We recently watched The Plan, a film offshoot of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television show. As fans of the show, we enjoyed it; it added some details and filled in some plot holes from the regular series. Someone who has never seen the show, on the other hand, would probably be lost.
The BSG franchise has many tragic elements, and The Plan focuses on several; genocide, betrayal and mistrust feature prominently. They continue to be eclipsed, however, by the sense of sadness I feel about the end of the series.
Next on the schedule is a re-viewing of Battlestar Galactica: Razor. After I watched it for the first time, it crystallized my view that in the series, the humans are the bad guys and the Cylons are actually the good guys. Seasons 3 and 4 added this refinement: the Cylon "skinjobs" (who look like humans) are also bad guys, leaving only the robot-like Centurions to be proper protagonists. Razor is much more accessible to non-fans, and I'm curious if any have seen it before seeing the rest of the show.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
2009-12-09
2009-07-19
Battlestar Galactica
It's been several months since the final episode of Battlestar Galactica aired. In it, the hardy Colonial fleet of human refugees, fleeing the robotic Cylon menace they created, wins a major battle, discovers Earth and lives happily ever after.
Well, almost. They discover Earth (approximately 150,000 years in our past) and decide, in the words of one character, to "leave their baggage behind" by sending their fleet and all of their technology into the sun. It's a happy ending with some sad moments as characters die or vanish into thin air (it's a long story) and people set out to build a new home with the stone-age natives that they've discovered they can interbreed with.
I wonder how long it took them to realize that this new paradise world did not have any toilet paper.
I wonder how long it took before they realized how hard it was going to be to grow food. (These are people who by now have lived in spaceships for years.)
It probably didn't take long to find out that the natives were a lot handier with a spear than they were.
My guess is that in less than a year the adults were dead and the surviving children were taken in by the neanderthals.
So while the show was portrayed as having a happy ending, in fact it did not: the military failed in their struggle to preserve the lives of the 40,000 or so civilians that survived the Cylon genocide. Their society collectively gave up and died.
I'm not sure what is worse: that, or the fact that it's portrayed as a good thing.
Well, almost. They discover Earth (approximately 150,000 years in our past) and decide, in the words of one character, to "leave their baggage behind" by sending their fleet and all of their technology into the sun. It's a happy ending with some sad moments as characters die or vanish into thin air (it's a long story) and people set out to build a new home with the stone-age natives that they've discovered they can interbreed with.
I wonder how long it took them to realize that this new paradise world did not have any toilet paper.
I wonder how long it took before they realized how hard it was going to be to grow food. (These are people who by now have lived in spaceships for years.)
It probably didn't take long to find out that the natives were a lot handier with a spear than they were.
My guess is that in less than a year the adults were dead and the surviving children were taken in by the neanderthals.
So while the show was portrayed as having a happy ending, in fact it did not: the military failed in their struggle to preserve the lives of the 40,000 or so civilians that survived the Cylon genocide. Their society collectively gave up and died.
I'm not sure what is worse: that, or the fact that it's portrayed as a good thing.
2009-04-20
Life
I finally saw the season finale (possibly the series finale if it's not renewed) of the TV show Life, and it blew my socks off. Now I want to Netflix the DVDs and watch the whole thing from the beginning. This is made easier by the fact that there are only 32 episodes. I love it when a great show is canceled before it jumps the shark.
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