Why I loved the new BSG

Hi all, only my second post here. I just posted this over at the Sci Fi BB, but I thought I'd put it here as well, 'cos I really am interested in discourse. I got a bit snipey over at the Sci Fi boards and I've tried to put it behind me. Ya gotta admit, though, some people there kinda excel at pulling the worst outta you.

Anyway. . . .

The new BSG has characters who I recognized as real -- flawed, but real -- human beings. When Tigh pulled that bottle out of the trash I said "NO!" aloud! When Boomer and Tyrol were reunited (and Boxey got embarrassed) I was pumping my fist in the air. It blows my mind that anyone could say that the script was poorly written or the characters uninteresting.

Look. I understand the appeal of the original BSG. I really do. I was 11 years old when it was first aired, and I watched it religiously. But even at the time I knew it was wonky. The science was incredibly, horribly bad. The scripts were usually completely hackneyed rewrites of shows from other genres . . . mostly westerns and war movies, but even disaster movies were plundered for "Fire in Space." And the underlying plotline is biblical . . . Moses leading his people to the Promised Land. There's something safe and comfortable about a show that is so unoriginal, that deals with such universal archetypes without shame or explanation. It becomes like comfort food for the mind.

Well, the new BSG is uncomfortable. It's adult. It deals with war and genocide and real-world events and applies them to a science fiction template unlike any show has done before. I'm not going to deny that shows like Star Trek or Babylon 5 haven't also attempted these things, but there was always that kind of Buck Rogers stodginess to them. Their worlds always seemed far enough removed from our own that the stakes just didn't seem real.

This new BSG is the SF equivalent of an modern ensemble cast show like HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET or ER. The writing is sharp, the characters are real, and the stakes FEEL higher. From the moment I heard the baby's neck snap, and saw the distraught look on Number Six's face, I knew things were different. Science fiction television has grown up. And it's flabbergasting -- and gratifying, and scary -- that the form it's taken is Battlestar Galactica, of all things.

I want more. I want Moore's BSG.

And I'm sorry to all of you who want the original BSG back. I know how much it means to you. I know how it feels when something you love is changed and you're not allowed any input. You feel betrayed. But this new BSG already exists, and it now also has fans. Maybe . . . just maybe . . . if a new series is produced, you might also find enough about it to like, and you can finally let go of your dear desire for a continuation of the original. After all . . . those 24 shows will always exist. They are untouched by anything Ron Moore and Sci Fi Channel have done. You will always have the original BSG. It hasn't been taken from you. Please don't take this new BSG from us, either.

I really, really feel badly for Richard Hatch. I know he worked long and hard for many years to get his own vision of a new BSG aired. But that's the horrid nature of the business.

[dec5]

And agree with your favorable review of a great mini series.
I think Richard should appear in the new series....if not Apollo....maybe a US Air force General when the BG finds Earth........it would be a cool cameo.....if he would agree to do it.

[The Rain]

BarrymoreYorke, I agree with you 100%, both about the series and Richard Hatch. I thought Moore's BSG was flawless. I loved it.
Maybe Richard can come back as the commander of the Pegasus?

[Expatkiwi]

Being aperson who has had exposure to the military, as well as a fan of BSG, I would like to say that the mini-series really brought both facets together to make something that one could feel a part of. While I really enjoyed the original series (see the pics of my balsa battlestar model on galactica2003.net in order to get an idea of just how much I did love it), I was won over on the new series by it's maturity level. I hope it develops further.