I was a massive fan of Battlestar when I first started following it. As you may recall, I was down and out for about a week due to a serious infection in one of my molars and the following rootcanal work, and during that week, in between squirming from the pain, I managed to take in the mini-series and most of first season. And I was hooked. Bad.
Generally speaking, season 2 also had me glued to the tube every week, and while not every episode was the next coming, it was still very very enjoyable. The mid-season cliffhanger with the Pegasus had me clawing at the walls for months; only to have the entire crisis blow over in the first five minutes of the follow-up episode.
Man. I was bummed.
And if I have to peg it, which I do, then that would be the point where BSG slowly started deteriorating for me. I loved seeing the Pegasus with the fleet, and the season finale for season 2 just blew me away in its balls-to-the-walls let’s-fuck-with-them’ness.
For a moment there, I figured the series had hit a new high.
Season 3 rolled around, and I thought it was pretty good, although everything seemed so damned rushed. Here they were, having pulled one hell of a stunt in settling the majority of the fleet on a new planet and then occupying it with cylon’s, and it was all over in 4 episodes! Sure, the repercussions of the occupation and the ensuing partisan fights and what not, would be felt for a while. But consider the places the series could be taken if we had followed their struggle on New Caprica for months. The distrust, paranoia, sacrifice and anguish!
I would have loved to see that. But, to be fair, we did get to see a capital ship ‘droppin’ like a rock’ in atmosphere, and that was worth several stand-alone episodes in my book. In fact, I’ll go so far as to call it one of the best moments on TV, ever.
But as season 3 unfolded, it slowly became more and more bleh. In fact, I’m having trouble recollecting a single episode since the beginning of the season; and I’ve seen them all… All those episodes onboard the Cylon baseships… Ehm… What were they about? I don’t know; I just don’t know.
And while it slowly started picking up near the end, it still suffers from a feeling of it not having been thought through from beginning till end. Ironic, since Lost is the series most often accused of being on a wild goose hunt.
Now Ron Moore admits as much in an excellent interview over at Salon, and I can only hope that it will drive their decisions in planning out season 4.
According to Moore, season 4 might very well be their last season, which honestly would be perfect in my book. If only they can pick up the tightness of the first season and start asking some serious questions of themselves. I mean; if you’ve seen the last episode, you’ll remember Lee’s speech in the courtroom. Now, was it just me, or did it seem like they had not asked those questions all season, just so they could ask them in the final episode?
I had personally been screaming questions at the screen. Why isn’t Baltar brought to the stand? Why aren’t they asking the Six about Baltar? Why does Rosalind think the cross-breed baby is ‘the future’? What does she base that rather vague sound bite on? Why isn’t Baltar eager to build another cylon-detector he can use on himself? And on and on.
In reality, BSG leaves behind more questions than Lost, which is quite a feat.
The finale though, of season 3, was pretty good overall. As with most other mini-arcs, its parts came into being a bit too fast for them to be believable (let me see, we need an unknown mysterious lawyer whom nobody bothers doing a background check on. We need to figure out whom of the fleet are cylons (if that is the case; in which case I’m disappointed). For optimal conflict and cliffhanger’ness, we need to turn Lee, Rosalind and Admiral Adama against each other. And we need to honor or promise of Starbuck being ‘special’ in some manner, so she ‘unexpectedly’ returns from the dead).
It was played out well enough; but it was predictable and a tad boring compared to, say, landing on New Caprica…
Now I’m no expert in writing and executing TV shows, having done… ehm… none; but if season 4 is to be the last, I hope they pull all their resources together and really knock it out of the park. Plan out the entire season, find the highs and lows, and leave stand-alone episodes on the cutting room floor.
The cast is amazing, the premise is fantastic and even with the low of season 3, it would still leave a serious dent in TV series for years to come.
I’ll be holding my breath for January, 2008.
PS: “And they have a plan”… Maybe season 4 could be about that? Because so far the cylons seem as lost as, if not more than, everyone else.
Not that I’m a specialist on the matter, but I think season 4 might be split into multiple topics, like the New Caprica-episodes. One part could probably feature a flashback of what Kara Thrace did/didn’t do while she was missing, and then we will see the resulting interaction of the Refugees and the Cylon fleet as seen at the climax of season 3. I’m not sure the entire fleet will continue onward to Earth, or if they will return to the colonies and resettle it.
I’m usually a very patient guy, but now I really hate to wait eight whole months.
I picked up the BSG series in late 2006 and watched the Mini-Series, Season 1 and Season 2 in the span of about 1 week (I had some time off). I was hooked right away from Season 1 as well.
While I do think Season 3 focused a little too much on the political / social and not enough on the action I was pleased overall with the execution and the results of some of the plotlines being resolved. Overall I still feel that BSG has more cohesion and “progression” towards a final goal than something like say Lost which has managed to become so disjointed in its story arc that I feel like I’m the one who’s lost watching it.
I purposefully didn’t touch on Lost in the entry; but now that you mention it: People whine and complain about Lost having ‘strayed’ from the path and that it is confusing and without purpose… Generally, from what I’ve read, people want answers!
People may think they want answers to Lost’s many riddles, but that’s not really what they want. The greatness of Lost lies in the vacuum between what is explained. It’s here the viewer can let their imagination run wild.
Nobody really wants to know why there is a polar bear on the island. Not really. Because all the ‘potential’ ways the polar bear could be there for, will always outweigh whatever solution the writers of Lost can come up with.
Could Lost ever continue being as amazing as it was the first season? Of course not. It isn’t possible; the formula can’t bear it. But then, the show is the formula, so it can’t be changed either.
But come one, that doesn’t mean it’s become a bad show; not by a long stretch!
That’s my take anyway.
Janauary? Surely you mean MAY, 2008!
I found the second half of the second season pretty good, with the appearance of Pegasus and all the action. The Cylon occupation of New Caprica was interesting, and I was surprised it only lasted a few episodes. It could probably been stretched to half a season. Although that scene of Galactica plummeting towards the ground was just great, well done.
The rest of season 3 has seemed somewhat soft. There was more personal, political, etc things happening. Not enough action!
I hope season 4 picks it up again. The first episode at least should be exciting based on how the previous one ended!
I had a great time with Season 3, I didn’t feel it was a downturn at all. The boxing episode, which I hear getting dumped on frequently, was one of my favorite shows.
I guess I’d agree that it didn’t seem to have the same intense forward direction as the previous seasons, and the characters’ stories were a bit more scattered. But the climax was exciting and mysterious and cool. Can’t wait for season 4. And I absolutely agree it would be great to end it on season 4, that kind of restraint is really uncommon in TV and it’d be an excellent move.
Definitely. I still play that clip every now and then because it just makes me grin each time.
I generally have to agree on all points – season 3 started out very promising but it’s been a rollercoaster. Bits of boredom mixed in with bits of pure awesome, unlike the generally consistent quality of the earlier seasons.
I do hope season 4 is the last, really. I feel if they tried to drag it for two more seasons, we’d end up with more of season 3 style issues. One more is enough. With the funding cut, they’re no longer using Zoic for the computer effects, and that really showed when the supernova went off in mid-season 3. It looked terrible.
Plus, BSG is still the only series I actually own on DVD – I’ve never been a DVD collector, really, but BSG I just need to have. The more seasons, the more expensive that’s gonna get…
Funny you should mention the special effects, because I was thinking just that! The entire show has seemed incredibly cramped in comparison to the other seasons… Hardly any space!
That said, the Starbuck episode, where they’re flying through the clouds; that was very nice.
I am wondering if the feeling of lack of space was partly intentional – people feeling all cramped again now that they’re no longer on New Caprica and back in their ships. Or maybe I’m just making excuses…
As far as I know the last thing Zoic did was episode 3×4 with our favourite atmospheric brick. Since then the guys who did the special effects for Stargate have taken over. I hate budget cuts.
I actually couldn’t help but feel that during the final episodes, the vipers themselves looked a bit less real than in previous ones. Maybe it was the cheaper CG effects, or maybe the lighting on the fighters was just unfortunate given the psychedelic colours in the clouds.
I know that there is much more to the show than visuals, but when it comes to sci-fi it should always be a priority.
It’s been known for a long time that Ron Moore has been making things up as he went along. He’s been doing it since Season 1.
One of the problems with Season 3 was that at least one plotline was cut out after all the episodes had been shot. This is (supposedly) why The Woman King episode just seemed so, “What the fuck is this?”; the plotline it was supposed to be a part of (and a resolution for) was cut out of the episodes, but since The Woman King had already been shot, there was nothing that could be done.
Supposedly, the colonists from Saggitaron keep getting shit on by everyone and there was a plotline running all the way back to the start of Season 3 showing this, the problems it caused, etc. Evidently Ron Moore didn’t want to make everyone completely unlikeable by making them space racists or something, so the plotline was cut, but by then there wasn’t time to write, shoot, and do the VFX for a whole new episode.
And, personally, I’m glad Season 3 didn’t spend a lot of time on New Caprica.
I though the end of Season 3 was great. As for Season 4? Just no more boxing episodes.
Hey, Michael, seen this? :)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/pvp/swag/90d6/
Gotta agree with the comments about the end of Season 3 getting all rushed and cramped at the end. Setting up the reveal of the final 5 should have been spread across more episodes and speculation should have been spread across more characters. Yes, the Final 5 were in some of the Cylon-centered episodes, but that wasn’t tension-inducing because nothing was hinted at or revealed, even in a small way.
I waited with breath held for each episode in Season 3 but in the end was, well… underwhelmed. Good? Yes. Better than most anything else on television? Absolutely. Up to Seasons 1 or 2? Not a chance.
If Season 4 is to be the last, that would probably help Ron Moore and the writers focus a lot more. There are many plotlines to resolve, especially now that the sloppy ending of Season 3 opened up so many story avenues. Indeed, it would be tough to wrap up everything in a single season. But if they stick to it and don’t go veering off into la-la land, they can do it.
The big questions remaining seem to be:
1. What’s the real difference between the Final 5 Cylons and the other 7? How do those differences affect relationships with the humans?
2. Will they reach earth? If so, at what point in history — past, present, or future?
3. What does the future hold for Hera and, presumably, for Tyrol and Callie’s child?
4. What is this afterlife thing they’ve been playing with? Is it real? Is it only a byproduct of Cylon resurrection or is it something more?
5. Will Xena, Warrior Princess, get un-boxed?
6. Why are they (the writers) keeping Baltar alive?
I suppose I could go on. I look forward to the answers and a revitalized Season 4.
I’ve got to say I’d hate if they ended it at season 4, if everyone here thinks season 3 felt rushed (and I agree) then imagine how rushed season 4 would end if it was the last season.
As John points out there’s still a lot of HUGE questions left. I’d like to see them do another season and a half, at least. I really think ending it at season 5 would be much better and if they knocked both those seasons out of the park, it would explain season 3 a lot better (it was the lull between two fantastic seasons on either end).