Battlestar Galactica: Razor

"Battlestar Galactica: Razor", a two-hour mini-movie as an extension of the series, is quite simply, a history lesson. History lessons--although this is a large generalization--are boring. Assuming you know history, history lessons are not exciting, tension-filled, or suspenseful because they contain an outcome already known by the audience.

When the audience watches the attack on the Battlestar Pegasus in the opening scenes of "Razor", they are not fearful or worried about the characters because they know the characters will be "okay" in the end. The characters aren't going to die here, they aren't going to kill "so-and-so" because the audience has a window into the future that tells them who is going to live and who is going to die. This creates a lack of sympathy with the protagonists because the audience can't worry about the characters, they can't put themselves in their shoes. Instead, they are watching them from a distance, through a history book. (This was also the same problem I had with LOST season 4 and its use of flashforwards.)

So what's the point of creating a history lesson, then? In this case it would be to explore the differences in morality and ethics between the crews of the Galactica and the Pegasus. What makes this pointless, however, is that we already know these things from the 3 episode arc in Season 2. All "Razor" does is put a face to the stories we have already heard before.
For example, in Season 2, Colonel Tigh asks the Pegasus colonel about how the Pegasus survived so many months in deep space. The Pegasus colonel, drunk and intoxicated, tells Tigh about how the Pegasus crew killed civilians and stole their supplies.
This was a great bit of exposition. It worked because this short snippet of dialog in itself provided all the information we needed to know that the Pegasus and its crew were ruthless in their survival. By leaving out certain details, the show lets the audience ponder what actually happened and speculate on the true nature of the Pegasus' past.

Now, "Razor" comes along and what does it have to add to this story? Nothing, actually. It just creates a visual record to reinforce exactly what the Pegasus colonel said in season 2. Entire scenes are devoted to restating what we already knew, which makes them pointless. The show is not making any new point, or revealing any details we did not already know. Instead, the show makes us sit through dozens of minutes of exposition in order to arrive at the same conclusion which was reached in a simple line of dialog in season 2. Effective? No, just boring, and redundant.

The other thing that "Razor" suffers from is being a one-dimensional story. The entire film is centered around the idea that Pegasus had to dehumanize themselves in order to save mankind. This is a fine idea, and it was already explored in season 2, but it is not substantial enough to devote an entire two hours of film to it.
One thing that makes the new series of Battlestar Galactica so successful is that it explores every aspect of its concept of the human race on the run. It is not concentrated on just the military element of the escape. Instead, the show also explores the maintenance crew's lives, politics, a traitor scientist, enemy Cylons, personal relationships, and more. Razor only focuses on the military aspect of the show, and because of this is not as "multi-layered" or interesting as the show it attempts to emulate.

If there's one thing you can say about Battlestar Galactica: Razor, I would say that it shows that portraying the entire backstory of a character is unnecessary. You don't need to visually communicate a whole character's history in order to reveal his or her qualities. Simple lines of dialog suffice just as well. Creating entire scenes to just reinforce one point about a character is a waste of the audience's time and attention span when there are much more efficient and quicker ways to relate the same idea to the audience.

Firefly

I like Firefly. It's a fun show. But not the best show.

What makes it so fun is its originality, or its skewing of cliches. The show takes what you expect in a certain situation, then flips it upside down in an entertaining way. It's original because it does things that you don't expect so that you don't know what's going to happen.

So what does Firefly do to be original?

First, it flips dialog upside down to break from cliches. It takes the standard dialog exchanges that we all know and loathe and turns them into an entertaining and unusual experience.

Case 1:
Mal and 'Jerk' are about to get into a bar fight because Jerk said something that Mal is not fond of. In a typical, cliched scenario Mal says, "Say that to my face," then Jerk repeats his comment by facing Mal, who then punches Jerk out of aggravation--boring. Here's what happens instead:

Mal: Say that to my face.
Jerk: I said, you're a coward and a piss-pot. Now what are ya gonna do about it?
Mal: Nothing. I just wanted you to face me so she could get behind you. Zoe hits him from behind

Yep. Fun.

Case 2:

Another example: Mal and his nemesis are in a fist battle, locked in an epic struggle of will power over a careening and deadly pit. Mal's friends come in to save him whereupon Zoe, Mal's first mate, intervenes and says that this is something Mal must finish for himself. The cliched outcome? Zoe and his friends let Mal almost die and then Mal defeats his enemy and calls it a good day. Here's what happens instead:

Zoë: Jayne, this is something the captain has to do for himself.
Mal: (Struggling) No! No it's not!
Zoë: Oh! (Zoe shoots the bad guy who was about to finish Mal off)

Wooee.

Case 3:
Last one: Mal is trying to comfort his accidental wife into being an independent person. Normally, this would constitute a bunch of positive, cliched talk about free will and happiness. Instead, here's what happens:

[Mal is alarmed about his new bride's expectations and attitudes.]

Mal: Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back! Wife or no, you are no one's property to be tossed aside. You got the right same as anyone to... live and try to kill people.

Mmmhmm.

There are two main ways the show treats its characters to reach these creative dialog exchanges.

The first method to get creative dialog is breaking from cliched characters by mixing them up from their orthodox roles. Instead of having the first mate of the ship be a cocky, young male, the first mate is a battle-hardened woman. Likewise, the mechanic of the ship is not a dirty old man who resembles a trucker, but an energetic and perky girl. Then you have the preacher who is not a stereotypical pacifist but instead adept with violence, weaponry, and the criminal way of life. The show thinks of the traditional way that the characters of 'captain', 'pilot', 'first mate', 'mechanic', and 'gunsmith' are portrayed, and then changes something about each character that makes them different from what is expected. This makes the situations the characters are put in much more fresh and interesting.

The second method the show uses to get creative dialog is by having deeply contrasting character traits. Jayne, the intellectually challenged gunsmith is contrasted with the smart and uptight doctor, Simon. Inara, the morally questionable "companion" is contrasted with the morally upright (and most times nameless) preacher. Kaylee, the young socialite is contrasted with the socially inept Simon. Inara, the polite and upper-class woman, is contrasted with the jovial and laid-back Kaylee. By having contrasting character traits, it creates some hilarious exchanges due to the differing backgrounds in terms of social status.

Case 4:
This exchange illustrates the intellectual gap between Simon and the rest of the crew (Simon is teaching the crew doctor jargon in order to pose as orderlies and infiltrate a hospital):

Mal: "Patients were cynical and not responding and we couldn't bring 'em back-"

Simon: "They were cyanotic and not responsive."

Simon: (to Jayne) "What about cortical electrodes?"

Jayne: "Oh..." (obviously doesn't know the answer) "We forgot 'em."

Mal: "Pupils were fixed and dilapidated-"

Simon: "Dialated-"

When you put contrasting characters in a situation that explores their differences, funny things can happen. It's the disagreements between the characters that create the hilarity. If all the characters were from the same background, social status, or moral-standpoint, they would all agree on everything and act the same. Instead, opposing views make each conversation a joy. Conflict is good, right?

--

So, Firefly is a pretty fun show. Fun, but not as gripping as LOST or Battletar Galactica, partly due to its lackadaisical attitude. After some episodes, it does become a bit cringe worthy to see this mishapful crew of nine to jovially engage in laughter after all their space journeys of danger. There's never as much tension or drama that you get when dealing with "The Others" or the Cylons. However, Firefly's great dialog and original ideas make it a sometimes more enjoyable show.

Worth watching?

Yes, definitely. You will have a fun time.

Lost Season 5 (REVIEW)

To me, LOST is a show that works because of one thing: mystery. It presents you with a series of unexplainable or mysterious phenomena, and then proceeds to give you a series of clues--or lack thereof--which allows viewers to postulate all sorts of crazy ideas and theories about what's going on. In my opinion, everything else comes as secondary to that. Sure, you have great characters who conflict with each other, and you have all sorts of plot strands and backstories, but what ultimately keeps me watching is the idea of explaining the unexplainable--of picking up these little strands and pieces of dialog and forming them into a hypothesis in my head. It is that experience that makes this show so satisfying.

So now we come to Season 5 of LOST--a season that is predominantly plot-focused. This isn't bad, perse, except it means that we're not focusing on the mystery and instead focusing on the narrative-vehicle in hopes of arriving at the destination the show wants to take us. Unfortunately, this means that the characters can take a backseat and ultimately become arbitrary plot devices to keep this story going. Jack can try to come up with any reason he wants to find this H-Bomb and blow up the island, but it all feels forced by the plot--the plot compels the characters to arrive at this loop because the new dichotomy of time-travel demands it. This means that we're not so much getting drama or story created by characters and their decisions--think back to Season 3, Jack saves Kate & Sawyer during Ben's surgery, or even Season 2, when the characters argue about interrogating Ben--instead, it means that the plot creates the characters, which makes it much less effective and believable. One thing that I think could have helped this situation was to add one or two more episodes in between the crucial plot decisions. Many of the episodes felt rushed without much time for the characters to contemplate their current predicament and forge their own motivations while being out of place in 1977. Instead we, as the audience, are rushed through these characters' decisions to a predefined conclusion.

However, season 5 does have its fair share of mysteries. The opening scene from the season finale is perhaps the best case in point. Ever since season 3, the show has taunted us with the idea of Jacob--who is he, what does he do, and what is his role in all of this? We are finally given a glimpse of this new character in a dialog that hints at the ever-expanding mythos of LOST, perhaps dating centuries back in time. The pieces of this dialog are just a plethora of clues for the viewers to deconstruct and then place in their own personal theories. It is the dialogs like these that make the show's mysteries what they are.

Lastly, I'm going to talk about the notion of receiving answers. As a viewer, I want to know more about the Dharma initiative, so what would be the best way for the show to give us that information? Through endless backstory flashbacks that contain no immediate suspense or tension or relevance to what's happening at the current time? Nope, so here comes the introduction of time travel to place our favorite group of stranded castaways in the midst of the great Dharma initiative to give the viewers the answers they long have waited for. As I've said before, this allows the show to give us exposition in the context of something else: the LOSTies' search for survival and reunion. With this added sense of tension and character placement, the viewers are given the exposition while at the same time caring for the characters in the context of the exposition. Jack, Hurley, and Kate could die at any moment--this couldn't happen in a flashback. Essentially, the time-travel plot-device, however illogical or nonsensical it may be, works extremely well to explain backstory.

But in the end, what do we really want from the show? More answers? Because as time drags on, I start to doubt if that's what I really want from this show. Do I really want to know how and why the smoke monster operates, where the whispering voices are coming from, and why dead people, stallions, and visions pop up all over the jungle? Sometimes, I, as a viewer, just want clues, and more clues to draw my own inferences to decide what's going on. I don't always need a concrete explanation, because when you have an explanation, you don't have a mystery, so why keep watching?

It reminds me of a magic trick. First, LOST has given us the pledge: the normal plane crash on the deserted tropical island. Next, it has given us the turn: hatches, polar bears, statue feet, mysterious Others, unexplainable phenomena. Finally it must give us the prestige: the truth, the answers to all these mysteries.
However, It's been five years however since the pledge. The Prestige seems to be coming, finally, but we'll have to wait for the final season to figure out if it was worth waiting for.

So, see you in nine months.

2 Things I Like About LOST: Season 5

After you can get over the initial facade of time travel and all the science fiction implications it carries with it, LOST has returned to its roots in season 5 to become a better show than it previously was. There are two things LOST does correctly for the most part that make it a much more interesting show this season than compared to last season.

The first thing that season 5 of LOST does correctly is reintroduce fresh, new ideas and concepts. Throughout the course of the first two seasons there are these crazy elements that make the show interesting, such as polar bears on tropical islands; mysterious, unknown groups who kidnap people from lists and take children; whispering voices in the woods; a radio signal repeating a series of numbers for the past so-many years; an underground hatch with a button that resets a timer every 108 minutes for an unknown reason; and so on. However, these new ideas and concepts decreased in growth up until season 4. Season 4 just took the established premise and used it as a war zone without introducing too many major ideas. They explained some of the older mysteries, but did not really expand the show into new territories.
However, Season 5 of LOST has finally took the show into fresh ground where they can do many more things that were previously not possible. By using time travel to jump into the island's history, the show engages the characters and audience in the backstory of the island without giving it to us through boring exposition with a foreknown resolution. By simply having the LOSTies in the midst of the action in the past, it makes the island's history much more interesting.
We also get two time-lines running parallel to each other, and the potential benefits of this concept haven't been fully explored yet. It puts the present-day LOSTies in a unique position by having to blend in with Dharma, or fabricate their identity as a "Hostile" in order to fit in. This concept also puts the other present-day 2008 LOSTies in a confused position as to what course to take next. The past season or two of LOST was becoming stagnant for treading the same ground over and over without making any new conceptual progress in terms of world elements (Jacob's cabin was one of the few new ones), but season 5 has finally introduced some new and interesting ideas that make the show entertaining again.

Continuing from that, season 5 of LOST also gives you little idea what's going to happen next. One main reason I did not like season 4 of LOST as much as the prior seasons was the unnecessary foresight of what was going to happen to all the characters. I understand that the flashbacks were becoming repetitive and useless, but the flashforwards destroyed an entire element of surprise by GIVING you the future outcome of the present situation. You weren't worried that certain characters were going to die--you saw them alive and well in the future. You weren't excited or tense when the helicopter barely made it off the island--you knew it was going to happen. Even though the flashforwards were necessary to give the show much needed life, they came with the unfortunate side-effect of being a suspense killer. During season 4, you almost felt like a passive viewer, because you were viewing a story while already knowing the ending.
However, in season 5, LOST has once again moved into a position where you have nearly NO idea what is going to happen next. That was one thing I loved about LOST during the first two seasons: you have all these interesting ideas, but you have no idea how they will be utilized and what the ultimate goal is for them (other than get off the island). In this season, you can finally sense that feeling again that you don't know what's going to happen next, and because of that you can be more engaged in the show.

As of right now, the time-travel concept is paying off for the show in its current state. However, it seems all too easy for the show to misuse this concept to fall in a convoluted plot mess. In the end, only time will tell.

Lost Season 5: Jumping off the Deep End

Lost has jumped off the deep end. It is approaching the shark. It is coming closer to being a bathos than ever before.

Lost has always been plagued by questions of a ridiculous and a ludicrous nature. You have dead people randomly cropping up and talking to other characters. You have black smoke monsters flying through the island and ripping people into the sky. You have countless unexplainable phenomena.

This worked fine. I didn't need a solid explanation. You actually want the show to explain in quantum physics why dead human bodies re-animate and then verbally soliloquize in the presence of other characters?

Up until now, the show either brushes these unexplainable events aside, or they hint to their explanation through subtle cues in dialog. You get little snippets of science-fiction, time travel, paradoxes, experiments, and quantum physics, but each is never put out in the open for the viewers to dwell upon as the core plot element of the show.

I liked this. It worked because you were allowed as the viewer to piece together your own conclusions on what was going on. And it didn't make all the explanations awkward by forcing the characters to converse about plot elements.

That is the difference with this season's opener. They fully acknowledge the ludicrous, the unexplainable, the ridiculous, the oh-my-gosh-what-is-going-on and throw it out in the open for all the show to dwell upon. This is a huge jump from keeping all the science-fiction, all the subtle plot elements on the side line. It's an understandable leap to steer the show towards a conclusion where all the loose ends are tied up, but this doesn't make it feel any better. The current setup feels so needlessly ambiguous towards its chartered course.

And finally, I am sicked and tired of "twists" that put previous characters in new roles. I know, it was cool to see Desmond as a random jogger who talked with Jack and then he was in the hatch, but in the big picture of things, who cares? Did Desmond knowing Jack beforehand have any real significance? No.

And now they've been doing this little "let's pull the LOST universe together even tighter from two degrees of separation to 1.5!" so that all your random characters continue to crop up in roles that jump from one side of the spectrum to the other. I don't CARE that some lady in some dream was the same lady who was in some other random place doing this thing that totally doesn't explain anything. That's not a twist--that's just a ridiculous character tie-in that makes this universe feel needlessly smaller and smaller.

LOST has always been hovering over the pool of science fiction, the super natural, and magic tricks. Only now has it finally taken the leap to jump in and approach the shark. Whether or not it succeeds in missing the shark or jumping over it, I don't know, but I'll continue to watch it.

To utterly misquote Alfred from the Dark Knight: "Things were always going to get corny before they got explained."
And Harvey Dent: "The mystery is always awkwardest before the explanation. And I assure you, the explanation is coming."
Random LOST Fan: No more dead characters!
Season 1 Viewer: Yea!
Theorist Fanatic: Things are more unexplainable than ever!
Harvey Dent: So be it. No more mysteries...
Harvey Dent: ...Explain them... with TIME-TRAVEL.

Battlestar Galactica (Season 3)

Season 3 Mini! Review¡

Battlestar Galactica is a show about an old man who was in Blade Runner who runs a ship with his son and crew and they have to run away from bad guy robots called Cylons and then at the end of season 2 they decide to settle on a planet instead of finding the long lost colony of Earth but things go haywire because the Cylons find them again and kind of enslave them in occupation but that doesn't make sense because earlier in the season they said they wanted to be peaceful friends with the humans so I don't know what's up with that.

Moving on in a more serious tone, Season 3 starts off with a booming (1 YEAR LATER) subtitle to it. This opens up all the multiple possibilities for character and plot development, new twists, etc. However, I could have done without the not-so-obvious-please-make-it-more-obvious political commentary for the first five or so episodes on New Caprica.

Battlestar Galactica is a character-driven show, as opposed to a more mystery driven-show such as LOST. This means that the character's personalities and motives drive the plot rather than an arbitrary mystery set up on a jungle island. This is all well and good in BSG, except when the character development starts to go in circles. At the beginning of the third season you have this new setup where EVERYTHING has changed from the previous seasons, but then they practically throw most of it away six episodes in and start going in circles with the character relationships so that they are back to season 1 all over again. I was all for the characters developing, changing their relationships, motives, dreams, outlooks on life, etc, but when the characters do it so much that they come full circle into where they were six months ago? I don't know. It seems slightly ridiculous, bordering on absurd.
Also, the characters get even more unbelievable when they forgive a fellow shipmate who stopped the end of the war by not letting the humans kill the Cylons once and for all. It was basically like, the humans were about to launch a nuke into the Cylon death star that would set off a chain-reaction to kill all the baddies in the whole show and end this crusade once and for all, but one little passenger sabotages the torpedo and makes it a dud and the Admiral forgives him and says, who cares we did not want mass genocide anyway, we prefer to fight to the death manly style instead and potentially lose this war because we are humane people.

Despite that, three seasons in, Battlestar Galactica is a show of a much higher quality than LOST and 24. It is consistently better instead of being a roller coaster of good and bad episodes. It actually has real substance and meaning to every episode instead of tantalizing you with the juicy steak of mystery then pulling it away from you until next season. It actually has a story arc instead of recycling the same screenplay every season with the same characters who haven't changed and are still falling susceptible to the same predictable plot twists over and over.

To rank Battlestar Galactica (S3), I wouldn't say it's better than the second season of LOST and it still never reaches the level achieved in the 3-Episode Story Arc "Pegasus" in BSG Season 2. BSG Season 3 doesn't quite top the other contenders in every aspect, all the time, but it is a consistently satisfying and well-made show, and one of the best on television.

BattleStar Galactica :: Season 3: 9.3/10.0

Lost - Season 4 - Finale

I think we've finally felt the backlash of getting the flashforwards handed to us.

The one thing that separated this season of lost from the previous seasons for me, was predictability. The flashforwards essentially have told us the end of the season before-hand, so we're just trying to figure out the "HOW" and not the "WHAT" of what is going to happen.
How would you feel if someone told you the ending of last season's superb finale, and then you just watched the episode to find out all the in-between details? That's what it basically felt like for this season's finale, and almost the whole season.

In essence, I thought this season's finale was the weakest of the four thus far. The way the transitions were made into the "future" flashforwards, seemed awkward at best, especially Locke telling Jack that he is going to "have to lie." Also, the way the show went back to the previous flashforwards of last year's finale didn't seem inventive to me; it seemed compulsive. It seemed like the writers had no idea where the show was going last year and needed to go back to these flashforwards to tie up the loose ends, and because they finally decided what the characters would say to each other instead of adlibbing it all.
The setup for next year's season seemed to make every character as dead-serious as ever, and the final twist of the episode wasn't even a twist, thanks to the three minute conversation build-up that practically said, "SO-AND-SO IS IN THE COFFIN LOL WE'RE ABOUT TO SHOW YOU HAHAHA."
And then I was like, 'great, now we can't be worried about that character's fate anymore.'

I really think the writers had the show like this:
Season #1) Season 1 story Arc Covered + Maybe Two + A little of Three
Season #2) Two + Three Arc covered
Season #3) Season Three + Four Covered - But NOT Five, or Six.
And then they got to season 4 and they finally, Finally, decided on which of the many remaining theories they could end the show on over the next two years, and finally set course on that heading.

As for where I think the show is headed next year?
Season #5: It will be the LOSTies trying to get back to the island (haha, a clever switch from season 1), and there will be flashbacks of what happened on the island up to the present day.
Season #6: The LOSTies, the Whidmores, the Others, and all other interested parties (because they're bound to multiply) will finally confront 'The Secret of Lost Island­™' and discover it was all a dream thanks to LeChuck.

LOST - Season 4 - Ep 11

This last episode of LOST pretty much embodies everything I currently loathe about the show.
1. I hate it when they create more flashbacks/forwards (as it doesn't matter when there's no plot progression) that don't build up character, but instead create melodramatic sequences about people we no longer care about. Even when the flashbacks/forwards create a nice little self-contained story they're still hard to like as they're chopping away time from the main plot.
2. What's the point of letting Jack have a life crisis when we know he gets off the island and is safe?
3. The main thing that I'm interested in is the mystery - Dharma - The Others - The Hatch - Scientific Experiments. When we have these "filler" episodes that supposedly do something other than progress the plot, all it does is make me wait for the next "real" episode where something actually happens. The only thing that happened in this episode is that Claire ran off chasing a hallucinatory vision of a lost family member. And seriously, that gimmick is getting annoying. It might've been cool the first couple times, but they've been using it over, and over, and over for 4 seasons now in the exact same manner with no explanation. And if making Claire run off into the jungle is supposed to be plot progression, then I am sad.

I probably liked LOST best back in season 2. It was the tale of the survivors, and Locke and Jack, in a mysterious hatch on a stranded island, where unknown forces would kidnap the children and certain people on lists, while also loving to play mind games with you; 4-8-15-16-23-42 would repeat on an endless signal that a Navy outpost man heard and went to a madhouse for, and that also happens to be the code for a button which the characters don't know if they should or should not push; and then crazy zany maps of dharma hatches appear on the wall when you put the hatch in lock down mode.
It was mysteriously suspenseful and every element of that mystery was just so intriguing and I loved it.

Now we have the story of characters splitting into so many sub-groups we can't count (The Good Others, the Bad Others, the Jack LOSTies, the Locke LOSTies, the Good Boat People, the Bad Boat People, the Whidmore People), all fighting for something, but we know the ultimate outcome thanks to these flashforwards.
Something feels missing.

Invading Your Dinner Time Television

LOST - Season 4 - Ep 09

I think I know why I haven't been liking LOST this season that much:
1) You basically know what's going to happen since the season opener, and you were waiting for this showdown the whole time. All the in-between episodes just felt like they were killing time and prolonging the real story progression towards the REAL showdown. (Yes, I'm aware LOST is infamous for killing time and prolonging one subplot four times the length it should be, but it seems oh so more evident this season since nothing much is happening.)
Now that this showdown is finally over, I want to watch where it's going from here, because I really have no idea.
2) The mystery element has been lessened over time so you basically have an overview idea of who is good, who is bad, and what they want. This makes the filler even more unbearable since you're not looking for as many clues.

But that being said, I think tonight's episode was the best of the season by far. By the end of the episode, it really puts the whole show in kind of an epic story arc that is finally being revealed. And, it actually backed up this guy's crazy theory I read last month which now seems totally true. I could link to it, but I won't.

Lost.Season.4.25

4 Episodes In = The Mid-Season of the 8 filmed episodes. After those 8, there will be a short break and then 5 more episodes of the originally planned 16, now cut down to 13, due to the Writers' Strike.

Reviews:
401 - Season Premiere: 8.0/10
402 - 4 New Characters: 8.6/10
403 - Sayid The Assassin: 9.0/10
404 - Kate In Kourt: 8.2/10

Impressions:
The flashfowards are superior to the flashbacks in two ways:
1) They advance the story. The flashbacks could never do this as they could only provide character background.
2) They add another layer of character development. The flashbacks can only shape the character up the the current version of that character on the island. The flashforwards can further define the characters after the crash again.

What happened to the remaining others who were going to some ruins? I have a feeling that the next or final season of LOST will be about the remaining LOSTies + the returning LOSTies (from the mainland) vs the OTHERs vs the people the RESCUERs are working for. And this will all take place in a showdown at some kind of ruins on the LOST island where the secret will finally, or not finally be revealed.

The next episode looks like it will be good, as Desmond and Sayid are about the only characters who have consistently had their head in the game and not side-tracked by emotional subplots.

Full Metal Alchemist (REVIEW)

Full Metal Alchemist (51 Episodes + Movie) (2003-2004)

I had some preconceived notions about going into this series, as far as the plot is concerned. The first two episodes introduced basically all of the show's trademarks, and the origin story for the two boys. Then I thought that these two kids were going to journey through this mystical world for a LONG time trying to find the Philospher's Stone, but not finding it, which I guess is safe to say that happened.

MOVING ON,

I liked the origin story for the two kids, and I wanted to see where that was going with their plans to become State Alchemists. But then the plot would consistently get side-tracked for bunches of episodes at a time. But then the show would bounce back up again with interesting episodes like the one where that little girl gets turned into a Camera. That was a good episode.

I really liked the ending (the last ten episodes), because they did all the things that I thought should have happened over the course of the series, but they only happened right when I was getting bored. Those episodes had character development, betrayal, multiple plot-lines going, an end-goal finally in sight, plot twists, and a building momentum until the final episode. It was also in those episodes that the characters finally questioned the use of alchemy in a philosophic manner, the same way that Trigun confronted it's central theme, but Trigun did it during the middle of the series--it didn't wait for the end like FMA did. Another thing that the last bunch of episodes did was question Ed and Al's motives for bringing back their bodies, which should have happened at the beginning really. And I always thought it was kind of weird how these two kids are so upbeat even though one lost his entire body and the other lost his arm and a leg, but I guess you can't stay sulky forever about something that happened four years ago.

Also, continuing the show is the movie, which is really four more episodes in disguise, but that's A-Okay, because the show ended on an interesting note, with new concepts that were dying to be explored, which the movie did quite well and finished it on a sad, but complete ending.

In summary, I like FMA as a premise, world, and the overall story-arc. However, some of the stand-alone episodes in the middle were getting really boring as the show seemed to keep dragging on. I know those episodes were necessary to introduce plot elements and characters that would all eventually come together for the ending (which I thought was kind of cool, how they brought back some of the minor characters), but they still felt boring. I really think that the show could be condensed into ten less episodes, by having multiple stories going on in the middle. I also think that would make it more interesting, as large portions of the show are centered around one, linear plot about Ed and Al, and seems to progress really, really slowly.

I haven't seen a lot of Anime, but here are my current rankings:
Cowboy Bebop: (9.4)
FL-CL: (9.2)
Trigun: (8.7)
Robotech: (8.5)
Full Metal Alchemist: [(8.3) - Average] - Last Ten Episodes: (9.1)

Full Metal Alchemisms

For Episodes 1-40
1. If Ed has a goal to get to "City X," he will get side-tracked for about four episodes fighting newly introduced bad guys while subtly introducing vague plot elements.
2. If another character starts talking about the past for one second, prepare to be thrown into a flashback for about 2-8 minutes.
3. Most, if not all flashbacks are set in a heavy down pour of rain.
4. Ed basically has two moods: Vengefully Angry (75%), or light-heartedly comical (15%), and trace amounts of ten other moods.
5. Before explaining the previous villains, more villains are introduced without any background.

6. Characters will shout out the names of others as they enter the room like they never expected them to appear within 95 light years of their current location.

Example:

Alfonso: Winrey!

Ed: Teacher!

Alfonso: Brother!
Ed: Colonel!

Colonel: Furher!

Winrey: Ed!

And that constitutes about 20% of the dialog in an episode.
7. When the strong arm alchemist appears, there is a 33% chance that he will preform a feat handed down through his bloodline.
8. When Colonel Happy Father appears, there is a 45% chance that he will show a picture of his daughter to someone.
9. There is 42% chance of there being at least one, "ED IS SHORT LOL" joke in an episode.

LOST.Season 4.Episode.1.

SPOOOIIILIERSSSAWIODJAWODJOIAWdjoiawd

It's finally back.

Honestly, it was what I expected--nothing more, nothing less.

More flashforwards, more mysteries, more nonsense, but since I don't have the curiosity-aura on me right now, I cared less than I have in the past.I wasn't looking forward so much to the season opener as I was to the whole season, because I wanted to be shocked by some new revelations, but I knew that wasn't going to happen in the first episode.
The first episode refreshes the viewer on what happened, then sets in motion the events that will take place over the rest of the season.
- Locke splits up the LOSTies into the two categories--(The Locke group: don't trust the rescuers, and the Jack group: let's get rescued!)
- There are a total of six survivors from Oceanic Flight 815 brought back to land (another concept ripped from Battlestar Galactica, of the 12 cylon models), three of them currently identified, and they must lie about what happened on the island because Dharma is watching them?
- The rescuers aren't who they said they were! SURPRISE!
Anyway, I expected most of that to happen, and it did, so there were no real twists in the season opener like Season 2, or even the sucky twist in Season 3.

Score? 8/10

Battle of the TV Shows!

I am going to attempt to rate all the television shows I have seen.

24
Season 1 (9.0/10.0) - 24 is interesting!
Season 2 (9.3/10.0) - 24 gets predictable, but still is good!
Season 3 (6.7/10.0) - 24 is ultra-predictable, has terrible plot twists, and is a terrible show!
Season 4 (7.4/10.0) - 24 starts off good, but ends up in the endless 24 plot cycle!
Season 5 (8.0/10.0) - 24 has some good plot twists, but this show is too predictable!
Season 6 (7.5/10.0) - Probably the best starting of a season, but gets really boring again in the plot cycle!

LOST
Season 1 (n/a) - I didn't watch it!
Season 2 (9.4/10.0) - The pinnacle of mystery and suspense, but ruined by constant filler and unnecessary flashbacks!
Season 3 (9.3/10.0) - Perhaps containing the most awesome season finale ever conceived, also ruined by illogical scenarios which are never explained, and unnecessary flashbacks!

Battlestar Galactica
Season 1 (8.6/10.0) - A pretty good show!
Season 2 (9.2/10.0) - An excellent show!

PRISONBREAK (from watching about 1/3 of the episodes)
Season 1 (8.5/10.0) - An interesting premise!
Season 2 (8.0/10.0) - The show keeps going after they escape! What nonsense is this?!
Season 3 (7.5/10.0) - They're back in another prison with the same characters and have to escape again! I'm sure there's a very formidable reason, but I don't watch the show so it seems ridiculous to me!

So, Battlestar Galactica is the best show, but LOST is more enjoyable due to the mystery element; 24 gets really boring after watching 2 seasons and then falling into predictable cycles; Prisonbreak just manages to keep going after the plot expired and its due date tasted nasty.

p.s. Sorry for using so many exclamation marks. I've been reading too many dinosaur comics.

Battlestar Galactica (SEASON 2)

Battlestar Galactica (Season 2)

Season 2 is definitely an improvement over season 1, taking all that season 1 has established, and pushing each concept to the fullest extent. Every idea that could be milked for potential as 45,000 humans escape from an impending cylon fleet has been exploited to the fullest and best extent. The show continues from the season finale of last year and builds up momentum until the midpoint of the season where a three-episode story arc explodes into some of the best television I have seen in recent memory.

After that the show calms down a little into some episodes that almost seem like filler, but rises up again for the somewhat shocking season finale.

The show also contains tons of commentary, from political, governmental, freedom, military, racism, etc.

After watching 2 seaons of Battlestar Galactica, it seems like LOST has been copying them every step of the way.
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
- An enemy that can infiltrate your ranks and look exactly like you: the Others, Cylons.
- One of those enemies becomes a friendly and gets persecuted coming back to the good side: that one lady on LOST, and that one cylon on BSG.
- Both shows have used flashbacks.
- For a shocking season finale, the whole show flashforwards. (season 2 BSG, season 3 LOST)
- There are more but I can't remember them.

Anyway...

Battlestar Galactica (Season 2): 9.2/10.0

Battlestar Galactica (Season 1) [Part 2/2]

1x07 Six Degrees of Seperation (41 Minutes)
Dr. Gaius continues to go crazy while the cylon's motives in these two sub-plots grow increasingly cryptic.
Score: 8.8/10.0

1x08 Flesh and Bone (41 Minutes)

Dr. Gaius has finally turned completely to the dark side (or so it seems) and interrogation scenes resembling LOST occur! (But I did like the LOST interrogation scenes better) More character progression as humans empathize with cylons, and cylons empathize with humans!

Score: 8.6/10.0

1x09 Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (41 Minutes)
Dr. Gaius (or should I say Baltar?) continues to be a moron and this drama turns into a comedy! But it's funny, and not like a sitcom. More like an episode of Lucy--which is kind of a sitcom. Also, the cylons are getting feelings and jealous of human imperfections! Whee!
Score: 8.6/10.0

1x10 The Hand of God (41 Minutes)
In an allusion to the "water" episode, the Galactica and its followers are low on fuel and find the fuel in an asteroid, except it's guarded by a Cylon base. What follows is a pretty epic attack plan reminiscent of the Death Star and the trench run by Luke. All in all, a good episode, except Gaius is still a moron.
Score: 8.9/10.0

1x11 Colonial Day (41 Minutes)
Politics, political statements, assassinations--I almost thought I was watching 24. It seems as though the show has finally got into gear as the season finale is coming up next.
Score: 8.7/10.0

1x12 Kobols Last Gleaming - Season Finale (82 Minutes)
Starbuck hunts for an ancient arrow on Caprica, the president is arrested, the Cylon ship is destroyed, and some dudes are shipwrecked on Kobol. I had already seen this episode before (the last 20 minutes at least) so I'm more interested into seeing what happens next, as basically I had an idea of the whole story-arc of season 1 in my head before I watched any of these.
Score: n/a

Overall, Battlestar Galactica season 1 is a high-caliber show, with excellent characters, an interesting premise, good production values, tight writing, and no major flaws. The only negative aspect I can think of is the major story arc did not really play into the first season, but it appears to be kicking by the season finale.

Battlestar Galactica (Season 1) [Part 1/2]

Battlestar Galactica - Think Wing Commander, mixed with Freelancer, mixed with Ender's Game, mixed with LOST.

1x00 - The Pilot (180 minutes)
The introductory episode serves just as that: an introduction. We are introduced to the race of the Cylons, who were created as slaves by the humans, and the long standing silence of no contact between the two races for 40 years. The contact is finally remade in the form of a surprise attack by the Cylons and eventually the only remaining human ship left is the Battlestar Galactica. The story is somewhat predictable, seeing as this is a remake and you know everything that will happen. However, the premise is quite interesting as the Galactica is being retired and the characters interact with each other. BSG also does not fall into the unruly Sci-Fi technique of "explaining things in odd manners for the viewer." It's not a bad start but not too interesting.
Score: 7.4/10.0

1x01 - 33 (41 minutes)
After announcing their goal of escaping to Earth in the first episode, the Galactica sets off on a lightspeed journey, but their progress is hampered by a Cylon fleet tracking them, rejumping to each system the humans jump to in exactly 33 minutes. This creates for a very interesting show premise (exactly like the 108 timer in LOST). The episode is highly interesting and very entertaining. It is a great kick start to showcase humanity's struggle for survival and the efforts of the enemy Cylons to track and deceive the humans.
Score: 8.9/10.0

1x02 - Water (41 minutes)
Continuing through space, the Battlestar Galactica is sabotaged, forcing the ship to look for a new water supply. Meanwhile, the implications of a Cylon on board the ship grow stronger, and the relationship between the maintenance crew, the pilots, the commanders, the civilians, and the scientists is explored more.
Score: 8.0/10.0


1x03 - Bastille Day (41 minutes)
Upon discovering water, the humans still need to undertake the monstrous task of extracting it in the ice of the planet, during 180 degree below zero temperatures. To do this, some of the crew is sent to ask the prisoners on a prison ship if they want to volunteer to take this task. Instead, the prisoners take over the ship in a "revolution" attempt to reorganize the government. The episode is not bad, but not overly exciting. I also sense more political commentary coming from this show.
Score: 8.2/10.0


1x04 - Act of Contrition (41 minutes)

Character development! Flashbacks! Flash forwards! Exciting new story prospects! That's the whole episode. So, it's basically Starbuck has character problems and must develop them while training new pilots for the fleet. A good character-development episode.

Score: 8.4/10.0


1x05 - You Can't Go Home Again (41 minutes)

Continuation of the previous episode - basically the same content except progressed and developed to a further extent. Starbuck is marooned on a planet and gets off while the fleet searches for her. I wish the show would announce a goal, instead of just saying that the Galactica keeps jumping from system to system doing nonsense.

Score 8.5/10.0

1x06 - Litmus (41 minutes)
Following the aftermath of another Cylon boarding the Galactica and sabotaging it, an independent bureau is set up to investigate the possibility of another cylon being on board. The news of the cylons finally being human is revealed to the crew, and witch hunts are started. I sense strong political commentary.
I don't know if this episode was better than the previous few, but I certainly enjoyed it more for some reason. Perhaps it was the propelling contrasts and battles between the characters that fueled the episode.
Score 8.7/10.0

To BE CONTINUED!

Elements of a Story

The following is a list of elements that I have found to be intriguing in different media, from books, to movies, to television shows. I think they are all useful to take into account when creating your own story.


1. Sympathizable Characters
One of the reasons you want the good guys to win is become you sympathize with them. You want the reader to understand, like, and root for the main character, otherwise the reader will not care for this character on his journey or what's happening to him.
In Ender's Game: You sympathize with Ender as he's despised as a "Third" child, beat up at school, taken away from his family, put in a strange and hostile environment, and has no friends to help him. When he finally turns the tide, you're rooting for him the whole time.


2. Mystery Element
I find this as an effective means of getting the reader to continue into the story. You want to draw the reader in by leaving certain questions unanswered that will make them speculate about what's really going on.
In LOST: The best example to illustrate a "mystery element" would be in LOST. You are presented with so many questions, and that gives the viewer greater incentive to keep watching. What does the hatch do? Who are the others? What was the Dharma Initiative? What do the others want?


3. New Concepts
One of the interesting aspects about fantasy or Sci-Fi stories is the ability to create new worlds with different rules than our own. New concepts are always interesting to the reader and gets them thinking about the prospects and origins of those concepts.
In MINORITY REPORT: The viewer is introduced to the concept of preventing murder before it happens by seeing the future. The viewer is thus interested to keep watching to fully understand this concept.
In MEMENTO: The concept of a man with no short-term memory pays off well in the movie and keeps the viewer interested.

4. Character Conflicts and Development
It suddenly dawned on me that characters do not have to be inveterately good or evil. Characters can have a wide range of motives, emotions, and desires, and these things can propel the story.
In Ender's Game: In the battle school, there are many characters each with their own motive and side, fighting each other for different reasons. Over time, some characters who were considered enemies become friends, and some friends may become enemies.
In Lord of the Flies: The story in Lord of the Flies would not exist without the conflicts between the characters. All the characters start out as somewhat good. As tension grows and arguments develop, these characters fight each other in various ways until the story progress and the final battle is waged.

5. Inherent Danger
The concept of suspense keeps the viewer interested for the protagonist's safety. Many movies and books use the concept of "Inherent Danger" to always have the protagonist watching his back. This means that throughout some part of the story, someone or something is coming after the protagonist trying to stop him.
In THE MATRIX: With the concept of the Agents, Neo must always watch his back every time he enters the Matrix. Suspense is achieved here.
In 1984: By introducing the reader to the concept of the Thought Police and what happens to Criminals, the viewer is constantly in worry for Winston Smith as he embarks down his road of rebellion.

6. Things Go Wrong
If everything in a story went exactly as planned, that would probably be a boring story. Unexpected things have to change the course of events to spark interest and set a new course for the story.
In THE MATRIX: If Neo's visit to the Oracle was uneventful, and then Morpheus said we must attack the Agents just to strike a moral blow, and then they did that, and then the movie ended; that would be a boring movie.
Instead, Morpheus gets kidnapped on the visit and the characters have to adapt to the situation. The viewer is interested.
In STAR WARS: If Alderaan was never destroyed and Luke went there to give the plans for the Death Star, and then they blew it up, that would be a boring movie. Instead, you know what happened.

7. Double-Goal
Sort of a tie-in with "Things Go Wrong," is the double-goal. Nearly all the major movies released today have a Double-Goal story. The original goal set upon at the beginning of the story is never the final goal. The goal always changes sometime during the course of events to a SECOND goal.
In MINORITY REPORT: John Anderton's original goal is to get his Minority Report and prove his innocence. Then, his second goal is to expose the chief and the corruption in Pre-Crime.

8. Twists
Plot twists aren't necessary for a story, they just pay-off the reader and are a great addition to changing the reader's perspective. Twists don't necessarily have to be "Goal-Changing." There can be small twists, medium twists, or HUGE twists.
In KOTOR: By revealing your true identity as REVAN the player is given a new outlook on what has happened and what he must do to continue.

© 2007 TheJBurger

LOST - Season 3 Finale

There are two ways to view LOST:

"Man, this show is so crazy. So much new stuff is happening and there are twists around every corner. So much unexplainable stuff happens that gives you another mystery to solve. This show is awesome."

or...

"Man, this show is so ridiculous. They never stick to one storyline or answer any questions. All this unexplainable stuff keeps happening and the characters are incosistent. This show sucks."

I'm part of one group.

Goodbye LOST. See you in 8 months.


3 Seasons of LOST summed up in 30 seconds