Best Sci-Fi I have seen in ages

Feydakeen

Ok, I understand lost of people don't agree with this view but this series just rocks.

The biggest thing this show has got for it, is that it's THOUGHT-provoking. It just doesn't tell a simple good vs evil story, which ends in fairy tail ending. In fact most things happening in the series are rather gloomy and dark. And best off all you can explain everything that happens in several ways. That means you actually have to think about it, and try to work out things for yourself. Ok I know a lot of people hate David Lynch, but his films have the same approach and I love it, it means you actually get to do some brain-work instead of just looking at some digital effects without story.

The actors are just great. I think most agree, Olmos steals the show, but the other actors are really up to par. I know some will complain about Starbuck being replaced by a woman...but let's face it, they would never have found an actor with the same panache as Dirk Benedict, and a male actor would always have been fragged...they avoided that. ANd to be quite honest, I really like the STRONG woman characters. I mean there's a lot of crap about not having enough strong woman chars and woman driven stories, well now we have it and everyone starts wining. I like it...

The serie has some great nods to TOS without resorting to corny stuff (like having Apollo say to Tom Zerek, don't I know you???) I liked the museum with the old Cylon and basestar models. The original music in the fly-by for decomissioning etc... Best off all IF you really use your mind like my first point suggested you just might think, this is not a reinvention, but REALLY is a follow-up... How ??? Simple during several episodes it is mentioned that this has happened before and will happen again.... What IF every 2000 years this cataclysmic event unfolds, the rag-tag fleet discovers Earth...rename it Kobol, defeat the cylons... colonise it, do something really stupid like have a world-war with nukes and set out to colonise 12 planets after the destruction...and then it happens again, all over... just a thought

The Special effects are top-notch, the Cylon and basestar models are neat and fit in with the gloomy moody atmosphere. I especially like the theme-music and the way space is quiet and not full of blue red lasers and stupid explosions...

Another trap it neatly avoids, is the tin-can trap...having everything filmed inside a space-craft can become boring after a while. Hence the toying around with Helo on Caprica... The cylons are just using Helo as we would watch an ant in an ant-farm...

Ok and what about the critics saying, oh well if you explain it away that the cylons had everything planned in advance, where is the tension gone? The cylons can end the experiment at any time and kill off the humans. Well, although the cylons have the upper hand, it still looks like they cannot envision everything. Sure they know the postion of the fleet, they have plenty of agents aboard Galactica, they are in the mind of one of the only scientists left alive.... BUT...some are starting to doubt. Boomer Caprica, did not act rationally imho... Boomer Galactica almost blowing her head off, was certainly not part of the plan....

Horatio

Good post, have to agree, Galactica is certainly a welcome breath of fresh air
to the sci-fi genre after the likes of Enterprise and Andromeda/Babylon 5. Galactica has a real life feel to it that makes sense and tells a definitive story with characters that are clearly driven by the morals or lack of them in their characters. The Boomer scenario is well thought out and how they left it in series one leaves you only wanting more. The next season should be even better.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

don't you DARE lump babylon 5 in with those two other series.
you monster.

Horatio

There's a difference ?

ixoy

Horatio wrote:

There's a difference ?

Have you bothered to watch Babylon 5? Seriously, have you? Because if you have, you'd know damn well there was a very definite story, planned over five years, to it. You'd see how events interlinked even though they spanned years on television. You'd also have seen that the characters had different morale values - or did you not realise that one of the main characters caused the deaths of millions and yet, through great writing, was still one of the most awesome sympathetic characters in sci-fi?

Lumping B5 in with Enterprise and Andromeda is not just insulting, it's ignorant. As Mordeth said - you monster.

Feydakeen

Ok, please don't go flaming like this.
I started this thread not to frag other sci-fi series, but to tell you why this one rocks. I haven't seen much of Babylon 5 myself, but I definately have to say it's not like Star Trek. We all have different tastes, well heck what would the world be like if we all picked the same wife/husband, job, car, house etc...
I don't like Star Trek myself, because it in my honest opinion it has become a farce like Monthy Python in space, but that does not mean I don't understand why some people love it. An dlet's face it, there are far worse things then even the worst episode of Star Trek.

I just wanted to state out, this show IS different, then most shows. To be honest I am still a bit scared. I always thought they kill good shows by going on and on, after the good ideas have dried up. So I really do hope they only doo 2 max 3 seasons. In fact it would be down-right silly to think the Galactica can go on without water/food/amunition for very long. I would even prefer an open end, and even a tragic one would be better then to end up dragging it into boredom...

And I surely hope they are not gonna drag aliens into it. The whole idea of humanity making it's own Nemesis and being all alone in space is much more creepy then having to deal with discovering aliens. I mean what are the probabilities that one discovers alien life, let alone, spacefaring races which look like humans with pointy ears and happen to speak perfect English??? I mean look at it. If you would have to vote for the best incarnation of Evil ever on screen, most of my votes would go to humans (The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, Seven...) Same goes for this series, I get the creeps every time that moody music starts and Baltar hears the soft tones of 6 whispering in his ears. We have plenty of series with aliens out there, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate.... , even Space above and Beyond featured extra-terrestrial life. There is enough for everyones taste

stakey

Very much agree with Feydakeen. Sci Fi has become somewhat stagnant over the last few years, series with story arcs became too few and those who tried it made a horrible job of it.

BSG wins out as it has created a new Sci Fi model, it scrapped the planet hopping so inherent in Star Trek, Stargate and the original BSG series for a more claustrophobic and dare I say human environment of an emabattled starship, its crew and a rag tag fleet that relied solely on that ship.

The original series was entertaining (in its day), but that concept has grown old and has been devalued, Moore has redesigned the Sci Fi model and I for one salute him.

BSG is a mature Sci Fi epic, end of story, from the realities of space, to the realities of long term space travel, to realistic space combat to incredibly strong religous undertones that work so well, this story has it all!

I hope for 4-5 series, I want to see the entire Cylon plan played out, I want to see the crew of the BSG on edge. I certainly dont want to see some overly happy ending... from spoilers i have read series 2 looks blooming excellent!

Roll on July/October

Fenster

Horatio wrote:

Good post, have to agree, Galactica is certainly a welcome breath of fresh air
to the sci-fi genre after the likes of Enterprise and Andromeda/Babylon 5. Galactica has a real life feel to it that makes sense and tells a definitive story with characters that are clearly driven by the morals or lack of them in their characters. The Boomer scenario is well thought out and how they left it in series one leaves you only wanting more. The next season should be even better.

"Burn the witch! Burn 'er!"