So this is what you get when you mix a seventies sci-fi show with not-quite-Greek mythology and quasi-Asimovian androids... You get the loom on which a truly magnificent team can weave a complicated story of survival, politics, love, lust, and intrigue of all sorts. Maybe my description makes it sound a bit like a space soap. Maybe it is, when all is said and done. But probably the biggest difference between Battlestar Galactica and a daytime soap (besides the fact that the Celtic-influenced music in Battlestar SO kicks the tail feathers of anything ever heard on a soap) is the realism of Battlestar.

Despite being set in space, Battlestar feels like it could actually happen. Emotions run high, but they do so within realistic limits. There is no overacting and no underacting, even from the bittiest of bit parts. The dialogue flows well and doesn’t seem stiff and overwritten. The characters feel like real people instead of television stereotypes (Billy is clueless and naïve in interpersonal relationships, but he is a shrewd strategist. Starbuck is a female fighter pilot who takes no phrack from anyone, but she doesn’t do it to be a groundbreaking feminist role model – any young woman who follows Starbuck’s example does so at her own discretion and likely without the lieutenant’s blessing). And finally, probably the biggest reason Battlestar feels so very real is the camera work. Far from the slightly hazy, glowing image seen in most soaps, Battlestar is filmed with a rough, almost jerky technique that draws the viewer on to Galactica with slightly erratic pans and zooms. The small amount of physical discomfort this causes in the viewer helps to build tension and leaves the viewer feeling slightly uncertain right along with the show’s characters.

BSG is most definitely a serial series. You have to watch the episodes in order to truly appreciate it (not to mention to keep from being completely lost from episode to episode – it’s hard enough to keep up without missing what little information they actually leak out along the way. I’m completely lost as to what the actual story is at this point... But it’s good stuff). But once you do get involved in the show, it is highly addictive. There is just too much to think about in the plot to consider not watching. For dark, character-driven plots with a side of action and the occasional intense computer programming scene (no, really. I’m actually not kidding), you can do a lot worse than Battlestar Galactica.

As for the original series, I have never seen it. I understand that it, too, has its merits, but none of them really overlap with those of the Sci-Fi series. Many, many thanks to Jamie Bamber for being such an excellent (not to mention attractive) actor. I probably wouldn’t have tuned in if not for him.

Oh, and I apologize for that terrible loom metaphor at the beginning... I haven’t been sleeping much lately.

Battlestar Galactica was created by Glen A. Larson, and the current series was developed by Ronald D. Moore. It airs on Sci-Fi, currently at 10 PM, EST on Friday.

Head back to Kobol...or Earth. Whichever you would prefer
Page written July 23, 2005, but not posted until August 15, 2005. Those accurséd Cylons are making me procrastinate now, too...