Battlestar Galactica

Right. I know. This Blog is supposed to chronicle my exploits, not my obsessions. Am supposed to take the Sunita-rants to my livejournal and not trouble the kindly world population. Eh. Whatever. Some good things just deserve to be plugged man. And I will do my bit in plugging one of the greatest TV shows ever produced.

If you, like me, followed the earlier version of Battlestar Galactica and had your misgivings about the re-imagined version. I would like to allay your fears. The new series is just spectacular. Sigh. It is at moments like this that I miss Meghie, that being of infinite wisdom and special insights into movies, TV shows, books and music. My very own Lorelei Gilmore and then some :-p I am now reduced to spilling my love for the show on a blog, having not met anyone else who has even seen it. Sigh Sigh. Why are the excellent shows like the excellent people of the world frequently unloved...My So-Called Life comes to mind as does the fact that Lauren Graham has never been nominated for an Emmy. Meanwhile the world continues to herald 7th Heaven and the various Survivor and Bachelor/Bachelorette permutations. Hmm come to think of it, I have never really subcribed to critically acclaimed shows either (seriously what was with the whole Seinfeld craze?) so massive pinches (oxymoron alert!) of salt everyone.

Moving on to Battlestar Galactica. It's like the West Wing, Star Trek, X-Files and Band of Brothers all rolled into one. The premise is fairly simplistic as sci-fi shows go. Humanity is scattered over these 12 planets but space travel is pretty common so its like 12 states or "colonies" as they call it with a central government of the "colonies" headed by a President. Now the colonists believe that there were 13 tribes who escaped from a planet called "Kobol". 12 of those tribes peopled the colonies while legend has it that the 13th tribe got "lost" and ended up on a planet called Earth. Shades of the Book of Mormon eh Meg? (Do correct me if I am wrong).

Actually that is not so much the premise as the backstory that we figure out in dribs and drabs early in the 1st season. The premise is actually a whole different kettle of fish.

Having settled on the "colonies" the colonists proceeded to build machines with AI to handle the more dangerous work on mining planets and such stuff. These "robots" gradually evolved and developed "minds" of their own. Predictably they rebelled against their human masters and there was war. It was declared a truce after mankind by regressing to an earlier state of technology managed to not get completely anihilated. The "Cylons" (as these robots were called) left presumably to find their own home in a solar system far far away. This was all 50 years ago.
We open on a surprise attack by the Cylons on all 12 colonies. The only survivors are a rag-tag bag of spaceships who have somehow not managed to upgrade to the new defence computer systems (that the cylons have infiltrated). The main one, of course, is the "Battlestar Galactica" which is actually in the throes of a decomissioning exercise and about to be turned into a museum. Long story short, all that is left of humanity is a bunch of civilian ships with the Battlestar acting as a protector.

Since the colonies have been nuked beyond recognition, the Commander of the Galactica reluctantly agrees to the newly sworn in President's (the former Secretary of Education; check out the swearing in ceremony in the Pilot episode; very reminiscent of the post-Kennedy assasination swearing in of what-was-his-name Johnson?) idea of making a run for it. To galvanise the troops and the rest of the remnants of humanity (about 50,000 in all), he hoodwinks them into believing that he knows where Earth is and that together they can all make a new life there. All this while the Cylons are hot on their trail. This coupled with several mystical allusions to Earth and prophecies about it, makes this show pretty much unprecedented in the annals of TV-land (the old BG was fairly straightforward : they got nuked, they looking for Earth).

So far it sounds like the typical Star-Treky flick. The thing that makes "BG" leap way ahead of ST and its various permutations are its excellent actors, brilliant writing and wonderful characters. No cardboard cutouts here. Everyone is a person, with a backstory, with issues, problems and idiosyncracies. There are no Picard moments of God-like wisdom or standard boob-a-licious babes sashaying around with the wussy job of a ship's "counsellor".

No siree. There are babes on the "BG", of course. One is a cigar-chomping, foul-mouthed ace of a fighter pilot who is only tolerated because she can basically fly rings around her superiors (yes there is equality in the military in every sense of the word). The other is also an accomplished pilot but lo behold she is actually a cylon (Cylons look like humans now, but there are several "copies" of every version) and get this, does not know she is. The final babe does the whole red dress, stilleto heels, popping out boobs thing except that she is not real. Or is she?

Before I elaborate on a few of my favourite characters, let me explain the whole West Wing allusion. Although the colonies have been destroyed, the government carries on in the form of President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnel, I have loved her ever since Dances With Wolves). Her clashes with Commander Adama of the "BG" and the way in which these 2 characters interact with each other and the rest of the fleet is very reminiscent of the West Wing. In fact in many respects it is the West Wing just in space and with cool battle scenes and some clunky-looking robots thrown in for good measure. There is also the requisite family drama as the leader of the Vipers (the fighter space-planes), "Apollo" is also Commander Adama's son. Apollo (Apollo is Lee Adama's callsign, remember Topgun and "Maverick"?) hates his famous father's guts and blames him for the death of his younger brother Zack (who crashed his plane 'cos he was a sucky pilot). Romantic connections also abound but I guess the main one everyone is watching for is that of Apollo and "Starbuck", which brings me of course to the aforementioned cigar-chomping, poker-playing babe and my absolutely favourite character in TV-land after Lorelei Gilmore.

Starbuck is the callsign of Lt. Kara Thrace. We learn over the course of the season that among other things she was severely abused as a child. Furthermore, she was engaged to Zack Adama and passed him in pilot-training school even though he was as bad a pilot as it got. Saying she has issues is putting it mildly. She has no sense of authority except to flout it and frequently finds herself in the brig (jail to you and me) for insurbodination. Be that as it may, she is the best there is and they are lucky to have her and they know it. The best part of this whole Starbuck thing is that in the original series, Starbuck was played by Dirk Benedict (he of A-Team Fame). "Original" Starbuck was a cigar-chomping, insurbodinate little twerp with a gorgeous smile and a wiz with the women. "New" Starbuck is a cigar-chomping, insurbodinate little dweeb with a luminous smile guys just end up swooning for. I just love it!



















There are many other threads and relationships (yeah this series has much faith in one's ability to keep it all straight, but actually it's so well done you don't really realise it. Kudos to the writers again). There is "Boomer" and her "many" loves. Boomer is the pilot who is actually a cylon. She does not know it though or refuses to accept it. There are 2 Boomers (because there are many copies) in the series with 2 separate plotlines, which does tend to complicate matters but not unduly so. The re-imagined BG has a beautiful Grace Park (of Korean descent) playing Boomer; the original had African American Herb Jefferson. I love it again!

Then there is Dr. Gauis Baltar. Evil-genius? Megalomaniac? No one really knows, least of all Baltar himself. He basically helped the cylons (unwittingly) destroy the colonies and now he keeps getting visions of the super-sexy cylon avatar who pumped (eh :-p) the secret defence information out of him. Is she real, as in a chip in his brain? Or is she merely the subconscious manifestation of his incredible guilt at causing the destruction of millions of lives? Or is she as she claims - an angel of God?

Yeah get this. In an ironic twist, the cylons believe in a "one, true, God", while mankind worships the ancient Romanised pantheon of Greek Gods.

A final word on the music. I completely adored the original theme music. It was up there with Hawaii-5-O and other iconic TV themes and was really sad they did not use it for the new series (except briefly in the pilot, kind of a tribute I guess). But I've gradually come around especially when they incorporated gamelan music. Oh man how cool is that! Wish I could add a soundclip here. Will add some dialogue-clips instead.

[Starbuck's in the brig]
Apollo: What's the charge this time?
Starbuck: Striking a superior asshole.

Starbuck: Permission to speak off the record, sir?
Tigh: Granted.
Starbuck: You're a bastard.

Starbuck: I thought you were dead.
Apollo: I thought you were in hack.
Starbuck: It's good to be wrong.
Apollo: You should be used to that by now.
Starbuck: Everyone's got a skill.

Apollo: Sir, "Apollo" is just my call sign. My name is Lee Adama.
Laura Roslin: I know who you are, but "Captain Apollo" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Baltar: So now you're, um, you're telling me you're a machine?
Number Six: I'm a woman.
Baltar: You're a machine. You're a synthetic woman, a robot.
Number Six: I've said it three times now.
Baltar: Well, forgive me, I'm having the tiniest little bit of trouble believing it because the last time anyone saw the Cylons they looked more like walking chrome toasters.
Number Six: Those models are still around. They have their uses

[his decommissioning speech]
Adama: The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but... sometimes it's too high. You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question "Why?" Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed and spite and jealousy, and we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything we've done, like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. When that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault, not really. You cannot play God and then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore.