Pop Culture Podcast
Popspotting #127: “Battlestar Galactica” (Sept. 13, 2011)
Before TV Tuesday shifts gears to track returning and new television shows, there’s one beloved series to which we had to pay tribute: “Battlestar Galactica.” Ronald D. Moore’s fantastic reimagining of the 1970s show debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003 with a three-hour miniseries. It was a huge hit, serving as a backdoor pilot to inspire four seasons and over 70 episodes.
Jen was hesitant to dive into such deep science fiction waters, leaving Ryan to follow “Battlestar Galactica” in secret for almost a year. But finally, Jen, too, came to appreciate the brilliance of the series: universally human stories with fantastic characters and performances, merely in a science fiction wrapper.
It seems everyone has seen and loved “Battlestar Galactica,” and if you’re among its many fans, we’d love to hear what got you hooked. But if you’ve never watched the show, we urge you to at least start with the 2003 miniseries. We think you’ll be hooked.
OK I need to share my BSG story.
I heard all the buzz about BSG and had watched some of the old version. But at the time BSG came out, I was so busy and had so many things on my plate, I couldn’t watch.
Well, after hearing all the buzz, I decided to watch the prequel Caprica. I enjoyed the series and didn’t feel left out. I HATED that Syfy cancelled it (they really made me mad canceling it and SGU). That left me wanting more.
Thankfully BBC America (which shows more quality shows than any other network and more scifi as well) is showing two episodes of BSG every Saturday night. They started from the beginning and I started with them. They are now in S2 (eps 10-11 air this week). I have loved the show for all the reasons you mentioned in your podcast. I’m so happy to get to watch it from the beginning and am trying to stay spoiler free. I highly respect the military and truly feel apart when watching this show 😀
You mentioned characters so far one that has really impressed me is Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla (played by Kandyse McClure). I have loved to see her grow in her roll as communications officer. She has had to deal with military, politics, relationships and so much more. The last two eps I saw really highlight that (Final Cut and Flight of the Phoenix).
You talked about the soundtrack, and I am a soundtrack nerd. I have bought both Season 1 and two and particularly enjoy the Celtic themed songs. I also found out Bear did the Season 1 theme for Human Target, which I loved (the show went down hill in S2 and they removed his song).
As a Christian, I am not a fan of the polytheism and the fact that the “Bad Guys” are the monotheists. Plus there are other issues that I disagree with. But it opens doors of conversation and I do appreciate the strong storytelling of the show.
So if you have not watched, watch the mini series, season 1 and 2 on Netflix, and watch the real scifi channel (BBC America) wit the rest of us on Saturday nights!
So Say We All!
Olmos is the man!  I’ve enjoyed his work since Blade Runner and Stand and Deliver, and is one of the most underutilized talents in film and TV.
I haven’t been able to immerse myself into BSG for two reasons. One, my Netflix account is now kaputt, and I did catch and enjoy the mini series and the first 10 episodes or so. Two is more problematic.  I respect the Lost resolution but don’t prefer it – it is a Deus ex machina writ large. If BSG went the same kind of route, I’m not sure I want to invest more time into a frustrating conclusion.  While I understand in both cases perhaps the journey was more important than the goal, I like to have my cake while eating it.  To me, there is a bit of failure of imagination in a creative venture that doesn’t have a more engaging resolution than “It was the will of God”.
A bit of a personal story about BSG. I was attending Dragon*Con 1999 or 2000 and Richard Hatch was pushing his BSG sequel idea at the time, going to cons and trying to drum up interest from the fans. I started with a bit of a eye roll (me too Jen, original BSG was good cheese but was definately cheese) but had the opportunity to talk to Hatch personally for a few minutes and by the time we had finished he had me sold.  His ideas and Moore’s didn’t turn out to be way different, although the 9/11 template I think added some serious weight to the new undertaking. Hatch is an interesting, inteligent and engaging person and I’m glad he got involved in the reboot.
I watched the entire first season and there were some very good stories and performances. I just couldn’t get past two characters; The Brit doc and the Lady in the red dress (Sorry can’t recall the names) and it appeared they remained throughout the series. Wasn’t super impressed with the Starbuck character either and I’m not much a fan of ‘shakey cam’ still filming. I haven’t tried to go back.
I gave up on BSG after season 2 because it seemed to be getting too deep, too political and too complicated to follow. Â I’m watching the series now again on BBC America to see if there’s something that I missed the first time. Â I am enjoying it and hoping that I am able to work through the entire series this time.
Glad to see you covering Battlestar Galactica. As a young lad in High School, I enjoyed the original version but still knew it was cheesy.
I enjoyed the mini-series, but hadn’t really made up my mind on how I felt about it. At the time, humanoid Cylons seemed to not be that novel (there’s a lot of TV shows where alien critters end up passing as human), but Gaius Baltar was such a phenomenal character, especially in contrast to the cartoony villainous Baltar in the first series.
I was often impressed by the big chances that were taken, the complicated story arcs, the huge ensemble cast. And there were great science fiction concepts at play, like the fact that thanks to the ressurrection technology, the Cylons just got better and better with each defeat offering an experience to improve from.
I could literally go on and on about the underlying human/Cylon cycle that was the undercurrent to the series (just ask my wife if I’m lying…) but I’ll spare you all that.
For the record, although the finale let the door wide open on dissatisfaction, I was reasonable content with how things played out, and like Lost, I used my imagination to put some pieces together that gave me a kind of answer on what the big picture was, and what might have been driving things behind the scenes.
One other thing, I thought it was brilliant that although we got a Cylon point of view from the humanoid organic Cylons, we never got the point of view from the mechanical Cylons. There was a great scene in the last season where Baltar, with no one else to talk to, has a lengthy monologue with one of the Cylon centurions on hand. At that moment, I really was aware of the mute unreadable nature of the metal toasters, and it made me wonder what things they might have been keeping to themselves, even from flesh and blood Cylons.
Geoff, picking up on the last part of your comment, there is a lot of Mormon-inspired symbolism in the original series, with some Greek names thrown in for good measure. I know you didn’t mention that, but it all starts there. In the later version, I think we see producer Ron Moore taking the opportunity to turn the tables on monotheistic religions (How do YOU like being the heretics?) and for whatever reason, bringing back smoking on TV in a big way. I agree that I am also uncomfortable with the monotheists being the bad guys, but if it makes you feel better, we Christians aren’t the only monotheists in town. Â 🙂
I am a few days behind on my podcasts, as usual, but I am looking forward to hearing Ryan and Jen talk about one of my favorite shows. I also watched the original series, several times over (no on-demand viewing options back then, just broadcast reruns). For extra credit, I suffered through Galactica 1980, when they actually (spoiler alert)… ah, never mind.
BTW, one of my strongest impressions from season one of BSG is that whenever Number Six (Tricia Helfer) showed up in Baltar’s thoughts, hallucinations, whatever, I was ready to jump out of my skin. She sure knows how to act scary enough to distract you from that dress!