Can't watch SGA after seeing BSG...

[ToasterOnFire]

I was into BSG for a little bit but after awhile it just got boring to me. Certain characters like Kara Thrace are painful to watch because of things they have done in the past. No matter how likable they make her in certain scenes the fact still remains she was part of a friggin DEATH SQUAD. They are inhumane and I sometimes I hope the Cylons do wipe them out.

But that's sort of the point of the show. The assumption of most SF is that the protagonists are heroes with decent set of morals and therefore always deserve to win over the aliens in the end. BSG turned that on its ear and portrayed most of the humans as mildly to deeply flawed. The viewer is supposed to question and even dislike the heroes. Hell, Adama has wondered several times whether humans really deserve to survive over the cylons.

I can see how that would turn off many viewers.

[Lord batchi ball]

I don't really like BSG to much emphasis on the characters every thoughts al most like a soap opera IMHO. But I do understand your discontentment with SGA I have the same thing, but I now watch ST Voyager, and IMO it is a lot better than SGA in the scripts. Some people bad mouth it but I find it enjoyable.

[Mr. Jack]

But that's sort of the point of the show. The assumption of most SF is that the protagonists are heroes with decent set of morals and therefore always deserve to win over the aliens in the end. BSG turned that on its ear and portrayed most of the humans as mildly to deeply flawed. The viewer is supposed to question and even dislike the heroes. Hell, Adama has wondered several times whether humans really deserve to survive over the cylons.

I can see how that would turn off many viewers.

Exactly, that's what turns me off from it. I like seeing my heroes with flaws but sometimes to me it seems they take it little too far on BSG for my tastes. However, I can see why people would be turned off from SGA with it's occasionally superhuman characters.

[dasNdanger]

It's dark and gritty, but I believe it crossed a line that it's depressing. Wouldn't of bothered me in the slightest if they all died. Always good to see characters with flaws, but the amount they have...I'll get lynched for this, because BSG has such a massive following. I tried my best to get into it, but couldn't. So this is just my view on it and why I struggle to follow it.

I totally agree with you here. Nothing wrong with dark and gritty - or character flaws. I'm a huge Wolverine fan (comic books, not movies)...he's a character full of character flaws, his stories are often dark and gritty...BUT...they don't cross over into purely depressing. I am always entertained by them, something that BSG failed miserably to do.

So, you are not alone. Join the 'I just couldn't get into BSG' club.




das

[SgaIsBad]

I suspected as much And hence the need for two completely different types of sci fi. One for adults and one for more family viewing.

(I think I'll get BSG on DVD & watch it late at night when little un is in bed)

Wow what a loaded question! And you guys fell right into it! .............."I suspected as much " Good job! You outsmarted the board members to give an obvious answer that you wanted.

If your limited to watching show's that are okay for an 8 year old, then you couldn't watch 95% of what is on TV , and you would be stuck on the Disney channel. Unfortunately, SGA season 4 was written for an 8 year old.

[TameFarrar]

Hi Folks,
Just a reminder to discuss the topic and not the posters

Thanks
TameFarrar
GateWorld Moderator

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

Why do people keep comparing BSG and SG? They're completely different shows, and it all depends on which you prefer.

I'm another one for the "I couldn't get into BSG" club... Watch a total of thirty minutes of it and was put off by the shaky camera and the depression.....

Also I've never been a fan of pointless sex scenes, which BSG seems to have a lot of (well in what I've seen at least). It slows everything down and is completely unnecessary. Ok, they've had sex, let us know in a more discrete manner that doesn't waste loads of time. Another problem I have with pointless sex scenes is that I feel it's a cheap way to appeal to the demographic, I don't like to think I can be won over that easily. There's a type of show/movies out there if you want that sort of thing, and it isn't sci fi

There's a bit I watched where a character is about to be executed and I guess the scene was supposed to build suspense but IMO it fell flat and I'm left thinking "24 is far better".

Before anyone says "but you only watched half hour of it"... I've never been able to sit through longer than that and my sister and brother in law (SG fans) watched the first season and found it to be a bit "dry and slow", so no matter what people here say I'm giving the BSG series a miss.

I much prefer that campy, light heartedness of SG than the dark grittyness of BSG. But to each their own

[brandnew]

Thank god someone is bringing that up, I was afraid to feel in heresy. It's incredible how dumb the writers have become on SG. Each time I watch it... And I'll always watch, waiting for the one or two good surprises of teh serie. But BSG has such a way of filming, of telling stories that I cannot stop comparing when I see SG, I think how come tehy film so badly. If they would get into the action instead of making their unmovable shots. Why don't they make some real characters development like in BSG, why are they so afraid that their characters do anything (they always survive, thay always stay the same, the only action is pointing a gun and shoot). And once again, when they say it's going to be "character development" I don't get any of it. There's absolutely not any character development at all. Okay, we know a little about their past but come on. We don't biographies, we need choices, moral issue, real difficult choices. Ronan should become a bad guy, take Atlantis with rogues while Rodney ould become a crazy scientist on a base he finds on a moon and wouldn't want to come back. I don't know... Stuffs !!! For Christ's sake, since I know I'll still watch it (and that's why it's fun), please the writers, the directors, the actors, do something !!!!!!!!

[Mister Oragahn]

Yeah, they're two different types of show. That excuse never gets old.
Problem of BSG is that it highlights with a sun flare all the shortcomigns and lazy pitfalls TPTB are guilty of these last years. Everything has become extreme, from nonsense to super powers to forced humour here and there, and while all could remotely work and feel right back during the real underdog era, now it's very cringe worthy.
Sometimes, writers manage to pen logical situations, logical enemies, logical and natural enough character relations, you know, stuff you could expect with people from real Earth... which last about 2 minutes in any single episode, on the average.
The problem is that you're dealing with four elements here.

First, a staff which doesn't renew itself. Lazier, less innovative, less pushed forth by a network to provide top of the art storytelling and adventure, they serve us with lame plots and super enemies defeated with equally absurd cheats, with a fine glacing of comic book characterization nonsense. Come in the universal Stargate forest syndrome and your average medieval village, and that's it. Have you considered how many truly new and exotic landscapes we've seen in Pegasus, for an adventure and exploration show such as Stargate?
That's the death gloss.

Secondly, the network itself. Thriving under the rule of SciFi is difficult, and you have to match the ways SciFi has been launching, nurturing and killing shows for a long time.

Thirdly, Battlestar Galactica, a succesful series, is dark. Therefore, Stargate cannot be allowed to be as tangential and ambiguous as it was from time to time years ago. Even characters have to be simplified and dumbed down. If there's a problem, it's quickly back handed and ignored ten minutes later. No complex cultural issues, no big questions on religion, never mind the fact that we're dealing with countless planets. The development of Pegasus is extremely poor.

The fourth element being that some producers and writers are decidely Trek fans, and not necessarily fans of the best frange of this franchise. Ergo the dumb enemies, power creep, piss poor zero balls chickening out time travel and alternate reality plots, and the mandatory yet dreadful reset. All symptoms fully acknowledged by many Trek fans, but for some reason, completely ignored by many Gate fans, probably because of the age of the Stargate franchise and where it comes from.

[Naonak]

But BSG has such a way of filming, of telling stories that I cannot stop comparing when I see SG, I think how come tehy film so badly. If they would get into the action instead of making their unmovable shots.

What exactly is it that having a shaky camera brings to a series?

Why don't they make some real characters development like in BSG, why are they so afraid that their characters do anything (they always survive, thay always stay the same, the only action is pointing a gun and shoot).

Ford. Carson. Weir.

Yeah, they're two different types of show. That excuse never gets old.

It's not an excuse, it's true. Not every show has to be Despair and Big Issues™ every week.

[Bytor]

Battlestar is a terrible Space-Soap Opera

Days of our Galactica.

you are a cylon
no, u are..
OMG, whos the cylon?
Adama is a Cylon,, NO HES NOT
am I a cylon?
maybe its Stephano!!!

by the way, I bought the mini-series, without watching it first (I was really psyched up about this series)... then i made it to almost the last episode of season 1... and got completely bored with the whole.. who is gonna be president thing and lack of robotic cylons. I'm currently using the DVD's as coasters.

[Pitry]

Lol, brilliant reply!

Mmmm, not really. As someone else pointed out, people take part of and survive terrible wars in real life, as well. And more often than not, the way they survive is by humour, be it dark as night or geniune laughing humour, but humour is what keeps people alive.
The complete lack of humour in BSG is what turned me off it. And the problem is, there's a good chance that the lack of humour is because the writers don't understand that inserting humour into your show doesn't make the situation less dire or less urgent. It jsut makes it more human.

Wow what a loaded question! And you guys fell right into it! .............."I suspected as much " Good job! You outsmarted the board members to give an obvious answer that you wanted.

If your limited to watching show's that are okay for an 8 year old, then you couldn't watch 95% of what is on TV , and you would be stuck on the Disney channel. Unfortunately, SGA season 4 was written for an 8 year old.

Well, against my better judgement but I'll bite. Well, nibble. By giving you a two word reply.

Doctor Who.

[~Dave]

I actually liked BSG when it was a series on TV many years ago. I was actually rooting for them to find Earth and succeed. The writers had so much more optimism back then. But with BSG today, the characters are people who make me not to want them to succeed. They are all like little devils in themselves. Willing to screw over the whole group for a feeling of power.

The writers of BSG today seem to have a very dim view of humanity. They seem to want this squabbling bunch of infighters and back-stabbers to die in space being unworthy of surviving. Maybe it's just a little too real-life for me. I want my heroes to be a little more perfect. And my outlook for humanity to be left a little more intact. BSG is just not watchable for me today.

~Dave

[SgaIsBad]

Quote:
Why don't they make some real characters development like in BSG, why are they so afraid that their characters do anything (they always survive, thay always stay the same, the only action is pointing a gun and shoot).

Ford. Carson. Weir.


Killing and firing three characters from the show off doesn't constitute development to me.

[Spidey3121]

I never really got into BSG. I haven't watched it recently but i gave it a shot once upon a time. It really just didn't grab my attention. I know it has a loyal fanbase + a ton of people will vouche for it being the greatest Sci-Fi series but i just don't find it so. Yes, SGA has plenty of flaws + certainly isn't on the level of SG-1 but i tend to find it is a very entertaining show on a week to week basis.