The biggest weakness (and paradoxically, the biggest strength) on Ron Moore's BSG is that the plot takes a backseat to "real" life. This is less science fiction (touted as REVOLUTIONARY at the time), or an allegory for terrorism (see: Moore's Bible for the show) as a kind of documentary, like the Sopranos was at times As such, characters don't develop so much as grow at a slow pace. The best thing you can say for BSG is that it's an actor's paradise. Nobody is who they seem, and personalities shift according to whom is talking to whom.
The trouble is that this unfocused approach leaves a lot of threads dangling. We learn more about the day-to-day bureaucracy of running a shoestring government in space than we ever do about the Cylons, their culture, or their goals. This was a major sticking point for me, especially given Moore's vision of the Cylons as unfinished humans, wearing J. Crew outfits and lounging around in ships that resemble weird Manhattan restaurants. Our antagonists are simply spoiled brats; a destructive child race, like humans. The final episode ends on a hopeful(?) note, but Moore can't resist hinting in the last frame that the futility will continue.
Not exactly a new theme, and I'm not certain that BSG has shed any more light on man's folly. It certainly hasn't gifted us with a ton of memorable characters, outside of Adama and Roslin and Tigh (and maybe Tyrol, barely). The documentary style gives us people who are so multifaceted and neurotic that I can never get a clear focus on them. What is their journey, outside of being pawns of some invisible intelligence?
Too much navel gazing
The biggest weakness (and paradoxically, the biggest strength) on Ron Moore's BSG is that the plot takes a backseat to "real" life. This is less science fiction (touted as REVOLUTIONARY at the time), or an allegory for terrorism (see: Moore's Bible for the show) as a kind of documentary, like the Sopranos was at times As such, characters don't develop so much as grow at a slow pace. The best thing you can say for BSG is that it's an actor's paradise. Nobody is who they seem, and personalities shift according to whom is talking to whom.
The trouble is that this unfocused approach leaves a lot of threads dangling. We learn more about the day-to-day bureaucracy of running a shoestring government in space than we ever do about the Cylons, their culture, or their goals. This was a major sticking point for me, especially given Moore's vision of the Cylons as unfinished humans, wearing J. Crew outfits and lounging around in ships that resemble weird Manhattan restaurants. Our antagonists are simply spoiled brats; a destructive child race, like humans. The final episode ends on a hopeful(?) note, but Moore can't resist hinting in the last frame that the futility will continue.
Not exactly a new theme, and I'm not certain that BSG has shed any more light on man's folly. It certainly hasn't gifted us with a ton of memorable characters, outside of Adama and Roslin and Tigh (and maybe Tyrol, barely). The documentary style gives us people who are so multifaceted and neurotic that I can never get a clear focus on them. What is their journey, outside of being pawns of some invisible intelligence?