A to Z: Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica.
It is too good to continue with a sentence. It deserved to stand alone, at least for a moment.
Now that the pause of respect has been observed I can continue.

Battlestar Galactica is my favorite science fiction universe that has been explored in moving pictures.
There have been so many, and so many of those that are good, that it isn't an easy statement to make, but I think I'll stand by it.  It wasn't always the case.  When I was a kid I watched the original series on T.V. and loved it.  But Star Wars was my far and away favorite. I wanted to be a jedi.  But one with a wookie sidekick.
Best of both worlds. And while I still love Star Wars, it must be said that now I think BSG edges it out.

What makes Battlestar Galactica so good? 
It started many decades ago as a decent concept: the last of humanity in exodus, hunted by a mechanical alien race intent on their annihilation. A road trip. It was very much a product of it's time: the late 70's, early 80's, with hints of ancient aliens influencing Earth's ancient civilizations, the strength of women's liberation with female viper pilots and of course, feathered hair for both genders. But it wasn't truly great: the characters where characterizations, good & evil were strictly defined, and the kid was annoying.
But the ships were cool enough to make up for most of that.

Then it got it's re-boot.  I admit I was hesitant. Hell, I was apprehensive.  Would they destroy my childhood memories? They made some changes. A lot of changes. But they were overwhelmingly for the good.
Here's a run down of some of the things that make the new BSG a titanic success:

1. Music.  The opening credits, when the score began it grabbed me, held me, and told me I was about to experience something profound.  It could have been a lie, with great music dressing up a dog, but it wasn't.

This is probably the best music in any TV series I can think of.

2. Visuals.  The CGI is gorgeous.  The ships are beautiful, and they even kept some of my beloved old Viper Mk.II's. The cylons are also much more deadly looking than the old costumes.

3. Characters.  Gone are characterizations. The characters are complex and flawed.  I'm still sure Starbuck was a coke-head. Best re-imagining in my opinion is Baltar.  In the original he was a greedy power-hungry traitor, pure and simple. The new Baltar is far more interesting.  The loss the characters experience and what they must go through just isn't equaled by any other sci-fi series or movie. 

The characters in this re-imagining have much more realism and are more believable than the characters in the latest Star Wars movies. 

4.  History.  The new series has a much greater depth for it to draw on.  I found myself enjoying trying to piece together the history of humanity from the facts, hints and myths dropped in the show.

5. Big Issue Questions.  
The philosophical, social, anthropological, however you want to term it, the "Big Questions" brought up by the show are profound.  Star Wars can't compete in this arena, and while Star Trek does, their treatment of the issues feels more obvious, as well as sugared in an 'after school special' sort of way. 

BSG addresses issues like:

1.  What is the nature of humanity?

2.  Is personhood limited to humans or can mechanical beings have it too? 

3.  Does our nature doom us to destroy ourselves or do we have hope to avoid it? Does the nature of our DNA program us to a predetermined future as much as writing software would? 

4.  What makes you, you? Are you your memories? Are you who you think you are and what if who you think you are now is not who you were before?  Not since Bladerunner has this been so well done. 

Admittedly the series wasn't without it's flaws.  I'm still not 100% sold on the ending (no real spoilers in case someone hasn't seen it) especially where Starbuck is concerned.  But it's well worth watching, even for those who aren't typically fans of science fiction. Battlestar Galactica is my favorite sci-fi series of all time and on my short list of 3 or so of any TV series of any genre. 

Oh, and let's not forget eye-candy.  I'm assured by the portion of the population who are partial to males that there is much to enjoy and can vouch for those of us who appreciate the other half that you can't go wrong.  Despite most of that attention going to Seven, I'm more partial to Starbuck or Boomer.  It's a cubit toss for priority, I really can't decide.  But yet another reason the reboot is an improvement: those characters were males before: yes, definitely an improvement.

And for other visual enjoyment BSG has the best star-fighter dogfights ever seen on film.
Note: I've included this video before, but it's fun enough for a second-go:

For the Gamers:

There are a lot of good BSG minis out there.  Ravenstar makes some excellent ones that have tempted me to pick them up.  But what I'd like to see even more is a fighter level spaceship minis game.  The real thrill in BSG is the dogfights.  A reason why BSG will always be better than Star Trek for me.  I want to have a real 3-D tabletop minis game of Vipers vrs Raiders.  Now that would be fun. 

If you haven't seen the series, do yourself a favor and see it!

And a bit of fun... enjoy!

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This has been an A-Z Challenge post. 
For the month of April there will be an update for each letter within the theme of: Things that influence and inspire me, or the converse: things which I find distressing or make me want to rail at the world.
Some of these will pertain to the miniatures hobby, but many will venture off to atypical territory for the duration of the challenge, then it will be back to normal with mostly minis and an occasional blithering.
You can find out more about the A-Z challenge my clicking the logo at the top left of the page.