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mrissaI will talk a little more about One Year Closer to Balance tomorrow or the next day. Short form: thank you. Thank you all. Very much.
But really: vertigo-related stuff? Or Battlestar Galactica snark? BSG snark, obviously!
So here's the thing: I Am Not a Labor Historian. Nor do I play one on the internet. But if you are going to have labor union plots in your show--which I support, I really do, because what on TV other than Grant Imahara's new little rectangular glasses is hotter than Aaron Douglas as a scruffy-bearded union rabble-rousing engineer-type-geek? What, I ask you? What???--um. Let me start that sentence again because I apparently got a little sidetracked along the way. If you are going to have labor union plots, you should have maybe the slightest clue how and why labor unions work.
As I say, IANALH. But really, what condition has been the hardest for forming labor unions that have any power to improve work conditions? Why, that would be a condition in which there was an abundant labor market. Particularly if it's an abundant labor market at a similar skill level to the people you are already employing. It's really hard for unions to get traction when equivalent or nearly equivalent workers are available in the next town over, or even just outside the factory gates, waiting for jobs because the situation is just that tough for people in that region.
Now. What does BSG have? It has exactly the opposite situation. It would not be hard to get scabs in to replace their workers. It would not be expensive. It would be impossible. Because the humans they have there are, so far as they know, all the humans there are. So when Admiral Management postures that he would kill ten of Cally, I found it completely unbelievable that the Chief wouldn't say, "Yeah? And then who fixes your Vipers, tough guy? Hell, who fuels your Vipers? You shoot ten of my mechanics and you are out of mechanics, and you are out of people who can train more mechanics. This is not a metaphor. This is cold, hard fact. We have something like forty thousand people anywhere in the universe, and about six thousand of them appear to be journalists. Someone else can 'make the hard decisions' about who is the XO this week, Admiral Frakhead, and someone else can 'make the hard decisions' about how to keep Tigh from snarling so hard his remaining eyeball drops out, but no one else can 'make the hard decisions' about how to patch your damn hull, so make your choice: authoritarian posturing while you die or decent working conditions while you live. Your call. One of us can save your ass here, and sunshine, it ain't you."
I mean, seriously, what are they going to do, call in Cylon scabs? Whole tyllium refinery teams all made up of Six and the dude who was Ricky Latrell on Murder One? Not so much, I'm thinking, so Admiral Management and President Incipient Fascist, sit your butts down and nod attentively when the Chief speaks to you, because the guy who can fix stuff is objectively worth more than you. Period.
I tell you what, if I wrote this show, it'd be The Chief and Helo Show! Now featuring Sharon!, and occasionally Dee would show up to verbally throttle someone in a deleted scene on the DVD extras.
But really: vertigo-related stuff? Or Battlestar Galactica snark? BSG snark, obviously!
So here's the thing: I Am Not a Labor Historian. Nor do I play one on the internet. But if you are going to have labor union plots in your show--which I support, I really do, because what on TV other than Grant Imahara's new little rectangular glasses is hotter than Aaron Douglas as a scruffy-bearded union rabble-rousing engineer-type-geek? What, I ask you? What???--um. Let me start that sentence again because I apparently got a little sidetracked along the way. If you are going to have labor union plots, you should have maybe the slightest clue how and why labor unions work.
As I say, IANALH. But really, what condition has been the hardest for forming labor unions that have any power to improve work conditions? Why, that would be a condition in which there was an abundant labor market. Particularly if it's an abundant labor market at a similar skill level to the people you are already employing. It's really hard for unions to get traction when equivalent or nearly equivalent workers are available in the next town over, or even just outside the factory gates, waiting for jobs because the situation is just that tough for people in that region.
Now. What does BSG have? It has exactly the opposite situation. It would not be hard to get scabs in to replace their workers. It would not be expensive. It would be impossible. Because the humans they have there are, so far as they know, all the humans there are. So when Admiral Management postures that he would kill ten of Cally, I found it completely unbelievable that the Chief wouldn't say, "Yeah? And then who fixes your Vipers, tough guy? Hell, who fuels your Vipers? You shoot ten of my mechanics and you are out of mechanics, and you are out of people who can train more mechanics. This is not a metaphor. This is cold, hard fact. We have something like forty thousand people anywhere in the universe, and about six thousand of them appear to be journalists. Someone else can 'make the hard decisions' about who is the XO this week, Admiral Frakhead, and someone else can 'make the hard decisions' about how to keep Tigh from snarling so hard his remaining eyeball drops out, but no one else can 'make the hard decisions' about how to patch your damn hull, so make your choice: authoritarian posturing while you die or decent working conditions while you live. Your call. One of us can save your ass here, and sunshine, it ain't you."
I mean, seriously, what are they going to do, call in Cylon scabs? Whole tyllium refinery teams all made up of Six and the dude who was Ricky Latrell on Murder One? Not so much, I'm thinking, so Admiral Management and President Incipient Fascist, sit your butts down and nod attentively when the Chief speaks to you, because the guy who can fix stuff is objectively worth more than you. Period.
I tell you what, if I wrote this show, it'd be The Chief and Helo Show! Now featuring Sharon!, and occasionally Dee would show up to verbally throttle someone in a deleted scene on the DVD extras.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 04:17 am (UTC)Also, Lordy Lou does parallel structure lead us down dark, dark roads if we let it. I can see how it is tempting to have the, "Look! We can have Baltar in Six's head the way Six has been in Baltar's head! It'll be parallel!" thing. But a) this gets us more Baltar, which nobody wants except possibly his mom and probably not even her*, and b) no. This is the sort of thing your friends take you aside and explain to you is not actually as cool as you think, once your friends have read more books than the average keen 15-year-old. This is not the sort of thing you allow to reach a professional production with your name on it. Aaagh.
*The actor's mom in my imagination: "Son, I'm a little alarmed at how effectively you play a complete ass. That's all acting, right? I don't need to be worried?"
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 10:13 pm (UTC)Tell me when you get to episode 3.6 ("Torn") so I can tell you what made my head explode.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-16 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-16 10:42 pm (UTC)(edit: it's been a while so maybe there is a camera and he just turns it off or points it inconveniently or something, but the key thing is the failure to use the technologies that make trust unnecessary.)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 08:56 am (UTC)I still love the show, but your snark's so awesome. I think it's the whole Drama of it all. I get so sucked in I stop noticing that it doesn't really make sense.
I have to know how it ends. I have to know.
oh hey it was friday, I have an episode.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 12:54 pm (UTC)The Chief and Helo Show!
Date: 2009-02-14 09:19 pm (UTC)(I would want Dee to be more episodes, possibly flirting with the executive branch.)