Thursday, February 24, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves
OT: One Of Those Idiots Reviews Galactica
The blogiverse is a darn small place, I'm convinced. A few days ago, I wrote Carol Elaine of Ordinary Goddess (hat tip to LA Blogs for finding her) about the new Battlestar Galactica. She was all all broke up, it seems, over the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, marking the at-least-for-now cessation of a television landmark. Not to worry, said I, Galactica is actually better than the last five years' growth of Trek, at least. Sadly, Carol couldn't get it (something about her cable provider not picking up SciFi), but today she dropped a line pointing to this TeeVee review. Darned if it isn't Jason Snell, who also writes for Idiots Write About Sports. And so the world comes full circle...Anyway. It'd be easy to cast the "love/hate" tag on the show, but it's more like "flawed, but still very, very good":
... [A]s unlikely as it seems, the new Battlestar Galactica series is a remarkable success. Led by the serious weight of Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, and even weightier storylines, it’s a sci-fi series for adults that doesn’t shy away from dealing with big issues: God, sex, death, betrayal, obsession, self-denial ... it’s all in there.You really should go read it in toto (no, not the dog, silly); Snell not only provides a snappy, well-written review, but more thoroughly dissects (and pretty much agrees with) the things I both like and dislike about the show....
This is not to say that the new Galactica isn’t without its flaws. It’s got great big ones, and they’re in plain sight. Proud to have cast a smokin’ hottie, Tricia Helfer, as a human-form Cylon agent-slash-sex kitten, Moore and company have shamelessly overused her. Speaking as a red-blooded heterosexual male, even I am tired of seeing Helfer dressed in lingerie and cooing sexily about Cylon religion. Toss in the subplot about Boomer, another female character who’s really a Cylon, and you get the distinct impression that the entire Cylon plot against humanity involves creating hot chicks and having them use their sexuality to bend human men to their will. I’m not saying that it’s a bad plan, but it reeks of sexism.
Phil Allard Interviews Charlie Steiner
Also arriving in the mail today: Phil Allard, whose analysis of the Lowe signing I took a flensing knife to last week, interviews new Dodger broadcaster Charlie Steiner. There's some good bits in here; his favorite call was the Aaron Boone home run in the 2003 ALCS, which, if I'm remembering right, ended in a "See ya" call (one of my most detested because it's so obviously bad homer, plus cheering for the Yankees -- ugh). Also, this bit:PHIL ALLARD: You were quoted earlier this winter (and I am paraphrasing here) that you felt that the Yankees didn’t show joy when they won as much as relief. Can you elaborate on that a bit?Some time ago, I linked to an ABCnews.com piece talking about Microsoft's decline as a vigorous organization. Maybe it's a little facile, early, or wrong, but is it possible the Yanks are going the same way?CHARLEY STEINER: There should be emotion of joy and euphoria, and “God, isn’t that great.” Unfortunately, with the Yanks, the prevailing attitude after a victory is one of relief, and then “God, we have to go out and do it again.’ That is the pressure that is put on them by the Steinbrenner way of doing business and you know, it’s been enormously successful for him and the Yankees. But it’s also very pressure-intensive. The Yanks were far tighter leading 3 games to 1 then the Red Sox were trailing 3 games to 1. Again, the Yanks have had an enormous amount of success doing business in that fashion for a very long time. So, to second guess them would be hypocritical.
Update: Talk about a double bonus mailbag day: Allard wrote me again to let me know that the "see ya" call, while voiced by Steiner, is in fact Michael Kay's. Domini, domini, domini, may he never use it in Chavez Ravine -- or anywhere else I can hear it.
Donovan: Studs At The Plate, Duds On The Mound
John Donovan at Sports Illustrated has an AL West review that summarizes the conventional wisdom: the days of the AL West being a pitcher's haven are over, and in 2005, it's going to be a slugfest. I don't disagree; in that light, he hands the Angels the title of "best rotation" and "best bullpen", with the Rangers getting "best lineup", D-Mac for RoY, and Rich Harden as a Cy Young candidate, a vacancy PECOTA picked Kelvim Escobar for. (Incidentally, once I get a few spare hours -- this is probably a weekend project at least -- I plan on reviewing what the PECOTA tea leaves say for both the AL and NL West divisions.)
I have not watched much of Battlestar Galactica (missed a couple episodes and decided I will catch the current episodes on reruns or something), I have to agree with that review...it solidly conveys a variety of controversial topics, but the blonde chick is too ubiquitous.
As far as great Sci Fi on TV goes right now, you really can't beat either Stargate, which are more like Next Generation (the pinnacle of a long term Sci Fi series) than any of the Star Trek series since.
Ignore -- if you can -- the Tricia Helfer Cylon, who is ridiculously grating at times, but mercifully is not the principle focus of the show (and caught a well-deserved brushoff from Olmos in last Friday's ep).
As far as SG-1 goes, I was not that big into it. Then last winter (2003-2004) I was staying at my aunt's PLUS I was immobile sick, so I watched SG-1 with her (she has watched from the beginning) which played 5 episodes on Mondays, 1 episode Tues-Thurs, and about 3 on Fridays. So, even though I watched it at first just because it was on, once I learned some of the back history and how things fit together it became great. And one thing that is different in Stargate from every other show on TV, is that they don't pull punches to make it a happier ending. If you watch the first two seasons of SG-1 (the first one is mediocre but has a lot of good set ups) you will probably feel the same way as your sister-in-law. Another thing you could do is watch Atlantis which just started and you only need basic knowledge of the SG universe to understand that.
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