Battlestar Galactica

I’ve been glued to the sci-fi series “Battlestar Galactica”. Not the old series from the 70’s, but the revamped one that has been playing on the SciFi channel in the USA since 2003. I bought Season 1, 2 & 2.5 & brought all 3 sets here, in expectation of a relatively barren TV listing in China (which I am now happy to report is not that bad after all ☺).

I was a huge fan of the original series (probably, in great part, due to my crush on Dirk Benedict who played brash, cigar-chomping ace pilot, Starbuck). Star Wars: A New Hope started off my fascination with the scifi genre. When BG came along, it became a favorite of mine. Looking back, I suppose that during my adolescent years was also when my mind started to question if there was something out there in the Universe; after all, statistically speaking, in our humongous universe, there has to be other worlds with intelligent life-forms apart from our big blue marble.

The new series is definitely different from the old. A lot darker for one, & despite its setting, delves into current day issues - war, terrorism, abortion, racism, torture of prisoners (season 2, rated NC-16, addresses the latter & had me cringing at some of the scenes).

With brilliantly written scripts & great acting by veterans Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama) & Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), & relative newcomers Jamie Bamber (Capt Lee “Apollo” Adama), Katee Sackhoff (Lt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace), Grace Park (Cylon sleeper agent Lt. Sharon “Boomer” Valerii) & Tricia Helfer (as the babelicious Cylon No. 6/Gina), I have been watching episodes from the series avidly in the last week, going through season 1 & now seasons 2 & 2.5 (don’t ask me why they divided season 2 up). Grace Park especially deserves special mention in season 2 with all the heart-wrenching emotions she must have had to drag up from the depths of her soul in order to portray her character’s situation so adeptly.

Season 3 is being broadcast now in the USA. I can’t wait for the DVD set to be released (or at least for the series to start showing on Cinemax).