Tagline: So say we all.
Curiosity: I had a deal with my Science Club cohort Nick Elmer. If he finished the artwork for our EP, Failure Ballads, in time, I would purchase the complete run of Ronald D. Moore’s adaptation of Battlestar Galactica.
Plot: Humanity is fucked. There used to be 12 planets’ worth of people in outer space, but after a devastating attack from their robot enemies, the Cylons, there are just 50,000 people left alive. Leading this ragtag team of not-robots are Commander William Adama (Edwards James Olmos, Blade Runner) and President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell, Independence Day). Adama is essentially Space Batman. You do not want to let him down because he is the greatest man who ever lived. Roslin can be a real jerk sometimes, but she has good intentions. Together, they’re trying to find the long mythical 13th human planet, called “Earth.”
Aiding them in this journey are soldier types like Adama’s son Lee (Jamie Bamber), who is kind of a wiener, and Kara Thrase (Katee Sackhoof), who gets shit done but is also kind of crazy. Adama’s executive officer Colonel Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) is a useless drunk, but he suddenly gets really, really awesome halfway through the show. There are other people too, but I can’t discuss them without in some way giving off spoilers.
Anyway, the Cylons look like people now, which creates problems for the humans. Also hurting their chances of survival: Gaius Baltar (James Callis), the super scientist who accidentally caused the destruction of the 12 planets. Dude is hella amoral.
Thoughts: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SHOWS OF ALL TIME. I LOVE IT. I ALMOST CRIED SEVERAL TIMES WHILE WATCHING IT. YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS SHOW AND LOVE IT TOO.
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Sorry.
The aughts were all about gritty reboots. Christopher Nolan did it with his Batman films, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick did it with Battlestar Galactica. The series is so many things – socio-political commentary on religion and U.S. involvement in the Middle East, a bitterly realist counterbalance to Star Trek, an emotionally devastating drama about old people – and it works on each of these levels. Seriously, for a show that the writers pretty much made up on the fly, BSG is remarkably solid throughout. Then again, the same can be said for Moore’s other big artistic triumph, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, so I’m not entirely surprised.
What’s even crazier is that Moore and his team took all the elements from the cheesy original show and made it work, from the religious visions to the search for Earth. Even the human Cylons idea came from Galactia 1980. While Moore gets saddled with some questionable stuff as a result – space jumps were totally stolen from Star Wars and don’t really fit Moore’s “realer is better” rule – the show overall still takes all of creator Glen A. Larson’s ideas from the ’70s and improves them.
But going even further, this is a space serial in the tradition of Buck Rogers or Commando Cody. Almost every episode flows into the next, and the perpetual set of cliffhangers kept me addicted. Of course, it helps that the scripts, actors, and production values. This shows packs a lot of heart ‘n’ action, and asks some big philosophical questions (Namely, where did we come from?). It all builds to such a perfect ending, making the whole show such a satisfying space drama.
Side note: Dude to its success, there has been a few spin-offs for BSG. None so far has been of much importance. Razor, a TV movie, is solid enough, but it’s all told in flashback, which sucks a lot of the tension out. The Plan is another flashback, but given that it ran after the show concluded, its revelations are all beside the point. I haven’t bothered with the prequel series Caprica, but based on the featurette included with BSG, I think I’ll be OK. I am kind of interested in Blood and Chrome, though. It’s a forthcoming prequel series about William Adama during the first Cylon war.
Top 10 Episodes:
- Unfinished Business
- Kobol’s Last Gleaming (Parts 1 and 2)
- Miniseries
- Water
- Lay Down Your Burdens (Parts 1 and 2)
- Daybreak (Parts 1, 2, and 3)
- Pegasus
- Exodus (Parts 1 and 2)
- The Oath
- Crossroads (Parts 1 and 2)
Reflection: I giggle every time Moore slips in a Star Trek reference.
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