New TV season in UK
Due to the way the American schedules work it often means that in the UK genre series often have two start times , early/mid September and then early January the programs generally run the without a break. Although in recent years Christmas has seemed to force an American style hiatus. Very annoying with regards to lost which I am going off due to the Kate thing. Just Spike all over again.
Anyway what this means is that I have recently started to watch the new series of Stargate, Stargate Atlantis and BSG. As well as seeing Jericho and soon getting the return of Lost and the start of Heroes.
So thought I would wait to get a couple of episodes in before giving my thoughts. Warning possible spoilers behind the cut . EP's referred to have first run on Sky and so have not been seen on Terrestrial yet.
Lets start with the two stargates which are generally a mid ranged pleasure. What keeps me watching the shows is the cast interaction and the universe itself .
Stargate SG-1 seen the first three eps of this . Was very disappointed in the first two episode dealing with the ORI who seem like the least threatening threat ever.
The Quest part Two
I thought was awful. The dragon was rubbish , Vala was stupid. The only good scene was Cameroon's pep talk to Vala which I quite enjoyed. Sort of hate the Arthurian motif as it appears rather lame. Thought the nature of the ori weapon was utterly useless . Granted they maybe can move enough planets out of phase to deprive them of worshipers, but that really is a bit wet. The only interesting thing I found was the episode clearly hinted at some tension between the priest and the Orisi which I presume will tie into the finale.
Line in the Sand.
Another poor episode never thought Sam was at any risk . And another example of one of my pet hates of the universe in Stargate. Why is every planet one village or small town . These weren't valuable allies to be protected they were a waste of space who we should have left well alone. Yet again Stargate command fails to send enough force to protect a vital piece of equipment . Hell given the ineptness of the ori guards they should have one this with the force they had . Yet for some inexplicable reason surrendered. Plus why did Cameroon wait so long to start training the villagers, court martial material there. That being said I like the actor portraying Tomin and again think he does a good job here, I mean he obviously is going to die a some point.
The road not taken.
Sam's equivalent on the Daniel episode . Much better ep , some nice Rodney stuff , some commentary a bit ham fisted on the civil liberties vs terrorism argument. Didn't like the Cameroon portion. But it did reinforce what is one of my growing concerns with the universe, not going public with the program is increasingly implausible in the face of such overwhelming destructive threats. This coupled with the seeming low pop base of the rest of the Galaxy including the Jaffa means the Galaxy is there for Earth's taking once she even partially mobilises her resources. Hell they should be able to swap the ORI if they mobilised.
Stargate Atlantis
The return part two .
Another example of the Stargate's inability to do strong 2 part eps. Another very weak ep. Thought the Jack and Woolsey stuff was stupid liked the deception though. Annoyed that no ancients survived , increasingly whilst in early seasons of both shows I saw them as intriguing and mysterious and powerful. Now I see them as only slightly ahead technologically, useless at everything else especially military matters. Hate the replicators . They were a rubbish enemy on SG1 and are no better here, much preferred the Wraith. Annoyed that there seemed to be no repercussions or even strengthening of the forces involved after this . I mean surely they could up the contingent from say 150 to 500 .
Echoes.
Really liked this episode. Thought it did a good job of balancing screen time between the leads. Never thought I would say this but am enjoying the Teyla Ronon interaction. Just seems to fit and be very natural. Liked Rodney naming the whale and the astronomy bent on the episode. Overall just a very good ep.
BSG Season Three
EP1
Hated this . Massively ham fisted hardly disguised allegory on the Iraq war. The insurgency. Liked some of the characterisation mainly Apollo, Tye and his wife . The rest blah. I mean this is the same problem I had with the whole New Caprica storyline in the first place. They have been there one year and they are still living in frigging tents despite wood and stone being readily available. This lost deserve to die.
Plus starting to hate the whole the cylons have a plan idea. When clearly they do not and the creators are making it up as they go along. Who the hell goes from genociding the human race to shepherding them to the light. Just repeating each ep doesn't make it true. Plus they seemed to have had some of the colonials incompetence rub off on them. How hard is it to suppress a rebellion in a small tent town with 5 basestars that is a least 10000 cylons . So they have one trooper for every 4 colonials . They could easily search and suppress the insurgency in less than two weeks. Where can they hide ?
Plus have problems with humans siding with them , I mean they just killed at least 7 billion people a few years ago. Also what is it with all the ministries in UK terms this is a small rural town Slightly bigger than where I live . Not believable that Baltars aide is not familiar with what is going on. Plus how hard is it for the cylons to figure out who the ring leaders are. Hell anyone with a brain would have rounded them all up when they landed and shot them. Plus the suicide bombings given the obviously crap security and totally unnecessary waste of life and another clumsy parallel attempt.
No just does not make sense on so many levels.
EP2 Preferred this EP liked the Sharon stuff , and the good guys seemed to act in retrospect in an intelligent manner. Plus clear they are going to get of the rock. Again laughable security both from the cylons and the insurgents/colonials.