Reviews

For the first time in 21 episodes (which excludes the two 90 minute introductions), I can say this is the one where I finally accepted Battlestar Galactica as worthy sci-fi.

Until now, I've been wincing at the intermittent terrible dialogue, poor camera work, frustrating sound jungles, childish direction, annoying character decisions, questionable acting, etc.

In this episode however, we're treated to a unique framing device. We're forced to see all of the Galactica characters from a new perspective. The episodes sells the idea I believe the show writers has been aiming for all along - the human condition, in survival mode, in space. It's exactly how I imagine humans would react in a fleet of less than 50k people under constant threat. We soldier on, faults and all.

Moreover, the overarching story line is seamlessly progressed (finally), without any gods arrow shenanigans.

The Clyon threat is real.

The fleet is in jeopardy, always The humans are fallible.

I felt joy in the final dialogue of the reporters camera piece. Gratification for Adama. But no. A worthy twist. The enemy truly beckons....

The dinner scene had me clawing my eyes out, alongside the stupid jingle playing in so many scenes, reminiscent of a kids cartoon show.

The acting was TEDIOUS to watch. Genuinely, positively painful. Not high shelf sci-fi. So many characters have made out of character decisions, in so many episodes now.

Why is the President suddenly suspicious of Adama after killing a Clyon last episode, despite her speech of 'not letting them get in your head'? One whisper that 'Adama is a Cylon' sets her off? The first thing she does this episode is suspect Adama of being a Clyon? How did she manage a class full of children!?

An adult didn't write this episodes. This isn't how adults act. These characters are not battle hardened, combat veterans, arguing about wives and telephone calls whilst a Clyon vessel is IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLEET. Sometimes focusing on the humans ruins the story instead of enhancing it.

The writing is terrible. The conflict resolution; 'You do your job good and you're my friend', immediately after a shouting match is non-sensical.

The continued 'Frack' usage still grates.

People revere this show, but so far it's a 6.5/10, at most. My upbringing was Farscape, TNG, Voyager and DS9. Battlestar needs to improve beyond season 1, and I hope it does.

Seriously. You're on a foreign planet being eaten by a gigantic swamp worm. Talk later. Escape now. Instead we get melancholic music and a speech. This series regularly suffers by this writers trope, interjecting off-pace drama during time sensitive scenarios to manufacture danger. Heck, the same trope caused this crash - the previous episode would have been a clear cut escape, if the decoy had been utilised sufficiently. Again, crisis and action is put on hold while iterations of the title theme play as the camera switches between circling and close ups of our main characters. Cheap, manufactured emotions, again.

ESCAPPEE FIRRSSSTTT.

Essentially, this episode tried to emulate/recycle the earlier and superior 'Judy flashback' episode, when her Father was stuck down the mineshaft. Now it's her mother stuck in a chair. With truly talented writers, this show could have been a real gem. Instead, it's just okay.

Beats Star Trek Discovery, though!

• The end of the episode reveals ruins that couldn't have been more than a brisk trek away, but somehow 100 kids and a robot failed to explore their surroundings within a year. It's also quoted that the ship scanned the planets surface so they can land in a survivable environment. It even revealed titanium deposits on a sheer cliff face, but apparently couldn't detect huge ruins, visually or otherwise.

• Multiple meteor impacts within visual range were depicted as loud, but no young ears nor the ships computer are tuned in to that. Just the robot.

• The interpersonal drama is tedious. These kids are generally good actors, but much of it felt very stilted.

• Judy would most certainly have suggested the ore deposit before a year expires, both to acquire titanium and to satisfy her curiosity concerning the radio signal.

• I currently haven't a clue how all of those parents are alive, in orbit about a star and with so many intact Jupiters, nor how they approach and depart a robot infested planet stealthily.

• Smith has ramped up her acting to 'even more annoying', and the audience is left cringing. She also saves Judy at the start of the episode, which was yet another dues ex machina by the writers. Just have Judy make it without all of this Hollywood 'last minute danger, last second danger' - as if flying through space to catch a moving spacecraft isn't thrilling enough. The 'gotcha' hand grab is outdated.

• The robot literally fought for Will last season. Would it really strand him on a planet, and would Will truly not have realised the missing titanium?

• Up-draughts that can accelerate vehicle sized boulders to 'blur' speed would have launched wing suits hilariously high. Instead they jump and drop, like every 'last second', will-they-won't-they reappear scene ever. It doesn't create tension. I imagine holding hands would have removed all individual movement abilities too.

Alllllll of that said, I'm happy watching the rest! On to episode 2. CGI is still good, there is room for an engaging story, if not compelling. Compared to shows such as Star Trek, this is a fair watch (though random reader, I'd recommend Foundation over this)

I've read the books, I've seen the '84 film and 2000/2003 mini-series.

Problems with Dune 2021; ~ Bland colour palette, all grey, even the Atreides homeworld (which should be luscious green), all the ships friendly and enemy alike, all the uniforms and so on. Everything.

~ Many scenes far, far too dark ~ Zendaya as Chani is a miscast ~ Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica reduced to near constant crying and whispering ~ Fight scenes are cut to heck, with inconsistencies in how the personal shields work and direct blows blocked from view by camera position/actor (keeping the film a lower age rating?) ~ We never meet the emperor, nor his daughter, who played HUGE rolls ~ Missing House Corrino, the third powerful House ~ We could have at least seen the main ship travel to Dune, if we're not to see the navigators yet ~ Design of the main settlement and palace is... odd ~ Character development very poor, struggle to connect to any one of them ~ Very long, with poor pacing in parts ~ No real backstory for any context - we know nothing of the political situation or history of the Houses, nor how spice has influenced the Galaxy ~ A major character shouldn't have survived toxic gas, he was too close and that's not how shields work ~ Far too many slow-motion shots ~ Almost every scene with Zandaya looked like her modelling poses for her fashion line/any generic perfume advert which was off putting ~ Score by Hans Zimmer was underwhelming to say the least, and didn't match on screen elements ~ WHERE ARE THE BLUE EYES? Muted blue, more grey. Digital filter apparently, the originals SHONE, in some ethereal type way ~ It feels like director Denis copied much of the original scene for scene, adding nothing but modern filming techniques and CGI whilst removing the heart and soul of the entire Dune saga.

~ I don't **think** anybody said 'The Spice Must Flow'. If so, I missed it, and it was said but once. In a 2 1/2 hour movie about Dune. Really?

~ An all star cast detracts from the film - you see each star in their hit films/franchises. Gurney and Duncan absolutely did not reflect their written characters.

~ It ends at a terrible, terrible point in the story, barely through the first book. A prelude for Dune: Part 2, which will only be made if Part 1 is a commercial success. Silly.

The old movie was flawed in so many ways, but was entirely memorable and well developed despite it's lore breaking ending. The TV mini-series did it as brilliantly as possible overall, especially Children of Dune with James McAvoy.

If Part 2 is made, and I hope it will be out of curiosity, I'll be incredibly surprised if it improves upon itself but hope it does. I love Dune and want to see it succeed, including the planned TV series about the Bene Gesserit. But it needs to be more than 'watchable'. It needs a heart.

Lastly, I think the movie-goer without Dune knowledge will be bewildered/confused/bored by Part 1. Case in point; when Jessica is talking about bloodlines and the response is about 'Men aren't as capable', half the screening gasped. They clearly didn't know the story and saw that one line as going against the woke ways of today. 'YOU CAN'T SAY THAT!' one person muttered. Others laughed. Others talked about it for the next minute. The world of today can't handle the raw Dune saga. Hell forbid they research how Baron Harkonnen ended up the way he is and the evil he does...

Cons _______

It's really frustrating, that this could have been a masterpiece of television with slight tweaks to the script and character actions. After the first 4 hours, the title of the series seems to apply to one scene only, where a striken cruise liner is boarded and a character does what must be done - genuinely dark, though not hard hitting for lack of character development, and therefore investment (speaking of which, can anyone name more than 3 of the characters?). That's the only time I truly felt the grim tone of 500,000 people dying per day.

The world is crumbling, yet the crew barely seem all too bothered. Other than two 30 second scenes where radio chatter of survivors is heard and some flashbacks (with generic pandering piano melody indicating you need to feel something), everybody is partying on beaches, focusing on high school love issues and generally acting blasé, as though nothing is askew.

Stereotypes also run amok, be it the characters or situations. Some acting is okay, a little is great, most is childish or wooden. Plot contrivances are unrealistic. CGI is lacklustre. Clunky expositional lines or obvious comments referring to what's happening removing any nuance. Continuity ignored, some glaring, such as the exterior footage revealing the ship having executed a 360 degree manoeuvre whilst Captain ordered a left turn to port; lazy editing. Propping up god damn religion to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Pros ______

The ship itself, as a character and a set, is fantastic. I love everything about the premise, as a Navy turned research turned lifeboat tackling problems as she sails toward the ultimate solution. It's simply fun, though emphasis on the simple. For example, if your captain asks whether you can shoot, the answer will never be "I can shoot the nipples off of a chicken from a thousand yards". It's ridiculous, but a fun ride. The action is also fairly well done and enjoyable. If only they had taken it seriously (albeit not politically, as the other reviewers warn of) , it'd have easily catapulted to classic status. Look elsewhere for that. Watch this to disengage.

**NO SPOILERS** & in brief:

THE GOOD

• Acting - as in the previous two films, good, even if sometimes imbalanced and under utilized in areas (but only when compared to the previous films). Bone's interactions and humour are the highlights,especially with Spock. Sofia Boutella as Jaylah excels in all of her scenes.

• Special effects - for the most part, very good, though it's occasionally clear that much of the budget was spent on the Enterprise compared to some other elements/scenes.

• 2 other points regarding the finale but cannot mention without spoilers.

THE BAD

• Directing – Poor framing, shaky cam and lack of coordination diluted every non-FX action sequence. You either feel like a distant observer or a disorientated participant - never the middle ground, never completely immersed as is the skill of a successful director (I literally don't know what happened during one sequence). His Fast & Furious movies should be your warning – we're not watching car chases here.

• Predictable - whilst there was a good twist at the end that I didn't expect, it was lost among the rest of the predictable crap, be it physical actions or the script. The final sequence seemed to follow a step-by-step guide on it!

• Script - Nothing game changing or memorable like the destruction of Vulcan. Nothing as intense or as dark as the crushing of an Admirals skull. Just a generic villain with a stereotypical cause, no intelligence. Star Treks foundations are not followed in my opinion - no exploration of space, no moral dilemmas or thought provoking issues - just an above par action film designed to appeal to the masses.

• Plot holes – described in spoilers below.

Extra Note

• The hyped up 'gay scene' that so many lost their mind over was nothing more than about 6 seconds of run time. Without all of the news articles, many wouldn't have even noticed.

Overall

It's not a terrible film and is indeed worth watching in the cinema. But Beyond is a step backwards, and Justin Lin wasn't the right choice. A Star Trek audience deserves an intelligent script, not a headache inducing action film that's full of plot holes and Hollywood stereotypes.

_________________

**SPOILERS** & in-depth:

• Acting: As I mentioned, the acting is good for the most part, but slightly out of balance - each character had their individual moments with one another, but this approach eradicated the 'teamwork' feel. Perhaps that was the intention. But the biggest character of the film - the Enterprise - is missing, and so what we spend most of our time watching is a peril absent adventure on a poorly portrayed planet against a generic villain. Star Trek made its name my pushing boundaries, is that beyond the scope now?

• Destruction of the Enterprise: The doom of the ship was brilliantly executed here - Kirk's reflection in the escape pod's window as he sees the remainder of his ship go down, the attack of the swarm, the situation of panic, the way the enemy board the ship, the weapons used, etc.

• Music: The Beastie Boys song playing during the Franklins attack is superb! One of the few truly standout scenes. The special effects of the swarm approaching the star base is also a beautifully menacing image.

Plot Holes/'questionable';

• Defeating the swarm: Bombarding the radio frequency to disrupt communications between each ship is ridiculous. These are spacecraft, designed to operate in space. Planets, comets, stars, giant clouds of gas and dust (such as the nebulae supposedly nearby the planet) give off radio waves - are we to believe that these ships are shielded from all possible frequencies and intensities of radio waves that exist in the universe, other than their own operating frequency used for coordination? Forgetting all of the vague excuses possible for this, what made them all instantly explode?! All they did was collide with each other (which didn't see Bones and Spock instantly blow up after they commandeered one), whilst the beginning of the movie showed some being capable of penetrating the Enterprise hull. A pretty serious and incredibly convenient design flaw if you ask me. Besides, it appeared as though they all had pilots - even if the swarms communication was interrupted, can they not fly individually as when they left the planet, just without synchronicity?

• Scottys crash landing: We'll ignore that this cliff scene is a copy and paste from Justin Lin's last Fast & Furious film. But after this, Scotty's escape pod falls down an incredibly large cliff. The time frame presented should not have had him arriving so quickly, that cliff face was thousands of metres high! How did he get down?

• PHASE HIM ALREADY!!! Kirk, please. He's holding a deadly bio- weapon. Shoot this fool already! But no, we need more predictable drama. And oh look, FOUR levers you need to pull to save the day. I wonder which number will fail, since we need more predictable drama.

• The Franklin: Less than 10% impulse speed should be enough to reach escape velocity. Can it not gather speed within the atmosphere, without a gravity assist? Thrusters are shown to be saving the space craft from the (stereotypical) impact at the bottom of the cliff - if a gravity assist really was needed, why not just go up in the air first, before the 'drop'? Predictable drama? Also, did the bad guy and everyone on the planet not wonder where the Franklin could have disappeared to after it had been 'cloaked' by Jaylah?!

• Video: So, Uhura made the connection that the bad guy was the old captain by a split second glimpse of a grainy greenish video screen in passing (and why was it even playing)? The bad guy literally looked nothing like the old captain...