Is Battlestar Galactica the best show ever created?

I love BSG but for scifi I think DS9 is still better, same DNA though....

 

I remember when I watched that show I gave up hope on any chance that Game of Thrones would actually be good. Thankfully, HBO is smart.

 

Farscape, much like BSG, sorta fell off the tracks after season three. Except at least BSG was allowed to finish the story. The movie they made to replace season five of Farscape was junk and depressing.

Deadwood should have been allowed to finish as well. "John From Cincinatti"? Seriously, HBO? What the eff were you thinking?

 

I was so dissapointed once I found they were making **** up as they go. Will certainly explain how that opera scene became so anticlimatic.

They just don't make shows like Babylon 5 anymore.

 

I put BSG up there as one of the greatest. I'm not overly critical, so wasn't too put off by the final season(s) as many appear to have been.

I think Gaius Baltar is probably one of my favorite tv characters of all time.

 

DS9 is one of my favorites, as well. And I also really liked the ending... they managed to wrap everyone up so there weren't really any loose ends. Too many shows don't take the time to wrap themselves up properly. That's a pet peeve of mine.

 

I've stayed away from the show because of my experience with the books, which was...

Book 1: Okay.
Book 2: Quite good.
Books 3-6: Okay.
Books 7-11: Pure political allegory (and most of which I vehemently disagree with).

 

Seinfeld ran for nine and Frasier, which I enjoyed, couldn't begin to touch it. Cheers, from which Frasier was a spinoff, was better, even though it had its ups and downs. Taxi was also outstanding. Better than almost all the shows mentioned? All in the Family.

There have been a lot of terrific comedies. It seems to be something television does well.

 

Totally agree. When they aired, I went from hating B5 (cheezy SFX) to loving it by season 2. I was also disappointed in the first season for DS9. The whole Maquis arc felt like blah filler. Things started picking up after introducing Worf and the Defiant. Had to view the fifth season of B5 as a bonus since JMS thought he was working with 4 seasons.

At the time it seemed like DS9 was ripping off themes from B5 (Messiahs [black Jesus or was all of Star Trek a crazy man's dream?], wormholes, hidden powers manipulating declining powers). Still loved both.

I recommend Legend of the Galactic Heroes if you like sci-fi, space operas, political intrigue, space tactics, deep characters, and some philosophical discussions about politics (benevolent despotism vs dysfunctional democracy).

It's anime, the animation looks like it's from the early 90s, and there's ~120 twenty five minute episodes (~4 seasons of an hour long drama). Despite all of that, I've watched it twice already and wouldn't mind watching it again.

torrant

 

I actually just finished watching all of DS9... again. It's one of those things where I put it on in the background while I'm doing something else. I get through it really fast that way, although I'm only half-paying attention. Still loved it. At one point I preferred TNG, but I don't think there's any denying that DS9 is the superior show overall. Just better characters in general.

As for Legend of the Galactic Heroes... I have the whole thing on bootlegged DVDs (I don't think there's a legit english language version, anyway). But I haven't started it because it's about 140 episodes long, and I'm terrified I'll get hooked and not be able to get anything done (think I mentioned this in the anime thread...).

But as long as we're recommending sci-fi anime, any of ye anime neophytes should check out Texhnolyze, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ergo Proxy, and Dennō Coil (this last is not available in the US, but there are fansubs/torrents around if you google it). There really is a lot of great sci-fi anime around if you wade through some of the more absurd and kiddie-oriented stuff (or can find someone who knows what they're talking about).

 

I never got through the first season of DS9, but I've always heard it got better. However, I also always heard it blatantly stole story lines from Babylon 5. Not sure if that's true or not, just what dedicated Trek friends told me.

If it's a good rip off, I'll probably enjoy it. They got the whole series streaming on Netflix now. Perhaps I'll give it another try.

 

Pretty much sums up exactly how I felt about BSG. The end of season 1 to the mid point of season 3 were some outstanding TV though. At the time, I thought the best television I had ever seen.

Since then, I have seen Deadwood, Game of Thrones, Friday Night Lights all of which are also incredible shows so BSG has declined somewhat in my overall listing of Television shows. But I would still highly recommend them to those who have never seen it.

 

I have heard the show only loosely follows the books, the first season is well worth watching, the 2nd...is hit or miss.

DD

 

Cara joining the team was the best part of season 2.

Bridget Reagan is underrated.. That is all.

Spoiler

 

I was around 8 when TNG started and it got me hooked to sci fi. It was so idealistic and optimistic, so when DS9 came some years later, I didn't like how boring and "real" it became. By the time it ended, I was starting college.

It's kinda sad to say, but some of my ethics came from Star Trek.


I watched Technolyze, but it flew by my head and I forgot it. I've mixed that with another anime about a dystopian future world that lives near the clouds and when they finally reach the ground it's some dead computer assisted society.

I read your recommendations in the other thread but haven't found time to watch the ones I haven't seen or remembered.

 

Game of Thrones, anyone?

The characters were legitimately interesting and being able to tell such a complex story well took some pretty masterful execution. Can't wait for season 2.

 

Hah, yeah... it is true that some of our personal likes and dislikes come about partly because of when we were first introduced to something... what was going on in our lives then and such. I saw both TNG and DS9 both in reruns and at about the same time... so I suppose I tended toward the slightly darker, more character-driven, more "real" one. I like them both, but I give DS9 the edge.

And I don't think ethics coming from Star Trek is sad or weird at all. TNG in particular was very much about moral issues. That was the theme most of the time, in one way or another.

The show that you say you're mixing up with Texhnolyze... sounds sort of interesting, but I'm not sure which one it is. Let me know if you remember. In any case, I've found Texhnolyze hard to forget... but as I've said, I don't pretend to understand all of it. I'm still downright confused as to what certain events and characters are supposed to represent. I keep going back to it hopes of understanding it better. I'm actually now watching it for a fourth time with some friends, trying to get some new perspectives.

 

First season & miniseries into BSG. So far I'm enjoying it & will probably keep watching. With sci fi you have to expect a certain level of acting/writing, the hit you over the head morality & cliche symbolism, & misogyny overcorrection, especially recently. It's just easier to accept that stuff when they're also funny, & don't take themselves too seriously. BSG isn't really that. Cheesy, but well produced serious cheese. Shot like one of the network cop dramas, and really more of a war saga, with more war strategy than pure sci fi concepts. Hoping that balance changes. Also probably all the GREATEST EVER reviews (op's not the only one) probably had my expectations unfairly high. I like most of the actors, & love that there's no crappy alien suits, or too much fake looking stuff- All humans & robots. And doing well with how they're portraying their technology & ships etc. Simple. Fight drum music is great too.

One of my favorites too.

TNG has to be among the best ever. Great writing, dialogue, & even some quality actors. Everything was beautiful & clean, big budget,high quality production. So many interesting & well thought out concepts, & not too many bad episodes. Just nice. Some annoying characters, but they're not dominating every episode (eg. whoopi, wharf's kid, & fereeeeengi). And pretty much all stand alone episodes.

Lexx otoh must have been super low budget (I actually saw a super Nintendo controller connected to the ship at one point) & NASTY- constant sexual deviance, I think they used a lot of models/(pron actors?), & even their music felt like a late night skinemax special- what is it exactly about that Showtime A7 cinemax soft pron type music that sounds the same? but still I loved Lexx. As bad as it was, & there were more than a few really bad episodes, the concept was fascinating. There were some awesome if poorly executed story ideas, characters were great, and to me it was lol funny to the end. They seemed to do a lot with what they had. Like the old Dr. Who, I could somehow handle the stupidity. Lexx was pure cheese, but sucked me in right away & kept surprising me. I watched all of Lexx at once & wanted more at the end. I must subconsciously grade on a curve per budget. You're not supposed to do that.

I'm already groaning at BSG cliches, when scenes drag way out for no reason, & " but wait you're a woman, you did WHAAA?!" moments, but I'm going to reserve judgement after a few more episodes. I have to watch anyway because I didn't realize how many pop culture references came from this show.

 

I'm a huge honk for the book series, so I want to agree, but we need more than one season before I'd put it in "greatest ever" category.

 

This was me over the past few days.

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I started watching BSG after seeing this thread, not having seen an episode before. I didn't read the thread, just went by the title.

I loved it. There's a lot of stuff they could've done better but I thought it was great.

I disagree with Invisible Fan who said that the last season was stretched out and full of filler. I watched S4 over the last 3 days, finishing tonight (I haven't done that kind of watching since I jumped on the LOST bandwagon and watched S1 in 2 days). Having spoiled myself somewhat and knowing what was to come, I thought S4 had much less filler than Seasons 2 and 3. They knew that was going show was going to end and worked towards that and I think it had more momentum than the previous seasons. It's like when LOST stopped dragging its feet once the producers convinced the network to let them set a definitive end date.

I could maybe see why people watching it as it aired might feel that way because there was a full year between S3 and S4 and the writers strike happened right in the middle of S4 after they found original earth and it was written in a way so that one of those middle episodes could've stood as the series finale. Most of the actors thought the show was done at that point. Then the strike was over and they did 10 more episodes.

Back to my main point, I really enjoyed it. I've never watched a space sci-fi series all the way through before. I think I followed ST: Voyager for the first few seasons but never stayed with it. LOST is still my all time favorite TV Show. I haven't watched "The Plan" yet though I plan to. Don't know if I'll give "Caprica" a shot or not.