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Jason Tondro
I'm a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Riverside with a specialization in Medieval lit, the Renaissance, and comics. I do a lot of RPG work and currently manage a fledgling RPG publishing company that has nothing to do with Battlestar Galactica.
I watched the original BSG series as a kid and still have fond memories of it. It was not till long after the show was over that I came to understand some of the themes of the show that were not explicit, like the presentation of Mormonism. I remember Galactica 1980 with great pain. Flying motorcycles, they burns us. Sometime in the late '80s I tried to run a BSG RPG using the GURPS system, but I did not do my research and it wasn't very good.
The more I read and learn about the new show the more I like it, though it must be said that I liked it when I first saw it. It certainly is much different, and there are some aspects I do not like. In particular, I find the Cylon "God talk" to be boring in the extreme, and if Number Six were to suddenly vanish in a puff of logic, I would not shed a tear. This is not to say I think the actress is not talented -- I have high hopes for the character of Gina.
What I admire about the show is its willingness to approach issues like 9/11, prisoner abuse, and the curtailing of civil liberties head-on. The cast is amazing, and their parts well-written. I do occasionally note that characters seem to always choose the tactic that leads to the most conflict with other characters, even when a simpler method is available, but hey. This is a drama. We need conflict.
I admire the way in which the show has played off of specific episodes or "bits" in the original series. The confusion regarding pyramid not withstanding, it was fascinating to see the return of the Pegasus, to see an episode in which Starbuck crashes on a planet, talks to and rebuilds a Cylon, and so on. I'm delighted Richard Hatch could participate; now if only, if only, we could find a good role for Dirk Benedict. That would be something.
In brief, no, the new show is not the same as the old show, and I Iove the old show with a naive purity. (Except for Jane Seymour. I may have been naive when I was that age, but I sure wasn't pure.) But the new show is prroving to be some pretty damn interesting television.
Cheers--Jasontondro 23:36, 22 December 2005 (EST)