Politics aboard the Galactica (NOT the one with Muffet!)*spoilers up to 2.10*
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 03:03
VIEWED: 4637
PAGE 2 of 4
Quote:That might have had Caine think seriously about blowing Galactica to pieces, imo.
Originally posted by tanstaafl28:
I was thinking Roslyn could have quelled the whole issue by just promoting Adama over Caine, but I suppose that wouldn't have really done much to solve the problem in the long run.
Pegasus seems to be full of wackjobs on the edge...
Chrisisall, Viper-lover
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It's not consistant because they are literally making it up as they go along. People expecting B5 style consistent arcs are likely to be disappointed.
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I'm okay with that as long as it is consistant in it's entertainment value, ie, no 'Okay, I'm tired now, you guys (lesser talented ones) take it over for a while' syndrome.
No Muffits Chrisisall
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This version of BSG is much more visceral, and a whole lot less idealistic than its predecessor. They've gone to great lengths to show just how desperate their situation is. They've also demonstrated that, even with their very survival on the line, human beings have a hard time agreeing with one another.
Consistent story arcs get boring fast. A show that evolves with the characters and isn't afraid to show its rough edges for what they are keeps one intrested in seeing what goes down next.
"You can't take the sky from me..."
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I'm not talking about innovating as the series progresses. I'm talking about making up big stuff that doesnt really make sense.
Case in point, the Cylons nuke the colonies because then the writers were thinking of doing a war of genocide. Then in series 2 we discover that the Cylons are trying to breed with the survivors. You know they would have had more success if they were not trying to do that with traumatised, irradiated survivors of a nuclear war!
When they nuked the planet they had no idea what the Cylon "Master plan" was, according to podcasts by the writer they came up with that at the end of series 1. Whoopsy.
I don't mind winging it to get from A to B but I do expect them to know before they set out just where "B" is.
I stopped watching the X files when I realised that they had no idea what they were doing with the conpiracy theory stuff just making up complexity is not actually writing modern TV, it's soap opera writing without the same level of character development.
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Quote:Awww Fletch, now you're makin' me think too much...
Originally posted by Fletch2:
Then in series 2 we discover that the Cylons are trying to breed with the survivors.
Chrisisall the daggit
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Quote:
Originally posted by tanstaafl28:
I was thinking Roslyn could have quelled the whole issue by just promoting Adama over Caine, but I suppose that wouldn't have really done much to solve the problem in the long run.
"You can't take the sky from me..."
In a society where the rules are still in effect (the military is subservient to civil authority), that is exactly the correct solution. In this case, Caine has become deranged by her desire for vengeance. She has never acknowledged Roslyn's authority. In fact, she has conspicuously shown absolutely no committment to any civilian authority (or even concern for civilian well-being... but no further comment on that because of spoilers). She has but one purpose left in her life... to strike back at Cylons. Anything that serves that purpose, she will embrace. Anything that hinders that purpose she will destroy.
For my part, I wonder why a more direct solution wasn't implemented in the first ep of season 2.1 to resolve the Caine problem (again, won't go into it here due to potential spoilers for 2.1, but you can probably guess). Of course I know the answer... if people did sensible things in these shows, the writers couldn't artifically string the conflict out for several episodes. It is the use of artificial behavior/means for sustaining tension that bothers me the most about some "story arc" shows (BSG, Lost, et. al.). I love these shows... but at some point I find myself screaming at the TV, "Just push him down the stairs and be done with it!!"
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Quote:
Originally posted by Fletch2:
...Case in point, the Cylons nuke the colonies because then the writers were thinking of doing a war of genocide. Then in series 2 we discover that the Cylons are trying to breed with the survivors. You know they would have had more success if they were not trying to do that with traumatised, irradiated survivors of a nuclear war!
If true, I find this worrisome. That kind of flying by the seat of the pants is a recipe for destroying the show. Where did you hear this information?
As for destroying the colonies before beginning their breeding project, I can spin a story for why they would approach it that way. But, it should be the writers who spin that story, not me. And they should have it spun in their heads BEFORE they start committing the series to episodes that might conflict with that story.
Just my opinion...
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Quote:Ron Moore described this in several of his podcast commentaries. It grew out of the fact that Helo was originally just supposed to be a bit player in the miniseries who is left on Caprica and dies. But the actor was so good, and the character got such a response from the audience, that they decided to keep him around, which was not one of their planned story arcs. And in writing “33,” Moore got up to the point where Helo was temporarily caught by Six and the Centurions. He didn’t know where to go from there and then suddenly thought “What if Boomer appears and ‘saves’ him.” He wrote it with no idea where it would lead, which he eventually justified with the interbreeding storyline.
Originally posted by DanFan:
If true, I find this worrisome. That kind of flying by the seat of the pants is a recipe for destroying the show. Where did you hear this information?
However, I think we’d all be surprised by how unplanned most TV shows are. You literally can’t plan everything out ahead of time; your seasonal arc could fall apart if an actor gets another commitment, or gets sick, or pregnant, or another opportune storyline appears through the progress of the season. As a result, planning for season arcs is generally done in very vague terms, with a great deal of flexibility. Joss Whedon is famed for having long-term planned story arcs, but on a number of the Buffy commentaries and other interviews he explains that these arcs were generally vague sketches that he filled out as went along, because if he planned it out too closely it would fall apart around him anyway.
An example of this unpredictability can be found in “Buffy;” where Spike was supposed to be a disposable villain killed off in the middle of the second season, but the actor and the character impressed them so they decided to keep him around--and he became an incredibly important character as the series progressed. It was only the flexibility of the arc that allowed them to keep him around, and it was a good decision.
Which is not to say that making things up as you go along is always a good idea. You have to have some sort of planning or everything will fall apart. And in the case of BSG, they actually did have a planned seasonal arc: the tensions between Roslyn and Adama would eventually result in the coup. That was the plan from the beginning. But along the way, they found lots of new stuff that altered other story arcs. I imagine that like Joss and other showrunners, Moore sketches out a plan for each season, but beyond the season finale his ideas get much vaguer.
I guess what I’m saying is that to a degree you have to fly by the seat of your pants in television. You need a basic plan, but you also need the flexibility to change the plan as the situation requires. And almost every show with any kind of arc does this. It’s a dangerous balance to walk; if you’re too locked into your plan, you’re screwed when something unexpected pops up. But if you’re making too much of it up as you go along, everything stops making sense and the program becomes ludicrous. As of right now, I think BSG has managed to maintain the careful balance and I’m not too worried about the future.
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Quote:Hey, didn't Bruce Lee say something similar about martial arts?
Originally posted by StakeTheLurk:
You need a basic plan, but you also need the flexibility to change the plan as the situation requires.
Yeah, so far, so good with BSG. It looks like they can handle it.
Chrisisall, holdin' his breath untill the next DVD set is out!
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