Things I Like About the New Battlestar Galactica
By stephanie - Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
I have previously criticized the new Battlestar Galactica in favor of Farscape. And while Farscape still has to be my favorite sci-fi television show of all time, I’ve been warming up to Battlestar Galactica after finally getting through season one. A few things I do really like:
Writing. Battlestar Galactica has, for the most part, strong writing. It’s more the type of writing you’d find on a mainstream television drama, which means that a lot less emphasis is placed on special effects and sci-fi gimmicks at times. In the middle of season one, there were a number of back-to-back episodes where you rarely saw anyone get into a spaceship and shoot anything. I actually found these episodes to be better than ones that were all about the Cylons flying around and firing at everything in sight.
Acting. While a few of the actors are a bit stiff (that guy who plays Apollo is one of these), a few really shine, especially Edward James Olmos, James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Mary McDonnell (the President), and Grace Park (Boomer). Not surprisingly, these are my favorite characters. Mary McDonnell in particular kicks ass, and I am sorry that she’s the one character who has a deadline to die on the show. She is absolutely astonishing.
Confused Cylons/Psychic Cylons. I was originally very skeptical of the human-looking Cylon choice. Boomer has singlehandedly changed my view of that. Her character is absolutely fascinating. The whole psychic cylon thing is also piquing my interest as well.
Now, a few things continue to bug me about the show. I understand the reasoning behind it, but the blatant use of American gestures and props bumps me out of the story sometimes. The use of the standard military salute, for example. Couldn’t they come up with something even slightly different? Or the use of an airport security screening device, complete with rubber flaps hanging down – ack.
Certain aspects of the plot also seem to be heavy-handed compared to some of the finer writing on the show. (Minor spoiler here.) I could not, for example, understand why Adama would go and arrest the President over a disagreement on where to send Starbuck in the Cylon ship. And why would he have a right to do that in a American-style democracy? This just made no sense to me whatsoever.
All in all, it’s not a bad show, and as I finally start catching up with season two, I’m hoping that the general high quality continues.
August 9th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Its funny you mention the american(ism) of the show when half of the cast aren’t. Baltar and Apollo are Brits, Boomer and Chief are Canadian.
Its probably better to have a recognizable salute rather than something that looks like you are trying to exercise some arm muscles. It probably helps the viewer to have some reference point when watching it. If its too different to what we know, then it makes it more difficult to get into.
The fact that the cylons look like humans adds a new factor of ‘Who is a Cylon?’ which the original series didn’t have. When you don’t know who is the enemy, you distrust everyone, thus making much better TV.
August 13th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
I’m just wondering what will happen if they reach earth. Will they be shocked at how similar everything is? Will they suddenly be speaking in an alien language? Should be interesting…