Here’s the thing with Battlestar Galactica. For some, maybe many, the mini-series is neither very compelling, nor very promising. I didn’t see it first. I had a friend who actually hated the premier, then was stunned at how much he loved the episodes, so he insisted upon showing me some. I first saw “33”, and then five more episodes, and I loved them too, this despite his having to pause the show about every 5 to 10 minutes to fill me in on background I needed, and our viewing these episodes on the last VHS tapes I ever actually watched in my life, said shows even taped at the grainy, fuzzy, hard to hear, 6 hour SPL speed. Still, I loved them.
Years later I decided to go through the blu-ray complete box set with a friend, and I warned her about the mini-series. It had a general, though not universal, bad rep, but I said that we needed to at least give the show until the 5th regular episode before dismissing it. What mystified me was that, for us, the mini-series was pretty great. Interesting, promising, all of that. On we went, and the show generally kept getting better.
Later, she ran the mini-series for her dad, who she was sure would love it, and he was just bored. He wouldn’t even try an episode after that. It mystified both of us. And my friend who’d hated it bought it on DVD, and still pretty much couldn’t be bothered with it.
So, without any reference to my own view of it as a production, I have to say that the mini-series can be an unreliable marker of the quality of the show, but is also necessary set-up. Even if it read as so-so or lousy, at worst it’s still worth enduring to get to the show proper. This means that to give Galactica a fair shot as a series, I think you should go five episodes past the premier, to the one called “You Can’t Go Home Again.” If it doesn’t have you equally by heart and mind by then, then this is not a series you’re going to enjoy. It’s more likely that it will have earned a lot of credibility for its intelligence and integrity about the human condition, and its storytelling strength, and it will become enjoyably compelling.
So Tyler, when you can, do press on? It’s kind of a stunning achievement.
I called that thing *every* morning for months. The phone number was the release date for The Empire Strikes Back. C-3PO was first, for maybe a week, then I heard Vader for a whole month (!), then Luke, then Leia just before the movie came out. I’d known that there were to be five, but I never got to hear Han. It was a fun thing for a little kid.
What’s your favorite IJ punishment, Bax? I think the time they had Q shit-talk his “daughter” at the girl’s little league game was the most brutal, but I’m also partial to throwing Murr out of a plan (“cry diving”) And of course, Sal’s “Who’s phone is ringing?” is classic.
Sal’s always the best to see punished. I think the one where he had to keep calling out “Bingo!” at a bingo hall is wonderfully excruciating, especially since I’ve learned from my mother-in-law how seriously people take that stuff.
I also like when they gift-wrapped every single item in Joe’s house. Joe is a tough one to punish because he just doesn’t give a fuck, but that one really worked. I think the trick is to do something that intrudes on his private life, because he seems to have a much more compartmentalized on/off-camera life.
Oh, that reminds me of the one where Murr had to sit in a room with a bunch of kids and watch a live feed of the other dudes smashing up his apartment.
Here’s the thing with Battlestar Galactica. For some, maybe many, the mini-series is neither very compelling, nor very promising. I didn’t see it first. I had a friend who actually hated the premier, then was stunned at how much he loved the episodes, so he insisted upon showing me some. I first saw “33”, and then five more episodes, and I loved them too, this despite his having to pause the show about every 5 to 10 minutes to fill me in on background I needed, and our viewing these episodes on the last VHS tapes I ever actually watched in my life, said shows even taped at the grainy, fuzzy, hard to hear, 6 hour SPL speed. Still, I loved them.
Years later I decided to go through the blu-ray complete box set with a friend, and I warned her about the mini-series. It had a general, though not universal, bad rep, but I said that we needed to at least give the show until the 5th regular episode before dismissing it. What mystified me was that, for us, the mini-series was pretty great. Interesting, promising, all of that. On we went, and the show generally kept getting better.
Later, she ran the mini-series for her dad, who she was sure would love it, and he was just bored. He wouldn’t even try an episode after that. It mystified both of us. And my friend who’d hated it bought it on DVD, and still pretty much couldn’t be bothered with it.
So, without any reference to my own view of it as a production, I have to say that the mini-series can be an unreliable marker of the quality of the show, but is also necessary set-up. Even if it read as so-so or lousy, at worst it’s still worth enduring to get to the show proper. This means that to give Galactica a fair shot as a series, I think you should go five episodes past the premier, to the one called “You Can’t Go Home Again.” If it doesn’t have you equally by heart and mind by then, then this is not a series you’re going to enjoy. It’s more likely that it will have earned a lot of credibility for its intelligence and integrity about the human condition, and its storytelling strength, and it will become enjoyably compelling.
So Tyler, when you can, do press on? It’s kind of a stunning achievement.
1 (800) 521-1980
I called that thing *every* morning for months. The phone number was the release date for The Empire Strikes Back. C-3PO was first, for maybe a week, then I heard Vader for a whole month (!), then Luke, then Leia just before the movie came out. I’d known that there were to be five, but I never got to hear Han. It was a fun thing for a little kid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-zhwJnFKM
So, I assume everything is alright at David’s now?
Yep! Thanks for asking!
– David
What’s your favorite IJ punishment, Bax? I think the time they had Q shit-talk his “daughter” at the girl’s little league game was the most brutal, but I’m also partial to throwing Murr out of a plan (“cry diving”) And of course, Sal’s “Who’s phone is ringing?” is classic.
Sal’s always the best to see punished. I think the one where he had to keep calling out “Bingo!” at a bingo hall is wonderfully excruciating, especially since I’ve learned from my mother-in-law how seriously people take that stuff.
– David
I also like when they gift-wrapped every single item in Joe’s house. Joe is a tough one to punish because he just doesn’t give a fuck, but that one really worked. I think the trick is to do something that intrudes on his private life, because he seems to have a much more compartmentalized on/off-camera life.
Oh, that reminds me of the one where Murr had to sit in a room with a bunch of kids and watch a live feed of the other dudes smashing up his apartment.
– David