What I've Been Doing - Battlestar Galactica (first in a series)

[aruan]

Thanks to call_signs and Designer John, I've got Battlestar Galactica drums haunting my waking life. Seriously, it's like your heart syncs to it, and your palms sweat and you cast furtive glances over your shoulder because they look like us now.

And as I'm just up through Six Degrees of Separation, I don't yet know who else that might be.

Former Editor Mike came by for a 15-hour marathon session of viewing and meta between 1 a.m. last night until 4 this afternoon. We talked "a lot" but, unsurprisingly, agreed on virtually nothing. He's a good kid, but sometimes it amazes me that we actually worked well together for nine months.

I love apocalypse stories, how the characters have these gut-twisting flashes of desolution and helplessness which can't linger because they have to survive, find others, rebuild. And then the things you thought you could trust start to betray you (see: the Chief's creeping realization about Boomer), and you cling to what you know too hard and fast and foolishly because it's all you have (see: recon for Starbuck), and you do things you never thought possible because when everything you knew has been proven wrong, that's when the things you thought were improbable turn feasible (see: Gaius' stuttering steps toward religion).

But the calm moments are beautiful too, like adding one to the headcount for the birth of a baby boy, Billy getting a split-second with Duella, Adama pulling Apollo into a hug so tight it's like you believe he can keep him from death by anchoring him here.

But beyond the compelling humans and their heartbreaking stories, I'm at loose ends. I believe the cylons want to kill off humans for good. I also believe they are fascinated by the fact that despite all our flaws we're the children of the gods, not them, and they're searching for that immutable something to gain communion, too. They've realized that making themselves in our image isn't enough, and they talk about love yet do nothing but use it to manipulate, and they understand nothing yet think they know all our secrets.

I'm not sure how Gaius is holding it together or how far apart the Chief will fall when the truth comes out about Boomer, but those two have me worried. Apollo and Starbuck are the two most adorably dysfunctional kids in all the universe, and I'm so sad about catching that part of last week's episode because the anticipation of not knowing if they'd ever get past pulling each other's pigtails would've been great. I love Adama beyond all reason and logic, and I wish he were my daddy so he'd read me fairy tales about a place called Earth from a book without corners. And Cally and Billy and President Roslin and Duella and SIX, siren-calling she-devil that she is. Is she just playing with Gaius for not loving her? Is she using him to get to the humans? Is she trying to sway him to the cylon side? Does she love him?

I want to know it ALL.

Comments

[callsigns.livejournal.com]

Yatta!

One of the best things about this show is they hardly ever tie anything completely up - they leave doors ajar, and I believe Lee and Kara's door remains unlocked, at the very least.

This show twists you, it parallels our world and it puts you in their shoes and makes you love them and fear for them and hate them (and oh, you will hate them), and you want to know WHAT'S GOING ON, but you're only slightly more omnipotent than they are. WHAT IS SIX? WHERE IS GAIUS' ETHICAL CODE GOING? The Chief, oh, and HELO, oh Helo. It just gets richer and richer, and now that I'm all caught up, I have to wait until Fridays for new episodes, which is aggravating beyond comprehension!

Which is to say, I am SO GLAD you're loving it. :)

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Oh, Kara and Lee. I didn't mean their situation or the question of them has been determined at all, but that unknown of how it would be if it ever will be is there. Man, it was so perfect too, that Lee wanted more and Kara lost herself in her baser instincts and forgot that she can be something beyond glib and fearless when it comes to him.

I've no doubt I'll hate them. My pragmatism, however, is pretty deep, especially when It's The END of the frakking WORLD. I don't yet know what they're doing with Helo, but man, that boy needs to catch a break.

Waiting = Worst Thing Ever is correct, sir. Can I tell you how I'll have to get some of those sleeping pills prescribed too by the time fucking JULY rolls around for Atlantis? There's a REASON why I got out of episodic television. When they diagnose me with ulcers at 25, I'm blaming The X-Files.

[charlidos.livejournal.com]

Yay for BSG!

I love the fact that there are so many questions. I love that they're not afraid of making things incredibly complicated. They could have stopped at making the Cylon unequivocally evil, but instead we have no idea what to make of them and their "plan". In other words, I think there are no easy answers to your questions. Anything is possible. :)

I've also found that this is one of those rare shows where I'm happy with canon only. I don't really need fanfiction or even that much of a meta discussion, I just want the next episode.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Man, the cylons. Is there a universal consciousness among them? How do they control their agents? They went so far to make themselves like us, but it's almost like they're afraid to go all the way, like they can quash their pain and snap back into a machine. The religion thing throws me off so much. I just don't understand their spirituality, these creatures who of all things in this universe ought to not believe in anything divine, born into slavery by weak and insolent and warring beings.

Yes! I am completely uncompelled to seek out the fandom around this show. The meta might be fun, but otherwise I feel like I get everything I want from just watching the show (ironic, given that they always leave us wanting more. Heh.)

[xalxuffasch.livejournal.com]

Hooray for BSG. Though, from what I understand, the old school BSG fans don't like the new show. I'm sorry this show isn't campy enough for them...

I only have one problem with the show, and it may be fixed somewhere in season 2.1 as I have only watched the first episode and am saving the rest of the season for a special occasion, its a visual problem with Starbuck's hair. The producers may think I don't notice, but I do!

At first I was confused by the faith of the Cylons, but it doesn't bother me anymore. It seems to me a very logical, next-step, sort of thing for them to believe in God. To me it does anyways. I don't understand how the Cylons got a monotheistic belief out of the bag of the Lords of Kobol. I think the Cylons understand the effects love, but are unwilling/unable to make the transition that would allow them to love, and understand it.

I also am very glad they were careful enough to make you like the President. So all her plans are all, "Ooh, thats a good idea. That might save them." Then of course the second her idea goes up against Adama, you think of how much a bitch the President is. It would have been too easy to drag her ass around the universe, having her just going against Adama and being nothing but a foil.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Man, the old skool BSG people who bitch about the new show can shove it, frankly. This show is not that show and should be taken on its own merits. If they don't like the remake then they shouldn't get into it, but don't begrudge the newbies their fun with purist preaching. And obviously, they're doing it better this time around, so whatever, yo.

Starbuck apparently gains longer and longer hair, which I'm so bristling against. I love everything about that girl, hard and fiercely. I've raved about loving all the female characters, which I continue to mean wholeheartedly. I've only seen up through mid-first season, so no spoilers!

I think that's a good observation, that the Cylons think there's an objective way to understand love (kind of like the machines in the matrix, lines of code vs. the hormonal responses the Cylons can surely duplicate). Which we know is not all there is, but their arrogance is as astounding as ours. The monotheism though, good point, I hadn't thought about the singular versus the plural of everybody else. It's logical to me insofar as the Cylons being convinced that there's got to be a higher power that gave rise to their inferior human makers, but the rest is as illogical to me as the concept of a god ever has been.

Oh, President Rosalin! "We've got to get out of here and we've got to start having babies." It was that line, I think. You're right, she could've just been a foil, but everyone has good ideas here, and sometimes they're both right for different reasons. This show is just so smart and excellent in every way.