World building and observations about the Battlestar Galactica miniseries
Thursday’s edition of Will Write for Wine talked about world building, specifically the world building in Firefly and the movie Chocolat (sorry, I’m too lazy to use the proper accents or to ensure it’s spelled correctly). I’ve been working on a story of my own that requires creating an entire universe (Gah!), so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look at the world building in Battlestar Galactica. So here are my thoughts on the world building, combined with the random observations I made last night. Please excuse the rambling and any disjointed thoughts; there’s bound to be some.
Setting the tone:
The Battlestar name came with a lot of preconceived opinions. The 70s series had some great ideas, but the technology of the time simply wasn’t ready to handle the demands of the story. Consequently, there was a major cheese factor. When I heard the series was being re-imagined, I was pretty excited. I’d done my best to look through the cheese as a kid and loved the idea - a ragtag fleet fleeing from the Cylons and looking for Earth. The question was, were the new writers/producers up to the challenge?
Right away, the new series established a key difference for the new series; the Cylons weren’t some sinister alien race, they were created by humans. “And then the day came the Cylons decided to destroy their masters.” Creepy!
The first set is dark, empty, and atmospheric. Sounds echo. Over this scene we are told that after the Cylon wars, a station was created for diplomatic relations. The Cylons never send anyone and they haven’t been seen or heard from in 40 years. Again, creepy!! This is definitely not the kinder, gentler, glossier Battlestar of my childhood.
When the doors at the end of the corridor open and the new metal model Cylons walked in, I was impressed. These were sleeker, taller robots, but they maintained the iconic oscillating red eye.
Then they blew all the preconceptions out of the water with this cold, beautiful woman striding in tall boots down toward the human ambassador. “Are you alive?” she asks with a curious, intense expression on her face. This poor ambassador guy is positively gobsmacked. Then she kisses him, and we hear the first rendition of the Cylon music. It’s quiet and understated, but eerie.
The piece de resistance is the scary, scary Basestar. This huge ship provides further confirmation that Cylon technology is very impressive. The ship is huge, yet maintains an appearance of grace and an organic shape.
Then the station is bombed and the creators have literally kicked the show off with a bang.
Whew! Talk about setting the scene! And could I have written any more?? *g*
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The Galactica:
When looking at the Galactica, after just seeing the Basestar, the first line that comes to mind is from Star Wars. “What a piece of junk!” The Galactica is rickety and boxy compared to the flower-like basestar, there’s an air of age to it.
There are no square or rectangular shapes inside; the hallways are all a stylized triangle. The interiors are all functioning, and serviceable, but it is by no means pretty. It brings to mind the old war ships from WWII movies. The phones have cords; there are no pretty view screens, and no glamour. Form definitely follows function.
Uniforms:
I fully admit many of the subtleties of a military uniform are lost on me. The thing that strikes me with Battlestar is the uniforms are much more like those used in real life than those used on Star Trek. In Trek, uniform color was used to help designate specialty (command, science, medical, etc.). I suppose that’s another form of subtle world building; they’re all military, not glorified scientists.
I love that the orange jumpsuits are used on the flight deck. I suppose it’s a universal non-verbal signal for “working person”.
A small rant - I HATE the gray t-shirt and UPS brown tank top undershirts. The color choice makes no sense to me, they don’t really match the every day blue uniforms. Basically, I find them ugly as sin. Sorry.
Subtle (and no so subtle) differences:
While the humans in the series are supposed to be very much like those of our society, we are provided clues, subtle and not-so subtle, to remind us that our ragtag fleet is not from Earth. The most obvious clue is one of the respectful nods to the “classic” series - no corners on paper. It’s a surprisingly effective trick. Paper is such a normal thing, and seeing it altered is always slightly jarring. There are several reminders that this society is formed of people that had settled on twelve worlds, or colonies, named after the twelve astrological signs but altered slightly (Caprica instead of Capricorn). The colonists also worship several Gods, as opposed to a monotheistic society.
And since I’ve prattled on endlessly, that’s probably it for me for today. I have lots of observations about the introduction of our major characters, so I think that will be another post. Anyone have any feedback?