TVSquad

I agree, every episode after they got off the planet seems to get worse and worse. Last night's was completely pointless except to kill off another side charater. All of the sudden the food goes bad so they are going to eat algae? Lame. But the baby will come back, that's obvious. The threesome does bother me. Let's torture him and then have sex with him! Then next use him some more!

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Listening to Ron & crews podcast last week (not the episode podcast, just the 3 hr. BS session) it was clear in Ron's voice that he is not totally happy with the "one off" episodes -- and knows that BSG really shines when they focus on the core story through multiple episode arcs that stay on focus....(I think the 4 episode arc of being on the planet and the eventual rescue was evidence of that) -- the problem IMO with these single episode's are that the viewer misses out on everything that has transpired in the BSG universe right up until the point we are given our 40 minute view into the life. Sometimes it could be a week, a month or even 3 or 4 months time that has passed in the BSG universe between episodes....It always feels like we get dropped in the middle of events that had been happening "in our absence".

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I read this blog post before (via digg), and most of the reasons it gives are pretty stupid. ie:

> 9. Crucial subplots, such as the fate of Sharon and Helo's hybrid baby, are left dangling for more than three episodes.

I'm sorry, but your attention span doesn't last more than three episodes? Are you on meds for your ADD? I would have liked a better fleshing out of Kat's background in yesterday's episode, but I thought that the boxing episode was a good story telling episode and tells a little more of what happened on New Caprica during the one year leap forward. By the way it seemed like at the end of last season, there were a ton of people that were really pissed that the show jumped forward a year without describing what exactly happened.

> 8. Rather than developing characters via personal transformation, character development is charted via hair length, presence/absence of beards, and weight gain/loss.

Are you watching the same show I'm watching? Also have you heard of a concept called symbolism? Look it up. It's used a lot in literature.

> 6. Cylon threesomes.

I don't mind them, and considering BSG's audience (mostly male) I guessing there aren't a lot of people complaining.

> 4. Entire episodes are clumsily devoted to single-word social issues like "torture" and "genocide."

I think that it's one of the best parts of the show. It looks presents these issues in a different light. Given that it's in a sci-fi background, it presents these issues without real world biases and simple associations between the fictional side and the real world sides.

> 3. Eick promises next season will bring more flashback-heavy episodes that focus on romantic entanglements and/or childhood trauma.

Again, it's story telling. As much as I loved Galactica falling out of the sky and jumping away, I don't know how good of a show it would be if they did that every ep.

For more arguments pro/con on BSG's direction, you can look at:

http://digg.com/television/10_Reasons_Why_Battlestar_Galactica_is_Doomed

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I hate to go around in the comments saying the same thing so this will be the last. The show has become stagnant and stale. I'll likely watch the season finale/premier and thats about it. I've stopped looking forward to Friday's new BSG episodes a long time ago.

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half the ppl that comment on it dont even watch the series. Their the same ppl that fought to have the original series reinstated.

Unlike Lost, you know them BSGers have the talent to think up an endgame. It's Moore and Espensen for god's sake. And there are several plot points that merge into one.

Dude, the cylon/human baby hybrid has to GROW UP first. It's duplicitous to have her grow up immediately. Remember, this is good SCIFI. You may not be familiar with good things to judge.

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Isn't this predictable? A critically acclaimed show comes in for a drubbing for its failings -- real and imagined -- midway through the third season, in part because everyone wants to be the prescient critic and to be the first one to declare the show dead? And the list that Annalee Newitz presents is pretty weak; more of a whine about the reasons she doesn't like a show that she's *supposed* to like, since some of the complaints could apply to the whole series from the beginning, and not just recent developments.

I think that the way people are watching TV these days is, ironically, chipping away at the patience people have for good TV. We've grown used to discovering shows by watching complete past seasons in big chunks on DVD or cable marathons, when we can better see story arcs and character development while the previous episodes are still fresh in our minds. That also means that weak spots are more easily ignored or forgiven as we move along to the good stuff in the next episode. (And every creative work has weak spots. There is no perfect play, movie, novel, album or TV series. If you say that there is, I can find someone who can tell you why it's not.)

The problem arises when we arrive back at the current season, doled out in one hour increments (minus commercial interruptions, which don't help) once per week. We can't move on to the next episode to see how the one we've just watched fits into the puzzle of the whole season or series, and we've forgotten parts of what we watched just a few days ago, so we scrutinize what we're watching while removing it from any real context. With shows like "BSG," "Deadwood," "The Sopranos," or "The Wire," each episode functions like a chapter in a book. While we may not like what happens in a chapter, it's not necessarily fair to declare the whole novel a failure.

P.S. - This isn't to say that criticism of individual episodes for their successes and failures isn't valid. Some people didn't like "The Passage," although I'm not one of them, and I can honestly say that I didn't like "Hero" from a few weeks back (good concept, poor execution). I just think that it takes a serious run of bad episodes -- ones that hold up as being bad, even in retrospect, even knowing how they all fit together -- before declaring a whole series "bad".

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There is a post at EOnline under Kristin's column where the BSG head dude says we will not know the reason why the baby is so important until the very end of the series. They know what's up, but aren't sharing until that time. They are intentionally keeping it under wraps, apparently.

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Well the way things are going the end of the series will be a lot sooner than they think, aka this season maybe.

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I got the season 3 whining with Alias, Lost, Veronica Mars and House, but I really think that this is the best season of Battlestar yet.

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GC, your post is amazing. Just had to say it. I've learn to stop listening to the people who declare shows as jumping the shark. BSG may not be perfect, but man it's compelling TV through and through.

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This guy needs to be wholly ignored, if he actually didn't like the boxing episode. That was the best episode of the season by far, and perhaps the entire series. The main reason why a whole lot of non scifi geeks watch this show is because it goes beyond technobabble and aliens, and focuses on characters and relationships. I know that is one of the main reasons I watch it (even though I am a Star Trek/Star Wars geek). That was what the boxing episode gave us, and it was practically perfect in every way. "The Passage" was definitely disappointing compared to last week's masterpiece. It was hard to have a Kat-centric episode, when she had been such a minor character in the past. And the standalone nature of the episode, with no mentions of repurcussions from the boxing episode, was disappointing. I thought "Hero" could have been handled better, but it was still a pretty good episode.

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I both agree and disagree. The show is suffering this season, and I think much of it has to do with a lackadaisical approach to story and character development. After the bravura opening episodes the show has indeed gotten a little stagnant. Characters are going nowhere. Not only is Olmos getting short shrift, but Lucy Lawless (an under-rated actress), Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, and Katee Sackhoff are being totally wasted this season. The Cylons especially are lacking creatively. They are no longer these terrorist-like creatures; they're touchy-feely, bed-hopping, whiny botches and I'm tired of it! However, I will say that this week's episode, written by Buffy alum Jane Espenson, was one of the better episodes since the beginning of the season. I loved the Kat-centric storyline, although I hated the ending.

I disagree with the jab at the episodes devoted to "social issues" like torture and genocide. The best science fiction uses the sci-fi setting to speak about current events and BG is doing just that. Not every episode can be space battles. I will agree with the blogger that the boxing episode was beyond stupid and a waste of our time. Poor, poor Lee and Kara -- what cowards they are to hurt others instead of embracing their true feelings for each other. Totally turned me off to the characters.

That being said, BG remains one of the finest drams currently on television. I just wish more people would check it out. If they did, I think they would really like it.

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Bottom line: we complain because we love the show...and, along with that sentiment, Battlestar at its worst is better than almost anything else on television.

I may bitch and moan about one thing or another, but they have me as a viewer. I mean really, I put up with the X-Files for three frickin' years after it started to suck, I can forgive a slow run in the middle of season three of BSG.

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I've got to say these last two episodes have been my favorite of the season so far. I'm definitely more drawn to the episodes that focus on the relationships on the ship than the more sci-fi-ish ones, and I have to say that some of the earlier episodes of the season definitely weren't to my liking. I think the entire style that the Cyclon scenes are filmed in throws me off (they're so grungy looking), and I feel like the entire time they focus on these scenes I'm suppose to be fitting together one big mystery, except they're not giving me enough to stay interested, everything's so random.
I definitely agree with the comment against the way the single episodes seem to have us "drop in" without a continual timeline... for example, it just felt strange that the entire episode last time was devoted to mending lee and kara's relationship, but then this week we weren't even given any indication of where that left them, or how they're interacting now. I have faith in Battlestar, I just think maybe they need to simplify the plot again, or narrow their focus as far as number of characters go.
Like I said though, I love Battlestar, and will definitely continue watching.

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I totally disagree w/ anyone that says this show is getting bad. The first five eps. of this season have been some of the best in BSG history imo. I thought Hero was the weakest ep. this season(so much so, that i didn't even post a comment for that ep.). The boxing-centric ep. might have been grating to some, but the backstory it provided for Kara and Lee was excellent. And I thought last nights episode was very good.

WIRED: "8. Rather than developing characters via personal transformation, character development is charted via hair length, presence/absence of beards, and weight gain/loss."

This has to be DUMBEST thing I've heard in a long time! Does this idiot over at WIRED even WATCH the show??!!

And those that say that Mary McDonnell and Tricia(I love her) Helfer are being wasted this season, they'll get their time to shine later this seasson I'm sure. Hell, Eward james Olmos spent the first half of season 2 laying in a bed unconscious. He didn't have much screen-time at all in the first half of last season(which annoyed me). I just think it is how the producers approach their material. And what story/character arcs they choose to develop in the course of a TWENTY EPISODE SEASON is up to them.

Ernie & GC: I agree w/ pretty much everything you said.

BSG is still the best hour of tv in my book. And I'm also a big LOST fan. That being said...I think BSG has been the SUPERIOR series in its third season. I hate to bring up another series in a BSG blog, but BSG came thundering out of the gate in season 3, while LOST has been flat in its third.
I'll end w/ this...BSG RULES!!!!

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listen, the show is great. you all analyze it too much. why can't you all just watch it and enjoy it while it lasts. It's like complaining about your hot sports car sucking up too much gas when you should be enjoying how it rides. geesh...

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3 sub-par shows in a row now...like last year when we were graced by, um, masterpieces like "Black Market" and "Scar". I just think 20 episodes is too much for them. They're great at ramping up to a season finale, they're great at picking up the pieces at the start of the next season, and in between? Borderline dreck. I'm hoping by show 14 or so it'll pick up again as they head toward the end of the season. Until then? A few good moments in each, but overall, more episodes that feel 2 hours long instead of one.

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Yeah, time for me to chime in.

Its funny that we didn't read this same article written last season around the Black Market time... But some of what this guy said was plain stupid (as covered here so eloquently already). I have to comment on a couple:

10) Show runners often work on multiple projects, and most of the time, not to the detrement of the original (Weadon and Buffy/Angel/Firefly comes to mind as an example)

9) Subplots being left? Trust me, they're coming back. I don't mind them taking a back seat, as there are so very many stories to be told here (Hence my defense of Black Market (ducks again))

8) Thank you for whoever shouted SYMBOLISM at the top of their virutal lungs earlier

7) EJO stood out in Hero, methinks, without speechafying.

6) I have no REAL arguement here, but, FWIW, I don't remember any of the graphic scenes lately being with the three of them, at least not in bed (Though, my memory is sketchy here)

5) I agree and disagree with this. I think we're seeing too much of the Cylon's 'world.' However, I think our loss is their demystification. Campiness does not come to mind.

4) What was the title of the second episode of the series? What was it about?

3) And the problem is? I mean, I liked Unfinished Business. He obviously did not.

2) See, I thought at the end of the episode, it was left open on whether or not he actually caused the whole shebang. He can carry the guilt, but I don't think it went down that way (However, I think that we should have seen more hints to that guilt over time than what we were given... We were given some, but not enough).

1) Thin excuse? I thought it was a great juxtoposition of several issues. Boxing to solve tensions aboard ship/in unit has been a tradition going back years in the military. It was after the Admiral (purposely) got his ass kicked that he was able to make a point (given, in a speech), plus was finally got what the conflict was between Starbuck and Apollo.

So, yeah I guess that was all of them. I'm going to post the same at the Wired site, just because this post pissed me off so much. A few other things:

DustyT: I'm with you, I liked being dropped in the middle of the action.

GC: Hear, hear!!! Well put. Welcome to the BSG posting community here at TVSquad. I've not seen you around much before, but you've made some great comments recently.

dfew: You do realize, that this past week was the first episode that Espenson has been involved with, right?

mwg: I see your point, but we're here specifically to over-analyze ;)

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Short answer - no.

Longer answer - does it really matter what an oik on a forum thinks?
At the end of the day it's a long story & not ever episode is going to please everyone. I wasn't massively into the boxing part of the last episode, but the NC bits were brilliantly done.
If Battlestar Galactica fails, it's not because of a lack of good story, it's because of impatient people giving up on it.
There IS an end point to the story (unlike Lost) and it will happen later rather than sooner I would hope because once it's finished it's finished & I'm sure any real fans of the show want it to go on for a long time.
If shows like CSI can continue with stand alone episodes, why shouldn't BSG take time out to explore side stories at times.

Bit of a waffle there

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Shows like this just don't come around every day. Considering the dearth of quality television shows out there, I believe we have been given a gift with this quality-actor(tress) packed program. If you can imagine BSG suddenly taken off the air, (which God knows it probably might happen anyway), then how would you feel? We'd all be lamenting and bitching about how we were deprived out of one of the best shows in history. I never comdemn critique. I think that what we as commenters do is a high compliment to any show, that is, taking the time to praise or brickbat the episodes. It is the mark of a fine show that brings out fans like us to get involved. It is this talk of the show getting bad or cutting back the episodes that concerns me. I bet that if every one of us would remember our least favorite episode it would be a certainty that no-one was displeased enough not to see it through with the anticipation that it is BSG. I will echo what has already been said in that you can't have stellar eps every week. Let's show the networks we are behind this show and not strike at its soul, but display our support, warts and silk alike!

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