# Stargate Atlantis vs Battlestar Galactica



## Dagger75 (Feb 21, 2005)

When Atlantic first came out I wasn't that impressed with it.  Saw the BSG mini series and couldn't wait for the series to start.  Now that it has I can't get into Battlestar but am really begining to like Atlantis.  It seems to be getting better each week. I mean some of the episodes aren't that great but to me it is getting better.  So is this just me?


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## Cyberzombie (Feb 21, 2005)

Yep.  

I will grant you that Atlantis is getting better.  Last season was rocky; some good, some not so good.  But if you go back and look at 1st season SG-1, it was pretty much the same way.  This season's Atlantis is a lot like 2nd season SG-1 to me: they're really hitting their stride.

BSG seems every bit as good to me as the pilot was.  Sure, they're not fighting the cylons most of the time.  They can't.  They're in a Grim 'n' Gritty setting.  If they still had constant running battles, they'd all be dead already.  I like it.  Especially as a counterpoint to SG-1 and Atlantis, which are more Heroic Action.  Makes for nice contrast.


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## Brakkart (Feb 21, 2005)

I can't comment on BSG, not seen the new series as I don't have Sky, so I'll have a better opinion on that when I get the first season on DVD in late March. I loved the miniseries though, and every review I've read of the series says it is just as good if not better, so really looking forward to seeing that for myself.

Atlantis though is just going from strength to strength, and the two part season finale is incredible, no idea how they pulled that off on a tv budget, talk about wringing every last penny out of the budget. Even the secondary characters are well rounded and well detailed, everyone gets a good share of screen time and lines (well except Lieutenant Ford, who seems to exist solely as Major Sheppards shadow). My favourite characters aren't even main cast, as they are Dr. Carson Beckett (who is frankly hilarious) and Dr. Radek Zelenka (also funny, and useful counterfoil to McKay). Quite what they are going to do in Season Two I have no idea, but with the Wraith they have a genuinely creepy threat to fight, and whoever thought up the Genii should get a pay raise!


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## Crothian (Feb 21, 2005)

BSG held zero interest to me.  I tried to watch the mini series and a few episodes but it just hasn't impressed me at all.  But Atlantis has been very good and I've really enjoyed it.


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## CaffeineBoy (Feb 21, 2005)

I've had the opposite reaction. I just can't get into SG:A (Maybe I overdosed on SG1? Dunno.), but BSG has rocked my world. I personally loathed the original series with all of its chrome, big hair and *grossly* overused colonial idiom, but the current series is great. Lo, for the grace of Tivo go I (I found taping stuff impossible to pull off reliably before DVR). I have all of this season stored, and I bought the miniseries. Color me happy.

Not that there aren't some dumb episodes, but, for the most part it's a well-written, topical and stylish show. I give it two thumbs up (three, if we're taling about the blonde cylon babe).


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## Viking Bastard (Feb 21, 2005)

Of the two, I'd say BSG is the superiour show. Yet, I look more forward to Atlantis, 
because a) it's a lighter/more fun show and b) I have much more invested in the
Stargate universe.

But if I could only choose one, I'd go for BSG.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Feb 22, 2005)

They're both getting better with every episode. I think I notice it with Atlantis more, as I wasn't as into it right off the bat as I was with BSG...but BSG is just keeping up a great quality throug it all.


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## Mystery Man (Feb 22, 2005)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that BattleStar Galactica is the best show on *television*. That's probably just me though.


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## The_Gunslinger658 (Feb 22, 2005)

Mystery Man said:
			
		

> I'm going to go out on a limb and say that BattleStar Galactica is the best show on *television*. That's probably just me though.




To you and others perhaps, but I much prefer SGA over BSG. BSG reminds me of a soap opera in space, not my kind of java.

SGA has some awesome episodes and action, lots of action. The last episode with the chick in the sleeping chambor was awesome.


Scott


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## Truth Seeker (Feb 22, 2005)

Everyone be quiet, I see no one here has the viewing prowess to watch 5 hours of Sci Fic. So who is what superior...is moot. 

Thats right...5 hours I said.


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## Umbran (Feb 22, 2005)

I tried a few episodes of SG:A, and the characters seemed about as deep as a bedsheet.  Asd people, they were completely uninteresting.  And the story didnt seem much more complicated, so they lost my viewing.

BG has characters written and acted with some depth, and that hooked me.  "Soap opera" is bandied about as a derogatory term.  But B5 was a soap opera.  Anythign that's got a story arc and that is focused upon character is a "soap opera".


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## Laman Stahros (Feb 22, 2005)

Truth Seeker said:
			
		

> Everyone be quiet, I see no one here has the viewing prowess to watch 5 hours of Sci Fic. So who is what superior...is moot.
> 
> Thats right...5 hours I said.




Andromeda, Stargate:SG1, Stargate:Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica . . . What else?


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## The_Gunslinger658 (Feb 22, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> I tried a few episodes of SG:A, and the characters seemed about as deep as a bedsheet.  Asd people, they were completely uninteresting.  And the story didnt seem much more complicated, so they lost my viewing.
> 
> BG has characters written and acted with some depth, and that hooked me.  "Soap opera" is bandied about as a derogatory term.  But B5 was a soap opera.  Anythign that's got a story arc and that is focused upon character is a "soap opera".




Lets see; SGA, good sci-fi battles with the wraith, BSG, Starbuck liked apollos brother, now she likes apollo, SGA, Great story's on time travel, cryogenics, BSG, Boomer-galactica loves the chief, Boomer with helo likes helo. Six likes Boltar, Six likes Starbuck, Six likes Adama and on and on and on. A soap opera in space.

Scott


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## Izerath (Feb 22, 2005)

*Point of note.....*

Well, I watch both shows (and SG-1 and Andromeda and X-files - so that IS 5 hours of Sci Fi! ACK!) and I have to say SGA is better. BSG is improving, especially with the last episode (very strong I thought - fleshes out Baltar nicely).

As a point of note - Sci-Fi channel runs a SPLIT SEASON, starting in the late summer for about 8 weeks, and then there is a 10-12 week break right in the middle for the holidays, usually from the end of Spetember to mid January. So technically speaking, the reason things are "hitting stride" now is because each show's season is gaining steam and continuity to the story arc and consistent character development.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Feb 22, 2005)

Doomed Battalions said:
			
		

> Lets see; SGA, good sci-fi battles with the wraith, BSG, Starbuck liked apollos brother, now she likes apollo, SGA, Great story's on time travel, cryogenics, BSG, Boomer-galactica loves the chief, Boomer with helo likes helo. Six likes Boltar, Six likes Starbuck, Six likes Adama and on and on and on. A soap opera in space.
> 
> Scott



 The thing about BSG is that its more about the characters than it is the overall goal. That is actually rare in Scifi, but doesn't make it any more 'soap opera-ey' than the X-Files is. 

With BSG, we're dealing much, much more with the effects of losing everything that these people knew and loved. It wasn't by choice, and they're running for their lives. They can't stay and fight, because there aren't enough. So they have to keep running. Its a refreshing change from most Scifi, where characters are rarely so well developed.

Of course, I still love Stagate(SG-1 and Atlantis)


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## Darrin Drader (Feb 22, 2005)

Dagger75 said:
			
		

> So is this just me?




Probably, but Atlantis is a very watchable show. There's something about it that reminds me of DS9, but that doesn't detract from the enjoyment. BSG is just an awesome show. I've always wanted a nice and grim sci-fi show, and this is the first to actually deliver. This show was practically made to suit my individual tastes.


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## takyris (Feb 22, 2005)

I'm having issues with SGA.  For me, at least, it hasn't been holding my interest.  I've got it on Season Pass, but it's the one I watch after watching the shows I really enjoy.

Random thoughts while watching different episodes:

First few: "The Wraith are dull.  The Wraith are dull.  The Wraith are dull.  They're like someone tried to remake the goa'uld and slap a new look on them so that they all look like the Morlock king from that unwatchable Time Machine movie a few years back."

The "Society that is engineering an anti-Wraith serum" episode, "Poisoning the Well": I watched this episode on fast-forward and captions for about a third of its total length.  My wife walked by, wondering what I was doing, and I said, "It's forty-three minutes in, and they're just now getting over their qualms and testing the thing on a willing volunteer.  If this were Farscape, they'd have already tested the thing twenty minutes ago, and four people would have blown up from the poison, and also, someone would have vomited."

The one where the kids kill themselves at age 25: "Wow, this could also be a really interesting philosophical ques... no, no, they're going ahead and having the unpalatable side start trying to kill people to avoid any real moral issues.  Whew.  Almost had to think there for a sec."

I did like the season-half finale, with the new guy going all Die Hard and shouting, "Let me tell you what you just did wrong!" into the radio.  That was fun.  The little redhead girl was not at all believable as a commando, however, and the whole situation setting that world up as the bad guys felt forced.

Liked the recent one where it's one Wraith versus Sheppard.  (And McKay helping)  That one was fun and interesting.

Hated the time-travel one.  Found it stupid.  The notion that Weir changed the timeline was nice, but good God, you know you only have a few hours to live, your body is shutting down, and you feel it necessary to tell the story about the control room flooding?  You feel it necessary to talk about political infighting?  I understand that it's a show, and it was trying to tell an interesting story, but for crying out loud, if McKay were half as bad as he seems to be in some eps, he'd be shaking her by the shoulders and shouting, "Get to the point!  Tell me that you asked questions about their technology?  Tell me that you did some research before going into stasis?  Tell me you actually found something beyond five stupid gate addresses that do little beyond set up future episodes!!!"  If it had been told in the present tense for alterWeir, taking the audience through the events as they happened, and then at the end, we get to see the tragedy of her not being physically able to tell the new people what she'd discovered because she's too weak or because the stroke wiped out her verbal ability, it would have had real pathos.  As it was, it struck my "Good lord, this is stupid" nerve.

(For an example of an interesting alter-us episode of a show, there was a Voyager episode where the crew is about to get home with an enhanced drive, only to have people and objects start degrading.  They eventually realize that they are not the real crew -- they're duplicates from an earlier episode, made up of silvery goo with shapeshifting properties -- and they'd forgotten that.  And the enhanced drive is killing them.  At the end, they try to get the information to the real Voyager, and they fail... and while I had issues with much of Voyager, I liked that episode.

For comparison, this would be the equivalent of starting the episode by having the alterVoyager meet the real ship, and then having alterJaneway spend the entire episode talking about people's slow degradation and sadness and pathos and then saying, 'Oh, by the way, those enhanced warp drives might work for you, if you wanted to...' and then collapsing into goo after spending the entire time talking about character garbage instead of helping, like she was arguably trying to do.)

All completely subjective -- it could well be the state of mind I'm in these days, and I make no judgments of the people who like the show.   And while I didn't like much of the "Sheppard gets it on with an Ancient" episode, I did love McKay's "Oh, god, he *is* Kirk," line.


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## Truth Seeker (Feb 22, 2005)

Laman Stahros said:
			
		

> Andromeda, Stargate:SG1, Stargate:Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica . . . What else?



Enterprise.


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## Ranger REG (Feb 22, 2005)

Doomed Battalions said:
			
		

> To you and others perhaps, but I much prefer SGA over BSG. BSG reminds me of a soap opera in space, not my kind of java.



If it's as good a "soap opera" as _Deep Space Nine_ and _Stargate: SG-1_ (love the tension between O'Neill and Carter), then it's a very good thing.


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## trancejeremy (Feb 22, 2005)

It's strange, out of all the shows on SF on Friday, the only one I still watch is Andromeda. Which SF doesn't even seem to advertise anymore.


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## Hand of Evil (Feb 22, 2005)

Atlantis needs to look at culling the herd a bit, it has some good actors and a lot happening but it could use a bit of adjustments with characters, some need to move from support to more active roles but that may come in later seasons.  

BSG - has no interest for me, I tried to watch it and while there is some good interaction, the show just does not do anything for me, except for Boomer, who is hot!


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## Umbran (Feb 22, 2005)

Doomed Battalions said:
			
		

> Lets see; SGA, good sci-fi battles with the wraith,..., SGA, Great story's on time travel, cryogenics,




Battles do not impress me, in and of themselves.  A battle is only good in context of a good story.  And these other "great stories" you mention I did not see, because I don't think you can have a great story with cardboard characters, which is what I saw when I did watch the show.


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## Mystery Man (Feb 22, 2005)

Ranger REG said:
			
		

> If it's as good a "soap opera" as _Deep Space Nine_ and _Stargate: SG-1_ (love the tension between O'Neill and Carter), then it's a very good thing.




I think "space opera" would be a better turn of phrase. Been around since the 40's if my memory serves. Could be earlier.


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## dravot (Feb 22, 2005)

SG:A lacks spark for me.  Not sure why that is.  I was pretty psyched for it, but it just doesn't do anything for me.

BSG is the bomb, however.  Much love for the BSG.


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## dagger (Feb 22, 2005)

Most of my friends puke at the mere thought of watching a SCI FI of any type, but I have turned many of them onto BSG.


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## Laurel (Feb 22, 2005)

BSG- caught lots of people from the mini-series and has held them captivated.  Me, of course, being one of those people.

Tried to watch Atlantis since I liked SG1, and though I occationally catch an episode randomly can't watch it each week.


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## Cyberzombie (Feb 22, 2005)

I think this is the first time I've ever had a night where I wanted to watch 3 hours of programming straight on one network.  Certainly never happened on the major networks!


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## Ranger REG (Feb 22, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> Battles do not impress me, in and of themselves.  A battle is only good in context of a good story.  And these other "great stories" you mention I did not see, because I don't think you can have a great story with cardboard characters, which is what I saw when I did watch the show.



The wargamer in me is a sucka for any battles of any kind, of course I do prefer a battle with a cause or a story behind it.


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## Truth Seeker (Feb 22, 2005)

trancejeremy said:
			
		

> It's strange, out of all the shows on SF on Friday, the only one I still watch is Andromeda. Which SF doesn't even seem to advertise anymore.




Yes, cause it is the last season for the show...contract wise or something.


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## Truth Seeker (Feb 22, 2005)

Hand of Evil said:
			
		

> Atlantis needs to look at culling the herd a bit, it has some good actors and a lot happening but it could use a bit of adjustments with characters, some need to move from support to more active roles but that may come in later seasons.
> 
> BSG - has no interest for me, I tried to watch it and while there is some good interaction, the show just does not do anything for me, except for Boomer, who is hot!




Erm...great one, ye has forgotten the Number 6 model...second hottness..


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## S'mon (Feb 23, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> I tried a few episodes of SG:A, and the characters seemed about as deep as a bedsheet.  Asd people, they were completely uninteresting.  And the story didnt seem much more complicated, so they lost my viewing.
> 
> BG has characters written and acted with some depth, and that hooked me.  "Soap opera" is bandied about as a derogatory term.  But B5 was a soap opera.  Anythign that's got a story arc and that is focused upon character is a "soap opera".




I actually agree 100% with the Evil Lawyer (eeek)     My wife sees BG as in the tradition of Homicide: Life on the Street and such gritty shaky-cam verite shows, she loves this genre so she loves BG.  We both found SG:A 'deep as a bedsheet;, yup; managed to watch the ok-ish pilot but the next ep was worse, so was the next, so I gave up.  BG has interesting characters, SG:A just doesn't.  Admittedly SG1's early days was very ropey also, maybe I'll check back on SGA in a couple of years if it's still on.


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## Hand of Evil (Feb 23, 2005)

Truth Seeker said:
			
		

> Erm...great one, ye has forgotten the Number 6 model...second hottness..



She was hotter in Beastmaster    but yes a hottie.


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## mmadsen (Feb 24, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> I tried a few episodes of SG:A, and the characters seemed about as deep as a bedsheet.  Asd people, they were completely uninteresting.  And the story didnt seem much more complicated, so they lost my viewing.
> 
> BG has characters written and acted with some depth, and that hooked me.  "Soap opera" is bandied about as a derogatory term.  But B5 was a soap opera.  Anythign that's got a story arc and that is focused upon character is a "soap opera".



My DVR catches the last few minutes of _Stargate: Atlantis_ before _Battlestar Galactica_, and, from what little I've seen, it looks...simple.  (Like the _Stargate_ movie, I suppose.)  _Battlestar Galactica_, on the other hand, has interesting human interactions, difficult moral decisions, mysterious plot twists, etc.


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## Elf Witch (Feb 24, 2005)

mmadsen said:
			
		

> My DVR catches the last few minutes of _Stargate: Atlantis_ before _Battlestar Galactica_, and, from what little I've seen, it looks...simple.  (Like the _Stargate_ movie, I suppose.)  _Battlestar Galactica_, on the other hand, has interesting human interactions, difficult moral decisions, mysterious plot twists, etc.




Wow you can judge a whole show by just a few minutes? 

It all comes down to a matter of taste. I find BG tedious and I just want to start slapping some of the characters for being so stupid. I want to ask Olamas to stop mumbling. I feel a dose of prozac would help a lot of the characters.

I like Atlantis better. I feel the characters are more heroic. I don't need a prozac after watching it.


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## DMH (Feb 24, 2005)

Dagger75 said:
			
		

> So is this just me?




No. I don't like either, but SG:A doesn't make me want to vomit with annoying camera tricks. I tried watching the BSG series and gave up after Bastile (sp) Day. Thought it was interesting, but not enough to keep me watching.

The best sci-fi show on right now is a toss up between SG-1 and Lost. Too bad Showtime killed their two sci-fi series; Odyssey 5 and Jeremiah were great.


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## Viking Bastard (Feb 24, 2005)

So Jerimiah got cancelled?

I know JMS left and after that I just didn't hear anything of it. I just thought 
it was on some funky schedule like seemingly all the HBO/Showtime shows.


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## DMH (Feb 24, 2005)

They showed the last episodes overseas like 18 months before here and they did have a so-so ending for it. As for JMS leaving, I read of it, but know no more.


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## Viking Bastard (Feb 24, 2005)

JMS left/was fired over creative differences.

He's not the easiest to work with, it seems.


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## Abraxas (Feb 26, 2005)

After tonights episodes of BSG and SG:A I have to agree with Elf Witch.


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## Jamdin (Feb 26, 2005)

Put down on the list that greatly enjoys Battlestar Galactica. I could never get into Stargate and I'm having the same problems with Stargate: Atlantis. I can't exactly put my finger on what it is but the characters just don't it for (the only I liked was Daniel). I watch CSI: instead of Andromeda since I haven't liked that show since season two or so.  I am enjoying Enterprise once again and saddened to see that series will end soon.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Feb 26, 2005)

No desire here to jump into SGA since I never was particularly exicted by the original Stargate.  Plus SGA is on against a show both my wife and I like: Third Watch.

I'm enjoying BSG thus far, though I have to admit I'd like a break from some of the psychologically-intense character-driven episodes, and have an episode where they launch Vipers and smoke some Cylon butt.


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## cignus_pfaccari (Feb 26, 2005)

I like all three, SG1, SGA, and BSG.

BSG gets a bit more love because it's shiny and new, and because I expected it to suck horrendously and was pleasantly surprised.  But I still like the Stargate series, especially when they do little crossover details (like, say, the 



Spoiler



time-traveling puddlejumper


).

Brad


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## LightPhoenix (Feb 28, 2005)

I like both equally, for different reasons.  That said, someone asked me for a top-five list of currently running shows.  BSG was in it, SGA wasn't.

Also, the second half of Jeremiah's second season blew major chunks.


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