Why is Battlestar Galactica So Popular?

When I saw Oz, I did enjoy it, unfortunately it was on HBO, which I didn't have at the time, so I was only able to catch it a friends' houses.

Hold out for "A Song of Ice and Fire" to be made into a TV series, then. ;p

you mean battlestar iraqtica?

See, that's the trouble with critics. I recommend you watch a few episodes and find out for yourself.

what are you talking about? I've NEVER missed an episode. I love this show. I just loved the beautiful parallels that they tried to draw between the show and Iraq, even with their choice of words. I thought it was laughable and way off base, but colorful and entertaining none the less.

But their political grandstanding only lasted 5 episodes, so I won't hold it against them.

It's one of the best written shows I can remember seeing in recent memory. Babylon 5 was one of my favorite series of all time, the writting was unreal most of the time, but Battlestar blows most shows away I think.

It's constant edge of the seat. The character development is great. You feel everything thats going on in it. The acting is fantastic throughout. The show has more heart and more passion then most.

The season premiere a few weeks ago was fucking amazing. Everything was building to that point, and they delivered big time. Gallactica dropping through the atmosphere and then jumping out ? That shit was AWESOME! Pegasus showing up like you knew it would, but in even more dramatic fashion then you could imagine...christ...I was goin nuts. Yes I am a geek and I am damn fucking proud of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

True, but more often than not these events lead to major character revelations that make us re-examine what we think we know about Apollo the character. That escape in particular spun him into some dark territory a few episodes down and really changed who he was permantly, I feel.

BSG does what Trek (understandably so) couldn't do. If Riker gets in "life threatening peril, nay certain death!" he is most likely back to the same old Riker in the next episode. All actions and choices in BSG have long term consequences for the story and the characters.

(An aside) could this have anything to do with the rise of DVD sets and the, what I predict, decline in syndication? Creators really no longer have to worry about totally self contained episodes like pre-DVD shows gunning for syndication did.

ker-ching!

For me, the first season was better overall... the quality of the second season dipped for a few episodes. But to get to the original point of the post, I think what StudentDriver said about the lack of quality science fiction has something to do with it... but that wouldn't count for much if BG wasn't so well put together. One thing that struck me is that it's not just good science fiction, it's a brilliant drama full stop. I've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed watching things like The Wire and Deadwood. There's been lots of great tv drama shows over the past few years, and I think BG is up there with them.

You'd need to watch more than just a few episodes to really get into it, I think.

Also, you want to start with the miniseries. I don't know if you'd be lost without it, exactly, but that's where a lot of balls got tossed into the air. And Netflix at least, if not necessarily other sources, doesn't really make it clear that that's the starting point.

Heh... I didn't even know there was a mini series until I was halfway through the first full season, so I watched it after that but before season 2. There were some confusing moments without having seen it, but it's manageable .

Oops! Sorry, man! I thought you were trying to make fun of the show because you picked a recent aspect that I really don't think of as defining for BSG but that has apparently produced quite a commotion among critics.

*readjusts sense of humor*

But really, I don't think that thinking of the occupation episodes as an allegory to the Iraq situation does the show justice. They've alluded to current events many times and they've always managed to steer away from simple black-and-white answers. I think the occupation and the resistance are no exception.

I mean really. Most of the time, if you wanted to draw parellels, you'd have the Cylons as the fanatical muslims, and now suddenly they are supposed to be the Americans? It just doesn't make sense.

Hot android women.

Now they call it The Wire.

can you imagine having a 3 or even 4 some and all of the chicks are identical? wow. headgasm.