I hate Battlestar Galactica so much. The original mini series was amazing. But when it got picked up, it quickly became obvious that the writers had no idea what they were doing and just made shit up from episode to episode. It was so bad. From what I’ve heard, Lost is another example of this. It’s one of the reasons why I prefer movies. The entire story is clear from the get go and there is no creative bullshit happening for no reason. This is one of the reasons why Chernobyl and Andor are so damn good, because the story was complete before they started shooting. I think it’s better now in the age of streaming.
The BSG 2000s remake is a masterpiece of a show. It brings together politics, religion, spirituality, and more and how that all ties into mankind and their robot creations is so good
I very much disagree. It’s not a good show. It’s great if it works for you, but if one is looking for at least a semblance of cohesive storytelling the show is just so bad. The miniseries the remake started with was very good. The show started off OK, but as it went on, it was so damn obvious that the writers had no plan and just made up dumb shit from episode to episode. Everybody’s a Cylon and I quit somewhere early into the last season because I just got so angry with each new episode.
I also disagree. I think they had a good idea of where it was going for the first few seasons. I do think that once the Cylons join them they don’t really have an idea of what to do with it though. The ending is a bit of a mess. I’d also agree that a lot of the B plots are not the best, and are just filler, and clearly didn’t have a big plan, but what show doesn’t have this? The main plot is pretty cohesive and consistent at least up to season 3, and I’d argue a lot of that was solid too.
I think, if you want to argue they didn’t have a plan, you have to reconcile that with the fact that they had secret characters working against the fleet that were hinted at for quite a long time before they were confirmed. They clearly had a long and carefully designed plan. There’s just an issue that they have to fill time, so they also have some stupid filler plots that don’t go anywhere. I think most of these are fine though. They still add character and depth.
He believes that a LOT of series, especially on Netflix, were originally intended to be a 2 hour movie, but Netflix wants “engagement,” so they insist that it be spread out over 10 episodes to increase engagement. That leads to storylines where they just create useless meandering plot tangents just to drag it out. Once he pointed it out to me, I’m seeing it a lot.
I just recently decided to start Him & Her because I saw that it was the current top rated show, and I quit halfway through the second episode, because I realized they were complicating the plot for no other reason than to drag it out. It wasn’t compelling, or mysterious, it was annoying.
Netflix is ruining cinematic storytelling, and the rest are going to follow.
I’m in the middle of a BSG rewatch right now, and I still love it.
I can see how someone would say that they weren’t sure what they were going to do when they hit season 3. But the first season felt very tight. The miniseries had the cliffhanger that one of the main cast was a cylon. It’s hard to argue that the first few episodes didn’t build on that cliffhanger.
If you’re saying that at the start of the series they didn’t know how they were going to end it, sure. There aren’t a lot of shows that have a multi-season arc all planned out in advance. Babylon 5 is one of the few I know of that did. The problem is that they never know when they’re going to be cancelled, so there’s no point in trying to make a huge story arc when they will probably have to end the story early.
As for movies being better, it’s true that they can tell a longer story than a TV series. But a 2 hour movie is basically only 3 episodes of a TV show (at 45 minutes + commercials each). Movies suffer because everything has to be introduced and resolved so quickly. The “creative bullshit happening for no reason” is often foreshadowing of something that will only be resolved many episodes later.
I kinda have to disagree. I know they dis make things up as they went along, but I think they did it pretty well. The writing and acting are pretty good — though you’re right it would’ve benefited from being cohesively written.
The problem I have is the ending. I hate it, but unlike Game of Thrones I don’t hate it in a way I can never watch it again despite the amazing highs.
The drama and situations they put the characters through in BSG are mostly intense and well done. Some of the things feel a bit random without foreshadowing, but life can be that way. Anyway I think the series is well worth watching I just… I wanted the last few episodes to be something very different from what the show runners had in mind.
I hate Battlestar Galactica so much. The original mini series was amazing. But when it got picked up, it quickly became obvious that the writers had no idea what they were doing and just made shit up from episode to episode. It was so bad. From what I’ve heard, Lost is another example of this. It’s one of the reasons why I prefer movies. The entire story is clear from the get go and there is no creative bullshit happening for no reason. This is one of the reasons why Chernobyl and Andor are so damn good, because the story was complete before they started shooting. I think it’s better now in the age of streaming.
The BSG 2000s remake is a masterpiece of a show. It brings together politics, religion, spirituality, and more and how that all ties into mankind and their robot creations is so good
I very much disagree. It’s not a good show. It’s great if it works for you, but if one is looking for at least a semblance of cohesive storytelling the show is just so bad. The miniseries the remake started with was very good. The show started off OK, but as it went on, it was so damn obvious that the writers had no plan and just made up dumb shit from episode to episode. Everybody’s a Cylon and I quit somewhere early into the last season because I just got so angry with each new episode.
i assume you bsg reimagined, he became directionless like the last 2 seasons.
I also disagree. I think they had a good idea of where it was going for the first few seasons. I do think that once the Cylons join them they don’t really have an idea of what to do with it though. The ending is a bit of a mess. I’d also agree that a lot of the B plots are not the best, and are just filler, and clearly didn’t have a big plan, but what show doesn’t have this? The main plot is pretty cohesive and consistent at least up to season 3, and I’d argue a lot of that was solid too.
I think, if you want to argue they didn’t have a plan, you have to reconcile that with the fact that they had secret characters working against the fleet that were hinted at for quite a long time before they were confirmed. They clearly had a long and carefully designed plan. There’s just an issue that they have to fill time, so they also have some stupid filler plots that don’t go anywhere. I think most of these are fine though. They still add character and depth.
You sound a lot like my son except:
He believes that a LOT of series, especially on Netflix, were originally intended to be a 2 hour movie, but Netflix wants “engagement,” so they insist that it be spread out over 10 episodes to increase engagement. That leads to storylines where they just create useless meandering plot tangents just to drag it out. Once he pointed it out to me, I’m seeing it a lot.
I just recently decided to start Him & Her because I saw that it was the current top rated show, and I quit halfway through the second episode, because I realized they were complicating the plot for no other reason than to drag it out. It wasn’t compelling, or mysterious, it was annoying.
Netflix is ruining cinematic storytelling, and the rest are going to follow.
I’m in the middle of a BSG rewatch right now, and I still love it.
I can see how someone would say that they weren’t sure what they were going to do when they hit season 3. But the first season felt very tight. The miniseries had the cliffhanger that one of the main cast was a cylon. It’s hard to argue that the first few episodes didn’t build on that cliffhanger.
If you’re saying that at the start of the series they didn’t know how they were going to end it, sure. There aren’t a lot of shows that have a multi-season arc all planned out in advance. Babylon 5 is one of the few I know of that did. The problem is that they never know when they’re going to be cancelled, so there’s no point in trying to make a huge story arc when they will probably have to end the story early.
As for movies being better, it’s true that they can tell a longer story than a TV series. But a 2 hour movie is basically only 3 episodes of a TV show (at 45 minutes + commercials each). Movies suffer because everything has to be introduced and resolved so quickly. The “creative bullshit happening for no reason” is often foreshadowing of something that will only be resolved many episodes later.
I kinda have to disagree. I know they dis make things up as they went along, but I think they did it pretty well. The writing and acting are pretty good — though you’re right it would’ve benefited from being cohesively written.
The problem I have is the ending. I hate it, but unlike Game of Thrones I don’t hate it in a way I can never watch it again despite the amazing highs.
The drama and situations they put the characters through in BSG are mostly intense and well done. Some of the things feel a bit random without foreshadowing, but life can be that way. Anyway I think the series is well worth watching I just… I wanted the last few episodes to be something very different from what the show runners had in mind.
I agree on lost it got stupid. Battlestar had a full over arching story line though.