Another Point of Singularity

One of my idiot box addictions lately has been the new version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. It's a far more intense, better acted, grimmer and well thought out version of the old show from the seventies (which I also liked). The current version has made some real changes to the older show: Starbuck and Boomer are females, Baltar is a nervous, stuttering neurotic who travels WITH Galactica instead of being an external threat, the president of the colonies (instead of the old "council of 12") has real power and often is at odds with the military as represented by Adama, and (most importanlty) the Cylons are now capable of creating biological clones of humans that are almost undetectable by human science.


fan art from CGT Graphics

I've been watching it avidly since the beginning of season two and have watched all the rebroadcasts of season one to catch me up. In my opinion, BG is one of the best things written on TV right now. The characters on the show match my conception of how humanity will be in the future-- not nice, gung ho and squeaky clean like the Star Trek franchise, but gritty, dirty, backstabbing, flawed and occassionally heroic. One of my favorite characters, Tigh, is a functioning alcoholic in a dysfunctional marriage (and he's a mean drunk, too).

One thing I like about the new series is how they are making a conscious effort to use some of the material from the previous series from the seventies. One of the best show cycles from that time was RETURN OF A LEGEND, where the human fleet encounters a second Battlestar, THE PEGASUS, under Commander Cain (Lloyd Bridges). The two commanders clash but inevitably work on a joint action against the Cylons that ends with an ambiguous departure for the Pegasus (did it get destroyed? Is it still out there?)

I was thrilled to see the teaser for next episode at the end of this week's ep features none other than the discovery of a re-imagined Pegasus! Wee-hooo! I'm looking forward to this, and I hope they don't pull a chickenshit ambigious ending like they did back in the seventies, and keep the Pegasus around from now on.



UPDATE: Speaking of the Pegasus, read about how some ballsy little booger managed to sleaze himself onto the set of Galactica while they were filming this episode, simply by asking. If all it takes is cajones and a sincere spiel, I might have to give this method a try some time!

Lastly, I'm impressed with the fan base this show is developing. Check out the fan art above, and the various fan sites growing up here and there over the web. A good place to start is BATTLESTAR Blog, which has links to many other discussion boards and fan-created material. It's a geek universe, baby..