Fact: I watch FashForward. As days turn into weeks turn into months, this is increasingly becoming a sign of mediocrity, rather than clairvoyance, yet I persist.

Tangential Fact:Even though it's canceled, you're better off watching Defying Gravity. I know, it's crap right? Thats what you heard, right? Except after a mere five or eight episodes it transitions to full on blah. And it's awesome. I had a sick fascination with the entire run, which I make no appologies for. Seriously, I liked Defying Gravity. But I digress...

Punchline: So tonight, after watching FlashForward, they have the previews, which I pause the dvr and am about to delete... except my Janine says Don't you want to see the FlashForward of the FlashForward?

Denouement: I realized She Might Be Right!! I was stuck in a metaphysical quandary. Here I was "enjoying" a show predicated on the foreknowledge of future events. Would I actually increase my enjoyment by watching the previews? The remote was stuck in my hands for over a minute. I still have no good answer. What should I have done, gentle readers? What?!?!

Dear motherfucking god in heaven, WHAT?!?!?

Fuck.

Three weeks ago I could not walk without a cane and was motoring around Walmart in a courtesy scooter. The same day that I skewered my hand with furniture I rolled my left ankle, badly, walking down the steps of Ryan Turner’s new house. Like most sprains it hurt but could be ignored. A day or two later I could not walk, sit, stand, anything, I was a useless lump of human flesh that spent a lot of time reading The Unincorporated Man, an excellent novel. An X-ray assured me there was no break, it was just a sprain. My hand was tender but the wound had yet to fester. The hand was surely aggravated by having to grip the cane so tightly. My foot is better now although I believe it will be a long time before I can run anywhere. I’ll be feeling it for another month at least.

I sometimes feel like a bullet speeding out of a gun. My life is the span of time from leaving the barrel to hitting the target. 32 years?150 years? How long will I live? I don’t know; it’s as brief a time as a bullet’s journey. Is my destination obvious from an external perspective? When I feel like the bullet all I sense is the rush of air and time around me. Moving irrevocably forward through the fourth dimension I feel life itself pulsate with the same rhythm that burns in my arm. Toss another log on the fire, burning ’til the fuels exhausted, blazing with light until it fades.

I was helping Ryan and his girlfriend Carolyn move from an apartment into their new house, inside an elevator cramped with boxes, plants, furniture & random stuff, unloading a large desk that we’d placed on its side (in order to get the doors closed). We shimmied the bottom of the desk into the lobby, tilting the desk back towards me. I gripped the leg with my hand and let the weight slide towards me. I hadn’t noticed the wood had separated, a bit further up the desk leg. The thick icicle of wood slid deeply into the palm of my hand before snapping off. I kept things steady with the other hand and eased the desk to the ground You’ve got to be manly about getting a sliver: shit happens, eh? Still, I’d never had a sliver that drew blood and a lot of it. I removed the Deadly Spike of Wooden Death as cleanly as possible. I was sure I’d left a piece behind but picking at it with a pin didn’t reveal anything. I covered it with a band-aid so I wouldn’t drip blood on any of the furniture.

I was overjoyed, a day after spraining my foot, to remember I had a tensor bandage from the last time. This isn’t the first time I’ve had a serious foot injury. I thought perhaps I should just buy a good cane, so I’ll have one around the next time I injure my foot It’s going to happen. _{You don’t think that way at sixteen.} I’m twice that age and now apparently do. Age and experience have naturally changed me; I’m more serious, I joke less, I cry less, I love more easily, I know myself much much much better, but thankfully still not very well and sometimes I still feel like life itself is a towering inferno inside of me, burning so very bright like the ember tossed into the campfire air. I forget how to be one way in my pursuit of being something else. I can live one way or another but never ever can I go back in time.

^{There’s so much to do here.} I’m speeding forward, breaking apart as I pass through time. I used to like thinking about what it all meant. These days I’ve found a comfortable place to be. From my current vantage the questions seem fundamentally unknowable in a way that is exciting beyond my understanding. I’m going to die, but until then I’m going to live. Apparently  infected arms and swollen ankles are how I’m living which, all things considered, is really just fine. Sitting on the scooter in Walmart I felt such empowerment. I have no conception of what being handicapped would be like, but I know how much I loved that scooter. I had mobility after by body denied me that. I have never loved Walmart more than I did that day. _{What else will I get to experience in this life?}

^{I am burning brightly.} Hurtling forward with a speed I can’t comprehend. I look around and sometimes see others on nearby trajectories. They hit their target and suddenly that person isn’t alive any more and the rest of us bullets keep moving forward with no way to go back. I’ve been fired from a gun and I will continue moving until I stop. And what an amazing ride it all is.
     I love the wind on my cheeks, the burning fire inside,
            the roar of a life well lived.

• Violent Aggression is now on iTunes.  Subscribe for free to get the stuff there that you already get here. I’ve personally been negotiating with Steve Jobs personally and he assures me his lawyers will be in contact with us son.
• Non-iTunes? you might prefer our Violent Aggression RSS Feed.  It’s been inspected by the FDA for cleanliness and sexually transmitted diseases and almost all of the criteria were met.

without further delay: the direct link for Violent Aggression podcast #3 

We review Plants vs. Zombies and give it a big thumbs up; Recommended.  They’ve got a 60 minute free trial that’s like your first hit of H.  Prepare to lose large chunks of your life to this deviously fun game..

• Vlad creates an Improved Explosive Device using dry ice and a pop bottle; Shaun, meanwhile, has his _{hands down his pants,} scratching vigorously.
• All time worst flood stories.  We are a collectively unlucky lot and the power of H₂0 has wreaked havoc on our lives. 
• Autoerotic asphyxiation? What the Fuck?
• Bud Light Lime, pros, cons, and the curious effect they have on Chad’s nipples.
• Lounge singers briefly inhabit our hosts bodies, causing an awkward segue into the sesame street theme song.
• And after much procrastination, sketches, rough drafts, redos and hand wringing of all sorts I’ve finished the logo! Yay for art!

Hey ladies and jents.  Violent Aggression podcast #2 is now available.  Download 35 minutes of high energy podcasting hijinks.  Me and the rest of the radio crew eat seal meat, lament Transformers 2, dish on Sara Palin, I accuse both Kelly and Liam of ruining the podcast (independently), there’s an extended discussion on The Watchmen and Vlad soundlessly blogs while you listen.. yes, well, it sounded like a good idea at the time. Download to you favourite aural receptacle now.

At this point I’m hoping, perhaps, just maybe, that I could be finished by next summer and release it then.  I say that to give you an idea of how much effort I’ve got left to feed this beast and also, to curse myself.  Because now that I’ve put something resembling a date out in public I shall never ever meet it.  The plan at this point is release it through FeelingsOfWhite.com in a serialized fashion.

Well there, I’ve said it.  I’ve mentioned it before to numerous friends but it’s still weirdly idealistic to be finally saying something to you my readers. 

It’s bloody intimidating trying to pull words out of me every day.  I’ve become a slave to my word count figures.  I have an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that charts my word-count, by chapter, over time.  I am trying to consciously develop the habit of writing and my god my monkey mind does bounce around all over the place.

In meditation I will focus on my breath to the exclusion of all else.  It is infuriating how easily one’s thoughts stray to to-do lists, idle remembrances, planning, yelling at oneself for failing to focus on the breath, thinking of the breath, thinking of how uncomfortable the legs are, ouch, cramping, I should really lose weight, I wonder if I’m going to make my work deadline - ack! focus on the breath.

Trying to make myself write is like that sometimes.  I can be a slippery sonnovabitch when I want to be.  Trying to change your habits is a hard hard thing. But I can do it.  I will put in the effort required, and at the end, I’ll have my story.

Oh, and other actual content will continue to appear on Feelings Of White, but behind closed doors, I’m working on something incredible awesome to share with you.  I am going to write some words and I believe you will get a thrill out of reading them.  It’s going to take a long time.  I’ll see you there.

• A brief discussion as to exactly which drugs Shredder (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was likely addicted to.
• Liam’s disastrous attempts to hold an on-air intervention regarding Cliff’s anger
• Our opening story just has to be heard to be believed.  The story is certainly out there, but it’s more like “are this guys actually talking about this?”
• And a guy sews his hand to a bag

There’s much much more! It’s certainly been a blast developing 30 minutes of audio I genuinely believe you will find entertaining.  But with friends Cliff, Vlad and Liam I think we’ve done just that.  I shall stop typing, because at this point you’re supposed to click on this link and listen to an auditory deviousness the likes of which will be repeated as soon as we can.

Fun Fact: Contrary to what you might expect, all of us were actually sober while recording.

For the last eighteen weeks, I have looked forward to Wednesdays with delirious anticipation.  Only two were disappointments (when Lost didn’t air new episodes).  Lost has brought nothing but teh awesomeness this fifth season.  It’s explaining some of the mysteries introduced during the last four seasons in such a cool way: Time Travel.  When Benjamin “Benry” Linus turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel (end of season four) it set events in motion that scattered our friendly neighbourhood Lostaways into the past.  We’ve received first-hand accounts accounts of how our heroes were involved in events leading to The Hatch, maybe The Purge and most definitely The Incident (what the heck did that mean? I don’t know but it was cool.  Why isn’t season six already done?!).  By first-hand, I mean non-flashback… can we call them flashbacks or is it just a semi-linear story?  It’s awesome stuff, sprinkled with the usual kick-ass Lost characters and twisty turns but I want to spend a moment and salute the brilliance of how they built to this and how we’ve been unwittingly educated on how one watches this show…

We began our studies of all things Lostological when season one introduced the infamous flashback structure.  Flashbacks were an existing tool of novels, comics and television so when the show baked them into the DNA of the show, the writers started us with something we were familiar with.  Clever viewers soon noticed that character back-stories overlapped.  The Lost mosaic was ever so hazily beginning to form as we drew connections between these disparate stories and peoples.  And we grew familiar with characters that would lead us from the beginning to (one presumes) the end of this insane convoluted journey.

More characters revealed their back-stories, educating us in following fragments of different time periods, they were also delivered out of sequence too (for Maximum
Surprise ).  What kept it grounded was the ever present island-time stories, moving at a steady realtime-esque pace of one week passing roughly every five episodes (perfect for syndication!).  That tethered us, the audience, to something familiar but even island-time would occasionally switch things up by playing with relative timeframes and multiple overlapping stories.  Lost famously sidelined plot threads for long periods of time to focus on subsets of stories. (causing viewers to give up and yell they’re making it up as they go along!  This Just In: You are watching fiction. Fiction is made up.)  Season after season, Lost kept mixing things up further by splicing techniques together and the audience that stayed with them were forced to adjust to all the disjointed perspectives of time and long story setups.  The writers were careful never to push things too much at one time.  Mind-bending outings like Flashes Before Your Eyes (feat. the time-traveling consciousness of Desmond) were kept to a minimum.  They would eventually hit the “Go” button on the massive story machine being constructing but they were patient like zombies (we do spend lots of time shuffling about, hoping a tasty brain walks by, don’t we?)

We graduated to Lost post-secondary when season four added a new technique to the curriculum: flash-forwards-to-future-time.  With three season of time-shifting perspectivizing under our belts, flash-forwards weren’t much harder to follow then the usual hijinks, yet they felt like a breath of fresh air.  The writers had actually introduced a plot thread that would eventually replace island-time as the narrative-prime, the reliable thread to anchor viewers.  Perhaps anticipating that some might just throw in the towel at that point, they tied the biggest carrot they had onto future-time: some of the lostaways got off the island.  While we all furiously speculated how that happened we were also learning what would become the backstory to this “new present”, if one can still use such a term as “present” when time travel is involved.  Benry spun the Frozen Donkey Wheel making the bait & switch official.  click!

Season five supplied us with our post-graduate materials: the island, our heroes, or both, were unstuck in time and skipping around to the sound of flashing white lights.  Now I realize Sawyer, Locke, Hurley and the rest had their stories continue on.  When I say that island-time ceased to exist I’m referring to the 101 days from Sept 22 to Dec 30 2004 that started with a crashing plane.  We’re so used to following characters around different timelines that the time travel flashes weren’t nearly so jarring; We’ve been training since season one at having our perspective of time warped to fit the authorial whims.  But actual time travel was still quite a leap beyond normal, especially constant uncontrolled random flashes to places and times unknown.  But once we hear that Lost wooooosh™ sound-effect, we know we’ve changed time periods and we should begin hunting for clues as to when we are now.  Unlike me, not everyone has engaged in a season 1-3 re-watch “just for fun”.  If you can relate to my passion about Lost (may I point out: you are reading a blog article about Lost) remember that some viewers are getting their first heavy dose of science fiction and fantasy weirdness and Lost has kept things relatable and compelling for both types of fans. Michael Emerson and Jorge Garcia were just on The View promoting the finale for goodness sake!  (Mind you, Papadama and Roslin were on the The View as well, so perhaps they’re cool)

To reduce confusion the story was kept straightforward and linear at the start of the season five.  By that I mean the absence of flashbacks; we instead alternated between the time-jumpers and the Oceanic Six.  The Oceanic Six story became a linear realtime-esque story about “now they get on a plane.”  The denouement of island-time became ^{OMG! I haz nosebleed!  WTF When are we_?!} The characters were as confused as us, but the story of that confusion and subsequent fix (get Locke off the island) was pretty relatable.  I believe keeping focused so tightly on the character interactions helped us, the audience, track something understandable and familiar while the space-time continuum warped around our protagonists.  It also helped that the time-jumpers landed at some familiar landmarks (familiar to the audience at least).  Dedicated fans might remember the connection to Yemi’s plane crash; we’d already been made curious about the four toed statue; about what happened to Danielle “The French Woman” Rousseau; and how Montand had come to lose his arm (Rosseau mentioned it one hear early introduction scene, 1x09 I think).  They tried their best to keep us invested not only in the character arcs, but also the locales that Sawyer and the rest went to.  Just imagine trying to pull the same story four season earlier.  They spent four seasons foreshadowing time travel. A lot of time laying the foundation kept the wacky plot twists feeling real and familiar to us.

The most technically amazing, to me, occurs when John “Jeremy Bentham” Locke takes his spin at the Wheel of The Frozen Donkey.  His travel through time had been set up for a season and a half by that point...  Future-time welcomed Locke as its newest character and click! things started fitting together like puzzle pieces (some pieces remain absent; it is still Lost).  They managed to avoid the “Hey audience! You are now in the past” moment that exists in most other time travel fiction (think Star Trek or Back To The Future).  Instead Locke slips between the curtains of time and plot threads and emerges into a future present already fully realized, with existing characters and motivations and momentum. 

Cool.

The show is starting to hint at or answer some of the mysteries its presented us with.  Most new questions I’ve had were about the time travel rules of the Lostiverse: Could objects (like compasses or canoes) travel with them? Could they affect the future? (My Guess: Yes, but with no paradoxes).  They’ve played fair and are answering those ponderings and their own pace; a pace no longer so glacial.  I often sit here, deep in my zombie grave and marvel at how accomplished these writers are and how well they’ve structure this behemoth of story machinery.  They have done an amazing job showing us an inherently confusing chapter of the Lost mosaic and keping it relatable.  They sure have spent a lot of time ensuring we could follow along and its well appreciated (hell, maybe I can even forgive season three after this; Lost, you had me at hello  ).  I have high hopes for where this story plans to take us.  As long as they don’t explain it all away as ^{being God’s Will} (and Jacob said so is the same thing)  — we zombies shall be most upset if you disappoint us!  Prepare for the inevitable zombie apocalypse or face your doom!

What are your thoughts? Liking Lost or couldn’t be bothered? Will season six require doctorate-level research? Will all actually be answered a year from now?

And what did you think of that finale? Wow!

Last year TV/Media blog South Dakota Dark undertook a massive effort to rank well, all U.S. television series, ever.  Todd, the author, scares me a little; dude’s watched a shitload of television.  But scary in a good way, because he’s able to speak intelligently about that huge morass of content and give the history of television some context.  He states you have to decide if you’re going to rate based on favoritism, sheer greatness or level of influence. I decided to throw all of that out and rate everything by some weird combination of the three.  With that as a starting point, he’s written an entertaining and verbose treatise on well, all the television shows, ever.

You can certainly jump to number one and see who “won.”  But the point of it all is really his discussion of these landmark television shows, why they worked, why some failed, and why they mattered.  It’s about how one show influenced many others and shaped the entire medium of television.  I actually liked the bulk of the list more than the top, because there’s not many surprises or overlooked gems at those lofty heights.

I’ve head of the Dick Van Dyke Show, but I’ve never seen it.  Todd’s explanation on how it was structured, and why that lead to so many story possibilities is the first time I’ve actually given a shit.  Lists like this so often devolve into “blah blah blah, I liked it.”  Like any critic, Todd’s giving his personal opinion, but he can back it up with why it worked from a critical point of view.  He talks intelligently about how SportCenter (a show I’ve never watched) contributed to the style of The Daily Show.  Naturally, The Muppet Show was a variety show, but I’d never realized it had a bit of sitcom mixed in until he was pointed out.

And lots of behind the scenes stuff too.  Northern Exposure had David Chase as a show runner?  Rod Sterling almost wasn’t the host of Twilight Zone? Early Sesame Street now comes with a not safe for children sticker?

Also: Each series is also accompanied by a youtube clip of the series in question, doubling or tripling the time-wasting potential of this blog series. (note: I didn’t watch many clips, can’t comment on quality).  Like losing days of my life to reading much of this wasn’t enough, I’ve now got a whole bunch more television shows on my never ending to-watch list.

The supplemental lists are also worth perusing.  I especially enjoyed the discussion of Cable Networks.  It’s a bit more than “HBO make good drama”.

If there was one thing lacking from this all it was a clear entry point into the massive text.  Thus was born this article.  We’ve spent enough time reading the forward, let’s get to the list:

100 - 90 - 80 - 70 - 60 - 50 - 40 - 30 - 20 - 10 - 1

Once upon a time there was this amazing little show called Battlestar Galactica.  I’m guessing you’ve already heard of it long before finding your way to this corner of the internet.  But if you aren’t familiar with the specifics, let me fill you in:  Battlestar Galactica changed the way many people viewed science fiction, in fact it got more people to view science fiction than ever before.  It dealt with issues of the day like religious persecution, torture and how we treat those we consider to be outside the bounds of our tribe.  The show transposed our many foibles, both individual and societal, and put them onto imperfect characters that are memorable as hell.   These ordinary _{(and sometimes extra-ordinary)} characters find themselves on the run after a genocidal attack and they eventually become caught up in a story of mythic proportions.  Plus lots of hot sexy guys and gals and more explosions and fireballs than you can shake a stick at.

When I first heard they were remaking Galactica I groaned They'll remake anything these days won't they? And then I watched the mini-series and learned my preconceptions were very very wrong. Turns out, this show was awesome.

I started writing my ^{Battlestar Galactica Commentaries} at the beginning of the fourth and final season, so if you’ve never watched an episode, may I humbly suggest you have three seasons of homework before you’ll appreciate any of this.  They’re designed to be read after watching the episode because the discussions will roam over anything that might have happened thus far but I always keep it spoiler-free (naturally you’ll catch me speculating occasionally).  You’ll find a mixture of insights, analysis, some behind the scenes information and many links to other bsg related content like podcasts, interviews, relevant wiki entries and a fraktacular amount of wise-cracking.  Sometimes these things get a bit fangasmy and I believe you will find that just as entertaining as the rest of it.

My Cartoon! Their talking points get somewhat muddled and the slimiest of political mud slinging ensues
Cast & crew of bsg share an extended joke that they’ve never heard of “The Bear” McCreary

Through the creation of these commentaries I certainly developed a lot as a writer.  I’d always including screen-caps but towards the later entries (around episode 10 or 12) you’ll find the pictures morphed into the occasional hand-drawn cartoons. I soon found myself loosing many many hours of sleep over the course of many weekends trying to get it all shipped out the door.  The artistic endeavour that is Feelings
of White   grew a little bit during this period and I’m proud of it all.  Also, if I’d known how much effort was involved I may just have stayed in bed and drank tea instead. 

But instead of drinking tea, I did all this.  Enough with the forward, on with the show.  Read along as you watch the series or if you’ve already seen it, dig into your favourite episode.

_{(You’ll find the table of contents about two paragraphs back)}

I first discovered Jammer by way of his excellent and insightful Deep Space Nine recaps & reviews. I’ve read them repeatedly over the years and his site was actually a big inspiration for me to do my own commentaries. While my own bsg commentaries have leaned heavily toward fangasm, you’ll find Jammers’ to contain a more coherent recap as well as being proper reviews with ratings assigned. His discussions also containing a lot of deeper analysis of the show; he’s bound to make you think of something new about the episode you thought you understood. For those of you about to embark on a re-watch, or just refreshing your memory about all that has been, check out Jammer’s Battlestar Galactica reviews!
[jump to season 1, 2, 3, 4]

I know that you don’t let yourself be guided by what you think the fan reaction might be, and you do what you feel is right for the show, but the ending of Kara - her just disappearing like that. That’ll certainly be a starting point for debate. (Read Maureen Ryan’s full interview)

Oh yeah, it’ll be controversial. There will be people who will absolutely hate it and think that we failed in our mission. We debated it in the [writers] room, I thought about it a long time, and I had sort of the same answer. And the more I struggled to give definition to it, the less satisfying it became. There various avenues we went down, discussions, saying she’s specifically this or that. And every time it felt uninteresting and kind of pedestrian. It felt like, if she’s truly connected to the Eternal, if she’s connected to this other power, this other thing in the universe, as long as you know she’s connected to it and she’s fulfilled her destiny, brought us to this place, brought us to two Earths, really, that’s enough. That should just be left to your imagination, left to your inquiry, left you to try to fill in the blanks we leave. That was my answer and I’m sure -- I know - people will debate it.

I think the one that maybe tugged at the ol’ heartstrings a bit, for me at least, was the Adama Family Goodbye. For years, Lee and pappy didn’t really get along...then they finally start to form some kind of relationship, and dad hops in to a Raptor and leaves. I can definitely empathize with at least the first part of that, and I can imagine the pure suckage of finally forming that bond only to have him leave. And, seriously, did the writers secretly HATE Lee Adama? I mean, he lost EVERYONE this season. Did his character rape a nun in a deleted scene or something? Karma was a BITCH. (Read Cliff’s full comments)

Read the fucktastically hillarious comic I wrote during the bsg commentaries What begins as an attempt to differentiate themselves ends in verbal fisticufs. And this time, it’s personal.

I don’t want to spend too much time on Daniel, but did you realize that you were giving Kara’s father this name that was so similar to Daniel? (Read Alan Sepinwall’s full interview)

That I had no idea. I only found that out online. I went, “Is that true? I guess it is.” It’s one of those things where you’re inside the show and doing it, you don’t realize that people are going to seize on this detail and it gets a life of its own. When I saw that stuff spreading online, I was really astonished. “Really? Daniel? They’re obsessed with Daniel.” So I started telling every interviewer, “Please tell people not to focus on Daniel, because they’re really going to be disappointed.”

If all of current humanity descends from Hera that means one thing: Most of the Galactica fleet did not contribute, biologically-speaking, to the new race. i.e. most everyone else and their offspring died off after settlement. I’m sure a few random children mixed in with some of Hera’s descendants, probably the ones setting around Africa. But those poor saps sent to Australia, Scotland or North America? Yeah... they all died. I know I'm over-thinking things a bit; the equivalent of civilian contractors on the Death Star. I doubt that’s the message we’re supposed to leave the finale with but these kind of thoughts occur to me after blogging about nothing but bsg for three months.
	(On the history of “All Along the Watchtower” in the “Galactica” universe)
	The notion is that the music, the lyrics, the composition is something divine, it’s eternal. It’s something that lives in the collective unconscious of the show, it’s a musical theme that repeats itself. It crops up in unexpected places, and people hear it, or pluck it out of the ether. It’s sort of a connection of the divine and the mortal - music is something that people literally catch out of the air... Here is a song that transcends many different aeons and cultures across the star, and was reinvented by one Mr. Bob Dylan.

It was a simple way to communicate the idea clearly that this is not the future. This is the story of a culture that gave birth to ours. There was an episode in season one in which Helo and Sharon are running for their lives and they hole up in a diner, and there’s a Cylon centurion cornering them, and for the longest time we planned to have an old jukebox in the diner that would play, “Yesterday,” or whatever we could afford.

Probably not “Yesterday.”

Check out rdm’s podcasts. They’re like dvd commentaries, featuring behind-the-scenes dish on every episode. Grab a scotch, a smoke and dig into your favorite episode(s).

4x01 He That Believeth in Me
4x02 Six of One
4x03 The Ties That Bind
4x04 Escape Velocity
4x05 The Road Less Traveled
4x06 Faith
4x09 The Hub
4x10 Revelations
4x11 Sometimes A Great Notion
4x12 A Disquiet Follows My Soul
4x13 The Oath
4x14 Blood on the Scales
4x15 No Exit
4x16 Deadlock
4x17 Someone to Watch Over Me
4x18 Islanded in a Stream of Stars
4x19&20 Daybreak _{[Parts 1-3]}

All I know is now I’m really scared of my Roomba (That’s all Morpheus had to say on the matter)

Okay, something from The Guess Who. I think we felt it was too soon, and would confuse things. It would be so non-specific that people would just be thrown by it. But we were thinking about it that far back, that music would be a great way to tell the audience about the cyclical theme... All the colloquialisms and slang that you hear, and how people interrelate... we get that from them, not the other way around.

Our next dose of bsg related content will be the Caprica spin-off, which drops in 1 month April 26, 2009. Trailer:

Our next dose of 100% bsg will be The Plan, expected to be released fall of 2009. It may not be the last as it’s rumored up to three tv movies may be be produced. Trailer:

Noting that simplicity depends on a reasoner’s perspective throws the subjectivity monkey wrench at Occam’s Razor. Extending the insight, that it depends also on the laws governing your local space-time area which informs your perspective, is a masterstroke — of death!

The history of physics, from Earth-centric perfect sphere within sphere heavens to M-theory, is but the continual redefinition of what simple means. It contains long and irrelevant detours, often lured by the siren of elegance, beauty and other singularities. Detours visible only in hindsight, driven ultimately by variations of “I like the way this idea sounds.” The real world is infinitely inconceivably complex; we’re forced to settle for sound bites.

Simplicity is not some indivisible thing, Mr. Occam, but depends on flawed chains of reasoning, based on centuries of imperfect observation and a half-baked, and constantly evolving understanding, performed radically differently depending on who you talk to. As understanding grows ideas of simple grow more complex. It is subjective and relative and malleable. And screw meagre understanding: it may be that the fundamentals of reality are not even immutable. From the big bang’s rule bending to the ideas of a multiverse viewed likely by some string theorists, somewhere π is 3.

Oh sure, trust your our own judgment if you like, but the shifting sands of assumptions they’re based on already changed yesterday. Every time you think you know something, consider it another Nigerian penis-enlargement phishing scam you fell for. Planck’s constant and Heisenberg’s principle are offshore sending you mental spam.

Simple now looks like this:

     ...good luck incorporating that next time you’re trying to decide between McDonalds, Burger King or a goat. What does this mean? The new priesthood cannot explain it to me without years of detailed lessons to understand the principles on which it’s based.

We used to believe things fell down when dropped until outer space showed up and curb-stomped that idea. A few years back evolution took the assumption that nature’s forms are unchanging and shived it 17 times. The underlying principles of 52 years of cognitive dissidence recently dropped the soap in front of some dude capable of using an abacus. We’re all trapped in the same snow globe, inventing theorems explaining why it snows when an unperceivable child gives us a good shake. The next person who tells you he’s got answers, you punch him right on the nose and spit on his dog.

Swim instead in uncertainty. And of that simple platitude, I am cert... Aw Crap. 
                                      David Deutsch, _{you wily bastard,} you!
                    Curse me and my collapsed waveform!

In case you missed it, that first line is Adama’s actual dialog from the show

I hate to say it, but I’m starting to come around to liking this episode.  The friends I watching it with can attend to my bitter disappointment, along with my high level of stone-age after it was all over.  I was hoping for more.  I wanted God to actually step in and for Starbuck and her shiny Viper to to oh, I dunno, be explained.  I wanted a bit more grandeur at the end of this soap opera I’ve come to love.  I want someone to step up and say “Yeah, the reason a super nova was caused was this, and the explanation for The♫Watchtower♫ is this.” Perhaps we shouldn’t delve too deeply for the answers to these questions. Perhaps there lies the way of mitachlorians... Bah!  Fuckdamnit!   What the hell was this? _Phah!

Then I watched it again, to make some notes for this article.   The second time ’round I knew what to expect.  Some things made a little bit more sense (I had been soothing a crying 3 month old when the fleet decided to become nomadic farmers.  I came back into the room and was all like So... why are they flying the Galactica into the Sun?).  The finale had a supersized helping of action, but story-wise they went out relatively quietly instead of a boombastic flourish.  There weren’t any surprise twist endings; more like things just clicked into place.  Character’s fates followed mostly logical courses based on where they had been going; after all this craziness our extended bsg family will just keep on keepin’ on.  The supernatural elements like the mysterious Starbuck or the Head/Angels are left clearly mysterious and supernatural but without any further explanation given. 

Perhaps it’s better left at that.  HeadSix has claimed from her very first appearance that she was an Angel.  We’ve seen HeadSix literally lift Gaius into the air from an external point of view and the show simply leaves it at: Yeah, they’re real Angels.  They work for God, although he doesn’t like to be called that.  They do really exist in this world and have exerted a force over our protagonists and antagonists.  But like real life, the master string puller will not be making an on-screen appearance (unless you count Ron Moore’s brief turn as an extra, reading a magazine about Hera as the Mitochondrial Eve)

In the end some of the religious ramblings, like the one about a dying leader not making it to the promised land, well, that prophesy turned out not to be true, didn’t it?  It was never a promise.  Starbuck’s father was probably Daniel, but I can accept that we don’t need to explain everything about her, do we?  She’s very clearly a mystical reborn character too.  We’re watching a show where this shit just happens; it’s a weird bloody show and we’ve been watching it so did we hope it would turn into every other show by explaining away everything at the very last minute?  Well, I did, yes.  At least just a little bit more.  But I guess that’s not the show I was watching. 

I’m definitely okay with the final five minutes; the reveal that we are descended from Hera.  We’ve collectively spent a lot of time the last four seasons pointing at the characters and saying That’s us.  Seeing bits of ourselves as flawed and fraked up and isn’t this show fantastic because of how it puts us foibles-and-all up on the screen.  It’s interesting that in its final moment the show briefly turned its gaze to our actual society and briefly asked the question

Is this your fate? How closely does our humanity have to follow in their foot-steps and mistakes?  Are we predetermined to be a motley group of petty individuals, or can we rise to something greater?  It didn’t need to end with them being the origin of our species.  It could have been Plant Crouton for all the difference it would’ve made to the characters.  But by linking their world to ours, it allows the question to be more directly asked: Are we going to frak ourselves up just like they did?  What the hell, it fits.  And I’m starting to like it all.

At the end of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and others, along with the rejected dregs of the Golgafrinchan civilization crash land on Earth in the far distant past. Arthur realizes that these phone sanitizers _{(2nd degree)} and the like will overtake our monkey ancestors. The Golgafrinchan rejects are destined to be the forebearers of our modern world. (It’s around here the bbc TV series ends)

The bsg finale bears more than a passing resemblance to the second Hitchhiker’s book. I’m certain Ronald D. Moore owes Douglas Adams a post-humous beer.

In Adams’ version planet Earth was in fact a giant organic super-computer intelligently designed millions of years ago by pan-dimensional mice to calculate the great question of the universe (Answer: Forty Two). The evolutionary upset effectively ruins any value Earth supposedly had.

(Thanks to Chuck from Galactic[a]? Water Cooler for mentioning this book every other podcast. It never would have occurred to me otherwise)

And there was a lot of it.  I’m certain that the DVD will provide an expanded version.  Hopefully including more of the assault on the Cylon Colony — it was breathtaking.  Full bonus awards to the Kick-Ass Space Battles and Foot Battles and Everything Battles Dept of bsg.  We had Cylons engaging in fisticuffs with other Cylons; Swarms of scary raiders, ominously darkening the nebulous Colony; The Galactica taking the most brutal beating of it’s quickly ending life; The ship rams the fraking colony wall to make way for a gosh dang assault force! OMG:;laksj!!  Hey, just a side question but why are the Cylons and using marine hand signals?  It looks super-butch but those Centurion are a Foley artist’s wet dream, clinking and clanking like they do; not exactly quiet.  Athena shoots Boomer in the stomach; We finally get to see Tory get what was coming to her at the hands of Tyrol (the setup for how Tyrol finally learned it was brilliantly constructed.  Direct and to the point. Frak that, the whole episode was brilliantly constructed — click, click, click, go the story pieces); The Opera House visions turn out to be premonitions of a chase the four of them are destined to have, as they follow a fleeing Hera who seems to be divinely protected from harm by the Cylons.

I love the little touches, like the FriendCylons painting themselves red and the meticulous ordering of operations; they really added to the believability of that assault.  The planning stages are thankfully glossed over in a brief montage showing the pilots, the Cylons and Adama planning the operation.  We’re left to just experience the results in a visceral thrill.  I also really dug Roslin’s goodbye to Doc Cottle, we got to see a brief glimmer of the man behind that gruff exterior.  When she told Cottle to go smoke a cigarette, I just died laughing.   And Tigh and Adama in a Strip Club!!  ROLFCOPTERZ! (I can’t imagine that on Star Trek) Tigh screaming out YEAAHH!!!

Oh, and Baltar’s speech to Cavil!  When Baltar said a hasty goodbye to Paula, it felt like the writers were just casually tossing a non-functioning plot-thread.   But when Baltar later gave a speech to Cavil, one that ultimately halted hostilities between Cylons and Humans/Cylons I realized that Baltar from one season ago would not have spoken this calmly or convincingly about God and his angelic visions. He wouldn’t be so passionately honest about the the possibility and necessity of their shared future.  God, through the Angle HeadSix, has turned Baltar into an excellent motivational speaker.  It’s only a brief hiatus, of course, because then things get all fracked up due to a stray asteroid.  Ending with Cavil shooting his damn self in the head!  There’s such a machine-like precision to his action, and his realization as to how completely and utterly fraked he is.

I like that the finale brought Baltar and CapricaSix back together (Gotta give Tisha Helfter something to do now that they’ve totally forgotten and ignored whatever happened to Tigh’s ex-pregnant Six … or did she die when I wasn’t paying attention?).  I’ve always thought of Baltar and Caprica them as the series’ star-crossed lovers.  If only their respective houses could align they would have a future together.  It took 6 years (since the 2003 mini-series) and they have made the characters work for this finally, they live happily ever after.

I enjoyed Baltar’s later exchange with Adama, when he indignantly defends his interest in mating with the indigenous population of .  There’s an almost camaraderie between Baltar and the rest of them (Hoshi is the substitute Admiral?).  They’ve come to accept Baltar and I just can’t picture that happening earlier in the series.  Baltar has changed, and he had to in order to be with CapricaSix.  Baltar may have destroyed the Colonies but it was out of his love for the woman he’s now standing with.  When he tears up saying “I know about farming”, who else in the entire universe would understand why that was but Caprica.  

Did I mention there was a lot of stuff that happened?

At one point, a Simon tells Boomer, while examining a captive Hera In the end, it’s all about mathematics.  In response Boomer snaps his neck  which makes me think (a) the show is resolutely saying “No, it is about humanity and divinity and so much more than mathematics.” and  (b) it’s a joke, because when Kara dials the jump for , Kara is in fact using a mathematical interpretation of the song to decide where they’ll end up.

Oh, yes, mustn't forget Kara! That chick is dirty, double-dog daring Lee to frak her on the kitchen table while his drunken brother slept on the couch.  I don’t know where she disappeared to but I believe I’ve come around to liking her departure scene.  So peaceful and serene as she — bloop! — disappeared out of the narrative, right in front of our eyes.  When Hybrid-Anders, in a rare lucid moment, whispers I’ll see you on the other side you know that he will.  Because, on this batfrak crazy show that we all decided to watch, the other side exists.  I’ll be left forever wondering what Starbuck is.  At least until twenty years from now when they remake it as some new interweb-holo-projection vid.  I’ll be telling my indifferent children They never should’ve changed Adama into a woman, it just isn’t the same and they’ll be rolling their eyes and disbelieving I watched some cheesy 2000s show without any 3D or surround-o-smell.  Well, until then, at least, I’ll be left pondering what the hell this show all meant.  Some poor guy made a top 12 list of questions that had to be answered in the finale, and a total of one question was (possibly) answered.  And that type of thought-provocation was, after all, the reason I tuned in.  To sit there and marvel at what Galactica has done this week.  To have my brain stimulated in ways I didn’t know were biologically nor ergonomically possible.  To watch an incredible number of characters an incredible number of other characters.  To turn off the television and still be thinking about it all the next day.

Damn, I think I’m almost starting to like this finale. 

Thanks Galactica cast & crew.  Thanks for one hell of a ride.

Since I started these writings, I’ve ended almost every commentary with a list of questions.  Except that doesn’t seem appropriate today, because no one’s going to make more episodes to answering them.  Maybe I’ll do just one; the most poignant question the finale asked: _{Does all of this have to happen again?}

Last night, Janine, Nathan and I went to a cool bonfire-fire / Native American drum circle / weird dancing fire jugglers on stilts / odd Victorian all-white mimes / mysterious all-black dancer kinda ceremony thing at City Hall. Thanks to our friends Lisa and Debbie for inviting us :)

I love Edmonton’s festivals, it’s a great things about living here.  I suppose I was very photogenic, with Nathan’s head peeking out of my jacket.  I had quite a few photo requests, including one from The Edmonton Journal.

• There’ll be ^{more bsg content}. I plan to do at least one follow-up post after the finalé, perhaps two. I’m certain there’ll be lots to talk about and not enough time to do it in a single weekend.
• Y'all best get ready for ^{David Deutsch}, my latest masterpiece. That'll be here Monday, so just wait and see.
• I’d hoped to get my first proper ^{Furburger and Stumpy} cartoon up before bsg was over. Y’know, so it’d be somewhat relevant, but c'est la vie. It’s my longest-yet (6 panel) hand-drawn cartoon.
• The beginnings of another ^{Really Dumb Story} have started to form, but I ain’t promising any dates.
• I’ve been itching to delve into ^{Deep Space Nine}, and the Ronald D. Moore connection (he was an Executive Producer on both shows).
  • It will mostly be about one of my favourite shows, but I’ll touch on how many of bsg’s story techniques were learned on that earlier show. And there’ll be lots of YouTube®.
• More discussion of popular art. In particular, the ^Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. It’s likely that _Lost and _Terminator and other such television will feature in there.
• There’s a few more things percolating, sometimes my creations defy easy description so let’s just say:
         I ain’t going anywhere.
  There’s plenty more where this all came from.
  • No promises on sticking to any schedule though ;) I'm a little bagged after what feels like a marathon.

BSG passes too close to Lost island and crash lands in Voyager’s unused plot bin (but it’s a good thing)

I never know what to expect from Galactica, I think that’s a big reason I tune in.  Never in a million years did I figure on a finale containing ⅓rd slow-burn flashback.  The device isn’t new to Galactica, but its rare and it was hard not to feel like I was watching a Lost episode.  After getting into it, I came to enjoy the chance to look back at who these characters were; how far they’ve come; how they’ve changed; how recognizably us they all were.  These were just some people who happened to be on this ship this one time when the apocalypse happened.  If God or fate pre-ordained any of it there were no indications.  Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore has said he feels it’s important to the show to continually re-establish those connections to their old lives.  After four years of television watching it’s easy to forget these people haven’t always lived like this.  They were irrevocably altered that way.  And it turns out their lives were a bit fraked up before any of this happened too.  Oh Galactica, you’re going to give me some respite aren’t you?  Some kind of faint light at the end of this very dark path you’ve led me down?

I’ll be retroactively hating on a lot of this season if the finale fails to deliver.  The many slow building plots can be frustrating.  I liken it to the suspenseful build-up in a horror movie where the longer you watch the heroine bumbling around the more you dread when the killer’s knife will plunge in a swift downward stroke.  It makes things suspenseful and keeps you on the edge of your seat and Galactica has us all on the edge of our seats, waiting to throw our popcorn up in the air.  We’re all waiting to discover how Moore will finish his tale and its a rare delight to see a showrunner get to finish something so wholly original on his own terms.  The differences between season four, this last half especially, and earlier seasons of Galactica are sometimes pronounced.  It’s changed and grown and wants to challenge some our expectations about how it should entertain us.  Importantly, it has remained compelling watchable drama throughout its transformation.  No matter how much I might desire a space battle, that’s not what happened on Ron Moore’s show.  And it is his show, we’re all just watching it.

on the phrase Harbinger of Death
a conversation with FoW reader Brain
	So you think the death refers just the 13, not to Humanity?	Legion
Brian	It could have been refering to her being part of the destruction of the resurection ship. I think that we’re led to believe that Starbuck is supposed to set humanity up for doom but I think it’s a metaphor for bringing the fight to its end
	Hmm.. good point about the destruction of the resurrection ship	Legion
Brian	But then Anders-Hybrid repeated “Harbinger of Death” so it must still have significance? You never know... I can’t wait for the moment when we all go.. OH.... ~that’s~ what they meant
	I’ve often wondered if it meant something other than literal death of people/cylons. like it meant “the death of humanity/cylons because they are merged into a new race”	Legion
Brian	[“Harbinger of Death” is] such a striking statement

The scene where Papadama goes all Moses-like and parts the Galactica crew like the Red Sea was very telling in how few people were shown on that hanger deck.  The crew has shrunk and much of it happened off screen.  I won’t gripe much, but I wish they had telegraphed the decline from post-Pegasus to today a little better.  The crew atrophication, the ship breakdowns, I wish they had built up over a longer period of time.  It feels slightly abrupt.  Still, they have given it a lot of play during these last ten episodes and it’s a welcome response to what Moore felt were missed opportunities at Star Trek Voyager. (A show he spent a very brief time at before leaving)

The show Battlestar Galactica has allowed Moore to very creatively air his grievances with all the things he wasn’t allowed to do during his Star Trek days (and to continuing building on the things that worked).  His crusade against techno-babble and in-humanly perfect characters;  story arcs that actually changed who characters were; story developments with long term consequences (i.e. no reset-buttons).  We’re seeing that the ship is grounded in practical realities (like the Chief telling Adama corners were cut during Galactica’s assembly), things break down and spare parts are hard to come by — in fact, let’s use the Galactica for spare parts!  Moore’s lived up to his early promise not to deliver a planet-of-the-week style drama.

For character change and development, I don’t think anyone has changed more than Gaius Baltar.  He’s been languishing on the margins of the show for too long.  Seeing him go toe-to-to with Lee Adama was a riveting affair.  Who doesn’t completely understand why Lee mistrusts Gaius and his request for a seat at the Quorum.  The fun part is that Gaius, at least, seems to believe himself.  He’s not the same man that Tigh dismissed as a twitchy sonofabitch near the series start. He was recognizably humbled when he wanted to step over that line, on the hanger deck of Galactica.  Perhaps he wants to be a better man than he is, he wants to accomplish something good for the people who have turned to him.  But he’s afraid, so he doesn’t make that step.  HeadSix has assured him (and us) that he will play an important role in these final events, so I look forward to whatever he does next.

“I’ve been dating this woman for two years and I don’t even know her name?”       ~ James Callis I really love that bit about Baltar not knowing CapricaSix’s name.  It comes from a real life anecdote you can hear on the Battlestar roundtable discussions.  While filming the pilot Callis asked what CapricaSix’s name was.  They phoned Ron Moore, who responded:

Oh! And Tahmoh Penikett is just nailing it week after week; his portrayal of Helo’s drive and commitment to his child is fiercely believable.  I’m quite certain we’ll see Hera intact again, but will Helo?  Athena seems resigned to an ugly fate and we may yet see some of these characters meet ignominious ends. Will Anders play along with their request to jump?  What role will the good ship Battlestar Anderstica play?  Should we prepare for God’s arrival?  Although if so, I doubt he’ll be played by Dirk Benedict, as he’s a cranky S.O.B.

He doesn’t need to know... My take is at some point Gaius Baltar realized that he did not know the name, and at that point he was so tickled by that knowledge and so loved the joke of it that he never bothered to find out and then he wanted to see how long he could do it without ever revealing that he didn’t know ~23 min : 45 sec The Battlestar roundtable [~3hrs; 71.3MB] was recorded circa season 3 and features Ron Moore and his wife, Mrs. Ron, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tahmoh Penikett and Mark “The Leprechaun” Sheppard hamming it up for a special edition of the bsg podcast.  (If you’re just skimming it, check the 12:30 mark to hear  how Edward James Olmos told the actors they had to go without sleep for 3 days before filming the pilot)

Aside from Obama vs. Adama, I do bsg episode commentaries every Monday morning.  I’ve thrown up some links to the fourth season

If you want to check out some non-bsg stuff, might I suggest any of the following:

funny nonsense Perhaps its just me, but it seems like its all the rage this century to start your own religion. The badly drawn artwork is enough of a draw to ensure you’ll want to click the link. But wait until you hear the benefits that await you! Act now! Supplies are limited!	comics A ringing endorsement of Watchmen, the seminal comic by Alan Moore. Included is over five pages of excerpts from the graphic novel as well as some custom created fake-ads for Dr. Manhattan’s discrete male escort agency. This is really a great comic and completely worth reading.    (the film was very faithful, by the way)
funny nonsense It’s 4.30a Monday; I haven’t slept since Saturday and buses don’t run for another hour. I’m pretty certain I wrote it coming down from a magic mushroom trip. A weird meandering tale taking inspiration from an old-school text-based adventure. It switches styles at least three times and is delightfully random.	crazy tales My 1978 Chevy power-to-the-max offroading adventurous little go-machine was a camperized wonder of the “how didn’t it break down” kind. And with Betty as my trusty rusty sidekick did I engage in many many fine adventures. Including time travel.

Oh a slightly more realistic note, I do feel rather confident in predicting we’ll next see the fireworks begin because this episode felt like it was firming up the foundations before launching somewhere entirely else.  It was reminding us of where all of the characters are, what their motivation(s) might be and what some of the outstanding questions are.  They even went so far as having Baltar say [Kara Thrace]’s not a cylon, they’ve already been revealed to us (and my wife brings up a good point: does slapping Baltar seem Starbuck-ish to you?  Isn’t slugging people more her signature?).  Not much really happened, we instead floated through the lives of various characters and got to spend a little time with each one of them.  And that was actually pretty cool.

So much has happened over the last few episodes, and this season, that I welcomed being reminded where everyone was.  I’ll guess the next two episodes (a total of three hours remain; the last episode is two hours) will be rather full of adventure and action and crazy ass twists and turns.  So it was nice to spend some unencumbered time with the crew.  When Adama and Tigh toasting the ship it felt like the show itself saying goodbye to us

It gave many of the very fine actors a chance to shine.  My favourite was easily Roslin and Adama smoking a doobie in the hospital.  Mary Macdonald has done an excellent job portraying her cancer, it could so easily be over-sold but she never does.  When she tells Adama that he runs the risk of losing both her and the ship at the same time she does it with a grace and strength that, well, it’s Laura Roslin.  She has crafted a memorable lady.  Gracy Park was also amazing; as Boomer (dealing with Hera); as Athena (dealing with Helo); as a random dying deck hand (saying her goodbyes and quoting ♫Watchtower♫ lyrics).  Park makes each character different and yet keeps some intangible Sharon-ness in each of them. 

Michael Hogan (and his amazing acting eye) showed us again the drunken broken man that Saul Tigh is yet he’s got a dignity and pride in who he is that you have to love him.  Hogan is just completely fearless.  Katee Sachoff and James Callis played wonderfully off each other too.  Tahmoh Penikett, the new actor on the block at the beginning of the series is going toe to toe with Edward James Olmos and that kid can act.  I’ve been watching him on Dollhouse and I’m looking forward to seeing him try a different role.

I suppose I should just issue a blanket “everyone is awesome” award but I blew all my time making this week’s cartoons.  So many of these commentaries I just ignore the actor greatness because there’s always so many other things to talk about.  But Galactica has assembled and maintained a rich ensemble cast (quite a few of whom they’ve killed off now) and they’ve really grown the show by letting these creative talented people run wild with what they can do.  Aside from the actors: the directors and producers have really developed and matured the show’s visual language too.  It’s grown beyond beyond the cinema vérité that they started with.  And the writers, oh you wonderful talented folk and the complexities you pull off.  Everyone gets a free lollypop!

See BSG 4x14
for origin ~ Ed.

From a story logic point of view, I appreciate the respect that’s being shown to Gaius Baltar.  It makes total sense that his radio addresses are listened to; that he speaks at funerals; that his opinions are listened to in the Quorum.  He’s long spoken out against the Adama and Roslin. Now, during his trial this was perhaps a fringe opinion.  The recent coup proved Baltar’s views are no longer a small minority.  Even if someone didn’t care for his religious beliefs, his followers are both keeping order and distributing rations.  He’s a force of good in the fleet.  And the look on Lee’s face was funny as hell.  Jamie Bamber has some excellent comic timing.

Oh, so when I say “nothing happened” of course I mean we learn Hera can project, just like proper Cylons, we get to see a glimpse of the Cylon colony (so. cool.), Adama decides to abandon the Galactica (after his painting lesson), it’s confirmed that Charbuck was Starbuck and Anders gets in touch with his inner hybrid.  Just before the show ends, Kara plugs him back into the ship and he’s all New Command and whatever he’s getting up to next he’s in control of Galactica and since the coup failed, we may presume that every ship has Cylon jump drives.  Anders can move the entire fleet elsewhere.  The next three hours of Galactica could take us anywhere.

What will Boomer’s moment of maternal instinct amount to?  Am I a bad person for not thanking the Teamsters?  And if Autobots are always cars, does that mean that Battlestar
Anderstica is a Decepticon?

	The ship never let us down, so we’re going to send her off in style. So we’re going to do this huh? She was a grand old lady The Grandest. To Galactica, the best ship in the fleet To Galactica…

Watchmen is a landmark comic book that is the only graphic novel to sit in Time Magazine’s 100 best English-language novels [1923 to 2005]. It has a very realistic feel with dialog that belongs to the characters. Its highly cinematic approach to to storytelling lends a verisimilitude to it all. There are no action POW! effects or thought bubbles. Even the embedded narration is presented as an artifact, a journal . The story is thus composed only of elements of its own universe.

Although published by DC, the characters are unique to the Watchmen story. When you start reading you may find yourself wondering who all these characters are, and what their shared history is. It’s important to realize that those questions and answers will all be addressed within the self-contained graphic novel (original published as 12 separate comics). Thank God there’s no long running sixty years of haphazard continuity that you have to study before you can figure any of it out. (*cough* Final Crisis *cough*).

There’s a movie adaptation coming out and I’ll get to that and more. Let’s jump right into the comic art and examine the first three pages of the story. I’ll be back afterwards to talk a bit more.

As you can see, someone has killed The Comedian, a ex-superhero. Rorschach, his old buddy, is on the trail and provides the whodunnit elements of the story. They were both members of the now disbanded Watchmen, a group of crime fighters, and we will meet each one of them throughout the course of the story; discovering which piece of story puzzle they’re holding. The Keene Act of 1977 forced most of them into early retirement but Rorschach was an exception: he never surrendered his mask. Dr. Manhattan is also exempted, working as he does for Uncle Sam and the good old U. S. of A. Not that anyone knows how they could possibly restrain the incandescent blue god-like being should the need arise.

Welcome to the world of Watchmen a complex layered story that uses the technique of flashbacks throughout in a way that feels very similar to , which has used a flashback structure for the first three or four seasons of its tale (depending on whether flash-forwards count). Both present small fragments of characters' lives, interwoven between different time periods describing a mosaic of stories that also form one large story. Executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have acknowledged the influence and indeed the dust jacket on my edition carries an endorsement quote from Lindelof.

Reading it now, twenty years after initial publication, changes some things. It was a reaction and commentary to some of the things going on in the comic medium at the time. A deliberate effort to do something other than the usual superhero book and also commenting on what the world suggested by most comic books might really be like. Its deconstruction of the vigilante nature of these costumed adventurers became the blueprint for many subsequent stories in the medium.

It’s not quite Sin City, but it get’s into some dark ass shit. Each chapter follows a different character. It’s all very postmodern as it does what it can to deny any object viewpoint. Everyone can believe they’re right, or justified, from their own perspective and each is on individual story trajectories growing from the pasts we uncover.

Some of those perspectives are quite intriguing too: Dr. Manhattan’s omniscient experience of time and its passage is some particularly thought provoking stuff. The novel is filled to the brim with interesting happenings. Happenings which re-awaken old memories and questions about who The Watchmen were and why they got into the crime fighting fad. But the past is a temptous thing full of dangerous businesses and plenty of good story material.

I can’t tell you exactly why but there’s a pirate story embedded in Watchmen. Answering the question: If superheroes were real, what would comics be about? I’m ambivalent about this element. One one hand it’s a bit distracting.
On the other hand: pirates!

It all takes place in an alternate reality where superheroes — or, as the book prefers “costumed adventurers” — have been real since the ’40s and influenced the course of history. Nixon’s on his third heart surgery and umpteenth term as president. See, thanks to the once patriot Dr. Manhattan, the United States won Vietnam. An entire world is created, informed by newspaper clippings, book excerpts and other artifacts stuffed between the chapters. Consider it optional material: if you want to really dig into the back-story then it’s there for you. If you want a quicker read you can skip the inter-chapter content and stick with the cartoons.

A lot of what made Watchmen great was unique to the medium of comics. Its lack of special effects and omniscient narration was a reaction to what was going on in comics at the time. It’s inter-laden storylines cut so rapidly between eras it would be jarring in a film. The many tangential story points will prove difficult to condense in a movie (I’m guessing pirates won’t feature heavily) but the core story's a compelling cool-ass ride, with a tale that has something to tell about the kinds of people that would choose to put on masks. The adaptation looks faithful and exciting and it opens Friday in theaters.

It’s an excellent, ambitious story and definately a comic worth reading. I understand many will just watch the movie (after writing all this, I’ve certainly kindled my own interest). If it’s good, perhaps you’ll find yourself wanting to know a bit more about its world. It’s a comic that influenced many of today’s authors. Plus, Alan Moore worships a snake god so, y’know, that’s weird.

Have some thoughts on Watchmen(movie or book)? Sound off in the comments section

So why? Why did last weeks overly talky episode bore me and this episode, which had only marginally more action, enthral me from start to finish? Explain this to me because I only know that while last episode was a bit un-engaging, Someone to Watch Over Me grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go.

The musical, insightful opening on Starbuck and her morning routine was great. I love that the award was a tube of toothpaste. I imagine whoever wins will save it for special occasions. hey! hey! Selix is getting frisky, better pull out my special good luck charm: The last tube of toothpaste in the frakin’ universe! Oh the chicks fall head over heels for for the only guy in the fleet with clean breath.

A lot of people on this show have imaginary friends: Baltar’s Head#6, Adama’s dead wife, Caprica#6 has her own HeadBaltar and now Starbuck, who previously had Angle/Head
Leoben#2, is now joined by GhostDad. Or probably GhostDad, anyways, he's certainly a figment of her imagination. Real or not real, I absolutely loved  loved  loved those two playfully composing the music. It was just such a enjoyable series of scenes. I never know what to expect with Galactica; who would’ve guessed it was music lesson time. For those who may have missed it: when they reach the second movement (Starbuck playfully insults the piano man "Is part of the process also stealing from other composers?") the music he was playing with was lifted from the original Battlestar Galactica 1978 series. So there’s a double play of meaning to the dialog as well as being an homage to the original show.

So was that her father? Is her father Daniel the Cylon#7 ?  Both Cliff and Swiz have been intrigued by the idea of Baltar as the artistic and sensitive Daniel. Out among this great series of tubes we call the interweb, others have suggesting Daniel could be Starbuck’s father. Myself, I’m not ready to commit to either theory, so I’ll say Daniel is… Doc Cottle. Why not, it works as well as either one of those. I could be proven wrong but I don’t think that Daniel? Baltar?
Starbuck? Her
father? Cottle?#7 is too important to the events left to play out.

It was nice seeing Tyrol and Boomer reunite. The “previouslies” did a lovely job reminding us of their history. The last time we saw Boomer she was that dumb kid fraking the chief and thinking she was getting away with it. She was struggling with her Cylon nature when POW! Cally shot her. The Chief obviously has feelings for Sharon. Aaron Douglas plays the hell out of a scene where he pleads with Roslin not to surrender Boomer#8 to the Cylons, who want to put her on trial. Much like Baltar’s recent trial, no one is on her side and the exercise seems a masquerade to condemn her. (Gaeta wanted to put Adama on trial too; boy howdy there’s a lot of trials at the end times of humanity)

So the chief does what any ex-lover would. Smashes ConstructionWorker#8 in the head with a wrench and swaps her for Boomer#8. What did Tyrol think was going to happen? She’s a naughty one; she put two holes in [the old man]. So Boomer#8. knocks out Athena#8, stuffs her in the closet, then frak’s her man Helo, in front of her. She steals her daughter Hera, stuffs her in luggage and runs off to John
Cavil#1. This is one twisted bitch.

Can your child paint ♫All Along the Watchtower♫? Do you think the Chief’s done waffling between Human and Cylons now? And watch out for those retracting launch tubes!

	it’s okay, it’s just the next hurdle they key is to, you know, not panic, trust yourself.. something’s going to come.. it’s part of the process

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Oh wow, this took a lot of work.
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Season4

01	02	03	04	05
06	07	08	09	10	10½
11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19

I’ve done bsg episode commentaries for every episode, the latest all feature cartoons!

If you want to check out some non-bsg stuff, allow me to suggest any of the following:

Perhaps its just me, but it seems like its all the rage this century to start your own religion. The badly drawn artwork is enough of a draw to ensure you’ll want to click the link. But wait until you hear the benefits that await you! Act now! Supplies are limited!	A ringing endorsement of Watchmen, the seminal comic by Alan Moore. Included is over five pages of excerpts from the graphic novel as well as some custom created fake-ads for Dr. Manhattan’s discrete male escort agency. This is really a great comic and completely worth reading.    (the film was very faithful, by the way)
It’s 4.30a Monday; I haven’t slept since Saturday and buses don’t run for another hour. I’m pretty certain I wrote it coming down from a magic mushroom trip. A weird meandering tale taking inspiration from an old-school text-based adventure. It switches styles at least three times and is delightfully random.	My 1978 Chevy power-to-the-max offroading adventurous little go-machine was a camperized wonder of the “how didn’t it break down” kind. And with Betty as my trusty rusty sidekick did I engage in many many fine adventures. Including time travel.

Naturally I have a super groovy feed
that informs you of all
recent awesomeness.

So all life (original Humans and Cylons) originated on Kobol.  That’s what I’m getting from the show and interviews trickling in from the writers.  Kobol is as far back as history goes.  Humans created artificial life, the Cylons, on Kobol for the first time.  Those Cylons eventually fled to Earth where they created artificial life of their own.  EarthCylons now had their own Cylons, which rose up and killed them.  Just like 12ColonyCylons rose up and killed 12ColonyHumans.

Baltar’s return to his cult was pretty dry stuff.  Rival Paula has (in what, a week?) gained some control over the nymphets.  The two of them engage in a variety of pissing contests that leads to Baltar’s passionate speech that they unexpectidly need more guns! Bigger Guns! HeadSix’s long absence is broken so that she might suggest they lock & load?  I sure hope the militarization of Baltar’s fan club is necessary plotting for what comes next (much like the various Galactica Goop Patrol scenes.  Oh, I’m so waiting for the Galactica to come alive, mack on the basestar and be all like We Must Obtain The Allspark!).  James Callis reliably elevates the material, but it all felt a little ^what_ever.

Both sides seem compelled to re-create the same pattern but what if a shared future, like the one Hera represents, could transcend this cycle of apocalyptic violence.  Tigh recently lamented that ^{you point a finger back far enough and some germ get blamed for splitting in two - NO!}; Tory in particular has been eager to side with the Cylons, blaming Humans for genocide down to her burnt morning croissant. But what if they could find a way to band together and become something greater?

Ellen is willing to dash those hopes to spitefully hurt the man she loves.  Ah! ELLEN! I’ve missed you :)  It was brilliant seeing the return of the slutty drunken destructive Ellen I eventually came to love.  She was so cool and collected dialoguing with ungrateful offspring John, during No Exit, that I wondered if her former self was just a Boomer-like personality plant.  But no, she really is that messed up.

Ellen’s arrival in the fleet comes just in time for her to learn that Tigh has knocked up a Six.  When she first ^*eh-hem* re-acquainted herself with Saul, Ellen seemed like she could’ve forgiven almost anything from her man.  Except that.  I enjoyed that the final Cylon, who seemed matronly and rational, so quickly embraced jealousy and pettiness, willingly dooming them all to spite her husband.  Bravo writers for creating such an interesting wedge between these two.  We can understand how Saul Tigh found himself in this position and we can also easily imagine Ellen’s disgust with the results.  But Paul Hogan and Tricia Helfer have done such a good job, especially in this episode, of selling this unlikely romance that at least to me it doesn’t seem so wrong.  Even if it violates a Cylon taboo that we didn’t know about until last episode, it’s still removed enough from my normal life that I’m more interested in the question and don’t really have any gut reaction to this apparent, what, its not incest is it?.

Awww...

Tigh (and I love this bit) is so tied to the uniform and his friend, William Adama, that Ellen decides to hurt Saul Tigh by compelling him to leave Adama. The Cylons debate whether to stay with the Humans or make their own way.  Leaving the fleet would be a horrible thing for Tigh, who has little besides his Galactica life to cling to and define himself.  When Ellen votes for the Cylons to abandon the Humans she believes in her heart that it is the wrong future for the Cylons.  But it’ll hurt Tigh.  Oh that poor drunken abused cyclops; he just can’t catch a break.

I was underwhelmed by this episode.  I surely enjoyed the tumultuous return of Ellen Tigh but it needed more than her machinations and the Paula / Baltar friction to sustain it.  I haven’t dwelled on its faults because really it just failed to reach the heights recent episodes have.  It also shares the general vibe of season four Galactica, which sometimes feels like we’re merely watching chess pieces rearrange into endgame positions.  Basically the Cylons want to leave, having realized that seat at the Quorum isn’t quite as relevant as they once thought.  I like the idea of Cylons debating whether to stick it out but if they don’t, what, in a few thousand years there might be some consequences?  The drama just didn’t come alive for me. Give me some freakin’ space battles with a side of hot sweaty six on eight action or something to keep me from flicking channels to Al Jazeera and wondering “Hmm.. what are my career options”  I’ve enjoyed BSG’s action-less outings of late because I felt those episodes had enough to offer they could stand on their own.  Deadlock was missing an exciting mutiny or massive exposition dump (or, again, hot sweaty six on eight action) to keep things moving.  Well it’s not like I’ll suddenly stop watching.  See ya’ll next week.

So is there any precedence for “Cylon majority rules in binding covenant” or did Jane Espenson just pull that out of her ass? Does Chief Galen Tyrol root for Humans or Cylons?  He works for Adama but votes to leave.  And what’s Baltar going to do with all those guns?

Any chance Brain Guy’s name was Daniel?

Who knew?  Attached to the back of Ander’s neck is the exposition tap.  It got shot the frak off last week and it’s spewing knowledge out all over the place.  Fragments of plot, motivations and explanations came pouring out of every cinematic pore of No Exit.  We follow Ellen’s resurrection from eighteen months prior in a device reminiscent of a Lost story.  A previously unrevealed side story has Ellen arguing with John; John we’ve known as Brother Cavil until now.  Ellen is his creator.  Say what?  Okay, let’s start at the beginning of this endless cycle.

     ^{3000 years ago}  The Cylons and Humans are all lovey dovey on Kobol, where the latest cycle started.  Then they fled Kobol.  Cylons dodge left, they go to planet E.  The big Earth.  Humans, they say “poo on you bastards,” they dodge right.  They establish the twelve colonies.

     ^{2000 years ago}  The Cylons get all fraked up and the Final Five do a Superman to the twelve colonies.  Up until their departure they’d been working on resurrection technology.  It’s an ability that was common aeons ago but Cylons had evolved away from its use.  Cylons lived normal lifespans until the Final Five un-crated it and brought the TECH along with them. 

But they’re travelling at light speed, no fancy jumpdrives.  For them, the journey is a short one.  For the rest of the universe time passes super quickly until..

     ^{40 years ago}  The Final Five arrive in the midst of an already raging Cylon/Human war.  The Cylons are still mucking about with primitive Hybrids.  The Old Cylons meet the Current Cylons and they do a corporate merger.  So the unbelievably inventive Cylons with their fancy technology isn’t such an achievement; they’ve had silent partners.  Our Final Five (Tigh, Anders, Tory, Tyrol and Ellen) create eight new models of Cylon skinjobs in exchange for ending the war.  The Five are going to “guide” the primitive Cylons along the right path.  Because subjugating and controlling other people’s destiny always goes so well on this show.

So it’s not just the humans that can’t get along with themselves.  Cavil -- uh, I mean John, betrays the Final Five.  He kills all instances of their current iterations and allows them only to resurrect within lives he’s designed.  Lives designed to give them a ringside seat to the human apocalypse.  Holy frak, this guy’s egomaniacal villain complex is fully developed.  So at least one Cylon did have a plan like the opening credits have insisted.  Our man John (né Cavil) had a plan to make the Five suffer and recognize his correctness.  (I’m a little hazy on when.  When did Adama meet Tigh?  When was Tigh created?)  But Ellen, at least, recognizes this is all growing pains of an mechanical life that fails to see its so-human traits.

Wow wow wow!!
Holy frakin’ WOW!

     ^{18 months ago}  It felt like a theatrical play, using few sets, no action and just dialog between characters.  Kate Vernon (as Ellen) and Dean Stockwell (as John) crackled and sparked off each other’s presence.  Their dialog was riveting simply for the mythology it hinted at.  The actor’s delivery kept it all personal, however.  The two deliver the Encyclopaedia Galactica Historica in a condensed form and keep the drama alive with a relentless pace.  Bravo!

     ^Today  There’s even more packed into this tour de force:

• Roslin had that simple conversation with Lee Adama, where she told him she was finished with public life and he was to take the reins.  It was a move I’m happy to see.  Roslin’s going to do her own thing but she ensures the fleet has someone worthy to take her place. 
• Sharon demanding _{Why would I want to love? Who would I love?} was such a brief but telling moment.  Forget the logical arguments she may be spouting because it’s so clearly personal to her, a reaction to her own past. 

   
  Only two months away!

  Have you heard that a BSG spin-off show, Caprica, is being made?  It’s already got a series order and it’s 2 hour mini-series arrives on DVD April 26, 2009. 
  
  source: G4; thanks to Cliff for the heads-up

• Originally there were eight skinjobs until a mysterious Daniel was killed, leaving the seven we know today.  Is Daniel actually Starbuck?  A story to be told in Caprica?  Something I haven’t thought of yet?
• Adama and the Chief, meanwhile, toured the suddenly rusty and rotten parts of the good ship Galactica.  It felt good when Adama so readily re-embraced the Chief but he quickly pissed on that good will, and for the rest of the episode.  Adma has ordered Cylon TECH installed on other ships (and faced a coup as a result) but he wants only human personnel and TECH on Galactica.  Adama is ultimately willing to trust Tigh and the Chief as they’re part of the Galactica family.  He still doesn’t trust the Cylons but decides he loves Galactica more.

Will Anders live to see another day?  Has Boomer been taught about the swirl?  (in my fantasies: yes) Tell me what you're thinking because my head has exploded!