Wild Dingo

This is what Scott and I will be doing tonight:

Give us a break. We’re an old married couple who no longer whoop it up at Friday night parties and we got hooked on this show. A few years ago, when I was recovering from a concussion, I couldn’t do much but sit on the sofa for a long time. Typically, I don’t care for TV. All the reality bozos make me want to gag. I prefer old fashioned sitcoms of the Seinfeld era. Since our nation’s nighttime creative talent has regressed into the imagination limits of a high school click, I was left with nothing much to do other than read or watch movies.

So Scott rented the first two seasons of Sci Fi’s Battlestar Gallactica. He popped in the first DVD and you couldn’t pull me away. The “reimaged” series is nothing like the original. The drama, the sexy men and women and the show-end cliff hangers, kept me moving from show to show and DVD to DVD for days. The cinematography and film direction are truly Sci Fi’s best. The parallels that the show draws to today’s modern dilemmas are fun too but humans are polytheistic, worshiping Greek-like gods based on the 12 astrological signs (colonies of planets) and robots are surprisingly monotheistic. The intra-political debating, democratic process, religious disputes, terrorism, military policy and rise of cults all draw you into identifying with the plot and even sympathizing with any leader (good or evil) facing such strife.

The show’s psychological elements are equally artistic. The alter-ego of the arrogant scientist who brought humanity to its knees, is a Victoria’s Secret model, whose character is a robot enemy soldier. The mind games between his scientific (atheistic) beliefs and her devoted monotheistic beliefs make your head spin. Her body sure is easy on the eyes while his British voice is easy on the ears.

There are a few weird inconsistencies of the show. Occasionally the dialogue will draw on an idiom, such as a quote from Macbeth and you think, “if humans have never been to Earth (the premise is based on humans looking for Earth, the 13th colony), how could there be Shakespeare?” But then you justify it and think, “Shakespeare could have existed on one of the 12 colonies.”

Being an ex-military officer, Scott fancies the guns, battle scenes, “real” military process and appreciates how Sci Fi handles the reality of how a fighter ship would maneuver in space. (Hint: it isn’t George Lucas-style space fighting.) I fancy the shows mythical and psychological debates. Last season’s cliff hanger was spectacular. The show used a Jimi Hendrix tune with lyrics that paralleled the character’s action and dialogue along with stunning cinematography in the final battle scene all while revealing a huge surprise that made it, in my mind, a metaphorical work of art.

Just look at the first image above. Which painting does it remind you of? Although admitedly, it’s missing one more person, still a decent metaphor to the plot’s religious undertones.

And it’s cast list is decent too, featuring Mary McDonnell (Dances with Wolves), Edward James Omos (Stand and Deliver) and James Callis (Bridget Jones’ Diary).

Unfortunately, this season, its third, is its last. I can’t imagine why Sci Fi would end a show so well-written, beautifully directed and that brought us our favorite swear word, “frack.” Oh, to be in the middle of a dramatic scene where the character calls his enemy a “mother-fracker” makes you want to giggle, but you don’t because the scene is so engaging.

This last season started a few weeks ago, and unfortunately has not met the standards of its prior seasons. Still, we’re glued because we need to know how this is going to end.

If you’re tired of TV, or stuck in bed for a while, go rent these DVDs and start with the first season (there are only two and a half seasons). Even if you’re not a fan of science fiction, you won’t be sorry.