The BSG Premier Report

Ok, here we go. BSG 3. The gloves are off, the DVDs are ALL out, you've all had MONTHS to watch 1 and 2.0 and a few weeks to watch 2.5. Spoiler zone is in effect from here on out. You have been warned.

Yes, I liked it. There are goodly sized bits that are what I love BSG for. I'm about half-way through the podcast of Ron Moore's episode commentary. I think he wants to have his cutting social commentary and his ratings too. On the one hand he talks about how this is not Iraq specifically, but alegory on occupied societies in general, be it Poland, or Israel (Romans), or the American Colonies leading up to the Revolutionary war. All well and good and he almost got me (and kinda still does). Only then he goes on about how brave The Sci-Fi Channel is being by running this. Ummmm, how brave do you have to be to comment on the Nazi occupation of France? Unless that's not what you're commenting on.

They show that desperate people resort to desperate measures - Suicide Bombing for example. They're trying to show that everyone thinks they're the good guys. The Iraqi resistance thinks that they're the heroes freeing a repressed people. Fine. That would be interesting casting the Colonials (the Heroes) as the insurgents and the Cylons (the Bad guys) as the powerful occupying U.S. It would be REALLY interesting if they played it honest. The elements that are missing is that there is no war of public opinion in the Cylon press (and they don't make TV shows where the evil robots are now an alegory for the evils of US power). The suicide bombers are only targeting enemy leaders and military targets. They TALK about bombing The Market, but it's never done and thoroughly denounced before it ever happens. I want to see them bomb Laura's kindergarten class. Keep it real. The Colonials had a free and thriving society before the Cylons showed up. Twice. And if the Cylons leave the Colonials to their own devices they really would be alone. There would not be surrounding powers waiting for the Cylons to leave. I want to hear a Cylon (with a Boston accent) shouting "Quagmire!" Oh, and waterboarding isn't really the same as pulling out someone's EYE, is it? (Although erasing Tight's calendar seems pretty legitimate to me.)

If they could manage paralels of these elements, it could be interesting. But they can't. So we end up with Nazis (or, say, Saddam Hussein's regime). Which Moore's commentary seems to bear out. But he knows that night vision footage of people being absconded with in the middle of the night evokes Iraq in the minds of the Fever Swamp Left. And he's ok with running with that.

Remember when good guys used to say grace before dinner? Now it's shorthand for Lunatic Evil Person. Heck, in the ORIGINAL Galactica they said grace. (Ok, Shepard Book said Grace. JAYNE even said grace.)

You notice they discontinued the body count? Maybe it's because Laura's board is gone (President Baltar has a picture of himself there, remember?) but it might also be because most of the casualties so far this season are self inflicted.

The good: Starbuck getting The Village treatment from the Cylons. ("You are number Six" would send a mixed message here, wouldn't it?)

Cally seems to be in for an interesting story line.

Fat Lee.

Lots of people wound up MARRIED. Not boyfriends or girlfriends, MARRIED. (I hope this hasn't doomed Anders and Dualla as sacrafices on the altar of the Lee / Kara 'shippers.)

The Sixes and Eights are getting to do really cool things and play lots of neat character bits.

Baltar is as unpredictable and starcrossed as ever. He just can't manage to be right.

Tigh. (Sorry sweetheart, he's just fun to watch.)

The idea that Pegasus may run off in search of Earth while Galactica stays behind could be really fun.

If they can stay on mission and say "what would they REALLY do in this situation" then it'll still be a good show. If they run off the rails making a POINT, then we have a problem and we'll remember when the show was terrific.

So say we all.