Tag archives for Battlestar Galactica

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Caught up at last

So I'm a fan of Battlestar Galactica, right? Last night I finally caught up with this show by watching the episode that aired last Friday. Considering I don't get the Sci-Fi Channel, being caught up feels like a real feat. (Bless the internet.)

Last night I watched the new episode and tonight I caught up on all those web articles and podcasts and whatnot that I've saved but not read/played lest I spoil any surprises. Now I'm watched up, read up and listened up. Woo hoo. Speaking of listening, Jamie Bamber is English. I didn't know that until I heard him interview. He pulls off that American accent really convincingly.

Season 3 so far feels dramatically different from the previous seasons. As far as I'm concerned, season 1 was absolutely brilliant. It was a near perfect balance of action/drama and social commentary. The parallels between BSG and post-9/11 America were undeniable.

The story in BSG begins with a devastating sneak attack. The endless series of skirmishes that follows is soaked in religion, with one side worshiping a One True God and the other side nominally polytheistic but mostly godless and apathetic. There are scenes about prisoner rights, torture, due process, suicide bombers, sleeper agents, military tribunals, executive power in a time of crisis, etc., etc. It's TWAT with spaceships. And supermodel robots.

Season 2 was a little lean on the commentary undercurrent. Which doesn't make it bad at all. It's just that it's more straightforward narrative than allegory masquerading as action.

So far season 3 looks like the creators are going to back to the political well. Only now TWAT is old news. Season 3 seems like it's all about Iraq.

[Spoilers ahead.]

More »

posted at 10/19/2006 12:29 am : Permalink
Categorized Music, movies, books, TV : Tagged , ,

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Top five things I did while nursing my stomach

5. Giggled over my comments, especially Frankie's Ode to The Fish.

4. Slept, excessively.

3. Ate Saltines and drank water, excessively.

2. Played Resident Evil 4 for PS2. This game rules. I loves me some zombies, but this is the first game in the series I've ever been able to play seriously.

1. Watched Battlestar Galactica. This show is brilliant. Maybe I'm seeing only what I expected to see, but still. Nearly every moment is saturated with conspiracy and paranoia. There are suicide bombers, sleeper agents, military tribunals. There's honor, despair, madness. And Number 6 is constantly getting nekkid.

posted at 01/11/2006 12:15 pm : Permalink
Categorized At work : Tagged , , ,

Thursday, January 5, 2006

By request

Here is the phone conversation between The Bunny and me where I asked about her DVD preference.

Bunny: What do you think about dinner tonight?

Me: I haven't given it any thought.

Bunny: Well!

Me: You've got something in mind?

Bunny: You want to swing by Peking and bring home some take-out?

Me: I don't have any cash on me right now.

Bunny: That's ok. I was going to write a check anyway.

Me: That would work out great.

Bunny: Should I order it before you're done with work?

Me: Nah. I'll have to come home to get your check anyway.

Bunny: Duh! Good point.

Me: This would work out perfectly. I'll come home, get the check, place the order, and then go buy a DVD on the way to the restaurant.

Bunny: Ooh! Are you buying Wedding Crashers?

Me: Uh, no. Wasn't planning on it.

Bunny: Because Wedding Crashers came out this week, you know.

Me: I did know that, yes.

Bunny: It's a good movie, you know.

Me: You know I didn't like it nearly as much as you did.

Bunny: You need to give it another chance.

Me: Maybe.

Bunny: Buy it tonight so we can watch it a lot.

Me: That's not even close to what I was thinking.

Bunny: So what are you going to buy?

Me: I haven't decided yet…

Bunny: So buy Wedding Crashers!

Me: …I'm torn between Battlestar Galactica and CSI.

Bunny: You should get CSI.

Me: Not Galactica?

Bunny: CSI.

Me: Did I tell you Galactica made a lot of "best of 2005" lists?

Bunny: Yes. You should get CSI.

Me: Did I tell you that guy from Newsday called Galactica "the best show on television?"

Bunny: Yes. You should get CSI.

Me: Did I tell you the American Film Institute picked Galactica as one of the best shows of the year?

Bunny: Yes. You should get CSI.

Me: Did I read you that glowing review from MSNBC?

Bunny: Yes. You should get CSI.

Me: Did I tell you it's got a lot of topical political references, including many timely parallels to TWAT?

Bunny: Yes. You should get CSI.

Me: So… I should get CSI?

Bunny: Yes. You should get CSI.

(pause)

Bunny: And Wedding Crashers. Did I tell you it came out this week?

posted at 01/05/2006 02:50 pm : Permalink
Categorized Music, movies, books, TV, Snippets : Tagged , , , ,

I guess that's compromise

Lately I've had this urge to go out and buy a DVD set. I've had my eye on both Battlestar Galactica season 1 and CSI season 1. Yesterday morning I decided that I would definitely buy one or the other.

I asked six people which they would choose. Four people chose CSI, one chose Law and Order and one chose Saved By The Bell. Galactica got no love at all, and that's the one I really wanted. I think I was just looking for approval, or some kind of reassurance that I'm not a sci-fi dork for wanting to buy, sight unseen, the new version of a cheesy space disco show.

I wouldn't have given Galactica a second thought if not for the fact that it's been making a lot of Best of 2005 lists. Check out what Jon Bonne said at MSNBC:

'Galactica' is out of this world

Why does the new "Battlestar Galactica" (Fridays, returning in 2006, SciFi) work so extraordinarily well? Because it's more than the sum of its parts: more Beckett than sci-fi, and far more than just a great reconsideration of the beloved (but cheesy) '70s original. Quite simply, there's nothing like it on TV. That said, the revisions are brilliant. Fans balked when Starbuck was recast as a woman (Katee Sackhoff, with her sexy mix of swagger and lost-little-girl), but "Galactica" works far better with the women in charge — the good (Mary McDonnell's President Roslin), the bad (Tricia Helfer's Number Six) and the conflicted (Grace Park's Boomer, a Cylon with a heart of gold). That the robotic Cylons look human and harbor far more piety than their flesh-and-blood counterparts allows the show to adopt a "Twilight Zone"-like philosophical edge.

There's more. Ron Moore and writers craft flawed characters and terse dialogue that give Aaron Sorkin ("West Wing") a run for his money. The humans-hunting-for-home theme resonates with its chilling post-9/11 sensibility — as does the endless military-civilian tension, which never descends into the obvious. Tack on a flawless cast (Edward James Olmos' Adama has a cranky gravitas that eclipses Lorne Greene's original, I must admit), quietly dazzling special effects and a deliberately outmoded production design — right down to those old-fashioned phone handsets — and you have the makings of a show almost too good for television. Thank the gods someone had the guts to make "Galactica" fly again.

That's an ass kicking review. I've read other reviews that call it a thinly-veiled allegory to TWAT. I loves me some allegory.

But still, I've never seen the show before. And $50 is a big price tag for buyer's remorse. So I asked opinions, hoping someone would say "Yes, buy Galactica, it's brilliant." The closest I got was "I LOVE Saved By The Bell!"

So I was on my own. Plus, I made the mistake of asking The Bunny which she'd prefer. CSI all the way. And did I know "Wedding Crashers" came out this week?

$111.41 later and I'm now the proud owner of Galactica season 1, CSI season 1, and Wedding Crashers.

posted at 01/05/2006 08:23 am : Permalink
Categorized Music, movies, books, TV : Tagged , , ,