It looked waaay too much like now-here-on-Earth to me. This isn't another human culture, it's our North American culture transplanted seven hundred lightyears away, or whatever.

That's what I meant. The fighter spaceplanes looked like Starfuries, or like X-Wing fighters. I'd seen it all before in other series, and those series had never particularly convinced me of their realness, and BG seemed to be presuming on context to make me believe in realness rather than establishing it themselves. Like, they didn't even attempt to go back to the problem, What would life in space be like? They just copied everybody else's answer and decided that would be good enough.

I thought the plotting and characterization were thin and, on occasion, exceedingly lame, but it was the lack of deep thought on the part of the world-design that turned me off first.

but it was the lack of deep thought on the part of the world-design that turned me off first.

See, I thought they put quite a bit of thought into the world design. At least, it seemed that way to me. Little bits gave me that impression, like the thrusters, the sort of mish-mash of technilogical levels that you might find in such a large vessel in space, things like that.

And I didn't particularly mind that there was nothing (aside from a space armada with giant ships in it) about the world that seemed too terribly advanced technologically, at least compared to us. I thought it kind of new and interesting. I get kind of tired sometimes of all the various ways in which shows will try to do highly advanced tech, I think. Those all start to look the same to me after a while, but the tack BG took seemed different.

They just copied everybody else's answer and decided that would be good enough.

Yes, this. I'm rather disappointed, really. Not that I expected it to be brilliant, but Ronald Moore isn't stupid, and he spent a lot of energy going on about how the show would set a new standard for space-based show, about how it would re-imagine the entire concept, etc etc.

t yawn

Reminds me more than a little of David Kemper swearing with a straight face that the final 11 episodes of Farscape Season 4 were the best episodes they'd ever done. Argh. I love that show, but he was so very wrong.

Huh. Totally disagreeing with you two on this one.

And I didn't particularly mind that there was nothing (aside from a space armada with giant ships in it) about the world that seemed too terribly advanced technologically,

Well, I think that they explained that away fairly well. It didn't bother me. What bothered me is that everything looked the same as it does here, now. Even if the technology level is the same, things look different in other cultures, other places. Different histories, different materials, different minds.

But no, it all looked exactly the same as it did in S:AAB or Bab5 or Enterprise. Dull.

But no, it all looked exactly the same as it did in S:AAB or Bab5 or Enterprise.

Huh. I can see just a little bit of similarity to S:AAB, but I thought it all looked very different from Bab5 or Enterprise.

And I didn't particularly mind that there was nothing (aside from a space armada with giant ships in it) about the world that seemed too terribly advanced technologically, at least compared to us.

It's not a lack of high-tech that annoyed me; it's a lack of different. It was like they set up shop on the Generic Sci Fi Channel Space Ship Set, and then dressed it a little bit (with phone cords).

Space television will insist on using sheetrock for internal walls in a space ship. (They didn't even pretend it was steel.) And they always insist on individual fighters swarming around a large carrier, and those fighters are always shaped like needles with stabilizing wings at the back, and they're always flown by cigar-chomping hotshots.

It was just a resounding lack of creative sideways-thinking in the design. I'd seen it all before. We'll not start in with what I'd seen before in the plotting and the dialogue.

And they always insist on individual fighters swarming around a large carrier, and those fighters are always shaped like needles with stabilizing wings at the back, and they're always flown by cigar-chomping hotshots.

Okay, but to be fair, it was the original BG that started pretty much all of those conventions you just stated right there. They're being faithful to the source material.

It was just a resounding lack of creative sideways-thinking in the design. I'd seen it all before.

Yes, this.

Sorry, Sean, don't mean to harsh your mellow. It's popcorn for me: I'll watch part 2 tonight and fastforward through much of the boring stuff, but I certainly don't think it's in any way particularly creative, either storywise or presentation.

t shrugs

Yeah, I imaigne that's so (I never watched much of the original). But what's that thing about a foolish consistency?

I don't know. I don't especially care about the show in the slightest. I'm sort of sorry for Sci Fi, since this is one of their Big Annual Movie events. Although I loathed Taken, and thought both Dune movies were flawed, in all three cases I felt like I was really watching an event, and not Straight To Video 3 as would normally be shown on a Sunday afternoon's rotation. It was just -- unremarkable in every way.