Slashdot Mirror
New Battlestar Galactica Series Starts Tonight
Snaller writes "Tonight the Scifi channel begins airing the new reimaged Battlestar Galactica series. Having run to rave reviews in the UK, the new series is darker and grittier than the original, and showrunner Ron Moore aims for a more adult narrative with comments on issues such as terrorism, security, freedom, religion and what it means to be human in a series which is essentially one long story arc. The entire cast from the 2003 mini series is back and the first episode, called '33', picks up almost where the mini series left off: The humans are still on the run, but each time they come out of hyperspace, the Cylon armada catches up 33 minutes later ... every 33 minutes. When we join the crew this has been going on for five days."
Imagine this sort of thing happening in real life. Do aircraft carriers (which Galactica essentially is) shut down for 16 hours out of every 24 to let the crew get some much needed rest? No, they work in shifts! Same for police, fire services, hospitals, and any other kind of service that gets called out regularly, 24x7.
But no, in the Galactica universe this doesn't happen. People have to try and stay awake for a whole week in order to stave off cylon attacks. Obviously their wits were addled by all this lack of sleep, since they could have just jumped away from their current location every 32.9 minutes, leaving the cylons none the wiser as to their new location. But nobody thought of this either...
So I guess it won't come as a surprise that I do not like this new show, and stopped watching after just a few episodes. I know it is space opera and doesn't have to be realistic, but that doesn't mean it has to insult our intelligence this badly.
That I didn't otherwise like the premise much didn't help either. The human-looking cylons, the female Starbuck, the constant sex-scenes with Baltar, the Carilon scenes - it just doesn't add up...
Seriously, there's been nine articles at slashdot on the Battlestar Galactica series and mini-series. All for a show that isn't even worth two stories. The level of integrated advertising in slashdot's "news" is becoming more and more apparent.
--- SPOILER ALERT ---
-- DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO --
Also, Richard Hatch, who played Apollo in the original Battlestar, plays Tom Zarek in the new Battlestar. Zarek is actively trying to unseat the President, through force if necessary. In one episode he stages a prison riot (he has been imprisoned because he blew up some government buildings before the Colonies fell), takes several people hostage, and demands that the President abdicate her position and a new election be held immediately.
That doesn't happen, but in a later episode he hires people to assassinate the President while he runs for the position of Vice President, so that he'll be President by default.