Comment Re:"The basic-cable budget sometimes shows..." (Score 1) 520
To begin with the producers and writers went to a great deal of trouble in the miniseries to set up the idea that the battlestar is antiquated, and in the finale of Season 2A we get to see what a modern Battlestar looks like. I think that perhaps they might have had a little more exposition about the consequences to a society that has become dependent on technology that then rebels - there would almost certainly have been some kind of neo luddite reaction after the first Cylon war in the colonies and and the Colonies would have had to go backwards technologically speaking after the dpearture of the Cylons who one assumes did much of the work before the war. As for Props lokking just like modern Earth, including Starbucks jeep, I actually find the tendency to re-invent everything in many Sci Fi shows dreadfully distratcting. I have a certain residual affection for ST TNG, but the future technology often gets used as a deus ex machina and many of the off ship sets looked like they had been made from the Lost In Space remainder bin.
Add in many of the stock sci-fi conceits such as telepathy, mono-form planets, Aliens who are all Humaniod except for odd bumbs, earshapes, mottled skin or even antenae (and all manage to speak standard english without accent and seemingly without translation devices most of the time) and much of Sci Fi really is a guilty pleasure. BSG has almost none of these often cringeworthy elements.
The other big difference is that in most SCI-Fi Malevolent aliens are far too often completely devoid of any motivation and are one dimensional, think Daleks or Borg. When they are humanised they lose their scare value. The Cylons in the New BSG manage to be both humanly complex and frightening.
And people who think that Stargate (either version) or for that matter Firefly can compare favourably with the new BSG need to grow up. As for TOS fans who are disapointed that the new show is not more faithful to the old one I think James Lileks comment summed it up "very sad".
Complaints about the sexual content strike me as especially misplaced - maybe such people should stick to watching re-runs of leave it to beaver. Likewise the complaints about the handy cam cinema verite style - I will admit such a style can get overused (eg on the Sheild, though that is a show I love), but I don't think it is overused on BSG, There are plenty scenes where long takes and Pans are used instead , but when the director wants to communicate action the handy cam is very effective, and it also gets used to effectively communicate where the characters are physically in realtion to each other - and I find that very effective.
Add in many of the stock sci-fi conceits such as telepathy, mono-form planets, Aliens who are all Humaniod except for odd bumbs, earshapes, mottled skin or even antenae (and all manage to speak standard english without accent and seemingly without translation devices most of the time) and much of Sci Fi really is a guilty pleasure. BSG has almost none of these often cringeworthy elements.
The other big difference is that in most SCI-Fi Malevolent aliens are far too often completely devoid of any motivation and are one dimensional, think Daleks or Borg. When they are humanised they lose their scare value. The Cylons in the New BSG manage to be both humanly complex and frightening.
And people who think that Stargate (either version) or for that matter Firefly can compare favourably with the new BSG need to grow up. As for TOS fans who are disapointed that the new show is not more faithful to the old one I think James Lileks comment summed it up "very sad".
Complaints about the sexual content strike me as especially misplaced - maybe such people should stick to watching re-runs of leave it to beaver. Likewise the complaints about the handy cam cinema verite style - I will admit such a style can get overused (eg on the Sheild, though that is a show I love), but I don't think it is overused on BSG, There are plenty scenes where long takes and Pans are used instead , but when the director wants to communicate action the handy cam is very effective, and it also gets used to effectively communicate where the characters are physically in realtion to each other - and I find that very effective.
