Major Johnathan

It would be one hell of a redemption for pegasus. I'm sure Cain and the Pegasus are doomed to a violent end, most likely from the Cylons. I don't see how they just gloss over approved gang rape and the attempted execution of two Galactica crewmen. Then again, Adama just shrugged his shoulders and forgave a coup by Roslin, Apollo and Starbuck... LePoseur; I do see the similarities between BSG and Macross, but the Millia/Miria comparison to Boomer doesn't work to me. The problem is Galactica Boomer was everyone's buddy, they trusted her 100%, she delivered a nuke to a Basestar and blew up a hell of a lot of fellow Cylons, THEN whipped a pistol and blasted Adama. Miria simply switched sides and never threatened humans again. So Caprica Boomer could NEVER be realistically trusted. No matter how many times she helps Galactica out, no matter how cute her baby will be, she simply could never be trusted again. She's the perpetual Manchurian Candidate. (as are all human Cylons)

It's not that what Pegasus' crew and Cain did was wrong, it obviously was. I think it's cheap to write Cain and the crew into total villianous criminals. That's my gripe, it's just not realsitic, the whole gang rape crap was a Hentai plot pulled out of the gutter. Cain, especially being a woman, could not expect to control her crew if she allowed them to have 'fun' with female prisoners like that. (yes, they're machines, but for all practical purposes, they're human.) Nor would she within hours attempt to summarily execute two actual human crew members. It's all just a writing gimmick to make Adama and Roslin look heroic and noble. (they're trying to shore up the character mess they wrote for season 2 by making Pegasus ultra evil, thus making the wacky antics of Apollo and Starbuck look like child's play.) So in my eyes, they wasted the whole Pegasus storyline and it's not like they'll run into another Battlestar after Pegasus.

I'm not sure politics is the right word, more like philosophy or world view. BSG is FULL of refrences to current events, you can't really talk about the show without treading on some touchy subjects. Otherwise, this whole thread would be full of "Vipers are neat " "yep , they sure are ." To the show's credit, I think they've done a decent job of presenting scenarios and dilemmas in a reasonably fair way. Sometimes they go overboard, such as the long term, sanctioned gang rape of a cylon prisoner. Seems more at home in a Hentai show. Just struck me as over the top Jerry Springer style sensationalism.(so was the 'shocking' revelation that Starbuck was abused as a child, too maudlin for this show.) They just seem to stick these things in for the shock value. Where in real life do you hear people seriously arguing for gang rape? That's why I feel it's a cheap way to force the audiance to dislike Cain. Instead of presenting the more regular military-by the book approach to contrast with Galactica's 'irregular' style of leadership, they go off the deep end and make Admiral Cain into Mrs. Hitler. I can't imagine how they're going to make Cain the least bit sympathetic or realistic after her introduction. So they actually took the long anticipated Pegasus story line and made them into absolute villains as bad or worse than the Cylons. It's dissapointing, would it have been so terrible if they were just a fellow cool ship that says 'hey, lets work together and kick some Cylon butt'. Every plot development has to be filled with treachery, back stabbing, trauma, deception and the lowest displays of human behavior... it's just getting as depressing as the real news. Seriously man, I'm rooting for the mechanical Cylons now. The perfect end to this show would be the 'toasters' annihilating the Pegasus, the Civillian fleet, Galactica and nuking Earth, and lastly; wiping out the human-cylons for fraternizing with and resembling the enemy.

No, that's not what I was getting at. I just didn't appreciate the "try turning on the news once in a while" comment(I happen to watch and read lots of news every day, it's really depressing too). I know BSG is filled with situations 'inspired' by 9/11,War on Terror,Iraq, current events etc. That's part of what drew me to the show. It seems some fans of BSG can't comprehend being a fan of a show and still finding faults with it. (Such as Star Wars fans who hate Ewoks or Jar-Jar.) I've said it before, there's lots of good things working for BSG, but some of the writing this season has some serious holes in it. They created characters, spent a mini series and a season developing them, and then spent most of season 2 in contrived confrontations, IMHO, wrecking their credibilty and turning them into very unsympathetic people. It's like some of us are watching two differnet shows. My problem with Cain is she points out all the highly questionable, even laughable decisions Adama and Roslin make BUT we can't make Adama and Roslin look too bad, so let's write Cain and her crew into absolute brutal tyrants. In other words, it the writer's way off getting off the hook for all the bizzare character developments of season 2. Remember Starbuck torturing the male Cylon?(incidentally, she's a pilot, not an interrogater) Remeber Roslin ordering they chuck him out the air lock,and do?Remember Roslin ordering Caprica Boomer thrown out the airlock?(she only stopped because of useful information) Remember Callie(?) executing a helpless Galactica Boomer and Adama sentencing her to a month in the brig for it? Are we supposed to forget about those incidents? When you recalll that, even the brutal Admiral Cain doesn't seem so bad. That's what I mean about the writing, they make the main characters irratic and hypocritical, only your not supposed to notice. So, yeah Rape's bad, but is it worse than outright murder? Or was it murder, since they were only Cylon 'toasters'? So is it really rape, if they're just 'toasters'? My point isn't wether those incidents are right or wrong, it's that if Adama,Roslin,Starbuck or Apollo do it, they're gritty heroes, if Cain or her crew do it, they're brutal bastards. That to me is dissapointing writing.

Thanks for that tip about watching the news, never occured to me. Say, anyone hear this business about the WTC being obliterated along with a bunch of people? Must've been one of those nasty hurricanes.

But I thought the parts about Cain drafting useful civilians and reassigning Apollo were right on. (But I stress, you would NOT keep him paired with Starbuck ) Where they turn Cain into a Tyrant is when she allows prisoners to be raped for the fun of it and her decision to summarily execute 2 crewmen without holding a military tribunal. Clearly the writer(s) decided to go overboard with Cain so they can make Adama and Roslin look more rational. She goes well beyond Martial Law, more into vigilante territory. What sense did Roslin talk into Adama? Cain proved it was entirely possible to turn and fight the Cylons and apparently do pretty well. They implied Adama was a bit uneasy with the comparsion to Galactica's fleeing and Pegasus' fighting. It's kind of frustrating, it's a good show, but I think they've done real damage in the first half of seaon 2. They keep writing the main characters into forced, contrived scenarios for the sake of conflict. That and some very poor handling of the Romance sub-plots. (Sci-Fi does a really terrible job with Romance, that's not peculiar to BSG) I had hoped Pegasus would right the ship, it hasn't.

I liked him too, I remember him as 'Stenz' from L.A. Confidential(Russel Crow's partner in the beginning). Cool movie.

I have mixed feelings about Pegasus. I'm not really familiar with the original show, but I get the jist that Cain was an all around good guy.(I watched back in the day, but I was quite young.) The pros; It was great to have a reality check for Adama and what's been happening under his command. A 'real' military ship that shows up and says "What the hell were you thinking?" For Cain to assign Apollo to her ship a while would seem very realistic, though I don't think you'd want to keep Apollo and Starbuck as a pair. You split 'troublemakers'. The lack of respect for edjucation secretary Roslin pleased me, I just don't like her, not after season 2. Also, the crack to Apollo about being a Daddy's boy, about time someone said that. The Cons; They made Cain and her crew tyrants to an extreme degree. It doesn't fit that Cain's all by the book, but she allows her crew to rape a female Cylon for fun and laughs? That's a great way to keep military decorum... So the whole stand off with her about to execute the Chief and what's his name, seems really forced. These two ships meet against all odds after months on the run, and within hours they're ready to go to war with each other?

Well, I'm looking forward to this episode. I hope Pegasus can last for a while, I know it's doomed in the long run, but no need to rush it. Hopefully there's some cool vipers/new pilots, maybe a new/different model viper, how about a different paint scheme for Pegasus' Vipers? As far as Michelle Forbes goes, she is a tad young for the role, but I can live with it. Frankly, I'm hoping she and the Pegasus are as 'militant' as the commercial hinted. It'll be interesting to see Adama explain Roslin, a near civil war in his fleet, a Cylon copy of his own would be assasin on board, and pregneant to boot, the looney Vice President Baltar, the terrorist who almost won the election and carries much weight in the fleet, his two top pilots that defy orders and go AWOL at will, religous hocus pocus guiding the fleets movements, a total lack of martial law AND an all powerful press core hounding every move they make. Now, that said, Adama maybe needs a reality check. Maybe Cain will put Roslin in the cell next to Boomer?

That's interesting. I have to admit I really liked both scores, so I'm not sure what Danny Elfman is complaining about. What's he mean 'temp music'? Does he mean the soundtrack for Spiderman 2 was just a rough sketch or something? If that's so, it came out just fine to me. I like that the two movies have similar themes and all, it makes it seem more connected. I hate when winning teams get broken up. I hope they can find a good replacement, it'll be tough to improve on Elfman's score.

You threatening my woman Roy?

Wise guy, eh? I only mean that he was a character they let you get to know, just so they can kill him off for dramatic effect. Roy's death is a huge event in Macross, he was the fearless leader, big brother, the guy everyone depended on when the poo hit the fan. Macross would suck had they chickened out and let Roy live. With Roy and Kakizaki getting killed, it kept you off balance as to what might happen next. I really hope they can keep that kind of tension for BSG. Roslin needs to buy the farm for the integrity of the show, I might even like her more if it's handled right. She can always return in flashbacks and hallucinations. Let Adama and 'President'(?) Baltar be the top leaders, that'd make a good adversarial plot. Speaking of Adama, anyone see him in Wolfen?(1981) Just saw that on cable, it was strange seeing Adma running around NYC naked and howling at the moon...

The bikes look nice. That last picture is cool. It's great to see Mospeada getting some attention. So.... Yui is a 'pretty she' AND a fan of Mospeada AND a model builder??? I'm in love...

I'd be stunned if they actually allow Roslin to die from her cancer. I have every reason to believe there will be a miraculous cure found either through Cylon technology or Religous gibberish. If I'm wrong, and I hope I am, BSG will gain great credibiltiy. No Cloning, no miracles, no techno-babble, just let her die. The show's been hammering away at that fact ever since the mini-series, it will strike me as incredibly cheap if they save her. Dare I say, it would be very Star Treky if they pull a last minute miracle cure. I appreciate a Sci-Fi show that can stick to reality, if a great war is the background of a show, then people should die, including main characters on occaision. Look no further than Macross, Roy and Kakizaki die, thus giving you the feeling that the War they're in is serious and anything might happen, and once someone dies, they stay dead. Very mature for an 80's animated show.

I agree that does look a bit more like Ocelot than Snake. Kojima is so out there, who knows what he has planned. All I know is I loved MGS3, and I'm a little dissapointed the next game can't stick inside that time frame. I really digged the Cold War back drop and I was hoping to find out what happened to Eva. (remember at the end of MGS3, they say Eva went missing in Vietnam.) You'd have cold war era Vietnam and China as a backdrop, could have been cool. A futuristic setting... idunno, we'll see.

I agree, one of the better episodes in a while, IMO. The Stealth Viper needs a little tweaking, the silver canopy frame has to go. My thinking was that they were going to 'skin' the new Viper with some of the plentiful 'dead' Cylon Raiders they just massacred. I kind of like my idea better... (it'd be neat if they salvaged the Raider's weapons to equip some Vipers too.) It looked neat and all but was there any reason for the funky Cylon formations?

If anything, the mods shouold be grateful for your posting this.

Sorry, but there's been stunningly little space action for almost all Season 2 so far. And I have to disagree with Graham, the ground combat/firefights were pretty much a let down too, I'm still bummed at the episode where the Cylons board Galactica, you'd have to count seconds of screen time, not minutes, where Cylons actually appeared. I was really looking forward to that episode too.. There's been so little space action that I found it glaring that they didn't even show the little dogfight in the last episode. (by the way, yeah BSG kinda stole the radio chatter from Star Wars, but Star Wars stole it from Miday. ) Anyway, I'm trying to get a handle on the Cylons. Are they absolutely all powerful the way they were portrayed in the last episode, i.e., they're just playing with humans and could annhilate them at their leisure? Or, are they very much defeatable, like when Raiders pop in and get blasted away with seeming ease, or the walking variety that get capped with a single pistol shot to the noggin? It gets back to that Basestar Boomer blows up, clearly according to the story, the Cylons knowingly sacrificed that Basestar so Boomer could get close to Adama and zap him. So all the firefights, all the space battles, the loss of the asteroid refinery, all just Cylons toying with humans who THINK they have a fighting chance, but don't. Unisex facilites: They could only be serious in Sci-Fi. Imagine the sexual harrasement complaints alone. And clearly, the humans in BSG are VERY human. They need to play porno music for those scenes.

Not much reaction for the last episode. I had a predispostion to not like this one, Journalists/reporters blow, every day that goes by in real life I'm more convinced of it. We're talking lower than lawyers... I just can't buy the importance or relevence of a media in the BSG world. As if a tenacious reporter would be out there trying to prove what scum the military is, the same military that saved her and everyone else's life many times already. And most of all, that there's a relevent audiance eating said reporter's stuff up. Also, you know that whole drama/controversy about declaring martial law? Well, look at New Orleans, people were clammering for the military to come in and take charge of the disaster. That was just a flood in a single city, so it seems so unlikely that there'd be this big ground swell among the fleet to prevent Martial Law after the near extinction of humankind and constant attacks from the Cylons. Then, there's the unisex locker room/bathroom thing, perhaps the most unrealistic thing in the BSG universe. C'mon, women would never tolerate such arrangements and men would never leave. If we had that back in High School, I'd have LOVED Phys-Ed, show up early every day, volunteer for all sports, intentionally flunk out so you have to go back year after year... Sorry, that'll never be, not until we 'evolve' into a unisex species. Lastly, I could do without Apollo showing off his 'abs of steel' and I'm tired of Starbuck showing what a bad-ass she is by either boxing/kickboxing or chomping on cigars or slurmting it up. I think Apollo and Starbuck need some humbling to be likeable again. Dammit, I need a character to like! Adama's P-whipped. I want Cylons!(mechanical variety) Humans deserve annhilation anyway.

Response to the article Ladic posted about Mexico sending an aid convoy: Ummm, thanks but maybe you should use that aid on your own people, they probably need it more. On the other hand, we've got most of your poeple here anyway, so thanks.

Now is not that time? Well, that's whats been upsetting me. It's not 'BOTH' sides turning this into a political opportunity. Sorry, but sometimes one side is more out of line than the other. It's not the Repbulican side crying racism (over a **&@ Hurricane!) or calling for this official and that official to resign. There's flame wars all over MW, over toys or over Robotech or over 'this show is awseome'/'that show is lame' and 'you suck!'/'no you suck!' Even the mods dive right into these scraps. So no, I don't think we need to shut this thread down. MW isn't all sweetness and niceness these days, so be it. Incidentally, even though I lean right, I think Hannity is a rude Jackass. Hell, I have a laundry list of complaints with Pres. Bush(and he won't meet with me! ). Just because I have philosphical leaning doesn't mean I'm a two dimensional partisan robot.

Sorry for the slow reply. No I don't think I can do variable, I'm not enough of an engineer. Whatever I do would be static display. I'll take some pics of what I've done so far, still a lot to do. I used some parts from the 1/15 kit, mainly the tires and parts of the leg armor, otherwise I scratchbuilt the rest. I have yet to make a good engine,istrument console and handle bar/grips and a few smaller parts. I have a generic rider in armor, just switch heads for Stick, Yellow or Rey. And I think I could adjust the thigh and forearm peices so they'd be the right height to each other. I've also sculpted a couple characters in their regular outfits, but I don't know if my sculpting skills are up to par. I did Stick, but haven't finished refining his legs and arms and I did a Huke. I'll post pics when I take them and figure out how to actually post them here. (my pics are too big to load directly it seems) Please bear in mind, nothing is finished, these are just projects I've had kicking around for a few years.

Actually, Shawn deserves mention here too. He was always busy-busy, But nowadays he's more myth than man. It's pretty friggin nice of him to keep MW around considering how rarely he posts. I hope things are going well for him too.

Rick the Hunter was one of the coolest guys here, his sense of humor, entertaining posts and antics were memorable. He was so invloved here for quite a while, I"m sorry he doesn't come back. Whatever his troubles may be, I wish him the best. Edo... Edo really stunned me. He seemed like a nice guy (always assumed he was male, all the world's Female Macross fans could fit in a phonebooth I bet.), I didn't mind his long posts or 'Mingmei' obsessions, he contributed a lot back in the day. Shortly after 9/11 he seemed to absolutely go off the deep end. I'm 99% certain he's Indonesian (unless I'm totally mis-remembering), he was saying 9/11 was done by Israel and the CIA . I couldn't believe a guy I read and replied to at MW so often would have such views. Really strange, it actually depressed me, Kinda scary too, he was clearly edjucated and middle class. He was a flippin Jihadist for cripe's sake! Does Jihad and 'Mingmei' obsession seem like a likely combo?

I just want to say, this thread delves into some politics beacuse politics has been hopelessly injected into a natural disater. You can't talk about NO without politics at every turn, that's what I think is a shame and why it made me so angry. Ask Kanye West as he tries to get people to donate to the Red Cross. (I love how he admits he hadn't contributed a dime and felt bad about it, so now he'd check with his manager... )