Comments on Jimzip's blog: BSG: All Of This Has Happened Before, But It Won't...

No probably not. You and Meghan are probably much ...

2009-09-05T03:30:30.904+10:00

No probably not. You and Meghan are probably much better critics than I. It was probably a case of me being happy that they actually played it out as I'd imagined more than me actually enjoying the mechanics of it.

The more I sit and think about it, the more I feel it was rushed and somewhat sloppy. I just hope I don't soon look at my own post and say "what was I thinking?" ... haha.

Jimzip :D

Hahaha, when I saw the heading I thought it was go...

2009-09-04T11:58:22.750+10:00

Hahaha, when I saw the heading I thought it was going to be a reference to the movie remake they're now planning.

Have to agree with Meghan a bit - just not to the same degree (I wouldn't say I hated the ending, but I certainly didn't love it either). I don't know if I'm being too harsh or not.

If it was a story I'd written - I would rule out the starbuck thing on the grounds of it being a massive cop out. That said, I could never write anything nearly as awesome as battlestar - so I'm left to wonder if perhaps the kara twist was simply more genius that's just gone above my head.

Yeah. I get where you're coming from now. :) ...

2009-08-30T06:46:15.607+10:00

Yeah. I get where you're coming from now. :)

Sitting in the cafe and just spoke to John - he echoes a lot of what you're saying. (We both agree that the final montage could have been left out too haha).

Jimzip :D

... which, admittedly, is a tendency of our art fo...

2009-08-29T07:51:38.035+10:00

... which, admittedly, is a tendency of our art forms (movies, literature, tv, religion, etc) especially endings,, because it feels better to wrap everything up and make a neat ending to a neat story. We like endings and explanations, and our stories are given them. (Often with "because of God" as the explanation.) It's just that I take less comfort out of that than I do admitting that's all bullshit and our brains' conception of morality and happy endings doesn't match up with the reality of humanity and/or the universe. And I admire it when a good show/book/whatever manages to avoid the pseudo-feel-good ending and face all the depressing (to our brains) stuff and show how there's still joy and hope along with all that. Like, for example, the Six Feet Under finale. Unlike the BSG finale.

I guess I most strongly objected to the idea that ...

2009-08-29T07:45:23.568+10:00

I guess I most strongly objected to the idea that there's only a black and white view of the "evils" of humanity, assigning moral character to the general pathway of a species which is ultimately guided by the same things all other species are (sex & resource acquisition), a matter in which individuals have very little choice... but I've always tended to focus more on ultimate rather than proximal causes... Also the sloppy plot resolutions, like all of the answers were "God and the angels did it" which felt like a huge cop-out. Mostly it just felt like a big deus ex machina slash simplistic moral fable, which disappointed me because the majority of the series addressed issues of human nature (individual & species) with a lot more depth and complexity than that.

Haha. Wow, well I thought the post might have some...

2009-08-29T05:32:31.263+10:00

Haha. Wow, well I thought the post might have some disagreements.

Though I think he has a couple of good points (Tigh's 'WHOO!'-ing annoyed me) I must say there were things there that don't deserve to be in a recap. You can make anything sound dumb with sarcasm, I could make Sherlock Holmes sound dumb with sarcasm, but I think he's mostly angry that the series didn't end like he'd have liked, and on that point I can agree somewhat. The dialogue promoting character (even plot) development *was* weaker than it should have been, and there was a distinct lack of involvement from those we expected to be showing their colours. The president was one of them, yes. But in a way, what could she have done? She had 48 hours to live, and most of them were spent drugged up and barely mobile. I dunno. I was fine with her exit, it wasn't forced empathy, it was a fitting exit. She's not a gunfighter, she's not a revolutionary, she was a teacher, and she, like many of the other characters in the show, never once got to sit down and take a look around amidst the chaos, even just to appreciate what she had through it all. That's why I feel her death was almost poetic - clichéd maybe - but fitting. I dunno, that's going to be a point of contention for sure.

When he says "Caprica Before the Fall was fucking classy", I think most of what Jacob is picking apart is precisely the point. The aim was to show the decadence, the dirt, the unfortunate mess that humanity had become. This all brings back the line 'maybe we don't deserve to survive' to ring home a little louder. It wasn't subtle, and it wasn't trying to be. Caprica before the fall was the very image of everything civilization should attempt to avoid. Humanity's choice to begin again in at the end was the right choice in that light, the remnants of society had seen absolute horror and destruction as a result of our race's ignorance. It's a hippie viewpoint, but those themes underlined the whole show so it couldn't have come as a big surprise.

I'm not silly enough to think that my viewpoint is the only viewpoint, but that's my HO. :) I have to say that afterward, I mentioned to my mate that I felt the buildup and execution of the Galactica/Pegasus battle had a *much* bigger impact on me. I didn't care for the gunfights at all in the finale (the Battlestar ramming the colony was interesting but not as entertaining).

Anyway, I could go on, but I'm sure you've heard the other viewpoints a hundred times already.

Hey it was good seeing you guys at the cafe the other day, we should party again soon!

Jimzip :D

I love BSG. One of my all-time favorite shows. I a...

2009-08-29T04:41:51.969+10:00

I love BSG. One of my all-time favorite shows. I agree with you about how well-written and brilliantly acted it is, etc. But I am going to have to respectfully disagree about the finale (specifically Part II of Daybreak)--it infuriated me to no end. I hated it so, so much.

Why... well, Jacob on TWOP explains it way better than I can, he and I basically agree on everything televisonary. His recap is here:

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/battlestar_galactica/daybreak_part_ii_a.php

and if you click the link for "In a hurry? Read the recaplet.." that basically covers everything I hated.

And like Jacob, I'm in no way saying I am not a BSG fan. It's just so deeply unfortunate that they made such an amazing, brilliant series and then ended it with ... that.

IMHO.

(ETA: Tried to add html tags, it wouldn't let me anyway, i wish blogger let you edit comments.)