They Have a Plan

[Peter Suderman]

As a dedicated, life-long science fiction geek, I'm naturally pretty stoked about the return of Battlestar Galactica this evening. Numerous attempts to convert people into fans have led me to believe that it's probably futile to attempt to convince non sci-fi nerds of the show's virtues, but the Vulture gives it a try, noting that the key thing is that it's very much not Star Trek. Meanwhile you may have noticed the print ad for the new season, which features the characters posed to resemble the Last Supper, on high-profile pages in recent issues of The New Yorker and Rolling Stone (which should be points in the show's favor for non-nerds). Not only is it just about the coolest TV ad I've ever seen, it apparently contains numerous coded clues as to what may occur in the upcoming season (which seems to be something of a trend in TV advertising these days). The fifth Cylon is the doctor! (Okay, probably not.)

Update: Apparently, Sci-Fi will post the entire season four premiere online at noon (Eastern) today.

Comments

One day before Megan comes back from the dead and find that her blog has gone below the NY Times in credibility and pageviews.

Posted by D | April 4, 2008 10:50 AM

Bah. "Science fiction" on television is an abomination, a denatured caricature. The Love Boat with blinking lights and rubber masks. "Wagon Train in space", quote unquote. What's that got to do with John W. Campbell or A. E. Van Vogt, or Iain M. Banks? Nothing, that's what. How many Star Trek episodes hinge on the behavior of tidal forces around black holes? Zero. Q.E.D.: It's not science fiction.

Posted by McNamara | April 4, 2008 10:53 AM

no wonder "Mindles H. Dreck" has stayed out of their company...these 'posters' make me feel sorry that MM has them for 'friends'.

Posted by MEH | April 4, 2008 11:04 AM

"They have a plan" Maybe this season the Cylons will share it with the writers...

@McNamara BSG is not Star Trek. No ray guns. No particle of the week.

Posted by wiredog | April 4, 2008 11:04 AM

I think it a safe guess that Starbuck is not the fifth Cylon- that would be just too obvious.

I am guessing one of the Adamas is the fifth one.

Posted by Yancey Ward | April 4, 2008 11:08 AM

Oh, and Baltar turns out to be Bob Dylan.

Posted by Yancey Ward | April 4, 2008 11:10 AM

Every goddamm character on that show is a cyclon.

Posted by Freddie | April 4, 2008 11:29 AM

I nominate D as the most annoying new commenter.

Posted by Klug | April 4, 2008 11:49 AM

Friends I've tried to sell on it have dismissed the strong acting, one of the signatures of the show, on the basis that strong acting doesn't belong in sci-fi. I guess it really is one of those love or hate the taste immediately things.

One of the best comments was "who's the female pilot who thinks she's Tom Cruise? I hate her."

Posted by Justin JJ | April 4, 2008 11:49 AM

@Freddie
That, actually, wouldn't surprise me.

Posted by wiredog | April 4, 2008 1:14 PM

Freddie makes a prediction, with tongue in cheek, that could turn out to be true. It wouldn't surprise me either.

Posted by Yancey Ward | April 4, 2008 1:24 PM

I tried to get into this revisioning of Battlestar Galactica, but just couldn't. The writers seemed to forget to entertain and spent too much time playing with the plot.

But that seems to be a regular curse when it comes to Sci-fi on TV. The only 2 series that I've truly enjoyed since 1980 are the BBC Comedy Red Dwarf (because they just have fun with it and don't worry about storyline continuity) and Babylon 5 (which worked because it provided a good story told rather simply.) BSG is far to complex for its own good.

Posted by mvargus | April 4, 2008 1:56 PM

I second the nomination.

Calling for a roll call vote!

Posted by D | April 4, 2008 2:00 PM

Quorum? I barely fucked'um!

Posted by E | April 4, 2008 2:16 PM

The best news is that they're going to wrap up BSG this season. I like the show, but I got the sense over the last season or two that the writers hadn't worked out the major themes they've been flirting with, e.g., the Cylons' 'plan', the significance of the half-Cylon baby, etc. Either that, or they were just killing time with diversions.

"The writers seemed to forget to entertain and spent too much time playing with the plot."

As a fan of the original BSG, I'd suggest watching the original miniseries that kicked off the new BSG, if you haven't. That was entertaining, and a number of the subsequent shows have been. Unfortunately, they haven't been consistently entertaining. See also the 4-episode arc about the Cylon occupation of New Caprica (the first four episodes of last season).

Posted by Fred | April 4, 2008 2:26 PM

I tried to get into this revisioning of Battlestar Galactica, but just couldn't. The writers seemed to forget to entertain and spent too much time playing with the plot.

See, that's exactly what I like about BSG--the depth. The various Star Treks all suffered, IMO, from the need to wrap up the storyline in one or two episodes; that was always convenient when you could invent a new particle or just throw time travel in. The result was that every story was disposable. The only Star Trek that engaged in long-story arcs was DS9.

I recognize, though, that there's probably a fault line here among TV viewers--the Twin Peaks crowd vs. the CSI crowd. All I can say is Thank God for a multiplicity of specialty TV channels that make their living broadcasting to niche audiences.

Posted by Justin JJ | April 4, 2008 4:09 PM

wiredog, I think we talked about this on Douthat's blog, but the Cylons already revealed their plan early in season 3: they're going to make Earth their new home.

Posted by Matthew Struhar | April 4, 2008 5:08 PM

Ugh... As much as I want to like this show, I find it agonizing to watch. Every episode is a tribute to strong government and charismatic political leaders. It's like watching the worst of the warmongering right combined with the foolish idealistic faith of the left.

If I were to watch sci-fi, I'd much prefer a band of outlaws and traders (a la Farscape or Firefly) than the idolization of posturing politicians playing at saving the human race.

Posted by PolyAnalyst | April 4, 2008 6:56 PM

"It's not science fiction" McNamara describing several things.

TR: I'm sympathetic, but I think it's unreasonable to expect the level of detail or philosophy or science in a media article that you can get in a book. In print pages of internal meditation and scientific theorizing can work. In TV or film things like that will appear stilted or confusing. In a book you can go over some passages again, in TV you can do so now too but it's not quite the same. All this might be part of why Isaac Asimov, Hal Clement, Greg Egan, Fred Hoyle, Brian Stableford, Stapledon, and several others are almost never successfully translated to film. (Or maybe just never)

"Every episode is a tribute to strong government and charismatic political leaders." PolyAnalyst

TR: This is much much more true of the original series. People who advocated peace, not necessarily with the Cylons even, in the original series were treated as complete morons. Military rule was praised and Adama was Brigham Young in Space.

Still I think in the situation as described a strong charismatic government would probably arise and maybe even be a good thing. Despite the occasional games they play the situation in the series is clearly NOT like ours. Americans have not experienced genocide nor are we likely to at a future date. It's more akin to that of the Darfuris or certain American Indian tribes in the nineteenth century. I'm not sure how you can have a rationalistic small government work in a situation like that, where a small group faces total war with a larger one. The leadership of the Sioux or Apache was even more charismatic-based than any in the series. It was not quite so strong, but it did allow for some intense discipline when needed.

However what we get is a charismatic government treated with, in my mind, much more skepticism than most historical series would do to Crazy Horse or Geronimo. Unlike in the original this Adama has made mistakes and even behaved inhumanely in some respects. Roslin is, at times, vicious and quite possibly delusional. (Not so much her visions, more her belief in her own amazing importance. That belief isn't entirely justified by anything I've seen)

Which I suppose leads to my problem with the show. When it comes to most series I do like to have "someone to root for." I'm not sure who that would be in BSG. The closest characters to being likeable have pretty much all turned out to be Cylons. So on some level I suppose I'm rooting for the Cylons. However "rooting for" beings who killed billions seems weird. However not only is there nothing to really root for, I'm not sure there's any Thing to root for in this fictional Universe either. Love clearly fades among them, friendship is unstable, family is dysfunctional, democracy is a bad joke, dictatorship is a worse joke (Cain), survival is not enough in itself, the law is a game, justice doesn't exist, God is for the enemies, and the Gods are probably fictitious. I guess there's still sex and eating, but if that's it they might as well be voles.

Last two points. Going by the picture I would guess Lee's wife "Dee", Gaeta, and Tom Zarek are maybe the most likely suspects of being "The Final Cylon." Also I find them parodying "The Last Supper" slightly offensive. I know that makes me prudish and fanatical, but that's how I feel.

Posted by Thomas R | April 6, 2008 6:16 AM