I was happy about the announcement that season four of Battlestar Galactica would be the show’s last; I’ve long been a big proponent of the idea of a TV show going out with dignity. And I thought that a final 22 episode season of Battlestar would give the show runners the chance to do just that… until today.
See, today I read that the show will be having a special guest director this season… Kevin Smith. According to BuddyTV the fan-favorite son of Red Bank, New Jersey – who peaked artistically in 1997 – will be shooting an unspecified episode at some point in the future. This won’t be Smith’s only TV work; he directed the pilot of Reaper and will be doing an episode of Heroes: Origins. I don’t know much about the Reaper show, but Heroes: Origins sounds like it’s right up Smith’s extremely limited alley. Battlestar, on the other hand, is honest to god genius in episodic form, and I shudder to think what he might bring to the show.
At least Smith seems to know that this is a rotten, rotten idea. “[I]t is scary because it is like, ‘What the f—? I can’t bring anything to that show.’ That show is genius and they have a very distinctive visual style.” You’re right, Kev, you CAN’T bring anything to that show, so why not just leave well enough alone? At best you’ll turn in an episode that will be slightly below par, but at worst you’ll be tossing in some hideous fucking in-joke from your View Askewverse. I’ll be on the look out for a new Cylon model 37 or something equally retarded.
By the way, I do think that Kevin Smith should be exiled to the world of television. Cinema has long since moved beyond him, and it’s become sort of sad to remember how much I used to like the guy and his movies considering that his main artistic outlet now is self-aggrandizing personal appearances. Smith has no visual sense but a fine ear for dialogue (or he did – Clerks 2 indicates that he’s writing in self-parody mode now), both of which would make him big on television.