it failed to thrill.
*Spoilers*
I appreciated the efforts to give all of the characters more...well, character than the cardboard cutout "good guys" in the original, even if it was taken too far in the case of Starbuck, who is just obnoxious and needs to be seriously toned down, and Baltar, who is just nuts and had FAR too much screentime talking to the fantasy woman in his head (and can it be any coincidence that the only character WITHOUT any issues turns out to be a Cylon spy?). I also appreciated the sporadic attempts at darkness -- the abandonment of the slower ships in the fleet to certain death was particularly effective. But despite these attempts, the mini-series as a whole just lacks any real emotional punch.
Instead it gets caught up in spending so much time establishing the various characters and their rather broad issues, that it fails to take a look around at the bigger picture around it. As far as these people know, the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE HAS JUST BEEN WIPED OUT. Not once did I get any sort of feel for the emotions such an event would cause, nor did we get to see more than the barest glimpses of the chaos of the destruction itself. Independence Day might have had more emotional punch, and that's not good.
Nonetheless, going forward I have some hope. If they decide to turn this into a series, the have already shown a willingness to explore character flaws and depict grim choices and events. Episode to episode I could see them being able and willing to introduce conflict and occasionally have things not go so well. But as far as capturing the power and tragedy of the entire species being annihilated? Just out of the makers' league I'm afraid -- and because of that the mini-series just felt "smaller" than its subject matter.
*Spoilers*
I appreciated the efforts to give all of the characters more...well, character than the cardboard cutout "good guys" in the original, even if it was taken too far in the case of Starbuck, who is just obnoxious and needs to be seriously toned down, and Baltar, who is just nuts and had FAR too much screentime talking to the fantasy woman in his head (and can it be any coincidence that the only character WITHOUT any issues turns out to be a Cylon spy?). I also appreciated the sporadic attempts at darkness -- the abandonment of the slower ships in the fleet to certain death was particularly effective. But despite these attempts, the mini-series as a whole just lacks any real emotional punch.
Instead it gets caught up in spending so much time establishing the various characters and their rather broad issues, that it fails to take a look around at the bigger picture around it. As far as these people know, the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE HAS JUST BEEN WIPED OUT. Not once did I get any sort of feel for the emotions such an event would cause, nor did we get to see more than the barest glimpses of the chaos of the destruction itself. Independence Day might have had more emotional punch, and that's not good.
Nonetheless, going forward I have some hope. If they decide to turn this into a series, the have already shown a willingness to explore character flaws and depict grim choices and events. Episode to episode I could see them being able and willing to introduce conflict and occasionally have things not go so well. But as far as capturing the power and tragedy of the entire species being annihilated? Just out of the makers' league I'm afraid -- and because of that the mini-series just felt "smaller" than its subject matter.