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tzikehThere is so much to say. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pipsqueaky and I watched the two-hour premiere together and spent every commercial break screaming incoherently at one another and frightening her cats. Then, when we realized it was going to repeat directly after, we watched it again. I hope I can put together a post that will make sense.
I have never seen a single episode of a show keep so many balls in the air so successfully. The execution of this script alone made it worth tuning in, but good golly, that was the least of the magnificence of Occupation / Precipice.
More than any other show I can think of, you really have to pay attention to the dialog and continuity - especially to keep track of which Sharon is Galactica Sharon and which Sharon is Caprica Sharon; which Six is Caprica Six and which Sixes aren't; and which of each of them had which storyline and who did what to whom and when, and when are we going to find out the hows of the whats. It's insane. And insanely good.
The political allegories are flying fast and furious (I half-expect FOX News to run a special tomorrow night entitled "Why Does Battlestar Galactica Hate America?"), but the wonderful thing about it is that they are not clear-cut. There aren't two, cleanly divided sides; there's a gradient of beliefs and actions. (Okay, I will stipulate to the heavy-handedness of the jack-booted thugs shots. We get it. Moving on.)
I simply cannot believe that every single main character got to do something - something actually worth showing up to work to do, in a two-hour show. Yes, some got more than others, but that's only to be expected.
Brother Cavil (Brothers Cavil?) - Air. Quotes. Dean Stockwell is a God of acting; Ron Moore said so in his podcasts, so it must be true. But seriously, I've always loved Stockwell's style of performance, so if you haven't seen Dean Stockwell in Battlestar Galactica, then you haven't seen Shakespeare the way it's *meant* to be done. ;) Cavil is a magnificent character who I am so very very glad they've kept on with.
Saul Tigh - I don't like you, but I admire you. We want you on that wall. We need you on that wall!! (I need to make an icon: "Cylons: We take the "i" out of "Tigh". Or perhaps a close-up of his face with the caption "Colonel Tgh". Pips and I kept trying to say "Tgh" at one another all night. We were unsuccessful.)
Ellen Tigh - You are Mrs. I-don't-like-you-but-I-admire-you. Though I don't know *what* the Cylons will have taken from you, at the end of the day.
Galen Tyrol - sad and embittered and angry, and torn about your role in all of this, and now you must be frantic about your wife (I can't *begin* to imagine how hard that scene must have been for Aaron Douglas to play). He serves as one of our grey areas, for which I love both him and the writers.
Cally Tyrol - The line she delivers early on about one day Galen simply disappearing and not coming back was given a nice ironic twist later on, no? My guess is that she will survive, though it would be fascinating to have a grief-stricken Chief and a Galactica Sharon whom he once loved....
Caprica Sharon Agathon - I have 99% faith that you are on the side of the Colonials. I hope I'm right. Your discussion with Adama in your cell was one of your best scenes ever, and it was simple and quiet. (Has someone been shopping for Sharon's cell at Room and Board?)
Helo Agathon - not much to do this episode, but your little speech to Sharon was cherce. ;)
Samuel Anders - I would watch "Tyrol and Anders: They Blow Shit Up!" every night. And I do believe that Galactica Sharon and Caprica Six gave Tyrol and Anders the nod to go ahead with the bombing. Who's with me on that one?
Dee Adama - many will call you a bitch. Not me. Who knows what has happened on the Pegasus, and with Lee, and elsewhere in your life in the past two years?
Lee Adama - Dude. Everyone is picking on you, but I symathize with you completely. Depression is a tough road that not everyone can walk with a steady gait; and your changes in mind and body are not entirely uncommon to the ongoing pressure and seemingly endless disasters that have become your existence. Still, if only for narrative purposes, get it together, will you?
I loved that I was able to see both Lee Adama and Bill Adama's sides of the argument for the continued existence of the human race. And that it finally turned to "dad" and "son" in the end.
Bill (Daddy) Adama - I will never again say "I could not love you more", because at the end of each new episode, I love you more. I adore watching you quietly sift through and process information, emotion, probability and strategy, filter out that which will won't do anyone any good, and make a sea change with acceptance but without resignation. (Edward James Olmos, ladies and gentlemen - our second member of the Pantheon of Gods of acting.) You were able to make Solomon's decision without killing the baby. No mean feat.
Speaking of babies...
I sense a great disturbance arriving the BSG Force about Kara, Leoben, and Casey (Kacee? K.C.? Toasterette?). I come down firmly on the side of "wait and see". I don't think jumping to conclusions as to where this storyline is heading is useful to anyone; that kind of prognostication only borrows trouble. Besides, when has BSG ever gone where anyone thought it would go? I still feel safe in the hands of Moore and Eick. (Of course, that is subject to change without notice.) For right now, I make no assumptions. I will say this, though: this show, more than any other I can think of, is about survival and procreation - both for the humans and for the Cylons. Babies are not plot devices on BSG; they are vital narrative developments. (My rant about the "strong female characters are always *ruined* by having babies" Fandom Bandwagon is for another post.) Also -- Kara? Not quite sane right now.
Caprica Six - oh, my darling. I am so afraid that the Cylon Cabal will permanently box you. (It was fun to watch the other Sixes look at the dead Six in curiosity, though - and having one stand up was a lovely moment of perfect comedy timing.) You are trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with something that stands for something else that I can't be bothered to come up with because I am very very tired. Still, I am worried about you. As much as I admire you for finding love and recognizing it for what it is and knowing that it brings you closer to being human, you have very, very bad taste in men....
Gaius, Gaius, Gaius. You should have just let them shoot you. When the humans are rescued, what will happen to you? I'd pity you your position if I didn't despise you and everything you stand for.
Felix Gaeta - You are powerfully angry but nearly entirely impotent, frustrated at your lack of efficacy yet unable to focus what energy and tools you do have at your disposal, and mostly just standing about hoping things will turn out for the best. You remind me of the Democrats.
Tom Zarek - I knew you'd say that. And good to see you, because you have turned out to be a far more complicated man than I thought you were going to be. I hope you surive the firing squad. I adored that you pulled Laura back behind another person, as if this would somehow save her.
And saving the best for last:
Laura Roslin - what can I say, except that I would switch teams for you. Okay, in all seriousness, Mary McDonnell completes the triumverate of the BSG Gods of acting. Her scene in the cell with Baltar? Every flicker of her eyelids and every tilt of her head communicated more to the audience than a well-written full-page monologue could have. Saul Tgh is right about you - ice-water running through the veins of a naïve schoolteacher. But your warm and lovely presence draws me in every time you are on the screen. Your sereneness in the face of what you must have known was going to be your own death filled me with love and sadness.
I won't discuss the "coming in the next few episodes" stuff here because I know a lot of people don't watch the previews, so maybe I'll post about those in the morning. For now, I am off to bed to dream fannishly about Laura and Bill's reunion. ;)
In conclusion - FRAK!
pipsqueaky and I watched the two-hour premiere together and spent every commercial break screaming incoherently at one another and frightening her cats. Then, when we realized it was going to repeat directly after, we watched it again. I hope I can put together a post that will make sense.I have never seen a single episode of a show keep so many balls in the air so successfully. The execution of this script alone made it worth tuning in, but good golly, that was the least of the magnificence of Occupation / Precipice.
More than any other show I can think of, you really have to pay attention to the dialog and continuity - especially to keep track of which Sharon is Galactica Sharon and which Sharon is Caprica Sharon; which Six is Caprica Six and which Sixes aren't; and which of each of them had which storyline and who did what to whom and when, and when are we going to find out the hows of the whats. It's insane. And insanely good.
The political allegories are flying fast and furious (I half-expect FOX News to run a special tomorrow night entitled "Why Does Battlestar Galactica Hate America?"), but the wonderful thing about it is that they are not clear-cut. There aren't two, cleanly divided sides; there's a gradient of beliefs and actions. (Okay, I will stipulate to the heavy-handedness of the jack-booted thugs shots. We get it. Moving on.)
I simply cannot believe that every single main character got to do something - something actually worth showing up to work to do, in a two-hour show. Yes, some got more than others, but that's only to be expected.
Brother Cavil (Brothers Cavil?) - Air. Quotes. Dean Stockwell is a God of acting; Ron Moore said so in his podcasts, so it must be true. But seriously, I've always loved Stockwell's style of performance, so if you haven't seen Dean Stockwell in Battlestar Galactica, then you haven't seen Shakespeare the way it's *meant* to be done. ;) Cavil is a magnificent character who I am so very very glad they've kept on with.
Saul Tigh - I don't like you, but I admire you. We want you on that wall. We need you on that wall!! (I need to make an icon: "Cylons: We take the "i" out of "Tigh". Or perhaps a close-up of his face with the caption "Colonel Tgh". Pips and I kept trying to say "Tgh" at one another all night. We were unsuccessful.)
Ellen Tigh - You are Mrs. I-don't-like-you-but-I-admire-you. Though I don't know *what* the Cylons will have taken from you, at the end of the day.
Galen Tyrol - sad and embittered and angry, and torn about your role in all of this, and now you must be frantic about your wife (I can't *begin* to imagine how hard that scene must have been for Aaron Douglas to play). He serves as one of our grey areas, for which I love both him and the writers.
Cally Tyrol - The line she delivers early on about one day Galen simply disappearing and not coming back was given a nice ironic twist later on, no? My guess is that she will survive, though it would be fascinating to have a grief-stricken Chief and a Galactica Sharon whom he once loved....
Caprica Sharon Agathon - I have 99% faith that you are on the side of the Colonials. I hope I'm right. Your discussion with Adama in your cell was one of your best scenes ever, and it was simple and quiet. (Has someone been shopping for Sharon's cell at Room and Board?)
Helo Agathon - not much to do this episode, but your little speech to Sharon was cherce. ;)
Samuel Anders - I would watch "Tyrol and Anders: They Blow Shit Up!" every night. And I do believe that Galactica Sharon and Caprica Six gave Tyrol and Anders the nod to go ahead with the bombing. Who's with me on that one?
Dee Adama - many will call you a bitch. Not me. Who knows what has happened on the Pegasus, and with Lee, and elsewhere in your life in the past two years?
Lee Adama - Dude. Everyone is picking on you, but I symathize with you completely. Depression is a tough road that not everyone can walk with a steady gait; and your changes in mind and body are not entirely uncommon to the ongoing pressure and seemingly endless disasters that have become your existence. Still, if only for narrative purposes, get it together, will you?
I loved that I was able to see both Lee Adama and Bill Adama's sides of the argument for the continued existence of the human race. And that it finally turned to "dad" and "son" in the end.
Bill (Daddy) Adama - I will never again say "I could not love you more", because at the end of each new episode, I love you more. I adore watching you quietly sift through and process information, emotion, probability and strategy, filter out that which will won't do anyone any good, and make a sea change with acceptance but without resignation. (Edward James Olmos, ladies and gentlemen - our second member of the Pantheon of Gods of acting.) You were able to make Solomon's decision without killing the baby. No mean feat.
Speaking of babies...
I sense a great disturbance arriving the BSG Force about Kara, Leoben, and Casey (Kacee? K.C.? Toasterette?). I come down firmly on the side of "wait and see". I don't think jumping to conclusions as to where this storyline is heading is useful to anyone; that kind of prognostication only borrows trouble. Besides, when has BSG ever gone where anyone thought it would go? I still feel safe in the hands of Moore and Eick. (Of course, that is subject to change without notice.) For right now, I make no assumptions. I will say this, though: this show, more than any other I can think of, is about survival and procreation - both for the humans and for the Cylons. Babies are not plot devices on BSG; they are vital narrative developments. (My rant about the "strong female characters are always *ruined* by having babies" Fandom Bandwagon is for another post.) Also -- Kara? Not quite sane right now.
Caprica Six - oh, my darling. I am so afraid that the Cylon Cabal will permanently box you. (It was fun to watch the other Sixes look at the dead Six in curiosity, though - and having one stand up was a lovely moment of perfect comedy timing.) You are trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with something that stands for something else that I can't be bothered to come up with because I am very very tired. Still, I am worried about you. As much as I admire you for finding love and recognizing it for what it is and knowing that it brings you closer to being human, you have very, very bad taste in men....
Gaius, Gaius, Gaius. You should have just let them shoot you. When the humans are rescued, what will happen to you? I'd pity you your position if I didn't despise you and everything you stand for.
Felix Gaeta - You are powerfully angry but nearly entirely impotent, frustrated at your lack of efficacy yet unable to focus what energy and tools you do have at your disposal, and mostly just standing about hoping things will turn out for the best. You remind me of the Democrats.
Tom Zarek - I knew you'd say that. And good to see you, because you have turned out to be a far more complicated man than I thought you were going to be. I hope you surive the firing squad. I adored that you pulled Laura back behind another person, as if this would somehow save her.
And saving the best for last:
Laura Roslin - what can I say, except that I would switch teams for you. Okay, in all seriousness, Mary McDonnell completes the triumverate of the BSG Gods of acting. Her scene in the cell with Baltar? Every flicker of her eyelids and every tilt of her head communicated more to the audience than a well-written full-page monologue could have. Saul Tgh is right about you - ice-water running through the veins of a naïve schoolteacher. But your warm and lovely presence draws me in every time you are on the screen. Your sereneness in the face of what you must have known was going to be your own death filled me with love and sadness.
I won't discuss the "coming in the next few episodes" stuff here because I know a lot of people don't watch the previews, so maybe I'll post about those in the morning. For now, I am off to bed to dream fannishly about Laura and Bill's reunion. ;)
In conclusion - FRAK!
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 10:19 am (UTC)That was my favorite scene of the night hands down. Personally, I think she's 100% loyal to the Colonials right now, but that she'll raise hell once she finds out Roslin and Adama lied to her about her baby. For the sake of the upcoming rescue mission, let's hope it's later rather than sooner.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 03:51 pm (UTC)Battlestar Season Three: Season of Angst
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 11:27 am (UTC)Ha! Yes!
I really don't have a lot of coherent thoughts, other than to say that I'm very glad not to be in BSG fandom, because I love -- LOVE -- this show, and I want nobody's whining to piss on that. I love every character, whether or not I like them. Because they're given motivations we can understand, even if we don't agree with them. God. Is there a Church of Moore and Eick?
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 12:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 03:57 pm (UTC)And hee - if you could program in special filters for different programs... okay, see, there's an invention waiting to be... invented. Get right on that; you'd make millions.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 02:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 03:56 pm (UTC)But, on the bright side - OMG WTF BSG!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 05:07 pm (UTC)Gaeta = Democrats: yes, except that Gaeta somehow became HOT over the past year, which the Democrats haven't been for decades.
I am on the "wait and see" train WRT the Casey/Kasey/K.C. thing. P. was complaining earlier about the way the show uses babies to ratchet up the tension but I think we both missed the significance of survival and reproduction in this universe. Thank you for pointing that out. It's helping me keep my cool.
Finally: *excellent* point about Caprica Six possibly getting boxed! I had completely forgotten that that could happen. That would be HUGE.
And I did take pictures last night. I'll get them uploaded soon.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 05:23 pm (UTC)And I still don't think the BSG world is as black and white as "humans are the terrorists, Cylons are the U.S.A." - but then again, I'm on a wait-and-see.
As for how to come back from the gunfire and not have people be dead - when Duck blew up the graduation ceremony, Jammer survived and hey, he was standing right there. Fiction doesn't often do the improbable precisely because of the audience's likely "hey! no way" reaction, but real life is often improbable. It's a conundrum.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 06:05 pm (UTC)Poor Colonel Tgh. Hee.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-07 07:12 pm (UTC)Toasterette? OMG CLASSIC.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-08 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-08 03:11 pm (UTC)Thanks much!
Date: 2007-07-12 08:45 am (UTC)Looks good! Very useful, good stuff. Good resources here. Thanks much!
Bye
you do iz besz
Date: 2007-07-13 05:41 am (UTC)Looks good! Very useful, good stuff. Good resources here. Thanks much!
G'night