Monday, March 28, 2005

Battlestar Galactica - Pre-Finale Thoughts 

First off, let me make this perfectly clear: I love this show. Love, love, love this show. I haven't particularly been on the edge of my seat with much of the Helo story, but I had confidence that they were building to something, and they seem to be succeeding with it. But before this Friday's season finale (*sob*), I wanted to put some thoughts out there for your consideration.

When Baltar tested Sharon and discovered she's a Cylon, it only took a few minutes. The very next episode each test takes 11 hours, much to Baltar's dismay. Plus he's giving everyone a passing grade so that Number Six doesn't rip his head off from the inside, so what is he so stressed about? Is he actually running the tests so that he'll know the truth about everyone? But why is it suddenly taking 11 hours? It's not like the first test was run during the original mini-series and they changed the parameters for the ongoing story. The working test wasn't introduced until well into the ongoing series, then changed in the next episode. Maybe it's just something they planted so the viewing geeks would have something to latch onto.

Where did Pres. Roslin's advisor Wallace Gray come from? He was introduced in Colonial Days and was described by the press as being "the power behind the presidency," and as Roslin's right hand man, but we had never once seen him before this episode. When the Colonial media were first talking about him, I thought they must have been referring to Roslin's boy wonder assistant, Billy Keikaya, but I was perplexed as to how anyone could picture him as a quiet puppetmaster. Turns out Gray was just a throwaway character they invented as a plot device for getting Baltar into the Vice-President's chair.

How on Kobol are we supposed to believe that Starbuck would have climbed into bed with Baltar? From all previous indications, she seemed to be under the impression that he was a self-absorbed, scatterbrained (albeit superintelligent) asshole with a tendency to whack off in the lab. There is just no way she would have gotten busy with that guy. Again, simply a plot device to build up tension between her and Apollo, and between Baltar and Six In The Head. They could have had Baltar put a move on her which she then rejected in no uncertain terms and possibly with a few small broken bones, but Apollo could have seen them post-move and pre-rejection, thus setting up tension and misunderstanding between Starbuck and Apollo, and anger and jealousy between Baltar and Six In The Head. Why throw in that completely out of character (for Starbuck) scene? If they wanted some sex scenes with Starbuck, they could have put her with any number of throwaway characters.

How did Boomer shoot herself through the cheek? Did she flinch at the last second? Does she have any jawbone or teeth left on that side of her face?

Where did that military doctor get his awful bedside manner? It's one thing when he's trading jabs with the pilots and other soldiers, but how does he get away with being so incredibly dismissive and condescending to THE PRESIDENT? Is he the last living doctor in the fleet, so he figures he has job security?

Why wouldn't Pres. Roslin have already gone through whatever procedures were set out in the Articles of Colonization for re-establishing the government in case of Case Orange? They must be detailed articles, since they established that the Secretary of Education was 43rd in line for the presidency. Don't tell me they didn't have a clear-cut schedule for appointing a new set of successors in case of Case Secondary Orange. Did the Articles set out in great detail who would become president in case the first 42 people were killed at the same time as the sitting president, but then just leave the new acting president flying solo? Zarak's motion to nominate and elect a new vice-president seemed like a total shocker to everyone present. "Wow - he wants a vice-president? The gall!!!" Please.

So that's it. That's all my griping for almost an entire season of a show. I could get twice as much out of one episode of Tru Calling.

Season finale this Friday. When does Season Two begin? Sadly, I'm guessing not until next January.
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UPDATE (2/32 pm): I forgot one very important question. Why does Sci-Fi show every high point of the upcoming show just after the opening sequence? The first time I saw it, I ended up knowing exactly what was going to happen through the entire show. It's like attaching a spoiler feed to the broadcast. Now I know to just fast-forward the Tivo (I usually watch Friday's show on Saturday morning) and look away from the screen for a standard number of seconds (maybe 2) to get the playback into the commercials. Note to Sci-Fi Channel: really bad idea. Please get rid of it for next season. Thanks.

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Posted by Rogueslayer at 10:24 AM