Bright Side

[sugarhaven.livejournal.com]

A lot of people around here are not particularly fond of RDM mainly because for what he did to the pilots at the last season. He has also been accused (based on his interviews and commentaries) of never truly being interested in the Kara/Lee relationship and never wanting to see them together. But is it really true? Are we fair to RDM and the rest of the BSG creators? Why would they give us such an amazing love story if they simply didn't care?

I want you to try to forget all the negative that's been said and focus only on the bright side. Is there anything positive that you like that any of the BSG crew (writers, directors or actors) or anybody outside of this fandom ever said about the pilots? If so, please share with us snippets of reviews, comments, commentaries etc. that you are fond of and help us forget all the bad stuff. 
You can find audios and transcripts of RDM's podcasts here. 

Comments

Fun comments from "Home"

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! I'm a fan of the podcasts, and there are lots of nice little moments I remember. Home Part One has some fun tidbits:

RDM: This return to Kara- of Kara has been a long time coming. This little bit here with Starbuck and Apollo and the hug and the quick kiss and all that was something David- I think you just came up with this in the teleplay-

DSE: Well, the kiss was Jamie's idea.

RDM: Is it?

DSE: Jamie was watching me do a rewrite on the set.

RDM: Really?

DSE: That's how pathetic this process became.

RDM: (Laughs)

DSE: I was sitting with my laptop doing rewrites while we were shooting, I think, episode three and- or four, and Jamie read this return scene. I was- literally he was standing over my shoulder reading the return scene and he said, "I should kiss her." Or, "We should kiss." Or something like that. And I went, "Oh my God, that's great." And so I just wrote a version of it and it made it all the way through the process.

~~

And with the "no takebacks" scene:

DSE: My wife, Jenny, is from Texas and has a very, I guess you could say, Texan personality. She's very funny. She's vivacious. She's- and she and I argue a lot, but-

RDM: And she likes to invade countries.

DSE: She likes to invade countries. She's- (chuckles) she and I were arguing about something right before I went into the den to write this scene, and so just that notion of the person who you love and you argue with but you don't just argue with because you disagree, you argue with in part 'cause it's fun.

RDM: Yeah.

DSE: And it kinda turns you on. And so this went through very little change, as I recall, because it was all about- You actually, I remember, were quite pleased with this.

RDM: Yeah.

DSE: This was- it's all about that quality of saying I love you almost by rote-

RDM: -Yeah (unintelligible)-

DSE: - without really thinking about what you mean.

RDM: And it's also great that it's- they're literally playing with a ball. I mean, there's something so schoolyard. Look at the cyclone fence. I mean, it feels really like a schoolyard kind of scene between these two kids who are having issues and difficulty expressing emotions and- it's just really interesting performances by both of them.

Re: Fun comments from "Home"

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

I love David Eick. I'm just saying. I love him a lot.

Re: Fun comments from "Home"

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Him and Jamie. SO MUCH LOVE.

Fun comments from "Scar," part 1

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

The drinking scene:

Weddle: The incredible thing about Katee Sackhoff is you can write a subtext line and it's there, right on her face.

RDM: Yeah.

Weddle: Without a- crystal clear.

Thompson: This was a wonderful scene to watch it shoot.

RDM: This is a great scene.

RDM: This whole- this whole little bit coming up with her spitting the Scotch. I don't know whose idea that was, if that was hers on the set-

Weddle: -I think she-

Thompson: -She may have just done it.-

RDM: -Or she might have just done it-

Weddle: -She did it on the set.

RDM: She just did it?

Weddle: But the other thing that's great about Nankin is he did several takes with different moods.

RDM: Oh. Yeah, yeah yeah.

Weddle: They did a sad one. They did this one. And so they have the freedom to try stuff like this.

RDM: And look at Jamie. I mean, Jamie is re- this is- the interesting thing about- about Lee and Jamie in this episode is he doesn't have a lot of scenes, but he's so spot on in every single scene.-

Weddle: -Yes.-

RDM: I mean, this is- I mean, she's more right now you're sort of charmed by her and sh- she is the showier part in this particular moment, but watch him-

Weddle: -yes-

RDM: -and his reaction to her. It's very true and very honest and he- he's like going there with her, he's- he's involved in the talk about losing all the pilots.

Weddle: Well he know- he kind of senses what's going on with her-

RDM: -That look on his face.-

Weddle: -Yeah.

Thompson: And he's-

Weddle: -But he won't co- he won't- y'know. He's not going to confront her about it. It's-

Thompson: And he's also off of his own future, I mean, and he's just dealt with the idea- he's lost his- the woman he's been with for the- for the-

Weddle: This is like a battleground scene, where they're talking about the present, talks about the bright and shiny future, but what are we doing, we just keep going on, y'know.

RDM: You're just gonna get blown away - I love that- that whole little speech she gives about they're all- y'know, "We're never gonna see that bright shiny future. We're just gonna -" I also like that little bit where he tips over the bottle. That's like somebody who's experienced pouring bottles. (Weddle & Thompson laugh) If you ever try to do that it's, like, kinda hard, actually, to make that little move. And this look- this angle on Jamie- I love this when she says, "Why don't we?"

Thompson: Yeah.

RDM: And the look on his face, the dawning awareness.-

Thompson: -Yeah.-

RDM: Like right up in here.

Thompson: Yeah.

Weddle: And on a lesser actor, we - that was scripted, but it takes a real actor to pull it off and make it work.

RDM: Yeah. "So why don't we?" And then, right here. (Weddle & Thompson laugh) That's so great. He's so, like, caught.

~~

And later, toward the end of their angry not-frakking scene:

Weddle: This is a tremendously uncomfortable scene to watch. It reminds me of many dates I wish I could forget. You did a pass on the scene, Ron, and it was really well-written and then the actors just-

RDM: Yeah, they took it and ran.

Weddle: If you didn't- if you didn't have great actors this scene coulda been a disaster and they just bring a visceral reality to it.

Thompson: And the director had a large part in how this was staged and how they ma- how he managed to free them up to do this-

RDM: -yeah-

Thompson: -with each other. And I'm really glad we waited and didn't do it in "Contrition"-

RDM: -I know. 'Cause they- I think they're- they're really settled in their characters and their characters have much richer backstories at this point. It's a confused, angry, emotional scene. And-

Thompson: -And it's all carrying baggage from so much that we've experienced with these people.-

Weddle: Just look at her face. It's, like, sh- it's really there.

Thompson: I love that hair-flipping when he does the "p" and pops-

RDM: -and she hits him.

Thompson: And Lee's looking for something more-

RDM: I love this. He raises his hands like, "I. I hug you? Yeah, touch? What!?" And out she goes.

~~

Re: Fun comments from "Scar," part 1

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

I also like that little bit where he tips over the bottle. That's like somebody who's experienced pouring bottles. (Weddle & Thompson laugh) If you ever try to do that it's, like, kinda hard, actually, to make that little move.

Everytime I hear this story, I envision RDM, Thompson and Weddle trying to pour a bottle like that and failing. It amuses me. :)

Fun comments from "Scar," part 2

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

In the scene where Lee comes in as Kat is punching Kara:

RDM: And this is another beat that I love Jamie in.

Weddle: Yes.

RDM: He comes in and the look on his face throughout this whole scene is really informed by the last time that he was with Starbuck. And you just read it on his face - right there.

Weddle: Love that.

RDM: "Well, it's been lively." I love that beat. And this beat coming up when Kat starts to object and he just gives her a look.

Thompson: Yep.

RDM: That's one of those things that you script a lot. Somebody's about to say something and he cuts her off with a look. And then it- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But this time I really believe that he cut her off with that look.-

(skipping a bit)

Thompson: It was much more powerful.

Weddle: All the same here when he asks her if she's ok, she- Starbuck originally had a line and because of the way she tries to snap up and pull herself together you don't need the line.

Thompson: But behavior's always, y'know, more powerful than the line. That look right here.

RDM: Yeah.

Weddle: Don't need the dialogue. Now we know.

~~

And the scene of Kara's toast to the dead pilots:

Thompson: Oh and this- this scene. There was a final party scene that was written in there, and then Michael Nankin came to us up in Canada when we were in prep and said, "Y'know, I would think it would be nice to do the names here."-

RDM: -Yeah, that is great.-

Weddle: -Well he had the whole concept of Kara pretending not to remember the names in the rec room with Lee -

RDM: -Yeah, she was hiding behind it. She was covering, like.

Weddle: And I can remember when he brought the note and we were like, "Who? No! We're not going to do that. It's too sentimental. I mean, who's this director coming in with these notes." And then we, y'know, think about for an hour, y'go, "Y'know, maybe he's right." Then you start to do it and you realize, "God, this is good. This is really good." So, he brought the whole show up with this idea.

....

RDM: -you guys pitched this to me and it was a great concept. And I love the notion of going through a laundry list of the names and- tell me, remind me, how did this work? I don't remember if it was scripted, or if it's a Nankin thing that she falters and kinda can't remember-

Weddle: -No, that's her.-

Thompson: -That's her.-

RDM: -That's scripted?-

Weddle: There were several takes on this and places she faltered, places she didn't-

RDM: 'Cause it's great 'cause she- she doesn't run down the list and they don't complete the list, she literally gets to a point where she just honestly can't remember and the whole scene is about to just collapse because you feel like, "Oh my God." She's made this great moment and then Lee steps in and- and saves it. And it's just- it's about their relationship.-

Weddle: -Yeah, we did- that was in the script.-

RDM: -It's about all kinds of things.

Thompson: And all of these names.

RDM: All these names.

Weddle: This takes a real actress to pull this off. And she does.

RDM: And I like the pace-

Thompson: -Yes. Look at the look on Lee's face. He's realizing-

RDM: -Yeah.-

Thompson: He's playing the whole realization.

RDM: One by one.-

....

RDM: It's almost like each name is- is like- she's hitting them with every name.

Thompson: And...

Weddle: Yeah.

RDM: She has to remember. She's pulling it out and they're all -

Weddle: They're all so- every actor is so much into the moment. It's just...Duck's great. That's Duck.

RDM: Yeah, look at Tigh.

Weddle: Look at...What a great- just a little closeup that brings a dimension to his character.

RDM: And then she can't do it.

Thompson: Yeah.

RDM: That's just so...

Weddle: The actress played that- played it that way, definitely.

RDM: And then Jamie is great. It's one of the most heroic moments he has in the whole series. Is this little thing he does. I mean it's- it's such a bigger heroic moment than a lot of other things.

Weddle: These are the kind of moments where you- this family that's always at each other's throats and you feel them coming together like this...

Last one!

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I've also always liked this little comment. RDM is talking about their initial plans for the first episode of season 4, some of which changed and some of which didn't. But he reads an excerpt from their original story outline:

So episode one, in a nutshell, it says: "Kara faces doubts about who she is, the Final Four worry about their loyalties, Lee leaves the military for good, Baltar begins his role as a religious leader." In depth, it says: "Cylon baseships battle Galactica and the Fleet, unable to jump away, facing annihilation, Galactica prevails while the Cylons' Heavy Raiders mysteriously retreat. Kara's miraculous return with knowledge about how to reach Earth sparks Trojan suspicion. Unable to reconcile her gut feelings of who she thinks she is with mounting evidence to contrary, Kara grabs her weapon, bolts from confinement, ominously seeks out the most powerful man alive: Adama!" Whoo. "Tigh, Anders, Tyrol and Tory secretly meet. Inner conflict: one of them, should they reveal who they are, are they capable of doing harm, uneasy agreement is reached. One: keep their identity secret. Two: keep watching each other. Three: discover who is the fifth of the Final Five, Kara being the obvious candidate....Lee's fundamental joy and belief in Kara galvanizes belief in himself, second chance at a life out of uniform. He tells Adama he's through with flying."

Nice :)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Katee on Kara, c. S4 filming (it doesn't address pilots directly, but does shed some light on Kara's actions):

""That's just who she is. She's happy and comfortable with her sadness. She's had such a hard life, whenever she is happy it doesn't feel good to her. And she's so scared she's going to lose it she pushes it away before it can go anywhere. It's sad, but at least she knows who she is."

Katee on pilots

[winegums.livejournal.com]

September 2003 - "He's her best friend, her brother, her comrade...he's everything to her and he gets her. That is what is interesting about their relationship."


March 2006 -(question) Why do they keep pulling away from each other when it's obvious they really care about each other?

(Katee) "I think because it is obvious. You know, their world is so chaotic and it's hard to hold onto something that you know is so real and tangible when it could be gone tomorrow. It's almost easier to walk away from it and to have never felt that true love and passion for someone because it gives you something to fight for, and it gives you a reason to wanna live, and as a fighter pilot, you can't have that. You have to be willing to sacrifice everything, including your life. And I think, when you love someone so unconditionally and you know that, it's really hard to go out there and fight the good fight."


about UB - "When I read the flashback scene, I cried. Because it was something that this character would do, and it's something I'm sure a lot of people have done. It goes to show how much she loves Apollo, but how terrified she is of that."


about Maelstrom - "These were like really emotional scenes where I had to not really play the obvious choice. Because like the scene when she’s sitting under the plane with Lee…all she wants to do is tell him that she loves him, and cry, and like that was such an easy choice to play that scene. And the director came up and was like that’s a great scene, Katee, but he’s like, just stare at that dot. Just stare at the dot and see what happens. And it was such a powerful choice because it was this woman going out, she knows she’s going to die, she knew at that point she was going to die, and she wanted his (Lee’s) life to be easier when she was gone. And you can see it, the whole time she’s just like helping him move on and trying to get him to move on and help him think everything’s okay. And it’s such a powerful scene, I thought, that it was challenging, you know I wish I could do stuff like that every week ‘cause I had so much fun."

Jamie on pilots

[winegums.livejournal.com]

2007 - "More happens this year than has happened at any time in the past. We have indications of feelings between them that they can’t acknowledge and they kind of deny that and got he other way and go almost whole hog and become an item. One of them can’t deal with that and goes entirely the other way and gets married and now she can’t even deal with being married. Inside of both of their marriages is the idea that they should still be together and there’s a ton going on where you see the depth of feeling between them and also the fear about actually giving into the genuine feelings and Kara [Starbuck] can’t quite do it. It doesn’t really happen as a result and it’s just this combination of illicit infatuation. It is a fatal attraction. I think Lee has grown to a point where there is no reason why he can’t have what he wants and he really can’t get over how beat up she [Starbuck] is and how she can’t allow herself to get that level of intimacy."



circa Season 4 - "The way I play it is that there’s a complete fascination from Lee towards Starbuck/Kara, and he will never shake it. It’s not something that’s ever going to go away. It’s something that is so complex and so laden with so many layers of forbidden guilt from the previous betrayal, you know, the dead brother, and they’re kind of siblings, it’s almost incestuous. At times, it seems, certainly on her part, that she’s out to hurt rather than let everything actually work. I think they’re two people that actually probably would’ve worked in a completely different environment, in a different context. They’re doomed by the very proximity that they share, and that’s their tragedy. Having said that, Ron and the writers could come up with a completely different plan on how to resolve that particular one, and who knows, if their situation changes if they got off Galactica, got out of the situation that they’re in, maybe they would be able to function. It’s definitely one of these tragic relationships. Romeo and Juliet, all those sort of forbidden loves. Or a play that I’ve done about an incestuous love affair between a brother and a sister. It’s kind of that. It’s so intense, it’s forbidden."


And from a con report prepared by proggrrl - Jamie apparently did actually once say that Lee and Kara were each other's "halves" and that Lee doesn't grieve openly for Kara post-Maelstrom because he's not her husband and feels he doesn't have the right, and feels that he sent her to her death (and agreed with a fan that it was like Kara sending Zak to his death).

post-finale - "We all belong to each other and physical proximity isn't the most important thing to all that. I don't think there's really the implication... Kara is one thing, she and Lee are intertwined. I think that's the message in the end -- that the people that meant a lot to you, that guided you in many ways within you, and they don't have to be necessarily physically beside you."



Bonus Katee, during a livechat post-S3 - "Sam and Kara will always love each other but I think it's over. Kara and Lee. I do believe they are soulmates."

Katee, post-finale - "But I think that Apollo and Starbuck are soulmates. I really do. ...[ ].....And Apollo is the one who has her heart fully."


Katee, c. miniseries : "Have you seen Jamie Bamber? He’s gorgeous. They are still buddy-buddy pilots and I think that’s the base of our friendship. We grew up together, I’ve got his back, he’s got mine – we fly together, we’re just great friends.
At the beginning of the mini-series. we haven’t seen each other for two years. You sort of see Starbuck’s guard come down – and you can see how, if we do go to series, there will be a romantic thing there. But I don’t know where the writers and the producers want to go with that."

Re: Jamie on pilots

[pressdbtwnpages.livejournal.com]

"...Or a play that I’ve done about an incestuous love affair between a brother and a sister."

Oh, JAMIE.

Jamie Bamber on Lee & Kara in S4

[selene23.livejournal.com]

"Q:Any more sex in the works for Lee and Kara?

A:You know, it doesn’t have to be the act of sex for sex to be in the air between them. I think there’s always that tension, there’s always the knowledge of previous aborted attempts at whatever passes for their relationship, however weird and screwed up it is."

"Q:We haven’t seen a lot of them together this season.

A:No, we haven’t and that’s just sort of indicative of the story. They really have done everything short of get married and divorced or have a kid or whatever. And so I think the writers have been less involved with that one this year."

"Q:It’s cool that the writers don’t exploit that relationship, even knowing how much the audience likes it. But I assume we will see them paired up more in the second half of the season.

A:Yeah, you will. You'll get a bit more."

"Q:Last week, the Admiral really divulged the extent of his feelings for Roslin. Do you feel like Lee’s connection with Kara is similar?

A:Yeah I do. I think it’s getting more mature. He’s already expressed his love for her and he's said everything that needs to be said, and they’ve consummated it physically, and there were problems, and then they had an affair. There’s nothing that hasn’t been stated about it, and yet there’s so much implicit guilt about their relationship with the adultery and the dead brother. They’re almost siblings, so it’s almost incestual at a certain point. And militarily, it’s probably not according to protocol either. But in season four, I think their relationship is, in a way, even more screwed up because Lee thinks she’s died and come back to life, and there's a strange acceptance in him that he doesn’t really care if she's a Cylon or whatever she is. He knows something weird happened, because he saw her explode. And I think that maybe changed the relationship and made it more platonic in a way and much more spiritual, because they understand that there’s always going to be a connection between them, without having to be in each other’s pockets or dominate each other’s lives as was the case up to that point. And it’s weird. It's definitely a weird relationship in season four."

Jamie on pilots, again

[winegums.livejournal.com]

pre-S2 - "It's like lots of relationships, you can't simplify it. There's nothing easy about it. They are indisputably attracted to each other. But it's latent. There's so much guilt for the dead brother and dead fiancé between them. Then arguably, she's more responsible for his death than anybody else, yet he blames his dad for it. Can they get together knowing there's the dead brother between them? That's really awkward.

And [Commander Adama] really really relies on her, she's like a daughter to him, he's close to her and Lee resents that. On the professional side, lee's a pretty damn good pilot, but [before this] he's never paid his dues. Starbuck is sort of the go-to officer to pull irons out of the fire. He's working hard to do his job, but he's sort of overshadowed by her.

But then at the end of the first season, when she sleeps with Baltar, he doesn't even know why he's so angry, why he has all these feelings about it. It's a great thing to play, it's not on the surface, it's not really vocalized. He has no idea how much he needs Starbuck and how much he feels for her."

Katee on pilots (emphasis mine)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

""It’s interesting about Apollo and Starbuck. I do believe that she’s in love with him, that he’s her best friend, the only one who understands her. He is her last real thing that reminds her of Zak. I think it’s very fitting for her to love the brother of the man she loved who died. I don’t know if she’s going to express those feelings. But I say that to myself: “You’re in love with this guy, now play the scene.”