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Time Names Battlestar Galactica Show Of The Year
szyzyg writes "Time Magazine's Television Critic James Poniewozik has put Battlestar Galactica at the top of his list of the Best TV Shows from 2005. His summary starts off 'Most of you probably think this entry has got to be a joke. The rest of you have actually watched the show.'"
I am a Cylon!
Let me not be the first to say, "Are you fucking kidding me?!"
How does shakey-cam, bad acting, bad plot, and a completely unmaintainable suspension of disbelief turn into show of the year?
"Don't feel bad for me child; I'm the monster that hides under your bed."
6 out of 10 shows on the list are cable/satellite only and of those, 2 are on pay channels only. Can the big networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC compete anymore? It seems like the talent has moved elsewhere and the big three are caving in under their own weight.
http://religiousfreaks.com/Attention authors of lesbian slash fanfic, that is not an invitation to depict... or is it?
I love this show. Battlestar is the only show in the last 10 years I have watched every episode of. It was disappointing to see mini-series + 13 episodes being season 1 then only getting 10 more for season 2.0. I really hope they get some budgeting to do more episodes now.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
This is definately a pleasant suprise - I personally think that Battlestar Galactica was remade with class, care and just the right ammount of respect. The show neither attempted to please everyone like so many do (then fall on their faces as bland clones), nor did it attempt to remain 100% true to the original and thus dated itself. It was a well deserved award, for a good peice of science fiction.
That James Poniewozik dude is also responsible for Hitler being the "Time - Man of the Year '39"
Every single Episode of "Andromeda" wipes the floor with the whole Battlestar Craptica crap.
End of story. Pass along. Nothing to see.
...that it probably is the best TV show. Have you seen the other stuff - at least the ones that men can watch? The only other good shows I can think of in the US market are "reality" Discovery shows like Mythbusters, Monster Garage and the one where they build custom motorcycles (and I am not a gearhead at all but there is something satisfying about watching someone create a machine by hand).
The Simpsons went downhill after Conan left and they shipped all their animation to Asia.
10010101010110100000000000010101011100000101010010 10001011001010101011010000000000001010101110000010 10100101000101000000000000101010101010000101010101 010101010101010 yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no
lameness filter SENT
completely agree with this...i have been an avid trekkie for 6+ years and not once except ar-557 DS9 episode has star trek come close to the quality of every single BSG episode...really sad in fact... wish the cyclons could have killed brannon and berman in their attack though
http://www.thebesttrek.net/forum/index.php - visit my FORUM
Uh...Season 2 has 20 episodes. They started on the second season so soon after 1 that there needed to be a break to catch up.
Congratulations to the whole team at BSG!
Yeah, if you've got no testicles I'm sure it's a great show. Nothing like watching a bunch of wussified men be bossed around by a bunch of broads that dream of writing their name in the snow. Image my surprise that it's been declared such a hit!! Just like the new gay pride movie "Breakback". Nothing like watching the Malboro man get punked like a bitch. The only problem is,nobody is watching. I suspect the same is true of this garbage!
Geez, give us a real show and peddle your social agenda somewhere else.........
I know that. They are selling it as 2.0 and didn't even show reruns after the first 10 airings. Other shows like 'Lost' got 25 in the first season. Battlestar got 13.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
Where's Lost? That's another great show! :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
TV isn't like cinema. No one can watch all the TV produced in one year, especially shows like Lost that require commitment to uncover the true excellence of the show.
The reviewer either watches a show or they don't. If they don't, they don't make the list.
So where's the value in this list?
Season 2.0 is the first half of Season 2. They just called it that for the DVD's so they could get more of your money faster.
I'm surprised that neither Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis are on the list.
Personally, Stargate beats BSG anyday.
I thought it would stink when I read about the changes they had made to the original such as making Starbuck a woman, but it has turned out to be pretty good overall. There are a few things I wish they hadn't changed. There was something I like about those polished chrome Cylons, and the old fighters. (Both Cylon and Colonia)
And after watching the original series again for the first time in over 20 years, it wasn't nearly as good as I remember - even the first season before it started going south. (I won't even mention Galactica 1980) I was only 12 or so at the time the originals came out, so my standards in entertainment were probably lower. On a negative note, I would swear both original and new series must have been sponsored by a tobacco company.
I hope next season will be still showing on weekends in HD.
I wonder when the six million dollar man remake comes out?
My rights don't need management.
I also hope they get more episodes for the next season. Ten eps left me feeling a bit wanting at the end. I'm glad the SciFi channel is starting to get some recognition for their attention to detail and great writing for this series.
He writes: "The basic-cable budget sometimes shows in the production..."
Um... seriously, where did he see this?
24 should be there. It is a great show. (Does Fox count as a big network?)
Religion and politics, without the flame. godgab.org
I had never seen the show. Thought that remakes of pedestrian 70's shows and sci-fi channels universally shabby line-up and platinum-blond cylons meant this show would suck hard. I was wrong. BSG is what would happen if Steven Bochco or David E Kelly decided to do sci-fi. Fine dramatic episodic TV with character arcs that would span months or even years. And the back story of the sucky original actually makes a perfect stage for current events lessons without being Star Trek preachy (or so obvious since they had to cram everything down you throught in a single episode). I must eat my words. There may be hope for the sci-fi channel other than as an outlet for crappy action with poor production values and pseudo science masquerading as thoughtful sci-fi.
Lost and 24 are both missing, and they are both most-excellent shows
Ranstom for their
ROCKS. Man, that show is funny. Every character is fleshed out well, unique, and humorous. Dwight Schrute.... LMFAO. If you are a British-comedy snob and refuse to watch the American version... your loss.
The over abundance of these idiotic "reality" shows is just completely out of hand. I don't even turn on network TV anymore except for a vanishingly small number of shows (Boston Legal, NCIS, CSI, 24). At the current rate of degradation, I figure I can write off traditional network TV entirely in another couple of years.
C'mon. Prison Break?
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
Shouldn't all 10 entries be "reality TV". With the way all the networks push this type of show, you'd expect them to be absolute chart-toppers. Shouldn't a show like "Who Wants To Eat A Bug" (aka "Fear Factor") be at #1?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
The Office was a good choice, though.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
OK, so the standards are low. But that's showbiz.
6 is on Tripping the Rift another fine show. And being animated, there is physical limit to what she can do.
Tell me a show that's better than Battlestar Galactica, because i sure can't think of one.
:) Mckay rocks... he's like a whiny arrogant Spock..
Stargate Atlantis
seriously though... I've been watching Galactica to try and figure out what it is I don't get that everyone else does... but I don't understand what's so great and that all of geek-dom is lauding this as the next Firefly... And what's not so great about Stargate Atlantis that it hasn't made the cut?
i'm not trying to start a flame-war... I honestly want to know the right mindset to appreciate Galactica and it's airplane-style-flyin spaceships and odd notions that water is scarce in the universe but bullets are plentiful...
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
No Arrested Development? It's the funniest and most clever sitcom I've seen for many years, but, sadly, it just doesn't get the public recognition it deserves.
I wonder when the six million dollar man remake comes out?
We can rebuild him.
illegitimii non ingravare
The finest pair of performers since Uncle Miltie's falsies!
.nosig
"They are selling it as 2.0 and didn't even show reruns after the first 10 airings."
They've been showing BSG reruns for months, as for Lost getting 25 and BSG getting 13, who do you think has a higher budget? ABC/Disney or the Sci-Fi channel? Remeber that BSG was orginally funded by a fusion of Sky One, which co-financed the series with the Sci Fi Channel and NBC Universal. Actually Lost has the pilot 2 episodes and 22 other eps for a total of 24 in the first season.
go out and buy the DVDs.
i'm thoroughly enjoying watching them again, and every dollar tells the market that this sort of show is worth their while.
+1 fashionably cynical
I like how Adama is just like his previous characters. Everytime I expect him to say, breathing heavily, "A cylon baseship just appeared.. Sonny, Rico, get on it!"
I watched the first episode. It stank. Anyone who would continue to watch it after that would probably watch anything.
I've watched House with both doctors and med students (sometimes at the same time) and both groups find House to be a little unbelieveable.
My question: Do they really keep medicines in clear plastic boxes with biohazard stickers on them?
Doctor's answer: No, that's just drama.
My question: What's going on?
Med student's answer: House discovered an old journal article that says you can get African Sleeping Sickness from sexual contact.
My Followup: But.. I thought you could only get that from bug bites
Med student's answer: Yea, well...
And that was just yesterday's episode.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
...it really does.
Welcome our new Galactic Battlestarring overlords.
http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
Being a loyal /.er, red-blooded male, and X-gen (ie - I grew up watching the original series) I wish Battlestar Galactica was one the best series of the year. They definately had the hotties and the FX were reasonable, but overall it just didn't deliver. Alas, this is a B$ plug for the shows that just didn't hack it (not sure what they hope to accomplish), by the aging broadcasting companies. It's sad that so much money get's heaved into the furnace that is Hollywood... The silver-lining, as another poster mentioned, is that the behemoths are loosing their grip and they will do anything to make one more dollar. I just can't wait until there are no more laugh tracks telling me when I should laugh...
My choices (albeit slim pickings)
CSI: Las Vegas - The others still don't have the magic...
Will & Grace - Their last season is starting off pretty good...
NCIS - Abby
Close to Home
Without a Trace
Cold Case
Law & Order
Threshold
Commander & Chief
Numbers
That's just my opinion, I could be RIGHT!!!
BG started back in 2003 according to TV.com for its pilot. 2004 for regular episodes.
Grey's Anatomy is another great show too.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I love the show and catch every episode, but many episodes just don't stand up for a second viewing. Not all of them - 33 and Water I must have watched 5 times the first week after I saw them the first time. Others - eehhhh, not so much.
Someone else mentioned Simpsons. The first season, my roommates and I recorded every episode. As soon as the episode finshed, we would rewind it and watch it again. We must have watched "The Babysitter Bandit" episode 4 times that night.
No show since has had that level of rewatchability, and I doubt another one will.
seg fault
For the Slashdot crowd, I was expecting a few comments here and there about the above show.
If you've never watched it, House MD is an excellent show. The writing is biting and sarcastic, especially from the title character. The acting is excellent, they frequently show wicked CGI surgery goodies, exploding orgrans, pus-spewing ulcers, etc.
House also has a wicked Vicodin habit, his boss is a h4wt13 to boot. It's on tonight on Fox, at 9PM EST.
(No, I do not work for Fox, but will accept per-diem payments if they so choose.)
[http://it-tastes-so-good.blogspot.com] Are you hungry?
Actually, the other Friday night shows do this regularly, so if BSG gets renewed (as I assume it will) this'll be normal. They air 10-11 eps of Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis from late July to Oct, then do reruns, then finish the season. Other, "mainstream" shows have started doing this, like the "OC" on Fox.
The first possibility is that this show is really, truly deserving of the number one spot of 2005's best television.
The second possibility is that the man behind the article had the self-discipline and fervent determination as a die-hard fan of Battlestar Galactica (and probably any of its sci-fi cousins) to give reasonable, detailed and accountable reviews up until that point to earn the credibility he needed to be in the position to be the reviewer of 2005's best television shows. And then, at the last moment he pulled out his hardcore sci-fi passion and placed it at the top of a list that usually never gets a sci-fi show just to have snuck in the passion of his life into the mainstream.
Sneaky or not, the rest of the list is reasonable (which still allows for the second possibility to actually be true).
My page.
...my girlfriend called me a dork for ditching her to watch battlestar galactica. i said, "you think i'm a dork now? just wait until i start a friendster group dedicated to battlestar galactica where i'm the only member!" so that's what i did.
long story short: i can feel battlestar galactica's ownage with all of my body. yes, even my pepe!
That is one awesome show. I still chuckle every time the show starts. The camera leers at Steven as he turns to it with the sound of an eagle screeching loudly. He's supposed to be ultra-conservative, but he is so over-the-top it is obvious he is making fun of it. For example, he explained how think tanks are good, and one of them sponsors the show. He then goes on to show one of their videos on oil, which shows a jungle setting with a dinosaur and human fighting with the voiceover "5,000 years ago..."
BSG just might be the best TV show these days, and there's a strong argument that it's the best science fiction show of recent years. That's a sad commentary on the state of SF TV, because BSG isn't great. It's good, but also has some serious shortcomings. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it about a 6. It just seems wonderful because few other SF shows ever score higher than about 3.
Put another way. . . It's worth watching, but there's a lot of room for improvement.
That is what they should have said about "Firefly".
MadOgre.com
I kind of like it. I enjoy Battlestar, and they way they run the shows you never have to wait a half a year to see more new episodes.
At least it's better the The Supranos, where nothing happens for 10 episodes and then you have to wait two years to see more.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
How dare he insult the majority like that.
Why is TV such a big topic ? Seriously - when you get to the end of your life, are you going to wish you spent More Time Watching TV ?
Get off your fat ass, shut off the magic idiot box, and read a book !!
No - I don't own a TV. And yes - I DO feel smug stating that...bunch of poodle-walkin cheese eatin zombies !!
Each of those hours passively glued to the TV is an hour of your life. Are you sure you want to spend it there?
If you're talking about a hero who saves the day without costing/spending any money, its already been done -- MacGyver!
{ - Generic Guy - }
That would be 33, winner of the Nebula award for best dramatic presentation. I think we'll just have to disagree, it was one of the best and hooked me right from the start.
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
The Simpsons went downhill after Conan left and they shipped all their animation to Asia.
Conan was only on the Simpsons staff for a very brief stint (and only wrote a couple episodes himself), and the animation was always done in Asia.
The X-Files started off filming in Vancouver, and continued a good run until it got successful, moved to California, and began mass suckage until death. The tone and mood that made it good was lost when it "went Hollywood". Let us hope the same fate does not meet Battlestar Galactica, also shot in Vancouver. For now.
Never seen this show, but it sure will be in my bittorrent queue...er...best buy shopping cart soon.
I kill harmless processes for sport
"stories that are complex,"
I've been watching TV for almost 45 years and I have yet to see a "complex" plot.
TV is so formula-matic these days, its unpleasant to watch, even when the actors and director have the best intentions. Its like eating vanilla pudding. Its not bad, you know what you're getting, but its not what you want for a steady diet.
Either that, or TV is now meant for people under 30.
"Try watching something filmed in the 30's on TCM"
I think the difference was that entertainment used to be geared towards adults because kids (i.e. under 18) had no money. So your audience was people who worked and had some money to spend on entertainment. Today, I think most films are geared towards an under-30 crowd which has a big impact on film-making. For example, a movie this past fall "Domino" was virtually unwatchable because of the handheld camera thing (I thought that went away when MTV stopped showing videos?), but younger people said they liked it, so perhaps its generational.
I know another poster in response thinks that anything before about 1980 was poorly acted and that Humphrey Bogart was "experiementing" (which is funny, really), but I'm reminded of looking through some book reviews over at Amazon of some classic science fiction (i.e. Dune, The Foundation trilogy, etc), and most of the younger readers just hate the stuff. They view it the way I probably view reading Jules Vernes... done under protest.
Oh well!
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
The second season has 20 episodes. The next ten start airing in a few weeks.
BSG is a total cheeseball attempt at drama. Oh no...The Cylons got through our third firewall! Oh no, the Cylons look just like us! Oh no, we can't come up with our own characters, so we will rip off Voyager. I now, lets make Starbuck a woman. That should get us a few more basement dwelling viewers. Oh...Oh...Lets introduce her by having her punch out a guy that has at least a 100 pounds on her. That will show how she isn't a frail little flower.
The gushing that goes on over BSG is amazing. The show is lowbrow, and formulaic. The cinematagraphy is also formulaic. It is a common trick these days. If you want to look 'gritty' then use a sharp focus, and wave the camera around a lot. This is high school quality work with a huge budget.
It is also amazing that a show produced with today's tech, and with a large budget can produce bad guys that are so much less intimidating.
No mention of the new season of Dr. Who, which was easily the best thing I saw all year. Although House is a close second.
Bruce
see, 13 episodes is a very good number - it means that at one episode per week, the series will run for exactly quarter of a year - in a few years time when they try to flog it to a foreign network, they can buy 4 seasons of that length and have exactly one year worth of telly.
Programs which start small (6 episodes) and explode then, only get 7 episodes in their next season so that the first two season make 13 episodes, and then they start getting 13 epsiode seasons. 26 is also a popular number for really popular programmes.
FGD 135
I don't see Arrested Development in that list.
Granted, that does not stop us savvy net users here in the States from watching it... Sunday's "The Christmas Invasion" was a great episode...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
You are forgetting Monty Python. Monty Python blows simpsons out of the water. It's older and has stood the test of time. It also has fewer over all episodes than the simpsons and therefore less material to work with and yet still as memorable and rewatchable.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Actually, Season II part 2 starts a week from Friday on January 6th.
I agree on 24 as well. Another good show.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I am not familiar with this "Wolfe" character in Andromeda. Do you mean the Kodiak pride Nietzschean, Tyr Anasazi by Barbarosa out of Victoria?
Oh, wait a minute... Nevermind
Babylon 5 and Farscape trump Andromeda in my books, and are in turn trumped by BSG and Dr Who.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
i assume the original poster is talking about the first episode of the mini series and not "33", either way the original poster is a fool
" That would be 33, winner of the Nebula award for best dramatic presentation."
Must have been the title that put it over the top. So clever. I wonder if anyone bought that man a beer?
"it was one of the best and hooked me right from the start."
You and a lot of other people, evidently.
Its a pretty sad world when everything which is successful is just a remake of something that was done before: Battlestar Gallactice, Lion, the Witch, and The Warddrobe, The Office (a.l.a. office space), King Kong, etc.
I still think the true winner because of originality are of 2003 was "24". For 2004, it was "Lost", and this year it was certainly not Battlestar.
-- Betting on the survival of the media industry is a serious risk. I advise investing elsewhere.
From the blurb "His summary starts off 'Most of you probably think this entry has got to be a joke. The rest of you have actually watched the show.'"
I have seen the show, that IS why I think it's a joke.
The Office, totally agree with. That is one of the funniest shows ever. But Wonder Showzen? That is the dumbest, unfunniest show I've ever seen. I still have not been able to make it througn an episode of Battlestar Galactica. I grew up on the old show and as campy as it is I'd rather watch it then the new one.
Absolutely loved the Rome miniseries (HBO/BBC2). A bit too heavy on sex, but it kind of fits the theme. They did not have the budget to do large scale historical battles (even in CGI), but the show still beats approximately 95% of the shows out there. It's all about epic scale intrique and backstabbing in late days of the Roman rebublic era. So what that everyone knows what happens to Julius Caesar, the main characters are rather insignificant non-historical characters that just happen to be in the all right places when something important happens.
Here's my top list for 2005:
1. Rome
2. Lost
3. Battlestar Galactica
4. My name is Earl
I must admit I haven't seen most of the shows on the list. But, an American adaptation of The Office? OMG.
My other SIG is a Sauer.
nt
This space available.
Did that show ever get funny? Is it even still around? I saw a couple episodes (against my will) last spring, I think it was. The sense I got was that it was a sad attempt to create a show staring Pamela Anderson's breasts.
Actually, the 6e6$ Man remake has already been redone (well):
"Now and Again" (1999)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212395/
It was a great show, managing to address some pretty serious issues while providing lots of "badass" moments. It was a sad day when CBS ended it after only 22 episodes.
It isn't just that the scripts that are sloppy, it's like the concept behind the show was only an afterthought. Military dudes shooting at aliens is all we're meant to be interested in. Never mind that I don't even have to be paying attention to notice gaping plot-holes where writers have thrown science out the window. It's fiction, so that means they can stretch things a little and invent magic gizmos that can bend time or materialize fresh pretzels out of thin air, but there's still a point where things get a little too nutty. There's limits to how far you can stretch creative licence.
Shows like BSG, Firefly and even Farscape have shown that you can have outlandish plots without having to abandon all logic, so there's really no excuse.
% mkdir
% ls -dF
1. Person comes in mysteriously ill
2. No one know whats wrong
3. Med students guess some crap but house arrogantly shoots them down
4. House makes an off the wall obscure diagnosis which:
5. (not neccesarily in order) House gets in fight with Cuddy or other superior
6. House was right on all preceding counts. Everyone else is wrong and foolish
7. Meanwhile, some ultimately unrelated and useless person drama is affecting one of the main characters.
In the end, no-one but house EVER makes the correct diagnosis. Thew few times House permits his assistants to actualy do anything they are wrong and the patient almost dies, setting up an even more dramatic "House Saves the Day" moment...
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
It's spelled "syzygy."
The cylons are hacking TIME's network!
BSG has been renewed for a 3rd season. For some reason it appears as though the originating press release has been pulled from Sci-Fi's website.
Season 2.5 of BSG begins on January 6
I'm not prejudiced. I hate everyone equally.
6 out of 10 shows on the list are cable/satellite only and of those, 2 are on pay channels only. Can the big networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC compete anymore?
How can any list of the year's ten best shows not include HBO's Rome?
I mean - the dude watches BSG and he doesn't watch Rome? I'm sensing some serious cognitive dissonance here.
... until I watched Firefly. After watching Firefly, I realised that I didn't really care about any of the characters in BSG. I'm not all that excited about the new episodes of BSG, but if new Firefly episodes were being made I would be counting down the days in anticipation.
I'll still watch BSG, but it's not as good as other sci fi shows in recent history.
-- The doctor said I wouldn't get so many nose bleeds if I just kept my finger out of there!
There's an old buddhist saying: that, the teachings are like fingers pointing at the moon. If you look at the fingers, you'll never see the moon that's being pointed at. Somewhere along the line, you have to take what you see, and add a bit of your own judgement, in order to make the leap from what is said to what should be understood.
Nope, you've got that backwards. They're manipulating YOU. Sure, the story is that Baltar is the one being manipulated, but that's just a thin veil over the real thing, much like the storyline and "acting" in a porn movie is a thin veil over its real objective.
In fact, if you understand that, you'll understand a lot of things in our culture, like why Microsoft says Office XML is a "standard", or why "Terrorism" is the big evil we all should fight.
The simple, direct version: Read between the lines.
I'm a star trek fan. I really like all the series. Even voyager was fun to watch despite its cheeseballness. But I wouldn't call myself a diehard trekkie. I've never been to a star trek convention nor do I know how to speak klingon.
As such, I also loved Enterprise, especially season 3. Enterprise was a mature star trek. Cynical, sexy, scary, and occaisonally bizarre. When Season 3 came out, I watched that season over and over again. It was thrilling, had a fluid story line throughout the whole season, and seemed to be very high in production value. Point is, I loved having this show. Scifi TV that I loved. I had something to look forward too. When enterprise was cancelled, I had nothing.
Then I found BSG.
BSG is a well planned show. It has that same fluidic story line, not very, episodic per se. While the constant zooming of the camera was a little bit disorienting at first, I came to appreciate it. The acting is top notch, the special effects are better than most shows, the concept and over all storyline is intense, and the way the show is done, it's a story that is very well told.
But I have a feeling that this show will soon fall into the depths of the "niche" and eventually get cancelled prematurely.
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
Uh...Season 2 has 20 episodes. They started on the second season so soon after 1 that there needed to be a break to catch up.
While you're right about the 20 episode part, I think you're incorrect about the reason for the hiatus. Sci-fi channel has been doing this for years with SG-1, and now they do it with the other Friday night fare: SG:A and BSG.
But it's good to see that sci-fi is finally getting some cred in the mainstream, BSG is the best writing on TV, with some stiff competetion from the premium channels' shows.(Sopranos, Deadwood, Weeds)
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
I personally think that Battlestar Galactica was remade with class, care and just the right ammount of respect.
As do I. I love it when they do a small tip of the hat to the original series. Like the schematic of the original Cylon being shown briefly in a camera sweep. Or the deck of the Galactica during the decommissioning ceremony where they played the national anthem, and it was the old theme song. Very very nifty, and damn clever.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Tell me honestly, have you watched the original? If so, how does it compare, taking into account the different tastes of the different decades? I have not cared to see anything more than commercials for this show because I simply can not accept that the Cylons could be anything other than shiny, faceless, evil robots controlled by what's-his-name. I don't care if sex sells, evil robots are evil robots and their effect on a show simply can not be replaced. Imagine Futurama with another Leela-like character instead of Bender. It also bugs me that they would screw up the characters. If you must have a female pilot then fine, introduce a female pilot, but changing who Starbuck is just to meet the Title IX bar just seems stupid.
That said, from the commercials I have seen, Adama looks like Adama should and the Vipers kick butt.
By the way, anybody else out there love the Homeworld series of real-time strategy PC games? They're pretty similar in plot.
You forgot to mention in your second possibility that the original series honestly wasn't really very good. Only thing that made it good at the time (for me, IMHO, etc.) was the fact that I was a kid.
If you doubt that, try to watch some of those old shows like the original Battlestar Galactica or Buck Rogers now. They'll give you a nosebleed they're so bad. That's part of what makes the new BSG so great. As it turns out, you really can polish a turd.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Ok, this is Slashdot so we know the story is false. You watch BSG and post here...and have a girlfriend?
Next time try something more believeable, pal.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Water is relatively scarce
...using magnets to pick up spent bullets and all...
The episode where they're going from planet to planet looking for water was so stupid it made me cringe. In our solar system anything outside of the asteroid belt is _mostly_ water. And even the inner planets have large deposits of ice or water with the exception of Mercury.
What might be rare are iron and heavier elements (those can only be in solar systems formed in the second generation of star formation or later)... yet they seem to have all of the metal they need as they don't seem overly concerned with salvaging wreckage after battles... I'd think they'd be trying to get every last scrap of metal after each battle.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
33 is fantastic. Creepy as hell and seriously intense. From that point on, calling it science fiction didn't quite fit. I describe BSG as science fiction horror.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Al rules!
At the end of the day I can understand how people don't "like" BSG05 because it is a show with an edge and a style of it's own. I think though that even if you don't "like" it as a matter of taste you should be able to see that there is much there to be appreciated.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
I watched the two-part mini-series, and then about the first seven or eight episodes, before stopping. I thought the writing and acting were quite good, but the never-ending gloom and doom got to me eventually. If I want that I can watch CNN.
The basic problem is in the premise. The Cylons are hugely more powerful than the human fleet; they could wipe them out at any time, and the fact that they haven't done so just shows that they choose not to, for as-yet-unrevealed reasons. Since the humans cannot possibly put up any sort of a fight against the invincible Cylons, the only possible plots involve humans fighting each other.
Basically what bothers me about the show is that its message is that adversity brings out the worst in people, that the terrible situation our heroes are in reduces them, makes them smaller and meaner. If I'm going to watch a story about a gigantic disaster and people's reactions to it, I would prefer a story where the disaster makes people grow rather than shrink, and teaches the lesson that people are at their best when things are worst. For one thing, I believe that's actually true; and for another, even if it weren't, I think that kind of story would help encourage it.
I'm not saying BSG sucks or anything--I think it's well-made all round--but I find it overly negative.
I decided to stop watching the show when I started cheering for the Cylons to finish the job by exterminating all the humans.
From S0303:
e velopment
t ml
Tobias - "I'll have you remember I was a 'professional' two times over. Both an analyst AND a therapist, an analrapist."
Lindsy - "Yeah, and the business cards almost got you arrested."
Tobias - "I did NOT quit my job because of the police inquiry but because I wanted to help raise my daughter."
This is just a glimpse into the writing in this show, which, for example, has social commentary on par with South Park: George, seeing a military humvee and a pope mobile decides to escape in the pope mobile as it has "actual armour".
It has EVERYTHING. And it does it all well. The show is just as good if not better than The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad. Like those, it tries to capture the essence of American life in a humorous light. The problem is that unlike those shows, it has a bit of sexual innuendo humour. In fact, a big theme of the show is repressed sexuality, which is a perfect allegory for the American way of life. Violence is primetime viewing and a nipple is a national scandel. Sad. But a reason to cancel a great show?
Please, go to http://www.mininova.org/search/?search=arrested+d
If you already have bittorrent running, a single show is like an hour dl. Any of the third season is a good intro to the show, especially 3, 6, or 7. Or watch it Mondays at 8pm on Fox.
Also, if you like the show, sign the petitions:
http://www.getarrested.com/
http://www.petitiononline.com/Arrested/petition.h
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/arresteddev
well time gets something right. battlestar galactica is the best thing on tv in the last few years.
t ml
and make sure to watch the miniseries aka 3 hour pilot before diving into the show, its on dvd or through rental.
and of course heres a nice comparo between the old and the new http://dvdtalk.com/cineschlock/battlestar/index.h
It's the only way to be sure.
"You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8
"Arrested Development", From S0303:
e velopment
t ml
Tobias - "I'll have you remember I was a 'professional' two times over. Both an analyst AND a therapist, an analrapist."
Lindsy - "Yeah, and the business cards almost got you arrested."
Tobias - "I did NOT quit my job because of the police inquiry but because I wanted to help raise my daughter."
This is just a glimpse into the writing in this show, which has social commentary on par with South Park: George, seeing a military humvee and a pope mobile decides to escape in the pope mobile as it has "actual armour".
It has EVERYTHING. And it does it all well. The show is just as good if not better than The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad. Like those, it tries to capture the essence of American life in a humorous light. The problem is that unlike those shows, it has a bit of sexual innuendo humour. In fact, a big theme of the show is repressed sexuality, which is a perfect allegory for the American way of life. Violence is primetime viewing and a nipple is a national scandel. Sad. But a reason to cancel a great show?
Please, go to http://www.mininova.org/search/?search=arrested+d
If you already have bittorrent running, a single show is like an hour dl. Any of the third season is a good intro to the show, especially 3, 6, or 7. Or watch it Mondays at 8pm on Fox.
Also, if you like the show, sign the petitions:
http://www.getarrested.com/
http://www.petitiononline.com/Arrested/petition.h
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/arresteddev
Sorry, I did repost this in the main thread to get those petition links out there.
"I decided to stop watching the show when I started cheering for the Cylons to finish the job by exterminating all the humans."
Wow, so by starting cheering the evil mastermind/robot/alien/cthulhu and then only continuing to watch shows that manage to get me to change my mind, I'm actually doing it backward?
...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
I call bullshit. Clearly the show of the year is Tiki Bar TV. Goddamn critics.
/. zen: Imagine a Beowulf cluster of Beowulf clusters...
1. Rome
2. Deadwood
3. House
4. Boston Legal
BSG is good enough that I will record it. It is not as horribly stupid as the origonal children's show. It is still pretty stupid.
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
I REALLY like the new BSG. It is WAAAAY better than the 70s version.
But Rome is just a step ahead of ANYTHING ELSE on television!!! The second season of Carnivale also gets an honorable mention.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
What is the excess of violence. Is that pandering???
Personally, I think we as a society would be much better off if their was less shooting and more screwing on TV.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
The doctor did an MRI scan on Baltar. There was no foreign objects.
Can't you tell that Baltar IS a Cylon???? Baltar is a sleeper. And I think we will find out that the "commander" model of the Cylon is the Baltar model.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Deadwood got pretty intense this season. I eagerly await the 3rd.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
I have to agree. Ultra-cheap CG rendering has made the point moot, and the assertion laughable. It's been that way since Hercules and Xena.
I mean, for fuck's sake, we've already seen plenty of the mechanicals. If they wanted more of them, for the sake of the story, you think *THAT* will bust the budget?
BSG is horrific. I've not seen a nuclear holocaust so heart-rending, and they managed that with what, 2 minutes of airtime, total? The space scenes are awesome too, if repetetive. This show does not lack for special affects. And certainly not because they can't afford it.
I would call the Venture Brothers the best adult Cartoon of 2005. The new season of Family Guy would be the second.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Adama looks like he's about to have a psychotic break 24 hours a day. Which is what I would expect someone to do, if they were trying to keep alive what little is left of humanity after a nuclear holocaust. He feels tired, and you can see it. Doesn't know what to do, and is afraid that those he leads will see it and despair. His one confidant, the president is totally whacko, to the point he couldn't even stomach it anymore... but then he's lost it to, and she's forgiven.
Less than 50,000 people left, mostly because they had to abandon the ships that had no FTL. Every week something more horrible than the last happens, to the point that they can't even trust the hardware that keeps them alive in the void of space. And there is no understanding their enemy, period.
vs.
Bad scifi settings with an overcamped enemy and everyone trying to spout the next oneliner.
I only hope that the writers are planning BSG far ahead, I don't like making it up as they go along. Pick the number of seasons you want out of it, and figure out a way to end it with a bang. (The humans manage to escape, only a few hundred left on a wilderness planet, worried that the cylons might not all be dead?)
They are re-running season 1 on Space now. My wife and I watch it. She likes it more than any other "weird faces show" (her term for the TV SciFi shows), I think it's OK.
> It's the essence of the show. The Cylons are biological. They think and breath and live.
Which brings me to one of the show's most glaring flaws.
I'm a big fan of internal consistency. It helps me suspend my disbelief and immerse myself in the show for the 45 minutes that it is on. Screw that up, especially for something crucial, and I get this nagging feeling that something is not right.
So, on one hand we are shown Cylons that are
(1) much stronger and have significantly better endurance than humans,
(2) their spines glow red when having sex, and
(3) they are adversely affected by radiation that does not bother humans.
while on the other hand, we are told that they are practically indistinguishable from humans and the only test was created by a "genius" and can only be operated by him.
Come on, they made a full post mortem on Leoben and didn't find fluorescent cells in his spinal column? No difference in the muscle tissue that would explain the ability of this model to break metal handcuffs?
The other thing that I don't care for is that this show takes itself so damn seriously.
It shouts: "Hey, pay attention! This is a very serious show talking about very serious issues! And here they are...". It's not as bad as ST:Voyager (and if the couple of episodes that I watched are representative of the series, nothing can be as bad as ST:Voyager) but it still gets old after a short while.
Contrast it with Farscape that seems to say: "Chill, dude. This is just a silly show for your entertainment, but when you done watching this episode, maybe you'll want to reflect a bit about how the characters behaved and, perhaps, find something to think about. Or maybe not, we don't really care".
And the funny thing is, I did find myself thinking about the moral issues presented in Farscape more than those presented in BSG'05.
I also did not mind as much when they violated the laws of physics right and left in Farscape. Maybe because the "holes" did not detract from the overall plot (my favourite was Rigel telling off Sikozu in I shrink therefore I am).
So, in my opinion, BSG'05 is OK, better than most SciFi shows that I'm exposed to, but not the best of them.
sad but true.
I wouldnt consider this a comment on the greatness of BSG, but rather an illustration of how weak television programming has become. I dont see how they could lower the bar any further.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...that some of the most vicious criticism of BG comes from guys who can't stand the thought that the best pilot in the fleet is a woman. The same guys whose maturity arrested somewhere around the age of 14, the sort who mutter "I could kick that bitch's ass in TIE Fighter any day of the week!" It's hard to a mysogynistic geek dipshit, ruler of Half-Life or Quake deathmatches, when the most kick-ass warrior of the best SF show around - the person who's supposed to be your role model - is a blonde chick who doesn't wear spandex or go down on her knees whenever something vaguely male passes her in the hall. Especially when said blonde chick has a penchant for pounding guys who piss her off....
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
...Sorely misses one Ronald D. Moore.
Moore--who was much of the creative genius behind some of the best Star Trek episodes in The Next Generation and Deep Space 9 series--SHOULD have been at the creative helm of Enterprise, which could have made that show a great experience. As such, Moore ended up taking an somewhat-remembered science fiction show from 1978 and turned it into one of the best shows on TV, period.
So, I've only watched the first season so far. Or most of it anyway. For those of you who've seen all the episodes:
Have the humans figured out that if you want to find out if someone is a cylon they can exploit the cylon's major design flaw? You just fuck them doggie style and see if their back starts to glow? Or do they fuck "ride 'em cowboy style" in every episode? Is that how much life in the future will suck? No more doggie style? Then the future humans deserve to be killed off by the cylons.
Anyway, the cylons don't seem like a real formidable enemy, if they designed themselves to be undetectable in every way except, oops, the massive glowing red virgin alarms embedded in their spines.
n/t
As resurrections of old SF shows go, it's been bloody good fun. I haven't seen any Galactica yet, but the Ninth's time in the TARDIS has got to take some beating.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
As much as I love the show (esp SVU), I keep seeing the scripts when I read The New York Post every day on the train ride home...
46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
I refuse to take seriously any list of 2005's Best Television that doesn't include Deadwood. Don't tell me "but it was on the 2004 list", either -- the second season was broadcast in 2005, and after Veronica Mars it was the best thing on all year.
I can't believe no one has mentioned #8 on the list. How I Met Your Mother.
As the writer says, it does take the concept of friends. But it does it in a way that is unique and more friend-like than even friends was. (Say that ten times fast. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney is legendary! The whole group just acts wonderfully with each other.
USA does this for Monk and uses the downtime to air a pilot series that they probably won't keep. Like 'Touch of evil.' It helps to keep peoples minds on the series and there isn't as much time to lose viewers during a long 'off' season.
22 episodes? When did they air? I saw the pilot and was never able to find any further episodes! It just seemed to vanish.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
If they aired BSG on network TV, they would have been hit with so many fines. Too much sexual content, which is a primary plot device for her being able to subvert humans to do their bidding. Baltar getting caught masturbating, etc. There are countless episodes where a fine would have been slapped on them, and the producer knows it.
They already made a remake of the $6 million man. It was called Jake 2.0 and lasted only a few episodes.
Religion is actually a VERY important aspect of the story. The Cylons are wiping out humans based on their religious beliefs - that Man is wicked and is being brought to task for their sins (very fire-and-brimstone). This also touches on their desire to procreate. They're not simply wanting to reproduce or become a race. They believe that love, and perhapse the ability to procreate, is key to being one with God. This is why they allow humans to exist at all - to try and understand these fundimental aspects of humanity.
I love Firefly, too, and the first thing I noticed about BSG was they used the same way of showing the ships in space, with a wildly swinging camera, jumping around, then zooming in or out a little. I wish they wouldn't do that on the people shots though, it gives me a headache.
BTW, "you are" is abbreviated "you're" and if you refer to people complaining, you either mean "whining" or "whingeing". I myself am not familiar with the second term, to whinge, and am not sure if the present tense is whinging or whingeing. Your arguments don't hold water as well when you sound ignorant.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
Don't forget the completely unrealistic hippy mentality that seems to pervade stargate. It's a story about a military base for christ's sake. Stop using them as liberal mouth peaces. No military officer I know of talks like Jack or would put up with a crybaby like Daniel. Almost every episode seems to revolve around the team finding an incredibly advanced weapon that would be perfect to save them from the Gould. But of course they don't take it, because the race that they meet convinces them that they aren't morally advanced enough to use it.
Don't forget the part where they don't leave any team member behind and won't make deals that could advantageously affect their planet, because it would be wrong to deal with the bad guys or acknowledge that sometimes the end has to be given more weight than the means.
There are other reasons the show is cheesy. I can't list all of them, but here's a few.
The WORLD is going on outside, and if you don't make a few informed choices, it is going to roll over top of you.
Stop watching TV.
On Bush's say so, you can be hauled away as a 'terrorist' without anybody being informed. Today, you can now be, legally, 'Disappeared', and Battlestar Galactica isn't going to help you.
So get off your bums, inform yourselves, place yourselves appropriately and get your acts together. Watching TeeVee is only going to keep you in stasis while the reaper approaches. There is a lot of work which needs to be done. For instance. . .
What are you going to eat when the food runs out at your local grocery store? The average store has a 3-day supply of food for the community it serves. If there are no trucks running due to fuel shortages or a military lock-down due to a 'terrorist' attack, then there is no resupply. FEMA is then in charge of controlling the food distribution system, and we all saw how well that worked after Katrina hit. How much food and fresh water do you have in stock? The people in New Orleans had none, and so they left their neighborhoods for the promise of shelter and government rations.
What answer are you going to have ready when the mercenary troops arrive at your door to re-locate you to the local sports-dome? Or to inoculate you with something against your will? Or seize your property for the state?
What are you going to do when the really cold weather rolls in and your home, which was designed to leak heat everywhere in order to keep the payments to the oil-industry going, can't keep you warm because there's no longer a surplus of electricity and oil? Extensive insulation is the least expensive way to stay warm. Warm clothing is also a good idea. . .
Do you have a car? Do you have a full tank of gas? Do you have friends who are prepared? Do you have somewhere to hide/retreat to? Do you have a supply of real cash on hand for when the card readers stop working?
Have you read how things were in occupied France during WWII? Have you read up on how things were during the Napoleonic wars in siege situations? --It's a good idea to acquaint yourself with how people managed during such times, because when the power stops flowing, all your technology won't put you in a much better place than all the millions of people affected by strife throughout history. --Except that now the troops keeping 'order' will have better hardware, and you probably won't even have decent footwear. I am not fear-mongering here. I'm just fed up with frivolity surrounding TeeVee when there is so much currently at stake. This is just good sense! Get good boots and extra blankets now. Get some good tools now. Get some food put away, and do it now. History is GOING to repeat itself, and it is going to do so quite soon.
There is no longer an out. All the windows of opportunity were passed several years ago and now all the pieces are in place. Some people are already getting whacked by it, and it's not going to bypass you just because you happen to be a good little TeeVee viewing consumer with the latest DVD drive and a skimpy faith that it's all going to be okay.
There is a little time left. Make good use of it and you can make the coming years a lot less miserable. Stop screwing around.
Watching TeeVee is screwing around.
-FL
The problem with EVERY big company is not that they're averse to risk per se, the people who run it just don't know any other way to be. I use the "Hot Chick at a Party" analogy:
Big corporations are like a hot chick at a party. The woman sits in a publicly exposed area, holding court, surrounded by lots of dorky guys who are just sort of standing there gawking. She's usually already made up her mind about the guy she likes, and she's got him right there fetching her drinks and whatnot, but nonetheless there are all these dorks standing at the periphery, who know they have no chance, but can't tear themselves away. Likewise, big companies have all this money, millions of customers/viewers whatever, and all these dorks in suits say "hey, I need a job that pays a ton of bucks" and they glom onto a big company, weasel their way into middle management, or even into the yes-men circle at the top. These dorks have no chance to genuinely succeed on their own (their own brilliance, ideas, bravery, loyalty etc) they only ride the company's coattails. And since they have NOTHING to contribute, they fall back on what they can remember from college: reduce costs, don't take any big risks, don't stick your neck out. Stick to the formula. (This is, of course, based on these people actually doing the work in college instead of letting their frat get them the answers to the tests.)
So these companies are all blocked up, constipated with mediocre, greedy schlubs who can only copy someone else's ideas. Same for most every big company; when they're just a couple guys in a garage, they kick ass, but when they get big, the mediocre slimeballs come in and start leeching.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
Does anyone else get nauseous watching shows that are too cheap to use the Steady Cam©?
This new phenomenon is making it hard for me to watch TV. Remember the "blipverts" from Max Headroom? Rapid commercials that cause the viewers heads to explode!
The prediction is starting to come true with seizure causing flashing images and nauseous camera work. It's getting harder and harder to find shows and commercials I can watch on TV.
So I can't watch Battlestar at all and I don't like it nor can I fairly evaluate it. Anyone else having this trouble?
Great idea, poor results. That was why the RULES of camera work I was taught were developed! No rapid movements, etc. except where it does work. Not all the time like trainees and low budget interns at a certain TV station I know!
I'll think of a really good SIG just before I die.