Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Frackin' awesome

If you aren’t yet watching Battlestar Galactica, you are missing the best show on television, and in just in case you think I am damning with faint praise, let me also say that I think it is one of the 10 best dramas on TV ever, right up there with The Rockford Files, Hill Street Blues, Six Feet Under, and The X-files.

I started watching the show because all the geeks at work talked about it during lunch, and it sounded really good. Turns out, it is really good, and after watching just a couple of episodes I found myself at Wikipedia, trying to catch up on all the history I'd missed. And then, I simply had to watch all the past episodes on DVD. I mean, there was no free will involved. I simply had to. BSG is like crack. I mean it. Try just a bit of the series premiere, and you'll see what I mean. Oh, there'll be no going back from there.

Kurt Vonnegut once said that he hated having his work put in the file drawer labeled “science fiction,” because critics keep mistaking the drawer for a urinal. Similarly, I think a lot of people don’t even consider watching the series because they think all sci-fi is stupid. And I agree, all sci-fi IS stupid. Except when it’s not. And this is not.

And no, it’s not your father’s Battlestar Galactica. There are no guys in metal suits, no cute mascots, no Lorne Greene, and best of all, Starbuck’s a babe. So is the president, and she is my official girl crush of 2007.


hot executive branch action!

I’ve loved Mary McDonnell ever since she salvaged Dances with Wolves and made all that noble-savage-teepee-talk actually kinda believable. To say nothing of how fucking awesome she was in Matewan, one of the most underrated movies of all time. Oh, and of course she totally ruled in Passion Fish as well, but then she played a woman in love with David Strathairn, and how easy is that? Ummmm…..David Strathairn. He is like the American Alan Rickman.

Ummmm….Alan Rickman.

Oh. Alright, I’ve stayed a bit from my point, which is that if you hurry, you can Netflix the past two and a half seasons of BSG and be ready to pick up the show when the third season resumes January 21.

8 comments:

GETkristiLOVE said...

I like Boomer's character too and Starbuck kicks ass, at least in the first season... don't tell me what happens, I need those DVDs!

Anonymous said...

I've always thought of Straithern as America's Jeremy Northam. But yeah, totally lust worthy.

vikkitikkitavi said...

Kristi: Be aware that the Bil collection is mission season 2.5, or the second half of season 2. You will have to Netflix those unless you can find a friend who has them. And since you work in geekland there is a good chance you can.

Kirby: Stop throwing random hunks into my fantasies.

Anonymous said...

Have you actually gotten Spooney to watch?! If so, you are a formidable woman Ms. Tavi.

I am a HUGE BSG geek. Jeff... not so much. He watched the mini-series and proclaimed it "too serious" and "a lot of the same". He only later watched the episode w/ Dana Delany because "she's hot". He said he'll only watch it again if they bring Dana Delany back. Sigh.

I have a huge girl-crush on Starbuck.

Apollo is too gay to be hot.

vikkitikkitavi said...

Yes, I HAVE gotten Spooney to watch. In fact, he's even taken to watching the first season DVDs while I am at work, so he can catch up to me.

I can't believe Mr. Pibb doesn't think any of the female series regulars are hot. WTF?

What BSG does so well is exactly what I love about sci-fi when sci-fi is good. And that is that it comments on our own society without being preachy or frequently without you even realizing it until after the fact. Like all those swipes at the BushCo anti-terrorism mania and the war in Iraq in the current season? Awesome.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I wondered at a couple of points if the show had a republican agenda. All that "War is Glory" and those long-winded speeches that Adama gives about "You will all go down in history as heroes for fighting in this war". I don't know. Heh heh, they probably don't have an agenda at all and you & I are reading into it WAY too much. NERDS!

Also, The Pibb has the hots for Prez Mary, but no one else. Meanwhile, I have girl-crushes on almost female in the show! I like my women lithe. Pibb prefers some curves (meaning: tits). Oh, and Starbuck's husband? HOT!

(Oh, and after re-reading my "Apollo is too gay to be hot" comment, I realized that could come off as quite offensive. Err... I only meant that with his overly cut hairless body, he is in "gay shape", and that turns me off. There. That's MUCH less offensive!)

vikkitikkitavi said...

Remember on New Caprica, when the humans debated the morality of suicide bombing, and then decided it was justified in the struggle against their occupiers? And then after they were rescued, their treatment of the collaborators was very reminiscent of Gitmo and the extraordinary rendition stories. I just don't buy that they're evoking that stuff by accident.

Anonymous said...

we love it here, too. even though it's the biggest downer on television.