For those of you naysayers who watched a couple Battlestar Galacticas and gave up, or watched them out of order and didn't get the fuss, check out Ron Moore's response to this fan question (from the sci-fi channel blog):
"Just how did Starbuck become so fracking awesome? I mean, she's the best pilot, the best shot, potential pro athlete, ex-flight instructor, her personal vehicle is a Humvee loaded with submachineguns (like that BEFORE the Cylons attacked), she dual-wields Skorpions like Neo, her fists pack a wallop, she's a tactical genius, second-best card player in the known universe... she's a tomboy Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every macho way."
RM:This is partly an outgrowth of the original Starbuck character, partly a result of the realities of television, and partly a riff on the traditional male action hero transposed to a woman.
Make the jump for the rest of his awesome answer.
Can't decide if I want to be Starbuck or Ron Moore. Do they sell Halloween costumes of them? Battlestar Galactica season finale tomorrow. Frak, yeah.
17 comments:
Ron Moore sayeth:
The original character was supposed to be the best pilot in the fleet and the best card player, so I always saw those two attributes as integral to the role. Also in the original was the conceit that Starbuck and Apollo were inevitably assigned the most important positions in any mission and they carried out a variety of tasks that had little or nothing to do with flying Vipers and I decided to continue that conceit for continuity and for practicality -- you use your regulars to tell story in TV, that's why you're paying them. This is one of those areas where the realism of our fictional universe has to give way to the realism of producing the show. Could we have introduced a new sniper character for the final action scene in "Bastille Day"? Of course. But would that have been as dramatic or interesting as having Kara be the sniper while Lee is in the center of the action? Probably not. Could we have introduced a different pair of shipboard investigators to deal with the assassination plot in "Colonial Day"? Absolutely. But the show is about our group of regular characters, and handing over an entire investigative storyline to two people we've never seen before simply isn't as good as letting Kara and Lee do it -- as long as we can plausibly believe they'd handle those chores. And yes, I think that given the premise of the show, namely that there are only a handful of survivors to begin with and that Galactica herself was undermanned when the attack went down, I can accept Kara being asked to do a variety of roles.
I also frankly enjoy watching Kara take on many of the traditionally male roles in the show, as the leading hero(ine), which more often than not involves being extraordinarily adept at more than one thing. (James Bond, anyone?) Some of it is just my own perverse pleasure at watching us explode gender roles and stereotypes and seeing Kara Thrace be the go-to character in a genre which typically demands that person be a man. And truth to tell, if she were still a he, I strongly suspect that this question wouldn't come up at all.
AND, for those that saw the teaser last week, some may consider the casting choices to be a further shot at Moore's former sci-fi employers...
Gotta LOVE this show.
But where was it said in the original that Starbuck was the best pilot in the fleet? Apollo was the ultra-golden boy, wasn't he??? Which made the fact that he never had an action figure all the more sucky for me.
MIM
Starbuck is awesome and I love thae fact that Moore did what he did with that particular character. I'd love to write one half as good one day.
Okay... slightly off topic, but as long as we're talking about gender...
Did you watch the Emmys, NP? Did you notice that ALL of the writers for the "Daily Show" were male? And that joke from John Stewart -- about how they said he couldn't put together a staff that was less than 80% ivy-league educated Jews -- wow. Blew my mind. I didn't know if he was making fun of the weird homogeny of his writing staff or basking in it! I just wondered why he didn't SAY anything about the OBVIOUS lack of women. Not even one ivy-league educated Jewish woman.
I love the "Daily Show." I'm just saying.
NN
Funny thing to me is, I actually LIKE the Lee/ "Apollo" character on the new BSG. Maybe it's the little geek/ teacher's pet/ goody-two-shoes in me, but I do empathize with the guy.
Thing is, figure we have Apollo showing proficiencies in these areas:
Pilot -- though not as gutsy as Starbuck
HTH combat
Small arms
History/ politics -- Zarek episodes
Command -- in that all the bridge crew seems to respect him (esp. Dualla!).
Interrogation/ security
Starbuck, on the other hand, has aptitude in all of these areas:
Pilot
HTH combat
Small arms
Card-playing -- Pyramid
Sports -- 'Pyramid,' when I thought it was supposed to be called 'Triad'
Sniper
Interrogation/ security
Flight instructor
Religious history -- remember the Kobol planetarium scene?
Is it just me, or is the Apollo character looking kind of limited by comparison?
MIM
NN, That's pretty much the ratio on every TV show. 95% of the WGA is male, remember? Thus the bitching and worrying and strategic planning around the uterus issue.
MIM, I have no problem with that. Lee is the Cyclops role, and Kara is the Wolverine. Fine by me.
Technically not the season finale. It was a twenty ep order and they're spilting up the season, so come January (not that far off) we get ten more.
And as far as I know, they haven't named the card game in the current version. Could be mistaken.
If you haven't, pick up the season one box set that just came out this week...Moore commentaries galore (along with producer and directors...so they are not the same as the podcast commentaries...which rock...so...hard.
Your not talking about the Battle Star Galactica that I know. Beedeee Beedee Beedee
Target has Ron Moore Halloween costumes... but I think they only have toddler sizes left.
I'm just glad to see that they finally put a Mexican in space (Olmos/Adama), let alone trusting him with THE mother of all starships.
;)
american knight --
FYI: Lorne Greene, though of Canadian citzienship, WAS Mexican.
Cool, huh?
MIM
MIM
Too Cool about Lorne Greene, I did not know that, I'm just glad we don't have to hide it anymore.
I just want to tell you how much I love your goal. You rock Elizabeth!
Long time no see. :) Hope all is well.
kid sis -- Had not thought of Lee and Kara that way. I LIKE it! MIM
M, I'm not one of those nitpicky fans. Don't have the time or interest. But I do love my DVD set.
Christina, I bet you're thinking Buck Rogers. Loved that show. Erin Gray is a goddess, brunette or blonde.
PG, Damn. Always on the backside of the trends. I'm squeezing into a toddler size, then. Target rules!
AK, me too! And I hope you do write a character as good someday!
MIM and AK, glad for the info about LG!
B, thanks for the support, as always. Hey, where do you live? I wrote you back on your site. Nice hooker story, girl.
MIM, me too!
Halloween Costumes..already got mine. I'm Batgirl this year. Not as cool as the 1960s costume I wore in C Jay's film as the stuntlegs, but it will do. God, the star tranny was mad I had the costume on first. Stole his thunder, I guess. Still sorry, eight years later.
Re: Season Finale --
HOLY FRACKING BLEEP.
OMG.
OMG.
I say again:
OMG.
Quite possibly the best geek cliffhanger since ST: TNG's "Best of Both Worlds."
MIM
Yup. Pretty effing good. And written by a woman. Oh my stars and garters.
Don't know if you were sensitive to it, but the rapes were handled perfectly....nothing to argue about there. Exact opposite of what had everyone up in arms about the Accused being prurient. Really one of the best stories I've seen about the complicated effects and aftermath of war. LOOOOOVINNNN'
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