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Galactica Season 4 (Spoilers Within)

A story teller that does not give the audience satisfaction, has essentially failed at his or her task. Of course if their intent is to alienate the audience then I suppose that is a measure of success, but not I would be proud of because the next time around the audience might not be there for any offerings that the artist produces. You say that the artist is under no obligation? Well if they ant people to actually care about what they produce, then I would say yes they are obligated to the needs of their audience.
 
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If your entire purpose is to satisfy, then yes. But if your purpose is to inform, to enlighten, to enrage? Not necessarily.
 
Koshfan if the audience doesn't like your message then they will turn away from you. Maybe to the point of never wanting to see anything else that you have to offer. that does happen more often then you think.
 
I think Olmos' statements are red herrings, to be honest. I remember when Carnivale was canceled (Moore was a writer/producer for that show as well,) and season 2 ended the show in a horrible, stupid, cliff-hanger manner that was almost completely devoid of hope and reason. I recall an interview I found with Moore where he was utterly pissed that the story was never given a chance to come full circle, to finish. He said that even though an ending might not be "happy" there has to be a measure of resolution to it, a reason why it all happened, a pay off of some kind. And I agree with this. Stories are never created 100% for the author--there is a mingling of an author's vision and the desire to please your audience. It doesn't have to be a perfect mix, but it should exist.

If your intention is to fuck with an audience who has remained loyal for the SOLE purpose of getting some kind of creative orgasm (and one that nobody else "gets,") then it's not a story, it's just artistic masturbation on behalf of the creator.

Many stories end in tragedy yet still satisfy: Braveheart, Gladiator, friggin Titanic (for those of us who DID like the movie!) Nobody here is really asking for happy flowers and hippy shit. We just want to feel that our time and loyalty will be rewarded in some way and that we won't be throwing things at the television set, but saying to ourselves, "wow, that was amazing."
 
I wondered about the red herring angle on EJOs interviews...but it just doesnt seem realistic. I cant imagine that guy making stuff up in an interview to make viewers think the wrong thing. A little too much conspiracy theory I think.
 
Alluveal, thats pretty much my point about audience satisfaction. I mention Terry Gilliam earlier, He did two films Brazil and 12 monkeys great films but after seeing them once, I had no desire to see them again, because ending wise they did not satisfy me. Then endings were to bleak and to cruel to worth a second viewing. The films were both failure for all of their splendor. The Sopranos, that ending ruined it, David Chase didn't give the audience a satisfactory conclusion, end result, when i see sopranos episode on reruns I change the channel, I just don't care about the series anymore.
 
Not to belabor GKE's point but....so what? The series was a success. DVDs sell like crazy. He got to tell his story and end it the way he wanted. Some people didnt like it, some did. Either way it was going to be done in the last frame anyway...so so what?
 
Garavorkin, in Brazil, and in 12 Monkeys, I saw a lot of hope in bleak endings, even in both cases the main protagonist died. Compare them to the book 1984, where there was no hope at all.

Gilliam is a genius at times. You should certianly watch the Fisher King. It gives you the hollywood happy ending you seem to want from your movies.

Anyway, we are all going to watch it, and probably give his next shows a try too. Virtuallity sounds great, a spaced based show where the crew make constant use of VR for amusement, and they are all in turn being constantly filmed and watched on Earth as the next big reality TV event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuality_(TV_series)

It won't end happy ;)
 
Hope in 12 Monkeys funny I didn't see any all the time traveler did he did was complete the whole tragic cycle, and in Brazil the guy didn't get away except in his head, what hope ? Movie message all hope is a matter of perspective or delusion or both.?Offering hope only to ripe it away like that ? worse then 1984 far worse, far more cruel, both those endings were very unsatisfying, both films failures. 1984 was brutal and a book and a film i will never watch or read again, but by comparison to Brazil and 12 Monkey, it was honest at least, there was no illusions about hope or anything else, it was never about that . I think Orwell made that point pretty clear ,Winston Smith knew he was doomed and knew they're was no escape . Yes I liked the Fisher King no problem there, that one did have a more upbeat ending, in that one, he did give the audience what it wanted and needed most.
 
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What the audience wants and what the audience needs are often quite different things, but that just means the audience is made up of humans. Us people, we're like that.
 
Your correct on that point. But the audience see's the whole satisfaction issue as being paramount, in other words the customer is alway right. Koshfan I'm talking about an ending that satisfies, if its sad but hopeful, I can live with it . I hate the hope gets snatched away type of endings, those make it not worth the trip.
 
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Garovorkin said:
Your correct on that point. But the audience see's the whole satisfaction issue as being paramount, in other words the customer is alway right. Koshfan I'm talking about an ending that satisfies, if its sad but hopeful, I can live with it . I hate the hope gets snatched away type of endings, those make it not worth the trip.
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Oh, twist endings that set things up as hopeful and then yank it all away, that's just cruel. But my point is, the audience may see the satisfaction as paramount, and sometimes the audience is flat wrong.

Garovorkin said:
Koshfan upon further reflection, I don't have all the answers on these issues.
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Well, who does? Just another part of being human.

Galahad said:
Are you sure there aren't any cylons among the audience?:p
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To quote Indiana Jones, "Pretty sure."
 
I've been away for some time but I'm glad to be back in my favourite B5 sanctuary!!!:)

So the fellows from BSG finally found Earth.What a dark and disappointing end of the first half of season 4.We can only guess what will happen from now on.Probably the colonials and the cylons will begin to work together in finding a new home or somehow try to live in Earth's harsh environment.

I have a suspicion that it's all happening several thousand years in the past and Baltar's movement will come out to be Christianity.This would also explain origin of the Ancient Greek religion.What bothers me is that Ancient Egypt is much older historically than ancient Greece and nobody is mentioning Ra,Osiris or any other egyptian god.

Too bad we have to wait untill next year to figure that out.
 
I'm still waiting for the time travel episode. They have books of prophecy which seem to be rather accurate. Either they were divinely inspired or some people from our storyline went back in time and planted those stories. You also have the starbuck issue with her ship getting destroyed and then coming back. For her a short time passed while for everyone else weeks went by. So I'm expecting either the 5th cylon to help them go back in time or a vortex sends them back in time to meet the 5th cylon. Maybe the sun will go nova.

So either he goes down the spiritual route with god telling them where he wants them to go or someone is going back in time. Maybe they will find a delorian in the debris.

If anyone has read Asimov's robot series of books I'm waiting for R. Daneel Olivaw to greet them on the moon.
 
Garovorkin said:
Hope in 12 Monkeys funny I didn't see any all the time traveler did he did was complete the whole tragic cycle, and in Brazil the guy didn't get away except in his head, what hope ?.
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Well, we can agree to disagree here. I saw hope in both those endings, in terms of triumph of the human spirit against adversity. And IIRC, In 12 monkeys, the female scientist is seen on the plane next to the guy with the virus, implying she will be there to either stop him or pick up the original pathogens. Cheesy happy endings for these movies would have been a complete cop-out.
 
Well Darth , we do have a difference of opinion this one, no big deal really. The question is, now that Galactica has shuffled off to Hiatus heaven till 09 what will we still find things to argue over?
 
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