So I've been reading reviews and recaps of He That Believeth in Me, and one of the things I've seen some people mentioning (in some cases with heaps of righteous indignation rather than the amused exasperation I think it calls for) is that Ron Moore is pulling all this stuff out of his ... hat and how the cylons never actually had a plan and (
bsg spoilers, I guess )
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You know, I was just reading somewhere that even Babylon 5 had trouble with the myth arc toward the end - they had to speed it up or something...?
Anyway, yes - and a friend of mine was also pointing out how myth arcs so often descend into mysticism (eg. Alias, The Pretender BSG). Mind you, a lot of them started that way, but I guess when you're constantly trying to lead everyone down the wrong path (so you don't reveal the right path to early) it leaves you very few options as to where the right path is actually leading.
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It's possible. I never watched it, so I don't know. I've just heard that it mostly did go according to what's-his-name's five year plan or whatever.
I guess when you're constantly trying to lead everyone down the wrong path (so you don't reveal the right path to early) it leaves you very few options as to where the right path is actually leading.
*nod nod*
I think a lot of times, the writers on these shows paint themselves into corners and have to retcon really hard to get out.
And I also think there are just many constraints on the medium, and plans often have to be thrown out the window, or significantly scaled back, or rejiggered to suit the available resources, etc.
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Apparently there were trapdoors to account for actors leaving etc. But on the whole, the 5 years went as planned.
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(And then season 5 was basically what happens if whiny emo goths were to write the show, except without a makeup budget or recourse to any dragons.)
The upshot of the mytharc being orderly, however, was that the themes, issues, and characters were thunderingly obvious, step-by-step deathmarches towards the thesis/climax. You never got to see a character turn on a dime, or do something surprising, because JMS sucked at character writing the characters were locked into the plot, and couldn't move or risk it all falling apart.
Compare to Buffy, where the arc-plot could totally go out the window at any moment, as long as the characters were (Joss's idea of) true and interesting. Shows that have an even weaker sense of arc, like everything JJ Abrams ever touched, moreso.
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BSG, on the other hand, is filled with character and plot gaps and unresolved issues and basic information that's never been provided. i don't really trust BSG to resolve everything. I learned my lesson from the X-Files. I'd be happy with simple character resolution from BSG and having the fleet reach Earth. The first ep of season 4 was a great start.
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I don't trust BSG to resolve everything. I don't trust ANY show to resolve everything, or even most things, anymore. I watched three seasons of Alias before giving up, and six seasons of X-Files.
I am still enjoying BSG a lot, which is my barometer - if I stop enjoying it, I'll stop watching (there are some s3 episodes I haven't bothered to ever watch) - and I am also kind of hoping Ron Moore has some other wacky tricks up his sleeve, you know? At this point, I kinda sorta want the WTFery, as long as it is entertaining.
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But actually sometimes I think it's the things that a writer has been wanting to do since jump that fuck up the mytharc the most, because things change and grow and you don't want to give up on your original vision even if your characters left it behind two books/seasons ago. (Not that I think that this applies to HP even remotely, oh no, don't throw me in the briar patch...)
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sometimes I think it's the things that a writer has been wanting to do since jump that fuck up the mytharc the most, because things change and grow and you don't want to give up on your original vision even if your characters left it behind two books/seasons ago
Well, there's that too - clinging to the outmoded outline instead of rolling with the story as it progresses.
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That perfectly sums up JKRowling's way of writing.
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What's interesting is the way that I actually judge fanfiction(especially my own) so much more harshly. I demand a lot more in the way of consistent characteristion and coherent plot and so on than I do from canon, I guess in part because I know fic writers actually have fewer external constraints.
Right. there are things that will make me click out of a story that I will just sigh and roll my eyes about (or try to fanwank away - hi, Dean doesn't know who Cinderella or Snow White is? Seriously?) in canon.
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