So last Sunday, Sonia and I went apple-picking and then to pick up Binx from the very nice New Jersey woman who breeds rabbits with her daughter (apparently it started as a project for 4-H and turned into a little business that makes basically no money, according to the mom). Anyway, once we had picked up Binx and briefly considered naming him Bunedict Cumberbatch, we ended up watching several hours of Battlestar and so now I'm about to start watching Bastille Day (1:5).
My thoughts on 2-4: [spoilers ahead]
I KNEW they were going to make someone very sympathetic into a Cylon, but I was so unprepared for it to be Boomer, you don't even know. Well actually, if you watched the show, I'm sure you do know. I thought it was going to be a kid, specifically that kid that Mme President meets in the greenhouse ship, but I guess that was just hubris. Or if it wasn't, I guess I'll find that out eventually.
I can't even really deal with Gaius right now. I sort of love his character because it's such a bizarre storyline - he's going insane! Or there is a Cylon chip in his brain! Or who even knows what! It's madness! But I also find him to be morally reprehensible, even if he DID figure out who one of the Cylons on board was.
Just as an aside, though - if Gaius is supposed to be like, the smartest human ever, which he is definitely portrayed as, and if he KNOWS that HIS Cylon was with him for like two years (possibly longer, for casual courtship reasons), why would he think that there was 1. only one other Cylon that had infiltrated humanity and 2. that they would have only been there a few weeks? That seems ridiculous to me. He should know better. Being a genius and all.
I think this show is rather artfully constructed - it's kind of like Doctor Who, where the basic premise of the show naturally lends itself both to drama and the possibility of it having a long run, but not being able to go on forever. A few parallels - there are 12 types of Cylon if you don't count the big metal ones, which I'm going to, so there are 13 (as of now - I'm willing to be surprised), and the Doctor can regenerate 13 times (as of now - I doubt that the BBC is willing to let that enormous cash cow have a limited number of seasons). Both the TARDIS and Gallactica carry mad geniuses who are trying to save humanity. Both have weird robot-human-ish-things as their main adversary (though Cylons are like 10 billion times cooler than Daleks - sorry, Doctor Who). Aaaaand they're both in space. Okay, I'm kind of losing similarities.
ANYWAY. I'm disappointed that there's sound in space, as I always am, and that the ships seem to be able to reverse direction on a dime, which just seems silly (you should DEFINITELY read this crazy fantastic interview by a Naval officer who talks about the types of warfare that occur in Sci-Fi, it's seriously really awesome and physics!). Other issues I have with the show include: where are they getting all this tobacco? There's only so much space on a ship, especially one that's supposed to go for years at a time without stopping, so how do they always have cigars? Why would there be a still on a spaceship, i.e., how is drunk John McCain getting all of his bottles of liquor? What is the point of betting money if your whole world and thus any sort of structure that gives value to money is totally gone? And, mostly, do we seriously have interstellar hyperspeed space travel and the only position you could think to give a powerful woman is Secretary of Education? Not to be a douche, but like, come on. Also, where are ANY LGBTQ characters?!?! Though I will never really believe that Starbuck is straight. Probably because I really don't want her to be straight. Oh, and also, how are there so few minorities? Despite having a good number of important roles being filled by minorities, the extras are incredibly white. I do not understand.
In any event, Binx and I are going to watch the next episode and figure out some kind of artful commentary about it. It'll be good.
My thoughts on 2-4: [spoilers ahead]
I KNEW they were going to make someone very sympathetic into a Cylon, but I was so unprepared for it to be Boomer, you don't even know. Well actually, if you watched the show, I'm sure you do know. I thought it was going to be a kid, specifically that kid that Mme President meets in the greenhouse ship, but I guess that was just hubris. Or if it wasn't, I guess I'll find that out eventually.
I can't even really deal with Gaius right now. I sort of love his character because it's such a bizarre storyline - he's going insane! Or there is a Cylon chip in his brain! Or who even knows what! It's madness! But I also find him to be morally reprehensible, even if he DID figure out who one of the Cylons on board was.
Just as an aside, though - if Gaius is supposed to be like, the smartest human ever, which he is definitely portrayed as, and if he KNOWS that HIS Cylon was with him for like two years (possibly longer, for casual courtship reasons), why would he think that there was 1. only one other Cylon that had infiltrated humanity and 2. that they would have only been there a few weeks? That seems ridiculous to me. He should know better. Being a genius and all.
I think this show is rather artfully constructed - it's kind of like Doctor Who, where the basic premise of the show naturally lends itself both to drama and the possibility of it having a long run, but not being able to go on forever. A few parallels - there are 12 types of Cylon if you don't count the big metal ones, which I'm going to, so there are 13 (as of now - I'm willing to be surprised), and the Doctor can regenerate 13 times (as of now - I doubt that the BBC is willing to let that enormous cash cow have a limited number of seasons). Both the TARDIS and Gallactica carry mad geniuses who are trying to save humanity. Both have weird robot-human-ish-things as their main adversary (though Cylons are like 10 billion times cooler than Daleks - sorry, Doctor Who). Aaaaand they're both in space. Okay, I'm kind of losing similarities.
ANYWAY. I'm disappointed that there's sound in space, as I always am, and that the ships seem to be able to reverse direction on a dime, which just seems silly (you should DEFINITELY read this crazy fantastic interview by a Naval officer who talks about the types of warfare that occur in Sci-Fi, it's seriously really awesome and physics!). Other issues I have with the show include: where are they getting all this tobacco? There's only so much space on a ship, especially one that's supposed to go for years at a time without stopping, so how do they always have cigars? Why would there be a still on a spaceship, i.e., how is drunk John McCain getting all of his bottles of liquor? What is the point of betting money if your whole world and thus any sort of structure that gives value to money is totally gone? And, mostly, do we seriously have interstellar hyperspeed space travel and the only position you could think to give a powerful woman is Secretary of Education? Not to be a douche, but like, come on. Also, where are ANY LGBTQ characters?!?! Though I will never really believe that Starbuck is straight. Probably because I really don't want her to be straight. Oh, and also, how are there so few minorities? Despite having a good number of important roles being filled by minorities, the extras are incredibly white. I do not understand.
In any event, Binx and I are going to watch the next episode and figure out some kind of artful commentary about it. It'll be good.
