BSG season 3 as a whole

[Sam Or I]

The good, the bad and the ugly for season 3 as a whole?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Missing an option for 1.

[Sam Or I]

I put 0-1 and it did not show up.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Man, adding 0 just screws everything up: makes it out-of-six rather than out-of-five, which you can easily divide or grade.

[UCBooties]

I watched avidly from the start up to the escape from New Caprica and I think it was some of the best we've seen from the show. The episodes following were also great as we saw the shakeout from the year and a half of planet living and occupation. Then the show seemed to start slipping a bit. Suddenly things were getting a bit predictable and the characters weren't as interesting. I missed a few episodes here and there and then I was underwhelmed by a lot of the mid-season break.

The second half of the season really dragged for me. I liked parts but for the first time since the show came on it wasn't must watch and it got shuffled aside for other things. The time change also made me less likely to catch it. Finally I just stopped watching altogether. I hope to catch it on DVD or iTunes before the next season starts but this season really lost me.

[Uraniun235]

It is my opinion that the third season was the weakest of the series.

[Srynerson]

Based on the strength of the New Caprica episodes, I might have been able to say this season would just barely qualify for a 5, but the Apollo/Starbuck dynamic dragged the season down to a low 4.

[apocolypse]

I would give it a high 3/low 4 maybe. I liked a lot of it, but there was quite a few filler eps. And while it added some interesting tidbits here and there (the Boxing ep showing some more of New Caprica, the Sagittarons and their beliefs, etc) it didn't do much for the overall storyline and dragged it a bit.

[Johnathon_Chance]

Tivo is my friend. I was able to save all the episodes and watch at my leisure. I agree with some of the other posters as part of the series was great, while other parts dragged. I think the escape from new caprica was some of the best scifi battles I have seen in a long time, especially when they jumped the galactica into the planets atmosphere to launch the vipers. They havent been able to top that one yet, but I sure hope that they try next year. Too bad we have to wait a whole fracking year to see what happens next.

[General Zod]

Towards the middle of the season and the nonsense with the Lee/Dee, Starbuck/Anders Tyrol/Cally relationship stuff made it drag somewhat, but the beginnings and ending of the season in general were quite excellent.

[Lord Woodlouse]

It drifted a bit too much in the middle (it covered some important themes, but still felt aimless). It's a very claustrophobic and concentrated show, where it seems clear that there's not much time passing between episodes unless we're explicitly told. It does not lend itself very easily to filler.

[Skylon]

Kicked off really strong. The occupation and exodus from New Caprica were some of the best stuff from the show ("Exodus" pt. 2 in my book is the best episode of the series). Even the aftermath from New Caprica was good, things hit a snag though with "Unfinished Business".

If the Apollo/Starbuck emo crap was just that episode I'd have been fine, but no. It dragged onto the mid-season cliffhanger, hindering a good episode, then mucking up the second half of the season. I daresay things didn't pick up again really until "Malestrom".

It was certainly the weakest season by far, but still, had some great moments.

[Noble Ire]

The beginning of the season was probably one of the strongest periods of the series, but a good portion of the middle portion was disappointing, largely because of the Lee/Kara subplot. Still, I think it recovered laudably leading up to the finale (although my judgement may change pending the revelation of the circumstances surrounding Starbuck's death and "rebirth"), and finished with a solid 4.

[slebetman]

On the one hand S3 has what is probably the coolest scene ever broadcast on TV: the Adama Maneuver. On the other hand S3 also contains too much of Battlestar LiveJournal. Fuck it, I'm giving it a 4. The Adama Maneuver trumps everything else.

[Gandalf]

Four out of five.

I think the star of the season was Tigh. He got to really grow as a character during and after the New Caprica arc.

[Master of Ossus]

3/5. The big episodes were great (except maybe "Eye of Jupiter"), but the stupid filler ones with Starbuck-Lee garbage was contrived and really dragged the season out.

[Sam Or I]

The Excellent:

The first 3 Episodes. It made me uncomfortable to watch (which it was supposed to), and the ending battle with the Galactica falling from the sky. On of the most spectacular scenes in Sci-Fi history. (If you have ever seen an actual aircraft carrier up close, imagine it falling on your head then multiple that by 10.)

The Good:

The ship porn. Very beautiful shots of the ships towards the end of the season.

In the latter half ot the season, very good attention to detail. The little things that make the situation feel more realistic, like hotdogs rash or hot dog flipping upside down looking at the sky, Starbuck insulting Apollo's speech for being "recycled" from his dad, ect...ect...

The plot episodes were usually done well, when ever the plot was moved forward the show worked.

The Bad:

All the forgetable filler episodes. How many do we have? They all blend together for me, and they were all .... forgetable. Season 2 the mediocre fillers were the exception not the rule, it was vice verse this season. A pity these fillers made the majority of the season.

Too many new characters for plot device (Bulldog, the Evil Nazi Dr.) or old characters suddenly change direction for plot device (Cat, Kelly). The only exception seems to be Seelix, which has been eased in.

Too many times peoples actions did not come back on them. Although I think Helo was correct about not releasing the virus, Adama should have had his ass.

The Ugly:

Apollo, Starbuck, Dee, Anders love triangle. It was too much. I do not mind a little bit here and there. The Chief, Helo and Sharron was handled very well, how did they screw the pooch with with Star Buck and Lee?

2008 till next season WTF? I hope I am still alive by that time.

[slebetman]

Also, I kinda wish that they spent more time on New Caprica. Lots of issues to explore but cut short by Exodus. They did actually spend quite a considerable amount of time telling stories of New Caprica - but with flashbacks. I'd much rather the stories be told as it was happening rather than via flashbacks.

[Genii Lodus]

It was a very mixed bag of episodes. The middle of the season really did drag and even though the final few episodes were back to the usual standard they were building on mediocrity. I think the difference between this season's fillers and the S2 ones were that these ones tended to have an interesting subplot or at least some very memorable scenes where Black Market and its ilk were thoroughly uninteresting.

What disappointed me most about the middle episodes was like Sam Or I said that they didn't seem to have any impact. We had Bulldog, a pilot from Adama's past introduced, who then disappears without trace. I would have liked at least a reference to this in later episodes like Adama threatening to phone up bulldog to replace Lee/Starbuck whatever during one of their many fuck-ups.

We also had the absurd scenario of Helo preventing the use of the virus and thus wiping out the Cylon race with little consequence. That his confession to Adama of committing what is paramount to treason happens in a cut scene and is never mentioned was extremely disappointing. This is the sort of almost Star Trek style reset button episode ending you never used to get from BSG. For example IIRC the fleet hadn't finished restocking on tasty algae before the cylons arrived in the Eye of Jupiter, given how the food shortage came out of the blue I woud have liked its consequences to persist so that it was more than an act of plot.

I'll pass comment on Starbuck's death until I see how her miraculous recovery from explosion is handled. I'd feel cheated if she'd ejected off-screen to be picked up by that Heavy Raider. The idea of a Head Starbuck for Apollo is interesting but my feeling upon watching the ep was that she was the fifth of the Final Five but apparently that's not true if Ron Moore's interview is to be believed.

That said the series had some great episodes and moments. The New Caprica eps were great and it was nice to see some flashbacks to life there later on. I enjoyed seeing the Cylon perspective even if there were some disconnects (Balthar being tortured one episode, waking up in bed with Six and D'Anna the next) and the sequences did outstay their welcome somewhat. I was pleased to see the show's mythology develop a bit further, it's always been an important element in the show but had not been progressed much after Home pt2.

Overall if this season's middle had tied together in a more satisfying way and had featured less characters acting out of character for no good reason then it would have been up to the standard set by the others. I hope for next year that they go back to the more authentic and believable character interactions they had before and also, if this is to be the last season, tie everything up in a satisfactory way. It's annoying to think that the last ep will probably air sometime May 08, I'd like a conclusion now if not sooner.

[Spyder]

When it was good, it was fantastic. When it was bad, it was just kind of meh.

I'm not sure how they're going to top Exodus pt 2, that battle raised the bar astronomically.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Four, because where the main expisodes dealing with the overarching plot succeeded, they succeeded totally. The filler needs to go, and hopefully this won't be an issue in season four, though with the extended episode number rather than a lesser number, we can only hope.

As disjointed and confusing as the finale was, I found it a great way to end the series so far.

[Trytostaydead]

Season three.. I unfortunately had to give it a 3. The beginning and ending were all worth of whacking off to, but the middle really just kind flopped around with some really lazy writing showing through.

[Vegi]

I gave it a 2. It started out strong, but the filler episodes were just so bad I stopped watching entirely and didnt come back until the last 4 episodes. I feel bad awarding a season with such good episodes as the initial ones so low, but if it gets so bad I cannot continue to watch it then I really can't give it more than a 2.

[Stofsk]

I gave it a 4, under the logic that when it was good it was fantastic, but when it was bad it was only kind of meh. A lot of scifi shows suffer bad episodes, but if I can forgive TOS for it's third season I can definitely forgive nBSG for this one.

[JLTucker]

If the Apollo/Starbuck emo crap...

How the fuck is that emo? What the fuck is wrong with a bit of drama?