This is my reply to Mojo’s blog post regarding the regrettably, overly deep analysis that some honest, loving fans have done over the run of B-Star Galactica when it comes to star patterns seen fleetingly in the background. If it passes moderation, you’ll see it as a response to his blog… but without some of the corrections I’ve made after the fact in terms of misplaced commas and the like. Enjoy!
Mojo,
I want to take this opportunity to thank you and the amazing CGI/FX team at Battlestar for the wonderfully consistent work on BSG, despite the hectic schedules and the fast turn-around time that you guys need to meet when working on a television budget. (I do have issues with the CGI for “Daybreak,” but I won’t go into that. I understand that the special effects were finished a day before the episode aired, so I understand it.)
While I understand the astronomy or science buffs for being a bit miffed over the so-called “starfield clues,” they need to understand that the sole purpose of a television show is to entertain and, from a financial standpoint, make cubits for the network. (I believe the field you are in is referred to as the “entertainment business,” and as a business there are investments and the expectation is that there is a return on said investments in the form of recouping the initial investment and, ultimately, profit.) If these fans wanted real hard science fiction, then they could go to the library and look into the works of Carl Sagan, Issac Asimov or other golden age SF writers to read. Further, they could simply watch the Discovery, History Channel and other educational shows. The fact that you guys and gals cared enough to be consistent under hectic television schedules and other stresses shows your true dedication and passion for the art of making a television show.
The sad part about these fans (which are less than 0.01% of us, but yet are the most vocal) is that they have demonstrated a complete lack of understanding about what the people in the entertainment trenches of television production go through. I do not for one minute believe that this disrespect is intentional, but rather out of sheer ignorance and, borne from that, misunderstanding. I really wish the fans could go through what I experienced up in Vancouver when prepping for the first BSG auction before the production wrapped after “The Plan” and “Face of the Enemy,” as then they would have had their eyes opened to what actually goes on behind the scenes. Even my personal minimal exposure to this process has nurtured a greater respect for what EVERYONE in the production staff goes through just to make the show happen! Color me “biased,” but at least my opinion is informed.
I’ve always maintained that there are very few fans who (dangerously) read far too much into things in the show, whether it be the way something is said, or into the minute details in the background. And while it’s easy to say that “people will always nitpick at everything and so you must account for that,” it needs to be understood and accepted that you guys cannot account for these things. The conditions that, again, you’ve laid out in your blog post demonstrate that this is impossible. You will never please all the nitpickers, and it isn’t worth your time to do so.
So, yes, the constellations in the Tomb of Athena were a scientific mistake as Grazier admitted and, yes, Gaeta’s comment about them matching in Earth 1′s orbit were also a mistake… however, BSG is an “elseworld” and should be treated as such. After all, the Cylons don’t exist, there’s no William Adama, there’s no “other Earth” and it is all a work of fiction that miraculously lasted longer than its original source material. So what’s to say that the constellations seen in the Tomb of Athena WEREN’T the constellations over the Kobollian Cylons’ homeworld? Hmm…
Regardless, you all have done well for yourselves. Sure there were mistakes, but as BSG is a mirror of the human condition, this is to be expected… and, in a perverse sort of way, cherished and respected.
To those of us who complain and belabor things ad nauseum (and, honestly, to no point)… Be thankful that we received four seasons, two movies, webisodes and a spin-off. It could be worse. You could be watching Galactica 1980 for four seasons, as we could have a spin-off with just the descendants of the “Super Scouts” jumping for joy as they throw seeds into trenches made by lasers as they sing a space scout chantey.
Just like the fans, EJO takes it up his six in the BSG series finale and Ronald D. Moore opus, "Daybreak."
In the vein of keeping with the daily regiment of “blogging,” here are some sweet high-definition screencaps from “Daybreak,” mainly of The Colony and of the attack. These were posted courtesy of “Antartic Fox” on the Battlestar Forum in this thread.
By the way, not sure if anyone noticed, but during the rappelling scene Lee Adama looses the neoprene piece of his helmet as he exits the airlock. It would have been nice had the fruit turned into a nice blueberry in a flight suit, alas no such luck.
This is just one minor issue of many issues (all of varying degrees) with an otherwise mixed bag that happened to be the epitome of damningly love-it/hate-it finales in the history of science fiction television. I may write more about my views of the new BSG in general later on, since I have severely mixed views on the show in general.
Anyway, more later. Back to construction work before I fly out to California tomorrow. Fun times!
Anyway, after a long five days of cataloging props, we’re taking some time off this weekend. (We’re still hitting up the office for three or four hours to get things organized a bit.) We’ve received some much needed shelving from the set dec people and are going through what stuff we’ll have for the first live auction. Some very cool props we’ve found, including various knives (Dualla’s, Cain’s, even Tom Zarek’s from the “Home” two parter), the infamous Searider Falcon book, young Adama’s Viper helmet from “Razor” (the reference photo is seen below), Baltar’s trial papers, the Blackbird manual… all in all, some very cool stuff.
I did take pictures of CIC, but they won’t make it to the internet until the last half of Season 4 is completely aired.
And having said Season 4, I will reveal that I’ve watched six episodes of the last half of Season 4. I won’t bother gushing how great it is, since… like the Matrix… you have to see it for yourself. Also, I believe you guys can make up your own frakking minds when you see it. And that’s all I’m saying about it, because I’ve signed an NDA.
Anyway, outside of BSG, Alec and I are going to see “Clone Wars” in the theater, which is about ten minutes walking time from the apartment where I’m at.
Yes, I’ve been in Vancouver since the 6th. I can tell you now that it’s very beautiful up here. As with any major city, it’s congested like hell and driving is a bitch. Plus there’s construction happening on basically every other road, it seems. On the upside, I can pretty much get anywhere simply by walking. In my travels, I have seen coffee shops (yes, there’s Starbucks; I can get to two of them if I head east), 7-11s, eateries, sub-shops, pubs. There’s even a pretty cool comic book store within 5 miles of where I’m staying.
Of course, the very nice apartment that Alec Peters and I am staying in is a good 20 minutes (by car) to Vancouver Film Studios, which is where Battlestar Galactica was filmed. (They will be filming the movie up here, and are in pre-production for this.) I’ve met pretty much the main heads of both the art and props departments up here, in addition to the producers: Richard Hudolin, Doug MacLean, Harvey Frand, and others.
I’ve also walked a majority of the sets. Been to CIC, the pilots room, the Cylon baseship set—the hangar bay set was locked down, so we couldn’t get there. Saw the hero Viper Mark II cockpit, Colonial One all in pieces (yes, it comes apart, and they’re breaking it down now to store it, since other shows will start shooting at the stage it presently occupies)… lots of stuff.
Of course, I don’t have pictures of the sets yet. And, to be frank, I probably won’t release some of them until after the series airs, simply out of fear of being spoilery. That, and I signed a NDA, so I deeded over my first born to NBC Universal should I spill something. As I will have access to the final episodes, not to mention the fact that we’ll be having input in the new movie prop and set decoration (“set dec” for short), that was necessary.
And, as part of our job, we’re going to be documenting the breaking of the sets, so those pictures will end up on the Battlestar Props website.
In any event, here’s a picture of the view from the balcony of the apartment, since it’s the only picture I have of Vancouver so far. Yeah, I’m that busy. LOL
Still, I would rather have BSG end this season, rather than having two seasons with mediocre “filler” episodes. Makes for tighter story telling — just look at Babylon 5‘s fourth season. Half the season ends the Shadow War, the other half deals (and ends) the Earth Civil War, and it still had character development to boot.
So, yes, it’s been confirmed that Battlestar Galactica will have one final season, which will air in 2008.
I’m rather pleased with this news myself, seeing as most shows overstay their welcome with the audience. Most stories or shows just don’t know when to end, and just fizzle out. Like Sliders, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files (with the story that really went nowhere very, very slowly) and, most recently, Stargate SG-1.
In light of the announcement, I feel much better about the quality of the show’s fourth season, since I feel that the creative force behind the show will put their balls to the wall and produce some amazing hours of television.
I’m now psyched. We now have 24 hours of Battlestar Galactica left before the end. w00t!
Matt and Nat of bsgcast.com have pretty much summed up my thoughts on the rather lackluster third season of Baltarstar Galactica, and it was hilarious to boot.
Oh, and Matt did an excellent Baltar impression as well — the Adama torture scene and prison cell skit were downright hilarious.
Again, frakkin’ hilarious, and (sadly) dead on. Hope RDM and company can pull something out of some super-creative ether and give us a great 4th (and possibly final) season.
Then again, it could be worse… It could be “Lost”. Pfft.
For those of you that haven’t seen this, you need to do so. Fucking hilarious. Paricularly if you’re a fan of “Battlestar Galactica” and like the type of humor in Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.
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