Looking at “Heroes” and “Battlestar: Galactica,” I combine the two shows to come up with our new spoiler-filled slogan:
“Save Starbuck. Save the Show.”
BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA–If there was any single character in the whole of BSG who seemed destined for self-destruction, it was Starbuck. But BSG took a bizarre way of approaching it, having that self-destruction result not from depression, from recklessness, from a loss of hope…but rather as some sort of upbeat, spiritual, “I’m no longer afraid of death” moment.
Which would have been fine if I’d ever gotten the impression that Kara was afraid of death in the first place. As self-destructive as her behavior has been shown to be, once she was behind the stick, she had as much self-preservation instinct as anyone else. We’ve seen her wounded, we’ve seen her stranded, we’ve seen her facing death every which way and she was never deterred by it. So basically we’re left with a conflicting message: That she has managed to overcome her personal demons (traceable to her mother, there’s a shock: You almost want everyone who has ever blamed their miseries on their parents to have a sit down with Lucy Van Pelt’s therapy booth so she can say, “Get over it. Five cents please”) so that, no longer daunted by death, she embraces it. The hallmark of BSG is mixed messages, but I have to admit it left me saying, “Huh?”
I mean, was it compelling? Sure. DId it leave me gasping in shock at the end, even though the producers had been advertising that there would be unexpected deaths this season? Yeah. Did it leave me wondering how the hëll Lee Adama is going to come back from this since basically this one’s on his head: Starbuck wanted to ground herself and Lee was the one who insisted that she get back out there…to disastrous results. That simply *has* to be dealt with.
Have we seen the last of Kara? I wouldn’t bet on it. First of all, blondes named Kara have a habit of coming back. Trust me on that. Second, there’s two obvious outs: Number one, she was seen eyeing what had to be the eject lever. She could have blown the hatch and ejected before the destruction, and with zero visibility and the DRADIS nonfunctional, Lee wouldn’t have known. So she could still be alive. Number two, between all her talk of not being afraid of the other side, and the five unknown Cylons dwelling in a sort of between-death void, it leaves open the notion that she’s one of the five remaining.
Powerful viewing that was also disconcerting and annoying. Still, I have to think BSG is gonna take a hit in terms of fan support for this one, a hit that could conceivably damage the show especially when one considers that between the departure of Lucy Lawless’s Cylon, the death of Kat and now of Starbuck, strong female characters are dropping like flies. Short term shock value could be hurt by long term anger.
Save Starbuck. Save the show.
HEROES–You have to love a series with a clear idea of what it’s doing and a confident narrative thread. The casting remains pitch perfect as Malcolm McDowell shows up as the mysterious Linderman. It takes a confident evil mastermind to have a meeting while wearing an apron. The Red Skull wouldn’t be caught dead doing it; Lex Luthor neither. Okay, maybe the Joker, and Doc Doom is already wearing a miniskirt, but otherwise, props to Linderman. I may have heard wrong, but I could swear the two FBI guys were named Alonso and Quesada. I wonder what I’d have to do to have a character named after me and killed in “Heroes,” ’cause that would be cool. I can’t believe how thrilled I was to see Hiro’s sidekick, Ando, make his triumphant and well-timed…if somewhat unlikely…return. The battle of nerves between Sylar and Soresh was positively unnerving. I had thought that HRG would have no memory of Claire at all, so it’s good to see that his character wasn’t simply taken out of the hunt entirely…although I still have to think he was up and around pretty dámņëd fast for a guy who just took a bullet in the gut (unless there’s a super healer in the mix and I just missed that.) The ultimate cliffhanger of the episode was, of course, not much of a cliffhanger at all considering we know that Peter can imitate Claire’s healing capability. I would SO love to see him kick Sylar’s ášš. We’ll have to wait until April 23, obviously, to see if that happens.
PAD
• 
“Come on, mysticism has been a *huge* part of this show”
Yes, it is. It’s just the part I find least satisfying. So when most of the action in an episode is being explained by it, that doesn’t work well for me. I’d rather see Adama beat the crap out of the Chief again. That was awesome.
Posted by: David Hunt at March 6, 2007 06:13 PM
I’m sorry that the episode got spoiled for you, Bill.
Hey, it’s my fault. The spoiler warnings was prominent and very clear.
Posted by: David Hunt at March 6, 2007 06:13 PM
But seriously, with a thread title like that, didn’t you figure there was something momentous happenning in the episode?
I’m sorry, you must’ve mistaken me for someone with an actual brain.
Okay, I freely admit I don’t get the reference. What’s the “Shatterfist Principle”?
Bill, I interpret an amount of humor into your “brain” remark. I hope that I’m correct and that I wasn’t rubbing solt into the wound.
Alex, based on context I’d say that it’s closely related to what John Byrne calls the Superboy effect. Whenever Superboy (the Silver Age Supeman-when-he-was-a-boy) was placed in some sort of life-threatening situation, you know that he going to come out of it entirely unscathed because he has to grow up to be Superman. I’m not familiar with the character of Shatterfist, in context I’d say that someone from the from the future told confirmed that he was alive in that futre. So if you believe that the future is unalterable, then Shatterfist HAS to survive to see that future.
WRT Heroes, I personally don’t believe that the future is entirely unalterable, because I simply don’t believe that NBC is going to nuke New York. The whole point of Future-Hiro meeting Peter in the subway was that he was trying to change the course of events (his past, our future). Underr that theory, Peter is not ultimately safe, because the changed course of events might end with him dead, but Claire alive.
What will more likely happen is that Peter will just “push” him flying back across the room, and quickly turn invisible.
And that won’t do him a lot of good, since Sylar recently stole the one power (super-hearing), that renders invisibility pretty much useless.
Could do him reasonable good. Of the five senses hearing beats only smell for pinpointing somethings location. The one power that trumps invisibility would be super-sight. Being able to see into the infra-red range.
Personally, I’d blast Sylar back, turn invisible and fly up next to Mohinder. That way he can’t see me and I’d be someplace he probably wouldn’t think to look. Of course, I’ve had time to think about it and am not face to face with somebody who’s slicing my brain….
>turn invisible and fly up next to Mohinder
I don’t believe that he could. It appears he can only use one power at a time. Remember that he used TK in the studio, then turned invisible. He can’t seem to do both at once.
As for Ando, it would be fun, but I doubt it. His actions have been all over the map. He just hasn’t been behaving in the way a trusted agent would. On-again-off-again being pro mission, being against, being pro … and then ignoring Hiro to wander off with the woman … No, doesn’t make sense that he’d be under orders from Hiro’s dad or Linderman.
StarWolf, I don’t know if it’s been established whether or not Peter can use more than power at once. You may well be right, a la Ultra Boy in the Legion of Super-Heroes, but my take was that he’s still dealing with the use of any powers, let alone multiple uses. I guess we’ll know who’s right soon enough.
Heroes friggin’ rocks!!! (how fanboy was that?!)
They keep saying the cast is going to be somewhat if not completely different next season – I hope we get to keep some of the character. Hiro&Ando, Claire, HRG, all the Petrelli’s (though, I guess Claire falls under that now…), everyone else I can do without f necessary.
And although I keep watching BSG when I can, I so don’t care anymore. I wasn’t spoiled for this episode, and my reaction was “Wow. They killed Starbuck. Huh. Oh well.”
I have missed a few eps of BSG this season, and I haven’t the slightest urge to try to watch them. I’ll still watch for now.
RE: Battlestar Galactica
For those caught up in the moment that might not have been paying closer attention during the last moments of Kara’s “death”, the final exterior shot before Starbuck’s Viper blew up DID show THREE SHIPS! Two Colonial and one unknown, but presumably Cylon.
StarWolf –
what I was supposing RE – Ando was that he had come under Linderman’s influence sometime after he and Hiro had parted ways, not that he had been an “agent” all along.
with everthing Linderman knew about Petrelli, he seems the type who could dig up dirt/blackmail/bribe material on anyone – even Hiro’s best bud.
It’s all guesswork for the next 7 weeks or so anyway. And, outside of just how cool “I called it” bragging rights would be I hope I’m wrong!
StarWolf –
what I was supposing RE – Ando was that he had come under Linderman’s influence sometime after he and Hiro had parted ways, not that he had been an “agent” all along.
with everthing Linderman knew about Petrelli, he seems the type who could dig up dirt/blackmail/bribe material on anyone – even Hiro’s best bud.
It’s all guesswork for the next 7 weeks or so anyway. And, outside of just how cool “I called it” bragging rights would be I hope I’m wrong!
StarWolf –
what I was supposing RE – Ando was that he had come under Linderman’s influence sometime after he and Hiro had parted ways, not that he had been an “agent” all along.
with everthing Linderman knew about Petrelli, he seems the type who could dig up dirt/blackmail/bribe material on anyone – even Hiro’s best bud.
It’s all guesswork for the next 7 weeks or so anyway. And, outside of just how cool “I called it” bragging rights would be I hope I’m wrong!
Just for the record, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are two different conditions. Niki/Jessica has/have the latter.
Rick
What you say makes sense, Thomas. In the beginning, “Jessica” only killed people who deserved it, real scumbags, but now she has killed two FBI agents, and that psychiatrist too.
She didn’t kill the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist was tasered a bunch of times, but apparently had enough life in her to say “ow.”
Okay – i haven’t been watching BSG since i just now got cable (i had cable when the mini-series aired, but we moved…)
I just signed up with Blockbuster Online, so i’m gonna watch all the so-far-available DVDs.
But, ya know, i remember watching the very first episode of Hill Street Blues, watching Hill and Renko bickering like long-term partners do, walking through a door to see if there was a payphone in the building…
And BOOM BOOM – down they go.
Talk about senesless deaths? Someone steals your patrol car while you’re inside somewhere and when you look for a phone you walk into a crack house?
{And they were supposed to die and stay dead – but someone realised that without them, there weren’t really any uniformed officers in the featured cast, and on a show called Hill Street Blues, there prolly ought be a few.}
Anyway, the “everyone’s ášš is up for grabs” feeling that that engendered lasted quite a good pertion of the show’s run, always tending to put one just a bit on the edge of one’s metaphorical seat every time someone walked into a dangerous situation, even if they were high-billed.
PAD: I loved your crack: First of all, blondes named Kara have a habit of coming back. Trust me on that.
Speaking from personal – possibly painful – experience, are we?
Okay, I watched BSG last night. I don’t feel as though it were completely ruined for me, because even though I knew Kara would die there was still some suspense involved in watching how they got from “A” to “B.”
Now that I’ve seen it, though, I must admit I’m underwhelmed. And it has nothing to do with having spoiled the ending for myself.
Kara afraid of death? Not hardly. If anything, she was afraid to truly live. Always gambling, drinking, fighting, flying… but she couldn’t marry Lee, the man she loved. She couldn’t cope with her personal demons.
SPOILER WARNING — IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN “STAR TREK: NEMESIS” YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ FURTHER…
Kara’s supposed death reminds me a bit of Data’s death in ST: Nemesis. Why? In both cases the characters were mishandled, resulting in a death scene that lacked the intended impact. In the latest BSG they attempted to tie up the loose threads of her character only to come to a spurious conclusion that was dissatisfying. In ST: Nemesis, all of the progress Data had made with his emotion chip was ignored, reducing the character to who he had been at the very beginning of the ST: TNG series. Having done nothing with his character that was interesting or moving, they managed to turn what should have been a moving death scene into a tremendous dud.
Of course, I always felt death in the ST mythos was handled ineffectively because emotional realism was by design never the strong suit of the franchise. Look at the reaction to everyone on the bridge of the Galactica when Kara supposedly died. Look at Adama crying and smashing his model ship in the final scene. That’s how death affects people.
Except that Kara’s not dead. She’s coming back. I’m sure of it.
On Heroes: Why does everyone assume Niki/Jessica has a multipple personality syndrome? Niki keeps telling people Jessica is real. maybe she’s right.
The situation reminds me a lot of the twins in John Bytrne’s Next Men where one hero has his twin sister living inside his head. The sister died during delivery and used her possession power to live inside her brother’s head until she learned to jump ship to other bodies.
I think we’ll see that happening to Jessica/NIki.
Remember how she used her superstrength in prison to break the nightstick without Jessica in control?
Jessica is a separate entity living in Niki’s head, whose death triggered her innate possession abilities. Niki is the one with superstrength.
Linderman is cast perfecty and i still believe Linderman has a power or someone with the power to affect chance and coincidence. I’ve thought this for quite a while when the first coincidences popped up but it was enforced by something Linderman mentioned this episode:” .. and in two years through a series of fluke incidents you’ll find yourself in the white house, a heartbeat away from the presidency”.
Kinda like an powerhungry Layla flapping his butterfly wings to get what he wants.
ON BSG: I didn’t believe Starbuck is dead which made the impact a little less. After all the effort to make us believe Starbuck has a special destiny i’m just not buying that suicide was her destiny, especially not since everything pointed to a prophetic ability, an intuitive understanding of the trail to earth. Suicide had nothing to do with it and i don’t believe she leaped into the maelstrom to die. But death may play a part in her final destiny and the Aurora figurine was a clue i think. I think it is her destiny that scared her, she just wants to booze up, sleep around, have fun, shoot cylons and there she has this massive destiny looming over her that quite possibly makes her responsible for the survival of the human race. Frak destiny has always been Starbuck’s problem more so than a fear of death i think. She believes deep down but won’t let herself have faith enough. Except this time she went with faith all the way.
I hope Kara and us won’t be disappointed about what she finds between life and death because oblivion seems a waste for one of the greatest characters on the show.
We’re already assuming the final 5 need cylon bodies to incarnate in? My guess is the final 5 can incarnate in any body they choose and that when they do they retain only subconcious knowledge of their previous existence, enough to trigger dreams, visions, accurate hunches and the like to follow a trail they laid out for mankind thousands of years ago.
Posted by: David Hunt at March 6, 2007 07:15 PM
Bill, I interpret an amount of humor into your “brain” remark. I hope that I’m correct and that I wasn’t rubbing solt into the wound.
Yep, just a joke. I believe myself to be a quite intelligent person. But on a busy day at work I was skimming PAD’s blog during a quick break and saw that some of my friends had posted. I thought, aw, what the hëll, can’t hurt. Then I got a big face full of “Kara’s toast.”
No wound, no salt, no worries. It’s just T.V. after all.
“In the beginning, “Jessica” only killed people who deserved it, real scumbags, but now she has killed two FBI agents, and that psychiatrist too.”
Why am I hearing Arnold saying to Jamie Lee Curtis, “But they were all bad!”
OK…had to jump over about the last half of the comments before I head out to work, but…
Heroes – Nothin’ much to add. Love this show. As for the scar vs. Peter having Claire’s healing ability…to paraphrase the writers who do the weekly Q & A on CBR said, “Hmmm…wonder what could damage Peter enough to overwhelm the healing ability?” My own personal thought on the matter? Peter continually healing while Sylar tries to cut through.
BSG – After watching the episode, a thought occurred to me. Now, Katee Sackhoff stated in a radio interview a few months ago that Starbuck was going to die and be revealed as a Cylon. Half of that’s come to pass. But, I’m left wondering…what if she’s not revealed as a Cylon. Near the end of her vision (for want of a better word), she tumbled to the fact that the “Leoben” escorting her through it wasn’t really Leoben, and he responded with, “I never said I was.” What if this is bringing us to the current series’ version of the “Ship of Lights” from the original series? What if Starbuck and her destiny are connected to the “angels” represented there?
RE: BSG
One thought that occurred to me when watching it: Wouldn’t it be an utter mindfrak if, after dropping unsubtle hints that Starbuck was going to buy the farm, that she would actually survive and Lee was the one who was going to die? (Leaving Kara with a frakload of guilt and a promotion to CAG.)
Re: Heroes
Peter: Can Peter replicate all of Syler’s powers or only the one that Syler was actually born with?
I don’t think Peter will have an easy time fighting Syler. Syler is a pretty tough guy, and he was a threat even for Claire. Somebody else, maybe Claude, will save him.
On the other hand I feel they over did it with his powers. It’s too much for him to have constant access to the powers of every other hero on the show pretty much. Is it possible that he’s slated to die as a tragic hero? If someone has to die or go away, I could live with him dying. I think there is less to explore about him. It won’t be too much of a disaster if he doesn’t make it to season 2 from a creative point of view. But he may be popular with audiences.
With Nathan on the other hand there is much more to be explored (especially if his brother dies). Despite the fact that he’s appeared in many episodes there seem to be so much more to develop about him, and he rarely uses his powers. I hope they don’t decide to drop him.
Jessica/Nikki: I used to think Nikki had multuple personality disorder, and that her psychological inhibitions caused her to be able to use her powers as Jessica, but not as Nikki, and that eventually she’ll learn to be a more aggressive Nikki. But there is a physical difference between them. Only one has the company tattoe.
Will the show consider it too uneducational to keep Jessica/Nikki is a cool heroic villeiin dispite her homocidal tendencies? Or will she have to die to make penance for her crimes? It would be a shame. I like Jessica, and would regret to see her go. Nikki is a little too pathetic, unless she grows into her own in the last third of the season. Would an empowered Nikki be considered sufficient redemption?
DL is a neglected character. If he goes away, people won’t miss him much. Same with his son. But I’m curious about what they could do with them.
Mohinder: for 5 seconds he became Mohinder Bauer and was interesting. But except for that he seems like the most useless guy in the show.
Issac: I realize this is not very educational, but I find Issac the heroin addict to be much more interesting then the clean Issac. He seems like a character that could be let go without much regret, and he is guilty of manslaughter. But I’m often curious about under-explored characters.
Matt Parkman: Why didn’t he use the hero with the computer hacking capabilities to hack into Bennet’s computer? I like him as a character, and I hope they don’t drop him at any point. Like many of the other meek characters on this show, he deserves to inherit the earth eventually, and I don’t think they’ll have enough time in this season.
Mr. Bennet: I’m afraid the show will be tempted to kill him off in an act of sacrifice. I hope they don’t do that, and if they do, that he’ll reemerge quickly. Claire, I think, is safe. She certainly has a lot to grow into as a character. The Haitian is a mystery character that needs to be explored.
There seem to be several big players out there, who may be connected somehow: Mr. Nakamora (who is probably connected to the Dharma initiative, who have been so busy in the mutasnt business they forgot about the island), Linderman, Simon’s father (who owns the buiilding in which Mr. Nakamora handed Mr. Bennet the young Claire, and Mrs. Pattrelli.
The company should reexamine is hiring policy. There’s not much company loyalty. At least three significant employees have proven themselves to have divided loyalties. We also have to question are previous assumption that it was a government agency. And why is it that wo shows have mystery companies controled by mysterious Japanese?
I hope heroes doesn’t follow the ‘Lost’ pattern of adding more and more characters while neglecting others (mostly female) or just letting them drop along the way before they were fully developed. Sometime I worry that Heroes wil be as disappointing in it’s third season as Lost has become.
“Can Peter replicate all of Syler’s powers or only the one that Syler was actually born with?”
Syler was only born with the power to see how things work. The only power of his that we’ve seen Peter use is the telekinesis that Syler stole. So Peter can definitely use powers that Syler wasn’t born with, but we don’t know if he can use powers that Syler hasn’t used in his presence.
BSG: The “city of Lights” theory works for me.
I thought I spotted white light as Starbuck went down, and this series has pulled in elements used in the original series.
ie. the Pegasus return, the tomb of Kobol,
Even having the new Sharon come with the name call sign of Athena. (Adama’s daughter in the classic version)
This current series hasn’t forgotten the basic tenets of the old series, just uses them diffrently and in much more detail and time.
Whether Niki/Jessica is a true case of multiple personalities or somehow Jessica is really her supposedly deceased sister somehow inhabiting her body was never made clear.
I tend to believe it’s a purely psychological thing, seeing as “Six Months Ago” confirmed that her father abused both sisters. But the same episode also gives fodder to the theory that Jessica somehow transfered herself to Niki’s body when their father killed her.
I know it’s a superhero show and fantastical things are the norm, but that sounds a bit too, I dunno, supernatural for my tastes.
As for Peter’s potential to unbalance the show. I bet that Peter will be drastically de-powered after the explosion thing, but he won’t die.
I know they’re saying no one is safe in this show, but I still believe there is a core of characters that are as safe as can be for now: Claire, Peter, Hiro, Niki, Matt, Mohinder, and Nathan.
BSG- Kara Thrace is NOT dead. Period. They spent too much time emphasizing the hurricane-thing in her visions. Something led Kara to this. There’s a significance to her vision about which we can only guess.
Remember, when Number Three looked upon the face
of one of the Five, she recognized the person as someone she knew. Let’s also remember that Cylons
can have false memories so the whole thing with her mother (a wonderfully icy performance from Dorothy Lyman) could be contrived.
Overall, this episode reminds me very much of
B5’s “Z’ha Dun” and “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”
I’m thinking that Kara Thrace is really and truly dead. I admit that I may have been fooled by the Podcast the Moore did. He talked about the episode as if she were gone for good, but he could be an accomplished liar and trying to lead his audience into the direction that he wants.
“And as to Ando showing up at the last minute – I hate to suggest this & someone might beat me up for doing so – but with this show it seems possible that he too may now be one of Linderman’s agents.”
“You know, particularly if Linderman and Hiro’s dad are in cahoots, that actually makes sense. Be a helluva reveal, wouldn’t it.”
When I first read this, I inferred that Ando had been keeping tabs on Hiro for Linderman and/or Hiro’s dad all along, which I think would be a really bad idea. Going back and looking at what you actually said, though, it looks as though you’re suggesting that Ando is working for Linderman now, which would make more sense. After all, Ando’s already convinced Hiro to help him cheat at one of Linderman’s casinos, and he’s also effectively helped to steal a big bag full o’ chips. If Linderman knows about this, then Ando has good reason to start helping him to avoid having his head stuck on a spike over Caesar’s Palace, or whatever it is they do with traitors in Vegas.
If they are going to do a reveal for Ando, I hope it’s this. But even more than that, I hope they don’t. So far Ando looks to be the one ordinary guy on the show, the one guy without any powers, without any hidden agenda. Everything we’ve seen of him so far suggests that he’s accompanied Hiro on this quest and even put himself in danger just because Hiro is his friend. Considering that everyone else seems to have (i) powers, (ii) secrets, or (iii) less than two degrees of separation to the people with (i) and (ii), I think the story really needs at least one Ordinary Guy with no powers who’s just there to do the right thing.
Or to put it another way, as one of my friends did when I explained this to her, “Ando is Xander.”
If it’s revealed that he’s had a hidden agenda all along… well, I won’t say that I didn’t see it coming, but let’s just say that short-term shock value could be hurt by long-term anger.
The Haitian basically cherry-picked the memories of where Claire went nothing more. OOh and that evil Mystique-like woman. Naughty school-girl motif aside she’s the new character we’re gonna love to hate.
Ando is Xander- Sancho Panza, Baba Looey….
btw PAD- I am halfway through Sagittarius. Like it so far- I am a bit put off by the obvious insertion of current events into the narrative ( ie wiretapping- Gitmo references) Love the Nordic characters and the counterbalance of the Roman/Scandinavian mythos. Lawyers, feh.
“Like it so far- I am a bit put off by the obvious insertion of current events into the narrative ( ie wiretapping- Gitmo references)”
But that’s perfectly consistent with what BSG has done on the series. For instance, what else was the cure whipped up for Roslyn but a commentary on stem cell research?
PAD
Micha said:
“Will the show consider it too uneducational to keep Jessica/Nikki is a cool heroic villeiin dispite her homocidal tendencies? Or will she have to die to make penance for her crimes? It would be a shame. I like Jessica, and would regret to see her go. Nikki is a little too pathetic, unless she grows into her own in the last third of the season. Would an empowered Nikki be considered sufficient redemption?”
What the heck is a “heroic villain?” An antihero? A freaking Freddy Krueger, killing little kids and saying cool things while doing it? She’s still KILLING! And with even less justification than Sylar, who’s doing it out of his pathetic need to gain power and “be somebody. She’s doing it for what amounts to pocket change. I suspect that Jessica actually gets a kick out of killing.
This is one of the problems I have with antiheroes in popular culture. Simply because a guy looks cool, and has a clever quip to say while stabbing an infant through the skull multiple times, some people fall in love with him and consider him a role model.
I just watched “Taxi Driver” again, and while it’s unlikely anybody would imitate Jessica the way that Hinckley imitated Travis Bickle, I’d worry about someone who would pick up a maquette and build a shrine to a killer.
And again, Micha said:
“The company should reexamine is hiring policy. There’s not much company loyalty. At least three significant employees have proven themselves to have divided loyalties. We also have to question are previous assumption that it was a government agency. And why is it that wo shows have mystery companies controled by mysterious Japanese?”
I’m beginning to think that The Company is disintegrating. Very much like the Italian Mafia in real life, and like Tony Soprano’s organization, greed and unrestrained personal power is causing it to fall apart. Mr. Bennett (who gained the stupid nickname HRG…what are they going to call Linderman, “Hello, I’m A British Person”?) is a principal player in the organization who is using it for his own agenda. There have to be others. I’m almost waiting for Mr. Nakamura to spout the classic criticism: “All you Americans are fat, lazy and disobey your fathers!”
Haven’t read every post, so what I have to say might be a repeat of above, but here’s my 2 cents:
BSG: Even if Starbuck ejected, she could still be in serious trouble. After all, she ejected into the athmosphere of a Gas Giant, so there is nowhere to land, and I can’t see a Viper slowing down enough for a pickup even if they manage to find her. However, like many others, I don’t think she id DEAD-dead. She somehow either escapes, or she turns out to be one of the Final Five.
Heroes: I’m glad that the producers of this show aren’t afraid of ‘stunt casting’ genre actors; as soon as I saw Malcom’s name in the credits, I knew who Linderman was. Its also good to know that Hiro’s pop is a bigger part of the larger conspiracy (and not just a one ‘issue’ nod to the sci-fi fans out there). Finally, I’m glad that Mohinder wasn’t as dumb as he seemed. It was so obvious that ‘melting lad’ was Sylar, after finding the body of the mechanic. He should have just shot syler after he went down (dna would have still been useful ^_^). Can’t wait for April 23rd.
On Jess/Niki, I think the Haitian will eventually “remove” Niki from Jessicas mind.
“On Jess/Niki, I think the Haitian will eventually “remove” Niki from Jessicas mind.”
Now THAT’S a possibilitiy that hadn’t even occurred to me. It could work if Jessica is just a constuction of Niki’s mind. If she’s really the spirit of Niki’s dead twin, it might not work.
BSG: The producers left it right where they wanted it. They can leave Starbuck dead for the rest of the series, with this episode as her true finale. OR they can have that Cylon raider she kept seeing really be there and waiting to pick her up almost immediately after she ejects, to be reintroduced when fan sentiment reaches an all-time high concerning her. OR maybe the storm was the perfect formation to create a powerful natural transimitter for her download back on a resurrection ship as one of the final five. Heck, maybe she turns up on the series finale to spoil/lead the Cylon’s final confrontation with the Colonial fleet.
Heroes: The writing on this show… so many times I think I know what to expect. Especially for a network series, they do an excellent job of promoting it without giving too much away. Case in point, the return of Ando at just the right moment. It wasn’t hinted at once in the ads for the show. And when they seem to give stuff away, they do a great job of redirecting what’s in the show to seem like something else is going on in the ads. Aside from the show’s ineherently great qualities making for great tv, they are just handling this show perfectly, after so many mishandled boondoggles of other genre shows (or does anyone really think they handled “Surface” worth a dámņ?)
But that’s perfectly consistent with what BSG has done on the series. For instance, what else was the cure whipped up for Roslyn but a commentary on stem cell research?
PAD
I was thinking that as well, now that you mention it. My beef is just that it seems too easy, too pat to latch on to the problems of the day. Sometimes the mirror cracks. That is whats more interesting- not the copying but the re-coding.
All in all still a good read- have also picked up the next Apropos installment from the Lie-Berry ( they get new books pretty fast )and will devour it with great relishment ( and ketchupization as well)
Dark Tower- excellent, nuff said.
Come a long ways from proofreading indicia, eh?
Posted by: JohnLock at March 8, 2007 05:06 PM
My beef is just that it seems too easy, too pat to latch on to the problems of the day That is whats more interesting- not the copying but the re-coding.
Except they’re not merely “copying.” There aren’t any direct real-world parallels to the premise of BSG. After all, in the real world, the human race hasn’t been hammered down to less than 50,000 people and sent on the run by a genocidal race of machines hellbent on destroying their creators.
BSG has done an excellent job of serving as an allegory without being didactic. Take the recent episode where Tyrol organizes a labor strike. What a fascinating episode, watching the characters juggle the need for military discipline, pragmatic economic concerns (the fleet needs fuel, dammit!), and morality (it’s not right for jobs to become “inherited”).
They can keep on keepin’ on when it comes to mirroring the real world, because they do it subtly and do it well.
BSG:
I think that Kara did eject, and that either via the raider, or some other mechanism, she gets to the “hurricane” she’s been seeing since she is a child. What makes her “special” is that she is destined to follow the spout of the hurricane, which turns out to be a funnel that makes the pressure on the planet light enough to lead Starbuck the next marker left by the 13th colony.
I also think that maybe at the end of that light-enough-pressure-spout is not just a marker, but a small group of colonists with a cyclon sheriff (borrowing from the classic series that found other colonists after traveling through the void at the end of known BSG space).
Daniel
Is Kara one of the remaining five?
I really wouldn’t bet on it – she has mom, remember? None of the Cylons/human models so far can attest to having any kind of family.
Don’t the Cylons have all of the original’s memories? For example, the Cylon Boomer had all of the original’s memories.
I know the BSG comic book is not in continuity wiht the television show, but there was an arc in which the group fround a medic ship, and on board was Adama’s son, Apollo’s brother. It turns out he was a clone/cylon, and he had all of his childhood memories.
Ah, but are the Final Five actually Cylons?
Certainly the Cylons think so, but they’re hardly disinterested – if the Five aren’t Cylons, and there aren’t actually twelve models (or there were, but five of ’em got boxed), that means that whoever the Cylon spiritual leader(s) is/are (my money’s on Leoben), that leader(s) is/are lying.
So, what if the Five are actually humans – say, the Five Priest of the One Whose Name Must Not Be Said, staying between life and death?
Or even Zeus, Hera (the deity, not the baby), Artemis, and the rest of the gang from Kobol? Maybe the Gods are real…
“that means that whoever the Cylon spiritual leader(s) is/are (my money’s on Leoben), that leader(s) is/are lying.”
My money’s on Cavil (Dean Stockwell)being the one that’s hiding some sort of dread secret about the origins of the cylon models. He was the one who was willing to shoot D’ana (Lucy Lawless) to keep her from using the Eye of Jupiter. He was the one who boxed her entire line because she was trying to find ultimate answers about the cylons soul. He is the one who is always reminding the other models that their just machines and shouldn’t try to be more like the humans, etc.
Heroes is nothing like Wild Cards: It’s actually good.
I found Wild Cards lame all around–not as wild as a good comic, not as clever about super-heroes-in-the-real-world as comics have sometimes been, and Tachyon makes Scott Summers look stoic.
Lindemann was a blast. I love his discussion of perfection being only attainable through cooking.
For all those of you who think Starbuck isnt dead theres an online interview with Katee Sackhoff who says that Starbuck is dead, she has left the series and then talks about what she’ll be working on next.
First, we’ve no clear idea how the human Cylons are actually first created/born/developed. Second, we’ve no reason to assume that Kara’s mother was her birth mother.
For that matter, what have we seen of Kara’s mother other than the flashbacks, in which Kara is the only other participant? Clearly some of the human cylons – Boomer – have implanted memories that they believe are real, why would this be any different? She remembers a fûçkëd up mother and difficult life but how do we know it was real?
Wait until you see what Linderman has planned in the next episode…. I made it to the Paley Festival panel and they screened a clip with some interesting news about Linderman and his plans. You can see my report and links to others at sftvblog.blogspot.com .
As for the seven week break… Hasn’t anyone ever watched broadcast TV before? They are still writing the final episode and maybe are filming the next to last episode. It takes time to film shows like this. We’re still getting 23 episodes this season. For comparison, Doctor Who takes 9 months to film 14 episodes.
Lee Whiteside
SFTV.org
“As for the seven week break… Hasn’t anyone ever watched broadcast TV before?”
well Lee, there’s a big gap between knowing it and liking it.
“As for the seven week break… Hasn’t anyone ever watched broadcast TV before?”
well Lee, there’s a big gap between knowing it and liking it.
“As for the seven week break… Hasn’t anyone ever watched broadcast TV before?”
well Lee, there’s a big gap between knowing it and liking it.
The answer to Starbuck’s fate is in the first season, remember the “War of the Gods” episodes and the Ship of Light? I’ll bet all of my cubbits that she is with the re-imagined version of these characters that appeared in the original BSG series.
Summary of these: “Viper squadrons are disappearing from regular patrols, and mysterious bright lights are flying around the Galactica at immeasurable speed. On an eery, red-glowing planet, the enigmatic Count Iblis is found, apparently the sole survivor of a major catastrophe.”