On Thu, Aug 27, 2020 at 12:31:51PM -0400, xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:
>
> ============================================================
>
> I think the opening episodes (the attack on the fleets of the
> colonies and the colonies, the desperate escape, the episode '33')
> and the movie/offshoot Razor were some gripping storytelling.
>

## BSG: reboot

Good to excellent through about the 5th episode of Season
three. Highlights:

* Dramatic opening

* Taut first season writing driven by the multiple deceptions:
  - The people in charge really don't believe that Earth exists
  - The people in charge know that cylons look like humans but we
    can't tell anyone for fear of panic in the fleet

* Continued good writing and story telling into the second season
  which features the introduction of Pegasus and Michele Forbes' Admiral
  Cain, Graham Beckel's Commander Jack Fisk, and Jon Heard's
  Commander Barry Garner.

* All problems acquired with the Pegasus get cleaned up just in time
  to make the worst group decision that they could possibly make.

* This sets up an arc of 3 ~ 6 great episodes. These episodes tell a
  very gripping and contemporary story telling. I want say so much
  here but I'll just say this: "Compare the way that BSG handled the
  events of 9/11 and the war on terror with the way it was done in ST:
  Enterprise."

But after this, the wheels fall off and the the reboot staggers to an
unsatisfying, forced, and clumsy ending. Even with the ending, I
insist that it fairs much better than the original series.

## BSG: The Original Series

The opening is strong and in particular, the special effects and
production values are really high. This is doubly true given what was
state-of-the-art circa 1980 when it was made. But like most television
of the time, the original turned to stand alone/episodic story telling
and it did so in a way that leaves me thinking that there wasn't even
a "series Bible" to guide the writers. Lacking a good arc to
guide it, and a series Bible to give it a consistant tone, the
original became a disconnected set of space opera stories. Some of
those stories were good but most were just flimsy layups built on a
poor plot device like the western episode where the bad guy was a
Centurian who'd forgotten he was a Cylon.

--
--
Chris

     __o          "All I was trying to do was get home from work."
   _`\<,_           -Rosa Parks
___(*)/_(*)_____________________________________________________________
Christopher Sean Hilton                    [chris/at/vindaloo/dot/com]