After reading several reviews recommending Battlestar Galacticaon the Science Fiction Channel I finally broke down and turned in to the season 3 premiere. I remember the original series when I was a kid when it seemed to be trying to latch onto the big success of Star Wars (which, if you didn’t live through it, I don’t think I could explain how that really captured everyone’s imagination). The series seemed goofy to even my 10 year old brain which loved virtually anything with laser guns and space battles. In spite of the reviews I was expecting cheesy special effects, too much smart alecky banter during life and death situations, and never ending varieties of ’snatching victory from the jaws of defeat’ by humans just in time for the credits.
Boy, was I wrong.
The show is quite good and has very solid acting and a great plot. While I was watching the first episode of season three I was struck with the thought that the show was essentially an allegory for the war in Iraq (and apparently I wasn’t the only one, here’s another). I’m not sure how long they can run with that plot line and I’m not sure how I feel about it (I find I’m getting Iraq fatigue just reading/watching the news) and it would certainly be easy to swerve off into being preachy or patronizing but so far it’s handling the challenges very well.
But that’s not the only great thing on TV. I just got the first season of Rome on DVD. If you’ve never seen this series go check it out. I’ve watched the commentary for the first two episodes which, while not mind blowing have interesting moments. I particularly like the fact that the historical consultant is one of the commentators. Hopefully as the story unfolds he’ll have even more insights to add. Meanwhile you can check out the blog he’s writing while they work on season 2 here.
