Inkthinker
09-01-2005, 02:00 AM
There's an ongoing thread concerning Battlestar Galactice going on in the TV/Film board, and since this week's column mentions the show, there's an interesting development (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?p=1821854#post1821854) occured concerning the writing of the show, for which I'd be curious as to Grant's (and anyone else's) opinion on...
It would seem (according to reports) from the podcast commentary that's being produced in conjunction with each episode, that some of the elements which appear to be indicative of mystery and subterfuge, hinting at larger, underlying plot threads that weave throughout the series (such as subplots with the Nuggets, Boomer's "and you ask 'why'?" during Adama's chokeslam, or the birthing farms on Caprica and the Cylon obsession with reproduction), are in fact being made up on the fly and actually about as thin as tissue.
Now, the reason I bring this up here, instead of just trying to drag Grant over there, is this.
I personally haven't heard the podcasts, and now I don't think I want to. I was perfectly happy believing that there was some sort of thing going on, even if it's not so. And what I'd like to know is if anyone thinks it really matters if writers (for ANY show or movie or comic or whatever) have a real deep plot written down somewhere and kept in a safe and printed in non-photo red and so forth, or if they're just playing it off the cuff with some ephemeral concept of what it all adds up to, and making it look deep?
If, in the end, everyone thinks you're writing mysterious, deep-threaded plotlines, does it matter if you're actually just "faking it"?
I seem to think that there's been more than one popular show or comic or movie that engendered a great deal of analysis and discussion on the "deeper meaning" of things that later proved to be just "the way it was done". Is this really something to be concerned with?
It would seem (according to reports) from the podcast commentary that's being produced in conjunction with each episode, that some of the elements which appear to be indicative of mystery and subterfuge, hinting at larger, underlying plot threads that weave throughout the series (such as subplots with the Nuggets, Boomer's "and you ask 'why'?" during Adama's chokeslam, or the birthing farms on Caprica and the Cylon obsession with reproduction), are in fact being made up on the fly and actually about as thin as tissue.
Now, the reason I bring this up here, instead of just trying to drag Grant over there, is this.
I personally haven't heard the podcasts, and now I don't think I want to. I was perfectly happy believing that there was some sort of thing going on, even if it's not so. And what I'd like to know is if anyone thinks it really matters if writers (for ANY show or movie or comic or whatever) have a real deep plot written down somewhere and kept in a safe and printed in non-photo red and so forth, or if they're just playing it off the cuff with some ephemeral concept of what it all adds up to, and making it look deep?
If, in the end, everyone thinks you're writing mysterious, deep-threaded plotlines, does it matter if you're actually just "faking it"?
I seem to think that there's been more than one popular show or comic or movie that engendered a great deal of analysis and discussion on the "deeper meaning" of things that later proved to be just "the way it was done". Is this really something to be concerned with?