Posted on 01/20/2006 8:29:57 AM PST by isaiah55version11_0
Science fiction has long been stereotyped as a hardware-obsessed, techno-jargon laden refuge for computer nerds and outcasts. Especially on television, which lacks the geek chic afforded by big-screen Hollywood budgets, the genre's reputation for hokey dialog and cardboard-and-wire effects have saturated it with a distinct odor of disrespectability. It is somewhat ironic, then, to see the Sci-Fi Channel, a network which often seems devoted to the pulpy and lowbrow, serve up Battlestar Galactica, a show about spaceships and killer robots that is also arguably the most potent, dramatically vibrant series on television. An unflinching examination of how the military, government, family, and religion interact in the fragile ecosystem of society, it as morally and intellectually serious as it is thrilling.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
My first reaction, "Starbuck a chick, you gotta be kidding!" turned out to be wrong. IMHO she's better than the original.
thank you!!!
Okay, now you've gone too far! Dirk Benedict can't be topped!
Katie Sackhof ROCKS as Starbuck - and I love the darker BG - but I was a fan of the old one too.
I just realized the other day why Science Fiction didnt take for me - it wasnt because I was female and didnt like the techno-hardware aspect. But there was something interminably missing from the majority of the sci-fi I tried to read : there seemed to be a lack of "spirit." After reading Tolkien, which is saturated with it, sci-fi seemed so dry and dessicated, not to mention the fact of an underlying desire to prove that humans didnt need all that "mumbo-jumbo" to survive. I think in this day and age, we are seeing otherwise.
Having said that, have recently been re-acquainting myself with an Alan Dean Foster series of Flinx and Pip (first book is "For Love of Mother-Not"). I tried reading it in highschool and got distracted. Now I am rediscovering it.
I think BG does a good job of intertwining 'spirit' with 'technology' - it just makes me a bit nervous though because I am not sure if they are using it to prove yet again that religion/spirit is harmful. I get a little tired of the sci-fi geeks telling me that I am stupid for believing in something greater than myself, whilst proving with their lives how empty and hollow all their faith in technology is. Not a good way to recommend me to their vision.
Hope I made sense...
I agree - Dirk Benedict was wonderful - I was a fan of the old Starbuck - but I do love the female one. Id want her on my side.
It also has some very timely (but not heavy-handed) references to suicide bombers, clash of civilizations, fighting a war for survival against an enemy that wants to wipe you out, etc. There are constant echos of the "War on Terror" (and the Islamic jihad), handled *very* well. There was even an episode which (subtly, but very effectively) slammed the politically-motivated "9/11 Commission".
To be honest, I do watch History Channel quite a bit, but if the the name "Hitler" in in the title, I figure Discovery, Sci-Fi or a movie much better fair.
Ha- you're killin' me! Get out of the closet, TOm...
No seriously, Star Trek and battlestar Galactica used to be something you could watch as a little kid, and it was wholesome, and interesting. It justs eems like today, liberals have to have women everywhere, in combat, and they're always "the best", like Jada in the Matrix-- "She's the best damn pilot in the fleet", nonsense. And women are in charge. In real life, you just don't hear about a lot of women leaders, you know?
With the West wing and such, the only place liberals can see their dreams become reality (in a sense) is in the movies/tv. In real life, The President isn't a woman, no great generals, etc. etc. I just hate the way they pound this stuff down our throats. And then bringing in the sexy girls for a cheap ratings boost. It's harder to have a good writer make an interesting program without the smut or the liberal "preaching".
I was WONDERING why she looked so familiar!!!!!!! Thanks!!
NO really, I swear, like switching Starbuck from a man to a woman, Give me a break. Liberals would remake the life of Abraham Lincoln with a black woman in the role of Abe, and they'd say she was "the best damn pilot in the fleet."
sheeesh
Oh, and changing Cain from a man to a woman!! Sex changes everywhere!!!!! Just make a new character, you know?
HIllary Clinton? She's the "best damn pilot in the fleet>" Sure, I know it's all the sci fi that's out right now, but you have to keep your sense of taste. Don't let them ram everything down your throat you know?
It would be nice if he got a chance to make a guest appearance, the way the original Apollo has appeared a couple times.
When I heard the original palnd for the new series, I was convinced from the way Sci Fi was spinning it that it was going to be a PC disaster. Instead, it is one of the best new series I have seen on tv in the last 10 years.
I dont know much in terms of military matters, but it would seem to me that the ability to handle a machine like the ones she flies and maintain a sense of self-control and resourcefulness, it doesnt much matter that kind of talent comes in a female package. Aren't there female pilots in the US military? I dont know what the requirements are, but it seems to me that it takes someone with the ability to control the machine well is a premium.
*just trying to understand...*
... don't forget she likes cigars... I think I'm in love...
Really odd that they havent done something like that. I love that the Original Apollo gets to play a 'baddie.' I bet he's been having fun !
I think you are making far too much about Starbuck's change.. the Abe Lincoln analogy is completely off as this is a fiction story versus history.. If anything, the new Starbuck improves the story and widens the audience base. Her character is much better developed than the original Starbuck, her acting is much better, and she could probably kick his ass too..
Well, I have no problen with women anywhere, my point is, like on the old Star Trek or old BG, the women were just like everybody else. But in liberal land, you can't just have a woman on. She has to be the smartest, or the toughest, best, what have you. Has to be the leader like the BG president/Cain/stargate Atlantis leader/the old TNG Star Trek where all the admirals were women, or Voyager with the woman captain.
To me, if you were going into combat, would you rather be led by Patton, or Scott Bakula? Alexander the great, or whoopie Goldberg? In real life, this stuff doesn't pan out-- it's too forced to watch.
O blessed Partagas!
She welcomed them back to the fleet.
Yeah, right. Galactica has 75-90 ships (because we know that 24 ships is "almost one-third of the fleet"), and lonely Pegasus welcomes them back into the fleet?
The AUDACITY!
Sauron
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