remarkably unremarkable

[orangerful]

So, I was preusing the items up for auction this week even though I can't afford any of it, and it got me thinking about how sort of...well...normal everything on BSG looks. Yeah, so the corners are cut off of their papers and books and photos, but otherwise, a shot glass is a shot glass.

I dunno, maybe it's because I read all those books on special effects/props when I was a kid, but while I love the show, looking through the bits that are being sold, very little grabs me. Apart from things like Six's iconic Red Dress (and other big items that sold for thousands of dollars, check out the catalog for these items), the outfits from the show are very normal bits of clothing. Just cargo pants and wifeCylon-beaters. Their shipboard communication devices are phones, for crying out loud! Not fancy phones from the future (say that ten times fast) but more 1970s clunkers. The chairs from Colonial One could be from Laz E Boy. (Last week's auction had Starbuck's sunglasses and revealed they were just Ralph Lauren Polo shades - nothing extra added to them).

And while things like the pins and the badges are really cool, why not just make a ton of them and sell them in the online store? jellibean sent me a BSG Patch, and it looks perfect and didn't have cost the $200 that the Pegasus Patch is going for now.

My favorite has to be the Pyramid ball, which is just a soccer ball that has been spray-painted black and then had a red stripe painted around it.

My favorite items are the character sketches but they are so far out of my price range... it is ridiculous.

BUT ANYWAY - my point is that this show, one of my favorite television shows of all time, set in space, is really one of the most normal shows I've seen. Heck, Buffy had weirder things to auction off when it ended. But I think that is why Battlestar works - we can buy into the reality because it's not all flashing lights and scanning devices. If you ignore the fact that they are in a space ship, the rest of the show is so...normal. Screwed up people leading screwed up lives...IN SPACE!

I know, not really a revelation. It's just been on my mind ever since the auctions started.

If I had a million dollars, I'd totally buy myself some props. Even something as ridiculous as a cubit note. But as it is, I'm just going to blog about how surreal it all is and make myself feel better...

...though starbuck's name plate would be pretty sweet to own...

Comments

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

ooh- this is something I've actually noticed.. the fact that they didn't even seem to try with the clothing, props, etc, so that this lost colony of humanity (it's a lost colony, right? bear with me.. I'm still stuck on season 3, and now I've forgotten the backstory.. sigh) just happens out of sheer coincidence to be wearing styles of clothing, hair, glases, etc that are popular on early 21st century earth. I think this was a cool decision because a) it avoids the stupid unisex jumpsuits that every other space show has people wearing, b) it avoids silly and distracting guesses as to what a lost colony of humanity might actually wear. I just look at it as a translation thing- I assume they are actually wearing something that would be stylish for them, and we're seeing it as something that translates into a style we understand (yes, I've actually given it that much thought).

It's like the language issue- they probably wouldn't be speaking English either, but we hear what they're saying in English so we can understand it. This is why the frak thing bothers me- why is the swear word the only word we get in their langauge? I find it jarring- every time someone says it, it pulls me out of the show. Although I was starting to get more used to it. Ok, I really need to catch up- I think I'm going to go dig out my netflix discs right now, since I don't seem to be watching Dollhouse.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

YES EXACTLY! THANK YOU! I was trying to get my brain to articulate the things you just typed and it seemed to get stuck...possibly because I was hungry and could smell dinner cooking...very distracting. I think that because they didn't try to "space" up the show's props and backdrop, this is what made it so accessible to non-sci-fi viewers. None of the bells and whistles that Star Trek is known for.

Good, happy to know I'm not the only one thinking about these things...

And OMG yes you need to catch up!!!!! How will you avoid spoilers when the finale airs? I'm sure it will be impossible. You should at least get as close as you can. The middle of season 3 is rough but there is a really good pay off at the end!!!!

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

Wow. The Pegasus patch is going for $200? That makes me feel a lot better for paying $25 for mine. (Some of the people in the Colonial Fleet have gotten a hold of the screen-used fabric and made replicas. They are GORGEOUS.)

I love that the military uniforms are pretty standard and normal-looking, but with a few mods (suede shoulder patches, buckles on the pockets, wider belt-loops...) that do just enough to signal that they aren't from 21st Century Earth.

I'd still probably punch someone for one of the Colonial Law books though. ^_^

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah if they were just giving them away, you know I'd be there with a giant bag grabbing everything. But when I ponder the idea of dropping over $1000 on sun glasses and see that the description says "Ralph Lauren Polo sunglasses" right in the auction, it makes me think haha and ponder.

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

I was looking through the auction, and I totally have Boomer's dream house glasses. (Emily Gilmore also uses them at Friday Night Dinners...) LOL.

Do you know if there's a list of stuff that's already been sold? I saw Cally's helmet and had a bit of a fit over it.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

There's a catalog of all the big ticket items that were sold during the live auction but I don't know about the weekly auctions...