Rocky_T

New fic

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:42:29 GMT

This is getting to be a habit! I have a new story, How To Win Friends And Influence People, written for trekchic, maker of icons extraordinaire, who wanted a friendship story with Kirk, McCoy and Spock. Enjoy!

In other news, it *does* appear the phone is now working! Apparently they replaced some equipment at the central station and now our problems are solved. Next up: world peace!

Birthday extravaganza!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:25:19 GMT

For some reason the planets aligned on June 12, giving us the following birthdays:

yahtzee63

caitn

lizbee

Hope all of you have a great day and a wonderful year!

phone woes, cont'd

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:13:25 GMT

I spoke too soon, as the phone woes continue. Sometimes incoming calls get through, and sometimes they don't. I can't even count how many technicians have been to the house over the past few days, how many supervisors we have spoken to. "This is really strange," one of them remarked today, when within the space of an hour sometimes they got the line to work and other times couldn't. No kidding. But they will keep on trying. My daughter asked how much all of these service calls are costing. "Nothing," I replied. "They are *obligated* to give us working phone service!"

In happier news, thanks to the talented trekchic, I now have a Pike icon! She will be receiving fic for her efforts, oh yes, she will.

New fic

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:55:32 GMT

I've finished another AOS story. "Forward Progress" is a Pike/Number One story and can be found here.

phone woes

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:03:20 GMT

I have been having phone woes the last several days. To begin with, the land line has been very flaky. We've been able to make outgoing calls, but incoming calls have been...questionable at best. More often than not, one or two rings (or half-rings) and that's it. There's nothing on the line when we attempt to answer. Of course, it's completely unpredictable how and when this occurs. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. (Never when important calls try to come through but somehow the spammers are usually successful).

Then, my ancient (and I do mean ancient--I've had this particular model for about 7-8 years) cell phone decided to die. It was gradually getting harder and harder to get good reception. Or any reception. And then it wanted to be charged all the time. Naturally, it made life more interesting to have both cell *and* land line service give out at the same time. It made getting in touch with me lots of fun, or so I've been told. (And let's ignore the minor detail that I work from home...)

Currently, things are looking up. I am now the proud owner of a fancy new cell phone, complete with camera! (Of course, the store employees laughed themselves silly when I asked about transferring all the data out of my old phone. Can't be done, like harnessing a dinosaur. So I've been slowly and painfully inputting all the numbers etc. by hand). And today marks the second day in a row that the phone company has sent people over to work on the line and fix our problem. (I'd have felt better if each time I didn't have to re-explain that yes I can make outgoing calls, it's receiving them that's the problem). It *does* appear to be working--for now. Let's hope it continues.

Not sure whether or not it's tempting fate to note that at least my internet connection (see above, works from home) has been stable.

Back to work for me now. And working on my latest fic. I really, really want a Pike icon to go with it. But alas I am untalented in that area. And based on my last post, absolutely no one is reading this journal anyway, or cares, and so it doesn't look like I will be getting one anytime soon.

But, at least I have phone service!

More AOS

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:31:51 GMT

Another new story: Good Advice is set during Kirk's first year at the Academy. And yes, my new favorite captain appears as well.

Speaking of which, as I am untalented in this area, I would be deeply appreciative if someone could make me a Pike icon. Preferably him sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, with the caption "Punch it". Pretty please? There's an offer of fic in exchange...

Sun, 24 May 2009 08:24:33 GMT

I went to the Trek movie again last night. I never see movies multiple times in the theater (heck, in the last ten years I haven't seen that many movies in the theater, period!) OK, I did see "The Wrath Of Khan" twice when it came out, but that was on the same night. My boyfriend and I went to an early-ish evening showing and as soon as it was over, we turned to each other and said, "Let's watch it again!" (Can you even still do that anymore these days? Or do they kick you out before the next showing begins?)The crowd was a lot rowdier the second time around, and a lot more vocal, but that was probably mostly due to the much later hours. So too with last night.

The first time, a week and a half ago, my husband and I went to the Trek pic (and I thoroughly outed myself during the intermission). Last night I saw it with my two oldest sons. B, the oldest, has never been into any of the sci fi stuff and in fact has made a point of not watching any of that sort of thing with me and his younger brothers. G, the second, has watched all of Stargate (both SG-1 and Atlantis) with me, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, as well as some DS9 and VOY (and oh yeah, he did watch ENT with me, the little that I did), plus we've started "obtaining" TOS and so he has so far watched "The Cage" with me. It was certainly an interesting experience watching with the boys (not to mention due to their both having military IDs we saved the price of a full ticket admission between the three of us). I didn't say a word before it began, just that this movie is designed for those who know absolutely nothing about anything Trek to enjoy it just as much as those who know a lot more. B did say he liked it (all the things blowing up, naturally!). On the way home G of course got into a full-fledged discussion and dissection of all events and characters. I was worried it was going to be too much for B to stomach, when he then turned to me and said, "Wait a minute--isn't this the one with Janeway? I thought you liked her." Give the boy some credit, he did gain *something* through the process of osmosis all these years! So I explained that Janeway was in a later series and these were the original characters from the original series. In retrospect, we really should have brought D, son number three, with us, as he's as big of a sci fi and fantasy afficianado as G is (actually in the case of fantasy, he's more so).. But the movie didn't even start till 10 pm and it was a school night...I did apologize to D this morning but he took it in stride.

I am so glad I saw the movie again. This time around I noticed a lot of details I'd missed the first time. And I found I liked Kirk a lot more this time around. Still an arrogant sonofagun without any real reason to have such a high opinion of himself *yet* (though that did change of course by the end of the movie) but more likeable. I loved reading all the Admiral names on the plaques during the hearing after Kirk's Kobayashi Maru. And I can't believe I missed the line about Admiral Archer's beagle the first time around! I'm still mulling the "kinder, gentler" Sarek, especially his dealings with his son when Spock was a young child and then when he announced his intentions to ditch the Vulcan Science Academy and attend Starfleet. At first I thought the estrangement between father and son simply didn't happen in AOS. Now, I'm not so sure, but one thing I am sure of is if it did it was of much shorter duration. The self-confidence, the *emotional* self-confidence that Spock exhibited this time around, to allow him to be involved with Uhura, is quite different, and I really think it's due to the different relationship between Sarek and Spock this time around, how Sarek seemed a lot more understanding of what Spock was going through and not just harshly insisting on All Vulcan All The Time. I will be mulling this further.

I know a lot of people have gotten the novelization, and it would certainly be useful (especially for those pesky details for fanfic!) But then again, novelizations can be iffy at times, and I don't necessarily want to use all of that material, nor accept its validity when I find it rather questionable . For example, George Samuel Kirk. In the original TOS he is Kirk's older brother, named after their father (and whom Kirk always called Sam, never George. Only he did that--his mother always called him George. And yes, this is all canon from "What Are Little Girls Made Of"). In the movie, our Kirk is an only child. But I have heard in the novelization, George exists. Which I don't understand how, in this universe. Due to the circumstances of Kirk's birth, and his mother telling her husband, "I can't do this without you" and the discussion of what to name him, I got the very strong impression this was their first and only offspring. I really don't see how and where a previously born son would come into play here. The movie itself didn't mention any brother whatsoever though I did hear that the boy young juvenile deliquent Kirk passes on the road while he's joyriding in the Mustang was originally intended to be his more law-abiding older brother. Things like that. I'm almost afraid to ask if in the novelization T'Pring exists, or if at least mention is made of Spock being bonded with her at age 7. (I also wonder if she survived, and if so, if that will have any ramifications or even mention in a later movie. Or what its implications would be for S/U, especially in a universe where Vulcans are now on the verge of extinction.) At any rate, I tend to doubt the novelization will be appearing here in a bookstore any time soon. But when it does, I probably will flip through it.

New AOS "Sins Of The Father"

Fri, 22 May 2009 07:48:17 GMT

And yet another new fic, once again thanks to the new movie. Sins Of The Father recounts a classic scene between father and son, revised to match the new canon.

I am fic, hear me roar

Sun, 17 May 2009 08:53:14 GMT

My muse has apparently awoken with a roar, thanks to the new Trek movie. Rehabilitation" is an "episode addition", containing a conversation I would have loved to see. And yeah, that means this story (unlike the last one I posted "The Beat Goes On") does contain spoilers for the movie.

New Star Trek Movie, at last!

Wed, 13 May 2009 21:06:25 GMT

Finally saw the movie tonight!

All in all, it was a good reboot of the franchise, and I particularly liked the "homage" acting of McCoy (even if I did sit there for a bit going, "blue eyes! not brown!"), Scotty and Chekov. Though I am a bit sad at the thought of all that has now been wiped clean. Though as my husband
pointed out, now the stage is set to go on to new adventures. I loved the resuse of lines, everything from Scotty's various, to Chekov's "Got him!" to Spock Prime's "I am and always have been your friend." The casting was quite good--in particular, the Sarek actor really did
look a lot like Mark Lenard.

And for those of you who have read Wildcat's excellent Spock/Uhura series, it's now canon. (And if you haven't read it, you should. Now). Edited to add: here is the URL for Wildcat's page.

One other thing I must recount. I've lived in Israel for the past several years, and the movie experience here is a bit different than seeing it in North America, shall we say. For one thing, we have an intermission in the middle of the movie (and no it's not always at what you'd call a "good stopping place" but this time we did kind of luck out). The audience was just a handful of English speakers, most of them computer geeks on a group outing for work. So during intermission, the lights come up and people are talking quietly among themselves about how
they're liking the movie so far. And they're mentioning little bits and pieces and so forth, and then one person says, "That green girl [Uhura's Academy roommate, Kirk's paramour], now, I don't know what species she's supposed to be." And someone else says, "I don't know, maybe...Andorian?" And people nearby are nodding and all of a sudden, I find myself saying in a loud voice, "Orion. The green girl is Orion. Andorians are blue." There's a moment of silence and then all the geeky guys are like, "Whoa! You're right! Hey, she really topped you, Joe!" I didn't mean to speak up, but I just couldn't help myself. (Not sure if my husband had sunk into his seat at this point or not. He says he didn't. I kinda believe him as after all, he's put up with me and my Trek stuff for the past 20+ years). And after the movie, one of the people came up and asked me my opinion, "As you obviously know a lot about Trek, seeing as you know the difference between an Orion and an Andorian!"

Sun, 10 May 2009 16:19:13 GMT

I hope we get to see the Trek movie this week. I have been avoiding reviews (mainstream ones: they are usually more interested in making fun of the fans as opposed to actually reviewing the movie, fannish ones: even though I know the premise I am still trying to avoid spoilers) but I am heartened that most of my flist seems to have loved it. I'm still waiting for the real dyed-in-the-wool TOS folks' opinions...

In other fannish pursuits: I never did post my take on the BSG finale. I was pleasantly surprised at the "happy ending" and not at all disappointed. Laura Roslin's death was a given, and she had a good send-off. Ditto for Anders. And boy was I surprised--and glad--that Helo survived as well. The nature of Kara Thrace, well, they didn't go into a real explanation so I'll just take Baltar's word for it--"She's an angel." Interesting take on what Head!Six and Head!Baltar really were as well. I guess you'd call them "guardian angels" (though Head!Six didn't always give Baltar such angelic advice). I liked the whole Second!Earth concept and the fact that we are their descendants. Yeah some things still left unexplained, but still. Good job, Ron Moore, all around.

No cut needed to say that Lost has been blowing my mind this season. In a good way. I am so sorry to see the Dharma sojourn end. I've really enjoyed this, much more than the Oceanic 6 lives back in LA. And I'm amazed at how much I've liked Sawyer this season. I so disliked him at the beginning and yet this season I really do like him. And Juliet. They are a good couple. Jack is still annoying however.

New fic

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:07:30 GMT

Yes, I know it's been a while. Here is my latest fic, a non-spoiler response to the new Trek movie. The Beat Goes On is an All Trek story.

Wed, 06 May 2009 04:20:07 GMT

Re: the upcoming Trek movie.

I'm doing a "reboot" of my own--commencing re-watching all of the Original Series. Last night we watched "The Cage", which I'd only seen in its "Menagerie" incarnation previously. (My husband and son agreed that Kirk would *so* have slept with Vina...and they both appreciated hearing the amusing "my God, that woman is green!" anecdotes). Leaving aside the blatant sexism of the '60's ("not used to having a woman on the bridge"), it's still a great story and holds up pretty well. Even the special effects didn't look as hokey as I was afraid they would.

My feelings about the new movie are...mixed. I understand the need to recast (as the original actors are all either really old or no longer living), and yes, other things have been "rebooted" pretty successfully. But there's a *huge* difference between, say, the original Battlestar Galactica which had a single (really bad) season and a TV movie and the decades' worth of series and movies of Trek. (Which reminds me I never posted my opinion on the BSG finale. Another time.)

One more day left in ASC Awards

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:16:04 GMT

Attention all interested parties: The second and final commenting period, consisting of TNG, VOY and Combined Stories (DS9, ENT & MIS) has approximately another 24 hours left to run. At 6 pm (DST) March 25, the 2008 ASC Awards will officially come to a close.

To comment, go here.

I fail at being a true Trekkie

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:18:43 GMT

I do not have an authentic Captain Kirk's chair in my living room.

more on the awards, BSG

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:24:50 GMT

For those of you interested in the ASC Awards, today March 18 is the last day in which the first commenting period is still open. In other words, if you want to comment on any of the TOS offerings, you have until 6 pm to do so. (That time is according to the east coast of the US). The second commenting period, including TNG, VOY, and Combined (DS9, ENT and MIS), will be open for another week. It will end on March 25, also at 6 pm.

In other fannish news, I haven't watched part 1 of BSG's "Daybreak" yet. I'm planning on watching all 3 parts together sometime this weekend. As I've said previously, I'm not holding out for a "happy ending", but I am looking for closure, seeing how it's all going to be resolved one way or another. I also sincerely hope that the pacing problems that have been existent throughout the series' run don't come into play now. This is the series finale, so please, no more wasting time on Baltar's sex cult or his inane dribblings, er, prophecies. No more mutinies and rebellions. Been there, done that, several times including very recently. Let's deal with the important stuff, like Hera's fate, what is going on with Starbuck (is she really the first hybrid of cylon and human?), is Roslin going to die, what is the ultimate fate of Galactica and her crew, the cylons themselves (the rebels, the Five, and of course Cavill).

I've enjoyed the show, more or less, though there have been times I've wanted to throw things at the screen--and not because of the way a storyline twisted but the manner in which it's been presented from the outset. Baltar's trial stands as the crowning example of taking something really good and messing it up. The anticipation was running rampant, there was so much they could have done with the "is he guilty or not, can he be convicted even though technically he's on trial for something he actually didn't do" angle. Instead, they dragged it out and dragged it out for several eps until by the time they finally got to it, a lot of the interest had been sucked out of it and then we got mostly Lampkin (who I loathe as a character, everything from the basis of the character to the way the actor played it) posturing. And Baltar himself, while he still has glimmers of being an interesting and pivotal character, has been utterly wasted since then in the whole sex cult/redemption storyline. Or Ellen Tigh--in her first reappearance as the Final Cylon, she was utterly fascinating. Then the next week we got the same old back-biting, jealous, bitchy Ellen, who contributed nothing of value. Why didn't she take over the Anders role of continuing to tell the other Four about their past lives and how they ended up where they are now? No, instead she has to cause Caprica's miscarriage, sleep with Tigh, and generally bitch and moan, then decide they all have to run away from the fleet and go off with the rebel cylons even while knowing there is no way Anders or Tigh would be on board with that. And she hasn't done diddly-squat that's been useful since. For my money, she and Tory can go off into oblivion together, as neither of them is the least bit useful or interesting, either as characters or as pivotal pats of the plot. I would also like to get at least a bit of explanation of the contortions that they've had Tyrol go through--and I mean in the sense that his character has suddenly done some inexplicable stuff. Like, he raised Nicky for at least a couple of years, and now suddenly, he's completely out of that whole parenting picture? I know it's a plot device to make Hera the only "true" half cylon-half human (at least until Kara's father was introduced as possibly having been the 7th of the original models) and that's also the reason they had Caprica lose her baby, but come on. And he suddenly goes from accepting Adama's charge to "fix my ship and be my chief once more" to voting to abandon the fleet? I can understand him helping Boomer to escape, as that's been a consistent blind spot of his throughout the series. But some closure, at least seeing him in jail for his role after it became apparent that Boomer kidnapped Hera when she escaped, would have been nice. I've heard there was a cut scene to that effect, but again, TPTB have real pacing problems. We have to waste time on stupid stuff instead of following up on what was and what will be. I hate it when the "previouslies" contain scenes we never got to see due to poor time management. Almost all of Lee's and Dualla's courtship went that way.

But I digress. And I don't sound like I really like the show from all this, but that's actually the opposite of how I feel. I do like it, I think it's been an amazing feat of storytelling (even if it's never been "comfortable" and I suspect we are heading toward the mother of all unhappy endings). It's just it could have been even better.

ASC Awards, once more

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:34:40 GMT

Once again I am coordinating the annual ASC Awards. The ASC is the granddaddy of them all when it comes to Trek fiction; any and all fics posted during the past year are automatically entered for consideration. The awards are feedback-based, which means no ticky-boxes, no rating numerically. Instead, to vote for a particular story, you simply write why you liked it. Your comments may be as long or as short as you wish.

The first commenting period, which consists of all TOS stories, is open from now, March 4, until March 18 at 2 pm EST. The second commenting period, which consists of all the other Trek series--TNG, VOY, DS9, ENT and MIS--opens on March 11 at 2 pm EST and runs until March 25 at 2 pm EST.

So, how do you participate? First you need to go here to register. Then you go here to actually vote.

If you are interested in Star Trek fanfic, you should definitely check this out. If you have at least a passing familiarity with the Internet (as evidenced by the fact you're on LJ reading this), it's not difficult. So come on by.

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:39:06 GMT

After the past couple of weeks, where Lost and BSG had some incredible eps, I suppose it was inevitable to get a downer. But for both shows at the same time?

Starting with Lost: I'm just not that interested in Jack and Kate, sorry. Most of the LA Adventures have been pretty boring/tedious, and this was a whole ep of nothing but. Now, if it had been more Eloise Hawking and Desmond, or Eloise and Ben, *that* would have been interesting. But Jack is boring, not to mention gullible/naive/stupid (take your pick) and he is just not doing it for me. I do admit I was surprised they actually did go back to the Island at this point of the season. I'd have thought we wouldn't get to this point until the end of the season cliff-hanger. That was a plus, as was Hurley's attempt to keep as many people off the fateful flight as possible (contrast to Jack's and Ben's attitudes). I sincerely hope Penny is still alive (Ben's mention of a promise he made to an old friend does *not* bode well) and that Desmond beat the pulp out of him. But may major, major problem with this entire ep is Sun leaving her daughter behind. Yes, Jin is alive and on that Island. But doesn't she realize this is a one-way ticket and she is never going to see her daughter again? As a parent myself (and yes, also happily married to the father of those children, for 23 years now) I just cannot fathom her actions.

My current theory: based on seeing Daniel in an earlier ep being there at the height of Dharma at the excavation of the Orchid station (not to mention Charlotte's mention of him telling her as a child to leave and never return), and now Jin driving the Dharma VW, I think the Island is no longer flashing. Unfortunately, the time slot they got stuck at is the height of Dharma, i.e. back in the 70's so there is still some fixing to be done.

BSG: Last week, Ellen was a fascinating character. I loved seeing her as the Fifth Cylon. I loved the explanations for how they were "seeded" among the Colonial humans, how they got from Earth to the Colonial space and their impact on the First Cylon War, even hearing about the hints of resurrection technology being developed. Unfortunately, this week we had old skanky human-like Ellen back again, with all her petty jealousy and amoral behavior. Ugh. I felt for Caprica Six and the pregnancy loss, though I have to admit that I never really saw the depth of Tigh's feelings for her, other than as a stand-in for his dead Ellen. And I'm glad Cottle said she was only 4 months along, because that ultrasound scene a few weeks ago showed a much flatter abdomen than most NON-pregnant people I know... And then there was Baltar. More ugh. His followers really are stupid. And I can't believe the writers will give us yet another mutiny (or "revolution") right after the Gaeta/Zarek arc was just wrapped up. Especially not with only a few more eps left to the series. Things I did like: the way we were showed the extent of the Adama/Tigh relationship (and I mean that in a totally platonic way). The "hybridization" of Galactica as they patch it with the "Cylon goop". As well as the tiny beginnings of the hybridization of the two societies, human and cylon, as the cylons also posted pictures of those they'd lost on the wall. I really expected Ellen to come in and heal Anders, tell the other four more about their origins and aims. I did not expect to see her come in and snipe at Caprica Six over Tigh's affections, or to go along with Whiny!Tory and Wimpy!Six and Wimpier!Eight's plans to leave the Fleet (cut and run, that's what they do the best). And what is up with Tyrol also wanting to leave, after he just reaccepted the commission from Adama to fix the Galactica and be Chief once more?!

I hope next week is better, for both shows.

Welcome to Vulcan

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:32:03 GMT

Another one of those days where the sky is an orange/yellow, the air thick and gritty, and hot, high winds screaming all around. Welcome to the planet Vulcan.

Lost

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:15:11 GMT

After watching the most recent ep of "Lost" (5.3), I have a question/statement: I think everyone agrees that the mysterious woman in the monk's robe (ep 5.2) who advised Ben she has pinpointed the Island's location and he has 70 hours to get everyone back is Daniel Farraday's mother. And there is a very strong contingent who feel Ellie, the gun-toting blonde on the Island in 1954 who Daniel said looked "very familiar" is quite possibly his mother as well (in her late teens). So here's something I'd like to toss out--Charles Widmore is Daniel's father. Think of it: young Widmore is an Other, on the Island the same time as Ellie. He was apprised of Daniel's research enough to bankroll it, clean up the messes afterward, and send him to the Island on the freighter to boot. And he still knew how to find Daniel's mother, was able to retrieve her address in LA instantly.

On the point of Widmore being an Other: this explains how/why Widmore said to Ben "everything you have you stole from me." Remember that Ben only arrived on the Island in the 70's during the Dharma period. Widmore predated him by a good two decades. I think around the same time that Ben engineered the coup against Dharma was when Richard and Widmore had a falling out (perhaps Widmore had been in line to be leader, only to be supplanted by Ben?) which resulted in Widmore's leaving the Island. And he's been trying to find it/get back ever since.

Back to my statement about Daniel's parentage: does this mean Daniel was born on the Island? Is the reason he's not nose-bleeding because Desmond is his constant? (As opposed to poor Charlotte who clearly doesn't have a constant of her own?) Some may say that's how Daniel was in a Dharma uniform in the 70's, during the excavation of the Orchid station. I think Daniel was only there as a result of a time-flash, that he was trying to get close to the wheel to try to correct/make an adjustment in what Ben had done in order to get the Island to stop skipping. But it does give further food for thought.

I am now *two* episodes behind on BSG. Hopefully that will be rectified soon.

viewing history

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:49:52 GMT

I have watched Lost. Nothing spoilery to say, nothing much to say *at all* other than I'm sitting back and enjoying the ride. Haven't watched the next BSG ep yet; I will probably wait until my viewing partner in crime aka Son # 2 is home, which means by then we'll probably have this coming Friday's ep to watch as well. Which might not be a bad thing at all. Now if I can just keep on avoiding spoilers.

Fic

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:41:47 GMT

I've recently posted two new stories, both TOS tributes to characters whose actors have recently passed away. Check out From The Desk Of Christine Chapel and The Next Stage. Alas, still no progress on certain WiP epics. And we won't even talk about how much *real* work I've gotten done lately.

BSG, again

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:15:28 GMT

Contains spoilers for . I was not disappointed at the reveal that Ellen Tigh is the Fifth, even though my speculation had centered on it being either Dualla or Apollo (remember how Leoben had said so early on, "Adama is a Cylon"? Maybe he was just yanking their chains, but it was still worth considering). Or Gaeta. I would have been *very* unhappy if it had been Starbuck--way too pat and obvious, and I certainly wouldn't expect this show to ever take the easy way out. Ellen makes sense, in retrospect, especially if you recall how she just kind of showed up in the midst of the fleet in the early episodes.

So what is the deal with Starbuck? Not at all a surprise to find the source of the beacon was her original, now destroyed Viper. Nor was it shocking for her to find her own corpse, complete with her dog tags. I appreciated how even Leoben freaked out--just what *is* she? How did she get there, and how was she then resurrected and sent back? Not to mention the whole "harbinger of death" statement from the Hybrid. The theory in my household is that Kara traveled back in time when she fell into the maelstrom, and somehow her presence/actions at Earth two thousand years ago triggered the nuclear attack that left the planet lifeless and irradiated. Not so far-fetched--a strange fighter craft appears overhead and is perceived to be threatening, in a political climate in which tensions may already exist/be high, and somebody jumps the gun (literally), touching off a war. I'm sure this can then be expanded on to explain how the Viper got thrown back into its proper time/duplicated. I've also seen mention elsewhere of the ovarian tissue taken from Kara in "The Farm"--she could be a clone, though of course that begs the question of how and by whom?

So the Five once lived on Earth and somehow were resurrected back among the Twelve Colonies. I am not as clear on the mythology as a lot of other LJers are, but didn't the Thirteenth Tribe re-visit the Colonies later on? Otherwise how would we have had those sign-markers showing the way to Earth, not to mention the Arrow of Athena, the Temple of the Five, the prophecies explaining what had had happened to the Thirteenth? So once again, not that surprising once it was revealed. And points to my son who'd correctly predicted that the Thirteen were all cylons.

The main thrust of the episode of course was the reaction to Earth's no longer being a safe haven. The characters' reactions all rang very true. Of course they're devastated--how many blows can you absorb? Earth was always held out as their last, best hope, their salvation if you will. And now that's been taken from them as well. I didn't see Dualla's suicide coming, but in retrospect it makes sense. As well as Roslin giving up, refusing to continue her chemo and burning the Pythian Prophecies. Adama has also been rocked to his knees one too many times. Only Tigh, who can tell you a thing or two about hitting absolute zero, can bring him out of it. I've seen crit of "why do all the female characters fall apart and the males all remain strong", but that's nonsense. They're ALL suffering here. They're all falling apart. Why didn't
Lee commit suicide? Frankly, I don't think he's got the imagination to confront the true horrors of their situation. To him it's exactly as he said: now we aren't bound by anything, but our destiny is in our own hand. I don't think he'd ever put much stock in finding Earth, or settling and resurrecting the whole human race once more. His actions, as a fighter pilot, as a Quorum member, have always lacked a focus on the big picture; he's always fussed over insignificant details when there's so much more at stake. I'm not at all surprised to see him go plodding on now, the way he always has, when the dream of Earth has been snatched away. He never had a sense of how people were feeling--Dee was his touchstone, he couldn't understand why she killed herself. "She was so happy!" I'm sure Gaeta could explain it to him; even Adama's reaction to Lee's question was a response in and of itself.

Next: are they really going to leave Earth and try to find another home? Who will stay on the devastated planet? When will Cavil and his killer cylons show up? Were they somehow involved in Earth's demise? Stay tuned.

BSG thoughts

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:05:29 GMT

As I'm about to watch the new episode (seems kind of silly to call it a season premiere when it's episode 11 out of 20 for the final season), a few thoughts about BSG. I watched the original Battlestar Galactica back in the day and I've been for the most part enjoying the remake/re-envisioning. My major quibbles with the show all along have been the violence quotient (I've been uncomfortable watching, at times, with my [older] teenage son) and the pacing. Above all, the pacing. It has been painfully obvious at times that Moore et al have been stretching a season out to a certain number of episodes, despite the demands of the narrative, and there have been some real clunkers of shows. ("Black Market", anyone?) Last season, Baltar's trial seemed to take FOREVER to finally arrive--and no, I wasn't mollified by the regular throwaway lines in each ep leading up to the event about how soon it was going to take place. When it finally did, I was left with a major sense of anti-climax, and not because Baltar was acquitted (I actually enjoyed how the one thing they were nailing him for was something he was technically innocent of. The moral quandry was fascinating--while it lasted). I intensely disliked the whole Lampkin character, above and beyond the whole "Lee gets yet another stick up his anatomy and goes all self-righteous for the wrong reasons" subplot. So Baltar lived to play another day, and I was left with a sense of unfulfillment--but not for the reasons one would expect.

Baltar is a fascinating character when used correctly, and unfortunately the show has missed these opportunities more often than not. Witness the season 4 "Baltar Messiah" arc. I'd buy this a whole lot more if it wasn't presented primarily as a sex cult, with only nubile young females hailing Baltar as the next big thing. Also, there ARE other ships in the fleet. Why is Baltar, not to mention his cult, located oh so conveniently on Galactica itself? I'd think only the military personnel and their families would get these accommodations. But no, Baltar is there, the sex cult is there, even Lampkin and his dead cat are there! Everyone lives on Galactica! (And let me tell you how thrilled I am to see Lampkin again. Not.)

There have been a number of major, absorbing developments so far this season. Like the Cylon civil war, the search for Earth, Kara's mysterious return, Roslin's cancer recurrence, the Five and their individual adjustments (or not), the un-boxing of Three...but just when things get good and interesting, back we go to the sex cultits. Or we waste an entire episode on a guest star (Nana Visitor, who I'd ordinarily be happy to see) to further push Baltar's cult without giving us any real reason to care about the character (other than the fact that she's played by Nana Visitor). There are a lot more developments I'd rather keep close tabs on, like Tigh and Tyrol and their crac-ups, to name a few. And yes, I can understand why TPTB wanted to put Lee in position as president and I did enjoy the stand-off with Three over the Five, but it still seemed so rushed (not to mention way un-constitutional--didn't we have the whole military interfering with the people's democracy bit way back in season one? Though I would happily drop-kick the entire Quorum into the nearest black hole than trust them to make any decisions) and it could have been done so much better if less time had been spent on other things previously. Like the sex cult.

I was very glad they quit fooling around and got us to Earth with no further ado at the end of the last episode. And then the realization of Earth's ruin was a major story coup. I'm of course interested in seeing what happens next--especially when it comes to how are the Five's revelation handled by the rest of the fleet? Does it even matter any more, now that Earth's devastation is known? And yeah, I keep saying "Five" when it reality only Four have so far been revealed. I've been avoiding spoilers, but I do know the fifth and final model will become known shortly.

For all the unevenesses in the individual episodes, I'm still enjoying the ride. And above all, I want to know what happens next. When it comes down to it, that's really all you want or need.

birthday!

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:23:37 GMT

Happy birthday, seemag! Hope you have a great day and a wonderful year.