So Say We All

I am coming out of the geek closet to profess my devotion to Battlestar Galactica.

I have long been a comic book reading, fanboy that gobbled up kitschy pop culture as long as it was not nostalgia for the sake of a buck (a healthy, hearty fuck you to the modern version of The Honeymooners – Jackie Gleason is spinning like a turbine in his grave). The 70’s, a vile wasteland of entertainment that even a seasoned cultural anthropologist like myself tries to steer clear of, has often been mined, often with devastating results. The Brady Bunch, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, and The Dukes Of Hazzard are obvious attempts to wring every last cent out of an already spent franchise. Which brings us to Galactica.

As a child, I used to cower when the robotic Cylons would advance on us at the Universal Studios tour, only to be saved at the last minute by a Colonial Warrior. Their oscillating, single red LCD eye was both cool and markedly inhuman. The show itself was so very 1970’s in it’s production and view of the future, but it had a legacy nonetheless. Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T. was clearly a Cylon. And who else but the Cylons did the voiceover “Freakzoids…robots…please report to the dance floor” for Midnight Star? It was hardly the type of show that screamed for a return to the public eye, but was one of the few sci-fi pieces of the era that was unique.

When I heard they were re-introducing the series I cringed.

Not out of reverence for the single season it aired or the even shorter spin-off that followed. Not out of love for feathered hairdos. Not out of fear of hulking chrome toasters. I cringed out of pure befuddlement. Like any remake, I questioned the necessity. Peter Jackson’s King Kong was a perfect example, using technology to distract from the fact that the story is exactly the same. Except for the part in the middle when the movie became Jurassic Park.

Now three seasons and a miniseries in, I cringe that I waited so long to check it out.

In this post 9/11 world (I almost want to punch myself for using that phrase), people live in fear of enemies they can’t see, who infiltrate their world and strike when they least expect it. That is why 6 seasons of Jack Bauer magically saving the world somehow passes as entertainment. Battlestar Galactica takes the very current themes of paranoia and xenophobia and gives it a sci-fi twist. Mankind is still fleeing the Cylons, trying to find Earth, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. The Cylons, no longer the thrall of an alien race from the original series, are the machine children of man, who fled to the stars after being defeated by their human creators 40 years past. Their surprise return and virtual obliteration of the human race was facilitated in great part to the fact that Cylons are no longer bulky and robot-looking. They can now look like humans, and guessing who is and who isn’t one of the 12 models of humanoid Cylon provides a constant atmosphere of tension.

The show also takes liberty with the original characters. Commander Adama still leads the fleet, but he has to balance his role as a military leader and as a father to Captain Apollo, as father and son often find themselves drifting into odds against one another. Two of the most prominent pilots, Starbuck and Boomer, are now introduced as women, and by mini-series end we know that Boomer is just one of many clones of a Cylon model – and she herself doesn’t know it. Dr. Baltar, the human turncoat of the first series, is now played as a slippery yet brilliant scientist who unknowingly aids the enemy. Seduced by a Cylon who later reappears in his mind as either his insanity or an implant, he plays both sides in order to not let his secret out.

Conflict is the drive of the show, and there is just as much between the humans and Cylons as there is between members of Galactica. With a diverse group of characters with complicated backgrounds and goals, they all are forced to weight their personal desires against their obligations to the fleet, and the results are not always happily accepted by others. Sometimes it gets a little soapy with some of the relationship triangles, but most serial dramas mix it up that way, and the relationships here at least develop organically and reasonably, not just to mark plot points.

One of the show's other strengths is its style. The production and art direction is very utilitarian, and that realism in space helps sell the show. As a military vessel, Galactica is almost a space submarine, with hatches and corridors and ladders leading about the ship, and there's not a lot of super high tech gizmos. The future is fairly sensible, by design. The camera work is documentary style, which is great when they do space shots -- quickly moving and readjusting to follow motion the way a sudden movement would catch your eye. There is also a sense of real physics when they pilot their Vipers -- thrusters fire as they pitch and roll to give their ships real motion in what would be still space. Whenever on planets, the contrast in color and exposure gives extra texture and more dimension to the scenes, and when you watch you never feel like you're looking at effects.

All in all, it's a terrific show and fun to watch...I wave my Battlestar Galactica flag high and encourage all to check it out.

ps. Some extra geeking out uncovered a character named after my friend - her pop writes and produces on the show. That's frakin' cool.