Battlestar Galactica, Video-blogs, and Angel wind-up

As is evidenced by the recent dearth of posts on this site, I think I can attest that my initial idea, a standard watch-episode-write-review format, isn't going to work. The serialized, slow-paced concept, while fine in theory, clashes with my more informal viewing habits, and I might as well admit now that I shamelessly abandoned the Angel blogs half-way into Season One in favor of watching at my own pace, and have since finished the series. While realizing fairly quickly that a traditional blogging format simply isn't ideal for me, I am determined to continue this blog in some form; therefore I am introducing a new concept: a series of video blogs, with my test-subject series being Battlestar Galactica. The more versatile, informal, and above all, time-efficient direction of a video blog should work out much more successfully than previous written attempts, and I hope to introduce the new show within a few weeks. Now, without any more ado, a few scraps of unpublished drafts I had left lying about from various points in Angel Season One, mostly observations on the first season after having watched To Shanshu in LA, italicized, with my current comments in bold.

• Headquarters blown up; permanently, I presume. Too bad, I liked that place. (Well, yes, that was certainly permanent; my goodness, were those Season One headquarters tiny! In retrospect, they worked very well for the fledgling, three-member AI team, but wouldn't have been practical even into Season Two with the introduction of Gunn and an occasional appearance from Lorne; as for Season Three onward: HA.)
• Once more, we get to see the AI team acting as a family; very nice to watch. (This is an interesting observation on my part; I assume I was referring to Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia, yes? Well, the "family" aspect is certainly explored throughout the rest of the series, in some surprisingly literal ways [oh Connor, how much I did not expect you!], but never in as simple and angst-free a sense as we witnessed back in Season One.)
• Darla' resurrection is interesting; can't say I'm looking forward to seeing more of her, but I'll wait to see where they take the story. (I don't think I can adequately explain how thoroughly unprepared I was for... well, anything, at this point. Darla's reappearance was so pivotal to the rest of the series that imagining it without this long-past plot development is difficult. And for the record, I ended up enjoying her character far more than I initially expected to; she was criminally short-changed in only having a chance to appear in the first few episodes of an admittedly primitive and uneven first season of Buffy; her crucial role as the founder and long-central figure of the Darla-Angelus-Drusilla-Spike quadrangle, the other three members of which were granted ample exploration on Buffy, was not even hinted at, a state of affairs which I am glad Angel rectified. And thank goodness she lost those hideous bangs.)
  
• So, Lindsey loses a hand; didn't expect that. (Bwahaha. Two words: EVIL HAND!)

First of all; yes, I am posting my observations on the season finale without having given the final few episodes individual reviews. Through personal reasons and experimenting with various methods of reviewing, I've fallen a bit behind on my coverage of the series on this blog. So, as a matter of interest, I have progressed as far as the fifth episode of Season Two; I was extremely pleased with how the first season in general resolved itself. So, without further ado, let's revisit my predictions: (NOTE: these were predictions from roughly the middle of Season One)

• Cordelia and Wesley are NOT going to pursue a romantic relationship; Cordy will probably hang on to Doyle's memory for a while, and if there is any attraction, it will be on Wesley's side. (Cordelia... and Wesley? From a Season-Five-and-onward vantage point, it's pretty much impossible to express exactly how ridiculous even a passing mention of this pairing appears. Is it possible they were once attracted to each other? As for Doyle, he was relegated to a respected-but-rarely-mentioned position in the team's history, a state of affairs maintained even more stringently after Glenn Quinn's death in 2002; his legacy and impact were finally acknowledged mid-Season Five, as Spike was manipulated by Lindsey - in a bid to sow dissension in Angel's ranks - attempting to establish Spike as a rival or replacement ensouled vampire by working to recreate the circumstances of Angel's long-ago meeting with Doyle, right down to employing the same name and character traits. However, even this acknowledgment of the deceased character and actor was handled delicately, and quickly passed over again after having been used to make its point.)
• Wesley will become slightly more competent (this is pretty much a given, as there's really no way he could become less competent). (And, here we go again... is it possible that Wesley was once a disposable, bumbling idiot? Mr. "I-rival-Angel-with-my-angsty-darkness-and-tortured-history" is certainly a development, isn't he?)
• Wolfram and Hart will escalate their aggression toward Angel, culminating in an attempt to kill him/take out Angel Investigations entirely, possibly in the season finale. (Haha. Ha. Hahaha. Not even going to tackle this one.)
• No other main characters are going to die this season. (No, not in Season One, but later, just you wait.)
• Kate Lockley will continue in her recurring role, eventually accepting Angel's vampire nature (this may apply to later seasons as well). (Wow, I almost forgot about Kate! If I recall correctly, she made her final appearance in mid-Season Two... I honestly can't clearly recall how her relationship with Angel developed before her departure.)
• No new characters will be added to the opening credits. (Not until Season Two rolled around. And after that... whew. And may I just mention that the addition of a slew of new actors improved the credits considerably? The tightened format worked much better, and was more reminiscent of Buffy's, than it was with the initial cast of three.)
• Angel will forego at least one more opportunity for happiness/a normal life. (Can I just say... "yes"... to this? Signing away his potential role in the Shanshu Prophecy in order to infiltrate an evil organization most certainly qualifies, and that wasn't anywhere close to the first time he pulled a similar stunt.)
• The team will fight demons, and Angel will be angsty. (See what I did there?) (Ooh, I'm sharp. I'd say that this one held good right through to the last moments of the series finale.)

And, as a last hurrah, my very first mention of Angel on the blog:

In preparation for the beginning of my Angel posts, what do I know about the series? I've kept myself entirely non-spoiled as far as plot-relevant details go (except for that one time when Buffy decided to go all crossover and do a "previously on Angel" sequence... seriously, show?), but haven't been able to avoid general-premise information. It takes place in the Buffyverse, in Los Angeles, putting it close enough to the action in Sunnydale to remain firmly planted in Buffy's world without intruding on her territory; most of the main characters from Buffy have made appearances on Angel, either as main characters or guest stars, and among the names I've heard bandied about are Angel (heh), Cordy, Wesley, Harmony, Spike, and Dru, with, if I'm correct, occasional appearances from Faith, Buffy, and Willow. Angel heads up some demon-fighting organization (way to go pro on Buffy, there), and the show features quite a large cast of original characters. Apart from that, I'm entirely in the dark on plot developments, and the reactions you'll witness on this blog will be my initial, un-spoiled ones. I intend to go one episode at a time (except for two-parters, possibly), which should be something of a challenge; however, I'll do my best to pace myself, and expect to have quite the chronicle of posts by the time I finish the series.

Hee. Goodnight, folks.