When I got started on BSG, I watched the mini-series, and then jumped right into season 1. I didn’t notice much difference, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. In both the mini-series and season 1, a large part of the action took place in the CIC, the hangar, the President’s quarters, etc. But, I was in a bit of a BSG obsession mode then, and so I very well could have missed it. I suppose this is good enough reason to go back and watch the mini-series again.

And yeah, even if they did cut the budget a lot, I think it works better with BSG – it’s a bunch of cramped spaces on ships. Also, even if they did cut the BSG budget (which wouldn’t surprise me in the least), you still end up seeing a lot of civilians wandering around, as well as just everyday stuff – the food episode, the journalists pestering the President, etc. For me, such little things makes it a lot more “real” to me.

Having to do translations for each new race would waste heaps of time in an episode. Having to add more people or additional CGI would add plenty more money to each episode.

I know BSG does it too. After watching everything up to the Season 3 finale, a few weeks ago I went back and watched the mini-series. The bigger budget was obvious – the inside of Galactica “felt” bigger, simply because there were more scenes with big windows in the background looking out into a CGI space, or just larger rooms altogether. Once the funding was cut later on, it’s back to cramped corridors and the CIC. That said, in BSG it sorta works, because I’d imagine one would feel quite cramped when spending years in the same dull ship in space.

Historian’s eye while watching scifi; a rhyme which is perhaps too kind to me, but thanks nevertheless.

So I think you nailed it here.

Good to see you have that historian’s eye, even while watching scifi.

Joshua: True, but the farm bit was just an example. It seems the civilizations that are shown in SG1 often don’t do much beyond have their elites walk around in peculiar dress and have feasts, and their slaves wander around looking exhausted and dirty. A little more day-to-day stuff – even if it is a 4 second shot of some guy milking an intergalactic cow – would make the whole thing, implausible as it all is, a little more plausible.

And by the way – Battlestar Galactica showed a farm, sort of, when they were sucking all of that algae! So nyah!

But it’s something I’ve noticed and griped about too to Jo. Really, the populations you see just aren’t viable! Then again, all that inbreeding might account for their sheer stupidity and gullability. And how do SG1 ALWAYS end up talking to the one member of the community who is secretly harbouring revolutionary thoughts?!