Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Battlestar Galactica


"It is not enough to live; you have to have something to live for."
-- Commander Adama, Battlestar Galactica

I am an SF fan since four decades, and Battlestar Galactica (2003) is the first SF TV series I have really liked.
You could say a lot about it, but basically it is the first SF TV series I have seen where the acting is top notch, and the physics are not highly doubtful. Not to mention the plot is gripping, and the special effects are very convincing. In short it is a quantum leap forward in realism.
The pathos of it is extraordinary too. This is not your father's television, get ready for some trauma.
So, if you have ever liked the literature of SF, but found Star Trek to be just embarrassing, then give this a shot.
Start with the mini series (which is what I've seen so far), it seems it sets up the whole thing.

5 comments:

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I don't know where it is showing, these days I only watch TV shows on DVD. More expensive, but far superior viewing.

Anonymous said...

How does it compare with Babylon 5 ?

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

For my taste it is much better. B5 simply did not hold my attention.

Anonymous said...

I doubt anyone is still reading this one, but I'll throw in my two cents as well. A lot of people who are hardcore fans of the original series hate this new one.

Luckily, I didn't see the original. That's partly because I had barely been born when it was first on, and I have never seen it rerun on any channels I get.

When I heard people trashing the new series, which I loved from the very start, I thought I'd at least download a couple of the original series episodes and see how it compared.

If you think Star Trek is embarrassing (I have to say, I kind of get a kick out of the original Star Trek), then you definitely won't like the original Battlestar Galactica. My God, the 70's hair they had! The ridiculous costumes! And, okay, it was the 70's, but the special effects were bad even for 70's TV.

It's possible I might think differently if I had seen the original series first, but I don't think so. When they were coming up with Star Trek: The Next Generation, they had to agonize over everything because they knew there was this huge fan base out there who loved the original show to death.

Had Battlestar Galactica had that kind of following, they could never have changed so much on the remake (it is a remake, even though they prefer to say "reimagining") without the fans crucifying them. So, I think that the number of original series fans must be pretty small, and any rational person would prefer the new series, by far.

We're coming close to the start of the new season, and I can't wait.

The only bad thing I have to say about the show is that they still have sound in space. I can't say I know all that much about physics, but I do know there's no air in space (though as Homer said, there's an Air & Space Museum), so we shouldn't be able to hear explosions and the FTL jumps the ships make. Firefly was able to do it without sound in space, so why not this show? Would fans riot if they didn't get to hear explosions in outer space? They said they compromised by having muted sound, as they didn't want it to be like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Again, Firefly did it.

Okay, okay, Firefly wasn't around very long, but I think there were other factors involved in that. :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

You have some good points.

I do read comments on old postings, because I get an email notice when they go up.