This is an official non-spoiler review of BG - hot off the presses.
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I have just completed watching four straight hours of BattleStar Galactica. Complete - start to finish. Four straight hours.
My mind, of course, is mush - even more so than when I started. But I enjoyed the spectacle.
Reviews, of course, are Rorschach tests.
Diving straight in -
(1) BG starts out with a bang with not one but two episodes of female-dominant alien vertical sexuality.
Later we find incidences of officer/enlisted man vertical sexuality.
I am not sure which of the above scenarios is the less likely . . .
I do wish that someone would explain to the actors just what it is that beds are for.
(2) All the military people look just like models to me.
Anybody here ever been in the military?
Did everyone there look like models to you?
They didn't look like models to me.
I forget - this is a different solar system.
Apparently everyone is beautiful, there.
I guess this is a good thing.
Easy on my eyes, certainly.
(3) The military aspect of the show is an interesting conglomeration of Army/Navy/AirForce.
(i) Ranks: commander is above colonel is above captain. It hurts my brain to watch.
(ii) The underwear is definite US Army issue - I am certain because I saw a lot of it. Uniforms are much more Army than Navy or Air Force. Why the Army is in command of the Space Corps, I have no idea.
(iii) Military discipline is Hollywood.
(iv) If anybody out there who has seen the show is active duty military, I would be appreciate their comments.
(v) Of course, it is a different solar system. My mind just has trouble adapting.
Forget about hunting down apparent anachronisms - it is another solar system. Just enjoy the show.
I keep telling myself this, but the mind does this anyway, even when I try to tell it not to.
(4) The show was not particularly politicized one way or another, which was really nice. A good decision on the part of the producers - not unlike a similar decision on the part of this board's moderators. No writing to make the show relevant to today's international situations, no right-wing or left-wing tirades - or even, nudges - about the need for military readiness or against peacenicks or against us Luddites who don't feel a need for NASA's manned space program, or Middle East or Chinese nudges or whatever. Lotsa opportunities for this in in any space opera, but no such propaganda. Quite refreshing - just enjoy the show.
(5) Did I mention that there was quite a lot of love interest going on?
They just gotta learn how and I'm sure they'll be OK.
(6) That is one weird way to eat spaghetti.
(7) The commercials were a kinda interesting - not in themselves, of course, but for what they revealed about the show. Some actually kinda stood out - definitely not Coke and Pepsi and Burger King ads. Lipitor - a cholesterol-lowering medication - we're not exactly talking about going after the youth audience, here. The travel advertisement was for a Hawaii-bound married couple of an age where the joke was the husband feeling threatened by an athletic younger man. The jewelry advertisement was of a (I think) married couple who has definitely made it (when's the last time you took your wife to Venice?), with the fellow giving jewelry to his lady basically to declare "Honey, we've really made it." In case you are feeling the suspense - she liked the diamonds.
So - to my surprise, this is a science fiction show that does not seem to be targeting the youth audience. Not at all. It seems to be going for the AARP crowd. Does this make sense? Looks like the science fiction demographic - or maybe just the whole American television-watching demographic - may be changing. I dunno. Maybe they are going after those of us who remember the original BG?
Any marketing types out there who might be able to clarify?
On further consideration, this is also reflected in the casting. The ship's two top officers - the ship's "commander" and "colonel" (I am sorry but it still hurts) - could both be card-carrying members of the AARP - likely past the age one would expect to see a commanding officer on a ship of the line.
But it's good to see the old guys runnin' things. ;-)
(
The space battles.
Ah, yes - the space battles.
There were space battles.
As good as any other space battles. Bang / zoom / swoosh / zap - all over the place. And then some more: zoom / swoop / zap / bang . . .
How these space battles differed from those of Star Wars or Star Trek or Babylon 5 - I really couldn't tell ya.
Ya seen one space battle . . .
(9) The reputed Mormon connection with BG?
That is way beyond my base of knowledge.
If any of our Mormons would be kind enough to enlighten, I would be happy to learn.
(10) The writing - and the characters -
About on the level of an average Star Trek off-shoot of a middle vintage. I.e., not exactly riveting. But not nearly as bad as the last Star Trek franchise or two or three -
(Aside - is the ST franchise still runnin'? Or have they let it a rest for a while?)
Happily, the new BG has more sex than the ST franchises. Not just unobtainable siliconed girls running around in skin-tight costumes, fellas, but the real stuff. Kiss and hug and rub-a-dub-dub. Well - for the horizontally challenged, anyway.
And the writing?
Average.
No surprises. Unfortunately. Not one.
The writing is nothing approaching the intelligence and overall quality one saw in the writing of Babylon 5.
(11) Comparison of this with the original BG?
Well, I am a science fiction buff, but I gotta agree with Kelly - even scrunching up my head and squeezing moderately on both temples - "I hardly remember the original."
So I would say that the current version is right on par.
(12) Anyone catch what was on the note the commander found in his stateroom at the end of the show?
My television set is a bit far off for doing much reading.
(13) Bottom line - was the show worth watching?
For a sci-fi-aholic - definitely!
For others - well, I have two different friends who actually fell asleep during the original full screen version of Star Wars. One on my shoulder during a major battle scene.
I guess it's really your call.
Time to put this space-addled head to sleep - horizontally.
Dreamin' space dreams -
Epaminondas
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Its too bad she won't live. But then again, who does?
Blade Runner
