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In Reply to: Any Battlestar Galactica fans? posted by late on November 4, 2005 at 16:15:35:
Here are some of my observations on BG and the state of SF on TV in general:Battlestar Galactica uses religious symbolism to excess with unmistakeably christian overtones, but it never rises to the level of out and out propaganda. I have no problem with religion in SF mind you, but when the story's primary theme involves heavy handed alegory sometimes you have to look past it to appreciate the fictional story arc and interpersonal relationships.
There are several other long running SF programs worth viewing that take a more intellectual interest in religion sometimes even employing ironic themes. Currently there's Stargate SG-1 and it's spinoff Stargate: Atlantis. One classic series I'd highly recommend is the five season run of Babylon 5; it's one of the best science fiction TV series ever done, with thoroughly interesting character driven stories and intriguing, thought provoking themes.
I hate to recommend any Star Trek even though there were some fine series among the five that originated from the 1960's original. If I had to recommend one of the Star Trek series though it would be Next Generation, after the slow hit & miss first season. Other potentially great SF series include the successful USA series 4400 and the new CBS series Threshold.
X-Files is an odd mixture of continuing characters with an interwoven backstory, but a weekly anthology format that relied on independent storylines. Unfortunately, this approach also provided the one major weakness of the series in that story threads got muddled and lost altogether with it's leading characters becoming less and less consistent over it's lengthy run.
I've intentionally left off the classic anthology series such as Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and the more obscure earlier 50's anthology series Tales of Tomorrow, but anthology series tend to be more writer driven, without running characters and persistant underlying themes which can either enhance or bog-down series which rely on consistent characters, story arcs and themes.
Cheers,
AuPh
Follow Ups:
The boxed set of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "UFO" is very good. My only real complaint is that the episodes are not in sequence with their air dates. And don't laugh, but the three season set of "Lost in Space" is pretty good too if you can get past some of the silliness. I've also seen some DVD sets of "The Invaders" from the 60s as well and will likely be adding that to my collection too.
fine actors throughout that brief series. BTW, The Original Outer
Limits Control Voice, Vic Perrin, plays a hypnotist in "Summit Meeting", and Robert Johnson, special effects voiceman in The Original
Outer Limits, performs the alien voice in "The Pursued". ~AH
Since they only worship one god? Two aspects alone- that robots have religion and the humans basically worship "pagan" gods- make the show refreeshing and interesting.Then too the fact that the Cylon women are very hot doesn't hurt either!
Music is Emotion
.
Hi,
and a big Say What? The reality is that people do shit like that when they are under massive stress.Just FYI, B5 has a number of religous themes. If you haven't seen it on dvd, go rent the climactic battle. I liked Satgate the movie, but the tv show never did much for me. Telling me about Star trek is bringing coals to Newcastle. Mom dragged me to a summer stock play in the Sixties because Shatner was in it. His acting sucked there, too. Don't get me wrong, I loved the show. But what a ham....
I will Tivo 4400 and Threshold, but I don't hold out much hope.
Scifi is about creating some imgainary reality. Battlestar Galactica
does that with intensity. I watched the very first episode last night (the one after the pilot). When it was over, I felt like I had been put through the wringer. My wife said something to that effect.
Partly my enthusiasm is because it's the only new series I know of that's holds my interest. Partly it's because I am a fan of Olmos.
And partly because I lhave always loved epic tales of struggle against
relentless adversity. But mostly I don't care why, I just love it.
My son's math tutor sent him home with the video of Stand and Deliver, we watched it together last weekend. Olmos is a fine actor when not saddled with lesser material (like Miami Vice).I'm halfway through the first season of BG and am irredeemably hooked. Best SciFi series since Star Trek TNG and just maybe the best ever.
That's the point, religious themes are present, but not intended as allegory, as in the rehashing of a biblical story transposed to space. BTW, I own all five sets on DVD and my wife and I watched this series *ahem* "religiously." :o)On Babalon 5 we actually have scenarios where faith is dealt with in a realistic manner, including a wide range of both religious and non-religious beliefs. You might have an episode where the B5 crew is placed in a precarious diplomatic scenario trying to be ameniable to every religious sect without showing any bias against or favoritism for any of them. In another bizarre series of stories the alien who may actually be the "first" (i.e., GOD) is actually on board B5 as an observor with Sheridan who he technically raised from the dead (albeit for a limited period, about 20 years as I recall).
And yes, there are many many more interesting religious themes explored, but without any agenda. As I recall, J. Michael Strazinski, B5's creator, writer and mentor is either an atheist or an agnostic who found interesting ways of discussing religion, dissecting religious philosophies and, on occasion, exploding religious conventions.
> > > "I will Tivo 4400 and Threshold, but I don't hold out much hope." < < <
4400 is successful and IMO, very engaging; it's on the USA Network which has smaller ratings requirements and, accordingly, budgets. Threshold has yet to find an audience and I fear it may not survive the evil Nielsen onslaught. Most folks apparently prefer the trite fodder of Invasion which appears to be little more than a warmed over Invasion of the Body Snatchers concept with a misogynistic subtext woven into the backstory based on what I gleaned from watching the first episode.
> > > "Scifi is about creating some imgainary reality. Battlestar Galactica does that with intensity. I watched the very first episode last night (the one after the pilot). When it was over, I felt like I had been put through the wringer. My wife said something to that effect." < < <
Well, my wife and I watch it as well and enjoy it, but it is a mixed bag. We both agree that Olmos character is what MAKES the series and the effects are first rate for a series like this. Less impressive is the Starbuck character, not because of the twist of making the character female, but because the actress doesn't always bring it off believeably. As I've pointed out before, a better female Starbuck would have been more like Pvt. Vasquez from the movie Aliens. The other complaint I have about BG is it's interminably slow pacing; sometimes an episode goes by and hardly anything has changed or advanced the plot. It's a tribute to the overall theme, strong believeable acting of principles like Olmos, Michael Hogan, et al., and suspense driven plots that it's slow pacing can hold an audience for the long haul.
BTW, Battlestar Galactica's screenwriting is guilty of the most blatant example of Deus Ex Machina ever conceived, but what the heck! ;^)
Just for grins, I think I'll include a link to the episode guide for Babylon 5 (enjoy!):
Hi,
not all shows have to be 'Star Trekky'. If you watch it again, you may come to see that the characters all use religion as a tool. The Ceylon bitchos trying to brainwahs the scientist guy, Gaius Balthar (or some name like that). Starbuck uses it for wish fulfillment. mostly hoping to stay alive.The bread crumbs (the arrow, the hologram showing the way to Earth), were all thought up by humans for exactly this purpose, to guide after time had erased the information.
What you describe as slow pace is neccesary in an epic. It is integral to what makes it good. If you become familiar with the series, you will see that almost everything has a reason for being there. Having the dvd really helps here. Removing the commercials, and watching the eposodes at your own pace... really changes the feeling of slowness.
Not that I saw it as slowness. This is not a series where they tidy things up at the end of every episode. It is a big hairy mess.
I agree about Olmos. What I have learned since TNG is that you need a great actor to anchor a show. I don't know why that is exactly, but it certainly appears to be true most of the time. B5 is an exception, but there I think the ensemble cast and plot keep things humming along.I have set Tivo to grab those two scifi shows, thanks for mentioning them.
One last thought. BG has a plot of the same type as Terminator. That is, an intelligent machine race arise and tries to wipe out humanity.
The writers aren't trying to make them look godly, they are just trying to make them manipulative and dangerous. There are apparent inconsistencies ard weirdnesses about the Ceylons. But in later episodes they clear up a couple of them, and hint that they will resolve others. They can't resolve them all, but very little scifif does.Oh, The B5 Lurkers Guide has been around for years. Remember the petition to resurrect the series?
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