What's Your Barney? by Misguided By Voices

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

What's Your Barney?

POSTED BY: MISGUIDED BY VOICES
UPDATED: Sunday, March 7, 2004 19:54
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Monday, March 1, 2004 11:44 AM

Which is an obtuse way of asking, will I like the new Battlestar - as its got a Region2 DVD release, I'm looking for some pointers.

Barney of course refers to the infamous camp x-ray techniques for breaking people - namely the titular character's theme tune.

For me it would be back-to-back Enterprise, Andromeda and Charmed. I'd crack before the first commercial break (since the commercials would be ads for the next episodes).

So, I'm a B5 fan, think Firefly is an okay show

and Farscape. Anyone help me spend/save my hard earned cash?

"I threw up on your bed"

(Editted back and forth due to bad computers)

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Monday, March 1, 2004 12:27 PM

NOOCYTE

Tough call. There were things I definitely liked about the new BG. But then again, I tuned in with the firm belief that it would be total and utter shite with some cool eye candy, so my expectations might have caused me to overestimate its quality...

That said, I did not think it was a high water mark for television SciFi...but it did have some things going for it. In particular (and this is what initially sold me on B5...before the mind-bendingly brilliant story arcs began to emerge), I REALLY liked that space ships moved like space ships, with thrust-counterthrust, no banking (fer Pete's sake!) and a real sense of massive objects in space (hmmm...). In lieu of silent space (which was a big, potentially audience-alienating risk that Joss took with FF, but which we should not too vehemently blame others for not taking), they opted for a highly attenuated sound in space. You can barely hear the ships when they are far away, and the sound is still pretty thin even when they are close. Good compromise, that. The FF-esque Zoic documentary cinematography was well-utilized.

As for story and character factors: I liked that there was real, serious conflict among characters; it was not One Happy Family. These relationships have room to grow and evolve as adversaries face a common threat. Much of the dialogue was a bit wooden, and the actors clearly had not yet gotten a good target-lock on their characters (hey, they can't all nail it right out of the box like FF!).

There are those who don't like the "liberties" which were taken on the Human-Cylon backstory, but I for one rather liked the linkages which were made, the Frankensteinian dilemma of assuming responsibility for past actions and the consequences which they set loose in the universe. Without getting all spoilery, there were some layerings of morality which cut quite a bit deeper than the original (Baltar in particular was a MUCH more interesting character than he was in the original BG). Hard choices were made, on incomplete information, with the survival of the species at stake. There was a nice existential twist on the "Lonely Quest," which I will not say another word on...

And there were some nifty little homages scattered throughout (anyone notice the Colonial anthem/fanfare?)...not to mention a cameo by Serenity (!!).

Far be it, however, for me to risk someone else's hard-earned wampum on my very ideosyncratic tastes. My advice would be to rent it first, and so judge if it's something you could see taking off your shelf enough times that the cost of the purchase would come in below the likely cost of renting it again.

I liked it, and I'm genuinely curious to see what they do with a series. Hope this record-breakingly long non-answer helped.

Keep flyin'!

Department of Redundancy Department

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Monday, March 1, 2004 12:40 PM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Very helpful thanks - not really a renter, so I either buy or wait for the right price in the sales.

Given how bad the B5 pilot sounded (the wah wah guitar) and the advance publicity photos looked (80s hair and shoulder pads), its a wonder I watched that I guess!

"I threw up on your bed"

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Monday, March 1, 2004 2:16 PM

DAVCO92

I taped the new BSG pilot when it aired and actually enjoyed it more the second time I watched it. No expectations to be met, no judgements about this or that detail, just sat back and tried to enjoy what they were shooting for in "their" version. I know many people butchered it in reviews, but I think it has potential. Only time will tell if they muck it up or fine tune it and make it work, but I will watch the show and give it a chance.

Burn the land, boil the sea...

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Tuesday, March 2, 2004 3:29 AM

DRAKON

My "Barney's" are Red Drawf, B5, Star Trek the Original series, and Firefly. Yep, if you are gonna torture me, please don't use any of those. PLEASE! *giggles*

There is something wrong about truthfully telling people how to torture you effectively.

"Wash, where is my damn spaceship?"

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Tuesday, March 2, 2004 12:08 PM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by Drakon:
My "Barney's" are Red Drawf, B5, Star Trek the Original series, and Firefly. Yep, if you are gonna torture me, please don't use any of those. PLEASE! *giggles*

There is something wrong about truthfully telling people how to torture you effectively.

Very cunning, but I believe you may have revealed your achilles heal. In my best Pokemon -

Voyager, Andromeda and Crime Traveller (ask your British mothers), I choose you!

"I threw up on your bed"

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Wednesday, March 3, 2004 4:09 AM

DRAKON

Quote:
Originally posted by Misguided By Voices:
Quote:
Originally posted by Drakon:
My "Barney's" are Red Drawf, B5, Star Trek the Original series, and Firefly. Yep, if you are gonna torture me, please don't use any of those. PLEASE! *giggles*

There is something wrong about truthfully telling people how to torture you effectively.

Very cunning, but I believe you may have revealed your achilles heal. In my best Pokemon -

Voyager, Andromeda and Crime Traveller (ask your British mothers), I choose you!

"I threw up on your bed"

Ummm... Pokemon? Sorry, I am an old geezer, I have almost no idea what you mean. There was a TV show and a collectable card game, but that is all I know, never saw either.

My ma is from Arkansas and has never heard of Crime Traveller either.

"Wash, where is my damn spaceship?"

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Saturday, March 6, 2004 1:53 PM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by Drakon:
My ma is from Arkansas and has never heard of Crime Traveller either.

Its possibly the worst "science fiction" programme ever. Clearly written people who though they knew what SF was, but didn't like it, they genuinely thought it would be the new doctor who.

Its, as I understand it, having refused to watch a minute of it, like Timecop, but worse.

"I threw up on your bed"

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Sunday, March 7, 2004 7:54 PM

ECMORGAN69

Hmmm, tortuous SciFi...

I think for pure insanity-inducement ('No, this is what going mad feels like!")

(a) Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
(b) ST:VOY (except for Seven of Nine - I'll be back in my bunk

)
(c) Tremors - movies or series, both suck equally
(d) Mutant X
(e) Andromeda - Dear God, noooooooo...

Now that I think of it, for every "Firefly", there are about ten "Andromeda"s out there, waiting, trying to suck in viewers and destroy SciFi. Gorram sell-outs

They can have my "Firefly" DVDs when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers....

Oh yeah,

you, FOX TV!!

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