Yeah, I’m a geek. I decided to live blog the BSG (Battlestar Galactica) season premiere on Sci-Fi. Well, not quite live. Remember, I said I’m a geek. So I made sure I had enough of a buffer on the TiVo to avoid commercials! I’d kind of thought it’d be cool to do a frak party, but no such luck. Ian came down and joined me for a part of it though 
Looks to be a great season. I’m really enjoying the themes this season. They’ve really hit the nail on the head in critiquing the war in Iraq. Insurgents fighting for their own way of life, an occupation force that feels it knows better than the locals how they should live their lives. Hopefully some people catch the comparison and don’t immediately shut it out (it is almost heavy-handed in the comparison, they even have suicide bombers), and are able to see the story with the viewpoints switched around (this time it’s “us” that are the ones being controlled by an outside group).
The whole change from being on a ship the entire time to living on a planet under Cylon rule really changes the dynamics, the settings, and even the way the characters act, many of them much rougher, harsher, more brutally honest. Still, there’s lots of action, space ships, robots and more to satisfy even the hardest core of all geeks.
Whew, for a second there I thought there were going to be spoilers! We Tivo’d it and haven’t watched yet, although we did watch the semi-cheesy webisodes because we were afraid of missing out on key plot elements! Sunday nights are our BSG nights! That means tomorrow!
October 8, 2006 @ 12:10 amEnjoy! Yeah, the webisodes were ok but I watched them for the same reason. Turns out I wouldn’t have missed much! I even ran over to the PC when I first started watching it to catch the last couple of the webisodes
October 9, 2006 @ 5:32 pmCan’t wait for the show to end so I can buy all the DVDs for a BSG fest. Whoohoo!
Re: comparison.
October 10, 2006 @ 4:32 amI’ve read the same at other blogs. Actually, I think more of the American Revolution than today’s modern situ. Same with the Amerindians who were moved, attacked, moved, etc. During WWII, there were plenty of “freedom fighters” against the Nazis in the occupied territories which they were the terrorists.
BSG really does rock. It’s really some of the best sci-fi story-telling I’ve seen in a very long time. I especially like that in spite if the the far-off futuristic setting, there are still subtle elements that seem like they somehow shouldn’t fit fit yet manage anchor the whole thing to our own reality. For example these people still were suits & ties, and they still have whiteboards & dry-erase markers & analog clocks. And despite their advanced technology such as Faster Than Light travel, Newtonian physics is still a bitch. There are no tachyon particles or subspace anomalies anywhere to be found.
Incidentally, I’m unconvinced about the Iraq war analogy. I mean, from my perspective, the people in the show are facing an adversary that wants to kill or subjugate every last living human. Sounds fairly similar to the adversary that threatens freedom-loving humans around the world in our own time period, doesn’t it? I suppose in the end it’s natural to see in things the parallels that support your point of view.
October 10, 2006 @ 3:29 pmThat’s exactly why I love the show so much: sci-fi, but not over the top. Earthy, gritty, real, and raw emotional characters and situations without overdone technology.
You’ve got a point on the Cylons. I was thinking more about the “reformed” Cylons who came to New Caprica, who seem to want peace and want to show the humans the right way of living/doing things. It comes across to me as a strong analogy in how Westerners think they can come to places in the Middle East and show them how to live in a democracy and it just happens. We’ll just have to wait on the show to see if the Cylons have more sinister/ulterior motives than that, or if disagreeing factions takeover. We can’t have them be ‘nice’ for too long, it won’t make it interesting!
October 11, 2006 @ 4:12 am