Just watched, and I agree -- fabulous ep. Great work by everyone.

I have to admit I didn't get Starbuck's turn around irt CKR's character, but this was the only episode I've seen all the way through so I'm sure that played a part.

However, after seeing it I'm going to watch the show.

here are my thoughts with starbuck

• the machine understood her - knew where she was coming from, so to speak. Without her saying a word. she didn't have to explain anything . Isn't this what the perfect man ( or god ) supposed to be able to do?

• Starbuck is instinctive. That's why she could fly the plane ( ok, a fanwank , but it fits) . When she has gone against her instincts, bad things happen( good bye zak) . the cylon is confusing her. She Knows he is a machine, but his actions are very human.

Starbuck is finding one of the questions for the show - a real common question for science fiction - what does it mean when we call something human.

I think the fact that she couldn't predict his reactions even after several hoursn really threw her. Both of them, in fact, I think surprised the other, and it seemed like they were both thrown off balance by it. Because what is a machine if not predictable? Her tack of trying to make him choose between his humanity and his cylon abilities seemed promising, but none of it seemed to pan out the way she expected, and if he can surprise her, if his actions and motivations can be as fucked up as a humans, then... As well, when Laura came in and kind of woke her up to what she'd been doing for so long - he had kind of sucked her in without her even realizing it, because it had become more of a battle of wills than a quest for information. Again, not an easy thingn to do and still keep the You Cylon Me Human dividing line totally clear.

(Aslo - do we know cylons turn off pain at will, etc, or was Starbuck just assuming something?)

The "Adama is a cylon" bit suggests that CKR, at least, was more back on message by the end.

Having seen the Stargate SG-1 Season finale, I have one thing to add to the discussion above:

"Close enough."

So, the Escapade reports have been trickling down in LJ-land so I went and downloaded the McKay/Sheppard vid by Danvers everyone has been squeeing about (destina linked to it here in case anyone is interested) and... huh. Am I missing something? I *like* the pairing, I see good chemistry between the two (although I'm not as squeetastic about them as some other people) and have even read a few M/S stories and loved them, but this vid--there's nothing happening there. The song is nice and evocative and it's a really good-looking vid, but the whole vid is just alternating face shots of McKay and Sheppard looking intense and vaguely angsty and sort of constipated. I understand it's a relationship vid, but it's a relationship in a vacuum--there's little backstory (well, OK, one shot of Atlantis ravaged by the storm) and no other characters from Atlantis on the vid, and I'm sitting there going, "what did I miss?"

I do remember there was a discussion after the first Vividcon a couple of years back (or was is from an Escapade vid show?) about the backlash from the people who felt like the whole ethos of con, the emphasis on relationship and on slash in particular, got shortcharged by the vidders who were more into techniques than portrayal of relationships. Coming from the other side, I guess I fall into the camp that's no longer happy with a straightforward relationship vid, because I just... wanted more.

Anyhow. Just thinking out loud and didn't want to go blabbering in people's squee space and harsh their mellow.

I've downloaded it, but I was holding off until after the season was done because I understand it's got shots from the finale. Am I being overcautious?

I haven't watched it for the same reason.

Am I being overcautious?

Well, if you've watched the latest episode ("The Brotherhood"), you probably can guess that Wraiths are about to mount an attack on Atlantis. There is a shot of wraith ships advancing on the planet at the beginning, but other than that, I don't think there is much spoilerish material in the vid.

Actually, Sal posted about the vid on her LJ, and reading it, I realize that most of the clips from the last 20 seconds or so are from "The Siege" and you may need a context of those episodes to be able to appreciate the vid better.

Hmm. I've watched the season finale, and the vid still did nothing for me. I think a large part of it is that there's a disconnect between the kind of relationship the vidder was trying to convey there (intense, tortured, afraid for each other) and the one in my head (snarktastic banter-filled adversarial married couple thang.) Plus, in my head, McKay and slo-mo are unmixy things.