Holy Frak! I love Battlestar Galactica

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I know!  I’m totally late to the game, but I have recently discovered Battlestar Galactica.  In my own defense, can you really blame me for ignoring a Sci Fi Channel original miniseries based on some crappy show from the ’70s? I mean, have you seen some of those Sci Fi original movies?  They raise unintentional comedy to an artform … but I digress.

After listening to several friends, and my brother-in-law praise this show for years, I’ve finally hopped on the bandwagon.  I’ve been devouring the episodes on DVD like a bowl of barbeque potato chips and just finished the second season.  I’m so psyched that I have a whole other season and a half to watch before the series gives its final swan song starting in January.

For those of you who were just like me a few months ago, I offer up some of the things that have impressed me in hopes of convincing you to give BSG a try:

• It is great science fiction: BSG does what all really good sci fi does – it works as a great allegory.  In it’s own unique way, this show touches on racism, religion, abortion, terrorism, and politics in a more eloquent and thought provoking way than anything else on television today.
• Mary McDonnell: We flirted during Sneakers.  We started dating when she was in Donnie Darko. But I didn’t truly fall in love with Mary McDonnell until BSG.  I think she is the heart and soul of this show as Laura Roslin – the secretary of education who suddenly finds herself president after the human race is nearly wiped out by Cylons.  She brings an amazing grace, strength, and compassion to the role all at once.  She struggles, she makes mistakes, but ultimately she is the greatest president you could ask for.
• Gaius Baltar: The weaseliest weasel to ever weasel!  Talk about characters you love to hate.  This unwitting traitor to the human race is a slimeball through and through.  He cares for no one but himself and you love him for it every minute he’s on screen.
• The special effects: They are surprisingly adequate!
• The Cylons: These aren’t just extras in cardboard boxes with tin foil.  The Cylons look like humans now, and some of them even think they’re humans – sleeper agents just waiting to get the call.  This makes for great television.  It adds depth to the story line, challenging us viewers to ponder what it truly means to be human.
• Edward James Olmos’s face: Seriously, what is going on with this dude’s face?  During some scenes I lose myself in it’s crags, pondering them like a Jackson Pollock painting.  In all honesty, he adds a great sense of gravity to the show as the commander of the titular battlestar.  Not to mention that he directs a bunch of the episodes, and even helps with casting!  Sure, some of you would call it nepotism giving his son a recurring role as one of the many Viper fighter pilots, but I’m just not that cynical (…yes I am)!
• Frak: You have to like any show that invents a new swear word.  Blerg!

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Sep 23, 2008 @ 21:28 EST5EDT