Letters to the Editor
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Starbuck is not Dead
"Let's be realistic, here."
Indeed. Let's.
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Curious
I seem to remember Havrilesky praising Buffy the Vampire Slayer for surviving the death of so many important characters during its narrative arc (praise I agree with). Granted, she probably wouldn't have been happy if they killed off Buffy (well, they did...but we all knew how long that was going to last). Still, major characters who seriously impacted the show came and went.
If Battlestar Galactica or The L Word can't survive a character's death, then over all they must not be good shows to begin with.
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Heather, another great column
I really appreciate you vaguely praising Kelly. His shows are perfect; not fantastic, not terrible, they appeal to anyone who happens to tune into cable television and has any interest in genuine human interaction.
Some of my adolescent (yeah, i'm young) education was based on the fantasies and same-sex-bathroom exchanges of Ally McBeal. Boston Public really was great, wasn't it?
You attribute to 'The Practice' "self-righteous preening and foolish diversions" which I think is an overstatement. The writing is not great, but is any show that features both James Spader AND William Shatner really not worth any flaws? No, of course it isn't.
Again I wish I could assimilate myself into the world of Battlestar Gallactica, but it's just too difficult. The convolution is simply too much to bear. Maybe someday I will get high with a good friend and watch the whole series on DVD.
I wish you had mentioned this week's 30 Rock, as the show has finally grown into its own skin, becoming what might be television's next great comedy.
Thanks for writing, The Village Voice apparently has fired their "Eye of the Potato" television blog which I think is a shame; I hope you keep your job in the face of all the elitist anti-television assholes who pretend the medium doesn't exist.
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Are you sure about that?
"Still, major characters who seriously impacted the show came and went."
That's way too broad. "Major characters" came and went, like the Big Bads, Oz, Anya, Faith, Joyce, etc. but there is a difference between a major character and central character. BSG killing off Starbuck, who is a central character, and keeping her dead, would be a very ballsy move and another sign that BSG is a great show. In Buffy terms, it would be like killing off Xander, Willow or Giles.
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The original series?
Heather might want to check out the original series. IIRC, which I may not, wasn't Starbuck missing and presumed dead in the original series? One of the things that I like about the new BSG is how, often with a twist, they pay homage to the original series and if the actor who plays or played Starbuck is/was leaving the show, then it might have been time for a twist.
Btw, she should stop regularly reading TWOP. The fanaticism in the forums over there is nuts.
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Not cool
If Starbuck is really dead and that's the end of her story, I may give up on the show. She is/was the largest single reason I became a fan.
She was genuinely interesting & tough & sexy & vulnerable & important to the tribe. I can't think of another woman character in teevee or film with those characteristics. Probably the [boyish] writers/producer don't have the balls to handle the woman they created - so they killed her off. Gutless wonders!
I also think the story structure is just bad. To kill off one of the main (flawed) heros in the story (via suicide no less) with plot development and backstory which takes place over a single episode - that's just bad writing. This is a series people watch for years. It's a shocking misjudgement.
I feel manipulated & I resent it. I also have lost trust in the writers. It seems like they're being dicks just to screw with us - to show us that they can. Or maybe the actress refused someone's couch, and this is the revenge play.
I read that the scene at the end where the Captain destroys the ship he's been building over the previous few years was improvised - he was so pissed off he let loose. And that ship was an antique that cost 100K. Too bad it was insured!
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RDM, what are you doing?
It just seems to me that RDM and staff are just making shit up week after week. They should take a page from the David Simon book on serial TV writing and arc the stories out years ahead of time (instead of two or three weeks before filming).
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Isn't the actress leaving the show?
I thought they were forced to write her out at the last minute because the actress playing Starbuck was jumping ship.
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What happens to Cylons who die?
They are reincarnated in an identical body.
What is a good way for someone who thinks she might be a Cylon to find out for sure?
She kills herself.
What happens if she is a Cylon?
She turns up on the show again.
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RE: Baltar's rallying of the common man
Baltar's rallying of the common man isn't that strange. We've had privileged guys rallying the "common man" with issues like gay marraige for years now. Imagine how easy it would be with a population stuck in space for years on end.
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Starbuck may be the new Bionic Woman
Meaning, rumor has it that the actress who plays her, Katie Sackoff (sp?), is up for the NBC remake. She also 'left' BSG to accept a film role.
However, screeners of the season finale is starting to reach critics, and there are spoilers out there if one is willing to look. I will not post any, but I will say this:
Come March 25th - BSG fans will be picking their jaws off of the floor, or kicking their televisions in. Or both. It's going to change everything.
Leoben as 'abusive daddy'? Wouldn't you think 'batshit insane stalker' a more apt phrase?
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Cool
Heather you were actually funny this week! Awesome!
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Two points
Baltar's "rallying of the common man" as it were was not surprising given the time they took to explain his reinvention from poor colony Areolon (sp?) farmboy to sophisticated Caprican. He was actually well equppied to dissect the class issues that affacted the colonies and the fleet.
Also, the notion that Starbuck's purported death was bad not simply because of what it might mean for the show but because her character respresented a Salon approved feminist standard, as opposed to other female characters on TV, is exactly the type of cringe worthy nonsense that one expects from the mostly silly Broadsheet blurbs.