• Categories

Vanilla 1.1.4 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

 
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2009 edited
    [spoiler]No, I´m quite sure he meant that list Gaeta gave the #8 model on New Caprica, resulting in the death of the people on the list.[/spoiler]
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2009
    I don't remember that. cry
    Kazoo
  1. If you didn´t see the webisodes, you can´t.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRian
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2009
    Ralph Kruhm wrote
    [spoiler]No, I´m quite sure he meant that list Gaeta gave the #8 model on New Caprica, resulting in the death of the people on the list.[/spoiler]

    [spoiler]OOOOOOOoh right, totally forgot about that.[/spoiler]
    What do you hear? Nothing but the rain...
    • CommentAuthorAnthony
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2009 edited
    Wow, I've never been in this thread before. You're all much more disiplined with the spoiler tags! applause

    And people go on about how only two or three of us post in the Lost and 24 threads. rolleyes biggrin
  2. Well, we just LOVE this show!
    •  
      CommentAuthorAtham
    • CommentTimeFeb 8th 2009
    Thankyou guys for using the spoiler tag technique.
    I looooove this show but have yet to watch the last couple of episodes.
    So glad you've hidden the info from me!
    Sure I could avoid the thread altogether but anything 'Battlestar" I just have to look! lick
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeFeb 8th 2009 edited
    You´re welcome. I´ll try to keep it that way. I HATE spoilers, so if possible, I try to use the tags.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRian
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2009 edited
    Well... looks like Bear really showed the best of himself in the latest episode. I have rarely seen a movie or tv series where the line between score and and film is so very close. Hell, he might have crossed it or something. shocked

    For those of you not following, he's been involved in the episode since early pre-production (even in the script). There's tons of information about the whole process on his blog (SPOILERS!), dealing with writing the music, the 'main' instrument of the episode, recording, post-production. An interesting read.

    Oh, and [spoiler]my jaw litterally fell open when Kara played that piece.[/spoiler] Damn!

    Here's a little extra for those who've already seen it, or don't plan on seeing it but still want to know what I'm talking about: http://www.yousendit.com/download/U0d6V … WUNGa1E9PQ
    What do you hear? Nothing but the rain...
    •  
      CommentAuthorDemetris
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2009
    Want
    Love Maintitles. It's full of Wanders.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2009 edited
    I agree! What an awesome moment. punk

    Pity it took so long to get there, but what the frak!
    Lets get on with these last three episodes!
    Kazoo
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeMar 3rd 2009 edited
    Probably THE best scored TV episode ever, not because of the actual music, but simply because of the sheer amount of work needed to get it done.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAtham
    • CommentTimeMar 25th 2009
    I'm surprised no one has commented on the final episodes here?
    My feelings are a little mixed on the finale of this brilliant show but I have to say that Bear's music reached its pinnacle here. Just beautiful!
    All the major themes get a chance to shine one last time. Even the original Stu Phillips theme appears again.
    The season four soundtrack should really be a double CD release as there's so much contained in this season, let alone the final episodes!
    I applaud McCreary for what he has given this series!
    Stunning television scoring!!!
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2009 edited
    I´m sorry for not writing anything, but...

    I´m extremely happy with the finale. As much as I tried to, I couldn´t lower my expectations, so I went into it with a feeling I would be dissatisfied in the end. When the exact opposite happened and the finale turned out to be even more than I had ever hoped for in almost every aspect, I was undescribably happy.

    So I turned to the internet to share my excitement with everyone...

    The rest is history.

    You have no idea what kind of backlash I had to endure for even trying to defend "Daybreak" against the combined wall of naysayers.

    At the moment, I´m beyond words; never before have I been more willing to turn my back on communicating with people out there. So please accept my apologies for NOT wanting to discuss the episode here as well.

    But at least, as you can easily imagine, I agree wholeheartedly on everything you said about the score.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAtham
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2009
    Actually Ralph, I was very moved in all emotional areas with the final episode.
    Excitement, shock, joy and grief. Not since LOTR: Return Of The King have I been so moved! And the music............OMG!!!
    When I say my feelings are "a little mixed" I mean just that there were a few unanswered questions. But perhaps that's a good thing!
    No show has topped BSG for brilliantly realistic acting and gripping story telling!
    I applaud all who were involved in this show!

    Ralph, stick with your guns on embracing "Daybreak". I'll stand along side you too!
    Let the naysayers say what they will, but it's their sad loss if they choose to bag it.
    BSG began with promise and fulfilled that promise right to the end!

    So say we all!
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2009
    It sucked! Very disappointing and stupid ending. angry








    wink
    Kazoo
  3. Atham, thanks for your honest and very welcome words. Personally, it grabbed me even more than RotK, probably because I didn´t know what was coming with "Daybreak", while I had just read RotK before seeing that movie.

    You´re damn right about answers better not given, but that´s all I´m gonna say for now.

    So say we all!
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2009
    I was happy with the ending, but not entirely satisfied. it went all by a bit too quickly, and indeed, some answers were not given. I would not even say it was the best episode, since it contained some toe crinching moments (like the cylons at the balcony in the CiC, that was just too forced). At least the series ended in a respectable way, and Bear could bring together all his major themes. The Shape of All Things to Come still rules. punk
    Kazoo
    •  
      CommentAuthorRian
    • CommentTimeMar 26th 2009
    Bregt wrote
    At least the series ended in a respectable way, and Bear could bring together all his major themes. The Shape of All Things to Come still rules. punk

    So say we all. beer
    What do you hear? Nothing but the rain...
  4. Good news for fans of this show...

    http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=1819#more-1819
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
  5. Good news indeed. Many Thanks.
  6. Wish I could take credit for it! wink
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
    •  
      CommentAuthorAtham
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2009
    Brilliant news. All of it! Can't wait! punk
    •  
      CommentAuthorRian
    • CommentTimeMar 31st 2009 edited
    <snip>

    Should have gone in the Bear Mccreary thread; not here.
    What do you hear? Nothing but the rain...
  7. Hmmm... I've been watching Season 4.5, and I'll probably see 'Daybreak' this week sometime.

    Some thoughts: (spoilers aplenty)

    - 'Sometimes a Great Notion' was probably one of the strongest episodes I've seen, despite the emotional climax of the episode being a gratuitous 'drunk Adama' scene. The bleakness of that episode was compelling. The farewell to Dualla, Starbuck's pyre, Tigh's final memory of earth, the renewed search for a home - all good. In hindsight, the reaction of Leoben to Starbuck's body felt like a cheap way to get that character out of the way for the rest of the series. Always the most interesting of the Cylons, I'm quite annoyed that's the last significant Leoben beat in the series (unless the finale holds fresh secrets).

    - The Mutiny episodes ('Disquiet follows my soul' through 'Blood on the Scales') - for me, the highpoint of this show's fourth season... and probably the strongest arc post-New Caprica. Suddenly it felt like the show had something of that unflinching focus on the problems of human civilization again... something which hasn't really been seen on such a grand scale since the failed vote-rigging by Roslin that ended Season 2. Gaeta and Zarek were given strong farewells. The teeth were back. The three episodes of the mutiny could have been a contained tv-movie, and would have been more substantial than 'Razor' (which was more of geeky interest than of real consequence for the show).

    - 'No Exit' - the air starts to drain from the tyres... but the occasionally overly-talky episode is forgivable.

    - 'Deadlock' - what is not forgivable was this. With forty overwrought minutes, the whole leaden atmosphere of the post-Earth fleet is dispelled. Combining the show's least compelling features - Ellen Tigh's soap opera antics, and the 'Days of our Lives' cylon melodrama that began back in 'Downloaded', what really makes this episode ridiculous is that it's meant to be absorbed with a straight face. What really annoys me about it is that Col. Tigh has been a character with a certain amount of dignity up to a point, and it's hard to take any of them seriously after this. When this show gets caught up in this kind of melodrama, it feels as far as it could possibly be from the efficient roots of its flawless first season. (Even the melodrama episode of that season - Ellen tigh's intro episode - was clearly a parody, we weren't being asked to take it all seriously.)

    - 'Someone to Watch Over Me' - Since the unexplained missing section at the end of Season 2 where Boomer - alienated from her cylon sisters - goes from being uncooperative to the advocate of a Cylon invasion of New Caprica (why again did she and Caprica think this was a good idea? I'm not saying they were wrong, but it hardly seemed consistent with their attitudes) - ... anyway, long sentence, since that section, Boomer has felt like a writer's prop. They do things with her, but those things never feel in character the way, say, Gaeta's rebellion seemed in character. So anyway, I didn't particularly like that half of the episode, which is more Cylon melodrama anyway. (I'm not saying the chief's feelings for Boomer aren't worth reflecting on, but the way they allocated their final hours of the show was truly bizarre.) In comparison, Starbuck's arc in this episode was strong, and compelling. If you have to have character-driven episodes without plot and cause-and-effect, then that's how it's done.

    - 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars' - Sigh. I kept checking the timecode on the episode to see how much more there was to go - not a good audience reaction. More gratuitous Adama drinking scenes.
    I probably speak only for myself, but the potentially-most interesting human issue in the episode is the new Quorum. Why did they not attempt an episode along the lines of Cloud 9 - where Lee and the Cylon delegate have to find a way to rout a popular anti-Cylon politician that has somehow come to play a significant role in the new Quorum? It's that kind of grey line between democracy and dictatorship that has kept BSG so interesting for me.

    For me, four great episodes followed by four episodes that feel like heels were being cooled at best. I always hate it when something starts well and ends badly. I hope 'Daybreak' recovers some serious ground.
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2009
    Nice thoughts, franz. Although I still stand by that this is one of my favourite TV shows of all time, I do think 4-5 of the episodes in the last season were FAR too talky - and usually just lofty speech with no forward thrust. It's almost as if the writers were afraid to let the sci fi aspect seep through; so set on doing a character drama that they over-did it.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRalph Kruhm
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2009 edited
    A lot of people seem to miss the fact that Galactica always was, most of all, a drama series that just happens to take place in space, but that alone has nothing to do with Science Fiction. The real SF-elements of Galactica are
    - the creation of artificial species (which results into a story about what happens if you invent them and treat them like shit; to that regard, Galactica is not more SciFi than Blade Runner), and
    - what happens if human civilization is threatened with extinction and how people react to that threat, which principles are thrown overboard, how big a chance has democracy to survive under the circumstances. That is not space stuff, but it is political science fiction along the lines of 1984.
    Both elements have been featured a lot in the series.

    All that space battle stuff, however, is not SF (since there is no significant amount of scientific explanations around - the stuff just works, it is never explained how or why, especially regarding to the hyperjump technology), but space battle stuff. So what you want to say is that there wasn´t enough space battle stuff in there, but I tend to disagree. If you take the whole series, there are a lot of episodes with giant space battles, one being more amazing than the last one. Considering the fact that the show obviously wasn´t about doing one space battle after another, those battles they did were actually breathtaking.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2009 edited
    Ralph Kruhm wrote
    A lot of people seem to miss the fact that Galactica always was, most of all, a drama series that just happens to take place in space, but that alone has nothing to do with Science Fiction.


    I realize that, but that does not excuse lots of boring and lofty talk throughout an entire episode that take you nowhere. That would have bored me even if it took place here on Earth. Also, once you choose space and spaceships and advanced technology and hybrid robot-human creations as your context, it will INEVITABLY demand more "external action" - even if the genre is just character drama.

    Finally, I would argue that BSG is sci fi in its PUREST sense - i.e. fiction about future scientific implications. It's not only about the 'science' aspect, it's also what MORAL implications it has, and about pitting human existence against the non-human or semi-human 'Other'. These are all CORE aspects of the way we define science fiction.
    I am extremely serious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2009
    Ralph Kruhm wrote
    All that space battle stuff, however, is not SF (since there is no significant amount of scientific explanations around - the stuff just works, it is never explained how or why, especially regarding to the hyperjump technology)


    But that's not the definition of science fiction: science fiction doesn't necessarily require explanation (unless you're Larry Niven. Then you'll happily interrupt a perfectly fine dramatic story for several coma-inducing dozens of pages explaining WHY a specific part of matter behaves the way it does given a specific set of circumstances at a particular point in time and space, given our current understanding of physics on a metaquantum level as modified by the particular spectrum of the observing entity (adjusted for interspecies understanding and reference)).

    The scientific part of science fiction can be wholly fictional TOO, so that includes technology we are at our current level of understanding completely incapable of creating, replicating or even theorising about, but can be shown as "matter of fact".

    That aside, I don't mind ANY of the mixes as long as they're in balance.
    Many of the Star Trek franchises had VERY talky character episodes, and many of those were just fine as drama in a science fiction setting.

    I agree that this vision of Battlestar Galactica lends itself beautifully to a mix of drama and space opera (much like the last seasons of Babylon 5, which were very political), so I don't mind at all, especially as the space battles/action scenes we did see were really very good!
    I prefer a mix to lean towards the dramatic rather than the spectacular myself (to avoid Buck Rogers banalities).
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
  8. Ralph Kruhm wrote
    All that space battle stuff, however, is not SF (


    Be that as it may, my reasons are quite different. Did I actually mention the words 'space battle', at all? I talked about the political issues you mention, and about the show's keen eye for human failings (focused on contradictory characters) even when the species was cornered. I find these fascinating things - the wellspring of many of the show's greatest moments - sorely lacking in the 4 episode run from 'No Exit' to 'Islanded in a Stream of Stars'. It may be pure character drama, but the writing is bloody shocking. Without their track record, and earned audience, they wouldn't have pulled anyone in if the first half of the first season had had a run like that.

    To me, the great episodes are things like:
    - 'Maelstrom'
    - 'Flesh and Blood' (the birth of that fascinating Kara/Leoben relationship) - but also laden with the issue of torture, and how reliable the answers are that it brings... we also learn of Roslin's mean streak here
    - 'Take a break from all your worries' (the episode where Adama and Roslin attempt to get a drug-induced confession from Baltar... who reaches a beautiful state of peace in the episode's closing minutes)
    - 'The Oath' - Gaeta's rebellion, and his alliance with Zarek, and their tragically-fated sense of vindication. It wasn't the gunfights that mattered - they could have done without them, and while the episode would have lost some of its edge, it's strengths would have been intact.
    - '33' - still the gold standard for me, with the moral issues arising from the destruction of the Olympic Carrier
    One of those episodes has a space battle, the last one.

    Season 4 did have one magnificent space battle however, for all my argument that they weren't crucial to its success. The battle following the season 3 cliffhanger, where Anders is recognised while piloting a Viper, gave them a lot of mileage for the potboiler material that dominated later episodes.
    A butterfly thinks therefore I am