tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post8118590248189191339..comments2024-03-25T19:18:14.047-04:00Comments on What's Alan Watching?: Battlestar Galactica: Ron Moore talks about the final seasonAlan Sepinwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-44761262063425080242009-01-14T04:14:00.000-05:002009-01-14T04:14:00.000-05:00I just finished reading a great book about seriali...I just finished reading a great book about serialized fiction writing, and was surprised by this quote from Jack London, "The only moments of true suspense arise when the reader and the writer don't know how things can possibly turn out."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-27352733319429702602009-01-13T03:25:00.000-05:002009-01-13T03:25:00.000-05:00Misterd - I'm shocked to hear that Sinclair was no...Misterd - I'm shocked to hear that Sinclair was not supposed to be replaced with Sheriden (or Tron as he will always be to me!). It just seems so... essential. It's been a while since I've seen any of it, but thinking back it's hard for me to imagine how they could have planned out the entire 5 years of the show and that NOT been planned. Wow. Well, good job to them, then!<BR/><BR/>I loved this interview, too! Thanks, Alan. So, I watched Seasons 1-3 over the summer, in pretty quick succession, and I watched 4.0 last week. (Like, I literally went to the video store as soon as it opened on the day the DVDs were released.) And up until I read this interview, I had never once suspected that the writers didn't have at least a big picture idea of the beginning, middle and end of this story from the very beginning. That it wasn't all going somewhere planned, that any of the big stuff was written as they go. So I have to disagree with those who think they haven't done a good job of letting the story naturally unfold based on a sturdy groundwork that they've laid as they've gone. I mean, I've suspected Tyrol of Cylonhood since he beat up Callie. If he hadn't turned out to be a Cylon, at the end of the series I most definitely would have been asking wtf that was all about. So maybe that was just a red herring at the time, but it certainly played out. (Although given that he's still the same good guy he's always been and doesn't seem to have any eeeeeeeevil tendencies, I'm still not sure wtf that was all about.)<BR/><BR/>To be honest, at this point I'm way less interested in the Earth storyline that the answers to all of the questions you posed, Alan. I'm definitely interested in seeing where it goes, but I think they've done such a good job with the characters and their stories and the big metaphysical questions that there is where my interest really lies.electriciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18265084293417817923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-57083241846737796422009-01-07T13:04:00.000-05:002009-01-07T13:04:00.000-05:00Sorry, I should have stated outright thanks for th...Sorry, I should have stated outright thanks for this interview. One of the better ones I've read, and "The List" is exactly what we've all wanted to know.<BR/><BR/>To toss in more cents on the "planning" thing, sometimes it works out, sometimes its a trap, and its rarely as detailed as people think.<BR/><BR/>The Wire was essentially worked out thematically - they knew that the third season would deal with politics, fourth education, fifth media/news, but its not something that had detailed arcs for all the characters.<BR/><BR/>Babylon 5 was more fluid than people realize, even though JMS had it broken down nearly episode by episode. Sinclair was never supposed to be replaced by Sheriden, for example. That was a decision made late in season 1 (due, I think, to the actor playing Sinclair not quite being a compelling lead). And I think B5 got hurt at times because it knew where it was going, and through visions and time travel, started to show too much to the audience, taking some bite out of the final events and some spontaneity from the series itself.<BR/><BR/>With Lost, Season 3 was hurt because of the plan - they knew where they were going, but not how long they had to get their. The show was a big enough hit they knew they were going to be on air for several more seasons, and ABC, not the creators, had the say when it would end. That resulted in some foot dragging because they couldn't plan out how to pace the unfolding of the story.<BR/><BR/>In the end their are strengths and weaknesses to each format, and we could comb through countless examples of brilliant storytelling that has used either format to support one side or the other. In the end every artist is different, and every story is different, and you have let them play out their own way. Judge the result, not the methodology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-78363394972291959682009-01-07T12:47:00.000-05:002009-01-07T12:47:00.000-05:00I can understand the frustration, but at the same ...I can understand the frustration, but at the same time, we knew 4 (or 5) of the characters were Cylons. Fans were wondering who they were and trying to piece it together for some time, and I have to assume the writers were doing the same. When the Final Four were revealed, I wasn't surprised by any of them. Tyrol and Tory and Anders all made perfect sense, and Tigh, from a story telling point of view, was just so delicious how could you not make him a Cylon?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-71668802155411267272009-01-07T12:46:00.000-05:002009-01-07T12:46:00.000-05:00Interesting - thanks for the interview. I was jus...Interesting - thanks for the interview. I was just thinking today that it is odd that somehow all of these final five cylons ended up surviving and together - the odds against have got to be astonomical. I don't know if they have discussed this on the series, but as an indication that something "miraculous" or "planned" with a puppeteer pulling the strings is pretty compelling.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-37628101844909400432009-01-06T02:11:00.000-05:002009-01-06T02:11:00.000-05:00my boyfriend loves your blog. I think I do too.Yo...my boyfriend loves your blog. I think I do too.<BR/><BR/>Your ardent respect for BSG broke down his "Eff sci-fi" mentality. Thank you.<BR/><BR/>My next step is to get him to watch an episode of Buffy besides "Once More with Feeling."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-12199724482343633442009-01-05T16:36:00.000-05:002009-01-05T16:36:00.000-05:00This is an utterly fantastic interview. You asked ...This is an utterly fantastic interview. You asked all the right questions, and it seems like you really had a rapport with Mr. Moore. Thank you for sharing this!krisishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14287081979883878161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-81995912854517241612009-01-04T16:59:00.000-05:002009-01-04T16:59:00.000-05:00I am curious as to how many of the people debating...I am curious as to how many of the people debating the coherence (or lack thereof) of BSG have had a chance to rewatch the episodes in close order?<BR/><BR/>Love the show, never bought the dvds (will probably wait for series set if/when it appears), but took advantage of the marathon SciFi did prior to the start of 4.0 last spring. I should also disclose that I found 4.0 to be on par with S1 and S2. Even though I have found the show to be incoherent from week to week, it holds up much better in bursts than one might think for a show which was clearly not planned in advance. Even S3, which I found as frustrating for the most part as some of you when first aired, looks much better in this light. There are still some frustrating individual episodes, but when this show is on, it is superior to Lost. However, it is more likely than Lost (the Jack gets some of his tats ep notwithstanding) of laying a turd.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-77099521978206020482009-01-04T14:01:00.000-05:002009-01-04T14:01:00.000-05:00That's not true at all. The first third of season ...<I>That's not true at all. The first third of season 3 is pretty bad, but then they struck that deal with ABC to end the show and the back half of the season gave some of the best episodes in the entire series.</I><BR/><BR/>Anonymous: I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree here. Granted, there were excellent individual episodes but, as a whole, I stand by my assertion that season three was a mess. <BR/><BR/>And where BSG is concerned, well it was also a "whim" that Helo survived the mini-series. I think that worked out fairly well. :)Craig Ranapiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923246310584658857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-64821761063214045262009-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:002009-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:00Meh... Then you have 'Lost' -- where the grand mas...<I> Meh... Then you have 'Lost' -- where the grand master plan didn't stop season three from being a dull, incoherent suck-apalooza</I><BR/><BR/>That's not true at all. The first third of season 3 is pretty bad, but then they struck that deal with ABC to end the show and the back half of the season gave some of the best episodes in the entire series (Greatest Hits, Through the Looking Glass, The Man Behind the Curtain, etc.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-58002438072606321362009-01-04T07:19:00.000-05:002009-01-04T07:19:00.000-05:00As much as I love this show, it really is frustrat...<I>As much as I love this show, it really is frustrating to hear how RM just decides on a whim such major plot points as "let's make 4 main characters find out they are cylons".</I><BR/><BR/>Meh... Then you have 'Lost' -- where the grand master plan didn't stop season three from being a dull, incoherent suck-apalooza.Craig Ranapiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923246310584658857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-4980098966377467572009-01-03T13:17:00.000-05:002009-01-03T13:17:00.000-05:00"However, I can personally attest to the fact that...<I>"However, I can personally attest to the fact that you can write without a complete outline for your book and not need to go back and tweak a ton of things to make a plot work from beginning to end."</I><BR/><BR/>That's a good reply to something I never wrote. If you only need to tweak <I>one minor item</I> to make the plot work, the serialised approach falls flat on its face because you simply can't do that. We'll see how well BSG fares with that come series finale.<BR/><BR/>Of course, with a mystery the real question isn't just whether there is an answer at the end -- that's not exactly difficult as long as you handwave enough -- but whether the answer is any good. Is the solution surprising yet feels inevitable in retrospect? Gee, I wonder how a show that could never lay any specific pipe will fare in that regard.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-92065656278399658992009-01-03T10:17:00.000-05:002009-01-03T10:17:00.000-05:00"I don't know what other form of writing you're th..."I don't know what other form of writing you're thinking of, but in anything non-serialised, you can go back and rewrite the beginning so that it fits whatever whim you indulged in later-on "<BR/><BR/>Norgard, I am a writer, and I don't write serialized tv shows. However, I can personally attest to the fact that you can write without a complete outline for your book and not need to go back and tweak a ton of things to make a plot work from beginning to end. Since a tv show or a movie doesn't get inside each character's head, like a novel, that actually leaves MORE leeway to manipulate the plot to fit new ideas.K J Gillenwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12023089365553324315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-24129123257759771402009-01-03T00:15:00.000-05:002009-01-03T00:15:00.000-05:00"this is a test. for the next 60 seconds, this com..."this is a test. for the next 60 seconds, this computer will conduct a test of the paste-my-e's broadcast system."<BR/><BR/>I figured that a keyboard without an e was bttr than a kyboard without an equals, plus, right shift, delete, 4, apostrophe, quote, lft and right arrow keys - so my brothr rplacd th old kyboard. hopfully th one i just bought on ebay will actually work as wll as this one, except *with* an e.Pamela Jayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06135379188588301400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-85782708669705839282009-01-02T17:30:00.000-05:002009-01-02T17:30:00.000-05:00Yeah, I'll never quite understand how come a sci-f...Yeah, I'll never quite understand how come a sci-fi show is so ridiculously mainstream in England.<BR/><BR/>(And I hope it's not Paterson Joseph.)dark tylerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13461345493748899275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-13345997171010005012009-01-02T17:26:00.000-05:002009-01-02T17:26:00.000-05:00Off topic but still Sci-Fi news: apparently BBC is...Off topic but still Sci-Fi news: apparently BBC is announcing who the 11th Doctor will be at about 5:30 UK time. (12:30 Eastern)<BR/>(I think it's going to be Paterson Joseph.)<BR/><BR/><BR/>They are broadcasting this on large outdoor screens as well... wouldn't it be nice if sci-fi shows over here were treated with that much enthusiasm?Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11317568565085893849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-9860158189571517882009-01-02T17:03:00.000-05:002009-01-02T17:03:00.000-05:00Great interview; thanks so much for posting it. I...Great interview; thanks so much for posting it. I have to say that the last half-season was less enjoyable for me; I haven't quite identified why, and I plan on rewatching before the episodes start up again.<BR/><BR/>To weigh in on the capricious selection of the four cylons: it seems to me that this is a character-driven series more than an event-driven series. So things like exceptional acting that teases out a particular facet of a character can drive a character and then the series in a new direction. That being said, of course there's major events that have to take place, but there's an infinite way of getting there, as long as you've set up compelling characters that progress and interact. Thank god the show was not a long series of epic space battles leading to a confrontation, blah, blah, blah. There may be people watching for that, and for the comely actresses, but I think most of the fans are there for the characters and the consistently excellent writing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-12069611808872475882009-01-02T17:02:00.000-05:002009-01-02T17:02:00.000-05:00"MPH, I understand what you're saying, but I'd say...<I>"MPH, I understand what you're saying, but I'd say it's rare in the TV business, or really any form of writing, for everything to be planned out so meticulously."</I><BR/><BR/>I don't know what other form of writing you're thinking of, but in anything non-serialised, you can go back and rewrite the beginning so that it fits whatever whim you indulged in later-on. Television's publish-as-you-make-it approach makes that pretty much impossible. That's also one of my major problems with the "Final Five": at every story beat you can see how they had an idea mid-series -- they want to do a Cylon occupation but not give up the remaining five models -- and then retroactively constructed these convoluted explanations to make it fit into the established continuity. The whole thing has a first draft feel to it; if it were a movie, you'd bet there'd be a note to go back and rework the thing from the beginning.<BR/> <BR/>And those were fairly general questions. I'm sure if you'd read Chris Carter the equivalent list in early 2002, he would have said yes to every single point.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-77719287115733770832009-01-02T15:20:00.000-05:002009-01-02T15:20:00.000-05:00Get your facts right, Allen. Head Six picks up Bal...Get your facts right, Allen. Head Six picks up Baltar from the floor in "Escape Velocity."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-3397874975615380192009-01-02T14:15:00.000-05:002009-01-02T14:15:00.000-05:00Great interview...and any time during the nine(!!!...Great interview...and any time during the nine(!!!) months between 4.0 and 4.5 is a good time to post it. Thanks!<BR/><BR/>I think Moore's answer about the Final Five exaggerates how impulsive the decision was. When you look back at season 3 (and I'm re-watching now with family to get them caught up), they laid a lot of pipe with D'Anna and Baltar on the baseship and the Eye of Jupiter. They revealed the existence and basic facts about the Final Five and how they're different from the other Cylons, not allowed to talk about them, connected to the 13th colony, etc. <BR/><BR/>At that point I think the writers knew the five would end up being critical to the show's third act and they would be revealed at some point. I bet Moore and the writers also knew they would be characters we had already met, as that would be much more interesting than new characters. So they didn't have a specific plan, but when Moore decided to have them wake up in the season 3 finale, it wasn't as big a leap to do it. And as Moore says in the interview, they figured out fairly easily who it should be...so it wasn't a coin flip or random decision.<BR/><BR/>That's one way of agreeing that there's improvisation but the writers do a great job of fitting it into the show and having it make sense with everything that's come before.<BR/><BR/>I didn't pay a lot of attention as Caprica went through the creation process, but now I'm very excited to see it. Is Moore going to be the showrunner? Do we know which other creative people are involved?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-3902776810502286152009-01-02T14:13:00.000-05:002009-01-02T14:13:00.000-05:00My initial reaction to the revelation that they ca...My initial reaction to the revelation that they came up with the four hidden cylons on a whim was also a little bit of dread. This was something that would have had to have been planned years, or in at least one case, decades in advance.<BR/><BR/>After thinking about it for a while, though, and re-reading Moore's answer to the question, I realized that the idea that there were five unknown cyclons, who may have been people in the fleet, was set up long before the reveal at the end of season 3. The only things that were done on impulse were the reveal itself, and the actual identities of the four.<BR/><BR/>This was even easier to swallow once I considered the Boomer precedent, which pretty much dictates that hidden-cylons retain their personality, and honestly don't know they're cylons. This avoids the <I>24</I>ish rediculousness of having to say "everything this character said or did the entire season was a lie, and there were never any hints."<BR/><BR/>And thinking about it even further now, I may have just completed my 180. The idea that the cylons threw four or five operatives out into the twelve colonies years ago with no real way of knowing who they'd be or where they'd end up is intriguing me. <BR/><BR/>Now, if only I could figure out why I can't watch the webisodes on my Mac...pgillanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08627255978843800751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-34424051800325141032009-01-02T13:47:00.000-05:002009-01-02T13:47:00.000-05:00The actor thing is criminal. I'll say that flat ou...<I>The actor thing is criminal. I'll say that flat out. It is just wrong.</I><BR/>--<BR/><BR/>I don't know what the Emmys really stand for anymore. It certainly isn't for acting merit:<BR/><BR/>BSG- no nominations ever.<BR/>Deadwood- three nominations, no wins ever.<BR/>Friday Night Lights- no nominations ever.<BR/>The Wire- no nominations ever.<BR/><BR/>I can't even remember the last time I watched the Emmys.Omagushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15348311761717355552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-26170875237119053432009-01-02T13:04:00.000-05:002009-01-02T13:04:00.000-05:00Very interesting. Thanks for posting.Very interesting. Thanks for posting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-9267520731491522102009-01-02T11:42:00.000-05:002009-01-02T11:42:00.000-05:00Who's the babe on the right in that picture?Ronald...<I>Who's the babe on the right in that picture?</I><BR/><BR/>Ronald D. Moore, of course. <BR/><BR/>Him, or Tricia Helfer.Alan Sepinwallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-61632333478687513332009-01-02T11:32:00.000-05:002009-01-02T11:32:00.000-05:00Who's the babe on the right in that picture?Who's the babe on the right in that picture?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com