My BSG Addiction: Intro

From January 29 to February 9, I watched "Battlestar Galactica" in its entirety on Netflix Instant. To be clear, that means a 3 hour mini series, a 90 minute mini-movie, and 74 episodes running about 45 minutes. During this time, I worked 10 hours per day, spent quality time with my girlfriend (where we also worked through all of "Pushing Daisies"), and, you know, slept. At first, I watched because I wanted to see what would happen next, but by the end, I was watching because I couldn't wait to be done watching. I can't imagine what it felt like to wait four years to see how it all ended.

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My BSG Addiction: Adama

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 2.

Admiral Adama vs. Captain Picard

I was brought up on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I think this is a perfect sci-fi show. I'm not talking about some ideal form of perfection; it definitely had its rough patches. The show grew steadily for 5 seasons, and even though the last two seasons' quality dropped a bit, the last episode was absolutely beautiful. Episode-by-episode, the show accomplished exactly what it set out to. It was an adventure story first, and along the way, if they could delve into something deeper, they did it with gusto.

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My BSG Addiction: Redemption

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 3.

Gaius Baltar vs. Caprica 6

Before I get into it, can I just say Tricia Helfer is one hell of an actress. It would be easy for an actress who spends half the show half naked to fall back on her looks, but she never does. She pulls off multiple characters with ease. I swear she must have practiced for hours just to get the right intonation on "Gaius..."

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My BSG Addiction: Time Jump

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 4.

The New Caprica Time Jump

I want to try to balance criticism with praise. My overall point here is that this show is good not great. It has some very great moments, but overall, it falls sort of short for me. Maybe I'd feel different if I watched it when it originally aired. Let's take a break from the picking and delve into something awesome.

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My BSG Addiction: Watchtower

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 5.

Starbuck's Mom Smokes Marlboros

A big mystery throughout the show is where the world fits in our real world time line. Up until the fleet finds Earth mid-season 4, we think it could be contemporary. I could be wrong, but the little I've seen of the original 1978 series, I think that is what ends up happening. The mythology behind the series says 13 tribes left Kobol. Twelve moved to one solar system and colonized what became the 12 colonies: Caprica, Picon, Gemenon, etc. We're led to believe Earth is the 13th colony and we're all here waiting for Galactica to arrive.

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My BSG Addiction: Starbuck

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 6.

Deus Ex Starbuck (God As Starbuck)

In the earliest days of Greek drama, playwrights would often end plays by simply having the gods sweep in and make everything ok. Maybe I'm being pretentious just by bringing that up, but I feel like in the last few thousand years, we've found better ways to tie stories up. Maybe this stems from me not being a very spiritual person, but I find the amount the story's success rests on wholly unexplained aspects of Starbuck that it feels a lot like God just swooping in and making everything okey-dokey.

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My BSG Addiction: Rape

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 7.
  
The Rape of Pegasus Six

I have a real problem with any storyline about rape. Midway through the movie "Blindness," there is a gang rape resulting in the beating death of an old woman. It may be the most horrific thing I've ever seen in a movie (the image still pops in my head and it makes me cringe), and I spent the entire rest of the film wondering how the filmmakers would pay it off. The movie was so stylistic and so artistically strong, my only hope for the rest of the movie is that they'd somehow justify it. I couldn't focus on anything else. To have to sit through something so awful, it would have to mean something or else why just casually drop it into the movie? It never paid off, and "Blindness" still ranks as one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

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My BSG Addiction: Thought

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 8.

Big Show, Big Ideas

For all its faults, this show can never be accused of not trying. When I say this is the defining sci-fi series of the last decade, I'm not saying that lightly. The term "Post-9/11" is so cliche, but it's so true. The '80s and '90s saw the rise of the middle class. Suddenly there was this amazing blending of rich and poor into a blended middle that was just comfortable. For decades, that middle class grew and grew until an unprecedented number of people saw the hope and potential for real, life-long success.

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My BSG Addiction: Cylons

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 9.

A Little Cylon Love

There came a point in the series where I started caring way more about what was happening with the Cylons than the humans. The human plots became so soap opera-y that I could barely stand it. Roslin was dying of cancer and falling in love with Adama. Lee was falling in love with Starbuck, even though he was inexplicably married to Dualla for reasons passing understanding. Starbuck jumped from bed to bed. I had yet to figure out why I should care about Baltar. Tigh became a pirate.

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My BSG Addiction: Episodes

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 10.

The Best and Worst Episodes

Overall, the show maintains a pretty good pace for a serial. A lot of network serials, even "24," which I love, fall into the trap of having to fill too much time with too little story. While BSG stayed away from amnesia and cougars, it definitely had its slumps. The beginning and ending of each season are always the high points because you get the big cliff-hangers and the pay-offs. The short first season and the split up second season provided opportunities to really make something of the discovery of Kobol, the destruction of the Resurrection Ship, and the colonization of New Caprica. Perhaps that's why the 20 episode third season is seen as the low point. It's just this long stretch without any major story moments.

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My BSG Addiction: Lists

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 11.

Best and Worst Everything Else

Best Single Moment in the Show: Galactica jumps into New Caprica's atmosphere, plummets to the ground, launches the vipers, then jumps away before it crashes. Bad. Fucking. Ass.

Worst Single Moment in the Show: Gaeta's "I'm sad because I lost my foot" song.

Saddest Death: Poor Billy

Funniest Death: One's "Frak!" before he puts a bullet in his head

Worst Prop: The Arrow of Apollo (does it have +5 accuracy?)

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My BSG Addiction: The Ending

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 12.

It's Over, Okayyy...

Right off the bat, before I tear the thing apart, let me say I thought the ending was pretty good. When they pulled the wool out and it turned out the fleet's original destination was a barren wasteland, the show set itself a very high bar. They still have to find a new home and it has to be just as satisfying. They do accomplish that, despite all my little problems. By choosing to break the cycle of violence and denounce technology, Lee defines the entire series. Looking back, the show is about these 40,000 people fighting over humanity's soul. They fight the big fights, argue back and forth over some core human values, and in the end they give humanity hope that when they finally do create Cylons once again, there's a good chance they'll treat their creations with proper respect. According to the show, they last 20 times as long as those who left Kobol, so maybe it all worked out.

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My BSG Addiction: Conclusion

In order to get over my addiction to "Battlestar Galactica," I'm going to talk the show to death until it's out of my system. What originally started as a one-off essay is too big for just one post. This is Part 13.

And In Closing...

I couldn't resist the urge to split this into 13 parts. In a way it's the best homage I can make to the show I just tore apart. For all the loose ends and questionable morality, the show builds a world based on a lot of very well laid out creative thought. Thirteen colonies, 13 Cylon models, this kind of parallel structure usually gets overlooked in a TV show, and they got it done on a Syfy Channel budget.

The biggest praise I can give the show is how well they handle issues that I usually can't stand. This show is much too spiritual for my tastes, and it worked for me.

I'll admit it was a very good show. It just had some gaping holes I just can't let pass. It held me for 80, some odd hours and in the end, I was satisfied enough. Hell, it gave me enough to write 13 blog posts about.