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UPDATED WITH WINNER!! BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!! Herc’s Monday Giveaway!!
This contest is over! Provisional congrats to @TheNickLyons!!
I am – Hercules!!
In celebration of my first decade manning Ain’t It Cool’s TV desk, we are giving away TV box sets like they are going out of style!
All you have to do is:
1) “Follow” me on Twitter.
2) Monitor my Twitter account between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Pacific Time Monday, July 5. At some point during this window I will post a question on that Twitter account. One of the first readers to correctly answer this question via Twitter will win Battlestar Galactica: The Complete First Season (which includes the miniseries), Battlestar Galactica: Season Two Volume One, Battlestar Galactica: Season Two Volume Two, and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on DVD.
IMPORTANT!! The question will begin with “BSGQ.”
IMPORTANT!! Your Twittered answer MUST begin with @hercAICN. Don’t screw this up!
IMPORTANT!! This contest is available only to residents of the United States.
IMPORTANT!! If Herc provisionally declares you a winner, immediately forward your shipping address and phone number to herculesAICN@yahoo.com. If you fail to do so within 24 hours, Herc will assign the prize to another.
Even if you’re a giant loser today, look for more supercool prizing in the coming days and weeks!
This post will be updated after the winner wins.
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Jul 04, 2010 4:16:42 PM CDT
The smell of their own fart.
by ooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuutttttlllllaaaaa
In the beginning, there was BSG. And now... nothing but Caprica... it's sad to see what they've done to the show. I think they began enjoying the smell of their own fart.
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Please make some sort of "Save Party Down" post. Thank you.
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Least BSG telegraphed there theistic notions from "33".
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Now they're both over I can say that BSG is very much better than LOST. The LOST finale was like 2 hours of Starbuck disappearing
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Jul 04, 2010 5:05:15 PM CDT
It's always interesting to hear the LOST v. BSG argument
by billypilgrimisunstuck
It always makes people sound like idiots.
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Stop with the attention-whoring twittering giveaways!!!
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...less than a hundred thousand people watched the last episode of Party Down. Now I think that might be because Starz tossed it up On Demand a week before it aired, but even so not many folks were watching. And really, with two cast members taking off before next season (and it was going to be three before Caplan got jobbed) it might be for the best. Loved the show, though. And the second season finale worked awfully well for a series finale as well.
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"Where we're going, we don't need....roads."
Damn it, I don't have a Blu-Ray player. If I did, I would buy Back to the Future trilogy. -
to be both a person of Faith and of Science. The unreasonable fanatics on both sides often give the opposite impression, unfortunately.
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Poor taste, not good taste. I personally can go either way on the whole "faith vs. science" debate in a story. Problem was, in both cases, "BSG" and "Lost," the writers of these show forgot basic concepts of good storytelling.Both remind me of fucking "Fanboys" - you're just expected to go along with whatever shit the writers threw up there as long as it implied some beats from good plots.The endings of BOTH those shows were fucking horrible. I happened across some late night ABC repeat of "Lost" (Season Six) recently and couldn't even force myself to watch it. Haven't touched any of the prior season DVDs either since "Lost" ended. Every time I look at 'em on the shelf, I just shake my head in disgust. For real.I really thought both shows were exemplary and then both ended up choking me on an enormous donkey turd sandwich in the end.Sofa king disappointed.
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Literally everyone I know watched Party Down on Netflix streaming. I agree that the show would end well with that final episode but, fuck it, I want more! I am unconcerned with the loss of Hansen, Caplan, and Scott because I feel the show could easily replace the characters and still have the same charm. Paul Rudd could hop in there no problem.
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And doom ourselves, our children, and our entire culture to a long, painful, pointless death. PS:'God did it. They're Angels'.
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Yeah, but your favorite show is Burn Notice. one the most worthless piles of crap on cable.
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people still buy dvd's?
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Because is was on fucking STARZ. God bless the internet so we can watch stuff like that without subscriptions to D-list cable networks
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Get with the fucking program and quit whore counting with this bullshit. You're embarrassing yourself AND us in the process.
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How about....... no.
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Because otherwise, I've still no interest in rewatching BSG.
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When watching BSG final I prefer to press stop on the DVD player just before they go to the future (our present day). For me ending with Adama looking across the plains or focusing on Hera walking and being happy with her family is the perfect closing shot.
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cue 10,000 Adama meltdowns
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Use it like a douche and you're a douche. Use it to keep up with things that matter to you and it's just another source of information that YOU find important. Use it to keep up with what Justin Boobler is eating for breakfast and you're a douche. Get it straight and keep up. All these sites are NOT the same and each one can be used for bullshit or to serve a purpose. If you can't figure it out, don't use it. And if none of this makes sense, you're a fucking idiot. Just quit whining about it.
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The people who use it are tools.
AND Gotlik, you wonky little internet Nazi, you can call me/people like me a fucking idiot as much as you like. I am one. I gladly admit it.
But I don't use twitter. Because I'm not a girl. So I've got one thing going for me. -
It was the combination of you having a slightly odd name & talking like a German.
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In the Dr. Who Movie!!!???
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The Moff said himself that it was all bullshit
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So, is posting the question on this site and replying by e-mail too old fashioned for you? Or are you just trying to drum up attention to your twitter to gain followers? Keep your box sets man.
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I'm missing the gene that gives a shit. That's my failing.
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that's exactly what I do with Return of the King sometimes. I just end it when Aragorn goes "My friends, you bow to noone" and then the main theme kicks in when they all bow to the hobbits. Anyways I really liked BSG a lot more than Lost. BSG had it's shitty moments, but never an entire season's worth. Lost..."lost" my interest sporadically from seasons 2-5.
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Michael Giacchino is good, but he fell asleep at the wheel through most of Lost. Bear McCreary's score for BSG is a fucking God-send though. So many good songs.
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awesome as Blood on the Scales, or Exodus part 2, or Pegasus (still my favourite). BSG could do a "characters first, mystery second" finale because the characters drove the plot for most of the run. Like or dislike the final season, they gave you most of the answers. No one really cared why Boomer was no8 when there was only 7 skinjob cylons, but they answered it anyway! For my money BSG walked the line between plot and character much better than LOST. Yeah I know the tomb of Athena makes no sense when you look at how the 'earth' plotline resolved, but I'm willing to overlook that. Starbuck? Well you either like it or not. On the other hand, did I care about the "help me" voice in Jacob's Cabin, or what the deal was with Walt? Er yeah! And how did they resolve them?!
People over-simplfy the BSG ending by saying "God Did it" but if you say "Lets all hug in purgatory" about the LOST finale, there's no simplification there...THATS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!
And the music on BSG was loads better -
And while the BSG finale just barely managed to stick the landing, at least its final season and resolution stayed true to the overall premise established at the outset (the ruining of Starbuck's arc aside).And I agree that BSG's music is more rewarding and less emotionally manipulative than LOST's redundant piano motifs.
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Both Lost and BSG crashed and burned, horribly.BSG was at least honest with it's very shitty ending.Lost's "sunken island" was a cynical lie with complete contempt for it's viewers.
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not actual trivia, more like "read herc's mind and come up with stupid puns"
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That happens now & then, but I never know why. Is it a postage cost thing?
I would have liked to enter this. It just seems a bit weird to have a website that anyone in the world can see, but restrict them from entering. -
Sure it did. Heh.
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I mean that sarcastically.
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I still don't get the contempt some of you guys have for BSGs ending. I thought it was amazing.
BSG always had religious themes tied to its core from S1. If that offends you, too bad. The finale was true to its central theme all the way back to the pilot. In-Head Six was explained, Starbuck was explained, the humans found Earth, the Opera House was explained, the Final Five were explained, the interest in Hera was explained --- heck, everything was dealt with by the time the curtain closed.
Oh, wait, Ron Moore mentioned God in his ending and some people in the audience might be atheists. Someone call the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahbulance!!!! -
It's complete abandoning of its otherwise brilliant characters. Everybody got fucked. What was once Battlestar Galactica became The Cylon Show, starring Helen and Cavil.You stupid "Godies" are a big part of the problem.
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huh? I'm not trying to bash you or anything but I don't really understand what you mean by BSG "abandoning" its characters.
At least I thought Dr. Baltar, Adama, Apollo, Boomer, Saul Tigh, etc. were all true to themselves to the end. Just my .02 anyhow. I just really can't even think of anything I would have wanted done differently. -
Personally, I don't have a problem with God being a central, if unseen, player in the BSG universe. To me, flying through space is pretty cool in and of itself. Science, and the subject of its study, the Universe, gives me a sense of the numinous. Throw in the Divine Will, and the picture is more complete. It didn't bother me.
Of course, that's not for everybody. But God pops up elsewhere, apparently with little complaint. I don't recall anyone complaining when Illuvatar Stop-Lossed Gandalf back into service after his fight with the Balrog (although for Gandalf, it probably wasn't compulsory).
I can't disagree with those who have a problem with everybody suddenly giving up technology, as that was rather abrupt, and unlikely. But if Mr. Moore had thought about it further, he might have hit upon a solution: the survivors could have split up into two groups: the back-to-nature types, led by Apollo, with the Agathon family with them, could have stayed in Africa to give what they could to the locals. Hera, of course, would go on be Mitachondrial Eve, as "the first of God's new generation".
The other group could a have resettled elsewhere, say near Mt. Toba, in Sumatra, perhaps to tap into the geothermal energy of the area. This civilization could have gone on for sometime, only to fail for some reason (disease, human nature, etc, take your pick). All traces of this failed society would have been obliterated, or buried, 75,000 years later in the Toba super eruption.
As for the fleet, those ships that could not be grounded, and used, could have been sent into the sun, or dealt with in some other manner, to prevent their orbit decaying and potentially becoming a hazard.
So, BSG was not perfect, but I think that its pretty damn good.
"Stupid Godie", signing off. -
But they forgot about it or they didn't want to delve into it until they needed to explain it away.Anyhoo, in No Exit, Anders explains that the technology was passed to man from the Gods. In theme with that, the cycle of violence, aka "All this has happened before..etc", is the first line in the scrolls or scripts or what they called them. I've always assumed from the ending that abandoning the tech was thematically their way of tying up the "All this has happened before" element of the show.And that's what I like about BSG: you can make hypothesis'(hypehtosi?) based on what was presented to fill in gaps that were left. Unlike Lost, which always presented it's mysteries, one on top of the other, and kept beating them into you like they had specific answers when in reality they had fuck all, panicked, and cobbled together a season-contained storyline with a vomit inducing attempt at a sentimental character ending tacked on to give they show which for whatever reason they felt was closure.
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The ending of Lost was so bad that I have mini-strokes writing about it...It should read "...attempt at a character ending tacked on to give the show that, for whatever reason, they felt was acceptable closure."
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Yeah your tacked on correction made less sense so your views can be ignored. Also, the BSG finale was fucking great. And so was the Lost ending. As far as Lost's mysteries go, the show itself never presented them as the most engaging or important aspect. It was the network and the marketers that did that, because unless it's on AMC nobody wants to watch character driven shows when they get home from work. There were no absolutely mindburning unanswered questions. If a question went unanswered it was unimportant in the grand scheme. Oh yeah, back to BSG. The only thing I didn't like about the finale was that ridiculous dancing robots bullshit at the very end. No good.
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LOST made zero sense.
What the *beep* was the point of Claire being Jack's sister, and Aaron being Jack's nephew? And why were children so important to Jacob? Why was there a Tarawet statue, which was the symbol of fertility? What was the point of Richard going to mainland to hire Juliet to work as a baby doctor? What was the point of Sun giving birth on the island? What was Widmore's endgame and what were his rules with Ben? Why was Demond special? Why even do timetravel and if the sideways universe wasn't real? And WHY WAS THE ISLAND SUNK IN THE S6 PREMIERE? -
First off, all of those questions are answerable by putting together the bits and pieces we got over the years. Second, how in holy fucking hell are any of those questions 100% absolutely integral to the story? Answer: they're not. The show was never actually about the conflict between Faith and Science, that was all just a backdrop. I could say how sorry I am that you completely misunderstood the show's Modus Operandi but you sound like you wouldn't know what that means.
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Jul 06, 2010 5:12:09 PM CDT
lol... the "you just don't get it" argument.
by ooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuutttttlllllaaaaa
The Lost season finale retroactively made the last 3 seasons unwatchable. But you sound like you wouldn't know what that means. haha.
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oh really? Cuz if they wanted to make a show about characters who all simply react to plot points then why do it on a MAGICAL ISLAND? Did people really tune in every week to see Jack's daddy issues?
Jacob's cabin, Walt, time travel, Widmore, the rules, all of it was just made up on the fly to be mysterious. To then say, "none of that was important" is a giant middle finger to the fans. As Ashok says, we were lead to believe the fact all the losties pasts were intertwined would have some major significance. Did it? Why was Lockes dad the real Saywer? Why were Jack and Claire related? Oh, er *because*. Something to do with candidates. Bullshit. Fucking hell its like 3 months on and LOST still does my head in. As for the flash-sideways? I have no words for how stupid that plotline is. LOST traded on people giving it the benefit of the doubt for 5 years, in the end it was just a really really long con.
Aaaah. And relax. Memo to self: stop ranting about LOST on the internet. -
I just finished watching the last season of BSG and the ending SUCKED!
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...how so few of you think before typing. There's a difference between understanding LOST's themes and recognizing its style in exploring them. The show's thematic content was pretty self explanatory and admittedly didn't connect for some people. That's totally fine, I won't begrudge you all your opinions. However, the M.O. of the show was to tease out a mystery and then reveal absolutely nothing. Something they did over and over and over again throughout the course of six years. If you kept watching because you thought Darlton owed you any answers, or that any of the answers were "important" then that is a very obvious misunderstanding of how the show worked on one of its most basic levels. It doesn't get any more cut-and-dry than that. But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. The rest of us are glad there are those that got suckered in by the neat genre trappings thus enabling Darlton to make a truly amazing show for the rest of us to actually enjoy. Oh, also, I must point out once again that all of the LOST questions brought up here are ones that are either a) 100% answerable or inferable from what we've already seen on the show, or b) just not important. Why was Claire Jack's sister? Because his dad fucked her mom. OMG, now that we know that it changes everything!
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If you read Darlton interviews they wanted a Prisoner/Twin Peaks method for the series where things were left ambiguous and unexplained.
the Prisoner finale is extremely frustrating since it introduces new characters, settings, and ideas(was it all a dream), without explaining any of them. It started out as a cloak and dagger show / individual vs. society, but ends up being about perception vs. reality (is he (every man) truly a prisoner, or does he only think himself as one ) , the last few episodes are completely intentionally surreal, thowing viewers for a loop.
Lost starts out being about the passengers of an airplane and an island, but ends up being about questions and answers, their final summation being that not just "questions lead to more questions", but that the only question that matters to these characters and ourselves ("we all die"), is does anything happen to us after we die? ("let's go find out"). I know going for a broad point about q and a, instead of answering specific questions may be a cop-out, but how many shows on network TV have ever tried making a broad point like this. -
How much you just don't get. *sad face*
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Paulloch gets it. Shitty-Ridley-Scott-Movie-Reference-Man doesn't.
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Even though they had to stuff years of unresolved issues into a small window. BSG did it better and there was really some kind of reverence for the charactors in the BSG ending.
Chief Teril going off alone to the "highlands" which we could guess be Europe. He had enough of man and machine and wanted to live in peace.
Adama at the grave of Roslin's grave......I cried. -
The characters on LOST are not fascinating. They are not multi-layered either. Most of them are barely there archetypes with parent issues. In terms of development the characters on FF changed more in the course of one season than many of the losties. The reason people cite the connections between the characters (Jack/Claire, Saywer/Locke, Jack's ex-wife/Shannon, Sayid/Kelvin, etc) is because they were implied to have to some greater significance when actually...all just a coincidence. How come Desmond and Jack bumped into eachother years before arriving on the Island? Cuz it gives us a cool cliffhanger. Locke's destiny? Doesn't have one. The "war that is coming"? Never came. "You're not supposed to raise him"? No idea. I could list stuff like this for ages. The fact they all end up on some Island together and keep talking about fate and destiny makes us think that there is some greater storyline going on, when in fact it was just a soap opera set on a magic island.
LOST is a story without an ending. Its a load of weird stuff thrown at the screen for 5 admittedly entertaining years followed up with 1 year of wriggling out of all the plots they set in motion. I *get* the ending, I just don't find its message particularly satisfying or that original. In effect they just abandoned all their story for some pat quasi-religious ending that really makes very little sense. As Ashok says, why is the Island sunk? Its only there to mislead the viewer.
And you said "There were no absolutely mindburning unanswered questions". Well, I disagree. Both LOST and BSG introduce their main villain late in the game (Cavil and Jacob/MIB) but on BSG they at least attempt to make it all fit together with what came before. On LOST, they barely even try to make Jacob's s5/s6 story tie in with the previous seasons. Who was in the cabin? Why was he invisible to Ben? If Richard knew the whole time that Jacob was under the statue, then why did he continue to let Ben go and see *whoever it was* in the cabin? Why did that person say "help me" to Locke? If it was MIB in the cabin, and he was trapped by the ash circle, then how come Smokie was wandering around the Island? If you want your story to make sense, your villian needs to make sense and NOTHING about the cabin/Jacob/MIB/Donkey Wheel story makes any sense at all. Maybe you can overlook all that but I don't see how and I don't see how any of those questions can be explained by what we were given in the final season.
Memo to self: Really really must stop ranting about Lost on the internet -
qft, I couldn't have said it better myself. And for the record, I still like LOST and BSG and am glad I watched both. But BSG (for me) had great payoff and LOST didn't.
Walt and Aaron didn't do anything.
Adama found Earth. -
I used to like LOST but now I just can't bring myself to ever watch it again and the DVDs are getting sold. BSG I think is pretty awesome and aside from a drop off in quality in the latter half of season 3, the whole thing fits together quite well.
The Plan was absolutely awful though. -
I really didn't want to have to spell this shit out for you guys but you demanded it. The characters had connections to each other because *gasp* people have connections to other people in real life. I mean it's not like I've never run into someone I'd never met before that knew some of the same people I know. Oh wait, I have. Oh, and no married man has ever fathered illegitimate children on the other side of the world. Oh wait. Surprising and totally implausible, right? And John absolutely had a destiny. He was destined to become MiB's patsy. Shitty destiny but there you have it. The cabin used to be Jacob's, confirmed by Illana and co. when they find it. Obviously only one other person on the Island can make use of a paranormal moving cabin. The ash circle was broken so Smokey was not trapped or prevented from being there. He was invisible to Ben because he didn't need Ben, he needed John. Boom. Answered. Definitively. And all with info we got from seasons 1 through 5. Those all fall under the 100% answerable category. Widmore's endgame, and the "war" (a line spoken by Widmore so not exactly trustworthy) fall under the not important category. Especially since the war was his plan and he was a minor character at best and after all he had abandoned his war plans because Jacob showed up and forgave him. I'll say this again because it bares repeating. If you didn't recognize by season two at least that the show was never ever going to fully reveal 90% of its "mysteries" you were a fool and misunderstood the show on a very very basic level. Hell the only mystery that is important on any kind of level is the very first one. What is the monster? Everything else is secondary. Thes is not debatable. Darlton have said as much. They would know, not you jerks.
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RPLocke, you are stunning drug abuser. I've watched ONE, literally ONE episode of Burn Notice. AND I FUCKING LOVE BRUCE AND GABRIELLE!!! But Burn Notice? Once was more than enough.
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