of the perils of meat-machine conflict- why did the Final Five let that happen?
Indeed. That last will likely be poorly addressed by the movie The Plan, which will be released at the end of October.
Watts has also coined a new term: Torchica Syndrome, which applies to TV science fiction that is "95% front-loaded genius, blown in the final stretch":
only to spit in our faces at the end and tell us the mystery didn’t even matter because it was “all about the characters”. As though you can have plot or people, but not both. As though narrative rigor is somehow the enemy of good drama.
Anyway. Lately have been nosing around for new SF, finally got around to watching Eureka (which is largely dreadful), RDM's latest Virtuality (also largely dreadful), and the new GREY'S ANATOMY IN SPACE, Defying Gravity (what it says on the tin! 100% RDA of FAIL) (I refuse to link to any of these). All very much reminding me how terrific BSG was, before the end. Just rewatched Season Three's _Torn_ (ep 6), and marveled at the music. In the past I have griped about how overhyped Bear McCreary's score has been, but minutes 40-42 deserves that hype. Simple, moving.
Oh and this wouldn't be a proper BSG post without a screencap:
Kara cutting off her extensions
*Not Cap Six, but Natalie. Yes I am a nitpicky nerd.