I both love this show and lose patience with it. In that way it makes me feel almost like I’m the parent of a 14-year-old. Lately we’ve been in a particularly adolescent patch of episodes. Remember how it was to be 14 and think you know better than everyone else and that the whole world which came before you is filled with fraktards? (Of course I know people in their middle years who have this same outlook, so it’s not exclusively the province of early teenagers, but for now we’ll let them haul the blame.)
That’s what BSG is right now. I was afraid it would come to this when they started dealing with the religion episodes, and I’ve been very nervous to see how it’d be handled.
“Does it feel like they’re mocking Christianity to you?” I said to my spouse as we tried to stay awake through the latest episode.
“Not exactly mocking. It’s sort of like they don’t have any familiarity with it, so they’re trying to write impressively about a topic they know nothing about” is what he said.
By the end of the episode I was pretty convinced that most of the people writing the show have driven by churches on their way to the bookstore where they bought books about popular Gnostic and Hedonistic takes on religion. On the one hand that’s fine with me because I’d just as soon keep the whole “this is SciFi” world apart from Christianity. I don’t think the two need to mix, really. On the other hand, they keep nudging ever closer to parallels–the destruction of the temple of Zeus and the mention of the Mithras cult–and setting up plotlines which run thisclose to the history of the early church. The one consolation I took from this recent episode is that it seems they’re using Baltar as more of a St. Peter figure, shying away from making a complete Jesus analogy. Which is good, because as most of you know those of us who believe in the divinity of Jesus believe that he was without sin. That means to have someone like Baltar, a grievous sort of human being, be the show’s “Jesus” is about as offensive as possible. Not that it’s going to matter at all what a TV show thinks of Jesus in the long run. But still.
All that being laid on the table, let me just leave one parting thought.
Can we please get back to the interesting story lines? More Starbuck, more Quest for earth. Less of this crazy Religion/Pain thing. Please.
Battlestar Galactica. Yawn.
I’m so glad I kicked this show to the curb two years ago. Every time I see or hear somebody talk about it, it’s with a vague sense of disappointment. Like everybody believes they HAVE to like it just because, well, everybody likes it.
zzzzzzz
In all fairness, some of the episodes are VERY good and many of the concepts are intriguing.
It’s as though they have two different types on their writing staff–those who can follow through on the interesting concepts with compelling story and those who did a lot of writing for their college literary magazines.
The show tends to bog down when those folks who think they’re exploring a Big Idea turn in some sophomoric exercise in philosophical fiction. But hey, they can’t ALL be “Canticle for Liebowitz”.
I totally disagree…the growing rift in the fleet is fascinating.
Roslin’s consolidation of her authority under the guise that it’s her divine right is compelling. Watching Zarak pull the strings of Lee Adama to undermine Roslin is some of the most fascinating stuff I’ve seen in a long time.
Someone posited to me that Roslin and Adama (Bill) are secretly married. That would be a great twist.
I love the path of destruction Baltar is walkin’ down.
Also, recall that the oracle in Razor told us that Starbuck is leading them the wrong way.
Oh and the impact of being a Cylon on Tigh…
Dear heavens, this show is amazing.
See, BOM, you are right. All of that IS fascinating (except for the Baltar business, but we can disagree on that.)
The problem I have is the long stretches of episodes like last week that are so NOT fascinating. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl but the whole Tory/Baltar pleasure and pain thing and the whole Six/Tigh deal was just to much inverted Gor for my taste.