Yes, very late to the party, but I finally got around to watching the 're-imagined' Battlestar Galactica. Season 1 was pretty good - not perfect, but good, strong sci-fi for the most part.
Then I started on Season 2, and oh boy, this is bad. So my question is, is Season 2 known to be bad? Does it get better? Or is this pretty much what I'm in for from here on in, so I might as well give up on it now?
For perspective, I'm 5 or 6 episodes into S2 - the President has just led a third of the fleet to Kobal and that's that. Here's my problems with the show:
'Character Armor' is starting to become really noticeable. The show's willingness to kill minor characters just highlights the immortality of the main cast. On a related note, the Cylons are the worst shots I've seen since imperial stormtroopers. In summary: stop gunning down extras with automatic weapons whilst the main cast member standing next to them is unscathed.
Conflict and Character Flaws are overdone. Yeah, this isn't Star Trek where everyone is nice, but most of the cast of this show are so riddled with human weakness I find myself rather hoping the Cylons will show up and kill them all, just to stop them whining and being useless.
But that won't happen, because The Cylons are only a threat when it's convenient, which is why we have the absurd situation of the breakaway fleet discussing defending themselves against a possible attack by the Galactica, whilst completely ignoring the far more likely risk of being slaughtered by the robot killing machines that are trying to exterminate the human race.
Or are they? For as the show desperately reminds us every week, they have a plan. I'm glad you keep telling me this, BSG, because you're not showing me. Every time Baltar has one of his little head trips I feel like turning the sounds off, because Six says absolutely fuck all, all the time. Almost nothing that she says is memorable as it's just all the same airy pseudo-mystical bullshit, and almost none of it advances the plot... or should I say "the plan" (dun dun dun!)
And finally, the Gods are on our side, or at least the writers are. Roslin and her prophecies are really starting to annoy me, because she's never wrong, about anything. The show is bending over backwards to stop her making any bad decisions by removing the need for her to make decisions, and ensuring that any questionable decision she does make is justified by what happens. She sends Starbuck on a fool's errand and it succeeds. She leads a third of the fleet away from their only source of protection and the Cylons aren't there to attack. She is asked if they will fire on an unidentified ship but the ship contacts her before she has to actually make a decision...
In summary: when characters say "it's written in the prophecies" all I hear is "it's written in the script."
Then I started on Season 2, and oh boy, this is bad. So my question is, is Season 2 known to be bad? Does it get better? Or is this pretty much what I'm in for from here on in, so I might as well give up on it now?
For perspective, I'm 5 or 6 episodes into S2 - the President has just led a third of the fleet to Kobal and that's that. Here's my problems with the show:
'Character Armor' is starting to become really noticeable. The show's willingness to kill minor characters just highlights the immortality of the main cast. On a related note, the Cylons are the worst shots I've seen since imperial stormtroopers. In summary: stop gunning down extras with automatic weapons whilst the main cast member standing next to them is unscathed.
Conflict and Character Flaws are overdone. Yeah, this isn't Star Trek where everyone is nice, but most of the cast of this show are so riddled with human weakness I find myself rather hoping the Cylons will show up and kill them all, just to stop them whining and being useless.
But that won't happen, because The Cylons are only a threat when it's convenient, which is why we have the absurd situation of the breakaway fleet discussing defending themselves against a possible attack by the Galactica, whilst completely ignoring the far more likely risk of being slaughtered by the robot killing machines that are trying to exterminate the human race.
Or are they? For as the show desperately reminds us every week, they have a plan. I'm glad you keep telling me this, BSG, because you're not showing me. Every time Baltar has one of his little head trips I feel like turning the sounds off, because Six says absolutely fuck all, all the time. Almost nothing that she says is memorable as it's just all the same airy pseudo-mystical bullshit, and almost none of it advances the plot... or should I say "the plan" (dun dun dun!)
And finally, the Gods are on our side, or at least the writers are. Roslin and her prophecies are really starting to annoy me, because she's never wrong, about anything. The show is bending over backwards to stop her making any bad decisions by removing the need for her to make decisions, and ensuring that any questionable decision she does make is justified by what happens. She sends Starbuck on a fool's errand and it succeeds. She leads a third of the fleet away from their only source of protection and the Cylons aren't there to attack. She is asked if they will fire on an unidentified ship but the ship contacts her before she has to actually make a decision...
In summary: when characters say "it's written in the prophecies" all I hear is "it's written in the script."
