Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Battlestargalactica@retrospective
Just finished Battlestar Galactica. Overall impressions, likes, dislikes and spoilers follow:
¶ 5:36 PM 
The twist at the end was great. Cylon and human in endless cycle of creation, evolution and destruction was a creative touch. Universe as endless cycle is the best philosophical explanation for the meaning of the existence. And, I will admit to not seeing that twist coming.
It was very easy to hate Gaius Baltar for 60-some episodes, but the final two minutes of exposition was a clean, simple explanations for a previously inexplicable plot crutch. Hat tip to the writers and to everyone who ever followed a self-destructive romantic urge.
There are some things about this series that absolutely worked
- Edward James Olmos makes this show happen. I think he holds together the campiest elements with an acting style that gets THIS close to camp without stepping over the line, and he deserves kudos for that.
- Picking "All Along the Watchtower" as the key humanities survival was awesome. Picking the Jimi Hendrix version was the coup d'grace. Some covers actually are better than the originals.
- Starbuck was my favorite female character in a TV series since Deanna Troi.
- The cinematography and stage sets were top notch.
Complaints? Don't mind if I do.
- Why did the series feel the need to inject some highly unbelievable elements? A sage critic put it thusly: "Sometimes science fiction authors think that writing about make-believe give them license to make you believe anything. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean you can make up anything willy-nilly. The best stories are those with reasonable plots and plausible dialogue." It's ridiculously, absurdly unbelievable that they would launch the ships into the sun after they discovered the "real" earth. Survive a trip across the galaxy and a species-threatening war, only to throw your most useful resources into a hydrogen-powered dustbin? C'mon.
- Generic, knock-off key characters like this guy can take a flying leap. How can I get invested in someone that vanilla and replaceable? Particularly since he's supposed to a MEXICAN lead character's son. C'mon, was Lou Diamond Phillips not available?
- The vignette-ettes featuring the producers at the end of the credits were always entertaining and creative. So imagine my chagrin when they used a repeat for the credits forthe final episode. For shame.
