Ruminations on subtitles.

The screenwriter John August is one of the reasons that Hollywood fare is so frakkin' dreadful. He's responsible for a lot of the drivel you see in theaters, notably the Charlie's Angels movie franchise, Big Fish, and other insipid titles only a queer ex-journalist who's only writing movies for the money would write. He did, however, create a rather funny video when he was learning Final Cut Pro which underscores the fact that subtitles can say absolutely anything and people don't really care.

The purpose of this video and post is to enter the world of geekdom vis-a-vis the fact that Cylons speak English to one another instead of having, well, wifi built-in. I mean, I don't expect the toasters to have 802.11 g or even *gasp* draft N, but the idea they'd use such an inefficient language such as English to communicate their master plan is just plain silly.

I did enjoy it when the Cylons sunk their hands into the goo in order to communicate with their base ship - that at least was an interesting invention and seemingly better than subtitles. No human would sink their hands into mucus just to answer a phone call. Other limbs, maybe, but not their precious hands.

Enjoy.

entirely un-BSG related, except in almost every way

So NASA, yes YOUR NASA, has released a trailer for their trip back to the moon. And it's weird. And creepy. And feels like they hired BSG's CGI crew for at least part of it. And, well, does the government really need to create slick trailers for, well, ACTUAL projects?

Why I Am Somewhat Disappointed With How BSG Is Turning Out

One of the things I really liked about BSG for the first season, and the second season, is that it was relatively straightforward for a contemporary serialized show...there were mysteries and recurring plot points, but they were pretty straight-up. For example, we new Boomer was a Cylon in season one, it was just a matter of time before that played itself out, creating anticipation and suspense. Anyway, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of trickery or slippery mysteries going on, a la Lost/Twin Peaks/X-Files/Carnivale etc. Questions, sure, but not a bunch of unexplained shit going on that seemed that it would receive a completely left-field answer two seasons later.

As of late, though, it seems that the show has abandoned any kind of forward movement or eventual suspense. Ironically, Lost--to which BSG has been often held up as a superior example in genre fiction--has actually seen much more forward movement and streamlining in its story lately. Meanwhile, BSG seems to have ramped up the tricky WTF mysteries in place of building a real sense of suspense.

Cylon Logic Bomb

I have nothing to add to that; I just wanted to say the words "Cylon Logic Bomb."
It's really fun to say. Say it out loud: "Cylon Logic Bomb." See what I mean?

Like the mustache, BSG cut off as well...

“We’re heading into the final season,” “Battlestar Galactica” star Edward James Olmos told If Magazine at Thursday night's Saturn Awards. “This is the final season as we speak. All of us are very saddened by that, but we always knew there was going to be a conclusion and we would find Earth, so we will be finding Earth this season.”

Skinjobs

So Janice and I started watching Blade Runner last night, and I was totally blown away by the similarities with BSG. Sure, there are a lot of differences, but man you can see where Moore and co. got inspiration from--Blade Runner even has Edward James Olmos with a mustache!

WTF roll call

peoples, i think we have to acknowledge that there are seven of us actual official blog members here, not counting the fakers and the dupes (we'll call them "Baltars" and "Starbucks" and divide 'em along gender lines), and therefore we have to embrace the potential geekiness of each adopting a cylon avatar.

I propose, for example, that Janice, whose contributions are rare but deeply significant, is our black doctor cylon. Roman I think has to be Leoben. Sorry dude! But you're both, you know, a little too smart for your own good. Dan is totally Boomer. I would want to be Boomer, but I just don't have the tech skills.

Glowing Spinal-Column Cylon Sex

I am going back and starting BSG from the very beginning (the mini-series) to help allay the inevitable withdrawal of the one year wait till season 4. A few observations:

1. I forgot how cool it was that, when the space station explodes in the opening sequence, a piece of the debris smacks right into the camera and knocks it spinning.

2. Whoah, Caprica 6 totally killed a baby!

and most importantly,

3. Cylon's spinal columns visibly glow when they have sex! This seems like a major security risk: I guess Cylons must always insist on doing it sitting on top, facing their partner -- since even one simple session of doggy-style would reveal their secret? "Whoah, baby -- your spinal column is glowing right through your skin, um, what's the deal with that?"