12 posts tagged “battlestar galactica”

After reading this (there are spoilers there, too!), I am officially ticked off at the Battlestar creative team.

Saul is a Cylon.  Officially confirmed.  Sucks.

Caprica is on the back burner, probably forever.  Officially confirmed.  Sucks.

The executive producers have a definite end point in mind for the series, possibly at the end of Season Four.  Officially confirmed.  Sucks.

There is only a very remote chance that Battlestar will last past Season Four.  Officially waffled upon, but the realities of television ratings strongly suggest this.  Sucks.

This sort of thing is why it's so damned easy for me to just ignore scifi/fantasy/horror series until they're off the air and released on DVD (like I did with Firefly).  I got all hooked on Hex, before I realized it was cancelled by the time it got to American TV (it aired on BBC America) -- and I'm still waiting to see what there was of the second season, because it was never released on American-compatible DVD.  (I don't understand why it was cancelled -- it was like a smart, sexy, vaguely-historical example of what you'd get if you crossed Buffy and The Omen.)  I've seen 2 episodes so far of Blood Ties and I'm already hooked, gods damn it! -- it's faithful enough to the books (which I loved) to be worth watching, although Christina Cox is phenomenally awful casting for the character of Vicki, but at least Kyle Schmid is the best eye candy I've seen on TV in ages (even if it's vaguely horrifying to find a 22-year-old boy that sexy!).  The 4400 has been anywhere from fairly good to utterly excellent during its run (even if they did kill off my favorite recurring character), and I'm looking forward to Season Four this summer.  I haven't seen Robin Hood yet, but I'm probably going to watch it, and like it too fraking much, and then it will get canceled too.

I haven't been able to get interested in Doctor Who, the new stuff or the old original series.  I've tried to like The Dresden Files, but the books are better (although they're far from great literature).  I found Heroes to be a rip-off -- and not even a decent one -- of The 4400.  I don't like what I've heard about Lost, and isn't it just a testosterone-driven soap opera anyway?

Does anyone have any other suggestions for decent TV in these genres?  Otherwise, I'm going to avoid TV altogether for the next several months, except for maybe new episodes of CSI.  *sigh*

It's bad enough that I've spent long stretches (months & months!) of the last 3 years waiting with bated breath for new episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

It's bad enough that I spend at least a couple minutes of each new episode setting aside my vast annoyance at the stupid "shaky handheld camera" effects (which tonight actually made me queasy, since I was watching with a migraine).

It's bad enough that a few of this season's episodes were filler crap that served very little purpose but to annoy fans, and that the writers supposedly "killed off" Starbuck a few episodes ago (she's back, as I knew she would be).

It's bad enough that they built up all this hype over the "Final Five" models of Cylons, more-or-less promised to reveal the Final Five in the season finale, and then left the whole issue entirely equivocal (like I knew they would).

But now I have to wait at least 9 months until I get to see any new episodes?!  What is this, a pregnancy?!  Or a long-distance college romance?  I don't get to see the baby (or boyfriend, whichever analogy you like) for 9 months!  Do the writers/producers hate us?!  Gods, this fraking sucks!

At least Starbuck is back. *grumble*

 8> Battlestar Prophylactica

 7> Battlestar Lickitysplit

 6> Battlestar Metamucil

 5> Battlestar Cylon Magnet

 4> Battlestar Platypus

 3> Battlestar Hugeschlong

 2> Battlestar Erotica

 1> Battlestar Minnow

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The eminently readable Sci-Fi Chic blogged about what she'd like to see on Battlestar Galactica season 4, and I realized I couldn't summarize my response in a comment.  So here's my view on what she wrote (her words in italics)...

- More Starbuck!  Hell yes!  PLEASE.  I completely agree that her lack of screen time this season hurt the show.  I love Starbuck because she's got Major Attitude (and the fact that Katee Sackhoff is from my neck of the woods doesn't hurt any).  I want to see Starbuck kicking ass & taking names again.  In fact...

- More battles!  What have the writers been thinking, with such a dearth of combat scenes?!  I don't care if it's humans & Cylons fighting in space, or getting down & dirty in hand-to-hand combat.  Even seeing Baltar whining as he gets knocked around a bit would be better than nothing.  The only memorable fight scenes this season so far were the (excellent) episode with boxing on the Galactica.

- No more domestic scenes la Athena folding diapers...and Callie and Chief bickering over daycare.  The very occasional domestic scene is good, I believe, because it reminds us that this isn't just a warship -- that there are real people having real family lives involved during all this other drama.  However, the writers totally should have killed off Callie in that last episode.  Why the hell were Callie and Chief Tyrol put in harm's way, in a completely contrived and uninteresting way, with hints of any possible harm to her being all his fault for writing up her work schedule, and with all that whining from her about not wanting her baby raised by military folk if she died, if they were just going to be miraculously saved?  The Chief may not be the most interesting character, but he does maudlin and guilty and angst-ridden quite well...if his wife died in the line of duty when he was in charge of her work detail, he'd have plenty of emo mileage, along with single-father guilt & exhaustion.

- Give the Cylons back their fangs!  All that time on the Cylon disco ship made them infinitely unscary.  I concur.  "Cylons are people, too" is not an appealing plot development.  They're alien machine intelligences, quit making them seem so mystical-New-Age idiotic!  (Athena?  Puh-lease.  I want Boomer back.)

- Along the same line, no more Helo/Athena. They are boring and take up precious airtime.  Helo is a Bad Boy...who (perhaps) desperately wants to be a Good Boy, but it should not happen.  Bad Boys are sexy and intruiging; Good Boys are boring to the nth degree.  (We marry Good Boys, for crying out loud.  We do NOT want to watch them on the TV!)  Marrying a Cylon is not Bad Boy enough; it's just a Good Boy with a chip on his shoulder about how much flack he takes for having a toaster wife.  Speaking of which...

- What's with Hera being a totally normal baby?  There was all sorts of mysterious hints about what she might become, but nothing panned out.  I had 2 babies, I don't want to watch some toddler whimpering or pitching a fit unless there's laser beams coming out of her eyes and adults are running away in screaming terror.  There is simply NO reason to have a half-Cylon child on the series (especially with all the build-up -- that went nowhere) unless something Very Interesting and Profoundly Affecting Everyone is going to happen as a result of that child's existence. 

- give Apollo something to do.  Oh gods, yes.  And preferably something other than wistfully yearning over Starbuck while guiltily cleaving to Dualla...in his personal life, he needs to either shit or get off the pot.  As for professionally, isn't he the CAG?  I mean, that's serious work -- dangerous, and intensive, and possibly heart-wrenching at times.  Let's see less mooncalf and more man-of-action.

- Revive the mystery of the Twelve Colonies, and the legendary Thirteenth Colony.  The religious stuff in previous seasons was very tastefully and compellingly done.  More, please.  (Wasn't Laura supposed to be some kind of Moses leading humanity to the Promised Land?  Why did that get completely ignored/disregarded after her miraculous recovery from cancer?)

- Return to the old relationships?  I have to disagree there -- one of the best things about the series is how beautifully the characters evolve.  Adama simply can't see Starbuck as his "sweetly cocky, almost daughter-in-law who happens to be a great stick jock" now that he knows her a bit better.  Laura Roslin can't be unaffected by nearly dying repeatedly (the Cylons, breast cancer, the Cylons on New Caprica, etc); the profound impact of her personal challenges on her makes her more interesting, and I'd like to see more of that.  And Lee & Kara should never be friends again, unless Lee has lost all sanity & common sense...she rejected him too fiercely & cruelly, and his waffling over his feelings for her is dreadfully boring.  And I'd kinda like to see Adama and Roslin getting it on...nothing feeds conflict like romance!

- Locate the sense of urgency that pervaded Seasons 1 and 2.  Again, hell YES!  This is Battlestar Galactica, not "Deep Space Little House on the Prairie."  We don't want flashbacks of Pa losing his crops and Mary going blind, damnit.  Get back that desperation of fleeing the instruments of genocidal destruction!  Grab ahold of the determination to survive with honor & dignity, or without them -- if necessary, to simply survive!

- Can something blow up?  Please?  I think I have a girl-crush on Sci-Fi Chic now, just because she said that.

Because I am such a fangirl, I went looking for cool Battlestar Galactica stuff...and I found some!

Check out this hilarious spoof -- Battlestar Emasculata!

And the Season 3 Blooper Reel (love the bit where Lucy Lawless blurts, "Wrong accent!")...and the New Crew In Town music video...and the World of Warcraft crossover...and a funny British spoof (the audio's a bit quiet, but worth turning up)

And I watched about a zillion fan-created music videos of various music set to Battlestar Galactica scenes, and the only ones I thought were any good were this one, set to the cover of Land of Confusion by Disturbed, and this really excellent one, set to Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day.  (Although I must admit, the video with the theme from Smoky and the Bandit was damned amusing...who would have thought country music would go so well with science fiction?!)

One of the reasons I love Battlestar is the blatant Paganism...lots of gods, occasional references to Pagan rituals & practices, and some serious ethical questions/philosophies which are not always aligned with traditional Judeo-Christian values.  (I ignore whatever allegories might have anything to do with here-and-now politics, though, thanks.)

For my birthday, I want this and this...and a Viper. *grin*

New Battlestar Galactica episode tonight -- yay!!!  I thought I'd share this funny, since it made me laugh...

10> Then: Your girlfriend had a crush on Starbuck, and you were jealous.
       Now: Your girlfriend has a crush on Starbuck, and you want to hear more.

 9> The sexual tension between Apollo and Starbuck no longer creeps you out.

 8> New Starbuck appears 73% less likely to be stopped by a chipped nail.

 7> Viper-pilot shower scenes improve 300%.

 6> In the unrated version, Starbuck finds out why Cylons' helmets are shaped like that.

 5> One word: Hooters.

 4> She's at least a Grande. In the right top, she's a Venti.

 3> New Starbuck: Long blonde hair, sexy feminine walk, tight pants.
      Old Starbuck: Long blonde hair, sexy femin-- uh, what was the question again?

 2> If the old Starbuck had gone after the "Arrow of Apollo" we would have had to endure 10,000 "Brokeback Battlestar" jokes.

 1> Old Starbuck: Nose crinkles when winning at cards.
      New Starbuck: Headlights come on when winning at cards.

(Mirror of post on my regular blog.)

Battlestar Galactica was a rerun this last Sunday, grrr.  I suppose they thought to mollify fans by airing 2 episodes, and I'm not one to turn down watching any episode, but I'm really jonesing for a new one!  (And jonesing for most of these shirts...)

Oh yeah, and I should never ever put "Battlestar Galactica" in the search function at eBay again.  Not unless I win the lottery.

But the new BG quizzes are fun!  Here were my scores:

Simple level -- Rank: Admiral (10)  Perfect Score. You could lead the fleet to Earth.
Easy level -- Rank: Commander (9)
Tricky level -- Rank: Colonel (8)
Hard level -- Rank: Colonel (8)

Gee, and I've only seen most of the episodes once!

Photo: Show us your tattoo(s).
Submitted by Megan. 

The story of my first tattoo: I'd wanted one since I was a little girl, but had somehow gotten the impression that girls didn't get tattoos.  When I was a teenager, one of my great-aunts showed off the butterfly tattoo that she'd gotten in 1945 when she was in the WAVEs (women's reserve of the U.S. Navy, organized during World War II), so I decided that I was going to get a tattoo someday, but had no idea of what or where on my body to place it.  When I was 27, I was doodling (coincidentally, this was on my best friend's birthday) bindrunes from a very important personal runecasting (that I'd done when I was 20, soon after discovering the joy of runes), and I found the bindrune that symbolizes (to me) who I am and what I need to remember as I go through life.  I found a nice Celtic knotwork ring to put around the bindrune, and got it inked onto the fleshy part of my left hip on my 28th birthday.  (Runes are traditionally done in red to represent the symbolic few drops of their own blood that rune users supposedly mixed into the ink/stain to empower the magic, but I figured black ink would be fine because I bled while it was applied.)

About two weeks later, I realized the bindrune was actually the reverse of what I'd asked for (because the inexperienced tattoo artist had reversed the design when making the template, and when I looked at it in the mirror I was too excited to remember that it would look reversed in the mirror, so it looked fine at the time).  I burst into near-hysterical tears!  But, after figuring out which runes had been changed due to the design being reversed (only 2 out of 9), I realized that those 2 were ones I needed a lot more than the ones I'd intended to be permanently on my skin.  See?  Everything works out the way it's supposed to...or something like that.

First tattoo

The story of my second tattoo:  I'm a fangirl.  It's only through lack of funds and a teensy bit of common sense that I haven't gotten the Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Battlestar Galactica logo inked onto me somewhere (although I'm still thinking about Battlestar...).  So, back when it was on the air in its original run, I was watching an episode of The X-Files, and Scully got an ouroboros tattooed onto the small of her back in the episode.  She looked positively orgasmic, to boot.  I promised myself I'd get one of those some day -- and because I'm Wiccan and also wanted a pentacle tattooed on me somewhere, this is what I wound up getting inked onto the small of my back for my 31st birthday:

Second tattoo

The story of my third tattoo:  Remember that fangirl thing?  It's not just TV shows, it's books (as a matter of fact, it's actually moreso with books!).  My beloved Geoffrey & I are both huge fans of Mercedes Lackey, especially her Valdemar books.  I actually joined Queen's Own (her official fan club) way back in 1995 (when it was a snail-mail newsletter), developed a Herald persona, and passed the requirements to have my persona approved.  That's right, I really am a Herald of Valdemar.  Quit snickering already.  (In my defense, I've never joined any other official fan clubs.)  Anyway, Geoffrey & I bonded partly over our appreciation of Mercedes Lackey, and when he found out I had a Herald persona, he (being a huge fan of raptors, and having volunteered to work with them at the local zoo for several years) wanted a Tayledras persona.  He gave me a gift of a bondbird feather when we decided to move in together.  For our 5th anniversary in July 2004, we decided to get tattoos, each of which would represent the other in some way.  So on our left arms (traditionally the shield arm, to represent our loving protection of one another), he got the crest of Valdemar (symbol of the Heralds) and I got a decorated gyrefalcon feather with a bead for each year (in his favorite colors -- I'm not a huge fan of red, myself):

Third tattoo

The story of my fourth tattoo:  I wanted a wrist bracelet tattoo, and I wanted my daughters' names inked onto me.  What better way to achieve both than to combine them?  And it's purple, of course -- my favorite color since I was old enough to pronounce it!  (As an added bonus, my tattoo artist found the knotwork for this tattoo on a photo of a 10th-century Norse sword hilt.  My first tattoo had Celtic knotwork to represent my Scots-Irish heritage, and so the Norse knotwork to represent my Norwegian heritage in this design was perfect!)

Fourth tattoo, inside

Fourth tattoo, outside

The story of my fifth tattoo:  For my eldest daughter's 18th birthday, I told her I would pay for her first tattoo if she picked a design I liked and got it done by my tattoo artist (the incomparable Jennifer Billig, who's done all my ink except my first tattoo), and I would get the same tattoo as sort of a mommy-and-me thing.  (Aw, isn't that cute?)  Annie got her firebird/phoenix last month, and (since I couldn't afford 2 large tattoos at once) I'm getting mine done next month -- it'll be the same size & location as hers, just different colors (I'm thinking purples & maybe some blues -- kind of a wintery phoenix!).  The phoenix was her idea, but after thinking about it a while, I realized that "being reborn from the ashes of conflagration" is a rather apt description of the lives of most of the women in our family!  (Which kinda makes me sigh.)

Edit:  Finally got pics of my fifth tattoo, which was inked 2/15/07:

Fifth tattoo

What are your resolutions for 2007?

Not to watch depressing TV news.  (And since 99.9% of the news is depressing, I guess I'll just avoid all of it.)

If I'm going to watch TV, it's much better to watch the National Geographic Channel, or the Discovery Channel, or even the History Channel (especially if they're featuring a subject that's over 400 years old).  And of course, for my scifi needs, there's Battlestar Galactica and Jericho.

As I've mentioned a time or three, I love Battlestar Galactica.  (I also don't understand why most people abbreviate it "BSG" instead of "BG."  But that's neither here nor there.  Oh, and if you have iTunes, you can get "The Story So Far" episode for free...)

But this hurts my head.  Owie!