Daily Pilots Post: BSG--The Reboot

[thrace-adama.livejournal.com]

Hi, Shipper Nation! Long time, no see, I know, but I'm Heather and I'll be leading the DPP this week. :)

You know, my boss and I were talking the other day about where BSG went wrong, and we decided that the best place for a reboot would be directly after Unfinished Business (or, okay, she decided and I went along with it because as many problems as I have with Season 3 as a whole and the mess Kara and Lee were already in at that point, I can't deny I love the ep). Let's say that BSG ended with UB and you've been asked to reboot the series from that point, with a focus on what, in hindsight, the studio thinks was one of the strongest relationships in the show--Kara and Lee. (I know, I know, not bloody likely--just go with it!) You have *zero* knowledge of future events in the show that actually aired from that point on. Blank canvas. Where do you go with it?

Some inspiration:

Comments

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

you've been asked to reboot the series from that point, with a focus on what, in hindsight, the studio thinks was one of the strongest relationships in the show

BWAHAHAHA! Finally, they understand! It WAS the most important element. ;)

Back later with lots more thoughts! YAY!

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I would show the affair in all its wonderful, painful glory. None of this "Surprise! We're making out and man it's hot, but hey don't blink because it's OVER now." ;)

The episode right after UB would have to pick up directly with them still laying on the floor of the ring and show how they get from there to talking again. (Maybe we'd borrow from fanon and do a "they clean each other's wounds in the head" shmoopy bit.) But it would still be awkward and USTy and they wouldn't really know what to do with themselves. However! I would also have to include a moment of pilots doing their job together as a united front in some way to show they still got it, can still finish each other's sentences and poke holes in each other's plans and strategize together and fight the good fight! There would be some rediscovered camraderie there so we can fix their friendship as well as their sexual relationship.

Then maybe the next episode, I'd still kill Kat! Hey, why not, right? But first there would be more of K/L playing Mom and Dad to the rest of the pilots so that Kat's death means more at the end and we'd get to actually SEE Kara be distraught in the memorial hallway and Lee come and comfort her. And maybe it would end with a kiss and their eyes locking with an "oh shit did we just do that?" expression.

Next episode, now we get to the insanely hot makeout...which leads to FRAKKING! \o/ None of this cutaway to the rosy afterglow either. I think we need more of a KLG1 kind of sex scene but, you know, full-length (no pun intended ;), hot and heavy etc. In fact the entire episode could be about them frakking a lot. Everywhere. Almost getting caught. Fighting with their spouses. Then at the end it would have to be a "now what do we do?"

Next episode: DIVORCE. ;)

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

LOL. I approve of your brain Tara... but I do want more Kara and Lee as Daddy and Mommy of the pilots (in that order.) I feel like that is so essential to who they are and it parallels the generations with Adama and Roslin being the parents of the Fleet as well.

[bouncy-nut.livejournal.com]

THIS! I cannot stress the THIS-NESS that THIS enough. In my brain, it happened just like that. :)

[ddt73.livejournal.com]

Originally in The Passage there was lots more L&K stuff in it, but as you see we got next to nothing in the final episode. At the end of the episode where you see Kara at the memorial wall, and Lee is there behind there. The scene goes on and they actually hug, as Lee comforts her.

So your vision of the Passage is not all that far from what it was originally meant to be.

I think you are right about doing it this way. The talking, the UST, a full blown affair, nothing by half measures. Let's get knee deep into it, and not act like they never had an affair. I don't even buy that in actual cannon, let's put that idea to rest here. :)

[poppypickle.livejournal.com]

I would show the affair in all its wonderful, painful glory.

I would watch that show. I would watch it one hundred million times.

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

THIS works for me. :)

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

Honestly, any BSG reboot I do will involve Tamara Adama being the final cylon, with Zoe and Tamara having created the cylon race together and there becomes this massive plot line about unboxing Tamara Adama and a big scandal about the Adama family within the fleet.

...but that's just me.

I need to think on this some more. Lol. Be back with more thoughts later.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

No, it's not just you. :)

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

From UB:

+ Kara and Lee should have gotten together after UB. Seriously, actually and truly. The pussy-footing and teasing was ridiculous and entirely unauthentic. Dee, the Dee that I respected so much in the early seasons, would not have stayed with Lee after watching that fight. She would have looked at Lee and said, "I knew she'd come back. I'm gone." She had too much self-respect underneath that insecurity to cling the way they had her do. Once they're there... I don't know so much about Sam -- he didn't have much dimension or purpose until after he got shot in the head, but he loved Kara enough to see that she loved Lee and to send her to him. I believe that, and I could see it happening in a way that ended with Lee and Kara together.

+ Bill and Laura were tired. They were old, Laura was dying of Cancer, Bill was dying of ennuie, and they both needed to be made to step down.

+ I would have tied the final five more closely to the Lords of Kobol. And delved into the original mythology. There was a lot of mysticism going on in the first couple of seasons and it got dropped like a hot potato and ignored in the last couple. That shouldn't have happened.

[poppypickle.livejournal.com]

Dee, the Dee that I respected so much in the early seasons, would not have stayed with Lee after watching that fight. She would have looked at Lee and said, "I knew she'd come back. I'm gone."

I totally agree. They absolutely ruined her character with this nonsense.

I would have tied the final five more closely to the Lords of Kobol. And delved into the original mythology.

I actually thought that's how it was going to go when I watched the series for the first time. I was busy trying to figure out how the 12 Cylon models related to the 12 gods of Olympus. Apparently that was a waste of time LOL...

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

+ I would have tied the final five more closely to the Lords of Kobol. And delved into the original mythology. There was a lot of mysticism going on in the first couple of seasons and it got dropped like a hot potato and ignored in the last couple. That shouldn't have happened.

It would have been great if the mythlogy of the first two seasons were important to the final season and the final five cylons. *sigh*

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

I don't know so much about Sam -- he didn't have much dimension or purpose until after he got shot in the head

Just made me laugh so hard I hurt myself. Not that I disagree are all. WELL PUT!

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

Perfection, Jen.

Completely agree that K/L should have been (and are, in my world) together after the dance. NO ONE fights, hugs, and falls to the floor together after a mutual "I missed you" without it then leading to getting their shit together.

Also agreed on Dee having more self-respect than the writers allowed her. And agreed on Sam, regardless of whatever else, loving Kara enough to want her happy even if that meant divorce. (In fact, I've had a bit of a ficlet bouncing around my head in which Sam refuses to marry Kara on NC, asks her where she spent the night, and marches her back to have a chat with Lee...b/c amidala_thrace and leiascully have shared enough of their Sam love with me for me to see that he loves her...and they also both have sorta kinda convinced me he has a backbone somewhere...so let him use his backbone and his Kara love to help her rather than wandering about like a lost puppy dog.

Bill and Laura would have stayed likable if they had stepped down in S3. The writers would have stayed likable if they'd actually had a plan and explained the mythology. These points are just extra though. The key is that the K/S marriage shouldn't have happened...and if it did have to happen b/c Kara ran, then certainly it needed to be resolved (along with L/D at that point) with K/L as the end game after the UB dance.

[poppypickle.livejournal.com]

HEATHER! This is a great question and I need to think on it more in order to answer. But I just wanted to say hello. ;-)

[thrace-adama.livejournal.com]

Hi, love! I saw that you were added to the Yahoo! group at work. Yay!

Scenerio #1

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

1. Dee leaves Lee after the Dance, acknowledging to herself and possibly no one else that she never should have married Lee in the first place. She was in love with an idea not a real and very flawed person.

2. Show the beginning of the affair, keeping Kat’s death as the breaking point for Kara but add Dee leaving Lee as the reason he’s willing to really be there for Kara.

3. Sam finds out about the affair but doesn’t take it seriously until Lee is who Kara turns to when she starts losing her mind when they encounter the Maelstrom.

4. Lee grounds Kara at her request, but his father accuses Lee of preferential treatment based on the rumored affair between Lee and Kara. Lee and Bill argue about love and duty. Bill goes over his son’s head and reinstates Kara’s flight status.

5. Lee flies Kara’s wing as she flies into the Maelstrom. Angry with his father at forcing Kara to fly, Lee leaves the service and joins Baltar’s defense as much to piss off his father as anything else.

6. Sam gives Lee permission to mourn Kara after finding Lee not hanging Kara’s picture in the Memorial Hall.

7. Kara is found in a drifting heavy raider two months after she flies into the Maelstrom.

Re: Scenerio #1

[lizziec]

Lee grounds Kara at her request

Just wanted to comment on this - I spent the entirety of the second watch through of Maelstrom internally screaming at Lee to ground her, especially during Under the Wing. If she didn't trust herself that should have been a huge warning sign. I'm not sure that s1 Lee would have responded to her the same way that s3 Lee did either. I think s1 him may have listened to her instincts more.

Re: Scenerio #1

[ecstaticdance.livejournal.com]

7. Kara is found in a drifting heavy raider two months after she flies into the Maelstrom.

**insert curious puppy noise** No, you can't end there with that. What happens after he finds her? Is she a Cylon? Is she (still) The First Jesus? I want more!

[thrace-adama.livejournal.com]

Busy day at work, but I just wanted to say that you guys rock my socks. Thanks for playing along. Be back later!

Scenerio #2

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

1. After the Dance Lee and Kara don’t jump into having an affair. Kara is more than willing, but Lee won’t cheat. Tension and unsuccessful avoidance abounds.

2. Kara is still shot down on the algae planet. Lee and Sam fight over her rescue, but the argument ends in Lee’s inadvertent confession of love for Kara in front of Sam and Dee.

3. Sam asks Kara is she loves Lee and gives her an out when she doesn’t answer.

4. Kara tells Lee she’ll leave Sam if he leaves Dee. Lee hesitates until Kara nearly flies in the Maelstrom. He stops her from killing herself, and they return to Galactica together.

5. Lee leaves the military and Dee to follow his own destiny instead doing only what’s expected of him.

Re: Scenerio #2

[kl-shipper1.livejournal.com]

I love both of these scenarios-- definitely wish that we had gotten something more like this than what we were actually given.

Re: Scenerio #2

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

2. Kara is still shot down on the algae planet. Lee and Sam fight over her rescue, but the argument ends in Lee’s inadvertent confession of love for Kara in front of Sam and Dee.

Ooooh, so much love for that, bb. Have you posted it as a prompt at the LAD ficathon? (Cuz it needs writing!!)

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

Hey Heather!! Just wanted to say it's good to see you and I hope all is lovely in your life. :)

[thegreenkitty.livejournal.com]

p.s.--Nice choice on where to reboot. My personal canon pretty much ends and becomes AU post-UBex.

[samstareagle.livejournal.com]

A few random ideas of mine for everybody to kick around...

Laura has to die WAAAY earlier. Maybe even not from cancer but some random, stupid event like Billy. It's way more of an emotional drop kick that way instead of the "Oh FINALLY" reaction of keeping her around to conveniently die in the next to last scene of the series.

Adama steps down, puts Kara in command of the fleet. Lee becomes and STAYS President, no questions.

Kat still sacrifices herself for the fleet, giving Kara an extra push back towards Lee and her life.

Chief doesn't become a complete asshole but DOES die in an accident or in battle (but preferably heroically like saving the ship or just some random nobody on the ship). Cally survives the series.

The Final Five are not individuals but remnant sentient programs that can incubate within individuals' minds. (Making the non-canon deleted scene of Tigh talking about coming face to face with the Cylons in the war but inexplicably surviving the encounter canon and genuinely logical in the course of events.)

NO FAKE EARTH.

NO CONVENIENT MUTINY TO VILIFY THE FLEET.

The Cylon civil war results in the Mechanicals destroying Cavil and the Resurrection network while a single Baseship escapes to the fleet to warn them, knowing the great coming catastrophe the war has led to, the annihilation of both groups of "God's children", Human and Cylon.

I did originally like the idea of a battle near a black hole/singularity, but NOT how they did it in the show (just sitting in one place). If you're going to have that happen, have both fleets get caught in a chaotic slugfest via frakked up jump calculations, but DON'T make it the last battle, make it the lead up to the last battle. The drama can be trying to survive long enough for the fleet to recalculate their way out as the Cylon fleet does the same thing. Wipe out the civilian government/Colonial One here as just another of many battle casualties, again, making it more of an out of left field curve ball you don't see coming, but not a pointlessly stupid one.

And now a dropped plot line that still annoys me...

In AMOS we learned the entire Cylon race can virtually be wiped out via virus download over their resurrection network. (Again, WHYTF didn't they use this again?!) Sam could still be a "Final Five Cylon" and volunteer himself to try and take them all out. The others could try some Trekesque techno plan to "kill" him but bring back his consciousness while still sending the virus command through to the others (this being possible despite the Resurrection network being down since the Five existed as an earlier element of the Cylon's network, giving access as an earlier program). The Cylon Mechanical fleet could be bearing down on them, and Sam "kills" himself fearing there isn't enough time and that it won't work. He enters the Cylon's consciousness network like Zoe and spends the climactic battle of the series trying to take them out from the inside. Kara isn't with him anymore but still "enters" it trying to save him anyway.

The final space battle should take place over Earth and be one in space and in the Cylon's network.