January 19, 2009

This TV ad doesn't just break the mood — it creates a whole new dimension of comic inappropriateness.

(There's a "Battlestar Galactica" spoiler, if you care.)



(Via Metafilter.)

36 comments:

Joe R. said...

They addressed this problem in Mad Men...that's what script readers are for. Although, I think rather than the inappropriate splashing of soup and song (I just want to celebrate another day of living?), the show had something to do with mentioning the show saying something about Communists that tied into a washing machine commercial.

traditionalguy said...

That was orgasmic. [the Blog topic Du Jour?] It Sure catches the attention of the Desparate House Husbands/Wives. I especially love the guy whose response to the mega-bad self destruction on display is,"don't worry, it will be alright". That expresses my thoughts everyday when I pull up Drudge's report on last night's world events.

Ron said...

That'll be our new code; when you finally consummate your lust for one of John Browning's creations, you can tell everyone you're going to "make a bowl of soup."

MadisonMan said...

It wouldn't have been so bad if the blood, er, soup, wasn't splashing around.

I found the juxtaposition hilarious.

MadisonMan said...

...and let me add: the commercial is very ineffective because of that. All I could see in the ad was the soup, not the food item being advertised. But it certainly is a memorable ad!

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

!!!!

themightypuck said...

Amusing. Not amusing enough to get me to stop free riding and watch commercials (although for some reason I give ads during NFL games a chance). I don't have a DVR so I tend to watch things once they are available on Netflix. I had promised myself I'd watch the last of BG live but I can't get broadcast Sci-Fi in anything better than SD. I'm hoping I can get a widescreen 480p off Xbox Live at 2 bucks a shot.

Bob R said...

Worst juxtaposition I ever saw was the day Reagan was shot. I was home, and for some reason the TV was on (Washington DC station, don't remember which one). The hairspray guys were not in yet, so a rumpled backstage guy comes on and reads the bulletin. Nervous, confused, not clear if Reagan is alive or dead. They run out of bulletin and on comes ... Hi! Ho! Pimlico! nice jaunty racecourse commercial.

Tibore said...

I don't recall that being the ad that followed that scene on Sci-Fi. But if it was, wow. Blown brains, then blown soup.

Wonder if some Sci-Fi channel executive managed at least a spit-take over that one.

Diane Wilson said...

it creates a whole new dimension of comic inappropriateness.

Exactly the way Ambrose Bierce defined inappropriateness: holding divine services during a dog-fight in church.

Unknown said...

traditionalguy ->That was orgasmic. [the Blog topic Du Jour?]

How about this
Serial Monogamy In Women
as an orgasmic topic?

chuck b. said...

I'm having major problems with Ellen Tigh as the fifth cyclon.

kimsch said...

I watched the episode twice on Comcast. Once when it aired on Friday and then again last night on TiVo with my husband. That commercial was nowhere to be seen during the episode. In fact, I have never seen that commercial before. Maybe it's regional or cable service/satellite service exclusive.

rhhardin said...

I spotted her as trouble right away.

The commercial at least adds some action.

David said...

Battlestar Gallactica started out as teenybopper sci fi fluff, lots of technofights by heart throb space jockeys, but no blood, gore or even despair, even though we were seeing the last remnants of the human race in a fight to survive.

Just how and when did it become so dark?

Wince said...

Anybody else notice it was a cracker commercial being so insensitive about a black woman shooting herself in the head?

themightypuck said...

David,

I thought it was pretty dark from the get go what with the whole destruction of Caprica (i.e. Earth). Wasn't the first episode after the miniseries (33 I think) pretty bleak?

chuck b. said...

The second series is dark; the first series is light.

traditionalguy said...

jjim... I was thinking of Mind Blowing Sex as the ending sought by the desperate people trapped by marital boredom, so yeah, that article is relevant. Just remember,"What happens in Madison, stays in Madison". I mean Madison, Georgia, which is down the road from UGA in Athens.I believe they have several courses there [night classes] in Endless Stud Service. That course is only open to desperate Veterinarian students who can't seem to get no satisfaction.

Ann Althouse said...

So maybe the YouTuber created the juxtaposition.

MadisonMan said...

Well, according to the comments over on metafilter, the sequence ran on a cable show in Canada.

Christy said...

I watched it as an Amazon download so missed the commercials, but people were complaining about that ad all over the internet.

That suicide was intended to be devastating. Dualla (the character) has been a comforting presence during 4 years of hell. Her suicide brings home to the audience the futility felt by most of the fleet after those 4 years of sacrifice.

If Ellen is the 5th, then what the hell is Starbuck? Truly the harbinger of death?

BTW, I was a bit nonplussed by EDH pointing out that Dualla was a black woman. One doesn't see Dualla as a "black" woman. She just is. Well, she also is the one character who could always speak truth to power.

BSG, second edition, has always been a metaphor for the Iraq war. Not fluffy.

kimsch said...

I've never thought of Kandyse McClure as being a "black" woman either, I always just note that she's a beautiful woman. Just gorgeous. IMDb profile

Anonymous said...

I laughed when the commercial came on.

Not unlike the way I laughed when Travolta's gun went off in the car in "Pulp Fiction" and the guy got his head blown off.

I like red pepper flake in my soup, not saltines.

Joe said...

Just how and when did it become so dark?

I was wondering just how and when it became so stupid. When, exactly, did BG jump the shark?

Christy said...

Joe, explain further. What do you see as stupid?

Joe said...

Seriously? The plot has turned insipid and unoriginal. Story lines that should last a few shows have been dragged on for dozens of shows to the point where they repeat the same damn scenes over and over. I normally don't mind actors chewing the scenery a little, but it's gotten simply horrible.

When a writer puts a suicide in a dramatic work, it's usually because they ran out of ideas.

It's painfully obvious that the producers had a vague idea of how the last episode or two should be and are just adding filler to get a full season of episodes. On the way, they're regurgitating the worse sci-fi cliches while probably thinking they're being original. (Given how bad the writing has become, I suspect they lost some key writers even before the strike.)

Tibore said...

"Christy said...
If Ellen is the 5th, then what the hell is Starbuck? Truly the harbinger of death?"


That's what I'm trying to figure out. At first, I made the mistake of thinking she was not one of the "Exalted 5", but rather a run-of-the-mill standard skin-job (like Number6 and 8 - Tricia Helfer's character, and Boomer/Athena). Keep in mind that they skipped a Number "7" model, so I really thought that's what Starbuck was.

But - and this is a huge "But" - Ron Moore himself said there were only 12 models. We already have the "mass produced" 7 (Wikipedia's article on this names them all), plus the 5 "Exalted Ones", so we already have 12. I don't know why they skipped the number 7, but unless Moore's deliberately misleading everyone - or unless the character of Tigh misidentified Ellen as the 5th ubermodel - then all the Cylons have already been accounted for. Which means that I have no idea what the hell Starbuck is.

I'm as willing to speculate as the next fan, but I'm utterly clueless as to the explanation of what Starbuck's corpse was doing there. As an aside: If you ever found your own corpse, like Starbuck did in that episode, how creeped out would you be? I'd be bloody damn hysterical, let me tell you. Her building of the funeral pyre was pretty damn restrained compared to just how messed up I would be in her shoes.

Christy said...

Tibore, Moore is on record that Ellen is, indeed, the final cylon.

I actually loved the funeral pyre and the suggestion of Kara as the Phoenix. Yes, it would creep me out incredibly to find my own body.

Joe, Ron Moore said that this was the last episode written before the strike. For me Dualla's suicide made real the loss of all hope the entire fleet must feel. Your mileage obviously varies. Me, I'm happy with any episode better than "Black Market."

Methadras said...

chuck b. said...

I'm having major problems with Ellen Tigh as the fifth cyclon.


No shit right? I saw that over the weekend and I went fucking crazy, yelling at the TV that Mr. Tigh couldn't be the 5th because she didn't hear the music like the others did. Now that Starbuck is holding the dog tags from her corpse, then what does that make her? A hybrid?

Methadras said...

kimsch said...

I've never thought of Kandyse McClure as being a "black" woman either, I always just note that she's a beautiful woman. Just gorgeous. IMDb profile


Phenomenally beautiful woman. Color isn't even an issue. When I first saw her on the show, I thought she looked odd, but when they dolled her up, HUZZAH!!! But even after that she took on a tone in the show that made her shine through. I was stunned at the scene itself because I never expected that her character would do something like that. Nut man, just nuts.

kimsch said...

I was stunned at the scene itself because I never expected that her character would do something like that. Nut man, just nuts.

Kandyse's acting in that scene. It was so unexpected, the suicide. She looked so happy.

She deserves an Emmy just for that scene.

Revenant said...

I saw that over the weekend and I went fucking crazy, yelling at the TV that Mr. Tigh couldn't be the 5th because she didn't hear the music like the others did.

She was killed over a dozen episodes before the other four started hearing the music.

As for what Starbuck is -- no idea. But it has been obvious for a while that she's not normal, and I never bought her as a Cylon.

Tibore said...

"Christy said...
Tibore, Moore is on record that Ellen is, indeed, the final cylon."


Well, that's what I was saying above, just in a roundabout way. Tigh would've had to have been wrong in his identification, and Ron Moore would also have to have been lying about it in the interview I read.

Still doesn't resolve what Starbuck is. I'm as stumped as the next fan.

Shawn Levasseur said...

It could be that Ellen may not be the final Cylon. Ellen could merely be an version of the "six" model but older than the other copies.

Remember how a few times when Tigh was interrogating Caprica Six, he occasionally saw her as Ellen.

Yep, Ann shouldn't have brought up BSG. The place is now being overrun with us geeks :)

Tibore said...

"Shawn Levasseur said...
It could be that Ellen may not be the final Cylon. Ellen could merely be an version of the "six" model but older than the other copies."


Nice call... And the funny thing is that it would mean a version of his wife's schtuppin' Baltar. Imagine the dramatic possibilities behind that.   :D

It would also mean that, in a twisted sort of way, I've dreamt of schtuppin' Tigh's wife via dreams of schtuppin' Six.   :D


"Yep, Ann shouldn't have brought up BSG. The place is now being overrun with us geeks :)"


We were here to begin with! >:-(

;)

Seriously, though, I think Ron Moore ID'd Ellen as one of THE five, not just one of the run-of-the-mill skin jobs. I'll have to go look for that article again and check to make certain.