I think its safe to say we're thrashing the Star Trek and Stargate forums...

Fenster

At least as far as traffic goes, considering the series is just out.

Keep up the good work.

Ivan

Its early yet, dont count your chickens before the end of the season.

TCamen

Especially since there isn't any first-run Enterprise on @ the moment...

Whatever about SG1 and Atlantis :rolleyes:

monkeyfudge

Too bad there isn't a Special Olympics Forum for us to slaughter...

TCamen

Too bad there isn't a Special Olympics Forum for us to slaughter...

Isn't that just another name for Stargate?

monkeyfudge

TCamen wrote:

Isn't that just another name of Stargate?

This is true.

I didn't want to say it as I felt it might be insulting to the brave contestants of the Special Olympics.

bizmark

Stargate is a great sci fi show you can only insult it once bsg has managed to go 9 seasions with a sping off! so there!

TCamen

Stargate is a great sci fi show you can only insult it once bsg has managed to go 9 seasions with a sping off! so there!

Meh, I don't need BSG to go for 9 mediocre seasons to be great-- it's already there

The X-Files was well past its prime when it ended, and so's SG-1.. :cool:

ixoy

Right them's FIGHTING WORDS! *rolls back sleeves* Foolish mortal comparing eight episodes to a combined total of around 180 episodes aired around the world. I'd like to see your wussy BSG crew take on a Goa'uld mothership

TCamen

Foolish Mortal....those words always make me think of the opening titles to 'Ulysses 31'...YOU DARE TO DEFY THE GODS OF OLYMPUS?!

What are we talking about again, oh yeah...SG1, meh I could care less, go on and ban me from yer Stargate forum, I never visit anyways

One presumes that the waste-of-space tone to this thread is evident btw :rolleyes:

Fenster

ixoy wrote:

Right them's FIGHTING WORDS! *rolls back sleeves* Foolish mortal comparing eight episodes to a combined total of around 180 episodes aired around the world. I'd like to see your wussy BSG crew take on a Goa'uld mothership

My money is on the Galactica.

Lets be fair, four people were able to take out several motherships. Doesn't speak much for their design, imo.

ixoy

Fenster wrote:

Lets be fair, four people were able to take out several motherships. Doesn't speak much for their design, imo.

Meh at least they tried. The BSG crew just suit around on their asses and run like the little pansies they are. The SGC teams are pro-active!

Fenster

Their not running away. Their ehh...gathering their strength!

Tazzle

bizmark wrote:

with a spin off! so there!

Leaving that out would probably help your argument. What a horrible spin off it is. TV Trash.

Nukem

Ah which side do i take
Sg-1 is tried and proven so says a few million viewers for nearly 9seasons but has gone a little slow as of late - BSG is the new latest and greatest but i don't care like both of um. *sleaks back into corner of room*

(But on the thrashing of the Sci-fi list Wanderly wagon & Star Wars :eek: have very lttle in them)

Nukem

Heres some shocking stats for you:

BSG Forum
41 Threads
571 Replies
10040 Views

SG Forum
20 Threads
138 Replies
2916 Views

ixoy

Tazzle wrote:

Leaving that out would probably help your argument. What a horrible spin off it is. TV Trash.

How dare you good sir. I really enjoy the spin-off and the first half of the second half (or the third quarter if you will) of the first season has been really good. Everyone's settling nicely into their roles.

Viewership wise the Stargate franchise is ahead of BSG on Sky One so a lot of people are recognizing its great quality and reliability. But they're two quite different shows - one is fairly light, fun, character-based. The other is arc-driven, gritty/realistic, and far more full of tortured souls. They're only broadly comparable and, yes, I love both.

Do people, however, want 20-22 episodes a season of BSG or do you think quality might lose out to quantity?

Haruspex

ixoy wrote:

Do people, however, want 20-22 episodes a season of BSG or do you think quality might lose out to quantity?

I'd like to think the quality could be maintained over 20+ episodes but then again TNG had its fair share of filler episodes which sometimes diluted the effect of the entire season.

I'd be reasonably happy with 13 episodes per season as it heightens the dramatic tension of the arc. The writers are more focused in a sense on the task at hand and there's no need to digress into any "Alien of the Week" type episodes which I'd hate to see.

Praetorian

I could never get into Stargate at all. The episodes I saw seemed simplistic and repetitive. I think it was primarily designed for the American public, rather than sci-fi enthusiasts. I suppose I should give it another chance someday. I should also give Babylon 5 a proper chance too.

I don’t think Stargate compares too well to the likes of Trek / Farscape / The old Battlestar. To me Stargate seemed to be competition for the likes of Sliders / Quantum leap. The new Battlestar is still in its infancy, it has a long way to go to be up there with the big boys.

The amount of interest in the Battlestar Galactica forum has been very impressive. Hopefully there will be many more episodes for us to discuss and enjoy

I also concur with Haruspex, 13 episodes per season would be enough for Galactica every year. This should enable the writers to consistently give us enjoyable stories.

ixoy

Praetorian wrote:

I should also give Babylon 5 a proper chance too.

Yes you should. B5 is consistently - and with good reason - hailed as one of the Sci-Fi greats and in terms of vision and consistency, it's yet to be matched. It's got the longest planned arc of practically any show that I've seen.

I don’t think Stargate compares too well to the likes of Trek / Farscape / The old Battlestar. To me Stargate seemed to be competition for the likes of Sliders / Quantum leap. The new Battlestar is still in its infancy, it has a long way to go to be up there with the big boys.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying? Is it the fact the SG1/SGA are contemporary, featuring 20th/21st century characters/situations as did Sliders/Quantum Leap? I'm guessing you mean the fact that only certain elements need to be "sci-fi" rather than create a whole universe? If that's the case, then I can see where you're coming from.

However, if you're making an argument about quality, etc. then I'd take exception because Trek, of all shows, is possibly the most formulaic and afraid to try anything new (with the exception of some of the latter seasons of DS9). Farscape was constantly refreshing and the last decent sci-fi show this side of BSG, so I don't mind that but Trek is a dead horse that's constantly being reanimated by Paramount and made to trot around, despite all the spectators crying out out for the macabre dance to end...

I also concur with Haruspex, 13 episodes per season would be enough for Galactica every year. This should enable the writers to consistently give us enjoyable stories.

I'd like this too. Tightly written arcs are a fine thing to behold - as HBO has constanrly shown us. B5 had good arcs, but it had to be padded out with filler B-plots, which were often a fair bit weaker than the main arc. It'd be nice to see this sort of thing in sci-fi again. Farscape had some good arcs but most shows - including my beloved SG shows - are more of the single installments that only contribute little bits of lore now and then.

Praetorian

Ixoy,

I'm not quite sure what you're saying? Is it the fact the SG1/SGA are contemporary, featuring 20th/21st century characters/situations as did Sliders/Quantum Leap? I'm guessing you mean the fact that only certain elements need to be "sci-fi" rather than create a whole universe? If that's the case, then I can see where you're coming from.

You figured out exactly what I mean! Apologies I should have elaborated in my last post.

I'm not really in a position to discuss the overall quality of B5 or Stargate, because I honestly haven't seen enough of either show. However, the episodes I saw were weak, so unfortunately they did a good job of putting me off the series.

I completely understand what you’re saying about Trek, but I still love the Trek Universe I think it’s the best sci-fi ever created! I take what they give me, and enjoy what I can.

If someone mentions Star Wars and LOTR, I always think SW is 10 times better

Note: Praetorian is biased

koneko

Loved Stargate the last few seasons, but this one just seems to be lacking. Personally I put it down to the Lack Of Jack, I guess he really made the show. I'm finding it boring and struggle to stay watching it. SG: Atlantis isn't great, but it's better than SG1 is at the moment. I've pretty much stopped watching SG1 now, it's just not that good anymore.

Peace

As for whopping star trek.... at this stage it wouldn't be that hard. Their story lines and historic accuracy has been trampled over so many times its disturbing.

As for Star Gate, BSG has a long long way to go before pulling into the lead.

Regarding 22 ep's a season thats fine with me. The writers of Alias managed to have season long arc's which maintained suspense all the way through. Shortening a season length is not a solution for the writers being unable to develop a story line across a season. In the case of Alias, across multipile seasons.

And don't start flaming with the whole "Alias isn't sci fi, you don't know what you're talking about" because i'm talking about storylines and writing standards.

ixoy

koneko wrote:

Loved Stargate the last few seasons, but this one just seems to be lacking. Personally I put it down to the Lack Of Jack, I guess he really made the show. I'm finding it boring and struggle to stay watching it. SG: Atlantis isn't great, but it's better than SG1 is at the moment. I've pretty much stopped watching SG1 now, it's just not that good anymore.

Hmm, I've noticed that division among fans. Those who think Jack is central to the show haven't enjoyed it as much in the last few years because Richard Dean Anderson hasn't been around as much to play Jack (FWIW, he wants to spend time with his daughter and has a longer commute than the rest of the cast).

Myself, I think the show is stronger than just the one character, although I do like O'Neill's sarcastic quipping and his relationship with the others. In making him in charge of the SGC, I think they've found a good compromise for explaining why he won't feature as much.

I think there's enough plot arcs and character left in the likes of Dr. Jackson, Teal'c, and Carter for another year and a half of viewing. I'd prefer if we still had some of the others around - Frasier, Hammond, more O'Neill - but I can live without. It might be past its glory days (what show isn't by Season 8!) but it's still got life in it.

Nukem

Peace wrote:

As for whopping star trek.... at this stage it wouldn't be that hard. Their story lines and historic accuracy has been trampled over so many times its disturbing.

Could never really get into Star Trek,as said loads of timeline stuff is all over the place

Peace wrote:

As for Star Gate, BSG has a long long way to go before pulling into the lead.

Have to agree,BSG is the fore runner of the new Sci-Fi shows SGA has a long way to go to catch it - but its still better than SG this season??????

koneko

I didn't think the show revolved around him, I thought all the other characters were interesting in their own different ways. I didn't think the show would take a turn for the worse when I heard Jack wouldn't be in it much, but it has (in my opinion). The only thing I can see that's changed is his involvement, which is why I said that.

I just really don't find the new episodes that interesting at all. I loved it last year, this year.... meh.

Nukem

ixoy wrote:

I think there's enough plot arcs and character left in the likes of Dr. Jackson, Teal'c, and Carter for another year and a half of viewing. I'd prefer if we still had some of the others around - Frasier, Hammond, more O'Neill - but I can live without. It might be past its glory days (what show isn't by Season 8!) but it's still got life in it.

A year and a half ????? They'd want to pick up the stroy line some what pretty sharp like. Its got no contiunuing plot-its all over the place.
Wheres the big battle? And i thought Friaser was killed

ixoy

Nukem wrote:

A year and a half ????? They'd want to pick up the stroy line some what pretty sharp like. Its got no contiunuing plot-its all over the place.
Wheres the big battle? And i thought Friaser was killed

She was... I just said I missed her. The broader cast was better.

There's lots of continuing plots with the System Lords, for example and trying to defeat Baal and his army.
There's Fifth and the replicators (which could dovetail nicely into the System Lord plot).
There's the Trust and their machinations to defeat the System Lords.
There's Teal'c's missions tu get the Jaffa to uprise (this, to a bit, happens offscreen).

The series though is often episodic in nature. So we don't see these plots, or hear any real reference to them, for weeks on end. It doesn't mean they're forgotten - just they're not talking about it this week. In much the same way, Mulder and Scully would have some massic dramatic revelation about aliens/governemt conspiracies/bees that would shake their world, and next week they'd investigate a ghost as if nothing had happened to them prior. It's the strength and weakness of these show's formats and others - such as B5 and BSG - take a different approach and try and push the story along each week. Different way for different things.

Nukem

I understand all that but i honestly think in this season they could have done a slightly better job of tying the storylines together. Fifth is about the only Ep this season that i would class as class - why beacuse it went somewhere for 2 solid wks.Need to have a crossroad Ep where some of these tie in together. he he just noticed talking about SG alot on the BSG Forum

ixoy

Well there's an SG1 episode coming up called "Threads" which, apparently, is pivotal and may, as the title suggests, tie a number of plot threads together.

Nukem

Great stuff gonna post some questions in the SG Froum now if ya wanna try answer them

TCamen

Yes you should. B5 is consistently - and with good reason - hailed as one of the Sci-Fi greats and in terms of vision and consistency, it's yet to be matched. It's got the longest planned arc of practically any show that I've seen.

Mmmm B5. Re-watching it at the moment. Last episode I watched was 'Mind War'...I've missed Bester

I think the big difference with my own personal viewing habits -- I've bought 'Babylon 5' DVDS, I wouldn't buy 'Star Trek' ones. I like Trek, esp. DS9 & Voyager (and Enterprise, don't kill me!), but I just wouldn't buy it!

Stargate...I absolutely LOATHE Richard Dean Anderson, and he's the main reason I could never watch the show in the early years. I generally dip in for the season finales, most recently because it was setting up Atlantis, but I'm not able to sit through a whole series of light, standalone SG1.

Atlantis...I made it halfway through the pilot before switching off, it just utterly failed to grab me, even if the lead guy is a lot better to look at than RDA

BSG...It's by far the best scifi series that's currently on TV. Yes I tolerate Enterprise, but it's hardly outstanding (though S3 was pretty damn good!). Whether it maintains that standard remains to be seen, but I have faith in the God(s)

Sherifu

TNG kicks everythings ass, havent seen BSG so wont comment on that.

Haruspex

TCamen wrote:

BSG...It's by far the best scifi series that's currently on TV.

Have to agree, TCamen. Nothing has ignited my interest more this year than BSG. I've only ever had a passing interest in SG1/SGA [sorry, ixoy! ] and just dip into it when there's nothing else on.

What I think stands in our favour is that we are seeing the episodes before they are aired in North America. We have a critical mass of avid viewers from the start and this lends itself to much livelier forum debates.

Ivan

In fairness the only thing that really counts is the people who sit in front of the t.v. to watch the show.

And since Stargate AND Atlantis, having both already been aired in the states, are getting more viewers than BSG, you'd have to wonder...

Fenster

Ivan wrote:

In fairness the only thing that really counts is the people who sit in front of the t.v. to watch the show.

And since Stargate AND Atlantis, having both already been aired in the states, are getting more viewers than BSG, you'd have to wonder...

Well the BSG pilot has only been aired a few times, and most of those in the states who've actually seen the series grabbed it from Bittorrent. I think the real test will be when the pilot is rerun (see the letter thread) on NBC and when the series proper begins on January 13.

Not to mention the fact that SG1 is a massively popular show and SGA its big spin-off that arrived in a blaze of hype (I really tried to like SGA personally, but the whole thing comes accross as too...camp).

Fenster

On B5:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7515

:eek: :eek:

ixoy

Fenster wrote:

On B5:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7515

:eek: :eek:

Keep up Fenster. I posted this over an hour ago here on the main Sci-Fi board

It's good news isn't it? All those rumours which - if you go trawling - have been around since '98 are finally going somewhere. Hope it's good.

Ivan

Gah, smells like a cash in.
Still, they've been doing that for a while, what with Rangers et al., will be nice to see a nice big budget cash in.

Stark

B5, okay it was good storyline arc and had its moments but it was let down badly by production values, dialogue, acting, individual storylines etc. BSG looks like it's following a long-term storyline arc and this time round it has the goods to go with it. If it continues in the current vein, it may surpass B5. Though so far they've it somewhat easy as they're just taking ideas from the original Battlestar Galactica. For the second season, they'll be on their own.

Nukem

Please dont let the B5 movie be anything like the Ranger drivel they brought out.Damn hope someone got fired for that idea

c0y0te

I'm sure I've said this before, but it seems appropriate to mention it here in the context of this thread again:)

If you liked Babylon 5..... then get into Farscape!!! :eek:

Those two shows are the only sci-fi shows I've seen that keep a decent multi year story arc going and actually discover some depth along the way. They deal with all the usual themes the other shows do, except in a more realistic and adult way.

If you like the quick fix shows of single-episode resolutions or the odd two parter.. then by all means love your star trek or SG1 shows, but if you like something with a bit more meat, get into B5 or Farscape NOW!!

c0y0te

Johnny Storm

Stark wrote:

B5, okay it was good storyline arc and had its moments but it was let down badly by production values, dialogue, acting, individual storylines etc. .

I agree 100%. No offense to any B5 fans but I could never understand how it had such a strong following.

Azza

I still like Stargate SG1 and I don't find atlantis too bad. Having a quite time in a work at the moment and both stargates and BSG are on at the time I work....both show help kill the time. I'm getting payed to watch em.

TCamen

B5, okay it was good storyline arc and had its moments but it was let down badly by production values, dialogue, acting, individual storylines etc. .

Ultimately, the reason I liked it was for the strong arc that began in the pilot, and ended in the finale.
I'm re-watching S1 @ the moment, and there are some pretty lame stand-alone episodes, and sure the production values are a little shoddy to begin with, but I think the series found its feet creatively towards the end of S1.
The FX certainly became a lot better, but really, the big space battles only mattered to me because they were so important to the story, not because they had flashy FX (but they were damn cool )

I watched all of Farscape, and really enjoyed it, but for me, the story arc wasn't as strong as with B5, so regardless of the higher production values, B5 is far and away my favourite scifi series to date.
AND, before anyone pastes in that line & starts going on about Farscape being great -- I think it is too!! I just prefer B5

Of course, so far, BSG has the potential for a great arc (esp. after last week's episode) AND killer production values so who knows

Though so far they've it somewhat easy as they're just taking ideas from the original Battlestar Galactica

Hmm, not sure I totally agree with that. I think that with any remake, there's gonna be a certain amount of looking back over what was successful about the original, and trying to incorporate that. However, I think the writers of the new BSG have done a great job of making it nicely different yet still contain recognisable elements.
Since I'm avoiding spoilers, I can only say future episode titles look similar to original BSG episode titles, so whether they're re-interpreting them, I'm not sure -- I don't want to know til I get there