...I like vests...
So, I am in a very confused place right now. My world seems to be turned upside down. I watched both BSG and Dollhouse last night and Dollhouse was good and BSG was bad? Dollhouse good, BSG bad? /fetal position assumed/
Just before I get accused of being a heathen I would like to refer everyone here to my BSG tag:
http://krk.livejournal.com/tag/bsg
In particular I would like to point out this quote:
"HOLLY SHIT. HOLLY SHIT! HOLLY SHIT! BSG JUST BLEW MY FUCKING MIND! OMG! HOLLY SHIT~! End of season 3. HOLLY SHIT! NO WAYS.
The end of that final episode was television gold..."
Keeping that in mind, we are now going to examine why I made my very angry, tongue in cheek, post last night.
I guess I can't be classified as a "fan girl" anymore because I won't allow "a few of my favorite things" to cram bull shit down my throat. I believe it is important to remain critical even if you do love something THAT MUCH.
SERIOUS SPOILERS PEOPLE. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
I had a hunch that the series would try and related the journey to our present day Earth, and surprise, surprise they did. I don't mind being right about an ending but at least do it justice. Don't pull a deus-ex-machina on us. You owe us more than that.
Everything seems like an afterthought. EVERYTHING. It was as if the writing staff had no idea what to do with the plot or really care about the plot. I think Ron Moore said it best himself: "Let's forget about the plot for a moment and just trust that it will work itself out, because it always does." Guess what Ron, it didn't really work out.
So he claims it is about the characters eh? For me the series was over the second Ellen Tigh woke up in the resurrection tub. I like flawed characters and she was one of my favorites. I thought her death was sad and in a way, beautiful. Bringing her back as this vastly intelligent, compassionate and motherly creature was an insult to the character they spent seasons building. Could they have deviated more from her original character? (Although, kudos to wardrobe. That black dress she wore when she escaped from the cylons? STUNNING.)
Another character that they went out of their way to ruin was Starbuck. Out of all the characters, I liked her the least but I got her and knew why I didn't like her. A large part of her character was how ruined she was over the death of Zak. They were painted as this very perfect couple. Because of his death, Starbuck was always on a downward spiral of self-destruction and wouldn't let herself truly be happy. The idea that she would get drunk and dare Lee to "do her" while the love of her life is passed out on the couch seems a little off. You could argue that she was never well and that the guilt of that single moment was what caused her downward spiral but why wait until the last episode to bring that up? Just cuz? Not good enough.
Remember when you first started creative writing and you had this AWESOME idea for a story and spend all this time building up this crazy story and then realizing you don't have a spectacular way to end it and so you make it all just a dream? Looking back now you realize that it was a cop out. Kara being an angel/tangible head person is like that dream ending. Can you provide evidence that they really planned that one out? I was WAY cooler with her being the daughter of a Seven. It had potential for a very cool plot line. But, remember, it's about the characters, not the plot.
In an interview, Ron Moore said:
"I think Kara remains an ambiguous figure. Kara lived a mortal life, died and was resurrected to get them to their final destiny. Clearly she was a key player in the events that led to [the fleet's] finding a home. And, I don't know if there's any more to it beyond that. I think you could call her an angel, you could call her a demon, the second coming or the first coming, I guess, chronologically speaking. You can say that she had a certain messiah-like quality, in the classic resurrection story. There's a lot of different ways you can look at it, but the more we talked about it, the more we realized there was more in the ambiguity and mystery of it than there was in trying to give it more definition in the end."
So basically, Starbuck is Jesus. Really? And again, if it is really about the characters and you are willing to make gaping plot holes for the sake of characterization, why would you leave a "key player" character as being something ambiguous? Tighten that shit up.
What I believe to have been the thought process behind Daniel: "SHIT. Why is Sharron and eight? Okay, put in a few lines about this dude Daniel who may be Starbucks father but she isn't really a person so...umm...yeah. And when the audience asks us about it being her father we will just say we never implied that" Oh, I see how the plot will work itself out. You will just add in random plot bits and hope for the best even when things don't work out. Gotcha. If I wanted to play fill in the plot holes I would have written my own story or a fan fiction at least.
The dream sequence seemed like a stretched attempt to tie SOMETHING up. The scenes where she was running around the ship seemed awkward and really, pointless. She got chased around a ship and avoided cylons. I didn't really feel that Caprica's and Baltar's presence were really all that essential to her survival. When they finally get into the CIC to find the final five towering over them, it was neat but again, it was awkward how much they played it up. I actually don't recall the original opera house scene perfectly but I thought it was a very different set up. I remember the final five standing in front of glowing pillars but I don't remember them being on a balcony. I will actually go through the series and see if they changed the scene (stay tuned for an edit).
Speaking of Baltar and Caprica, I felt that their flash backs were wonderful. The story about Baltar's father really did add to the characterization of both Caprica and Baltar. But that was an episode ago. Not the finale.
The only part of the last hour I found touching was the final scenes between Adama and Roslin. I cried. I bawled. It was probably the only characters conclusions I did like.
I also found it mighty convenient that NO ONE had a problem with settling on Earth and starting over again. I sure as hell would have had a few things to say about it.
The god thing... ... ... ... ...maybe it is because I am not convinced that "the all mighty" exists, but I hate plots that are deus-ex-machina. Just not a great story. It's like I don't like many Romantic Comedies, I don't like stories about God. It lets you get away with anything. It's like how Joe Quesada reset Spider-Man...it was all MAGIC! WooooOOOoooo~! Way too easy.
And getting down to the last few scenes:
Red dress, crowded street (Time Square), pretty blonde lady? Matrix much? Why not rip off something else that was about the survival of humanity that went drastically down hill because they tried too hard to make it about God?
BSG did the exact same thing that ALMOST ruined "Blink" (the Doctor Who episode) for me. Do not end on a montage. It looks cheap. It should not to be used as a finisher. Here was the first thought as the credits started rolling: "My current favorite series airing on television ended with a montage of internet-like video of Japanese robots? And I recommend this to people?"
And in conclusion, I am not alone (CIP - back me up dude.). Go to the points where the threads have reactions to it. Lots of disappointment all around:
http://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/86bv0/official_battlestar_galactica_discussion_spoilers/
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40505
http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=3183434
Also, because I seem to have given off the impression that I don't like things, here are things I have publicly gushed over lately:
Evil Dead the Musical
Grant Morrison
Repo! The Genetic Opera
My COOP job
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Sushi
The Daily Show
Made with Molecules Jewlery
TF2
Vests
The Immortal Iron Fist
People who send me packages
People who leave things on my door
Friends
(Now, this is a game...which of the above have I NOT gushed about and is a nerd reference? A seriously big cookie to the first person who gets it...my money is on Tim/Doki)
Just before I get accused of being a heathen I would like to refer everyone here to my BSG tag:
http://krk.livejournal.com/tag/bsg
In particular I would like to point out this quote:
"HOLLY SHIT. HOLLY SHIT! HOLLY SHIT! BSG JUST BLEW MY FUCKING MIND! OMG! HOLLY SHIT~! End of season 3. HOLLY SHIT! NO WAYS.
The end of that final episode was television gold..."
Keeping that in mind, we are now going to examine why I made my very angry, tongue in cheek, post last night.
I guess I can't be classified as a "fan girl" anymore because I won't allow "a few of my favorite things" to cram bull shit down my throat. I believe it is important to remain critical even if you do love something THAT MUCH.
SERIOUS SPOILERS PEOPLE. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
I had a hunch that the series would try and related the journey to our present day Earth, and surprise, surprise they did. I don't mind being right about an ending but at least do it justice. Don't pull a deus-ex-machina on us. You owe us more than that.
Everything seems like an afterthought. EVERYTHING. It was as if the writing staff had no idea what to do with the plot or really care about the plot. I think Ron Moore said it best himself: "Let's forget about the plot for a moment and just trust that it will work itself out, because it always does." Guess what Ron, it didn't really work out.
So he claims it is about the characters eh? For me the series was over the second Ellen Tigh woke up in the resurrection tub. I like flawed characters and she was one of my favorites. I thought her death was sad and in a way, beautiful. Bringing her back as this vastly intelligent, compassionate and motherly creature was an insult to the character they spent seasons building. Could they have deviated more from her original character? (Although, kudos to wardrobe. That black dress she wore when she escaped from the cylons? STUNNING.)
Another character that they went out of their way to ruin was Starbuck. Out of all the characters, I liked her the least but I got her and knew why I didn't like her. A large part of her character was how ruined she was over the death of Zak. They were painted as this very perfect couple. Because of his death, Starbuck was always on a downward spiral of self-destruction and wouldn't let herself truly be happy. The idea that she would get drunk and dare Lee to "do her" while the love of her life is passed out on the couch seems a little off. You could argue that she was never well and that the guilt of that single moment was what caused her downward spiral but why wait until the last episode to bring that up? Just cuz? Not good enough.
Remember when you first started creative writing and you had this AWESOME idea for a story and spend all this time building up this crazy story and then realizing you don't have a spectacular way to end it and so you make it all just a dream? Looking back now you realize that it was a cop out. Kara being an angel/tangible head person is like that dream ending. Can you provide evidence that they really planned that one out? I was WAY cooler with her being the daughter of a Seven. It had potential for a very cool plot line. But, remember, it's about the characters, not the plot.
In an interview, Ron Moore said:
"I think Kara remains an ambiguous figure. Kara lived a mortal life, died and was resurrected to get them to their final destiny. Clearly she was a key player in the events that led to [the fleet's] finding a home. And, I don't know if there's any more to it beyond that. I think you could call her an angel, you could call her a demon, the second coming or the first coming, I guess, chronologically speaking. You can say that she had a certain messiah-like quality, in the classic resurrection story. There's a lot of different ways you can look at it, but the more we talked about it, the more we realized there was more in the ambiguity and mystery of it than there was in trying to give it more definition in the end."
So basically, Starbuck is Jesus. Really? And again, if it is really about the characters and you are willing to make gaping plot holes for the sake of characterization, why would you leave a "key player" character as being something ambiguous? Tighten that shit up.
What I believe to have been the thought process behind Daniel: "SHIT. Why is Sharron and eight? Okay, put in a few lines about this dude Daniel who may be Starbucks father but she isn't really a person so...umm...yeah. And when the audience asks us about it being her father we will just say we never implied that" Oh, I see how the plot will work itself out. You will just add in random plot bits and hope for the best even when things don't work out. Gotcha. If I wanted to play fill in the plot holes I would have written my own story or a fan fiction at least.
The dream sequence seemed like a stretched attempt to tie SOMETHING up. The scenes where she was running around the ship seemed awkward and really, pointless. She got chased around a ship and avoided cylons. I didn't really feel that Caprica's and Baltar's presence were really all that essential to her survival. When they finally get into the CIC to find the final five towering over them, it was neat but again, it was awkward how much they played it up. I actually don't recall the original opera house scene perfectly but I thought it was a very different set up. I remember the final five standing in front of glowing pillars but I don't remember them being on a balcony. I will actually go through the series and see if they changed the scene (stay tuned for an edit).
Speaking of Baltar and Caprica, I felt that their flash backs were wonderful. The story about Baltar's father really did add to the characterization of both Caprica and Baltar. But that was an episode ago. Not the finale.
The only part of the last hour I found touching was the final scenes between Adama and Roslin. I cried. I bawled. It was probably the only characters conclusions I did like.
I also found it mighty convenient that NO ONE had a problem with settling on Earth and starting over again. I sure as hell would have had a few things to say about it.
The god thing... ... ... ... ...maybe it is because I am not convinced that "the all mighty" exists, but I hate plots that are deus-ex-machina. Just not a great story. It's like I don't like many Romantic Comedies, I don't like stories about God. It lets you get away with anything. It's like how Joe Quesada reset Spider-Man...it was all MAGIC! WooooOOOoooo~! Way too easy.
And getting down to the last few scenes:
Red dress, crowded street (Time Square), pretty blonde lady? Matrix much? Why not rip off something else that was about the survival of humanity that went drastically down hill because they tried too hard to make it about God?
BSG did the exact same thing that ALMOST ruined "Blink" (the Doctor Who episode) for me. Do not end on a montage. It looks cheap. It should not to be used as a finisher. Here was the first thought as the credits started rolling: "My current favorite series airing on television ended with a montage of internet-like video of Japanese robots? And I recommend this to people?"
And in conclusion, I am not alone (CIP - back me up dude.). Go to the points where the threads have reactions to it. Lots of disappointment all around:
http://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/86bv0/official_battlestar_galactica_discussion_spoilers/
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40505
http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=3183434
Also, because I seem to have given off the impression that I don't like things, here are things I have publicly gushed over lately:
Evil Dead the Musical
Grant Morrison
Repo! The Genetic Opera
My COOP job
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Sushi
The Daily Show
Made with Molecules Jewlery
TF2
Vests
The Immortal Iron Fist
People who send me packages
People who leave things on my door
Friends
(Now, this is a game...which of the above have I NOT gushed about and is a nerd reference? A seriously big cookie to the first person who gets it...my money is on Tim/Doki)