wombat1138 | BatGal 2.0 (Bull)

BatGal 2.0 (Bull)

I still haven't seen the new Battlestar Galactica. I don't think I've read any of Emma Bull's books, either. However, I'm pretty sure I know quite a few people who like either or both, and for that reason among various others, I feel compelled to link to Emma Bull's dislike of the new BG.

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Many, many, many worthwhile TV series have less-than-stellar pilots/intro episodes.

She has some good points about BG's intro miniseries; the quality of the writing has gotten notably better since that point. Worth taking a look at, IMO.

and found it strangely but deeply disatisfying, (although it did inspire me to want to read more about the mid-1800s, so not a total failure.)

I met her once casually and briefly at a con, and I doubt she'd know me from Eve, where she seemed nice enough, but i haven't read any of her other books, and i don't know her online opinions well enough to say how much of it is her projecting.

Because, although I *gather* there has been some derailment (in a variety of ways, chara and plot) in the latest three episodes - the second half of the 2nd season in that weird hiatus thing they're doing now - I haven't seen them and so am going on reviews and discussion, and in the first and first half of 2nd season, no... altho' there was *lots* of fanprojecting going on that said more about the viewrs' assumptions than what was there in the eps I saw.

That person is an idiot. For instance:

If she's all that guy-ish, then she must be sexually active and horny, right? Because that's part of the guy-stereotype package she's a parody of. Um, no. For all her aggressive behavior, sexually she's the Good Victorian Woman, true to the memory of her dead boyfriend and unable to act on her attraction to his brother.

That's completely wrong. Starbuck sleeps with whomever she wants. And she's not a complete tomboy. She wears a dress in one episode, and writes poetry.

A lot of the stuff she wrote about was just the original character exposition from the miniseries. For instance, the President -was- way down in line to become president... But her struggle to change from Secretary of Education to a leader was -enthralling-. The issue for her was -never- about being a -female- leader, but about being a normal person thrust into a position of leadership, and doing so while battling cancer.

The Fembot Cylon in question, Number Six, is indeed a sexpot. But she -does- later appear in MANY different forms, from a geeky secretary type, to the rather plain-looking leader of an underground movement. She's not evil because she's sexy. She's evil because she manipulates people, just like the male Cylons who ALSO show up later in the series.

Anyway, that person is a fool, and just looking for something to be irate about, in my opinion.

chiefly as a way of making Baltar look the complete prat. Without it, his motivation would be far less intelligible, *and* he would have fewer weaknesses to play on. Instead of getting the completely amoral and chameleonlike functioning sociopath polymath genius who doesn't recognize his amorality (b/c he's a solipsist!) and who can thus go on charming and weaseling his way into and out of any situation - an evil, invulnerable Spock, he would be - we get The Triumph of Venus with Aristotle and Phyllis in modern guise, the supergenius literally led around by his dick, creating at once low comedy and high horror very skillfully, I thought. Amor vincit omnia.

And long before Gina, you find yourself feeling *sorry* for Six and your skin crawling at that realization. First off, he betrays her, even before the Pearl Harbor Strike - lies to her and cheats on her and then grovels to her when caught. His headgames - and her having fallen in love with an utterly worthless and contemptible man - make you cheer when she gets him but good, and the fact that she's a Secret Agent who was using him when he thought it was the other way around makes it all a bit of karmic payback and again you find yourself cheering for her - the Bond Girl who lives and wins - until you remember, oh yeah, *we're* the good guys and she's The Enemy--

And then all the ambiguity and Turin-Test fun of is it real? is she just faking *everything*? in the emotions of AIs - and I really think a lot of the tv fen haven't read anywhere near enough book sf based on the discussion bords I've lurked at, they don't seem able to process the concept of "sentient computer" or "biomechanicals" very well at all, let alone the moral questions.

So her killing the baby is presented as an act of Dark mercy and chilling tenderness - a merciless warrior she, perhaps, but capable of pitying and sparing the innocent offspring of her hereditary enemies from the coming holocaust, in so far as it was in her power. The profound sadness conveyed in her expression then was truly unnerving.

And would we think she was evil at all, if she were the human agent infiltrating the Cylon civilization and using feminine whiles, logical headgames and superior technology to defeat them? Again, see Bond Girl, or The Matrix. She happens to be a fanatical religious zealot fighting for the wrong side - at least in the tribalism of species. But we don't know the full story of humanity's relations to the Cylons - and we also know that the humans of the federation lie as easily as they breathe. "We're your children," Six says over and over again, in frustration at the Shocked, shocked! to find violence/betrayal/lust/hypocrisy among Cylons of Baltar et al.

Which brings us back to the creepy-squicky-sex stuff. Love, and orifices, begetting, and Divine Union - this is what "theology of the body" *really* looks like, stripped of its euphemisms and covering fade-outs. Be fruitful & multiply. Behold, the Bridegroom cometh...

her guilt over her *lies* - to Zach, to herself, to the surviving Adamas. That made the hugest obstacle for her to get over in terms of resuming a guilt-free sex life. (Ghosts of dead lovers figure in male literary relationships too - and Emma Bull *ought* to be familiar with "She Moved Through The Fair," she's a filker herself. To say nothing of the "Unfortunate Miss Bailey"!)

Complicated by the fact that while her heart is set on Lee, she's not immune to a roguish smile or a bold pair of biceps. I've remarked elsewhere that's she's like the hero of Under Two Flags or a lot of those 19th c melodramas, your archetypal wenching cavalry officer who nevertheless has a One True Love, a Lady Unattainable - but still enjoys a tumble with anyone willing. Which we see as the series goes on and she works out her penance and her demons and all the complications that Lee brings to the situation, too...

Erm... she specified she was talking only about the miniseries.

Well, gosh: Bull's negative reaction to the show seems to be an equal-but-opposite one to my non-genre-person Dad's (for him, the clincher was Starbuck being "such a [lesbian, but less politely put]," which is about accurate an assessment as Bull's Victorian Woman one).

This line of essays has dragged me far into it. I was off in the Noles line of links for a couple of hours.

I like Emma Bull's books. I don't particularly like the new BG, but I've only seen the mini-series and the first 38 minutes of the interminable first episode.

Thanks for the link!

And thank you for gaming. There were so many people talking about being the only female gamer out there. I remember Jenny C's brother GMing for us at her birthday party in, what, 1978 or 1979? You and Kate gamed with me extensively in high school (meaning that the women often outnumbered the guys then), and close to half the group were women in almost all of my college games. I've *never* known the "boobies?" problem in gaming.

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BatGal 2.0 (Bull)

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I read "Freedom and Necessity"

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Also, the sexiness of 6 was presented in the mini

oh, and the big thing about Starbuck was

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