Eight Things I Love About Eight Series
8. Women in Varied Styles of Dress
Yes, some of the women on Battlestar Galatica dress like total and utter sluts (See especially, Head Six). But others don’t. This is in many ways, more realistic than many shows/comics. Some are wearing the minimal amount of clothing whenever possible, others dress more professionally or modestly. I can’t really remember seeing Athena in much other than her uniform, and the same goes for Starbuck (and they could even make the unisex uniforms look sexy on occasion). President Roslyn was usually dressed very professionally. The female cylons were all over the place. The main thing is though, those who dressed modestly, kept that up, and those that didn't, didn't. It remained fairly constant except for when it made sense in the plot or storyline.
7. All Along the Watchtower-Bollywood Style
The last episode of season three. I can’t say more about this than HELL YES.
6. The Side Characters
Yes, most of these ended up dead or crazy, to the point where in the last episode Adama was casting around for someone to act as his replacement in case of his death, he chose someone that had my entire family looking at each other and going, “Who?” (He had been around since the middle of season 2, and if you have sharp eyes and ears you can spot him, but he’s floating around the background and never really becomes a major part). But that’s part of what’s awesome. These side characters are developed, they have names, and the same ones keep coming back. Some of them are more important than others of course, and some get more time on screen than others, but this is a populated and lived in universe.
5. Speaking of a lived in Universe…
The details in this show. As time goes on, you can see things changing. For example, at the beginning you see the characters eating really food like Japanese style noodles, or whatever. But a little ways in, that starts to go away as their processed food stores go down and they have to start scavenging algae and gods know what else to feed themselves. Also, at the beginning Apollo wears a lot of hairgel. That starts to thin out, until eventually he stops. Now, one explanation can be the fact he just grew out of that style, or, more likely, he ran out. There’s even one memorable episode towards the end where Starbuck offers up the last existing tube of toothpaste as a reward. Not to mention, Frak and the fact that all the paper has no corners.
4. Starbuck
This woman drives me crazy. I certainly wouldn’t mind punching her through many episodes. But there is a reason the vest I just bought had my mom raising her eyebrows and saying, “Starbuck vest?” I usually don’t like female characters just because they’re “Strong female characters,” but Starbuck won me over by the first episode. I liked her less as the series went on in some ways, and her ending had me screaming, but I still loved her as a character. She, like everyone else in this show, has major flaws and issues, and yet, is still a sympathetic character. And is based off a character who in the original show was a male sexist player. To make such an awesome, badass woman off that is pretty cool.
3. Helo and Athena
Look! A married couple! And aside from some crazy mothering on Athena’s part, they are two of the few people on the show who don’t go totally crazy or die by the end of it. (In BSG, that says a lot). I enjoy the fact we get to see many parts of their relationship, from the first kinda fucked up courting, to their marriage and child, and even a little beyond that. They had their rocky patches, and they survived and stayed together. I wish more shows featured married couples.
2. The Music
Bear McCeary is something like my soundtrack score god. I own all the soundtracks, and even follow his blog for BSG and now Caprica (Which is a pretty amazing look at how music is produced and what he was thinking/doing for different themes and cues, even aside from the fact the music is so amazing). I love how much thought he put into this, and how different characters or societies will have such distinct themes, that often times come across as ethnic (Adama’s theme is very celtic, the Cylons have opera and piano pieces, and the Final Five is very Bollywood/Indian inspired. It’s beautiful).
1. Admiral Adama
I love this man. I utterly love this man. Yes, he has his flaws, and they’re pretty big ones. He’s a great leader, but he plays favorites like nobody’s business, and towards the end there, suffers some pretty heavy mental breakdowns. And yet, he is awesome. Every time he makes one of his speeches I want to stand up on my couch and cheer. Even when they are very short and to the point many of them are amazing. (See especially: “Were mess up, people die. There aren’t many of us left.” And my personal favorite of all time, “Brace for turbulence.”) His relationships with the other characters, especially Roslyn, and how they evolve over the series is also a highlight. I mean, this is a man who points in the direction of hell and I would be so there.
Next Up: FIREFLY
Yes, some of the women on Battlestar Galatica dress like total and utter sluts (See especially, Head Six). But others don’t. This is in many ways, more realistic than many shows/comics. Some are wearing the minimal amount of clothing whenever possible, others dress more professionally or modestly. I can’t really remember seeing Athena in much other than her uniform, and the same goes for Starbuck (and they could even make the unisex uniforms look sexy on occasion). President Roslyn was usually dressed very professionally. The female cylons were all over the place. The main thing is though, those who dressed modestly, kept that up, and those that didn't, didn't. It remained fairly constant except for when it made sense in the plot or storyline.
7. All Along the Watchtower-Bollywood Style
The last episode of season three. I can’t say more about this than HELL YES.
6. The Side Characters
Yes, most of these ended up dead or crazy, to the point where in the last episode Adama was casting around for someone to act as his replacement in case of his death, he chose someone that had my entire family looking at each other and going, “Who?” (He had been around since the middle of season 2, and if you have sharp eyes and ears you can spot him, but he’s floating around the background and never really becomes a major part). But that’s part of what’s awesome. These side characters are developed, they have names, and the same ones keep coming back. Some of them are more important than others of course, and some get more time on screen than others, but this is a populated and lived in universe.
5. Speaking of a lived in Universe…
The details in this show. As time goes on, you can see things changing. For example, at the beginning you see the characters eating really food like Japanese style noodles, or whatever. But a little ways in, that starts to go away as their processed food stores go down and they have to start scavenging algae and gods know what else to feed themselves. Also, at the beginning Apollo wears a lot of hairgel. That starts to thin out, until eventually he stops. Now, one explanation can be the fact he just grew out of that style, or, more likely, he ran out. There’s even one memorable episode towards the end where Starbuck offers up the last existing tube of toothpaste as a reward. Not to mention, Frak and the fact that all the paper has no corners.
4. Starbuck
This woman drives me crazy. I certainly wouldn’t mind punching her through many episodes. But there is a reason the vest I just bought had my mom raising her eyebrows and saying, “Starbuck vest?” I usually don’t like female characters just because they’re “Strong female characters,” but Starbuck won me over by the first episode. I liked her less as the series went on in some ways, and her ending had me screaming, but I still loved her as a character. She, like everyone else in this show, has major flaws and issues, and yet, is still a sympathetic character. And is based off a character who in the original show was a male sexist player. To make such an awesome, badass woman off that is pretty cool.
3. Helo and Athena
Look! A married couple! And aside from some crazy mothering on Athena’s part, they are two of the few people on the show who don’t go totally crazy or die by the end of it. (In BSG, that says a lot). I enjoy the fact we get to see many parts of their relationship, from the first kinda fucked up courting, to their marriage and child, and even a little beyond that. They had their rocky patches, and they survived and stayed together. I wish more shows featured married couples.
2. The Music
Bear McCeary is something like my soundtrack score god. I own all the soundtracks, and even follow his blog for BSG and now Caprica (Which is a pretty amazing look at how music is produced and what he was thinking/doing for different themes and cues, even aside from the fact the music is so amazing). I love how much thought he put into this, and how different characters or societies will have such distinct themes, that often times come across as ethnic (Adama’s theme is very celtic, the Cylons have opera and piano pieces, and the Final Five is very Bollywood/Indian inspired. It’s beautiful).
1. Admiral Adama
I love this man. I utterly love this man. Yes, he has his flaws, and they’re pretty big ones. He’s a great leader, but he plays favorites like nobody’s business, and towards the end there, suffers some pretty heavy mental breakdowns. And yet, he is awesome. Every time he makes one of his speeches I want to stand up on my couch and cheer. Even when they are very short and to the point many of them are amazing. (See especially: “Were mess up, people die. There aren’t many of us left.” And my personal favorite of all time, “Brace for turbulence.”) His relationships with the other characters, especially Roslyn, and how they evolve over the series is also a highlight. I mean, this is a man who points in the direction of hell and I would be so there.
Next Up: FIREFLY