TV Meme Day Eight: Battlestar Galactica
After that life drama, back to the regularly scheduled meme. I know I don't have as many BSG fans on my flist as I do West Wing and Doctor Who fans, but while people defended Love and Monsters and Isaac and Ishmael, nobody defended Black Market, so I though I would have a go. First of all there's Fisk's death and a great scene between Roslin and Baltar, both nicely continue the two plot threads of the latter half of the second season, that the Pegasus is a cursed ship that destroys all she touches and that Roslin and Baltar a headed for an epic showdown. And also the Black Market theme is amazing and the first time Bear McCreary uses heavy guitars into the score, so could be considered the origins of All Along the Watchtower and Apocalypse. So yeah, that is why the episode is worth watching at least once - you know, other than to see just how dreadful it is.
Day 08: A show everyone should watch
Battlestar Galactica
Ah, science fiction. A genre thats best asset is also its worst asset. As soon as you set something in a spaceship, or with robots, or with aliens, or with all three - you can say anything, absolutely anything, about the most controversial and sensitive topic you can think of and avoid being torn to shreds, because science fiction provides writers with a level of abstraction which acts as a barrier.
But at the same time, a good portion of the populace sees spaceships, robots and aliens, and as soon as they do, decide that whatever that story contains has no relevance to reality and so don't watch/read/listen. It's catch-22.
Anyway, the point of the above is that no show seems to understand that/suffer from that more than Battlestar Galactica, a show that over the course of its run devotes time to the issues of terrorism, torture, war crimes, xenophobia, tyranny, religion, refugees, diasporas, occupations, armed revolutions, genocide and, of course, human nature, what exactly 'human' is and really, do we as a species capable of so much devastation and hate, deserve to survive.
I say that, and it of seems to re-enforce BSG's reputation for being bleak. And it is. But the thing is, it's no bleaker than the evening news. It kind of is the evening news. BSG presents those big issues that global society faces every day and it doesn't present easy answers (for the most part). And while you can argue about how successfully BSG pulls off its various discussion about these issues, the point is, it discusses them.
And why I think it's a show everyone should watch comes down to almost the same reason why I argue that everyone should study world history - because we need to have these discussions. They are the most important ones we can have, and if more people think about these issues, then maybe as a society our answers will be better informed.
Plus, its also got awesome epic space battles, the cast is really hot, and the music is just amazing.
Link to the meme Master List
Day 08: A show everyone should watch
Battlestar Galactica
Ah, science fiction. A genre thats best asset is also its worst asset. As soon as you set something in a spaceship, or with robots, or with aliens, or with all three - you can say anything, absolutely anything, about the most controversial and sensitive topic you can think of and avoid being torn to shreds, because science fiction provides writers with a level of abstraction which acts as a barrier.
But at the same time, a good portion of the populace sees spaceships, robots and aliens, and as soon as they do, decide that whatever that story contains has no relevance to reality and so don't watch/read/listen. It's catch-22.
Anyway, the point of the above is that no show seems to understand that/suffer from that more than Battlestar Galactica, a show that over the course of its run devotes time to the issues of terrorism, torture, war crimes, xenophobia, tyranny, religion, refugees, diasporas, occupations, armed revolutions, genocide and, of course, human nature, what exactly 'human' is and really, do we as a species capable of so much devastation and hate, deserve to survive.
I say that, and it of seems to re-enforce BSG's reputation for being bleak. And it is. But the thing is, it's no bleaker than the evening news. It kind of is the evening news. BSG presents those big issues that global society faces every day and it doesn't present easy answers (for the most part). And while you can argue about how successfully BSG pulls off its various discussion about these issues, the point is, it discusses them.
And why I think it's a show everyone should watch comes down to almost the same reason why I argue that everyone should study world history - because we need to have these discussions. They are the most important ones we can have, and if more people think about these issues, then maybe as a society our answers will be better informed.
Plus, its also got awesome epic space battles, the cast is really hot, and the music is just amazing.
Link to the meme Master List