And the Future Looks So Bleak: the Lack of Optimistic Scifi on TV

The Golden Age of TV, the Television Renaissance, or whatever you want to call the upsurge in quality for the better part of the past decade has been marked by several common denominators, grittiness being at the top of the list. This works well enough in shows that are striving for verisimilitude or some approximation of reality as it enables non-traditional stories to be told. There is a different effect on science fiction however, while other genres are able to tell more stories, it narrows the narratives that can be told.

Shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ or ‘Orange is the New Black’ have received part of their critical acclaim due to their use of societal issues that wouldn’t come up in more traditional media; toxic masculinity in the case of the ‘Breaking Bad’ and intersectional feminism in the case of ‘Orange is the New Black’. These shows are that way because traditional narratives about the real world don’t permit these things to be acknowledged. Science fiction may have its own host of traditional narratives, but they’re not tied to the modern day in the same way. It can raise topics in a way that other shows can’t, but they don’t. Instead, they have also embraced being gritty.

So what exactly am I talking about? Think about the scifi shows on television today. Now exclude the ones set in the modern day such as ‘Person of Interest’ and what does that leave? By my count, there’s ‘Defiance’, ‘The 100’, ‘Dominion’ and ‘Doctor Who’. I’ll be ignoring ‘Who’ on the grounds of not knowing much about it. All of these shows are post-apocalyptic. ‘Defiance’ wants to be a space western meets ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘The 100’ is downright fatalistic and ‘Dominion’ is about angels trying to murder humanity. If you take a more historical look, it doesn’t get much better. NuBSG started out as keying in on the zeitgeist of post 9/11 America, turning into an argument for maltheism. Stargate as a franchise became darker and edgier as it went on. ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ may have had its problems, but being Star Trek in name only wasn’t one of them. Yet at the same time, in order to find a mainstream scifi show that wasn’t epressing on some level went off the air a decade ago. Why?

There are a number of reasons for this shift. Part of this is a general backlash against Star Trek and wanting to tell different stories. Another part is a general disinterest in that kind of aesthetic and a desire for more varied sets and special effects.. This general move also matched the zeitgeist. On one hand, we’ve become more inclusive. On the other hand, there are countless structural problems that make any outlook on the future bleak. It leaves our capacity to think of a better future underdeveloped and leaves us thinking that all roads lead to the apocalypse. Utopian science fiction, even optimistic science fiction is something that can be done, so the question becomes how?

The seemingly obvious answer to this is to make another Star Trek series. As the rights for the shows and the movies are split between Paramount and CBS; there’s no reason why a TV series set in the original timeline, after the Dominion War, can’t happen. This split is also the only conceivable way that an optimistic Star Trek series could be made given the directions of the new movies, but that’s a different discussion. I find this answer to be unsatisfying though. Star Trek has built up a number of idiosyncrasies that make the franchise special, but also mean it’s not what I want when we’re trying to revive the idea of optimistic science fiction.

Star Trek has a lot of continuity built up, and while that continuity was developed on the fly, there is a level of cohesion that makes it hard to write in. The best example of this is are the Klingons. It’s one thing for them to be an analogy for the Soviet Union, it’s quite another for them to space Vikings, devoid of any meaningful real world analogy. And it’s Star Trek, how are you not going to use Klingons, or Vulcans or any other iconic species? While the timeline could be jumped a few hundred years and an Enterprise is exploring a new part of space, it would eventually have continuity problems in that Star Trek doesn’t really map well to the current zeitgeist.

The idea that the Federation is paradise is accepted, but looking at the Federation as presented means that paradise has a lot of asterisks. Star Trek is firmly bioconservative, a ban on genetic augmentation on one hand and the Borg on the other show this. Such a show would be hamstrung in addressing one of, if not the biggest, trends in scifi today. Not only that, but it’s idea of growth and spreading paradise is disturbing as it assimilates everyone in its path, erasing cultures outside of quirks. Ideas about paradise and diversity have grown beyond a homogenizing force as you’re subsumed into a paradise that reads as an ideal liberal America. Which isn’t to say that I’m against the idea of another Star Trek series, but such a series would be uniquely Star Trek, its existence wouldn’t magically fix the problem. Nor should it, there are a multitude of quality TV shows out there, why can’t optimistic scifi have even half as many takes as post-apocalyptic gritty scifi?

So do I want, in broad strokes at least? Diversity of human characters, aliens are fine, but they’re no substitute for actual human representation. Not only that, but this diversity can’t be tokenism or left hanging in the background. If a character isn’t straight or nonwhite or disabled then it shouldn’t be the focus of a very special episode or tokenism; it should be normalized and apparent. It should be about good people doing good things. Those two things as a basis and there are lot of directions you can go and a lot of ways to fill in the blanks.

The future may look bleak, but it doesn’t have to. Till next time.

 

Intersectionality and Sense8

My recent post about the boundaries of diversity in Sense8 was upon reflection, incomplete. This is due to the fact that I neglected to discuss intersectionality. Let’s not waste any time and jump right into it.

First, it’s important to define intersectionality. A quick Google search gives the following: “the study of intersections forms or systems of oppression, discrimination and domination” which is a good place to start. Now, what does this mean? People are multifaceted, for example: a person isn’t just gay; they’re also white and poor for example. These are all axes of privilege and oppression; while there is merit in looking at them in isolation at a certain point that kind of analysis breaks down. Intersectionalism is about the contextualization of these axes as they occur in real life.

So what does this have to do with Sense8? As already established: this is a show about human diversity and many of the characters’ plots are defined by who they are and their experiences relating to systemic oppression and discrimination. This adds an important layer of verisimilitude, as diversity in a modern day setting that seeks to sidestep these issues rings hollow. In regards to the characters of Sense8, by and large their conflicts happen on one social axis. Centering conflict in such a manner is good and logical storytelling, but to see that conflict as the totality of the character is missing the point.

While systemic analysis and intersectionalism are useful in real life, there are limitations to this kind of thinking when applying it to a text itself. As such, it’s important to understand that individuals experience systems differently. Not only that, but how individuals feel and deal with the focal points of these systems such as their sexuality or a disability varies from person to person. All of this is to say that there could’ve easily been more diversity within the confines of the show as its structure sits.

Of course, when having this discussion about a show, it’s important to remember that the text isn’t immutable. The product that we see is something that has undergone multiple revisions in order to satisfy some sort of vision. All of the characters are exactly that, characters who have been crafted to tell this story. The ways in which diversity is and isn’t showcased are the product of decisions, both active and unconscious. This isn’t to take away from the diversity that is shown though.

Sense8 is an ensemble show that is literally about the diversity of the human experience, yet it still treats abled heteronormativity as the default. The notion that having more diversity runs afoul of some sort of narrative economics is predicated on the idea that all characters need equal screentime. As I’ve established before, there are entire swathes of the human experience that are ignored and could have been incorporated. While it would have been ideal to diversify the cluster more, it would have been better to diversify the supporting cast more.

Diversity isn’t some binary metric that we judge media on by comparing it to the perceived norms. It’s a wide spectrum of the human experience, with the inclusion and exclusion thereof worthy of criticism.  Sense8 may be too rooted in its own devices by now to remedy these shortcomings, but it doesn’t change the fact that these are shortcomings. At best it is something to keep in mind for the future. Next week is another mystery post, till next time.

 

One Last Look at Legend of Korra

Well the series finale of Legend of Korra aired last week so let’s talk about the whole series. While I’ve spent a good amount of time talking about the first two seasons when they first aired, I’ve said very little about the last two seasons. Now that it’s all over, I’m going to look at the series as a whole as well as season four. There’s a lot to cover so let’s not waste any time and jump into it.

In case it wasn’t obvious, spoilers, all the spoilers.

First, quick recap of each season and my thoughts as it progressed. Season one was rough, it had to break in a new story, not be overshadowed by its predecessor and had do it in 12 episodes. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a fun enough ride. Season two did what a lot of fans wanted in focusing on the spirit world, in the worst possible way. I wrote the show off with the season finale and only went back to watch the rest of it on the word of peoples’ opinions who I trust in these matters. Season three did a good job of salvaging the show and had lot of elements that made Last Airbender such a strong show. Season four was much the same.

That being said, the show had a number of flaws that it never did fix. The biggest one was how it was stuck in the shadow of Last Airbender. While the comparisons were going to happen, I’m referring to the fact that the characters, especially the main four, just weren’t as strong. The flashbacks to Aang in S1 hammered this home. It was something that would be continued in later seasons with quick uses of Iroh and Zuko. Toph was actually used in a manner where she got to be a part of the story, be herself and logically exit the story. While I liked most of the characters, they never got a chance to just be. Filler is important because of the character and world building. Speaking of characters, LoK very much wanted to be an ensemble show and could never pull it off well. In particular, I never really felt like Korra, Mako, Bolin and Asami were any sort of gang. The closest we ever got was the sequence of them hunting Equalists in season one. By season three the damage had been done but it was a good attempt to salvage it nonetheless. Either it meant focusing on plots that just weren’t very good or it contributed to poor pacing. The writers never really figured out how to make everything fit into 12 episodes seasons. The result is a feeling of being rushed.

I think that at its core, this was the main problem with LoK. The first seasons was written as a one shot, with no guarantee that they would get a second season. As a result, the ending of season 1, while being emotionally charged, was also very rushed in order to fix the setting. This quick fix was partially ignored in season two and from there it all went downhill. If the writers had been able to leave things unresolved, then it’s not inconceivable to think of a world in which the beginning of season two looks a lot like season four’s. Korra, as a character wasn’t allowed to be impacted by her experiences until season four. The fact that the show did focus on the trauma that Korra had gone through in a respectful manner also speaks to one of the show’s high points. Its ability and willingness to handle serious topics in a serious manner.

While I’m talking about things I wasn’t a fan of, the villains were very underwhelming. Amon and the Equalists weren’t wrong about bender oppression and the main characters are made accessories to that oppression. Unalaq made absolutely no sense. Zhahir was a Darwinian Anarchist who made a certain amount of sense until he was tied back to Unalaq. Kuvira was the Earthbender version of Sozin/Ozai. The last two were also right in that the Earth Kingdom was a rotting, reactionary, oppressive structure that had to go. Again, there just wasn’t enough time for them to really grow.

Now, these criticisms don’t mean the show is bad, just that it had its problems and as much as I wanted it to, it’s just not on the same level as Last Airbender.  That being said, let’s move onto season four itself.

Bearing in mind what I said earlier, I enjoyed season four and thought it was really strong. The worst thing I can say that’s specific to it is that the clip episode was a pale imitation of Ember Island Players. Kuvira was a good villain, the story and emotional beats were what you expected, but they were all good. While I only half expected for the show to turn into a mecha series, I’m not really surprised. I’m just disappointed that all, or at least, most of this stuff should’ve been there since season two.

Now let’s talk about the last five minutes of the ending. First, Korrasami is canon, I can’t conceive of any other interpretation based upon the text. Not only was that scene romantically coded, but their interactions throughout the season when death isn’t imminent only make sense in a romantic context. Their reunion and the restaurant scene stand out in particular. I can’t say if I would have had the same reaction if I had watched the show as it aired/hadn’t had the ending spoiled, but the main hurdle in not reading the scene that way is heteronormativity. Which, in a word is homophobic. Second, they’re bi, saying otherwise is biphobic. Third, while the text itself is very clear about this, it also has authorial intent. All in all this is a good thing, and hopefully it’s a precursor to more queer characters and relationships.

Legend of Korra was fun. It’s strange to think that a universe that has been on the air for the better part of the past decade is finished. I’d recommend it to fans of Last Airbender with the caveat of just outright skipping season 2 sans the first avatar two parter though. Till next time

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are Video Games Art and why does it matter?

The idea that video games are more than just an entertainment medium, that they make us experience something and have cultural value is a fairly complicated question. I’ll be breaking down the issues surrounding this and how it relates to nerddom as a whole. Let’s jump into it.

First, I’ll personally answer the question of whether video games are art. If we determine something is art by the following criteria: 1. Causes the consumer to have an emotional experience 2. Is a product of and influences the culture in which it exists in 3. Is analyzed critically. Based on this criteria than video games can be art but are not intrinsically art. When I say ‘emotional experience’ I don’t mean the emotions that you feel when playing a game such as pride or joy or frustration, but rather the emotions that you feel when consuming other categories of art. The second point is indisputably true.  The third point is perhaps the most complicated of all, which I’ll get to into a minute. This should be noted as being a rather loose definition of art. The primary reason being that I’m not an academic and I’m not terribly keen on a definition of art that’s arbitrarily exclusionary given how amorphous any sort of definition is in this day and age. This criteria also reflects the things that I care about.

While I don’t have much investment in whether games are considered art or not, I am much more interested in games as a craft. This is a somewhat roundabout way of saying that game design and mechanics are lot more interesting to me nowadays. Although I do find discussing and analyzing games within a critical cultural framework to be fascinating as well, I don’t need the validation of others saying games are art to have that happen.

There are many qualifiers involved in game criticism. First, is the accessibility of academic game criticism on two fronts. First is the literal issues of accessibility in that getting a hold of books and articles is expensive if you’re not currently enrolled in a university. Second is that by drawing upon well established theoretical framework that’s hard to get through for a common reader (but that’s another discussion all together) The other major problem with game criticism is how it’s currently playing out. Meaningful criticism of games in the popular sphere is incredibly stunted. When figures such as Anita Sarkeesian or Leigh Alexander have their work categorically rejected because they’re women who are seen as attacking games instead of engaging with games in a critical manner and having discussion involving their work as a starting point or reference. This in turns means that support for them becomes tricky as their points don’t matter, defending them for what they represents matters.

With that in wind, why does this matter in the grand scheme of things? I see three main categories for being invested in this. First, there’s a legal aspect to understand. Treating video games as art in the same vein of movies is important in that it gives it certain legal protections. Second, there’s a matter of validation. This still new media form has only recently entered into a sense of acceptance in the zeitgeist and there’s still a fair amount of distrust. Now as I alluded to earlier, this legitimacy demands criticism that isn’t exactly welcome in some circles. Third, there are people who genuinely want video games to be an art form and push for it.

That’s all I got this week till next time.

 

Contrarian Viewpoint: Knights of Sidonia

SPOILERS FOR KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA

SPOILER SPACE

SPOILER SPACE THE 2ND

Taken as a whole: I have a love/hate relationship with anime. There are days when I watch something like Attack on Titan, generally agreed upon to be very good, and find myself in agreement with the general consensus. Then there are days when I watch something like Madoka Magica, and think the general consensus is off base, for lack of a better term. Yet I keep coming back to it, since there are good series and it’s the main way I can enjoy giant robots or mecha. Enter Knights of Sidonia, one of the darlings of this year and if the title didn’t give it away, it’s in the latter category for me. So because it is the hot new thing I figured I may as well talk about it and anime in general this week.

First off, I watched this via Netflix streaming. Why am I mentioning this? Cause it’s advertised as one of their “original” series*, meaning they have the license to it in the States near as I can tell. This is general a smart move for them, as their anime selection is sparse, especially compared to what I can get on Hulu. While there is a certain fear of fragmentation with all these service providers, it’s not really as big a concern with anime given the nature of the product. That being said onto the show it’self.

Knights of Sidonia follows the seed ship Sidonia as it moves through space, fleeing the alien Gauna who destroyed Earth 1000 years ago. In order to fight the Gauna, humanity has developed mecha known as garde who yield Kabizashis. The last time the Gauna appeared, Sidonia was driven to the brink of extinction 100 years ago. Our protagonist, Nagato Taniguchi has lived “underground” and has spent his entire life training on a garde simulator. stumbles into the wider world to find food. Conveniently timed by the powers of plot as the Gauna have reappeared and the main plot kicks off.

Before going any further, yes you can describe this show as Attack on Titan with mecha. It’s an unfair comparison as while the set up is incredibly similar, they’re doing quite different things. I”m uncertain about the timing involved in when they both started/were conceptualized but I choose to see it more as a painful coincidence than any sort of copying or harbinger of a bunch of knock offs.**

Given that this is a mecha series, it makes sense to me that I’ll start looking at the technical elements of production first. I’ll put up with a lot of stupid if I get cool giant robots (see second season of Gundam 00,8th MS Team, Vandread). That being said, the animation by and large is very good. It’s all very pretty and unique in it’s own ways. The only flaw here are the characters, who look way too much alike. There used to be a joke about Gundam SEED that if you shaved all the characters you coudln’t tell them apart; while true that ignores the fact that their hair could be used to tell them apart. Not so much here, which is mildly problematic when said characters are two thirds of a love triangle. When it comes to the garde, they have their own charm. They’re definitely Real Robots*** and kinda bland to be honest. But it’s that blandness that gives them their own character.  Also the music is excellent, I’m usually not one who picks up on music on the first watch of something; but this time I did and it’s usage in the show is solid. It’s not say Yoko Kanno or Yuki Kajiuri in that it’s something I’ll listen to outside of the show on it’s own, but it does it’s job.

Sadly these are the only things it does well, the actual source material is dull more than anything else. I have a number of problems with the plot and characters of the show and I’ll be looking at them in more detail. But first, there’s the biggest failing of the show to address.

The fight choreography is atrocious. This is the result of two problems, one in setup, the other in execution. The Gauna are not visually compelling villains, they’re the world’s worst kaiju. The garde and the kabizashi are equally dull against them. Beam spamming a bunch of tenacles to enable a squadmate to pierce the brain isn’t that cool to look at. In terms of execution, it’s a bunch of fast, jerky shots that stop me from actually being able to immerse myself in the action. It’s just hard to follow what’s going on.

Speaking of the Gauna not being compelling, this extends beyond their visual design to be their defining trait. They aren’t scary, they aren’t characterized, they’re just giant squid things who want to kill people for reasons.

To be fair, it’s not like Sidonia is characterized much better. There’s an immortal council and a military that enjoys some privileges and anti-war protestors. That’s it, that’s not me summarizing the situation, that’s really the entirety of what we’re told about Sidonia. The council is vague and threatening, the military is your generic vaguely military anime group and the anti-war protesters are there…to be contrarian? They’re never given any characterization or treated as anything more than a nuisance. Empathy borne out of being the same species isn’t enough for me to be invested.

This effect rolls down to individuals as well, there’s really one person who has much character: the protagonist Nagato Taniguchi, who is essentially Jesus. He is literally the second coming of Sidonia’s savior and has an unlimited capacity for forgiveness. That’s it, he doesn’t have any flaws or actual character. Oh and he’s the center of a harem love plot, which is one of those things that I cannot stand in anime.

The supporting cast is worse. At best they’ll have one defining characteristic, which is fine. The problem is that more of them don’t have much character at all and are vectors for the plot to happen. This again isn’t inherently a problem, except….

The plot is all build up, no pay off. This is admittedly more of a flaw with the anime in that so very little happens that actually meaningfully moves the plot forward.  There are hints and teases of what could be and what’s to come, but nothing actually gets answered.  It’s entirely possible that had the first season been 25 episodes long I would be much more amicable to it, but that’s not the world we live in.

So in a nutshell, Knights of Sidonia is a very pretty show that is essentially 12 episodes of stuff happening with no dramatic tension to characters I don’t care about and in some cases can’t tell apart.

Feel free to leave a comment as always. Next week, I remember what the this blog is actually called and look at a new DCG, War of Omens.

*I really wish they would distinguish between actual original series and other things that are special on Netflix like say Arrested Development or Clone Wars.

**I watch on average, one series a year at this point so take that comment with a grain of salt.

***Mecha are divided into two broad category, Real Robots and Super Robots. The former have a pretense of paying attention to reality and are more grittier as if they were weapons in a war. Super Robots throw reality right out the door and are more akin to epic heroes.

Defiance: The Opposite of Hallelujah and In My Secret Life Review

Defiance was never a great show in it’s first season, in fact I wouldn’t even call most of it good. What kept me coming back to the show week after week was that it did just enough right to make me stay invested enough to keep watching. As the season went on it started to build momentum and with that momentum, so too did the quality rise. There was a season finale that at its core did everything you want a season finale to do: provide a climax and leave the door open for the next season.  In the year since the first problem with this set up became apparent: it wasn’t good enough to stay on my mind. For once, the previously on part of an episode wasn’t grating but actually helpful.  With that perspective in mind, let’s get into it.

The season premiere has one big problem, it really isn’t an episode. Instead it’s setting up the new status quo after a nine month time skip. I’m not really fond of this move, since as I mentioned in the intro, Defiance’s greatest strength was that it built up momentum. Leaving the uncertainty of the season one finale for a new status quo were we’re only told indirectly what happened means that we’re back to square one. All of that momentum has to be built up again. Aside from that, the show also shows that it’s strongest part is Stahma. There’s not much else to be said about this episode by itself, it’s fine and functional.

The same cannot be said for the second episode though, which suffers from two bigger sins. The first is that it primarily exists to get Nolan back to where he was in season one as lawkeeper. The second is that it’s not really engaging. The race against the clock to find the culprit  is something that Definace has done several times already and before it was done better for a variety fo reasons that basically boil down to what it revealed about the characters while they were doing this. The most that this episode manages to do with it is a conversation between the E-Rep captain Berlin and Nolan that was the highlight of the episode. The actual climax was dull, the show has never presented the possibility of it’s characters being in any sort of danger, the closest it’s come is with Irisa’s dream sequence in the premiere. Speaking of Irisa, the lack of any sort of meaningful continuation of the Kaziri is going to be obnoxious; so far it’s caused the following: technicolor resurrections,  hallucinations, and the desire to kill random people. The odds of a ‘Nolan investigates murders committed by Irsia’ is fairly highly if I had to guess. The only character left to account for is Datak, who hasn’t done much aside from his one trick of killing someone to make himself look better.

Given that we’ve now spent two weeks doing little more than being acquainted with the somewhat new status quo, I”m hoping that going forward we can actually start doing something new. Preferably this something new would involve picking up all the plotlines from the season one finale and actually continuing them. Right now the show has been spinning it’s wheels and quickly trying my patience. I’m still watching for now, but my standards are higher for a second season and I don’t have much qualm in jumping ship.

Feel free to comment, I’ll be back next week to talk about…something. Not sure, if you have any suggestions or something you want me to talk about feel to comment on that as well.

 

Stuff I’ve been watching

Sorry for the delay, writer’s block is “fun” like that

From time to time I like to talk about the TV shows I’ve been watching and I haven’t done one since Korra wrapped up. Let’s get to it.

Parks and Rec: This wrapped up a few weeks ago but I haven’t talked about it in a while. Season Six had a meh first half, or it could just be that real life scheduling made it come off as weaker than it was in hindsight. The second half on the other hand was as strong as the series ever was. I’m eagerly waiting for Season Seven as a finisher for the show.

Mad Men: Nothing much to really say here. I’ve been rewatching it on Netflix. It’s still good and I’ll catch up when the first half of Season Seven is released on Netflix.

House of Cards: Season two is lacking in something that Season One had, but it’s still plenty entertaining to watch. The best way to put it is that if it had been a conventional release schedule I wouldn’t have been as enthused about it.

the 100: This is probably something you haven’t heard of, since it’s still in its first season and is on the CW. In a nutshell it’s post apocalyptic Lord of the Flies with some more conventional politicking shennigannery thrown in. So right off the bat,it’s satisfying a lot of my preferences. In terms of quality the first word I’d use to describe it is: competent, it isn’t stellar by any stretch but it does everything well enough. Also it refreshingly has a strong start, and out of nine episodes so far,there’s only one that I can point to as being particularly weak, and that was episode eight.

Just a note on Revolution, I gave up on that show early into season two when hate watching it became more of a chore when it was more boring than anything else. The fact that it got cancelled is good news in the Giancarlo Esposito can be in something better department, although by the time I quit the acting wasn’t a problem.

In terms of TV, that’s it. I haven’t really branched out to new stuff lately,  although Clone Wars is probably coming up soonish, as is the new season of Orange is the New Black. Otherwise it’s been a lot of Twitch streamers, primarily LoadingReadyRun along with an assortment of Solforge and Magic streams.

Till next time.

Some thoughts on the forthcoming BSG movie

In case you missed it, Universal is rebooting BSG as a movie…for reasons. Remaking something that’s only five years past it’s finale seems suspect.  What is the point is why reboot this at all and why make it a movie?

Well first of all, I’m thankful that this is a reboot and not another appendage on the RDM series. it was getting very cluttered, as the reveal of Blood and Chrome showed; as well as the fact that I found Caprica far more enjoyable when I treated it as more of a spiritual prequel than a literal one. This means we have a clean slate, although this does raise the question of how clean is it? By that I mean this is the third iteration of the concept, what do you include and what’s exclusive to each series?

In terms of characters here’s what you have for sure: Adama, Tigh, Apollo, Zak, Starbuck, Adar, Baltar. The reason this is the core is that all of these characters were used in both series and aren’t named Cain, who was a guest star in both. Everything else is really up in the air. Especially when you consider how amorphous the setting can be: there are Cylons, they wiped out most of humanity, now the remnants have the Battlestar Galactica to protect them as they search for the 13th Colony of Kobol, Earth. The salient details are totally up in the air. Although given how influential nuBSG was, there will be some sort of civilian government and associated tensions.

The military/civilian tensions and the other topical issues from nuBSG that made it linked to its cultural zeitgeist is part of the reason why it gained the following that it did. Updating it for 2014 isn’t that hard. The reason I say this is that nuBSG laid out a fairly good way to do so in the episode “Hero” also known as one of those episodes from season 3 that you forget cause nothing happened.  The concept of an effectively rogue military organization and the ramifications thereof is a rather good starting point.  Not only that but it’s concise, it favors the movie format. Make a drone analog the reason that tipped the war in the Cylons’ favor and you’re good to go.

There’s not much to be said about the other elements. The special effects will no doubt be amazing, given what the show was able to do on a tv budget with things like the Battle of New Caprica. I’d like it if Bear McCreary was again the composer, but that’s just as much a factor of I really like him as a composer. As someone who actually likes shakycam,  I wouldn’t mind more of it.

In short, I”m cautiously optimistic about this. It could be good and there’s a lot of good material to use as a springboard. If it’s bad, then it’s bad, can’t say I really care.

 

Some Perspective on The Elder Scrolls

I’ve been “replaying”* Morrowind lately and it’s different than Bethesda’s later titles. Some ways good, some not as good. Treating as the start of their “modern”** era is fitting so let’s take a look at what made Morrowind what is and how these features have been treated in future games.

The setting: Morrowind would not be so beloved if it did not have the setting it does. Vvardenfall is a truly unique place with its own mundane yet fantastical creatures. The architecture is its own and is diverse: the Dunmer-Empire fusion of Hlaalu, the more traitional Redoran buildings designed to withstand the ash storms, the plant like wizard towers of the Telvanni. Daedric ruins, Ancestral tombs, Dwemer Ruins, Egg Mines, Dunmer fortresses. There is a lot of different stuff to see and interact with.

How does it stack up?: This is one of the reasons why Morrowind is so beloved and it hasn’t really been usurped. Oblivion had the cities be the same, Ayleid Ruins, dungeons and Oblivion gates in generic fantasyland. Fallout 3 was diverse yet samey; although I think is more a function of the graphical settings I had. Skyrim is very pretty and is fantasyScandanavia and has differing climes as well as dungeon set ups.

Story: Yes, the main plot is basically taking Frank Herbert’s Dune and tweaking it. But that ignores the backstory, which is different, as well as the execution. All in all it’s very well done. Tribunal’s main quest is dumb and immersion breaking*** but Bloodmoon rebounds.

How does it stack up?: Oblivion and Fallout 3 are both dumb but not Tribunal level dumb. I’ve never played the Oblivion DLC but I’ve heard good things about it. Skyrim’s Civil War is just really unpolished and according to modders theree was a lot more they wanted to do with it.  I haven’t actually finished Alduin’s plot due to limitations of having access to Skyrim but so far it’s been fun. But the backstory is really, really engrossing. It cleans away most of the contiunity lockout that was building up and is compelling in its own right. The problem is that I want more of it, and it’s not forthcoming at any point in the near future.

Factions: 3 Great Houses, 3 Guilds, 2 Religions, 3 Clans, the Legion, the Morag Tong, and the EEC in Bloodmoon is just a list of the joinable ones. The Blades, Skaal and Ashlanders use the faction system to convey something during the Main Quest. There’s also House Dres, House Indoril, the Cammona Tong, the Dark Brotherhood, and the Twin Lamps that still impact the game but aren’t joinable.

How does it stack up?: Winner by a clear mile, Oblivion had 5, Fallout has none and Skyrim has 4. Nor does that get into how annoying Skyrim is with its factions and tying them to Daedra. The plots of the factions are all engaging, with the exception of half of Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood, and they drop the attribute/skill requirements. Which on one hand is good, but on the other hand does remove a layer of you’re moving up in the ranks.

Magic: Is fairly diverse, plenty of spell effects. the problem is that a good chunk of Illusion and Mysticism are basically useless.

How does it stack up?: I can’t tell you anything about Oblivion outside of spellmaking was locked to the Mage’s Guild, which was dumb and immersion breaking if you wanted to not join them. Skyrim really fails here, between Destruction not scaling with weapon damage and the effects being reduced to the bone, it’s underwhelming. Most of the interesting non-mundane effects are locked off in Shouts. They all have their problems, I think TES Six has a good foundation if they take the Shouts and make them magic. Levitate I think I’m mixed on. On one hand, design can make more organic worlds and use the spell’s existence to be more diverse. On the other hand, Levitate is just as often used by me as a get of this damn ditch then any legit exploring. The former is good, the latter is not good.

Fast Travel: An interweaving series of guild guides, silt striders and boats cover most of the province. Otherwise you have Mark and Recall for one location. You’re more often tahn not forced to explore the wilderness to get to places and often stumble upon things.

How does it stack up?: The biggest problem with Oblivion’s system was that you could fast travel to all the cities by default. There was so little incentive to go exploring out beyond the next quest. Fallout and Skyrim were better in that you have to discover the place first and Skyrim has more emergence in that fast travel still exists for other people. Mark and Recall would be good for specific points and its original use of one location would be fine.****

Character Progression: On the surface it’s rather straightforward, raise skills that matter to your character. Level up, raise your stats. The problem is that the system is counter intuitive and leads to sub optimal characters at higher levels if played normally.***** In terms of gear, you can find the common stuff with no problem, the rare stuff with varying degrees of difficulty and the high tier stuff is only in the wilderness or on important NPCs.

How does it stack up?: Oblivion is terrible, Fallout 3 is fine. The gear doesn’t really stand out that much, especially if you have DLC and do Operation Anchorage soonish. Skyrim is functional but your character lacks some measure of identity in this set up. Skyrim still wins though. Crafting being the great equalizer does give some justification to customizing appearance at hte cost of you needing to be heavily invested in smithing and enchanting.

Overall: Morrowind had the more engrossing sandbox to play in, Skyrim has far more refined gameplay. However the gamplay comes at the cost of not really defining the character and making them interchangeable.  Hopefully TES 6 will have the same world building as Morrowind but with far more mechanical polish.

*Given the factions and self imposed restrictions I have on this playthrough, it is a different game in some regards but given how much I’ve played it, it’s replaying.

**I’ve never felt a great need to toy around with DOS to get the earlier games to work and considering how their popularity really took off with Morrowind I think this is fair. This also means that I’m including Fallout 3 cause it can be fairly described as Oblivion with guns.

***The sheer nonsense of it really reinforces the sort of ambiguous everyman your character essentially is and the difficulty of roleplaying.

****There’s a reason why multiple Mark/Recall is one of the must have mods.

*****GCD mod fixes this nicely.