DPP: First Impressions (or, pilots alone vs. pilots together)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

We love our pilots, and we love them very much indeed. But what did we think of them, when we hadn't yet seen them together onscreen? Did that change, once we had?

It's been observed, elsewhere in the fandom (over at workerbee73's, in fact) that Kara and Lee in their very first scenes come off as somewhat bratty and abrasive, and more than a little annoying.

But when they are together onscreen, making sarcastic remarks at each other and eyefrakking and exuding enough UST to power a small nuclear reactor in the first brig scene, to many people that is the moment when we first begin to like them unreservedly - or at least a whole lot more than when we already did - and if not then, seeing them together onscreen certainly makes us love them more with time. So what did you think of them alone and together, Shipper Nation?

I'll go first, with an edited version of my thoughts about pilots during my first watch of the miniseries - chip in with your own in the comments:



Oh hey girl, you are kind of an asshole, and do you really like getting in trouble so much? But I like your swagger, and think I am starting to develop some serious girl crush on you. Even if you would probably kick my ass and laugh at me for admitting to that.



You sound like a brat, but I think it is your daddy issues making you act out (and I can sympathise). Also, you are very, very pretty.



You two have some serious tension going on, and I call it - you are going to hook up at some point (also, nice arms, Lee! Who knew that was under your flight suit..). But somehow, you seem less like assholes when you are together. And I refuse to ship you. This show is yanking my chain, and I am too savvy to ship you.

My presence here should indicate how well that worked, but I'm still wondering what everyone else here thought of our pilots when they were each introduced to us separately, and if seeing them together changed the way you saw their characters? Tell us all about it!

Also, anyone who hasn't done so already should check out The Limit, by word_vomity and (ETA) Burns and Bruises by useyourlove, the fruit of yesterday's DPP. That and the DPP before it are still open for discussion and ficcing, if anyone feels like it!

Comments

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

Oh hey girl, you are kind of an asshole, and do you really like getting in trouble so much? But I like your swagger, and I think I like you.

Bahahahaha! That is an excellent first impression of our girl! That and "Oh hon, your hair looks like my little cousin Nathan's hair ... in 1993."

And I agree, my interest in both of them was piqued from the start, but the brig scene really sold me on both of them. I immediately wanted more of whatever crack they were selling.

Also, thanks for the shout out! *pounds & explodes*

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

also, to be fair, at this point nobody knew that 1993 was still a good few thousands of years away. so, looking back, I guess my cousin stole her style, not vice versa.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

*giggles* if she wasn't so kick-ass, her hair would remind me of the Backstreet boys (I was a pre-pubescent in the 90s). But she makes even that hideous chop look good. :)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

*fistbumps* She really is unforgettable, isn't she?

Individually, they do come off as potentially insufferable (though I liked them both), but the brig scene does a really good job of indicating that there's more underneath, and how they bring it out in each other.

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

Yup, it was the layers that caught me. Wave a vague mysterious past under my nose and I'm rapt like a bowser sitting pretty for a snausage. I MUST KNOW ALL THE THINGS!!!! Haha. And there was obviously so much history there and I wanted to be privy to ALL OF IT! I cannot abide secrets! I must uncover all the secrets!

Plus, and this might not be a popular sentiment but meh, I think she dialed back on the uber masculinity after the pilot a bit which helped me to identify with her a lot more. I have no problems with a strong female lead, I LIVE for strong female leads that redefine tired gender stereotypes, but I think maybe there was just a bit TOO much swagger in the mini, like swagger shoved down our throats. Like RDM grabbed my face and yelled "She's a badass you know?!" And I had to step back all hands up in surrender like "Yo man, we're cool. I get it." It just felt more natural afterwards.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I think they really laid it on a bit thick in the card table scene that gets her sent to the brig, but somehow after her first conversation with Lee it doesn't feel quite so forced - it's actually those interactions that she has with him/about him that make Kara come off as natural and not posturing for the sake of it.

[ddt73.livejournal.com]

I was drawn right into them. Could tell there was a story there between them. It was more then just friends that was clear from the get go in the brig, and confirmed later on the flight deck.

They were both fresh faces to me, but showed they had the chops in the mini series. They had chemistry from day one, and that never changed.

What I most clearly remember about my initial impression about them individually (it's been a long time now), is wanting know more about them. They became my favorite characters on day one, which lead to me shipping them later.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was immediately apparent that there was more to them -individually and together - than met the eye, especially in the brig scene.

I liked them individually, but did not expect to fall in love with them or with them together the way I did.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Oh, and SO agreed re: their chemistry. No one but JB and KS could ever be pilots the way they were.

One odd detail I remember noting the first time I watched was the distinctive spelling of Katee's name (well, that and Jamie's jawline). Funny, the things that come back :)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Lol. I loved Kara right from the "MAKE A HOLE!" She's just my type of heroine.

I thought Lee was a self-righteous pretty-boy bastard (who was a dead ringer for that guy on Ugly Betty). Heh.

I was intrigued by their scenes together and wanted to see more...

[wicked-sassy.livejournal.com]

This!

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I've heard that about the resemblance to Eric Mabius before, though I've never been able to see it, lol. Which is fine, since I've never found him attractive, while it is quite the opposite with Jamie. Though I do remember thinking Katee looked like a younger, not-messed-up Courtney Love :)

I actually thought Kara (whose name I did not even know at that point as anything but Starbuck) seemed really cool when she was running and joking with Adama.

And as for Lee, he seemed like exactly what you say at first glance, though it was his scenes with Kara and the confrontation with PapAdama over Zak, not to mention "the lady's in charge" that had me unbending towards him, and by the time he was back with Kara in the scene in my icon, he'd won me over as completely as she had.

[useyourlove.livejournal.com]

When I first watched this show I was like "oh look. Lee Adama. I'm obviously supposed to like him. I bet I won't." I thought he was too much of a goody goody and was just going to run around being self-righteous and indignant all the time. And Kara I was like "yeah, you're a badass. I like you, but you sort of get on my nerves." And, like you, I was like "this show is yanking my chain." I refused to ship them because I'm inclined to get way too into ships when I watch shows. I didn't want that to take over the way I watched, so in all their mini-series interchanges I was like "this is interesting. I will choose to observe." By "Act of Contrition" I was hopelessly in love with both of their characters separately. I loved them to absolute pieces. Lee was so conflicted and trying so hard to be upright, and Kara was wild and hurt but incredibly talented. And that's the episode I took the shipper bait, even though I could tell it would never work out. (Admittedly, Kara may have nabbed me in the mini-series when she's storming through the "Viper museum" and with the immortal "it's a gift shop now" line from Chief.)

Of course, I recently re-watched the mini-series and was like "OH MY GOD HOW DID I NOT SEE ALL OF THIS THE FIRST TIME?!?!?!!" Turning a blind eye--it works so well. I mean, the whole series of reunions where everyone is kissing all over the place and then Lee and Kara are like "I WANT DESPERATELY TO SUCK YOUR FACE BUT I CAN'T LET MYSELF." Oh, they kill me now. Sigh.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's actually their refusal to make out on the flight deck when their faces were blaring it loud and clear that that was what they really wanted to do - or even hug! - that did me in. I knew I was in for a world of pain (because look at BSG, it's apparent from the word go) but it was so worth it, for them.

And agreed on Act of Contrition. That one upgraded them both(and especially Kara) from "I love you guys!" to "YOU TWO ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, PLEASE DON'T LOOK SO SAD!"

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

LOL, I loved Kara from the start. I'm not the type to think disobedience and getting into fights immediately makes a character cool or strong or whatever; there was just something else about her. On first impression, I didn't really think Starbuck was all that sexy - charming but not really sexy, and I loved that. She struck me as extremely unconcerned with her appearance and as boisterous and fun-loving as the male characters more often get to be...but flawed, in ways that real women are. I'm not sure if I immediately knew how much I'd like her, but she seemed like a well-written character from the very first scene. If she were male and badly acted I would have dismissed her as a trope, but she was neither of those things on top of not being an object of typical masculine fantasy, so I was a bit drawn to the character immediately.

I don't remember my first impression of Lee nearly as well, but I'm sure he came off as a bit of a stick in the mud, and it was only when it came to the first scene he had with Kara that I understood some of his baggage enough to really sympathize with him. And the mix of aggression and compassion Kara had with him, as well as the apparent familial connection she had with him and Adama, had me intrigued (Kara's complicated triangular connection to both Lee and Bill made me somehow sympathize with the tensions more, I guess because it put it through the eyes of someone who cared about both of them and didn't have a place to take sides).
I, unlike others, didn't think they would ever hook up. I just kind of wanted them to :)

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I get what you're saying - I did in fact find her really sexy in the card table scene, but I loved that she didn't look like your typical TV heroine, and also that the show never questioned her attractiveness because of it. She's the polar opposite of characters like Sydney Bristow who were held up as strong-woman standard before, and I love the writers - and Katee - for that.

I find it interesting that both Lee and Kara's earliest scenes (second in Kara's case, first in Lee's) have them rubbing people the wrong way, though Lee is made to come off looking like more of a brat. The brig scene did so much for both of them, it's amazing how differently I looked at both their characters after that. Though it's probably no surprise, considering the amount of info given/hinted at in it.

[wicked-sassy.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I love your summaries!!

I've only seen the whole show once, though it was recent, so I don't have much to contribute other than agreement. I definitely liked them better together than separately at the beginning and then grew to love them separately, as well. They broke my heart so many times.

Maybe there can be another rewatch soon? :D I bought the series on DVD so I don't have to rely on the library...

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I think there was another rewatch planned sometime? I'd look forward to it too.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Since everyone had talked up Kara so much I was certain I wouldn't like her. I'm notorious for not connecting for female characters on tv. But she had short hair and hips so I was softened. (I didn't really love Kara until AoC/YCGHA although there were definitely flashes in the mini.)

Lee, I loved from the pan across his name as his viper rolls on to the deck because I have a huge name crush on the name 'Lee'. I literally swooned when he took off his helmet and was petulant pretty boy instead of standard hero.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I went in cold, so had no idea of anything beyond what a Cylon was. And I am a sucker for strong female characters, though I'm picky about whom I consider "strong", so Kara was a wonderful surprise. I liked that they let her be a bit of an asshole, and that it was intentional.

Funnily, with Lee, it was the resigned, I-hate-this-get-me-out-of-here expression when he pulled off his helmet and just sat there that caught my interest. It's such a non-heroic thing to do, and that was what made me think "hmm, maybe he's not just here to provide the pretty". And a lot of us seem to like that :D

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

though I'm picky about whom I consider "strong"

This is me. I find too many "strong" female characters scream "Like me! I'm an intriguing, strong female character" without anything behind it. So Kara being genuinely abrasive in the beginning and becoming more emotionally vulnerable by AoC really broke her out of the regular TV mold. Also I'm a sucker for women on TV without long, flowing, perfectly styled locks. ;)

I-hate-this-get-me-out-of-here expression

This is exactly what sold me on Lee. Exactly.