BigsWickDagger
Spaceman
Bandit LOAF said:No, it isn't good - it's irrelevant. How the heck could it ever be important? People who don't matter who we've never cared about? Fine... doesn't effect us -- except, like here, where we dramatically lower our expectations because we suddenly decide we want to be popular. That's sad.
It's also completely inaccurate. Star Trek: The Next Generation - the ideal held up earlier in this thread for just this reason - was incredibly, incredibly popular with non-fans. Battlestar Galactica comes nowhere near its ratings, its name recognition or its market saturation. But, of course, it never tried-so-hard to be edgy... .
Hardly irrelevant, but I never wrote “important”- your word choice. However, it does effect us, and they do matter. If science fiction is to be taken more seriously it will require a broader appeal across a wider spectrum of fans. You yourself have talked about the importance of bringing in new blood. What, it only counts if they start at childhood? TNG was a great show, my favorite Trek series of all, but I never remember it getting the critical acclaim that BSG has gotten, and I never knew as many non sci-fi fans who watched it.
Bandit LOAF said:People agree with me! I must be cool now!
That's so stupid -- why would these opinions suddenly matter? These are the people who've been shooting down every other genre show that you've loved for your entire life... and now the one time you agree with them it makes them credible sources? To acknowledge that Rolling Stone has any legitimate say is also a tacit admission that the likes of Star Trek, Wing Commander, seaQuest, Xena, insert-90s-sci-fi-franchise here are worthless. That's stupid revisionism -- we were entirely happy to rage against this machine when they were panning WCIV... and in so doing we certainly made the case that they were simply ignorant. Now they agree with you so they're great? Come off it. .
Never said I was cool, never said they were great- again your word choices. You know you have a bad habit of doing that? Go back and re-read my initial post. What I wrote was that the high marks BSG was given in these publications has created a new interest from outside the usual fan base. Furthermore, I said that it was typical for us as long time fans, myself included, to “resist inclusion” of these folks. You have proven my point for me quite nicely….again.
How do they matter? Well for starters, it will take an increased number of folks who enjoy sci-fi for it to gain the legitimacy people so often complain about it lacking. Again, you’ve spoken about the need to bring more folks into the fold. This goes hand in glove with that idea.
Bandit LOAF said:What a terrible question! What awful logic! Apply the same line of thinking to whatever the latest hip reality TV show is. Apply it to whichever politician is in power! There is no inherent value in the thinking of the majority simply because it is a majority.
Again, you’ve missed the mark but made my point. This question, as intended to be understood, illustrated the resistance from within the sci-fi community to assign any sort of validity to praise given to a sci-fi series by an outside source.
Bandit LOAF said:How can you people possibly come into a thread that started off by making fun of how incredibly dumb people who parrot this kind of crap are?
It was easy- I disagreed with what was being written.
Bandit LOAF said:How do you not feel terrible after having written something like this? Do you seriously believe that repeating the same thing we've been mocking - that we've already yelled at one person for - is going to bring new light to the idea? You are a big part of the problem: the attempt to make the fun explosion sex show into something brilliant which it *absolutely is not*.
Feel terrible? Nah. Simply put, no matter how many insults you toss around nor how many times you call me or us or my or our ideas stupid it will have zero impact on my decision to voice my opinion when the urge hits me to speak it. If that makes me "part of the problem," so be it.
Bandit LOAF said:Battlestar Galactica deals with these 'issues' (nay: the human condition! that sound intellectual in its vaugness!) in excatly the same manner as does an afternoon soap opera or an hour of 90210. The difference is that 90210 is lots of easy fun and you don't have to deal with insufferable 90210 fans insisting that the show is carefully crafting a brilliant symbol with its treatment of Dylan's father issues. Robots having sex, robots having abortions, robots arguing about religion are not clever issues and the discussion adds nothing to any of these topics - they're the same cheap, easy, common issues that every sagging drama in the universe brings out for sweeps. But here they're *in space*, so they're brilliant and subtle and clever!
I have no frame of reference for this. I never watched 90210- thought it was kind of a sissy show for high school girls.
You do have a problem with sex, don’t you? Maybe you should turn off the X-box, put down the bag of chips, and go outside once in a while.
Heck, you know what, I’ll do ya one better. I’m actually sorry this thing took this direction. I’m not apologizing for anything I wrote, will write, or how it comes across, only explaining that I’ve chosen to type the following because I’ve grown so tired of watching Loaf attack the members of this forum. So, now it was my turn. OK, consider this:
Loaf, your knowledge of the WC universe clearly sets you apart from the average fan. You deserve some respect for that, but you are sorely lacking in people skills, and you have little appreciation for how an administrator of a site like this should be interacting with its members. I’m a member of a few other Web forums and can tell you that none of the admins or mods conduct themselves in as unprofessional a manner as you. You call yourself an intellect, but you behave like a child.
Maybe it is time for someone like Death or Quarto to take the helm.
You seem to forget that you are one of the select few who’ve been entrusted with carrying on with something every member of the CIC has cherished at one time or another. Your participation in this forum is mandatory if it is to survive, if Wing Commander isn’t to wither away. We have looked to you for leadership. But, it seems at times you’ve forgotten the importance of what it is you originally came here to do. You’ve turned this into Loaf’s personal battleground. Anyone who dares disagree with you, anyone who posts an opposing point of view, and anyone who doesn’t suck up to you gets tossed. I’d hate to know the true number of fans you’ve chased away with your big ego and even bigger mouth.
You have described yourself as just another Internet “jerk.” Maybe, but in the 6 months I lurked around this forum prior to joining and in the two years I’ve been a member I’ve NEVER read anywhere where you’ve admitted to being wrong about something. Never. I don’t even recall where you’ve suggested that you could just agree to disagree with someone. It was Loaf’s way or the highway, because you would argue until the other person got banned if they refused to give ground. In fact, I’ve seen an entire thread disappear from this site, a thread in which you were getting roasted in an argument- and not the only thread I might add. Rather than leave it for all to see it magically went away. Then the participants were banned. How convenient.
Your unprovoked and typically unwarranted hostility toward CIC members has run off many one time participants of this site. You can say your numbers have grown, but I know that I’ve seen fewer and fewer guys participating than at any time in the last 2 ½ years. I’ve watched you ban people because they disagreed with your politics. Don’t like the WC movie: Yer outta here! Think Prophecy sucked? Bye-bye! That is no way to encourage a fan base and ensure the survival of something with which your been entrusted. Wake up, man.
When members disagree with you they are left with 3 choices:
1) Do nothing
2) Tacitly admit they were wrong
3) Stand up for themselves and probably get banned.
I’ve chosen option 3.
Do what you will. I hope you at least have the balls to leave my post exactly as is, without modifications or edits, and without deleting it. I doubt it, but I hope just this one time you will in fact prove me wrong.
Perhaps it is a good thing that Chris Roberts doesn’t come around here. He’d likely be appalled by what he’d see.
Shame on you.
See ya’ around, guys.