It's interesting that you mention BSG, because that's a show I absolutely adore, even though they've been stringing us along for four seasons now. :) But I think there are some very vital differences in structure that make BSG work for me when season 8 doesn't.
First, the sheer awesomeness of the individual stories we get each episode is more than enough to distract me from the things that don't make sense. The same was often true with Buffy the TV show, but I've been vastly underwhelmed by the comics, so I'm focusing a lot more on the problems.
Second, I think BSG has a good way of doling out answers. We didn't start out the series with the big mysteries we have now - there was no big "who are the final five?" question, because we didn't know the final five would be important. There was no "who is behind all of this?" question because we didn't know there was anything to be behind. There was no question about the evolution of the Cylons, because we thought we knew that already. BSG is continually giving us answers - it's just that the answers always lead to more (and bigger) questions. BSG builds on its reveals; I don't get that with Buffy. I think the puzzle analogy is pretty apt in that sense - we're getting random pieces, but until we fit more of them together, they're not going to make any sense, and that's frustrating when the pieces are doled out so slowly.
The other thing that I think makes a big difference is that the big mysteries of BSG affect the way we view the universe and the story, but they don't affect the way we view the characters (except for Starbuck, I suppose, but she's always been special). It's not like we couldn't understand Tigh's actions until he was revealed as a Cylon; it's just that we understand him differently now. We thought we knew the context, and now the context has changed. But with Buffy, we don't even have a context to understand her actions, leaving us floundering. And that's particularly detrimental because she's the main character. Imagine if we'd gone through all of BSG not knowing what Adama's motivation was. We'd be completely lost.
Also, what makes BSG so awesome is that you can identify with the characters, because they don't know what the frak is going on, either. We're unraveling the mystery right along with them. But it seems like with Buffy, she ought to know what's going on - it's just the audience that's in the dark, and that creates distance between us and her.
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Date: 2009-01-30 07:09 pm (UTC)First, the sheer awesomeness of the individual stories we get each episode is more than enough to distract me from the things that don't make sense. The same was often true with Buffy the TV show, but I've been vastly underwhelmed by the comics, so I'm focusing a lot more on the problems.
Second, I think BSG has a good way of doling out answers. We didn't start out the series with the big mysteries we have now - there was no big "who are the final five?" question, because we didn't know the final five would be important. There was no "who is behind all of this?" question because we didn't know there was anything to be behind. There was no question about the evolution of the Cylons, because we thought we knew that already. BSG is continually giving us answers - it's just that the answers always lead to more (and bigger) questions. BSG builds on its reveals; I don't get that with Buffy. I think the puzzle analogy is pretty apt in that sense - we're getting random pieces, but until we fit more of them together, they're not going to make any sense, and that's frustrating when the pieces are doled out so slowly.
The other thing that I think makes a big difference is that the big mysteries of BSG affect the way we view the universe and the story, but they don't affect the way we view the characters (except for Starbuck, I suppose, but she's always been special). It's not like we couldn't understand Tigh's actions until he was revealed as a Cylon; it's just that we understand him differently now. We thought we knew the context, and now the context has changed. But with Buffy, we don't even have a context to understand her actions, leaving us floundering. And that's particularly detrimental because she's the main character. Imagine if we'd gone through all of BSG not knowing what Adama's motivation was. We'd be completely lost.
Also, what makes BSG so awesome is that you can identify with the characters, because they don't know what the frak is going on, either. We're unraveling the mystery right along with them. But it seems like with Buffy, she ought to know what's going on - it's just the audience that's in the dark, and that creates distance between us and her.