One week from now, we will be witness to a great thing. The premiere of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica. This is the sort of thing you’ll tell your children about. Even if you don’t watch it now, you’ll want to retcon your memories so you can claim you were always a fan.
Why is BSG great? Because it’s the only science fiction show that isn’t a science fiction show. Unlike Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, etc., BSG isn’t a science fiction show set in space.
“What?!” you say. “Of course it is. They have space ships. And robots. And … and …” No, it doesn’t. BSG is a drama that happens to be set in space. The issues it deals with are the same issues we face today—in fact, the show is a thinly-veiled critique on controversial contemporary issues, particularly the war in Iraq. The conflicts the characters deal with, especially the morally ambiguous questions that arise as a result of a prolonged war, are relevant to us in every way. All they do is remove it one step from us, putting it in space. The technology isn’t even that much different. You’ve got guns, not lasers, phones, not communicators.
So if you look past the brittle sci-fi exterior into the heart of the show, which is the characters and the drama they face, you’ll see something that anyone can watch. It’s real. It’s edgy. It doesn’t hold back. The writing is amazing; the acting is amazing, and the plot twists keep you wondering what will happen next.
Am I sad the show is ending after four seasons? Yes. Am I enraged, like I am about jPod? Not at all. In fact, the show’s creators say they are totally behind this decision, and I agree with their reasoning: they want BSG to end while it’s great. Because they have a goal (finding Earth), logically the story has a conclusion (hopefully involving the arrival at Earth!). So now it’s a matter of getting us there in the best, most entertaining, most breathtakingly awesome way possible.
Don’t let us down, guys. You have a huge audience watching. And some of us may be Cylons.
» 2 people have an opinion
me too, I‘ve drifted in and out of watching this show but i’m really excited to see the end.
I need to fill in some gaps though
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Funnily enough, I am currently doing an assignment where we have to program a robot brain (the module is Concurrency Design and Practice), where the robots are called Cylons (based on the BSG series).
Not a particularly fun exercise though - rather difficult!
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8:17 AM