The New Battlestar Galactica
This is my first post ever about a TV show, mainly because I don’t watch much TV (there are too many other things I’d rather do - or have to do…). But I’ve been making time for the new Battlestar Galactica series on the SciFi channel. Tonight they’re re-running all the episodes to date - watch ‘em! (I think there are 5). The show is impressive in every respect:
Good from the start: Unlike many other sci-fi series, the first season isn’t terrible. Star Trek: The Next Generation and Babylon 5 both had fairly lousy starts, but improved in subsequent seasons. Most other sci-fi series also had lousy starts, and then stayed lousy. With BG’s first episode, 33, the dramatic tension cuts like a knife, and I felt exhausted at the end - I was completely pulled in to the story.
Real actors: Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonell are the names I recognized right away in the credits. The other actors are proving to be top-notch as well. They made some interesting choices in choosing the actors: the lead characters among the young officers are all played by Beautiful People, while the elder leaders and the secondary characters are all played by more normal looking people. I guess they’re trying to strike a compromise between the gritty drama of the show and the innate preference we all have to watch people who look better than the rest of us.
Cool effects and music: the visual effects are almost Hollywood movie quality. The sound effects and music are generally used in a minimalist way, which is very effective at both adding to the tension in show, and also providing a heightened wallop on the occasions when they’re used more forcefully.
And, most importantly, the writing is excellent: the old 70s British sci-fi show Blake’s 7 is still one of my favorite series. The special effects were laughably bad, the acting was uneven at best, but the characters were good, and one in particular (Avon) was fascinating. That was enough to make me a fan. What’s impressed me with Battlestar Galactica is that, with just an opening movie and a handful of episodes, they’ve succeeded in creating distinctive and interesting characters out of almost everyone in the show’s large cast.
Starbuck: making the cigar-chomping character of the original series into a woman in the new series was a brilliant move. She’s my favorite character, and it’s unusual in sci-fi for a fan to say that about a female character. That’s because female characters in sci-fi tend towards the extremes of being either sophisticated and virtually non-sexual, or being sex objects with underdeveloped characters. Much of sci-fi writing seems stuck at a 12-year boy level when it comes to female characters, but that’s not the case here. While sci-fi these days does tip its hat to modern attitudes that allow for strong female characters that kick butt, my suspension of disbelief comes crashing down when such characters are played by toothpicks with hOOters in skin tight costumes (that’s just not who I’d want watching my back in fist fight). In contrast, the actress who plays Starbuck is buff and perhaps a bit hefty (but she does, of course, still meet the prime-time requirement of being cute). And in just a small number of episodes, the writers have already made her a complex and interesting character.
The show has gotten some negative feedback for gratuitous sex. At first I was thrown by the sexual content in the series - but it wasn’t gratuitous - it was simply there. I eventually realized that I just wasn’t used to a TV show treating sex as a normal part of life. The writers neither pretend it doesn’t exist, nor do these fetishize it. Executive Producer Ron Moore put it best in his response to the criticism:
We’re presenting adult human beings as adults, and their sexuality is a key part of their lives. Baltar’s sexual weaknesses, Sharon & Tyrol’s forbidden love affair, and Starbuck’s promiscuity are part of who and what they are. I think the only reason this gets the kind of attention it does is that we’re not used to seeing sex treated maturely in science fiction — nine times out of ten, any sex is either something to snigger at or to make fun of. Somehow it’s okay to fetishize sex by putting women in S&M leather “space” outfits or have Carrie Fisher run around in harem clothes (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but to portray two mature adults simply having sex is somehow controversial in sci-fi circles.
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February 9th, 2005 at 8:25 am
I’m beginning to enjoy BG. While I thought the mini-series was good I didn’t think it felt like BG. It was really a completely different show and tacked on to that name. The character relationships were all wrong, and I thought the human Cylons were a waste of one of the coolest character designs of the 70s.
All that being said my minis starting to change after the last few episodes. I can see the character relationships developing into what they were in the old show with Apollo’s and Starbuck’s relationship, but specially with the relationship between Apollo and Adama. I have to completely agree about the effects they are outstanding, better then their work on Firefly and that was very good too.
So while my general feeling towards the show is positive there are still a few things I think are not very good. I don’t Ronald Moore has established the background universe that well. It relies a lot on standards form the old series (specially in the religion aspects) but aren’t fully fleshed (Richard Hatch’s mention of Zeus in the Terrorist episode makes no sense considering they are not on Earth, even though the Lords of Cobol concept from the original show is strongly grounded on greek myth, but that has yet to be fleshed out on this series) I find too many things are way to Earth like (for example Zach Adama’s funeral had not indication that it belonged to another culture or Race).
I also hate that both stronger male characters have been replaced by women, I appreciate the Starbuck but why do it to Boomer, and to add insult to injury they replace the other Black character (col. Ty) with a drunk white guy, but this is nit picking.
I think overall the main thing I really don’t like is the Human Cylons. The whole concept of “they hide among us” is also so reminiscent of Moore’s work towards the end of DS9. I also really hate the virtual masturbation with Baltar and the Cylon. It just seems so juvenile.
I guess in the end of teh day I still wish it was more Farscape, but it is growing on me. Btw the preview shows no paragraph breaks so it’s hard to see what your post will look like.
February 9th, 2005 at 9:09 am
I knew a post about BG would get you to comment
I don’t remember much about the original series, so I haven’t been comparing the new show to the old one. I can see how having the old series in the back of your mind would color your perceptions of the new series. In Ron Moore’s blog he’s indicated they’ll get into the Colonies back story more over the course of this season and the next. I think the approach so far makes sense - establish the characters first, and then the back stories will be more interesting later.
I think making the XO an alcoholic was a good move. The 2nd in command is typically an uninteresting dramatic role, as they spend most of their time just being overshadowed by the captain. But having an XO that the officers don’t trust creates lots of possibilities for dramatic tension.
I don’t mind the human Cylons. They still have the metal ones too, so I don’t agree the old design was wasted. I like how they’ve been updated to look like a cross between the old design and a Terminator.
I also initially thought Baltar’s imaginary friend was silly. But then I thought: what would it really be like having a person like her around all the time, and no one else can see her? I’ve started sympathizing with Baltar’s character more.
Sorry about the comment preview format problems - I’ve fixed it (for some reason the default setting was to not show line breaks).
February 10th, 2005 at 9:30 am
Well I’m predictable that way.
I think the the last two episodes really turned my opinion on this show around, as I can see how its moving towards, at least in the character relationships, what the old show. My comment about Cl. Ty was more to point out that they removed the two black characters form the original show (Both Boomer and Ty) and I just don’t see why making boomer also a female really adds that much, but this is a minor quibble.
I also like the other evolutionary steps for the cylons more then the human Cylon thing. For example, I think the fact that they eventually evolve into models that are purely star fighters with brains is perfect.
The mind clone thing with Baltar I can appreciate, Although after having it done as creatively as it was done in Farscape I guess I’m being a little harder on it. I think it wouldn’t bother me if she wasn’t always sucking his extremities or playing footsie with his crotch.