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Post by paulpogue on Mar 1, 2009 8:25:58 GMT -8
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Post by K-Box on Mar 1, 2009 17:13:01 GMT -8
So much TV out there is predictable that I absolutely LOVE getting sideswiped by something I didn't see coming. And this episode did it TWICE in two minutes -- first when it became clear what Starbuck was doing on the piano, and then immediately thereafter, with what happened when the others confronted her. It's only been two days, but I'm being deliberately obtuse  . I know some people probably saw one or both things coming a mile away, but I enjoyed getting gobsmacked by 'em both. I was HALF-surprised, which is still no mean feat. As soon as Kara first MENTIONED her father, I realized, "Hey, they haven't even MENTIONED the piano-player's name yet," and from there, I INSTANTLY knew that the two characters were one and the same, which was why I wasn't surprised when he disappeared as soon as Kara was confronted at the end. Indeed, the only thing that surprised me about that scene was that it didn't end with Kara asking the bartender where the piano-player had gone, only to be told, "There was never any piano-player ... YOU were the only one who was ever playing that piano." So, thanks to Moore and Eick for sparing me THAT cliche, at least. The "stars" that Hera drew ... yeah, I knew they had some significance, since she kept drawing exactly the same colored dots, in exactly the same order, over and over, and it looked like they were on a line, so that made me doubt that they were "stars" at all, but yeah, once it was revealed that they were sheet music, I was duly impressed, because I hadn't been expecting that. And while I easily identified the opening of the original Battlestar Galactica theme in the piano-player's output midway through the episode, which made it all the more funny and significant when he talked about how much that piece of music had influenced and inspired his own later works (Y HALO THAR METAFICTIONAL COMMENTARY), I literally said "OH SHIT" when I recognized the final piano piece as the Cylon version of "All Along the Watchtower." |
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Post by jkcarrier on Mar 1, 2009 23:19:46 GMT -8
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 2, 2009 10:22:13 GMT -8
As soon as Kara first MENTIONED her father, I realized, "Hey, they haven't even MENTIONED the piano-player's name yet," and from there, I INSTANTLY knew that the two characters were one and the same, which was why I wasn't surprised when he disappeared as soon as Kara was confronted at the end. Indeed, the only thing that surprised me about that scene was that it didn't end with Kara asking the bartender where the piano-player had gone, only to be told, "There was never any piano-player ... YOU were the only one who was ever playing that piano." So, thanks to Moore and Eick for sparing me THAT cliche, at least. Yeah, I liked how they respected the viewer's intelligence there. When Tigh et al grabbed Kara, my first reaction was "Where the hell'd the piano player go?" Because it was just iffy enough that it could have been a continuity mistake, we thought. We rewound a bit, and nope, he out-and-out vanishes. Very nicely done. |
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 2, 2009 10:29:16 GMT -8
After watching the musical reveal again, I gotta say, it's going on my Nerdglee 2009 list. It's probably -- to me, at least -- the most impactful moment of the fourth season so far. And it is AMAZINGLY well executed.
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Post by K-Box on Mar 2, 2009 12:08:44 GMT -8
From an anonymous poster on my LJ:
I have to admit, it adds up.
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 2, 2009 15:54:23 GMT -8
Yep. And Cavil's sabotage allows for a decent explanation as to why none of the other Cylons ever knew Daniel was out there -- he turned out differently than he was designed, and odds are there was only one of him.
Ron Moore has outright said that there's nothing to the Daniel reveal except to explain why there's a number 8 Cylon. But Moore's also a charter member of the Russell T. Davies Lying Your Ass Off To Keep Fans Off the Trail Hall of Fame. Because with the importance of the number 13 throughout this series, there's just no WAY a 13th Cylon gets introduced and it's only there as a handwave to explain a misnumbering problem. Writing out an inconvenient, not-entirely-thought-out-plot point -- such as Tyrol's kid -- is one thing. Writing out the 13th Secret Cylon? Highly improbable.
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Post by K-Box on Mar 2, 2009 16:47:58 GMT -8
It is, yes. I've seen a few of his interviews and outtakes, and I suspect one of the reasons why the show's creators let Baltar's character go so over the top is because they find Callis so personally charming IRL that they're sure it'll come through in the character. True story: Apparently JON CRYER was once in the running for Gaius Baltar. Yeah. So, if you're bitching now, just imagine DUCKIE as the Oversexed Traitorous Space Jesus. |
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Post by K-Box on Mar 2, 2009 16:51:17 GMT -8
Yep. And Cavil's sabotage allows for a decent explanation as to why none of the other Cylons ever knew Daniel was out there -- he turned out differently than he was designed, and odds are there was only one of him. Ron Moore has outright said that there's nothing to the Daniel reveal except to explain why there's a number 8 Cylon. But Moore's also a charter member of the Russell T. Davies Lying Your Ass Off To Keep Fans Off the Trail Hall of Fame. Because with the importance of the number 13 throughout this series, there's just no WAY a 13th Cylon gets introduced and it's only there as a handwave to explain a misnumbering problem. Writing out an inconvenient, not-entirely-thought-out-plot point -- such as Tyrol's kid -- is one thing. Writing out the 13th Secret Cylon? Highly improbable. I'm still impressed with how well he and Katee Sackhoff played Starbuck's death and resurrection, complete with leaked rumors to the press that she was at risk of being written out of the show because she was supposedly becoming Difficult To Work With and having Creative Differences with Moore and Eick. That was a practically Kaufman-esque troll, right there. |
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 2, 2009 18:55:23 GMT -8
The icing on that particular cake was the Bionic Woman casting, which completely sold the illusion. People blabbing to the press is one thing, and plenty of that can certainly sell a big lie, but putting her in the major supporting role on a major-network tentpole show? GENIUS.
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 2, 2009 19:04:20 GMT -8
You know, the funny thing is, you'd think the guys who could plan out a Xanatos Gambit of that level would have played out the "There are 12 models of Cylon" thing a lot better ...
(Totally random nerd theory that can't possibly be true: Boomer-Eight's alternate personality is actually a lot more pro-human than we think. All those times Boomer would black out and her programming would take over to sabotage the water or shoot Adama, there seemed to be a sliver of her that was trying to work against it. She left messages for herself, like the "CYLON!" warning in her locker, and there's a decent argument to be made that she intentionally went for less-lethal shots on Adama. We never did find out who left the "12 models of Cylon" letter in Adama's office -- the only two realistic suspects are Baltar and Boomer, and Boomer had a better chance of sneaking in there under the circumstances of the time. But we're far, far too deep into the endgame to start playing games with Possibly Not Evil Boomer's split personality.)
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Post by K-Box on Mar 2, 2009 21:50:07 GMT -8
Extra BSG thought:
I'm really going to miss this cast of actors when the show is gone.
And not just the well-established and already respected performers, like Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell and Dean Stockwell (hell, Lucy Lawless, too, if you want to get right down to it), but also all (well, almost all) of the supporting players whom I'd never seen before, or else had seen a hundred times, but had never thought twice about.
Tricia Helfer started out as a total stereotype, but not only has her character (or rather, her characters, plural, I suppose) gained emotional depth and range, but so has she, as an actress in real life - measurably so, in fact, from her first appearance in the original miniseries. If she goes from this show to being typecast as vapid hotties all over again, I shall be hugely disappointed at the disservice done to her evolved talent.
Much like David Tennant, James Callis has such a winning force of personality that he manages to shine in a role even when the material he's handed isn't always ... well, flawless, let's just say. As much as I don't want to see him typecast, either, I'd probably watch him playing a million more con men, if that's how it turned out for him.
In spite of the fact that he looks like a Bryan Hitch rendition of human anatomy come to life, Tahmoh Penikett is one of the more engaging leading man actors I've seen in years, to the point that his portrayal of Helo felt more like Apollo to me than Jamie Bamber's relatively weak Apollo, if that even makes sense (sorry, Jamie; you seem like a nice guy, but I won't be sorry to see you go, since Tahmoh always outshined you). This guy needs to be cast as a modern-day version of a square-jawed Silver Age superhero - Hal Jordan, maybe, or Carter Hall - because he can convey vulnerable humanity and heroic strength all at once.
Speaking of comic book characters, Katee Sackhoff totally deserves to be cast as a harder-edged, noir-realistic version of Harley Quinn in Christopher Nolan's next Batman film. It helps that she usually had some good scripts to back her up, but even with the writing behind her, it would have been so easy for her version of Starbuck to plunge into the abyss of Epic Fail. Instead, even when I hated her character for how abusively and hypocritically she treated the people around her, I was in awe of the complexity and rawness of her sheer fucked-upness. Sackhoff has the glaring eyes and snarling grin of a vicious predator.
And where the fuck has Michael Hogan been all this time? Week after week, this man has been the most underrated actor on this entire fucking show, and he's the closest thing I've ever seen to an American (okay, technically, Canadian) version of Donald Pleasence. Any dumb fuck with a yen for melodrama can play characters who BLOW up, completely losing their grip on their shit outwardly and expansively, but what Pleasence and Hogan do, that so few actors even TRY to do anymore, much less do WELL, is DISINTEGRATE, collapsing in upon themselves, like super-dense stars turning into black holes. In fact, WATCH HIM AGAIN, in his scene of dawning realization:
With his weary, ornery old man persona, Hogan could fit seamlessly into the role of a weather-beaten coastal New Englander, which is precisely why he needs to be cast in a screen version of one or more of H.P. Lovecraft's works, because if you're going to cast an actor to react to the reveal of Dagon or Cthulhu, you need someone like Hogan, who has an unnerving knack, in his facial expressions, for wordlessly conveying that sudden lurch of sick horror that comes when you grasp just How Fucked Up It All Is, under the surface.
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 3, 2009 10:58:02 GMT -8
BSG has definitely brought out the best in all the acting, whether it's people we barely know (like Hogan, who totally dominates this season; who the hell expected THAT?), people we never expected to be able to pull it off (Richard Hatch as the Outer Space Unabomber? REALLY? No, you're kidding me, right?), and some extra-stunning effort from folks we always knew were acting gods (Edward James Olmos, who ironically hasn't had a lot to do this season.)
What most impressed me in the early days was how well-developed even the third-string characters were. (My definitions: First-string: Opening credits actors. Second-string: Series regulars who didn't quite make the opening-credit cut but totally deserve it. Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas, et al.
Third-string: Everyone else. Billy. Dualla. Callie. Tory, for a while. The Viper pilots. Even though some of these people got maybe one line every other epispode, it gave them enough depth that when they stepped to the forefront, it was believable. My two favorite bits: When Adama compares Billy to President Adar, and when Dualla convinces Adama to reunite the fleet. These were small players, but the background we'd been given made it fit.)
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Post by paulpogue on Mar 6, 2009 20:36:00 GMT -8
Said it before, I'll say it again: Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Hogan.
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Post by K-Box on Mar 6, 2009 23:05:54 GMT -8
Said it before, I'll say it again: Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Hogan. I MUST see Hogan playing McCain in a McCain-centric TV movie version of the election now (as the epic saga of one man's deal with the devils). |
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