Post by Mordraken on Mar 21, 2005 16:48:50 GMT -5
Science and fiction - One of the things that I'm really enjoying so far about this series is the "realness" of everything. The sets seem to be cluttered & dirty (as you would expect), what we have seen of the civilian ships (notably the one occupied by the Prez) look cramped (the Roslin doesn't have a very big office for the leader of humanity), and the space shots look like they are actually navigating in a vacuum (as opposed to things like Star Wars and Star Trek where motion was generally done as if they were in an atmosphere or in water). To put where I'm coming from in perspective, one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies (excluding the original Star Wars series) was Contact, which leaned heavily on science over fiction.
I am hoping that they continue the direction of heavily "science" influenced Sci-Fi in the BSG series, and stay away from logic leaps or using sci-fi to explain the unexplainable. There are actually a lot of plots that could be created out of the limitations caused by physics, biology and other sciences. For example, Cylon agents within the BSG fleet are cut off from Command. This can have two results. (1) they will try to contact command to alert the Cylon fleet to the location of the Human fleet and (2) Emotion could begin to take hold as Cylons try to desert after realizing that their consciousness may NOT be transferred to another Cylon because they do not have that kind of range (in other words - gripped with the fear of true mortality).
Speaking of that... I would expect a longer term plan will include more focus on the "emotions" of the clone Cylons. As they develop human traits (like Sharon has, and as the Caprica Number 6 seems to have), there may be some conflict between Cylons, especially if that emotion develops in conjunction with morality.
Another huge opening in the story is an exploration of life, and what defines life. Obviously the Cylons are sentient, but the humans still treat the clones as though they were sentient machines, and nothing more. Likely some of that is the psychology of war (it is common to denigrate your enemy to make them easier to kill), but some of it could be a lack of familiarity with the nature of the cylon clones. What if they knew that (for the majority of the time) Sharon WANTED to be human? And could the writers bring those feelings and emotions into the "toaster" cylons? (unlikely as that would require a whole lot of CGI/costume work especially if it is a regular character... although the point could be brought in with only a few minutes of CGI over one or two episodes). That said, I don't want to see this as something that we'll be hammered with over and over....
Overall I think they're doing a great job of the series. I have my pet peeves (e.g. Cylons in the fleet not making strategic moves to communicate their location to command; being "out of command" should leave them either inactive (like Boomer) or rogue (like the guy on the suicide mission)... but not both; activities by the good doctor are a tad over the top - not too far, but enough that he would draw suspicion, and the government press conferences... well... it may be just my taste, but it seems a little too staged).
Sorry for the rambling post, but just thought I'd throw the ideas up here. Good site btw.
I am hoping that they continue the direction of heavily "science" influenced Sci-Fi in the BSG series, and stay away from logic leaps or using sci-fi to explain the unexplainable. There are actually a lot of plots that could be created out of the limitations caused by physics, biology and other sciences. For example, Cylon agents within the BSG fleet are cut off from Command. This can have two results. (1) they will try to contact command to alert the Cylon fleet to the location of the Human fleet and (2) Emotion could begin to take hold as Cylons try to desert after realizing that their consciousness may NOT be transferred to another Cylon because they do not have that kind of range (in other words - gripped with the fear of true mortality).
Speaking of that... I would expect a longer term plan will include more focus on the "emotions" of the clone Cylons. As they develop human traits (like Sharon has, and as the Caprica Number 6 seems to have), there may be some conflict between Cylons, especially if that emotion develops in conjunction with morality.
Another huge opening in the story is an exploration of life, and what defines life. Obviously the Cylons are sentient, but the humans still treat the clones as though they were sentient machines, and nothing more. Likely some of that is the psychology of war (it is common to denigrate your enemy to make them easier to kill), but some of it could be a lack of familiarity with the nature of the cylon clones. What if they knew that (for the majority of the time) Sharon WANTED to be human? And could the writers bring those feelings and emotions into the "toaster" cylons? (unlikely as that would require a whole lot of CGI/costume work especially if it is a regular character... although the point could be brought in with only a few minutes of CGI over one or two episodes). That said, I don't want to see this as something that we'll be hammered with over and over....
Overall I think they're doing a great job of the series. I have my pet peeves (e.g. Cylons in the fleet not making strategic moves to communicate their location to command; being "out of command" should leave them either inactive (like Boomer) or rogue (like the guy on the suicide mission)... but not both; activities by the good doctor are a tad over the top - not too far, but enough that he would draw suspicion, and the government press conferences... well... it may be just my taste, but it seems a little too staged).
Sorry for the rambling post, but just thought I'd throw the ideas up here. Good site btw.