Major Johnathan

I just checked HLJ, they still only list 3 MG's and the Griffon is out of stock. I hope they are/do reissue them, it's a great series and they are great models. I was very bummed that they seem to have stopped the line. I fully expected at least the Type 0. Helldiver,Brocken,Phantom and some construction types would have been cool too.

Well stated DeathHammer. But I think 45,000 or so is still a large enough number to work with. I'm not sure of the military make-up of the fleet, but it seems Glactica could be and would be conscripting every man able, and at least some women(since it's pretty integrated). We are constantly seeing ships full of people with apparently nothing to do, and those inexplicable 'gaggles of reporters' (talk about useless people sucking up precious supplies.. ), at times it's like there's more angst ridden reporters than soldiers. In fact, those reporters look pretty young and healthy, they'd make good recruits. The whole election story line was probably the dopiest part of season one, the idea that civilians should just carry on as normal while armageddon is going on outside the windows doesn't make sense to me. It also makes Apollo and Starbuck look THAT much more insane and reckless. They are the best pilots and should be utterly consumed with training new pilots, not abandoning their posts and duties every time they feel like it. And look at that viper ratio, 2 out 3 are grounded? For cripes sake, get the chief and his mechanics to work instead of playing Soldier on Kobol... Duke Togo, now that you mention it, a young Max Jenius could really work well in the story,considering how bad the pilots look of late. How about a pilot that just follows orders and slays Cylons day in and day out. In other words, put someone trustworthy, mature and reliable in charge of the Vipers.

I'll try some constructive criticism. What seems to be a real problem is that they are writing Apollo and Starbuck into too much, they are becoming more indespensible than whole ships or maybe even the whole fleet. (i.e., Galactica's pilots turn stupid as soon as Apollo leaves) Apollo and Starbuck are ace pilots, let that be their scenes. In real life, pilots virtually NEVER have anything to do with ground missions. An F-14 pilot does not just hop into a seaking-helicopter (the way Apollo hops into the Raptor), and fighter pilots don't abandon their planes so they can get in infantry fire fights. Starbuck and Apollo might be competant with their side arms, but to keep making them special forces-Rambo types stretch's credibility. And never do there seem to be serious soldier/marines, just Star Trek red-shirts hiding in green fatigues. They all get zapped, but somehow Apollo and Starbuck survive AND win the fight, accomplish the goals,etc. They could introduce a whole bunch of cool,credible and professional soldier/special forces/Marines etc. The same goes for the Raptor pilots and crew, they should be very different from Viper pilots. I like new interesting characters, and the more characters you have, the more you can kill off, which makes drama. And I know, some pilots do Forward Air Control to call in air strikes, I can see that, but what Apollo and Starbuck are doing from episode to episode is WAY beyond what seems realistic. The episode when the Cylons board Galactica, I can see the urgency of pilots grabbing side arms and all, but Galactica would have Marines aboard to deal with them, not your CAG and precious few pilots. If terrorists board a U.S. Carrier, it won't be the pilots doing the shooting. Apollo and Starbuck's extensive training and invaluable experience would exclude them from these constant 'away missions', and sure as hell Adama's place is on the bridge, not galavanting around Kobol.

Errrggh... I just want to say, for all the crap I'm giving BSG, NOTHING else interests me as far as televised Sci-Fi goes. I'm just afraid they're gonna mess up the only game in town. I'm not really in to Stargate, nothing against it, just doesn't catch my eye. Star Trek has rightly gone dormant, God I hope they get new writers/producers, nothing new till there's new blood. The new Star Wars trilogy to me is eye candy, a few cool scenes here and there, but not very good characters or story. I hope the TV series will be a little more interesting, if they're making one. I think generally, Sci Fi needs an enema. Could it be all the original story ideas and plot twists have been done to death?

I'm conflicted with this show too. I never really cared much for the original, so when the whole 'reimagined' BSG mini series came out, I was interested in it. I never had the slightest problem with Starbuck being a female, in fact it presents interesting dynamics. Over all, I liked the mini series a lot, then comes season one, over all, I liked that too, but there were a few weak episodes IMO. The special effects and space battles are generally excellent. Incidentally, with the kind of PR this show is getting, where the hell is their budget? You'd think after the huge success (ratings and reviews) of the mini series and season 1, season 2 would have a very healthy budget... NOT renting out Humvee's and UZI prop guns...(or shooting a hell of a lot of scenes in the Canadian woods) I really feel like the character 'development' is melting down, I don't have a problem with complicated characters or people who've made mistakes. What's been happening at an accelerated pace in Season 2 is just plain irrational, illogical and inconsistant. I don't feel the writing is respecting the viewer's intelligence. The way they've 'developed' the Starbuck and Apollo relationship is terrible. How can you see Starbuck as anything other than a tease ,and yes, a slurm? First she bangs Baltar on a whim, calling out Lee's name. Then she bangs the volley ball guy on Caprica. Then she is reunited with Apollo, stops his advances, then playfully leads him on with "You love me, you love me, you love me..." That's strikes me not as cute or playful but cruel and sleazy. But then you've got Apollo, who sexually is a saint so far (so yep, he'll have a fling to even things out again) but comes off a smug jerk who thinks nothing of continually twisting the knife in his Father's back. Just predictably doing the exact oppostie of what his Father decides, I mean, work that crap out when your 12 or 14, not 25 or 30(however old he is). He just looks like a brat rebelling against his Father, not some deeply principled guy. Roslin is a disaster. Not only is the fleet supposed to be utopia, but she's on drugs and talking like a religous nut AND they make her say things like ' I'll use the religous card', thus showing she doesn't quite believe her own sh*t, which makes no damn sense if you think about it. Adama is just gonna look like a feakin idiot if he forgives Apollo and Starbuck and Roslin for profoundly betraying his trust and wrecking his authority. And as we see, the rest of the pilots are helpless dumbass's, the grunts will just go with the flow rather than obey orders. And that they have the slightest trust in the Caprica Boomer...???? C'mon! Galactica Boomer had just blown up a Basestar, thus proving her loyalty beyond a doubt. So for ANYONE to trust Caprica Boomer because she saved Satbuck and Helo... So what? At any point she can switch in to kill/sabotage mode. You'd have to be retarded to trust her, period. My fear is the whole Cylon's have a plan slogan is quickly turning into "The Truth is out there."(you'll just never hear it and if you did it wouldn't make a bit of sense) What they've done thus far has made me really not care about the main characters, they seem very unlikeable. At this point, I'm putting my support behind Zaruck, Baltar and above all the machine Cylons. The human race is apparently not worth it. One last gripe for the moment, when they reveal the shocking 'Starbuck was abused as a child', while she's up on the stirrups no less, was just so... Sally Jesse Rapheal, so Maudlin. See? that excuses evey rotten thing she ever does from now on, that's a cheap stunt on the writers part, sorry if that's harsh, but it struck me that way. I'm still watching, but now it's mainly for the space battles, they're kick ass at least. I need a Cylon T-shirt.

I don't know, I knew they'd have Adama go to the rescue of the renegade fleet, but I didn't like how Apollo's replacement was an incompetant fool. Ya can't tell me without Apollo, the rest of the pilots suck beyond belief. I'm sure as soon as Apollo returns, they'll turn in to battle hardened aces again. The whole fleet has exactly two competent pilots, the rest are dumb asses. BUT the two decent pilots turn out to be Hawkeye and Trapper John, always getting in to wacky trouble, but the CO can't throw 'em in the brig because they need to operate/pilot Vipers. One thing thats starting to confuse me, why do the Cylons need human females to breed when Boomer got herself knocked up just fine? P.S. I just had a thought, but they've already blown it, it would have been more believable if when Apollo and Starbuck come back, they get demoted. Let there be a competent squadron leader that they have to follow. They could have introduced or developed a whole new character for that purpose. But now we're stuck with, as I say, Hawkeye and Trapper. See, Tigh plays Frank Burns, always by the book and telling on our heroes and Adama is the hapless Col. Henry Blake. ?

Sometimes, I really wish I were Blackaces... Wonder Fest and Jaf-Con on the same day... what's a fan to do? Your sure to miss something because so much sells out so fast. Japan really needs to work that system out better, most especially the licensing that allows only 10 or 20 copies of a kit. Baka!

Wait, is this the Japan Wonder festival, or that American deal? If it's Japan, is Blackaces going to be there for another great report???

Just to be safe, Adama should throw her out the nearest airlock. What are friends for?

Well, i agree with a lot of Vinnie's points. Still, I like the show, I hold out hope that they'll 'get serious' in the fleet. One would think the utter destruction of 12 worlds, near total annihilation, people would be a little more security conscious. I think something the writers are doing is drawing parallels with modern events, as far as tone and mood of the show. There's shades of 9/11 and War on Terror, the problem is in BSG their 9/11 is total nuclear armageddon with fleets or relentless machines hunting down any survivors. They are injecting current debates about civil liberites versus security etc. which is fine, BUT; as I said, in reality, it doesn't work. Civil Liberties have always been trumped by survival. Abraham Lincoln, probably the most universally admired U.S. President, suspended certain rights, such as arresting people without trials or lawyers in order to prevent the disintegration of the Union/country. I point out those lost liberties were restored after the Civil war. It would be far more realistic if Adama was more or less granted Presidential powers and then some. The people would need a leader with survival at the forefront of his thinking. Civil liberties would be curtailed until conditions would warrant reinstating them. That's just realistic. As was said in other posts, everyone in the fleet would be arming and armoring every ship they could, there would be no real civilians, everyone would have duties and training until it was safe.

12 functioning vipers and 30 pilots, and their top 2 leaders/aces are AWOL. The Cylons just need a modest squadron attack and they'd wipe out the fleet easily. Imagine if in WWII two of the U.S. Navy's top aces/leaders (say Thatch and O'hare) decided it was more important to go AWOL and search for a holy relic down on New Guinea, Meanwhile the Imperial Japanese wipe out the their carrier and escorts. But not to worry, Thatch and O'hare found the Golden Monkey! I fogot about Apollo's Mother being alive, at least before the Cylon atack. If they ever write her in to the show, I hope she's nothing like Tigh's wife... Yeah, I think it's doubtful Apollo would be a Cylon. (I'd probably like him more if he was...)

All I know is I'll be seriously let down if Roslin/Apollo and followers aren't in some way humiliated by their zealotry, disloyalty and suicidal recklessness. That's a big point to me too, how and why would these ships actually desert the Galactica? They won't have supplies and above all won't have protection, unless Adama comes to the rescue, which he probably will, and certainly shouldn't... Adama should cull the herd a bit anyway. Roslin even used the phrase 'I'll use the religion card', so what's that mean? Even she doesn't believe her jibberish? If, on the other hand, they get the magic arrow to Kobol and recite some incantation and a magic yellow brick road to Earth reveals it's self... I'll be a tad dissapointed. As for Lee Adama/Apollo being a Cylon, interesting theory, but how would that work? Wouldn't Adama Sr. be able to confirm his birth and all as a normal human? Then again, the Mother died I believe, maybe that's suspicious...

Star Trek? I don't know, they seemed to lack good space battles, particularly the various tv shows. They always try to 'disable the engines' first... What worries me for BSG IS character development, they seem to flip a chacters loyalty on a toss of a coin and more and more characters are getting bizzare, as if what Baltar has is catching. Another example; the press/media. They seem to have turned in to lap dogs for Roslin, more or less spreading her word without criticism, they're all drinking the same cool-aid... Can you imagine in reality what the media would do with a President who says, "Follow me, I know the way to Paradise!" I mean, that magic arrow thing seems so out of place, more appropriate for Lord of the Rings.

I think this show is starting to get into trouble. They seem to have too many episodes and too little budget. Notice how little action there's been lately? Even the episode with the Cylon raiding party, the Cylons 'face-time' was probably seconds not minutes. We haven't seen much of any space battle in a long while. Frankly, I crave some Cylon action and I don't mean the human types. I think that's why the writing's been kinda wacky, so much air time for Tigh's cartoon wife, dragging out Adama's time in bed, Roslin's religous mumbo jumbo, Starbuck's whorin' around, Humvee's and very old Dodge(?) trucks and uzi's and 9mm's... the special effects budget is apparently way too little for a full regular season, so we're getting lots of filler. I'm betting a big finish for episode 10(half season mark), I hope. About Starbuck; early on they set up a clear sexual/emotional tension between Apollo and Starbuck, I had no problem with that(seemed natural), but after all that's happened, Apollo kept his pants on, Starbuck's keep falling off again and again... So now it will be pretty fracked up when they try to get Starbuck and Apollo together, unless they completely abandon that story line. Either way, Starbuck now seems downright slurmty. And the old Starbuck really doesn't compare because he's a guy with no romantic feelings for Apollo,hopefully... A female who sleeps around is a 'slurm', a male who does so is a 'womanizer' or dog. Neither are held in high regard. So I don't buy the double standard arguement. Last point, man did Apollo come dangerously close to being a total bastard, to make a propaganda tape for Roslin would have made him a virtual villain in my eyes. I liked Apollo in season one, but the absolute alliegance to Roslin just isn't washing for me. It's like they're making you not give a damn about any of these charachters because there's no loyalty or fidelity to anyone. I don't mind some tensions and conflicts, but they're virtually treacherous to each other. So I'm cheering for the Cylons at this point, and I mean the mechanical variety.

Well whatever trouble Tigh will be in, at least he's there. Apollo and Starbuck have both betrayed Adama and are both missing. Galactica's two leading aces/ flight commanders have both abandoned their posts and left Galactica vulnerable. And at this point, Baltar seems more sane than Roslin and her followers. What a sorry state of affairs... (regarding Tigh, the only thing I can think of that he personally did was declare martial law. ((which seems natural to me as I said.)) Otherwise, it was Adama who ordered Roslin's arrest and Apollo who even after given a second chance to serve, STILL betrayed Adama and Tigh and busted Roslin out. Tigh's not being melodramatic when he calls that mutiny.)

I don't know, I have some growing worries about BSG. I've been digging it since the mini series first aired, but I think the writing is slipping. First, Roslin is getting pretty bizzare. This show has thrived on 'realism', now we have it known publically that she has a few months to live, and at least some know she's taking the Kabala(?) root, a mind altering 'medicine'. So a terminal drug addict for president who thinks she's a messiah? Early on she was a sensible and compassionate (to a fault) leader, now she AND her followers are just strange. Adama has been sorely missed, I'm glad he's back. Second,Tigh's wife is practically a cartoon character, they ought to kill her off and be done with it. Just let Tigh be a hard ass with a fondness for booze. (many,many great military commanders were know to drink like fish, it ain't THAT bad.) Third, Starbuck; at first I felt she was overly 'butch', with the cigars and slug fests. Then she seemed to mature, but ever since she slept with Baltar (which made no friggin sense), she seems just plain slurmty, as though any guy near her has a good chance. Also, her decision to do Roslin's bidding(get the magical arrow...ugh.) and totally betray Adama, who she practically loves like a Father completely made no sense. Fouth, Apollo; he too seemed to grow as a character and resolved his problems with his Father, so naturally as Adama lies unconscious, he betrays him and helps 'messiah' Roslin? Fifth: There's under 50,000 people left alive, the fleet is running for it's life, Cylons could attack from outside or inside via human-cylons at any time. Humankind is on the brink of extinction... But Great Scott!!! Don't declare martial law!!!!! .... Riiiiight . Under those circumstances, martial law would just be a matter of fact. Severe rationing of fuel, food and water. Strict security aboard all ships to weed out and guard against Cylon influence and sabotage. Strict obediance among the fleet because one 'free spirited' or stupid captain could give away their position to a Cylon fleet and thus cause all human kind to be exterminated. Seems like martial law should be a given. Also, what this nonsense about the press? Tigh's worried what the press will say about martial law. There's 45,000 people left, so there's what, 5 or 6 credible journalists? And is that all people have to do in the fleet is read or watch news? I think you'd be a little busy just trying to survive rather than playing 'crossfire'. All in all, poor Adama has the most disloyal son and crew I ever saw. Only Tigh and the deck officer(forget his name) showed any loyalty. Adama should just save the Cylons the trouble and nuke his own fleet. Really, I hope the writers quit snorting the Kabala root and get back to the gritty realism that made BSG cool to begin with. P.S. I remebered a perfect example, Billy(I think), Roslin's feircely loyal aide, decides she's on her own and he'd rather stay on Galactica at the last minute? Again, makes no sense, just make the characters do whatever they have to do to contradict everything they were previously about. It's becoming a predictable formula. So I guess next episode Tigh will be washing Roslin's feet and cursing that fool Adama?

Two things, Starbuck's artwork sucks (the wall paintings), she should stick to piloting. Second, when she unveiled her vehicle I was sure it would be a motorcycle... not a Humvee. Definatly a poor match for her character and a strange match for the BSG universe. They better not stop at a McDonalds or Walmart next episode.

If there is one clear rule on MW, it's this: NO F'ING POLITICS. Why? Because people like you will post inane sh*t like that. . . and then people like me feel compelled to address it. . . and next thing you know, we're off to the races, tempers flare, and nobody gets along anymore. But, instead of addressing what you said, and perpetuating, I will bite my tongue and merely say: STFU. No politics on MW. Injecting trite political rants into a thread about a Star Trek actors dying. . . you gotta be f'ing kidding me. Morons, all of you. 312830[/snapback] Well said. Beam me up Mr Speaker! RIP James Doohan. Scotty is immortal. (Bones too.)

Nah... even Babelfish isn't that bad.... is it? Seriously, how'd they come up with the Presbyterian comment? Are Presbyterian's the same as Jedi in Chinese? Getting 'made by the Presbyterian church', that sounds so "Good Fella's"...

Yeah, I was thinking that too. Next epsiode better start off with Apollo leading a search party or they'll look like serious dolts...

I liked the Cylon assault/landing ship... someone make a kit of it already!

I can wait for the DVD. Fantastic 4 never really struck me as 'cool', it's just an old sentimental favorite to Stan Lee I think. I'm just very happy with how good the Spiderman movies have been,imo. And the X-Men haven't been too bad either. I hope the Wolverine movie, if they're making it, kicks butt. And I have to admit, the Hulk was better than I expected...

Hmmm, I just watched Spiderman2 for the first time, yeah took me long enough. Clearly Hobgoblin will be in 3, plus what about Peter Parker's professer, one arm and all, isn't that the Lizard??? Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace... I dunno, THC could play a bunch of guys, I'm still perplexed at Topher Grace though. All I know is my favorite Spidey nemesis is Kraven, and he doesn't seem to be in the line-up.

Bummer, I like X-men 1 and 2. It'll be a miracle if X3 doesn't suck, it's not like director is a minor slot to fill. Like Golden Arms said, the X-Men Legends sequel should be fun at least.

What a waste seeing all those F-14s' baking in the desert. Put the super Hornets out there and bring back the Tomcats.