I do a lot of writing about LOST, and it is evident that I got some serious love for the series. But my favorite television show of all time is Battlestar Galactica. While immeasurably flawed in parts and painfully contrived in others, I found it equally beautiful, insightful, and at times, it just done kicked a shit load of ass. It’s got a special place in my heart for a variety of reasons, and I can’t help but wax nostalgic. And since OL is just Pepsibones and myself whacking off on shit we love, I don’t care, here’s a big batch of unforgiving fanservice. Now excuse me while I go pretend I’m on Caprica watching the bombs drop.
The Shape of Things to Come. I love that
This show ascends higher for me every time I rewatch the whole thing (in the middle of watching it through for the third or fourth time). But I have yet to finish a fourth season review. I can’t wait to see how I look at it again a year later, because I was a little displeased with the ending the first time around. I’m eager to see what a year’s reflection will do to change that.
That little bitching aside, yeah, this is definitely up there for me. It tussles with Buffy on a regular basis in my head for the top spot. Never has the term “space opera” been more appropriate. Stunning ensemble cast, impressive CG, tight plotting (at least, until about halfway into Season 3), one of the best first seasons of television I can recall, and jesus christ, that soundtrack….unparalleled. What LA cafe did they find Bear McCreary waiting tables at, and why didn’t they find him sooner? Absolutely brilliant.
“The Shape of to Come” might be the most stunning three minutes of audio I’ve ever heard in my life.
What a stunning show to grow into early adulthood with. My mind latched onto every battle with self-identity that characters like Boomer, the Chief and Gaius Baltar went through and made it my own. The show (in this modern era rendition) arrived four years after The Matrix, and asked some of the same questions about identity and reality again, but in a whole different language.
So many shows and films get flung at us these days that use and re-use archetypes from the great universal basket of tested archetypes that you can just see every twist and change coming in a character. Every now and then, you as a viewer get lucky enough to witness something entirely new and unique, a situation so different from most everything else on the tube that you can’t help but be drawn into the conversations, scenes and conflicts that new paradigm of character creation has developed. Bam; Gaius Baltar. Egotistical, brilliant, unwitting pawn in the destruction of his entire race, with a brain tap of unknown origin to the enemy (and to god?) and the world’s most beautiful cylon angel to guide him in matters sexual, romantic and political. He’s like the Gollum of our age. You’ve never met a character like him, you can’t tell whether you’re supposed to love or hate him, and you get uncomfortable sitting still when he scores a victory or suffers a major defeat. How do you know what to feel when you weren’t even sure you were rooting for him in the first place? He is the wild card in this amazing space opera, and I love him just for that.
Tricia Helfer gets my queer loins going like no other woman does. And I don’t usually care much for blondes. She steals every scene she’s in, and not just with her appallingly skin-bared outfits. Her voice, her poise, her incisive all-knowing commentary on practically everything that happens to Baltar and to her…it’s just about one of the most magical roles an actor could have landed, and I bet she was pretty stoked to land it after she saw what a season’s worth of material looked like for her character. I’m glad they gave it to someone who could pull it off.
Donnie Darko’s mom with her unsteady line delivery (punctuation and pause takes a vacation in some of her speeches, and for some reason, she’s better for it; you’re always on your toes if she’s delivering a message), Adama, the admiral of the universe, who can manage to rally a crowd of any size with a speech, a look, or a rhythmic clap, and Kara motherfucking “why am I sucking so fucking hard on 24 now?” Thrace, who you can’t fucking help but cheer like crazy for, only five episodes in, when she aids in her own death-defying rescue in the most spectacular means possible….all unforgettable characters.
Did I mention how awesome the soundtrack was? I will watch any show that man does the tracks for. That’s how you do a fucking dramatic television soundtrack. Something like BSG couldn’t have asked for better.
There are so many awesome things to say about this show. I don’t know where to stop, but I think I’m done for now.
I’ve recently been a devoted lover of this website for a while and not truly offered nearly anything back, I am hoping to improve that later on with more debate.Thanks for another new addition to the website.
BSG was simply amazing.
This ^