Gushing - BSG

[YankeyMCC]

It's a little embarrassing the way I gush over this show. But I can honestly say I am unable to think of a show that has ever touched me the way this show continues to touch me with pretty much every episode.

I'm a huge Star Trek fan, but there's a difference, BSG consistently touches me both intellectually and emotionally. Trek very often touched me intellectually and sometimes emotionally and was almost always good but the new BSG just elevates everything to a whole new level.

Firefly was similar but didn't have enough of a chance but that may itself indicate that it was perhaps a slight notch below BSG since I say things like "it didn't have much of a chance". The new BSG miniseries alone was enough to make a big impact, bigger than the short lived Firefly season. I'm not knocking Firefly I can't wait to see the movie I'm just trying to explain the impact of the new BSG on me.

Farscape was also in the same category as the new BSG. I can't quiet put into words why yet but I think I would still give the new BSG the edge over Farscape. Again I'm still a huge Farscape fan no disrespect intended there.

I can think of no other Science Fiction shows that come even close. Outside genre shows that might come close are MASH, All in the Family, NYPD Blue, still few and often far between.

BTW: The Galactica's doctor (forget his name at the moment) -- LoL - I love that guy!

[Gothic Sponge]

1. I agree. BSG is top entertainment.

I think it's the best sci-fi show on TV right now. I can't say it's the best sci-fi show ever....not until the series is done. As of now, my top sci-fi shows are Babylon 5, and Deep Space Nine.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. I'm still knocked out by it. Every. Damned. Time.

Edward James Olmos' (Cdr. Adama) acting is some of the best ever seen on TV -- and he plays a taciturn, wrapped-too-tight character. The scene in the morgue where he was talking to Sharon Valerii's corpse, then suddenly broke down, was one of the most affecting soliloquies I've ever seen. Nobody does that on TV -- not until two weeks ago.

James Callis -- Gaius Baltar -- also does a history-making job of acting. I've never seen guilt neurosis played so well. His foil, Number Six, is played by a first-time actress -- Tricia Helfer was originally a model. And John Hogan (Saul Tigh) has a second-banana status that outshines most leading roles.

The "lesser" actors are also each far above the usual for TV drama. Richard Hatch -- Apollo from the first Galactica and now revolutionary Tom Zarek -- has also surprised me. They finally let Nicki Clyne (Callie) do some acting a few weeks ago and she was a "pleasant" surprise, too, if you can say that the show is "pleasant".

And none of them are even remotely god-like creatures. They lie, they manipulate, they act out of cowardice and obsession -- that's pretty rare in any science-fiction, let alone TV S-F. I mean, Adama's as crazy as a loon himself. Starbuck ought to be on lithium. Roslin is a two-faced new-ager. Tigh is a bully and a drunk, and his wife is a mess. The Cylons are the only ones who are halfway stable.

I don't know how the director has managed to get such incredible performances out of the cast, but however s/he did it, they should keep doing it.

So ... is the show set in our distant past, or our distant future? The whole sub-plot of the Humans being superstitious pagans and the Cylons being rationalist monotheists is also a curious twist. I suppose that all will be revealed -- after all, God has a plan for us. Number Six has told us so.

--p!

[YankeyMCC]

4. Richard Hatch

has definitely been a pleasant surprise. Great job he's doing with Zarek. Particularly in these last couple of episodes, we see how "weak" he really is, letting his minion manipulate him to do things he "knows" are wrong.

Of course he's had some incredible writing to work with but Richard Hatch definitely needs to get his props.



spoiler space...very minor I think



















































































In regards to your question of if this is past or present. When they found the map the President remarked that the constellations were on the original flags of the colonies. So did they know Earth before they left Kobol? That's no answer to your question but I think it's a point that's going to be key to the answer.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Hatch has been good

the whole cast has been pretty strong so far.

[NewJeffCT]

6. good point on the human characters

all of them are flawed, some deeply so. Heck, the ones that have not been shown as deeply flawed could just be waiting for their 'moment in the sun', so to speak.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. I'm with you. **SPOILER ALERT***

The scene in which Adama comes into camp and hugs his son...

Followed by the violence...

The raw emotion in this scene has not been done on any SF television program that I know of and very few television shows period.

Kudos to the writers and crews of BSG!