bsg season one

[jlh]

So over the last few months I have watched all of the first season of Battlestar Galactica, including the miniseries. And since I watched five of those episodes today, and then read something rather bittersweet and/or melancholy, I am in desperate need of some seriously happy stuffs—I'm watching QI but I'm not sure it will be enough.

Now, there are people that are very influential to me—sisterpandora, ziggy1278, friendsofjunius, calloocallay, and also lillijulianne—who have all been waiting for me to watch this show. But the thing is, there's also, on the other side, a friend of a friend who tends to have the same kinds of misgivings about story structure and narrative priorities that I have, while the above folks, while awesome, often don't. So I'm watching this show with this huge cloud of OMG DOOM YOU SHOULD NOT BE DOING THIS hanging over my head, while at the same time five close friends are like, OMG WHY ARE YOU NOT CAUGHT UP ALREADY and it's sort of stressing me out, so if everyone can please be patient with me?

I've also told ziggy1278 that I'm watching this show without allowing for any speculation on what will happen (which is why i need the second season NOW) and without any shipping at all on my part. I will watch people talk to each other or fuck each other and not allow myself to think anything of it, just smile and nod.

I'm going to do the same sort of listy thing I did for Avatar, but what I will say outside the cut is for the love of god where is the Starbuck femslash????!!!!!!

1. On Adama: When I was a lass, watching Miami Vice, I loved me some Castillo hardcore. Not in a crushy way, but in a "wow, he is so awesome" way, and Adama, similarly. I wish we didn't have the father son thingum, because cliche alert much? And I like that Adama is sometimes very wrong and a little dangerous.
   
2. I really don't like Gaius, and by that I mean not, oh, he's unlikable, but rather, I have no time for his drama and wish he'd shut up and stop talking to the Cylon vision because I'm over her big time and I find the entire thing tiresome. And I fear that this will go badly for me, because I think I'm supposed to identify with his all-too-flawed humanity or something? But I actually am just impatient with it and wish he'd fish or cut bait.
   
3. Oh Lee, you're so emo. I'm sorry you're saddled with the dead brother distant father schtick, but at least the dead brother isn't also some amazing standard you could never live up to. I like you in spite of yourself, though.
   
4. A lot of ink has been spilled about the awesomeness of Starbuck and I can't imagine that I can really add anything at all to that. She is later much more interesting than her introduction, which is a little labored. I definitely grew to love her, rather than being intrigued by her at first—I felt like the show was trying too hard. It might have been better for her to have stealth!awesome. *notes for storytelling*
   
5. I get that there's this whole Lee and Starbuck thing, but I feel them more as pals than as romantic partners somehow, and what bums me out about them is that she was with his brother earlier.
   
6. I really liked Boomer and Chief and that whole thing mades me very sad.
   
7. That said, the ongoing omg Boomer is a Cylon, like, it went on a little long, and I was waiting for her to do something, and then she did it in the last ten seconds of the last episode, and I'm sure it was supposed to be shocking, but after the whole crowd of naked Boomers came out to talk to her, I mean, of course.
   
8. Which leads me to something ali_wildgoose knows about me only too well, which is that I really hate 100% competent evil. I don't like this set up that the Cylons actually know everything that's going to happen before it happens and they've actually planned all of it out in advance so even the very few victories that the Colonies have are not victories at all, but some kind of planned sacrifice on the part of the Cylons. If this is where we're headed I will be irritated.
   
9. I was pleased that Starbuck went back to get the arrow and hence Helo because I'd grown to really like him and I didn't want him to just die uselessly after all THAT.
   
10. So, is this like, The Matrix only better? Is it all about the Helo-Boomer Cylon-human baby? And once again, is this all just going to end up being a huge cyclical destiny thing? I'm not actually asking these questions, but raising, well, concerns if that makes sense.
    
11. There is nothing more tiresome than Tigh and his wife, I find nothing interesting about either of them. Even Gaius isn't as tiresome as they are because sometimes he is funny.
    
12. I actually find the politics and the how far can we go before we lose our democracy thing to be really fascinating, with the terrorist guy and such. Adama wanting to arrest the president at the end made me sad.
    
13. Communicator girl and presidential assistant guy are adorable, which means that it's inevitable that one of them will soon die, or they will break up for no reason, or something, so I'm trying to just feel pleasantly about them without caring about them too awfully much.
    
14. President Stands-with-a-Fist is like, leagues and leagues of awesome. I love her, I love her being OMG I'm in the PROPHECY, I love how she shows mercy until someone pisses her off, I love how good she gets at politics, and how ruthless she's willing to be, and her relationship with her assistant, and of course, of course, her relationship with Adama. She might be enough to keep me going as the rest of the show devolves into its inevitable route to break my heart.

Am I supposed to be watching webisodes now, or later, or what the hell?

Comments

[rawles.livejournal.com]

I really hate 100% competent evil. I don't like this set up that the Cylons actually know everything that's going to happen before it happens and they've actually planned all of it out in advance so even the very few victories that the Colonies have are not victories at all, but some kind of planned sacrifice on the part of the Cylons. If this is where we're headed I will be irritated.

Hahahahaha. Oh, don't worry about that. No one on BSG is actually competent.

OH, and the webisodes take place between seasons two and three to the best of my knowledge.

[ladylisse.livejournal.com]

No one on BSG is actually competent.

Quoted for truth.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

But do you mean that no one making the show is competent, and the show is therefore full of suck? I think that's what Rawles is saying. Because for reals, my flist is TEARING ME APART about this, which is what I meant in that paragraph about how I wanted people to be patient with me. Half of the people I know are like, why aren't you watching this, and the other half are like, I never should have watched it, and it all rather gives me a headache.

[ladylisse.livejournal.com]

asdjklasd um. I don't know exactly what I mean?

I'm so very much in the middle. Half the time no one is competent in the sense that every single character is full of emo and stupid and half the time no one is competent in the sense that they're very flawed and realistic and awesome. And it sort of waffles wildly between the two.

All of this is IMHO, obviously. At this point I'm mostly watching it because my love for Adama and Roslin is sort of epic and I want to see what's going to happen to a couple of other random people, but I'm sure you know how much I gravitate towards the less popular fandom characters.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I like non-super competence because competence can be boring. (This, btw, is my problem with Azula right up until the very very end of Boiling Rock pt 2, and it's a trend I hope continues, because I'm over her getting her own way and always winning all the damn time.)

I know more characters get introduced, but are there less popular characters that you're liking that I know now?

[ladylisse.livejournal.com]

I really ike Dee and Anders (have you met Anders yet?) and I'm not terribly fond of Lee and even less fond of Baltar or Six, which - at least from what I've seen - aren't terribly popular opinions in the fandom.

(I thought Azula was interesting when we saw hints of her mommy issues, but yes, the last five minutes of Boiling Rock made me a lot more invested in what happens to her.)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Are you being sarcastic?

Because if you are, and you mean, like, no one who works on it, I know you are displeased with the show, and that's what I referred to in my entry. You are my source of trepidation, and yet, the other people are pushing very hard, and it all makes me headachy.

If you are not—see, at this point the Cylons just seem to win all the time, and when they don't win it's because they meant to not win, or something, and it's like Azula, who really irritates me because she is Super Amazing! and I find that really tiresome in a villain.

[rawles.livejournal.com]

I am being bitterly truthful about the fact that the Cylons within the text of the show itself don't actually have a coherent plan and are not actually terribly competent. This becomes more prevalent as the show goes on.

However, this is DUE to the fact that the people who work on the show similarly don't have a plan and it thus becomes impossible for them to write characters who are Machiavellian masters of planning and manipulation because nothing ever lines up.

But I wasn't actually making any reference to the latter in my original comment!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm personally very glad to know that the Cylons do not have a coherent plan and are not terribly competent, but have merely gained an advantage. It makes it all rather better!

[ziggy1278.livejournal.com]

Nobody has seen the end - so maybe some shutting up should be done until all the results are in. There is very little evidence canon-wise that there is no rudder on this ship. What we do know is that the writers and producers have been very clear that the story was conceived with a beginning and an end. If that end sucks, I will be the first person to raise my fists at the sky.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

you know what I love about you? that you said this, and that you said it in a reply to me. I adore you.

[adjudicated.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally, I just finished watching S1 of BSG, as well as season 2.0 (there is, apparently, on Netflix, S2 and S2.5, which seems odd, but whatever). I didn't realize you were watching it as well. I'm really liking this show, a lot.

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

If you posted I missed it, or just ran by it on one of my quick check nights, but I have to say I'm glad you're in it as well!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Apparently the second season was shown in two chunks with a long hiatus in between, and the DVDs were released in two parts which was very tiresome for everyone involved.

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

Honey, if you want Kara slash, I will show you where to find it. Welcome to the BSG, our LJ Com Amusement park is LARGE.

Also? If you never watch another episode, that's super fine by me. I like it, but I never expect anyone else to like what I like. You like stuff I'm not into, but I love that you like it.

1. Adama is so keen! So Might balanced by other concerns as much as he can be.

2. No one likes Gaius, not even his reflection.

3. Emo Lee is also buff and hot. And I am shallow.

4. She'll get stealthy as time goes on. Bwahahahahahaha.

5. You saw the mini? (I can't remember.) Also, how far a long are you? (I might have missed that in the post proper.)

6. SO MUCH!

7. Yeah, and I always felt Grace Parks (actress) could have done much better with that material given her degree is in psychology.

8. Just keep going love.

9. HELO is made of AWESOME! No body puts Helo in a corner!

10. I'm not sure. I'm assuming we'll find out at the end of this season. If not, I say we throw rocks at Ron Moore.

11. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Ummm. I shall have to link you to something when I find it, but let's just say he can be an endless source of amusement.

12. So fascinating, and I loved some of the mythos too.

13. LOVE BILLY/DEE! THEY ARE MADE OF CUTE! And should settle on Earth and have a zillion (figurative number) children who will, by rights, be made of cuteness too!

14. Laura Roslin is made of BADASS and Awesome all in one.

No clue about the webisodes, but you might want to see if the take outs are still up at skiffy. they were always interesting. SKIP THE DIRECTOR BLOGS AND SHIT LIKE THAT, MADE OF FAIL. Really. and the podcasts too.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Twin!

I saw the mini, and now I'm at the end of the first season, so Roslin is in jail and Boomer came back from blowing up the Cylon deathstar thing to shoot Adama and Lee is freaked out, and Helo and Starbuck are back on Caprica with the arrow and the Cylon ship and a pregnant Boomer, and Chief and Gaius and some other people have just crash landed on Kobol.

You give me much hope! Hurrah! But why do you say: SKIP THE DIRECTOR BLOGS AND SHIT LIKE THAT, MADE OF FAIL. Really. and the podcasts too. I will say I didn't bother with the commentary tracks on the DVDs

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

Hullo Twin!

Ah, ok! When you're up to the end of S2 I'll behave and actually watch the finale and then try to catch up on the canon.

There are good things and heartbreaking things to come, but in a series like this, heartbreak is expected.

Because sometimes peeking behind the curtain takes away from the magic of experience and Ron Moore is certainly not a traveling fortune teller from Ohmaha.

[andstillitmoves.livejournal.com]

Eee! I mean, we have largely different reactions, cos I am full of love for Gaius Baltar and Six, especially as they develop and bring the wonderful crazy, and also, Tigh and Ellen go that way as well. That being said, Boomer and Helo and Sharon and Starbuck and President Laura Roslin continue to rock mah world.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm not so much about characters that bring chaos that other characters have to deal with. I'd much rather plots where people create their own chaos, like Starbuck or Lee, who create so much of their own trouble. I'm so pleased Helo is coming into the rest of the story because I really like him and I kept fearing it would all be for naught and he'd just die randomly back on wherever.

[zorb]

Yay, I'm glad you're watching! The end of S1 is quite the OMGWTF moment, isn't it?

While I remain confident that S1 is the best season of anything ever, I've (obviously) continued to adore the show beyond that and never considered leaving it behind. I also enjoy the behind the scenes stuff, including the podcasts and video blogs that are on scifi.com.

I am also terrified about commenting on any of your S1 observations because I don't think I could do it without spoiling. All I can manage is that Starbuck is indeed made of awesomecake frosted with rockitude.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

People are saying that it's S2 that's the shit, so I'm definitely looking forward to THAT. The end of S1, well, what was actually surprising to me, though it shouldn't have been, was what Lee did, and how Tigh reacted, rather than what Boomer did. So many shows like this play lip service to the idea of civilian rule but imply that we'd be better with the military heroes in charge—a sort of weird fascist undercurrent despite the distinct left-of-center overtones. That this one really wrestles with what it means to have a democracy in times of crisis is refreshing.

[zorb]

Then you'll be very glad to know that theme is still going strong in S4!

I don't think S2 is as strong overall as S1, but most of it is fantastic.

[malachan.livejournal.com]

I loves BSG. :D kay_taylor introduced me to it a few months ago. Am currently up to the end of S3.

S2 is even better than S1!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

So they say! I'm definitely looking forward.

[ziggy1278.livejournal.com]

Some thoughts about your thoughts:

As you know, I was very with you on the Gaius/Six irritation in season one and I was also very very anti Ellen when she first showed up. I consider these growing pains of either the show or my own love for the show. I'm not sure if the irritating things went away or I came to love that which was once irritating, but I am very very fond of ALL of those characters and dynamics now. Very. Fond.

Boomer/Chief continues to be an unending well of woe for me. But it's good woe. A drama needs woe.

Cylons are fallible, and there are very interesting reasons why.

The fact tat you are interested in the larger political implications bodes well, because that aspect of the show just seems to get better for me.

I am pretty... meh about Starbuck. The thing I really like about her is I know girls like Sarbuck. She is a very real character type for me.

President Stands-with-a-Fist is THE reason to watch the show. From the moment she is sworn in all the way to this week's episode, she remains powerful and vulnerable and flawed and BEAUTIFUL.

That is until Xena shows up. OH SHIT.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I think that it might be that the show is not particularly good at subtle character introduction, but rather, HERE IS SOMEONE WHO ISN'T AFRAID TO START SHIT LOOK AT THEM and I'm like, all right already, I get it. I feel that way about the introduction of Starbuck, and she didn't continue to be quite so annoying.

Here's an arcane question: is the fact that she's "Six" only gleaned from the summaries/promos/etc? I don't think she's ever actually called that within the show, is she?

I feel the Boomer/Chief woe is very well done, and not just woeful for the sake of something needing to be woeful, which is when I'm usually grouchy about woe.

Thank god the Cylons are fallible, because seriously.

Yay politics! I'm relieved about that, too.

I'm fascinated that you know girls like Starbuck. I don't think I know any girls like Starbuck, do I?

She's amazing. I love the way she talks as if her jaw is always clenched.

Xena like, someone named Xena, or Xena like, the actress who used to play Xena?

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

Lucy Lawless shows up, as a reporter, covering what's going on.

And...that's all I have to say about that.

[malachan.livejournal.com]

Here's an arcane question: is the fact that she's "Six" only gleaned from the summaries/promos/etc? I don't think she's ever actually called that within the show, is she?

In the mini series, she tells Gaius that she is number six.

Which was your favourite episode of S1 btw? While the two-parter-finale was awesome, my absolute favourite was Colonial Day.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I loved Colonial Day, hard core, and it's a very close second, but I think I'll have to say my favorite is The Hand of God, because I love the strategizing, and I love that Kara and Lee have to sort of exchange places, and the interplay between all those characters is just dazzling. It's odd because it's a more action packed episode and I usually am not about action, but it was also so cerebral, and so much about all their relationships with each other. It was very much about character, and it's character that I watch a show for.

[ziggy1278.livejournal.com]

You just eventually know all the cylon model numbers. Wait until you need to start differentiating them by more than their number so you start making up prefixes...

V... is like Starbuck.

[ziggy1278.livejournal.com]

PS: I think the reason so many people want you to watch BSG is because, as people who know you specifically, it seems unlikely that you, Clio, will not enjoy most aspects of it.

That said, don't pressure yourself. If you hate it, that will be all the better for awesome discussions. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that ultimately, we don't really care.

<3

(But there's something fully wrong with you if you end up not liking Helo)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I love you so much, really, it's absurd. I know, I'm really horrible about putting pressure on myself and I need to work out how to quit that when it doesn't work for me.

Helo, seriously, when Roslin started talking about sending Starbuck back my first thought was "OMG, she'll be able to pick up Helo! And he won't just randomly die after this whole storyline but be brought back into the main plot! Score one for Clio!" So I pretty much already adore him.

[longtimegone]

I'm really horrible about putting pressure on myself and I need to work out how to quit that when it doesn't work for me.

I had to do that with Supernatural. I felt like everyone I knew watched and loved it and I watched about half of S1 and just... didn't care. So I stopped. Maybe I'll pick it up again, but I have given myself permission to not give a crap about it and to stop trying my make myself care. :)) It was v. refreshing.

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

I am this way with SG:1 and SG:A. I just *cannot* get into those shows.

[longtimegone]

I am this way with SG:1 and SG:A. I just *cannot* get into those shows.

*nods* I think, had I watched a few years ago, I wouldn't have gotten into them either. Not that they are bad shows, but I think I found them both at the right time for me.

Which is why I haven't totally closed the door on SPN. Maybe the time I watched was just the wrong time for me to like it.

[vermilionsun.livejournal.com]

A note re:Baltar... No, I don't think you are supposed to identify with him. He's an antihero at best, an outright villain at worst, and a self-serving jerk pretty much all the time. Best advice is to sit back and appreciate his humor and his battyness. His drama is unfortunately a big plot-mover - but his battyness makes watching him more fun.

And the best thing about the Cylons is that they have worked so hard to make themselves like humans that they are consequently just as flawed as we are.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Well, I am relieved about Baltar. I'm not much on antiheroes. I like people to at least attempt to own their shit. (hence, icon)

I am so glad at this news of Cylon flaws! Hurrah!

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

i know not from webisodes, i'm too old for that stuff. i am now going to echo a lot of what has been said already, because i want to:

1. adama just gets better. all that you love about him will intensify and all that you don't will, imo, become appreciably more subtle.
2. no need to identify with gaius. he's the dr. smith, not the will robinson. just enjoy.
6. boomer/chief will also just get more interesting.
8. as has been said, we don't know where this will end. but fallibility on the part of the cylons will absolutely become part of the mix.
11. tigh and his wife are not my favorite characters but they get interesting.
12. the politics and the overall allegorical nature of things will continue to be awesome. that is a promise.
14. as will roslin, and her relationship with adama. they just do not stop being the most interesting, nuanced grownup friends and colleagues i have ever seen on television.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Roslin-Adama non shippy is really, it's so awesome and amazing.

I begin to think that this show isn't particularly good at introducing characters, as it is kind of heavy-handed about it, eg, Starbuck, who was annoying at first. Henceforth I will reserve judgment about the annoyingness of new characters.

Yay politics!

[longtimegone]

Ooooo BSG!

This is a show that I LOVE LOVE LOVE but do not feel fannish about. It's actually one of the things I like best about the show, because I can just watch it and love it and not get tied up in over-analysis and the like.

The politics of this show are totally fascinating. And the writers are rather fearless, which is awesome. There are no doubt missteps, as with any show, but overall? Made of win. :)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I am very specifically not analyzing the show, not speculating on canon, and not allowing myself to ship anything whatsoever, even if it's right there, hell, even if I have seen them having sex in the episode. It's part of a whole new theory of television watching that I've been working on, actually, that I might post about later. I'm going to try to watch the show as straight through as possible, too, such that by the time I'm done season 3, season 4 will almost be over.

[longtimegone]

Yeah, I don't really have any "ships" in BSG. I have read a few fics. Usually they have Roslin/Adama or something, but I don't seek it out.

It's part of a whole new theory of television watching that I've been working on, actually, that I might post about later.

You should! I'd be interested to read it. :D

I have the last two eps on my DVR to watch. I've been so wrapped up in finishing SG1, that it's taken the majority of my TV time!

[malachan.livejournal.com]

Yay BSG. :D (I am up to end of S3 and halfway through Razor.)

Almost almost almost my favourite show, but nothing can trump DW really.

[friendsofjunius.livejournal.com]

1. behind, sorry
2. my favorite thing about this show is how the characters grow within some very tight emotional confines, so what you see in S1 is not necessarily where things are even in the middle of S2
3. i thought you would take a liking to Helo (altho he is TALL for you?). i think my favorite character is Chief, overall
4. webisodes ("Resistance" I think they are called?) come between S2 and S3. spoil thyself NOT!
5. among my second favorite things about this show is that there are some hardcore, kickass older female characters (much scarier than killer robots, when they find their Groove)
6. think we have S2, have to fig how to get it to you

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about being behind! That's why I sent you the link, because I wasn't sure you'd see it and I was too lazy to retype it to you in an email.

It's true, Helo's a little tall, but it's less that he's OMG so hot and more that he's OMG awesome. But Chief is also awesome, and I was particularly loving him at the end of the last episode when he's saying to the officer, gee, shouldn't we stay low, shouldn't we blah blah blah? I can't wait to see how that resolves.

I really like how unremarkable gender is in this show. I particularly liked that when Lee and Kara had their fight over Gaius he hauled off and punched her back, and was pretty unrepentant about it.

[friendsofjunius.livejournal.com]

also, sorry again, keep in mind when thinking about Starbuck's intro that they were confronting that whole "he is a HE!" issue from TOS

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Point taken! I think, when characters get introduced I will reserve judgment for later, which really is a good idea generally.

[illogicalvulcan.livejournal.com]

As calloocallay can attest, I'm pretty good at discussing episodes without spoiling.

1. Oh, Adama, you are such a bad father and a mediocre commander. And you use the wrong interaction mode at the wrong time.
2. Oh, god, please don't identify with Baltar. Even though he's less straight evil than Baltar in the original, vermilionsun and I just want to kick him in the crazy nads.
8. No matter what the credits say, the Cylons do not have a plan. They were just better prepared in the first season. I reserve judgment on whether TPTB have a plan.
9. Starbuck and Helo are awesome together. While I'm not always happy with what the show does with Helo, the two of them are wonderful together. He's also the only person who liek Starbuck, and doesn't want something from her in return.
11. I love Tigh. :P
12. This, in a nutshell, is why I am addicted to this show.
14. Okay, this too.

I can probably find you some Starbuck femslash. I may have written some of it. *sheepish grin* The problem with BSG femslash is the women don't interact much. Roslin, Starbuck, Six and Boomer all occupy separate realms, so trying to get them to interact long enough to make out can be problematic. I've heard.