Dear Ronald D. Moore…
I am a total Battlestar Galactica junkie. Fell in love with the previews of the miniseries, and have been watching every episode since. Absolutely great stuff – some of the best scifi on tv. I love that it avoids the formulas as much as possible, and doesn’t treat the audience like lobotomized droolbots that need constant spoonfeeding. It seems like, by and large, each episode is better than the last – and that’s hard to do for 1 season, let alone 2.
The podcast by Ronald D. Moore is also a stroke of genius – giving us the “director’s commentary” (ok, the executive producer / developer’s commentary) in almost realtime. Brilliant.
However, I would really like it if either Ronald or someone from Scifi.com (whoever does the post production on the podcasts) would please turn down the volume on the commercial-break BEEEEEEP. If I’m listening on my iPod while commuting, I have already turned up the volume pretty high because the level of Ronald’s voice recording is rather low, and I need to hear over traffic noise etc… So, Ron (hey, if I let you into my iPod, I get to call you Ron) is talking about the episode, and how wonderful the actors are, yadda yadda. Then, after a second-long pause in speech, there’s the three-second-sonic-lobotomy. BEEEEEEEEEEP. No real warning. Just a HUGE spike in volume, turning my brain to mush for three seconds. I can dive for the pause button, the neurons controlling my finger don’t respond when I’ve been hit by the commercial-tone-stun-ray. By the time I’ve struggled my way to the volume controls, the lobotomy is over, and I start to recover just as the commentary kicks in again. Too late, again.
Other than that, I am so totally addicted to the podcasts that I keep listening – learning to brace myself when I think a commercial might be coming up. Gritting my teeth really tight seems to make it hurt less. I think the other people on the bus think I’m fighting the urge to obey voices in my head or something, though… I suddenly tense up, pupils dilate, breath stops short… What? Kill them all? No. The noise will stop. Aaaaaah. There it goes…
Dear Ronald D. Moore…
I am a total Battlestar Galactica junkie. Fell in love with the previews of the miniseries, and have been watching every episode since. Absolutely great stuff – some of the best scifi on tv. I love that it avoids the formulas as much as possible, and doesn’t treat the audience like lobotomized droolbots that need constant spoonfeeding. It seems like, by and large, each episode is better than the last – and that’s hard to do for 1 season, let alone 2.
The podcast by Ronald D. Moore is also a stroke of genius – giving us the “director’s commentary” (ok, the executive producer / developer’s commentary) in almost realtime. Brilliant.
However, I would really like it if either Ronald or someone from Scifi.com (whoever does the post production on the podcasts) would please turn down the volume on the commercial-break BEEEEEEP. If I’m listening on my iPod while commuting, I have already turned up the volume pretty high because the level of Ronald’s voice recording is rather low, and I need to hear over traffic noise etc… So, Ron (hey, if I let you into my iPod, I get to call you Ron) is talking about the episode, and how wonderful the actors are, yadda yadda. Then, after a second-long pause in speech, there’s the three-second-sonic-lobotomy. BEEEEEEEEEEP. No real warning. Just a HUGE spike in volume, turning my brain to mush for three seconds. I can dive for the pause button, the neurons controlling my finger don’t respond when I’ve been hit by the commercial-tone-stun-ray. By the time I’ve struggled my way to the volume controls, the lobotomy is over, and I start to recover just as the commentary kicks in again. Too late, again.
Other than that, I am so totally addicted to the podcasts that I keep listening – learning to brace myself when I think a commercial might be coming up. Gritting my teeth really tight seems to make it hurt less. I think the other people on the bus think I’m fighting the urge to obey voices in my head or something, though… I suddenly tense up, pupils dilate, breath stops short… What? Kill them all? No. The noise will stop. Aaaaaah. There it goes…
Related
Glad you posted about this! Those extra loud beeps have been driving me nuts as well. I’m watching the episode while listening to the podcast, so I should know when a beep’s coming up. But it still catches me off-guard almost every time.
Yeah, I keep trying to find Ron’s email address or a “send a message to Ron” link on the BSG website, but no joy… Let’s see if we can harness The Power of Blog for good, instead of evil… Oh, wait. I haven’t tried to harness it for evil yet…
So true, so true… If you think it’s bad blasting in your car, imagine me sitting at my computer calmly working away, listening to Moore’s comments, then AAAAURRRRHGHGHGHHH!!! I jam on the mute key of my keyboard, but it’s usually too late. By then, I’m already stuck in a catatonic gaze and have to wait until it wears off.
I love BSG and I agree that these podcasts are somewhat groundbreaking in that they’re released just as the corresponding episode is about to air (with a few exceptions). My problem is that I (and I suspect most others) don’t actually listen to the podcast while watching the episode. I usually listen to it sometime later, remembering in my mind what was on screen and when. Maybe if I actually listened to it simultaneously, that frackin’ beep wouldn’t seem so disturbing.
Then again, could it be some super-subliminal signal to activate Cylons lying in wait to destroy us all? That would be cool! Um, no wait. What?
Heh. Yeah… I keep picturing the poor soul who is listening along on their home theatre system – volume cranked up, dolby surround sound, podcast feed mixed with the episode audio. Then BEEEEEEEP! All windows in their house blow out simultaneously. Dogs go nuts for 3 blocks in any direction. Car alarms go off for no apparent reason. Plaster cracks…
You might be onto something with the cylon superliminal signal, though. Six still hasn’t shown up yet, though. Dammit. BEEEEEEP!