Friday, March 20, 2009
So Say We All
Tonight’s a big night for fans of quality TV: it’s the series finale of Battlestar Galactica, the best show currently on television (this is not to be confused with my previously labeling The Wire as the best TV show of all time, as it’s no longer on). I’m aware th
at a lot of people, particularly people who don’t usually go in for science fiction, can be a little skeptical about BSG devotees telling them that a show about a spaceship is “the best thing on TV,” but believe me, Battlestar Galactica’s the real deal. As much as I dig sci-fi movies, I am not a Star Trek fan, and I usually loathe shows about crews of spaceships (any Star Trek show, Andromeda, any of the Stargates, etc.), but Battlestar Galactica couldn’t be further from series like that. Like the best science fiction, BSG uses its fantastic conceit – the remnants of the human race, numbering less than 50,000 souls, seeking the mythical planet known as Earth to start society anew after humanity was all but wiped out by the robotic Cylons – to make some very profound statements about war and its effects on the people who fight it, as well as society in general.
Battlestar Galactica is a great show filled with great writing, characters, and actors (if I had a dollar for every time Edward James Olmos moved me to the brink of tears, I’d…have a few dollars, but no other TV show can make a similar claim, not even The Wire). If you can look past genre trappings like robots, spaceships and made-up cuss words (you get used to it, believe me, and it eventually becomes a wonderfully clever way for the writers to kinda-sorta sneak swearing into the show), Battlestar Galactica gets into some pretty serious – and grim – human drama. It’s also filled with hot chicks (and dudes – Apollo is ripped), so there’s also an eye-candy factor as well, if that’s a selling point for you.
So if you’re not a follower of Battlestar Galactica, I won’t tell you to watch tonight’s finale, as it will almost certainly make no sense to you whatsoever (for example, the few times I’ve flipped by Lost – a show I don’t follow – I feel like I’m watching a TV show from another dimension). But what I will do is recommend that you check out the season one Battlestar Galactica DVD set, if anything I’ve said here sounds even remotely interesting to you. The show develops as it moves along – the first season features more dogfights and action sequences than later seasons, when the producers and writers really run with the more interesting thematic stuff that sets the show apart from other “space” shows, and the miniseries that precedes the main series isn’t quite as compelling as the show itself, as it’s mostly set-up – and it’s filled with genuinely shocking twists. And having a finite, four-season run means it has a concrete beginning, middle and end (which, as I’ve said here before, is probably the one thing that holds Deadwood back from being as good as The Wire). The bottom line is, Battlestar Galactica is a truly special show, I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up tonight.
at a lot of people, particularly people who don’t usually go in for science fiction, can be a little skeptical about BSG devotees telling them that a show about a spaceship is “the best thing on TV,” but believe me, Battlestar Galactica’s the real deal. As much as I dig sci-fi movies, I am not a Star Trek fan, and I usually loathe shows about crews of spaceships (any Star Trek show, Andromeda, any of the Stargates, etc.), but Battlestar Galactica couldn’t be further from series like that. Like the best science fiction, BSG uses its fantastic conceit – the remnants of the human race, numbering less than 50,000 souls, seeking the mythical planet known as Earth to start society anew after humanity was all but wiped out by the robotic Cylons – to make some very profound statements about war and its effects on the people who fight it, as well as society in general.Battlestar Galactica is a great show filled with great writing, characters, and actors (if I had a dollar for every time Edward James Olmos moved me to the brink of tears, I’d…have a few dollars, but no other TV show can make a similar claim, not even The Wire). If you can look past genre trappings like robots, spaceships and made-up cuss words (you get used to it, believe me, and it eventually becomes a wonderfully clever way for the writers to kinda-sorta sneak swearing into the show), Battlestar Galactica gets into some pretty serious – and grim – human drama. It’s also filled with hot chicks (and dudes – Apollo is ripped), so there’s also an eye-candy factor as well, if that’s a selling point for you.
So if you’re not a follower of Battlestar Galactica, I won’t tell you to watch tonight’s finale, as it will almost certainly make no sense to you whatsoever (for example, the few times I’ve flipped by Lost – a show I don’t follow – I feel like I’m watching a TV show from another dimension). But what I will do is recommend that you check out the season one Battlestar Galactica DVD set, if anything I’ve said here sounds even remotely interesting to you. The show develops as it moves along – the first season features more dogfights and action sequences than later seasons, when the producers and writers really run with the more interesting thematic stuff that sets the show apart from other “space” shows, and the miniseries that precedes the main series isn’t quite as compelling as the show itself, as it’s mostly set-up – and it’s filled with genuinely shocking twists. And having a finite, four-season run means it has a concrete beginning, middle and end (which, as I’ve said here before, is probably the one thing that holds Deadwood back from being as good as The Wire). The bottom line is, Battlestar Galactica is a truly special show, I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up tonight.
Labels: TV on DVD
¶ 1:54 PM
