First off, I would like to mention the cinematography. The thing I really liked about it was it felt really real. As a big editor I focused on all the little things that needed to be fixed, but then I realized, this is the show, the cinematography helps to the atmosphere of the show. A lot of times they have glaring lights that seems to pop out in odd places on the actors bodies or faces, but it makes it feel more real. Some films try too hard at this, or try to little, but watching this, seemed like the perfect amount.
The thing is, the camera is our eyes. Through the camera we have to show people what we want them to see. If we make it boring or the lighting is flat, it won't work. That's not how peoples eyes see things. We see depth. We see shadow. We see only parts of things that are obscured by other people or things but our mind completes it behind them. Our mind corrects what looks funny. Usually when you see cinematography they try to avoid strange looks to begin with which can be good a lot of the time, because it can take you out of the story and the moment. But in Battlestar Galactica, they have the bright lights behind the characters that out shine some of their leg or their nose, but our mind works with it (unless you're an editor like me and you have to point out every little flaw).
The second thing is the editing. Again great. Can't complain. Like I said, what they did adds to the show a whole lot and I wouldn't change it. Of course there were moments where I thought a certain shot lasted to long or too short or it seemed to cut funny but that's going to be in any film or t.v. show. No ones perfect. I did think the animation on the cylons (the robots on the show) could have been better, they seemed kind of fake to me.
Now comes the writing and the story. It was captivating. My dad has been pushing me to watch this for a long time and I never wanted to. And so one day I was painting my nails and thought, I need something to watch. Then when I was flipping through netflx I found and it and thought "why not?". My plan was to just watch one episode. I ended up the next morning, not having slept, and over half a season watched. And mind you, these episodes aren't those 24 minute ones, oh no, the pilot was an hour and a half and the rest were 45 minutes long each. So obviously I was entranced by the first episode. The writing feels natural and gets you attached. It will make you laugh and probably cry and also freak out a bit (or a lot, like I did).
The basic plot (I'm not going to spoil anything for you guys, don't worry) is about this old battle ship and it's commander William Adama. Adama refuses to have cylon (the robots they created) technology integrated into his computer system to improve it and make it faster. This ends up saving them because when the cylons come back for a second war (the first war was when cylons rebelled and killed a lot of people in the first war, then they just looked like big metal machines) the technology that had been placed in the other ships were able to be controlled by the cylons and they shut down the ships and then blasted them to smithereens. This time, they have "evolved", they look human, talk like humans, and are in every way human, except they can't die, they come back to life in a new body, exactly identical to the one that was destroyed.
I feel like the plot fell apart at the end. It seemed like they had to many threads pulling in one direction, but didn't complete so many of them. I think this is because they didn't plan out their ending. They started and just kept writing, hoping it would all come together (see here for more info on planing a plot). The ending could have been very strong, but seem weak to me. I was an ok ending, not one that will make you cry your eyes out, like I was hoping for, but it was alright.
I would still recommend this show to anyone, and probably watch it with them!
-Sirwhovian, Out!
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