Jay Redding notes that Time Magazine critic James Poniewozik picks BSG as the number one show of 2005.
Most of you probably think this entry has got to be a joke. The rest of you have actually watched the show. Adapted from a cheesy '70s Star Wars clone of the same name, Galactica (returning in January) is a ripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with religious fundamentalists (here, genocidal robots called Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner-torture scandal. The basic-cable budget sometimes shows in the production, but the writing and performances are first-class, especially Edward James Olmos as the noble but authoritarian commander in charge of saving the last remnants of humanity. Laugh if you want, but this story of enemies within is dead serious, and seriously good.
Now I have one big gripe with this. I don't watch enough TV to produce any such ranking, but HBO's Deadwood is almost certainly the best thing I have ever seen on TV. In the three most important features of film, storytelling, dialog, and texture, it is heads and tails above Battlestar Galactica and almost any other contender. I have lent out my first season DVD collection of Deadwood to a couple of my colleagues, Professor Schaff and Dean of Arts and Sciences Dave Grettler. The latter came back looking and talking like a religious convert. The show is that good.
But BSG is certainly excellent TV. I hadn't thought of it as a metaphor for the war on terror. Come to think of it, Col. Saul Tigh (played by Canadian Michael Hogan), does look a little like Dick Cheney. I think that Poniewozik is quite right to point out the religious theme in the show. Science fiction is, oddly enough, one of the best contexts in which to tell new religious stories. Season Three starts on January 6th.
ENDNOTE: Jay Reding's blog has one of the best layouts and visually compelling designs in the Dakota Blog Alliance.
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