Sorry about the lax blogging as of late, been spending too much time with work things. Finally got around to some days off and I can barely muster enough effort to reach the remote. The holidays were a serious endurance trial, worked nine straight days. By the end of it I had to refer to my driver’s license to be sure of my complete name. I’m strongly in need of some serious decompression time. I’ve got some good beer, a good book, and some good television. Which brings me to today’s point. I lay on the couch last night in a half-conscious state watching Battlestar Galactica, wondering what we did for visual entertainment before CGI. If you’re not partaking of the new BSG then you’re missing out. You don’t have to be a Sci Fi fan to enjoy it. In the tradition of Bradbury or Heinlein, it’s more a story about people that happens to be set in the future. And unlike a lot of Sci Fi television up to this point, they put more effort into the script and storyline than visuals or gadgets. The show doesn’t try to substitute violence or gadgets with plot development. (Anybody out there remember V?)
Not that the visuals aren’t stellar. For the first time I really want a high def big screen. Those of you that saw Exodus Part 2 know what I’m talking about. (I would pay admission to a theater to watch the scene where Pegasus and Galactica are slugging it out with the Basestars) Having been a fan of the first one, I often wonder what we’re going to laugh about in this one thirty years from now. Like the picture on the right from the original series. It’s funny in retrospect. Yea, we travel in space, go faster than light, everybody has a personal laser gun, but we only have monochrome monitors and 640K hard drives. And has anyone else noticed in the original that when there’s some sort of space action sequence they had about five different three second clips they would use to try to explain every possible thing that could ever happen? Cylons closing in? Show the standard longshot of a dozen silver disks moving through space. Cylons are attacking? Show the three second clip of the self-defense batteries firing. Cylong ship hit by aforementioned defense batteries? Show the two second explosion in space clip.
We’ve come a long way baby in the visuals department. But even without the visuals, there’s actually character development in the new BSG. All of the women can pretty much beat you to death with their bare hands, proving they’ve solved that whole women-in-combat thing in the future. What’s more, the characters have actual flaws and fears and faults. Tigh and Starbuck drink themselves into a stupor after Exodus, and Starbuck’s marriage takes a dump. It’s easier to believe a future where people get scared, depressed, tired, and have to poop. (Okay, don’t have confirmation on that last one, but you believe that the characters actually do that. Part of that whole “identifying with them on a human level” thing that a lot of sci fi forgets.)
The dialogue is also a huge step forward. It tends to flow like people actually talk, which is more than can be said of a lot of other sci fi. “It’s naïve to think that horrible things we can’t understand have simple explanations. Simple explanations make us feel like we have control when we don’t.” (Love that line.) Jargon is used effectively, making it sound authentic without losing the audience. And the music is pretty damn good as well. Something of a violin concerto meets Dead Can Dance meets Ali Babba of the Desert meets Samurai war drums. Sounds silly but it works well. This show has been one of my very few television vices. At some point in the future I’m probably going to have to invest in buying it on DVD. (Birthday coming up; wink wink, nudge nudge.)
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