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Post by Jasoomian on Jul 20, 2014 15:56:48 GMT -5
Ah, well, if the cavemen at the end had been engineered by the Cylons, I would have thought it a great idea. (Congrats for thinking of it it, by the way, it's a pretty cool idea). I thought you were talking about why it was that cylons had the same DNA as humans, and my answer was in that vein. As to why the Earth-humans could mate with the Colonies-humans, it's because.... they're all humans! "This has all happened before... and it will happen again." In the prehistory of the Colonies, another fallen civilization fled the system and found themselves on Earth. "This has all happened before... and it will happen again." And/or in the prehistory of Earth, a great civilization fell and fled to the Colonies. "This has all happened before... and it will happen again." Why is any genocide necessary? It's an unfortunate human nature that keeps playing itself out. "This has all happened before... and it will happen again." It was Cylons who did that, not "god." Did they say or think God told them to? Wouldn't be the first time. "This has all happened before... and it will happen again." I think you're too hung up on the entire series' events being directed by a personal, reasoning God with a particular agenda. I don't recall much evidence of a personal God like that, though I suppose that interpretation was left open. "Talking to God" seemed more like accessing the infinite through psychedelic or other means rather than having a direct conversation with a tangible someone. I look at the show more as a commentary on the cyclical nature of the universe and history and time. We're the product of untold numbers of species and civilizations, rising and falling; each one creating, engineering, killing, and interbreeding with the next one over billions of years. We're not the end of the story either. It's not all about us! "This has all happened before... and it will happen again." I think some kind of deal was signed a couple years ago. But nothing's happened. I hope nothing does. If Ronald D Moore isn't involved I'm most probably not interested. I could never get into the original for that matter. I was offended they were doing a totally new show and calling it Battlestar... It's the same premise. Robots chasing the last of humanity across the galaxy. IIRC, the first couple episodes of the regular series are really good too. Or at least one of them is. (Hell, they're all good, except for that one about fixed boxing matches.) |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 21, 2014 5:20:52 GMT -5
Funny y'all are talking about Battlestar Galactica... I never watched it before. When it came out, I was really excited, but I couldn't handle the gender swaps and the human-cyclons... I was offended they were doing a totally new show and calling it Battlestar... crappy marketing trick, I thought. I'd since watched an ep or two, and my opinion didn't really change. Yesterday, I watching the original miniseries, and it was actually pretty good.. it wasn't as far off the show as I remember, and it was pretty interesting overall... I'll watch at least the 2nd disk (got the 1st two of the 1st season out of the library for this business trip). Oh, rest assured that it's really worth it. The show keeps getting better and better for two and a half seasons, and stays good all the way to the end. Character development, politics and metaphysics are the most important aspects of the show, not cartoony adventuring as in the 1978 show. I still enjoyed the few Easter eggs thrown in for us fans of the older version, though. The Anthem of the twelve colonies, for example, is the musical theme from the old Battlestar show, and the old "chrome toasters" Cylons make a few appearances. In fact, I watched the pilot of the spinoff series Caprica yesterday, and hearing an early cylon model say "by your command" in his metallic voice sent me cheering. Jasoomian and I might disagree on the show's finale, but I'm sure you won't regret watching that second disk! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 13:53:16 GMT -5
I used Yahweh as an example of a God who uses genocide to further his agenda, but the argument holds for any kind of deity or any kind of important protagonist: they need some kind of motivation for their action. Or, alternatively, if they're really insane and act for no particular reason, the characters should at least mention the fact instead of acting like everything is wonderful and unfathomable. I don't see a whole lot of motivation for the killing of all the Egyptian children though. Because the Pharaoh was bad? Why not kill him then? Same with the killing of the gays at Sodom and Gomorrah. And the flood. "I make you in my image with free will, and judge you based on that free will when you die, to either reward or punish you in the afterlife... Unless I decide to kill the whole planet." And nobody acts like he's crazy, because the believers will always think whatever he does is right. |
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Post by bashbash99 on Jul 21, 2014 14:28:13 GMT -5
I enjoyed the pilot of the Strain; the 2nd episode was a bit slow but did give us a better feel for some of the characters and their relationships, so I'll continue to watch with the hope that the pace picks up a bit in subsequent episodes.
Have also been keeping up with Longmire, which has provided great performance (the stand out for me this season has been Bailey Chase as a strung-out, wounded and whacked out Deputy Branch, although the rest of the cast is superb as well, and Robert Taylor seems made for the role of Sheriff Longmire) and character development. SPOILER Thought the most recent episode (7/14) was fairly contrived as Vic just happens to end up crashing next to Peter Stormare's character's place), but it was a nice way to get a Gorski-Longmire team up going! END SPOILERS.
The Bridge is another show I've been enjoying (especially since at the end of last season I wasn't sure it was coming back). I like the overall vibe of the show, and find Detective Cross to be a fascinating character, not sure we've seen a detective with Asperger syndrome before (yeah, Monk had OCD, but that was pretty much played for humor, here it seems to be treated with more nuance). Franka Potente's new character has been interesting as well.
Need to catch up on Defiance and Under the Dome. Watched about 20 minutes of UtD's season premiere and it all seemed to silly to pay attention too, but I'll try and give it another shot as I did enjoy the 1st season last year.
Since Netflix added season 3 of Hell on Wheels have been trying to get caught up with that since I never saw the last few episodes of the season. The show is well-filmed with great acting but I think sometimes the plot lets them down. Can't get enough of that crazy Swede though!
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Post by Jasoomian on Jul 21, 2014 15:40:26 GMT -5
I also thought the second episode of The Strain got a little tedious in parts. Way too much divorce drama.
OTOH, I liked the premiere of The Lottery on Lifetime last night. It's basically "Children of Men," the TV series. Same creator and same concept - a near future where everyone's infertile.
I've been watching The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, now re-edited into The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones off-and-on for twenty years now. This weekend I saw on Netflix the hour featuring younger Young Indy in Paris with Picasso and Norman Rockwell (and Degas and cameos by Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas). It was a pretty fun hour, and I also sought out the original "Chronicles" intro & outro with 90-year-old Indy on YouTube. With that, I have now seen all the younger Young Indy episodes. I've seen a good amount of the older Young Indy episodes, but I know there are some I haven't. Have to return to those soon.
Also finished up the new season of Orange is the New Black. Still a good show. Compelling stories, good performances. Kind of interesting that the second season's episodes don't really end in cliffhangers. When the first season was written, Jenji Kohan didn't realize that Netflix would release the entire season at once rather than one a week. With that season-at-once model locked down now, cliffhangers aren't as necessary to keep people intersted while they wait for a new episode.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 21, 2014 17:29:11 GMT -5
I used Yahweh as an example of a God who uses genocide to further his agenda, but the argument holds for any kind of deity or any kind of important protagonist: they need some kind of motivation for their action. Or, alternatively, if they're really insane and act for no particular reason, the characters should at least mention the fact instead of acting like everything is wonderful and unfathomable. I don't see a whole lot of motivation for the killing of all the Egyptian children though. Because the Pharaoh was bad? Why not kill him then? Same with the killing of the gays at Sodom and Gomorrah. And the flood. "I make you in my image with free will, and judge you based on that free will when you die, to either reward or punish you in the afterlife... Unless I decide to kill the whole planet." And nobody acts like he's crazy, because the believers will always think whatever he does is right. Oh, rest assured that as a devout atheist I'm not trying to justify those stories! But I do find them internally coherent: Genesis and Exodus make clear that you don't mess with Yahweh or his people. If you don't do what he asks, or what his prophet asks, you're going to get punished in a spectacular way. People in those tales don't act as if it's crazy to wipe out the entire ecosphere on account of a few Homo sapiens behaving badly because Yahweh can do no wrong (or maybe they remember the time when, according to Sumerian legends, the gods flooded the planet just because mankind was noisy). |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 17:35:53 GMT -5
If you don't do what he asks, or what his prophet asks, you're going to get punished in a spectacular way. And sometimes even if you do, right? The Book Of Job comes to mind. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 21, 2014 19:50:11 GMT -5
If you don't do what he asks, or what his prophet asks, you're going to get punished in a spectacular way. And sometimes even if you do, right? The Book Of Job comes to mind. That's a pretty unsettling story, isn't it? God and Satan basically make a bet on how much crap Job can endure before he breaks. But hey, it all turns out O.K in the end, right? Even though his wife and kids were all killed as some sort of test, he'll get married again and have more children. WHAT THE…  I'm glad the Saint of killers showed those two what's what in the pages of Preacher!  |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 22, 2014 19:34:35 GMT -5
New season of Face Off starts tonight on Syfy Channel!  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 22, 2014 19:55:51 GMT -5
Just started watching Caprica on DVD.
After the pilot and three episodes, I am extremely pleased with the show. Much more personal that BG, much slower, but very carefully built. I read that the show suffers later on from having to conclude storylines in time for the end of the sole season that was made, and if true that's unfortunate... because this is no mere spinoff, this is inspired storytelling.
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Post by dupersuper on Jul 22, 2014 20:10:04 GMT -5
I don't see a whole lot of motivation for the killing of all the Egyptian children though. Because the Pharaoh was bad? Why not kill him then? It's even worse than that. The story says it's God "hardening the Pharaohs heart" in the first place. So he's sending Moses to him with these ultimatums knowing the Pharaoh will refuse because he's the one making him refuse, just as some kind of excuse to visit plagues upon the entire city. God's messed up. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 20:51:22 GMT -5
New season of Face Off starts tonight on Syfy Channel! About ten minutes in, my wife wondered if you'd be watching. I know it's early, but I'm seeing a lot of pedestrian, unimaginative work. No surprise about who went home first. (No spoilers, in case you didn't watch it live.) And it's a shame Ve won't be sticking around. |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 22, 2014 21:08:30 GMT -5
And it's a shame Ve won't be sticking around. Yeah I'm disappointed that Ve Neill won't be in every episode this season. She's definitely the most interesting personality among the judges and I always look forward to her commentary. |
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Post by Pharozonk on Jul 24, 2014 15:27:39 GMT -5
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Post by Jesse on Jul 25, 2014 21:31:20 GMT -5
Walking Dead Season 5 trailer!  |
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