SGU vs Caprica (Spoilers!)

[stj]

Shouldn't this thread be retitled "Ennui vs Boredom?"

SG1 was neither cheesy nor campy, two adjectives that manage to pack a lot of cliche into just a few letters. It was a comedy, or comedy/adventure series that sneaked in three, four dramas a season, tops. The story was "We came. We snarked. We conquered." As a comedy, the ridiculous premises didn't matter, because the ridiculous happy endings complemented them. Atlantis tried to get more serious but just got silly. This one tried even harder and just got even sillier. A universe where the pyramids are landing platforms for aliens is too dumb to treat with such solemnity.

When I watched the first episode of SGU, I thought, there's no way a man who's like Rush is supposed to be, is going to use the Last Starfighter for inspiration in recruiting staff. Rush is key. If you can't believe him, you can't get into SGU. (Liking Rush is secondary.)

BSG of course was praised for politically correct pandering to people all hysterical over 9/11 while faking drama that carefully emasculated any thought. In addition to being thematically dishonest, it was one of the dumbest scifi shows ever written, down there with Lost in Space (ripping off Dr. Zachary Smith) or the last season of Andromeda or the original BSG (Edward James Olmos merely played a supposedly edgy version of Lorne Greene's Adama.)

Caprica tried to continue the pandering with 7/7 hysteria but no one in this country gives a shit about dirty foreigners' problems. For good measure they tried to throw in a little Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell about how God is using the evil false believers to punish us for our sins, which, inevitably, are mainly sexual. Which may seem commercially lurid but is actually kind of nasty as well as dumb. The show's moronic twaddle about consciousness and artificial intelligence continues the tradition of TV scifi stupidity, except taking it seriously.

I suppose Caprica is slightly better because it's not ripping off crap like the original BSG or Lost in Space. But it takes a pitiful lack of judgment to watch Mad Men and see sci fi.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It also proved that you don't have to have likable characters in order for your show to get renewed season after regrettable season.

The only thing "regrettable" would have been if it had not gotten renewed.

Screw "likable". Give me interesting.

I don't require likable characters, just writing and actors whose skill I can respect. That's a high enough hurdle. No sense being overly fussy.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Personally, I'm sick of the term "likeable characters".

 

[Ayelbourne]

Caprica:
Great show.

SGU:
I don't watch it.

 

[Marc]

BSG of course was praised for politically correct pandering to people all hysterical over 9/11 while faking drama that carefully emasculated any thought. In addition to being thematically dishonest, it was one of the dumbest scifi shows ever written, down there with Lost in Space (ripping off Dr. Zachary Smith) or the last season of Andromeda or the original BSG (Edward James Olmos merely played a supposedly edgy version of Lorne Greene's Adama.)

that sort of thing was bullshit when you posted in the BSG forum and it's still bullshit when you posted it in here.

There was nothing politically correct about the show. If anything Moore & Co gave it a much greater sense of annihilation than we ever saw with the with the original.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

For BSG to be politically correct, it has to have a coherent viewpoint that maps reasonably well to modern-day Earth. It doesn't even have a coherent viewpoint, much less a good correllation to current events. So much for that idea.

 

[stj]

Being politically correct means parroting the official line.
Claiming that political correctness involves a coherent viewpoint that maps to current day Earth is also claiming that politicians spouting the official have coherent viewpoints that map to current-day Earth. That is foolish beyond belief. This nonsense is very much like BSG itself: A pretense of rationality.

BSG dutifully copied Shrub's claim that those lousy religious maniacs hate "us" just because. The show dutifully refused to give the Cylons a motive because that might have risked actually dramatizing a politically correct viewpoint. It did this even though demanded emasculating the artistic integrity of the show. That was easy because the show never had any.

No one on BSG ever blamed the military for failing to save billions of people. There wasn't even irrational survivor's guilt. Most of the main cast didn't lose anyone who mattered to them. The combined incompetence and dishonesty of the series is staggering. The way that the finale exterminated the evil religious maniacs who didn't come over to "our" side was a genocidal happy ending aimed square;u at their core audience. Those are the same people who thought a nightmare image of soulless robots with supernatural powers annihilating us was a thoughtful reflection on 9/11. No, it was racist hysteria from the beginning, and it was meant to sell racist hysteria from the beginning.

Compare the grotesque vituperation of Berman and Braga for merely making Star Trek the majority of the bbs didn't like. The idea that criticizing a TV show for racism by contrast is inexcusable really is peculiar, isn't it?

 

[Yoda]

Being politically correct means parroting the official line.
Claiming that political correctness involves a coherent viewpoint that maps to current day Earth is also claiming that politicians spouting the official have coherent viewpoints that map to current-day Earth. That is foolish beyond belief. This nonsense is very much like BSG itself: A pretense of rationality.

BSG dutifully copied Shrub's claim that those lousy religious maniacs hate "us" just because. The show dutifully refused to give the Cylons a motive because that might have risked actually dramatizing a politically correct viewpoint. It did this even though demanded emasculating the artistic integrity of the show. That was easy because the show never had any.

No one on BSG ever blamed the military for failing to save billions of people. There wasn't even irrational survivor's guilt. Most of the main cast didn't lose anyone who mattered to them. The combined incompetence and dishonesty of the series is staggering. The way that the finale exterminated the evil religious maniacs who didn't come over to "our" side was a genocidal happy ending aimed square;u at their core audience. Those are the same people who thought a nightmare image of soulless robots with supernatural powers annihilating us was a thoughtful reflection on 9/11. No, it was racist hysteria from the beginning, and it was meant to sell racist hysteria from the beginning.

Compare the grotesque vituperation of Berman and Braga for merely making Star Trek the majority of the bbs didn't like. The idea that criticizing a TV show for racism by contrast is inexcusable really is peculiar, isn't it?

I'm going to... disagree... with your assessment that BSG was a politically correct racist wankfest

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Compare the grotesque vituperation of Berman and Braga for merely making Star Trek the majority of the BBS didn't like. The idea that criticizing a TV show for racism by contrast is inexcusable really is peculiar, isn't it?

This!