teacake does caprica

[teacake]

I watched Battlestar Galactica recently in five weeks. I was completely obsessed with it. It swept me away. When it was done I listened to the music over and over. I avoided reading too much about it because I didn't want to get spoiled for Caprica. The anticipation was intense. I knew it wasn't supposed to be as good, but that's okay, that's what they said about Enterprise.

My very first clear impression was, bloody hell why am I getting a Charmed vibe here? Even the (so very bad) opening credits feels like Charmed.

Okay I decided to run with it. It is a brave move to make a spin off with such a very different feel. I can talk myself into anything (really). And I did find plenty of interesting things about it though I kept pausing it and refreshing the BBS and posting crap in the middle of episodes, something I never would have done with BSG. You DIED if you interrupted me watching BSG. Is it actually boring I wondered. And no... but fuck it was repetitive. There were whole episodes that were just the same as previous ones. Daniel struggles with his company. Joseph and Daniel look for their daughters. Daughters wander around smiting stuff and don't even seem to enjoy it. It did pick up towards the end, the two episodes before the finale I very much enjoyed (The Heavens Will Rise and Here Be Dragons), though the dragons were terrible.

I liked Lacey's arc, she was far more interesting than Zoe who seemed to have no personality at all. At one point Zoe says "the world is a cesspit that needs to be cleaned up" which is a very Cylon philosophy but there is nothing in Zoe's personality that explains why she feels this way. For a zealot there doesn't seem to be any heart behind it.

Other things I liked:

Great portrayal of gay marriage as completely normal and no big deal. People moaning about how having gay couples in Trek would be forcing some point need to pay attention.

Poly marriage was interesting too. I loved the birth bath scene, you don't see that on tv every day (the bath at home part, not the birth).

I thought it a satisfying portrayal of the worlds lost in BSG that we only saw in (mostly) post destruction flash backs. This is what will probably lead me to rewatch Caprica. When I rewatch BSG what I saw in Caprica will add some poignancy.

Cylons as self righteous teenagers with black and white thinking, hating mom and dad. I found the teenage computer genius thing hard to choke down but I liked that this was the genesis of the Cylon race.

POLLY WALKER. See other thread.

I must ask.. the dvd I had ended with scenes from the never seen next season. Is any of this available?

And finally, how 'bout this Caprican national anthem..

Caprica let us celebrate
Raise our hands despite the weight

"The weight"? What weight?

[Sindatur]

teacake wrote:

---

I watched Battlestar Galactica recently in five weeks. I was completely obsessed with it. It swept me away. When it was done I listened to the music over and over. I avoided reading too much about it because I didn't want to get spoiled for Caprica. The anticipation was intense. I knew it wasn't supposed to be as good, but that's okay, that's what they said about Enterprise.

My very first clear impression was, bloody hell why am I getting a Charmed vibe here? Even the (so very bad) opening credits feels like Charmed.

Okay I decided to run with it. It is a brave move to make a spin off with such a very different feel. I can talk myself into anything (really). And I did find plenty of interesting things about it though I kept pausing it and refreshing the BBS and posting crap in the middle of episodes, something I never would have done with BSG. You DIED if you interrupted me watching BSG. Is it actually boring I wondered. And no... but fuck it was repetitive. There were whole episodes that were just the same as previous ones. Daniel struggles with his company. Joseph and Daniel look for their daughters. Daughters wander around smiting stuff and don't even seem to enjoy it. It did pick up towards the end, the two episodes before the finale I very much enjoyed (The Heavens Will Rise and Here Be Dragons), though the dragons were terrible.

I liked Lacey's arc, she was far more interesting than Zoe who seemed to have no personality at all. At one point Zoe says "the world is a cesspit that needs to be cleaned up" which is a very Cylon philosophy but there is nothing in Zoe's personality that explains why she feels this way. For a zealot there doesn't seem to be any heart behind it.

Other things I liked:

Great portrayal of gay marriage as completely normal and no big deal. People moaning about how having gay couples in Trek would be forcing some point need to pay attention.

Poly marriage was interesting too. I loved the birth bath scene, you don't see that on tv every day (the bath at home part, not the birth).

I thought it a satisfying portrayal of the worlds lost in BSG that we only saw in (mostly) post destruction flash backs. This is what will probably lead me to rewatch Caprica. When I rewatch BSG what I saw in Caprica will add some poignancy.

Cylons as self righteous teenagers with black and white thinking, hating mom and dad. I found the teenage computer genius thing hard to choke down but I liked that this was the genesis of the Cylon race.

POLLY WALKER. See other thread.

I must ask.. the dvd I had ended with scenes from the never seen next season. Is any of this available?

And finally, how 'bout this Caprican national anthem..

Caprica let us celebrate
Raise our hands despite the weight

"The weight"? What weight?

The Coda is all there is of the Possible Second Season. Had they been renewed, it would have served as a Trailer for S2, but, since it wasn't renewed, it gave us a look forward to kind of tie up some stuff for us, and put us a little closer to Blood and Chrome time period, but, Blood and Chrome won't be going to Series either

I actually think the entire second half of the Series is almost all gold, it's only the first half that has major issues, IMHO

[teacake]

Sindatur wrote:

---

The Coda is all there is of the Possible Second Season. Had they been renewed, it would have served as a Trailer for S2, but, since it wasn't renewed, it gave us a look forward to kind of tie up some stuff for us, and put us a little closer to Blood and Chrome time period, but, Blood and Chrome won't be going to Series either

I actually think the entire second half of the Series is almost all gold, it's only the first half that has major issues, IMHO

Wow, all there is.. by the end there was so much more to know, so many interesting things. I so loved what happened with Lacey and I wanted to see how her relationship to the cylons affected their development. And then you have Clarice as the High Priestess of the Metal Men..

[137th Gebirg]

As with many such genre shows (Enterprise, SGU, Firefly, V, The Cape, Terra Nova), they are cancelled before they get an opportunity to hit their stride. Enterprise got a long reprieve, simply because it was Star Trek, but Manny Coto's involvement would have made for a phenomenal 5th season IMO, if it were allowed to survive (one word - KZINTI!) Caprica had great potential and was spooling up for a really good 2nd season, but alas, that was it. Plus, I don't think it was entirely the show runners' fault it went away. Skiffy executives have long proved to be a fickle and somewhat slow-witted bunch of dullards. I think they are just as equally to blame for Caprica's cancellation as anyone else. And remember, BSG had long been threatened for cancellation as well in the later seasons, particularly after they found Earth 1. I'm just glad Moore and Eick were given the shot at wrapping it up gracefully (relatively speaking).

I'm just personally glad that other similar genre shows like Grimm, Once Upon a Time and Game of Thrones are still going relatively strong and have been given ample opportunity to flourish in such a wacky market.

[Mars]

teacake wrote:

---

I watched Battlestar Galactica recently in five weeks. I was completely obsessed with it. It swept me away. When it was done I listened to the music over and over. I avoided reading too much about it because I didn't want to get spoiled for Caprica. The anticipation was intense. I knew it wasn't supposed to be as good, but that's okay, that's what they said about Enterprise.

My very first clear impression was, bloody hell why am I getting a Charmed vibe here? Even the (so very bad) opening credits feels like Charmed.

Okay I decided to run with it. It is a brave move to make a spin off with such a very different feel. I can talk myself into anything (really). And I did find plenty of interesting things about it though I kept pausing it and refreshing the BBS and posting crap in the middle of episodes, something I never would have done with BSG. You DIED if you interrupted me watching BSG. Is it actually boring I wondered. And no... but fuck it was repetitive. There were whole episodes that were just the same as previous ones. Daniel struggles with his company. Joseph and Daniel look for their daughters. Daughters wander around smiting stuff and don't even seem to enjoy it. It did pick up towards the end, the two episodes before the finale I very much enjoyed (The Heavens Will Rise and Here Be Dragons), though the dragons were terrible.

I liked Lacey's arc, she was far more interesting than Zoe who seemed to have no personality at all. At one point Zoe says "the world is a cesspit that needs to be cleaned up" which is a very Cylon philosophy but there is nothing in Zoe's personality that explains why she feels this way. For a zealot there doesn't seem to be any heart behind it.

Other things I liked:

Great portrayal of gay marriage as completely normal and no big deal. People moaning about how having gay couples in Trek would be forcing some point need to pay attention.

Becareful what you wish for Sam Adama is a hit man, who makes a living by killing people for the Quatral. Clarrise is plotting to blow up a Pyramid Stadium and kill thousands of people just so she can have an opportunity to upload a handful of people into computers, and the Battlestar Galactica show has Admiral Cain as a lesbian, not exactly role models those.

teacake wrote:

---

Poly marriage was interesting too. I loved the birth bath scene, you don't see that on tv every day (the bath at home part, not the birth).

I thought it a satisfying portrayal of the worlds lost in BSG that we only saw in (mostly) post destruction flash backs. This is what will probably lead me to rewatch Caprica. When I rewatch BSG what I saw in Caprica will add some poignancy.

Cylons as self righteous teenagers with black and white thinking, hating mom and dad. I found the teenage computer genius thing hard to choke down but I liked that this was the genesis of the Cylon race.

POLLY WALKER. See other thread.

I must ask.. the dvd I had ended with scenes from the never seen next season. Is any of this available?

And finally, how 'bout this Caprican national anthem..

Caprica let us celebrate
Raise our hands despite the weight

"The weight"? What weight?

Had to have something that rhymes.

[teacake]

Mars wrote:

---

Becareful what you wish for Sam Adama is a hit man, who makes a living by killing people for the Quatral. Clarrise is plotting to blow up a Pyramid Stadium and kill thousands of people just so she can have an opportunity to upload a handful of people into computers, and the Battlestar Galactica show has Admiral Cain as a lesbian, not exactly role models those.

Did I ask for role models? No. I was complimenting the natural and believable way the relationships just were. You know, like how it is with Het couples on every single show in existence.

[137th Gebirg]

Mars wrote:

---

Becareful what you wish for Sam Adama is a hit man, who makes a living by killing people for the Quatral. Clarrise is plotting to blow up a Pyramid Stadium and kill thousands of people just so she can have an opportunity to upload a handful of people into computers, and the Battlestar Galactica show has Admiral Cain as a lesbian, not exactly role models those.

I think the fact that Cain was a sociopathic murderer of innocent civilians - women and children - made her less of a role model than that of having been merely a lesbian.

[Sindatur]

137th Gebirg wrote:

---

I think the fact that Cain was a sociopathic murderer of innocent civilians - women and children - made her less of a role model than that of having been merely a lesbian.

Heh, you shoulda seen the ridiculous complaint posts when the Soap Opera As The World Turns had their Gay couple kiss.

"How disgusting, my 10 year old child (or even 6 or 8 year olds) was scarred for life, when he/she walked into the room while that perversion was happening. I can't ahve this filth in my house around my children, I need to give up on the show I've been watching for 50 years"

"But, wait, the show is rated TV14, so, that's a warning they don't advise you to allow anyone under 14 to watch the show, unless you know the content and approve for your younger child to watch it. Plus, it's odd, that you're so up in arms about a simple same sex kiss, yet, you've never posted a single complaint about the murder, kidnapping, porno/prostitution, drug use, infidelity, sleeping around, and just plain lying, cheating and stealing that occurs on a daily basis"

[teacake]

I'll admit when I first saw Razor I rolled my eyes at Cain being a lesbian because the evil lesbian was so Mirror Universe.

[Sindatur]

teacake wrote:

---

I'll admit when I first saw Razor I rolled my eyes at Cain being a lesbian because the evil lesbian was so Mirror Universe.

Yea, it was cliche, even moreso since Ro Laren was originally intended to fulfill Kira's Arc

But, what spun out of it was well done and propelled many threads forward/to conclusion

[lvsxy808]

Mars wrote:

---

Becareful what you wish for Sam Adama is a hit man, who makes a living by killing people for the Quatral. Clarrise is plotting to blow up a Pyramid Stadium and kill thousands of people just so she can have an opportunity to upload a handful of people into computers, and the Battlestar Galactica show has Admiral Cain as a lesbian, not exactly role models those.

I believe part of the point - both of the characters themselves and teacake's commentary on them - is that the LGBT characters are indeed all these things, and so are the straight characters. Sam Adama and Clarice Willow and Helena Cain and Felix Gaeta are all as admirable and detestable as every other character in the BSG-verse. They are presented neither as being horrible people because they're LGBT nor as unrealistically noble to avoid being seen as evil because they're LGBT. They simply are.

They are not meant to be role models, they are meant to be characters. And the fact that despite his job Sam Adama is actually the one who probably his head on straightest of all of them just goes to show how messed up the rest of them are.

Anyway, as to the show itself, I have only seen the first half and the first ep of the second half, after which I moved house and was no longer in a location that showed it on TV. Obviously there are "other ways" to access it, but the fact that I have never bothered doing so probably speaks to my lack of excitement over it. Not that it was actively bad, just that it seemed a bit sluggish and meandering, and just as things started to pull together I had to drop it.

Had it been given time to develop I imagine it would have become a fascinating piece of science fiction (in the true sense of the phrase - "posit one little advancement and watch what happens"), and the earlier episodes would have been re-appraised as patient set-up.

.