Fraize Dotcom

Look, I am a huge fan of Battlestar Galactica. Big fan. Where I work, I’ve been trying lately to leverage BSG for sales and marketing purposes wherever I can. I’ve got some friends now who do BSG work for SciFi and I’m as excited as a three tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.

Season three showed me some of the best and the worst that Battlestar Galactica has to offer. Between some utterly unbelievable action sequences and true tales of heroism, bravery and sacrifice, and the utterly ridiculous plot-lines, dialog and character development, I’ve got a severe case of whiplash.

When season four was set to film, I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or decidedly sad about it. The show seemed to be going in a direction seemly driven by the egoic ravings of one Ronald D. Moore. To me, seeing where my favorite characters were evolving made me think Ron woke up every morning wondering how he can write himself into a corner and masterfully get himself back out again.

And then, I went to Shore Leave 29 in Baltimore. There I met Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol on the show). He spoke for a long time about having real trepidation about the direction his character was going. According to Aaron, Ron Moore took him aside, and told him where everything was going. Aaron left that meeting much less worried about the show’s wrap-up. “Don’t worry, folks,” he told the audience at Shore Leave, “it will be awesome, I promise.”

So I began season 4 a few weeks ago with those words ringing in my ears. “Don’t worry – Chief said it would be okay.”

The first two episodes were great – seeing the beginnings of a Cylon civil-war were fascinating! But that greatness was tinged with more of the same bullshit that bothered me last season. Particularly, Lee Adama’s transformation from pilot to politician seemed so completely out of character. I’m sure if I sat down with the writers, they could explain it to me, but the point I’m making is – they were incapable of explaining it adequately in the show itself. Everything felt forced and rushed.

The last episode was more of the same – fantastic plot with more Cylons killing each other, and character development that made no sense at all. In this case, Kara Thrace going from raging lunatic to lover back to lunatic. The transformation seemed more difficult than Katee Sackhoff could have possibly acted around. Again, I blame bad writers. Again, I blame Ronald D. Moore.

And who didn’t notice Weapons Locker 1701D? I mean, come on. I’m a big Trek fan – even bigger than BSG – and I thought that was too ham-fisted.

Driving down to Williamsburg, we encountered a couple of quick rain showers. Big splatty raindrops smacked into the windshield making us both worry we were going to have to deal with steamy streets and uncomfortable damp when we made it down.

We made the best of the trip, listening to Duran Duran and making snarky jokes about the videos associated with the songs.

“This video needs more explosions and animatronic torsos!” during Wild Boys, for example.

When we finally arrived around 3, the thunderstorms blew off, and we were left with a beautiful breezy day. Overcast, but every photographer will tell you that overcast days make some of the best photos.

I uploaded some over here. I’ll have more tomorrow, no doubt!

My parents are, as I type, winging back from New Zealand. There they, undoubtedly, scurried around some Hobbit holes, charged through the Mark in Rohan, and stood at the gates of Mordor itself. Well, at least they were supposed to see the Shire. We’ll see how much of the rest they were able to do.

Heather and I decided we needed a bit of a break, so we’re packing up the car and driving down to Williamsburg to go hang with the tri-corn hat types. The weather is supposed to be unhelpful, but that’s okay. Some of our favorite things to do include indoor activities. Coffee shops! Wait, what did you think I meant?

I also just got confirmation that I’ll be going to San Diego in July for work. I’ll be bringing Heather to that sunny and mild city, too! Yay! I love to travel. I just hate travelling.