How Long Will BSG Last?

User45701

As far as i know they haven't said when they are going to end it but TBH i was thinking last nite 5 seasons would be about right end it while it is still 10/10 im not sure if i want this show to keep running for 10 seasons like SG1 also im not sure how long they can drag out the search for earth probably find it at the end of season 3 or 4.....

Fenster

I was thinking 5-6 seasons myself.

ixoy

Currently I think the ratings will get it. We all know they're continuously slipping and now it seems that Sci-Fi are considering moving it to a Wed. night to see if it can recover...

If it survives the ratings, then I think it should last no more than five seasons because the style of its arc would only allow it to be dragged out after that.

Praetorian

I reckon 4-5 season's if we're lucky. I hope I'm wrong.

Goodshape

re: the ratings, it's sort of a problem with this show that you can't really 'jump in' at any point. You simply won't know whats going on unless you watch pretty much the whole show - and the longer you leave it, the harder that gets, so it's almost inevitable that ratings will slip.

Even when recommending to friends that they watch, I have to stop short of telling them to tune in when it's on Sky One; instead I've got to suggest they borrow the DVD from somewhere and start from the start, which is a bit of a tall order.

That said, I'd like to see it go 4-5 seasons. Anymore than five would probably be over-kill, any less than 4 would be cut short I think.

User45701

4 would be just right i would fear a drop in funding in season 5 and thus it would be more dialoge, that said the dialgoe is amazing in BSG

Sherifu

Goodshape wrote:

re: the ratings, it's sort of a problem with this show that you can't really 'jump in' at any point. You simply won't know whats going on unless you watch pretty much the whole show - and the longer you leave it, the harder that gets, so it's almost inevitable that ratings will slip.

Even when recommending to friends that they watch, I have to stop short of telling them to tune in when it's on Sky One; instead I've got to suggest they borrow the DVD from somewhere and start from the start, which is a bit of a tall order.

That said, I'd like to see it go 4-5 seasons. Anymore than five would probably be over-kill, any less than 4 would be cut short I think.

I just started watching 2 weeks ago from the mini-series.
watched 1/2 eps a night, i saw a few on sky and it is very hard to
just start watching from season 2. but i thought those eps were good
so i watched it from the start and now im waiting for tonights one.
i'm glad i did watch it, great show.
but im not sure if everyone has the time and/or patience to do the same.

to answer the original question if the writers are good enough then why not go to
7/8 seasons. sg1 was good up until then, but i know it may be a big stretch for the bsg story.

User45701

sry i love this show so much bit 7/8 is too much i cant belive i am saying that but in a way id be happy with 5 seasons and then a mega mega High Def DVD collection with EVERY single deleted scene, casts, wall papers - everything u can imagine in 1 box set and i would pay allot of that -about 400 euro, because it would be worth that, 5 seasons of a tv show and a movie and a cool looking box set and countless extra features - oh and i want the complete sount track for every season and the movie aswell.

Goodshape

SG1 is a different style of show - new story, places to go and things to see / do each week. BSG is more of a singular story with sub-plots and 'b-story' arcs. Once the main story is resolved it'll be a bit of a stretch to keep on trucking.

And I think dragging the main 'on the run' story out over more than five years will also be a bit of a stretch. The production crew have also stated that they'd prefer to wrap things up before they're forced into the "Adama has lost his pen" style story lines. And I agree with that.

ixoy

Goodshape wrote:

SG1 is a different style of show - new story, places to go and things to see / do each week. BSG is more of a singular story with sub-plots and 'b-story' arcs. Once the main story is resolved it'll be a bit of a stretch to keep on trucking.

Agreed. JMS always said 5 seasons for B5 - that's how he had planned his story arc and that's what he ultimately got (more or less). An option for a S6 would've been rightly turned down.
BSG is the most arc-led sci-fi since then (with Moore's DS9 vision getting a nod too) and should only have a set length. Anything else would be too much padding and distill the goodness.

The production crew have also stated that they'd prefer to wrap things up before they're forced into the "Adama has lost his pen" style story lines. And I agree with that.

Having said that, this could work - picture it:

[Scene: Moodily lit cell, with Adama and Tighe standing over a Leoben clone]
Adama [cold, commanding]: I want to know what interest the Cylons have in my pen.
Leoben: Who says we have it?
Tighe [snarling]: Oh give me a frakkin' break, of course you frakkin' toasters have it!
Leoben: If we needed a pen we would ask God. He would provide for us.
Tighe [taking out a gun, pointing it at Leoben]: Let's see how your damned God provides for the hole in your head if you don't start talking!

[Scene: A sun-kissed beach somewhere. Baltar and ChipSix are standing before gently lapping waters]
Baltar: Why are you all so interested in retrieving Adama's pen?
Six: The pen Gaius is mightier than the sword. With it we can write God's word so that all may read of them.
Baltar: Yes but why now. Why the sudden interest? You never seemed to care before.
Six [whispering softly into Baltar's ear]: Didn't we? Or is that you didn't know that we did?
Baltar: What are you saying?
Six: I'm saying that the word of God must be spread and that this may be the best way to do it.

[Scene: Raptors are circling Galactica, on a tip off from an earlier investigation that someone clutching a pen was seen near an airlock]
Raptor #1 [voice crackling]: That's a negative, no pen on Flight Vector Alpha Four.
Healio [in command]: Raptor 2, can you try flight vector four zero gamma?
[Raptor #2 shoots off. Inside is Apollo. He suddenly spots a body floating, spinning in space]
Apollo: Command, we have a visual. Zeroing in for a closer inspection.
Gaeta [in command]: Be careful, it could be a Cylon trap.
[Apollo flies closer]
Apollo: By the lords of Kobol, what have you done!
[Camera pans back. Boomer's body is seen slowing spinning, Adama's pen clutched in her dead hand.]

TO BE CONTINUED....

Sleepy

ixoy, you've got too much time on your hands!

Sherifu

Sleepy wrote:

ixoy, you've got too much time on your hands!

truth.

ya i guess 7/8 is just wishful thinking.
the bsg story is limited in a way that sg1 wasn't.
i guess 5 high quality seasons would be good.
if they wanted to get more stories maybe
they could find other human colonies on the way home
or work in the other 5 cylon models for a season.
i still think more than 5 would be possible.
but if they'd said they're stickin with 5 i wont complain.

Khannie

User45701 wrote:

As far as i know they haven't said when they are going to end it but TBH i was thinking last nite 5 seasons would be about right end it while it is still 10/10

Have a read of that article Praetorian linked. Moore says he reckons another two seasons is about right, but he said he might feel the same way in a years time.

I doubt I'd ever tire of it tbh, though I'd hate to see it go to crap.

Vokes

4 or 5 seasons please, Ron. No more, no less

User45701

Most ever would be 6 it couldent hit 7 fans would actually complain...

Praetorian

Excellent Ixoy

Overheal

if it gets to 6; you would hope that they'd add on to the existing plot with 'lets go kill the toasters for good' and they all go and blow up the toaster-land and it turns into the last season of DS9 the way its all streamlined and actiony and everyone lives happily ever after with large boxes of pens. yay

MisterAnarchy

Goodshape wrote:

SG1 is a different style of show - new story, places to go and things to see / do each week.

Comparing SG1 and BSG is silly.
One is arguably the best TV drama in years the other is a low brow mediocre sci fi show.
How SG1 lasted 10 seasons is beyond me ,it was really cheap and the storylines were childish and corny.
BSG is far darker,more serious and superior.
I'd like to see 5-6 seasons of BSG ,enough for syndication.

Khannie

MisterAnarchy wrote:

One is arguably the best TV drama in years the other is a low brow mediocre sci fi show.

Agreed. Never understood what people saw in Stargate.

User45701

sg1 and sga a decent there just nothing compared to BSG

Overheal

Post something infammatory like that again, Anarchy, and I'll report you myself

Your SG-1 marks will be stricken from the record and beliddled as the opinions of a jealous Trekkie

However, comparing SG1 and BSG is silly; because they don't compete. One is a heavy, whodunnit space-based drama with heavy ship to ship action; while the other is an on-the-ground action/adventure series. Not to mention the time-lines are mismatched, and so is the school of technology.

They're both top notch in my opinion.

mcgarnicle

MisterAnarchy wrote:

Comparing SG1 and BSG is silly.

Agreed.

MisterAnarchy wrote:

One is arguably the best TV drama in years the other is a low brow mediocre sci fi show.

Both are low brow. I've said this before but cursing and killing are not the route to high brow entertainment. Just because the battlestar is dank and the characters are dicks doesn't make the show high brow, there is nothing intelligent or challenging about BSG.

The only sci fi show that I have watched that could realistically be called high brow was The Next Generation.

MisterAnarchy wrote:

How SG1 lasted 10 seasons is beyond me ,it was really cheap and the storylines were childish and corny.

Agree, but that's what makes it good.

MisterAnarchy wrote:

BSG is far darker

Agree

MisterAnarchy wrote:

,more serious

Agree

MisterAnarchy wrote:

and superior.

Disagree... For what SG-1 sets out to be, a spoofy sci-fi show, it is excellent. It is a totally different show to BSG which, while I watch it, I don't think is anything special.

BSG just makes me visualise what a bunch of 15 yr old angsty goth American teenagers would do if they were flying about in space. A bunch of dispicable arseholes trying to justify their existence is a depressing watch and only appeals for its action scenes... the dialogue is just as cheesy and hackneyed as that in stargate only stargate does it on purpose, BSG actually thinks it's intelligent.

MisterAnarchy

mcgarnicle wrote:

Both are low brow. I've said this before but cursing and killing are not the route to high brow entertainment. Just because the battlestar is dank and the characters are dicks doesn't make the show high brow, there is nothing intelligent or challenging about BSG.

Disagree... For what SG-1 sets out to be, a spoofy sci-fi show, it is excellent. It is a totally different show to BSG which, while I watch it, I don't think is anything special.

BSG just makes me visualise what a bunch of 15 yr old angsty goth American teenagers would do if they were flying about in space. A bunch of dispicable arseholes trying to justify their existence is a depressing watch and only appeals for its action scenes... the dialogue is just as cheesy and hackneyed as that in stargate only stargate does it on purpose, BSG actually thinks it's intelligent.

Who is that trip trap walking over my bridge ...said Mr Troll
Well while I agree Starbuck is like a 15 year old punk kid ,I think you are being too harsh on the rest of the cast.
BSG has no cheesey lines and isnt dumbed down in an age when most shows are so dumbed down its pathetic e.g Dr Who aka Dr Poo.
I agree Star Trek TNG was a very good clever show,one of my favourites. (You do realise Ronald D Moore was a key writer on TNG ?)
BSG has won widespread acclaim among many mainstream non sci-fi publications.
Time Magazine, Rolling Stone magazine and New York Newsday named it the best show on television in 2005.
Other publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker and National Review also gave the show glowing reviews.
These are highly respectable publications.
BSG is a great show.

Goodshape

I wouldn't call BSG low-brow. It's a great show.

And so are The Next Generation, Dr. Who and SG1.. although in the case of SG1 I've only realised that recently. I've never been a faithful viewer of it, but did they change the style after a few seasons? The more recent episodes I've seen have been a lot better than what I remember from earlier episodes.

Overheal

People that have been with SG1 the whole trip are starting to lose faith in it /=/ first they got rid of Rick Anderson (O'Niell) which was fine because he had a fair replacement, but then they brought in the Farscape lady. Im not saying shes bad, but she just seems out of place there.

Anyway, its a discussion for the Stargate forum.

McGarnicle, your last paragraph had me on the floor laughing and I have to agree with the dialogue point. Though BSG doesnt flop around with their lines as often as you make it sound, they do it a bit. Its not something I'd hold against the series though. Also, If SG had tried to maintain the serious tone it was going on in the first season or two, it never wouldve made it. In fact, Im pretty sure they gave up on it after Season 1 (MGM) until Richard Dean Anderson decided to get his hands dirty and pull it back out from death. Thank god he did, or we never wouldve had that grenade gag on the mothership (Season.2 prem) which officially marked when he gave it its spoofy air.

Goodshape

Overheal wrote:

People that have been with SG1 the whole trip are starting to lose faith in it /=/ first they got rid of Rick Anderson (O'Niell) which was fine because he had a fair replacement, but then they brought in the Farscape lady. Im not saying shes bad, but she just seems out of place there.

That was the case in the episodes I liked. Never cared for McGyver. Seemed to be much better craic with the new team members, although as I said I don't really have too much of a frame of reference with regards to earlier episodes.

Anyway, its a discussion for the Stargate forum.

True enough

Also, If SG had tried to maintain the serious tone it was going on in the first season or two, it never wouldve made it.

They gave up the serious tone that early? Hmm.. must tune into some of the old repeats I guess.

mcgarnicle

Goodshape wrote:

I wouldn't call BSG low-brow. It's a great show.

And so are The Next Generation, Dr. Who and SG1.. although in the case of SG1 I've only realised that recently. I've never been a faithful viewer of it, but did they change the style after a few seasons? The more recent episodes I've seen have been a lot better than what I remember from earlier episodes.

Yes at the start they took themselves a bit too seriously but as time went by they seemed to grasp the absurdity of their situation. This led to the show realising what it was and made it a comfortable view, however on occasions this has gone too far, ie that 200th episode was fairly ****e IMHO.

I do consider BSG low brow, it may be a new departure in Sci fi but it is just like all the other shows that are about... except it's set in space. The story arcs and continuos development make me want to watch the next episode but I consider that strategy rather cynical, a la 24. If a show has to resort to cliffhangers on a regular basis it shows the writers are not particularly skillfull.


RDM may have wrote for TNG but I would hardly consider him a key writer, DS9 was a different matter and here there are obvious similarities with BSG. In DS9 you have the Dominion war arc, with this you are compelled to watch the next episode, not because of the quality of the work but simply because you want to see the resolution of the previous episode. That is RDM's skill, he can drag out a plot... I don't think this is particularly beneficial.

Someone has already pointed out how difficult it is to get into BSG if you have not followed from Day 1 and this illustrates the problem. There are a lot of sub plots going on but they are fairly simplistic and hollow, there is nothing to think about in BSG apart from trivia such as is Baltar a Cylon, or have the Cylons emerged before. Compare this to TNG which took each episode, with a few exceptions, as stand alone stories and as such created a series that was easy to dip in and out of and gave people something to actually think about on a regular basis, things other than the trivial plot of the show itself, there was a deeper layer to TNG and as sad as that may make me sound it is something I loved about it. BSG is not like this, what you see is what you get and it is as crass and low brow as any action movie, except of course the sets are dank and the characters are "on the edge".

Just to clarify I'm not here to troll, I watch BSG every week and, compared what else is on tv, it is top notch. My problem is the die-hards that seem to think it is some sort of revolution in tv quality, it is not. It is simply sci-fi that happens to sell today. Back in the 80's and early 90's things were a lot further ahead, just look at TNG and some of the good episodes of The Outer Limits (I'm aware a fair percentage of these were crap but a lot were excellent too). I just think BSG could be set anywhere and have the same appeal, the fact it is set in space is incidental.

Goodshape

Nah, I'd still have to disagree (I guess I'm one of the die-hards).

TNG (which I loved) was a fairly hollow show in comparison to BSG. With some notable exceptions it was pretty much just an 'alien of the week' type affair that would resolve itself in 40 minutes and have no lasting consequences (the magic 'reset button' had everything back to normal the next week). Sure they tackled some issues from time to time, but nothing that couldn't be easily resolved with some convenient plot devices and a good helping of technobable.

BSG uses it's sci-fi setting as a way of taking an objective look at current real-world issues of religion, politics, terrorism, racism, fear, love and loyalty -- and doesn't shy away from addressing the lasting implications of the actions people are forced to take in desperate situations. I think that's probably the key difference between the shows and the reason it's hard to just 'jump in' and start watching two seasons later. That's not a bad thing, it's just not necessarily a good thing for keeping the ratings up.

There's also a lot more to the base story than might meet the eye, and certainly a lot more to think about than the fun / trivial matters like who the latest Cylon's going to be. There's been a number story lines to date that have forced the viewer to really question the actions carried out by the 'heros'. There's no infallible people here, humans or Cylon, no prime directive and certainly no emotional, visual or ethical reset switch.

Granted they're a bunch of whiney ****-ups for the most part, and the nature of the over-riding story (on the run / trying to find earth) is what most compels you to tune in again the next week, but that's just good television imo. There's a lot more going on besides.

And I'm not saying this is the only show tackling these issues, and you might be right that the sci-fi setting is largely incidental, but I bloody well like sci-fi - so it works for me

Overheal

I havent seen SG ep. 200..Hell, I havent seen a television since August but Im going to assume its another one of those where they take the absolute mickey outta themselves: a chance to ridicule all the storylines the writers admit they either fumbled or left for dead...love it.

TNG was quite the thinker show: the reason it still stands today is that you can pick up on an episode anywhere at any point and have a good go, and while you're at it you might even wonder 'hmm, now thats interesting' or some such.

The only problem with shows like BSG, 24, and DS9 (the Dominion War) is their seamless style, which makes it very hard to recap on if you missed something. However, I think the industry hotshots are starting to consider how much $ they can make of a single Dvd sale, compared to the $ they are making from 50 people watching on TV.

and Incidental, is often the way Sci-fi should be: Chaos Theory, B****! Its more fun, in a fictional environment, to see how screwed up the consequences can get

User45701

mcgarnicle wrote:

Agreed.



Both are low brow. I've said this before but cursing and killing are not the route to high brow entertainment. Just because the battlestar is dank and the characters are dicks doesn't make the show high brow, there is nothing intelligent or challenging about BSG.

The only sci fi show that I have watched that could realistically be called high brow was The Next Generation.
.

I have to disagree
BSG is the best sci-fi show far better than TNG i mean look at some of the episodes, i know they had great episodes but the overall quality of BSG is far better than the overall quality of TNG

Johnny Storm

Goodshape wrote:

TNG (which I loved) was a fairly hollow show in comparison to BSG.

Steady on, old chap !

In fairness, TNG was made almost 20 years ago! so some allowances have to be made IMHO.

Actually I pretty much agree with you, a lot of TNG was filler, about every 5th show or so they'd come up with something really surprising and good. BSG has a much higher success ratio. The interactions between the characters on TNG was very good and in some ways there were more characters that you cared about on TNG, maybe due to its long run.

Anyway IMHO BSG is definitely high brow in the way it does not pander to the lowest common denominator IE does not feel that it has to spell out every little thing.