DPP: BSG Without Pilots

[winegums]

Hello, Shipper Nation, and welcome to this week's DPP!

Today's question is one that I suspect very few of us (self included) like to think about too often, or at all: what if there were no pilots?BSG is a big show, with a massive cast to match. Our pilots, much as we love them and important as they were, were just two of those, and their story

Comments

some more rambling

[winegums]

We KNOW pilots are exceptional among fictional couples, for the epicness of their relationship, the depth of their connection, the complexity of their individual personalities and (because I am shallow) the levels of pretty, but I remember being intrigued by the premise of the show even before I knew of the existence of either pilot

[callmeonetrack]

I think there would have had to have been a Starbuck and Apollo, or at least a CAG and a flight instructor/fleet's top pilot for them to narratively tell a lot of the stories.

Alternatively, the emotional quotient they bring with their various personalities would have been important. A by-the-book type (on the surface at least) who can do things like force Bill and Laura to have elections and be a liasion between govt. and military was important. And having a wild card in your show, someone who can be the catalyst for unexpected actions and stories is also important (I made a post about this at KaraThraceLives a few weeks ago actually after a TV critic online pointed out how important a rule-bucker--and specifically a Starbuck--is to a drama like BSG.) Without Starbuck, there'd be no Apollo, no arrow, no Kobol/path to Earth, no Helo/Sharon, no Resistance if she hadn't followed her instincts to go against orders on various occasions

[winegums]

it would've been a much duller show without their personal spark and chemistry.

So true, especially for a show as dark as BSG. And sure, their roles would have probably been filled, but I don't know whether the characters filling those roles would have connected to each other the way pilots did. (edit: I very much doubt it)

In theory, of course, we could have a show without Lee and Kara, but the reality wouldn't have been as compelling.

[anamarya]

Well, are you asking about the pilots as a couple or in the bigger picture without them at all.

Because if think that it's a big difference.

I'll assume for the moment that you speak about them as a couple because that's easier to answer.

They bright a lot to the story because they are different from what we are used to expect (or at least what people expected at the time of the mini) from couples on TV. The whole gender issue that it's not an issue in BSG and the fact that beyond their history/chemistry, etc they need to have a very close work relation it's very important. Because it's one thing to have multilayered characters and another to have a multilayered relationship on top of it.

Now, if you ask me if I would have watched BSG without them - yes, I would have. But, I would not be on the internets speaking/debating/.... about the show. It would have been just another show that I watched and I would have moved on to the next.

what do you think pilots brought to the show, and the story, that made them - and the show,

[winegums]

I actually did mean their absence and the difference it would make to the bigger picture - sorry if that wasn't clear!

I agree with every word you say here, though. It is all truth.

[anamarya]

Their absence. So, no pilots at all. That's hard. and I think that Tara managed to sum it up pretty well in her comment above.

The show needed a CAG and a Top Gun. And for the plot to go as it did they needed somebody to go to Caprica and then somebody to split the Fleet and so on. And every show needs somebody who follows the rules and somebody that doesn't.

But we can argue the idea of not having them at all. then if we take them out of the equation as a package of sorts, like not only their persons but their actions we would have a scenario in which - no Apollo, no Fleet. No Kara, no Galactica. And that's just the mini.

as a side note - I think I saw too many episodes of different shows based on the butterfly effect. so, maybe you should just disregard my scenario.

[winegums]

"Meh, don't care about these people". Like, all of Gaius on the base star? Fast forwarded.

lol, me too. That was so much babble, and I'm much like you in that I don't give a frak about any of the Cylons (with the exception of the Sixes and Eights) - the deviations to go into Cylon culture and baseship babble were pretty much where I started thinking "ok, enough now, these guys are boring and can we go back to the humans please? Especially angsty adulterous pilots?". (Chief, Tigh etc counted as humans for most of the show's run)

[damao2010]

Like, all of Gaius on the base star? Fast forwarded.
OMG. I did it, too. LOL.

[kittykiernan]

I didn't fast forward because I am totally OCD about catching every detail, but I feel exactly the same way about Gaius and Head!Six. Like, Gaius is a great character and I totally get why he's there and what he does for the story, but I just can't get involved with him emotionally at all. I don't hate him, I definitely don't love him...he just sort of irritates me. I just wanted them to resolve the Head!Six thing and move on, already.

[workerbee73]

This is a sad, sad fate to imagine. I probably would have watched b/c i dug the hell out of the religious ambiguity of the show (back when they still did that), but man-- without the obligatory hawt young things, it would have been hard. And less pretty. And without pilots in particular, the inevitable hawt young replacements would have prbably not interested me other than pretty scenery, b/c really, pilots broke the OTP mold in so many ways. It's why I like a lot of other shows, but hardly ship the people in them. I need more than just a pretty face. ;)

[anamarya]

It's why I will like a lot of other shows, but hardly ship the people in them.

THIS. So much of this.

[workerbee73]

And of course now I'm thinking my definition of shipping may be more hardcore than most, so I'm seeking to clarify 'casual shipping' from real-deal shipping (see the comment to sci-fi shipper below). Because I can casual ship all day long and not care but pilots are totally different.

[anamarya]

I saw your comment. and I totally agree. I'm also usually like "I like these guys, it would be nice if they would end up together, preferably with lots of cute kids, bla, bla, bla" but like you said there I never, never think about them after a while. It happened to me to read lots of fics about ships (Mac and Harm on JAG - oh, their so like the pilots in so many ways, Calleigh and Eric on CSI:Miami - 7 years of UST is a long time, Cameron and John on T:SCC - the writing quality there is pretty good, Andy and Sam on Rookie Blue - I blame the summer for that, etc) BUT after a while it goes away. and I don't feel the need to defend them to the world.

So, YES, I make the same distinction. there is liking of a couple, and rooting for them and there is SHIPPING THE PILOTS.