better today!

[erastes]

Pushing on with Tributary today. Been decidedly unwell for the last week or so—run down, I suppose I’ve been, rather than unwell, so am pushing on with it. 

….. time passes….

*later*…..It’s all going a bit “Private Lives” *snorts *  Two men being TERRIBLY polite with each other when all they want to do is kick each other to death.

Battlestar Galactica is (sadly) boring me by degrees. I wish it wasn’t, but I can’t help it. I was uncomfortable with all the God talk for a start and that seems just to get worse and worse.  The music drives me potty – and now we’ve got

WTF All Along The Watchtower being sung by the (possible) four?  That better be explained. Is Jimmy’s Ghost reaching through the universe?  Kara’s dead, then she’s not. Kara’s dead, then she’s not, Kara’s dead. THEN SHE’S NOT. How many times can we play out the same plot over and over?

I’ll probably continue with it, because I don’t like to dump things once I’ve invested that much time in them, but I hope it perks up.  Another quibble is that it’s unremittingly depressing and everyone’s always so bloody EMO.  Can’t we have occasional moments of lightness?  I mean, JEEZ. And POO about Dollhouse. Just Poo.

  - - - -

Comments

[angrboda]

How far are you in BSG? I'm wondering if you got past the place that I got to when I gave up. I agree all the God stuff was a bit much.

But you hit exactly on why I fell out of love with it. There is no lightness. It's too serious. All the time, serious. They're so busy making sure to show that everybody has flaws and they're just human and reflecting true human psyche in the face of dire distress and what have you that they kind of forgot that sometimes people, even in dire distress, have the occasional laugh. I've been warned away from Torchwood for the same sort of reason. And I haven't yet got around to watching even the first episode of Stargate Universe yet, in spite of having really been looking forward to it. I heard from Joseph Mallozi's own blog that they're aiming it at a more adult audience than they did with SG-1 and SGA, so now I'm just too afraid that if I watch I'll not like it. I'd rather not have watched it yet and not have been disappointed. But that was a bit of a tangent.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

oh - I wouldn't agree with TW - there's definite lightness there. Very dark - and a lot darker than many TV shows that wouldn't go out at 9pm in the USA for example, but there's still joking around and fun because flawed characters do both.

SGU is shaping up well, but they need to step up the pace imho or it's going to go the same way as Defying Gravity (which I really enjoyed). SGU is very slow, too much talking, and not enough adherence to its own canon - it would only take a throw away line, for example, to explain why Rodney hasn't been called in to work on the problem of bringing them home.

As to where I'm up to - I think it's the end of series three - Crossroads.

[angrboda]

When asking about it, I asked sort of in comparison with Dr Who which I liked (but still have sadly only ever seen the season that had Christopher SomethingwithEwotIcan'tspell as the Doctor) and on that premise the person I was talking to thought I might not enjoy TW much.
I think JM addressed the Rodney issue on his blog but I tend not to always read that one too closely and especially not when he talks about SGU. (I don't even know why I'm still keeping up with it... It's just... It's Mallozi for heck's sake!)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "Watchtower" was the point where I just divested myself from the universe. I found the series music interesting, but Jimi Hendrix in Space was just this side of too much.

And Kara's here/not-here/here stuff? I had thought okay, they took an ovary, maybe they've found a way to clone and download humans too... but no such luck. There is no sensible technical explanation for her continued existence. Forlorn hope. Now, I missed a number of episodes in Season 3 because I just got bored with them, but as far as I can tell, all that death-camp stuff on Caprica? No explanation for that, either.

I have a feeling that Ron Moore (Ronald Moore Ronald Moore, riding through the sward.. damn Monty Python!) got too many interesting ideas started early on, then found he'd have to discard them. And the attempt at metaphysics was dismal. Personally, I like stories that include a spiritual dimension--the old Kung Fu series, for instance--but if someone's going to do metaphysics, it would help to be a little more consistent about it, not just tossing in a bit of sfx when the plot slows.

As for the relentless downer tone of the thing, I believe EJ Olmos mentioned in an interview that he never wanted to do something this long and this grim again. I never want to watch ditto. Moore often said there were lighter incidents, but either most of 'em hit the cutting-room floor or he thinks any episode without mass body-counts is 'light.' (Then again, he always spoke of Ellen Tigh as funny, and I only wished they'd killed her off sooner.

And as for the two significant characters who turned out to be glbt ... sorry, psycho-bitch and (spoiler omitted), only spoiler's significant other was anything but a dead disappointment, and I think that character only had about ten minutes of screen time--if that.

All in all ... It was certainly better than the original, to praise with faint damns. Superb cast, excellent acting, technically brilliant, but god, I'm glad it's over, and I'm certainly not watching any spinoffs.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, it's a excellent show in many ways - i'm a sponge for ANY sci-fi on the box, I'm even watching V fergawdssake- it's just the many things you mention that annoy me.

I like the music too, a lot, particularly that haunting waltz - i may have to track down a soundtrack.

as for the grim - last epi I watched had the following themes: Domestic abuse, marital rape, infanticide, suicide, murder, treason, such entertainment!!

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

But, hey - it makes almost anyone's life look better by comparison...