The Looming Robot Menace, part III

All of the robot posts were really just an excuse to talk about Battlestar Galactica. If the only Battlestar Galactica that comes to mind for you is the cheesy late 70's Star Wars wanna-be, then you might be pleasantly surprised by the new version. From the wikipedia page:

The new Battlestar Galactica departs from the original in several ways. In terms of style and storytelling, it rejects the traditional televised science fiction styles of Star Trek (after which the original Battlestar Galactica series was conceived) in favor of what executive producer Ronald D. Moore calls "naturalistic science fiction". The new series emphasizes character drama in an edgy survivalist setting and has many of the characteristics of military science fiction, shedding the light-hearted action/adventure style of the original show. Among plot differences, the key characters of Starbuck and Boomer have been recast as female roles. The Cylons are the creation of Man and a new breed of Cylon models now imitate humanoid appearance down to the cellular level.

Ronald D. Moore tackled the re-imagining with realism in mind, portraying the show's heroes as being part of a "flawed" humanity, and drawing inspiration from the September 11, 2001 attacks and their aftermath. In the re-imagined series, many characters struggle with deep personal flaws; for example, Adama and his son have a profoundly dysfunctional relationship while Colonel Tigh is an alcoholic. Their enemy is one capable of living amongst them unnoticed and willing to carry out suicide attacks, allowing an exploration of moral and ethical issues brought up by the War on Terrorism. The show has dealt with Cylon and human suicide bombers, the torture of prisoners, and a struggle motivated by intense religious differences. To add to this realism, the creative direction also redesigned Galactica with a decidedly 'retro' submarine look, approximating the function of an aircraft carrier, using bullets and missiles instead of directed-energy weapons such as lasers.

I like the show for the political and religious themes, as well as the fascinating characters. I normally don't consider myself a fan of science fiction because I have never had any interest in Star Trek. Of course I grew up with Star Wars, loved Firefly and Serenity, and now watch BSG obsessively. (I wish that George Lucas had sought out either of the guys behind these shows, Joss Whedon with Firefly/Serenity or Ronald D. Moore with BSG, to get involved with the Star Wars prequels. Moore could have done much more with the politics that bogged the prequels down, and Whedon did a better job than Lucas in the original Star Wars of referencing the style of an old Western - and he definitely gets the Hans Solo wiseass sense of humor)

Maybe I am not so influenced by genre as I am by a good story. If a show has interesting, flawed characters, who are in believable relationships, who face real dilemmas, and the story is told with a minimum level of technical proficiency, I'll give it a chance no matter the genre. Since BSG does all of those things well, with politics and religion thrown in for good measure!

The other thing we learn from BSG is that part of what makes the looming robot menace so scary is that the robots will rule over us in the manner of the George W Bush presidency, but with space ships.