Another excellent interview with Ron Moore has just popped up online – Alan Sepinwall (alt link) spoke to Moore at length during the Summer 2008 TCA press events, about the end of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, his goals for CAPRICA, the Emmys and the challenges that sci-fi faces these days finding its wider audience attention.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this interview spoilery…but Sepinwall asks Moore about a list of his own burning unanswered questions after the end of season 4.0. And Moore responds to everything on the list. Perhaps you can skip that part if you are 100% spoiler-free.
Sitrep would love to hear about your burning questions remaining for season 4.5. Come down into the comments to discuss – BUT PLEASE, NO OUTSIDE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS, K?
Friday, January 02, 2009
Sepinwall’s List
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27 comments:
I for one was very interested to hear what RDM says in this interview about the lack of acting Emmy noms for this show (and how the Emmys “back the truck up” to AMC for noms, LOL). Also loved hearing him admit that we will get an answer about what those “Head” characters are…and, though RDM is a bit cagey, that we may find out what happened to Kara in “Maelstrom.” RDM says “pretty much” – I think any experienced BSG fan knows what that means. ;)
Also enjoyed his typically RDM-style sort-of answer to Sepinwall’s obsessive assumption that the destroyed bridge on “Earth” was the Brooklyn Bridge. IMHO Sep is projecting…as are many other fans…but I love how RDM handles this answer.
The only thing I find a bit…confusing…about what RDM has to say about CAPRICA here, is when he says “It doesn't make sense that William Adama, the man of Battlestar, was there at the moment the Cylons were born.” That’s a surprise to me…I mean, isn’t that supposed to tweak a BSG fan’s curiousity about the prequel series – that both Joseph and Willy Adama are there at that moment? (Not physically in the room necessarily, but so close to it in a more general sense.) That would be one hell of a red herring. We shall see…
Sepinwall's list hit on most of my major burning questions (top of my personal list: what's up with those "Head" characters?)...but my other admittedly petty burning questions would be:
- Why does Starbuck's mother seems to know that Kara is special, is destined for greatness? She is such a hard-ass on all fronts, and does not seem like the sort of parent who would go out of her way to tell her daughter that.
- Who is Starbuck's father? What happened to him?
- Will we ever find out who Caprica Six met in the public square in the miniseries, just hours before the apocalypse, after walking away from Baltar? (Remember: "sorry I'm late...")
Very interesting interview. Thanks for the link. His list pretty much hit on all the major unresolved issues I see. I was very happy to see RDM answer that all of those questions will be answered in the remaining episodes.
I know that this isn't going to be portrayed more on the show but I would really like to dive a bit on Centurion Sentience.
@Jonathan: yeah I think they've dropped that for good...Sepinwall even asked about that in the interview.
New Baltar ad is out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8gH3nWW9rw
What an incredibly insightful interview. I find it hard to believe Sepinwall couldn't find an opportunity to get this interview out until now, but then again it seems to have a much bigger impact now that we're in the final stretch (and getting more and more desperate).
He definitely hit on most of the questions I have, as did others in the comments here.
One of my bigger questions sort of has to do with the "This has all happened before..." theme, which even though a part of me wants specifics, I also enjoy letting my imagination run with it and use it to glue together the story's theme. I guess the part of me that wants specifics wants to know exactly how it is that the BSG 'verse has this alternate universe with so many similarities to our own; men wear ties, women wear heels, corded phones, cigarettes, speaking English, and one of the biggest mysteries... why do they cut the corners off the paper?
As per RDM's hopes, I assume (or my imagination creates) the connection between BSG civilization and our own has something to do with this epic and mythological journey to Earth and their "long lost" cousins of the 13th colony. If this isn't completely answered by the end of the series, and part of me doesn't want a complete answer, it leaves a somewhat open mythology to build upon in future manifestations of Battlestar Galactica - perhaps in some sort of equivalent to the Star Wars "expanded universe". Can you say animated TV? ;)
Posting this to my blog and linking to you!
@starthunder,
I read once that the corners were cut simply to represent budget cuts/constraints made on the miniseries.
I hope the issue of the music (All Along the frakkin' Watchtower) is addressed in detail.. I'm sure it will be, but that's one of the main things I worry about in terms of them not explaining it. It's the one thing in BSG that still doesn't sit right with me (I thought it was pretty cheesy), so I'm really hoping they'll give me a reason to love it and say, "aah, that makes sense now!"
I want to know these...
How could Roslin share in the vision with Caprica-Six and Athena?
What is the importance of Hera, Nicholas, and Caprica-Six's fetus?
What have the rest of the Cylon fleet (besides those attachments assigned to tracking Galactica and/or searching for Earth) been doing? Or, in other words, why did the Cylon abandon their homeworld?
Did Tigh and Six create a baby, and if so - how come this was the first time that two cylons could do so? - J
Also remember to check out Sepinwall's review of the first episode of S4.5:
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/01/still_more_pure_evil_i_have_no.html#2300109
Re: the "wondering where you'd gotten to?" bit in the mini-series, I'd always interpreted this as Six reacting to the arrival of the Cylon fleet near Caprica rather than the literal arrival of someone on the scene. I think RDM has said previously that this point won't be revisited in the series as it was too long ago and minor for the general audience.
@Adam...yeah well. I told you it was *petty*. ;)
I'll complain that Galactica doesn't explore "this" & "that".
For example, I've used the phrase "Adama Power Hour" a number of times.
There's only superficial exploration of the fleet & Colonial culture. There's even less exploration of characters outside the Adama clan.
_____
But I can always be sure that RDM cares.
Here's what he reflects in the interview:
"...we never got out into the civilian fleet and showed those other ships.
I always felt like different cultures would be on different ships, and as time went on, would develop into their own little mini-societies depending on their circumstances.
Over here, you have one captain and 50 people, and here you have four captains and 500 people, those are very different worlds that they're trapped in.
For production reason, we were never able to leave Galactica for any length of time."
THIS IS THE SHOW I WANT TO SEE!!!
So my "BURNING QUESTION":
If there are there are these creative limitations inherent in the medium of film...
WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER DOING A GRAPHIC NOVEL?
Has anyone discussed the stuff in Razor where a younger Adama runs into a different type of hybrid and the old-school toasters? Something in the back of my mind is saying that this has something to do with the upcoming season but I don't remember where that thought came from and I don't recall seeing much discussion about it lately. - J
It's not a specific burning plot question, but I am intensely curious to see whether the show will address head-on the constantly smoldering subtext of whether or not biology is a prerequisite for sentient life; if pure "machines" such as the Cylons could (or should) be considered legitimate life forms -- or if only organically-based machines (i.e. humans) qualify.
I suspect that the BSG writers have deliberately danced around this Big Philosophical Question, and in so doing provided some terrific big-arc dramatic tension. (In contrast, ST:NG, which RDM worked on, "went there" very explicitly with episodes focused on Data's sentience and rights.)
So it will be interesting to see whether the show brings this core philosophical question into more direct focus as the story tightens to its end -- or it will continue to be the elephant in the living room, a sort of permanent creator's blind spot for the Colonials. Or perhaps it will be saved for Caprica...any guesses?
why would the 5th and Final Cylon be the last to know (switched on)??????
They certainly have a lot of explaining to do. Like where's the new clue that was supposed to be revealed today?
Clue 16: On New Caprica, Felix walks over to the yellow dog dish and flips it over upside-down with his foot and looks around pensively. In the near distance a cute, floppy-eared retriever gets all big-eyed as his food scatters and makes a little "uuUHhhrrrrrmmm" moan.
the biggest disadvantage of the hiatus from hell has been that these things have festered for so long, and people REALLY wanna know wtfrak is going on, it makes even people like me who resist spoilers to start reading stuff.
hell I read the script for Caprica just to fill in the void!
the thing I keep wondering about the skin job Cylons is how is it that they have known SO MUCH about the humans' religion, Kobol and so on. And how that first hybrid in Razor fits in to all of this.
Thanks for the warning about spoilers; I can't stand spoilers and don't even look at the images accompanying the intro theme music. It's something forgotten by retarded sites like Syfyportal, which ruined elements of Season 3 with their idiotic headlines. Even Sci Fi Wire had to ruin the Gaeta kiss surprise for me.
On the acting thing, I thought the Mary-Nana Vistor subplot of "Faith" was particularly weak in terms of writing; there was nothing surprising or truly interesting about it, and it was much better done on The X-Files episode "Momento Mori"
I don't have any specific expectations. I just want a strong political commentary about our society that is bold and informative.
I also want a minseries on Baltar (perhaps on the missing year on New Caprica) that is dramatic and not action-packed with tons of cliche scenes with gung ho, macho women or men like Starbuck; so sick of that.
I'd also like Michael Angeli to get a crack at a BSG TV movie and for Ira Steven Behr to join the Caprica writers.
PLEASE, Ron!
@Greg...I would say the Cylons know so much about human religion because they had a full database when they left the colonies after the first war. They probably know everything about the human history that the humans know.
To add to what Bristope is saying...
In the miniseries, we see the Cylons infiltrating Colonial society to the maximum.
They could have learned about Colonial religion by simply buying the bible at a local bookshop.
Or, they could have peaked into that penetrated government network to learn that Colonial intelligence knows.
So I would turn the question around...given that the Cylons know so much about Earth...
Before the peace treaty, why were the Colonials still fixated on finding it?
The Cylons would find it, sooner or later, and repeat the mini-series holocaust.
I think the Caprica script makes it clear how the human religion ties directly to the Cylon experience. - J
@J: I would go even farther to say that the Caprica script suggests that humanity is responsible for all aspects of the Cylons' religiosity.
I agree. Humanity is responsible for the Cylon's religious beliefs beginning with the creation of the very first Cylon. - J
ProgGrrl, Moore addresses your question of how Socrata Thrace knew Kara's destiny in the "Maelstrom" podcast. She consulted oracles.
Oooh, really? I totally frakkin' missed that! How'd I miss that!
:)
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