hamilton.likes.to.draw...

maybe it's because i'm not really "a part of it", but i'll get to that a little later. grant gould talks about the damn show so much that i had to watch it all. i remember seeing the pilot a long time ago when it first aired. i thought it was really cool, but not really enough to get into it. but i've been watching all three season over the past couple days, and i have to say, the show is damn good. a friend asked me why he should see it if it's just another sci-fi show, and i had to sit down and think about it.

i was midway through the second season and i came to a realization. the show isn't about aliens. i mean... yeah, it's got robots, but even they're mostly human in their representation. but tho galactica visits other planets, they have yet to deal with aliens. this sets it apart wide and far from most other sci-fi space shows. the show is about people, and i'll go one step further. this is not a space show. it's a political/military drama with heavy commentary on religion and relationships... set in space. i'd say it's a show about politics, politics relevant to the things happening to us even now, and a military show second. the military aspects of it far outweigh the space aspects of it. in fact, there are very few castes of characters on the show. there are military, there are politicians, the cylon/robot agents, and the occasional religious figure. the show takes great pains to focus only on these groups.

so maybe i like my political science a bit too much, but that's the aspect of the show that keeps me coming back for more. whether kara thrace gets with lee or anders never really mattered much to me, as much as the political uprising, the personal downfall, and the hope of personal redemption of gaius baltar. maybe it's because i watched it in a marathon session, that does tend to change the whole pace of a show, but that really fascinated me. i also love the show's use of music to really emphasize key moments of the show. i love the idea that somehow their universe is connected to ours. i love the constant use of premonition and foreshadowing to give us hints about the direction of the show.

which is why when people started hearing music in the ship, i was really excited. i started to think of all the possibilities of what was going on, yeah maybe all these people are cylons, but maybe more importantly they were picking up signals from earth. so when they started reciting lyrics from all along the watchtower i started jumping up and down. i loved it! so why is it that when i was done, i started reading other people's opinions, only to find out everyone else thought it was cheesy? come on people. maybe you're a little too close to this. maybe you need to step back a little and accept that that was really fun. and the ensuing new arrangement of the song was absolutely perfect for the scene coming up. guess what people, you were right, she couldn't stay dead. does that make it a bad decision to bring her back? no. it just makes you really jaded. and/or you watch way too much tv and movies. yeah, everyone knew when that blip appeared on the screen, but you know what, everyone wanted it too. her total arch wasn't finished yet. there's still more to learn.

and let's all take solace in the fact that this group of writers is not being shoehorned into an ending they weren't prepared for. they aren't having to scuttle one together for the last few episodes of a series. they aren't having to explain everything in a two hour reprieve from television death. they certainly aren't being cut short. they are setting the date and get to tell the story right.

personally, i think the parallels between this and isaac asimov's concepts of robots are very much in sync. the mere fact that each episode starts with "they have a plan" instantly says to me that EVERYTHING that has happened is calculated. in a way that only robots could calculate. in a way that says man's destiny is not his own. his course is plotted. it's true that anomalies can happen. free will exists, sure, but choices can be guessed. astrology has become fascinating to me recently. which, by the way, the show is rife with. but i used to think it was a bunch of superstitious hocum pocum, that's really a small part of it. it's more an analysis of tendencies. what do people born in this circumstance TEND to do and be. now that fascinates me. exceptions will ALWAYS arise, and those are interesting, the name gaius baltar springs to mind, but the exceptions do not negate the tendencies. stereotypes and prejudices have their roots in something actual, something tangible. and the general choices of mankind can generally be plotted.

i'm on a tangent now. so i'll leave you with this. if you're enjoying battlestar galactica and you haven't read i robot and the foundation series by isaac asimov, then i suggest you read them. if you've seen i robot, that doesn't even count in my mind. and do you want to know why? well there's a very large fundamental change in the outcome of the movie that changes the spirit of what asimov wrote. that the robots are better than humans. read em. you'll like em. i bet you won't be able to put down foundation. it's awesome if you like the political/military aspects of bg.