Battlestar Galactica

So, as you know, I've been watching every episode of the television show Battlestar Galactica while at work. Unfortunately, I have finished - rather, I am caught up in the series. I've seen almost 50 episodes over the last few weeks, and now I can just watch it on TV. The problem is, what do I do now when I'm bored at work? Eat? Blog? Eat a Bolrog?

Battlestar has quickly risen to the ranks of being one of my favorite tv shows of all time. It's a tight, dense compelling drama. The show deals with the primes.

Political
Religious
Intellectual
Military
Economic
Social

I enjoy the show because it seriously engages in all of these issues and you often have people making very hard, tough decisions. No one is fully good or bad, and even when people make horrible choices, they have a reason for it. And, often, characters do make very difficult choices, but somehow the alternative would be worse. They make mistakes, they learn, they grow. The relationships are dynamic and interesting, and like any good sci fi - the show deals with current, relevant issues in an artistic way. The show shows us how complicated these issues are, and that there might not be any right side. The shows presents us with a complex, difficult, real world and lets us examine our positions on important issues. We may not entirely rethink our positions, but at least we have cause to reexamine them. That can't be a bad thing.

The show often gets compared to firefly, well, maybe not often, but it does. You have people flying around in space, on the run, and the special effects are similar - although, like everything, the effects are more fully realized on Battlestar. BSG is a more fully realized show, and it's scope and project seem to be much greater and more expansive. Firefly certainly is more fun and has a greater sense of the playful, but the notions of good and bad are much more clear cut. That's fine. One of the things I like about BSG is that they're not. The bad guys question whether or not they're doing the right thing or not. Firefly is a wonderful show that was taken away from us too early, but remember that you don't have to choose one or the other. They're cousins in an unlimited universe with many similarities, but it's their differences that make them remarkable. You can't go wrong with either one.