Bears. Beets. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

It took me awhile to jump on the Battlestar Galactica bandwagon, not due to any aversion to it but because I don't have cable.

But then it came on Netflix Instant.  And my husband and I watched all four seasons in three weeks.





Despite a few wtf moments (like the ending), I can confidently say that Battlestar Galactica is in the top three sci-fi TV shows, EVER.  (Also on the list: Firefly, and Star Trek because even though I don't love Star Trek, there probably wouldn't BE sci-fi TV shows without it.  So it gets grandfathered in).  I've never seen the original, but this is not cheesy robots-and-explosions sci-fi.  This is an occasionally devastating look at humanity on the brink of extinction, hunted (and haunted) by their own creations.  The show somehow manages to grapple with both fundamental questions (what does it mean to be human?  do the ends justify the means?) and contemporary political situations (such as the season that came out in the height of the Iraq war, wherein the heroes were insurgents and the cylons were the occupiers) without getting *too* preachy.


The series begins with genocide.  The Twelve Colonies (all named something vaguely zodiac-ish) have been living in peace with Cylons-- robots they invented that eventually turned on them-- for several decades.  And then, one day, the cylons return and wipe out virtually all humans in a single, devastating attack.  Battlestar Galactica is the flagship of a fleet of ships that sets off into deep space with all the remaining survivors.  All of humanity, trapped on just a few ships, and being hunted.  The twist?  Cylons no longer look like robots.  They look like people.

THE CYLONS COULD BE ANYONE. (and they kind of are).




Admiral Bill Adama, military leader of the fleet and inspiration for teachers:

This man has the voice of a leader, for sure.

Bill Adama is great.  He's loyal, focused, good in a crisis, and fairly kind.  It falls on him to lead the military section of the fleet, since he is literally the highest ranking survivor of the attack.  He's gruff and grumbly, but also a bit of a teddy bear.




President Laura Roslin, winner of the "most complex portrayal of a politician" award:

When she takes those glasses off, shit is about to GO DOWN.

Laura Roslin, you blow me away.  A junior government education minister diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before the attack, she is suddenly president when she finds out that literally every single person in front of her in the line of succession is dead.  And you know what she does?  She rises to the occasion like a motherfucking CHAMP.  She makes tough, horrible decisions in the face of great danger, she (eventually) wins over gruff Bill Adama who thinks she's in over her head (she is, but she's so damn smart that she manages to keep her head above water) and even when she does something truly reprehensible you love her.



Colonel Saul Tigh, resident drunk and crank.

He doesn't get the eyepatch until later seasons, but this is a man
who is made to wear an eyepatch, don't you think?

Tigh is a drunk and a crank, but he's also Bill Adama's best friend.  He's often the counterpoint in difficult discussions, usually coming down on the "anything to survive" side of things.  But mostly he's drunk and cranky.


Lee "Apollo" Adama, dreamboat:

I thought I saw him when I was in London a few months ago.
I WAS SO SAD IT WASN'T HIM.

Lee is Bill Adama's son and an excellent fighter pilot.  He clashes with his dad quite a lot, and he's pretty much in love with Starbuck, but there are REASONS as to why they can't be together.  He's a good guy in a difficult situation, and he doesn't always make the best choices.



Gaius Balthar and Six the Cylon:

They've got some fabulous hair, let me tell you.

I'm doing these two together because they're sort of a package deal.  Balthar is the worst kind of squirrely son-of-a-bitch, a technological genius who accidentally contributed to the genocide of his people because he really wanted to have sex with Six.  Weirdly enough, I kind of love him.  He's like Pete Campbell from Mad Men, if Pete were also a technological genius and not just a whiny rich kid.

Six, on the other hand, is part-cipher, part-siren, all-awesome.  She manipulates and taunts Balthar endlessly, but then has brief moments of humanity...which is weird, because she's a ROBOT.  One of the essential issues of Battlestar is what it means to be a "person" and Six functions as a major wrench within those questions.



Helo, a big, dumb puppy dog:

He is also the worst FBI agent ever on Dollhouse.

Helo is a good guy.  Probably one of the only legitimately good people on the entire fleet.  He's also a complete idiot about 80% of the time, but oh well.  I'm a sucker for a sweetheart, which he is.


Boomer:

You can't mention Boomer in our house without
one of us quoting the movie Paul: "We can't, Boomer.  IT'S FORBIDDEN."

So, I'm not going to say much about Boomer, because Battlestar Galactica is a show that thrives on twists.  But I can I that I like Boomer and I think she's very pretty.




STARBUCK STARBUCK STARBUCK:

I love you, Starbuck, even if you suck as a person sometimes.

Starbuck is an incredibly difficult character.  If Gaius is a Pete Campbell type, Starbuck is like a female Don Draper. (I'm watching a lot of Mad Men lately, can you tell?) She's a terrible person and prone to random freakouts and rage, but you love her.  You want to hit her in the face half the time, but you love her.    She's a fighter pilot just like Apollo Adama (btw, these are people's nicknames: Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Helo are their call-signs, not their given names.  But they're mostly referred to by these call-signs, hence why I am doing the same thing) and she's cocky as hell about her abilities.  I have to say, between Starbuck and President Roslin, I am very, very impressed by the portrayal of women in Battlestar Galactica.  Both are flawed, occasionally difficult characters, but both seem incredibly human and real.  It's rare to see women portrayed as awful people in a way that isn't sexualized into a femme fatale, and even rarer for that awful woman to also be one of the main protagonists AND someone you're supposed to root for.  Fun fact: Starbuck was a male character in the original series, and this change was met with GREAT CONSTERNATION by fans. I've never seen the original, but Starbuck is my favorite in this whole series.  Hands down.



This is the sort of show with a massive, sprawling cast, so I can't talk about everyone (like Chief, or Tigh's wife, or Dee, or all the other cylons) but safe to say, this show is brilliant.  Except for the end, which...what?


Verdict: Perfectly awesome.