Note on episode numbering: The network ordered 22 episodes for season four. Ron Moore & Co chose to use the first two for the standalone movie “Razor,” and follow with a 20-episode season. “Razor,” in the show bible, is episodes one and two, which makes this fourth episode actually episode six. Also, Colonial One used to be known as Colonial Heavy 798, Cylon model 8 should be model 7, the Viper Mark IIs are really Mark I-As but the military renumbered them at the request of the defense contractor, and River is made of chocolate. Hope that clears everything up.
Spoiler policy: If it’s been aired, or if it’s pure speculation about future events, no need for a spoiler box. If it’s from a future episode, as revealed in promotional materials or interviews, or if it’s speculation based on same, put it in a spoiler box, and label the box as to the general nature of its contents so we can better decide whether or not to take the risk of looking at it.
Example:
In the pilot episode of the spinoff series Caprica, we find out that the Cylon centurions have organically-grown biological brains and nervous systems created using genetic material fromPope Urban VIII.
Okay. So.
The plot steams ahead. Cally’s a vanillasicle. Tory’s gone dark. Lee’s turning into Henry Waxman. Kara’s trying to oil-paint her way back to Earth. Cylon disagreement has become a fight to the death. And River’s still made of chocolate.
To think about the business end of things before we watch it tonight, how is the show doing ratings-wise this season? I heard season 3 had a significant drop off. Is it holding steady so far? Where do you go to find this info?
I found the TV By the Numbers website. Ratings are back down again to where they were for last season’s finale.
In theory, I guess this doesn’t matter too much since they’re in production and finishing it off, but it still bothers me for some reason. A part of me figures that if more people liked what I liked (like Battlestar), then the big studios would make more shows that I like. I dunno if that’s true, though. We’d probably just get a lot of low quality knock-offs (like the original Battlestar).
Official ratings don’t include TiVo and other DVR watchers, which I’d be willing to bet real money has a much larger impact on BSG’s numbers than average.
(Why are DVRs excluded from ratings? Because the primary consumers of ratings data are the advertisers. Ratings are not, and never were, intended to represent the number of viewers of a show in some abstract sense. Those metrics are taken almost solely as a means of selling the programs, and by extension the eyeballs attached to them, to the marketers.)
If TiVo et al. were included, I’m confident BSG’s ratings would go up by a nontrivial amount.
Edit to add: For what it’s worth, with the rise of the post-airing DVD market, this financial model is experiencing rapid evolution. But ratings methodology is still rooted in old thinking.
Amongst my group of friends there are very few who watch BSG. At a recent party the topic of BSG came up - those that had never seen it seemed to be bemused about how much those of us who do watch the show like it. I have the disks and freely loan them to people who would like to watch, but too many of them counter with “I don’t like Sci Fi.” I can’t blame them, I was right there with them before I gave BSG a fair shake. Too much bad science fiction has doomed this show - too many people won’t watch because of the genre or the name.
They did this because the cast is already contracted for up to 5 seasons of variable length. If they did Razor as seperate made-for-TV-movie they’d need to write new contracts for everybody in it.
Not a bad episode, but not a terrific episode - by BSG standards - either.
On the plus side, this was not a one off episode which I’m glad to hear are behind us. They are still crafting a story and we get to see what is going on in the Cylon minds as they really struggle with who they are. All except Darth Tory of course, she is pleased to have been created perfect!
Many years ago I used to watch Star Trek the Next Generation. This is such a refreshing change from what I considered that shows biggest drawbacks. In ST:TNG if a character underwent something horribly traumatic he would show character depth by looking out a window while sad music played in the background. This show spends several episodes exploring the psyche, for good or bad, of the people in the fleet.
I thought for a moment we lost Racetrack this episode. That would have been simply unforgiveable. She is far and away my favorite bit character. A few episodes back I cracked up when she was playing strip poker with the guys in the pilots lounge (at Lee’s party no less).
Second this. I sometimes wish that they’d do a Racetrack-centered episode. However I know that if they do this, then her days will be numbered (q.v. Kat).
I’m not completely sure about that. I am a HUGE SciFi fan - I read SciFi, and watch a lot of SciFi. I’ve spent time watching crappy SciFi series on Fox that are canceled weeks later…just because it’s SciFi…So now I’ve started to watch BSG, and I just cannot follow along. I could join any episode of Stargate and have some clue about the goals, but not in BSG. The entire episode is an amalgam of zoom ins, emotions, and not much getting accomplished. And I really, really try to follow because I want to like the show, but I just don’t have the time to go back and watch 75 episodes just to get “caught up”.
So I think there are some other factors here as to why it doesn’t do so well, I don’t think it’s the standard “it’s SciFi” works. I think it’s much like the original series back in the 70s - either you were a cult follower of it and were around since day 1, or you had no clue what was going on. And this is coming from a SciFi person.
Believe me, I want to love it, I want to get into it, I want to look forward to it coming on (like I do with Stargate reruns that I’ve seen 5 times), but it just hasn’t clicked yet. Most SciFi is sort of complicated, but I think BSG takes the cake - it’s so complicated that even SciFi people can’t figure out the plot.
Aside from Darth Tory, it almost seemed like the other two Galactica-residing members of the Final Bunch (Chief…err Specialist, and Tigh) really wanted to “come out of the breadbox” as it were and were rather close to suffering a system software corruption and crash…
If I didn’t know better, I would have almost thought that crusty ol’ Tigh wanted to tell Six about his Toasterhood, I can only imagine Six’s reaction if she discovered that she was interacting with one of The Five
Chief, he almost broke the “Prime Directive” (the first rule of Toaster Club is you DO NOT talk about Toaster Club, the second rule of Toaster Club is you DO NOT TALK ABOUT TOASTER CLUB) numerous times this episode
I wasn’t a fan of the religious faction battling, personally, but then again, I think Balty himself, as a character Jumped the Shark when he was assimilated by Six’s religious prattle and claptrap back in S1, I liked crusty old cynical Athiest Baltar, Science damn it!
Next week looks rather interesting, Mutiny on the Demetrius!
