Hi folks,
My name's Jason Adank, some of you know me from 3d gladiators where I've posted for awhile. I've been lurking here for quite some time now, but decided to post after watching the 'reimagined' version of BSG. (cause I just had to vent a bit and this seemed like a great place to throw out my 2 cents worth)
I have mixed feelings about this mini series. However overall, I didn't like it. I say that mainly because the things that I *did* like about it mostly focused around the cgi. The story and charcters really turned me off.
I felt like the characters really weren't very likeable. In fact, with the exception of Almos' character (cmd adama), I didn't like any of them personally and actually found myself thinking 'they got what they deserved':/. The characters were cynical in a way that, to me, was over the top. And the dysfunctionality of so many of the relationships kinda got me down. I found many if the actors portrayals to be lucklaster and without interest, however this is likely due to the direction, not their acting abilities.
I really didn't like the heavy sex push in this show. Frankly, the opening scenes for me were borderline excessively explicit. And the constant reminder of 'whos screwing who' in the show was turning me off in a big way. It kinda reminds me of Enterprise. Some of these shows really feel a need to capitalize on sex, as if they won't get viewers or ratings without it. Similairly, I found the amount of cussing somewhat excessive. I remembered how much I didn't like the excessive cussing when I saw Alien 3. Well this wasn't as bad as that, but boy were sure have come along way on network television.
I found the opening scenes with number 6 snapping the babies neck to be particularly disturbing. I really didn't need to see that. I kinda copped an attitute right near the beginning of the show because of that scene. And it was a pointless story element. I mean, if #6 knew humans were about to go, why bother with that. Because she was facinated by how much weight the baby neck could withstand? While it certainly makes you dislike the cylons, it wasn't a nessesary scene to demonstate their malice towards humanity. It was inserted for pure shock factor and it really turned me off. I have a hard time watching violence towards children (especially babies) as entertainment.
I also found it strange that they were retainig elements of the first show (original cylon warriors/base stars etc), as if this was some sort of extension from the original series. And yet so many other things were 'reinvented'. This seemed kinda pointless and continually reminded me how they were 're-inventing' the show from a previous one. Why even bother with this if its going to be an orignal miniseries? I think I would have like it more if they had not kept bringing old elements literally back from the past.
I didn't like most of the new designs all that much, although the new cylon warrior was indeed pretty cool looking. I can't say I liked many of the new ship designs of the show and alot of the costumes seemed like they were bought at the local JC Penny prior to shooting. Alot of contemporary elements which kept making me thing this WAS earth, not a bunch of people trying to find the mythical place OF Earth.
The soundtrack was pretty blah, and not very engaging. No basic theme that really defines 'Battlestar Galactica' (unless you call that boring Enya imitation as a soundtrack). I really noticed this during the space battle scenes. While the drum beat thing was sort interesting, it became annoying after a few minutes. The other Enya styled stuff was ok, but pretty subdued. Basically this show doesn't have a soundtrack that compliments the scenes effectively.
Speaking of the space battle scenes, why was there so many scenes which was implying 'silence in space' only to then have a cylon raider go whirring on by. If you're gonna have sound effects in space, then make good ones for all ships involved. If its gonna be silent (realstic) then do it 2001: Space Odyssey style. enough said on that
I will agree that the show picked up more steam in the latter half. The first half was really dull (ok well except for the sex scenes I guess). The second episode was much more interesting, so thats a plus. Also on the plus side, I was glad to see some 'turn around' on
some of the characters, although I still think many of them are not very likeable.
I thought Zoic's FX work was really nice. They did a great job of alot of the space and battle scenes. The nuking of earth looked fantastic. The camcorder style zooming in stuff was a bit annoying though. It was done way to often and for reasons which didn't make sense. Ie usually that sort of thing is done to imply handheld camera movement for news casts. I didn't like that style of camera shooting for scenes that had no logical reason for this effect. I think they coulda ditched that (or only used it for a few scenes). The only parts that I thought were close to cheese was a few shots of Caprica (seemed really old style B5'ish). The new cylons warriors looked pretty cool too. Overall I really like their work. However, this doesn't redeem the show since Zoic can do fx on any number of shows. FX won't make the movie.,
I guess I could on and on, but I won't. Overall I didn't like the new miniseries, but it had a few redeeeming qualities. In the end, I walked away from this feeling the same way I did when I saw the Wing Commander movie. great fx, ok actors, weak revision of a previous idea. And I couldn't give a hoot about most of the characters which I think is its biggest problem. I know some of these actors have done better parts, which makes me wonder about the writers/directors of this miniseries we on when putting together the screenplay and script.
I give it 4/10 and I hope they let it die here.
My thoughts on the mini
