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Monday, March 23, 2009
In honor of the stellar (yes, stellar) ending to Battlestar Galactica this past Friday I have dug up and re-posted my original review of the mini series when it first aired back in 2003. Because really, why not?
"Life here, began out there..."
Lieutenant Starbuck. Captain Apollo. Commander Adama.
If you are in your early 30's then these names should
bring to mind two words: Battlestar Galactica. It
was a cult hit that lasted 2 seasons (actually a
season and a half) on ABC in 1978 and 1979. It told
the story of a "rag tag fugitive fleet", the last few
thousand humans left, desperately trying to outrun the
metallic menace of the Cylon race and reach a mythical
planet called Earth. In the original pilot movie, the
Cylons attack their home worlds called the Twelve
Colonies and force these remaining ships to go on the
run. Led by the warship Galactica and defended by
their fleet of fighters called Vipers, the survivors
tried to maintain order and to use all of their
resources just to survive. Each episode they would
encounter trouble and over come crisis in the form of
supply shortages or one of the many Cylon attacks but ultimately
they would keep on trucking. At least until ABC pulled
the plug midway through the second season.
The thing that always struck me abou t the show was the link to
Egyptian mythology. In the late 70's there was a
revival in all manner of Mysteries of the Earth shows.
Numerous "documentaries" were created about the likes
of the Bermuda Triangle, Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot,
and of course the possibility that Egyptians, Mayans,
and the like were aided by extraterrestrials in the
construction of their most magnificent temples and
monuments. The names of ships and characters on the
show were straight out of mythology: Apollo, Cassiopeia,
Pegasus, etc. The helmet that Vipers pilots wore bore a striking resemblance to the headpiece of
an Egyptian pharaoh, specifically the worldwide tour in the late 70's of the mummy of King
Tutankhamen.
I bring this up to show the differences between the
old version, and the new mini-series that just aired
on Sci-Fi. The Egyptian motif is gone. The hippy
sensibility of the fleet and its leaders is gone. The
humor is gone. This is 9/11 set in space on a grand
scale.
The movie begins with spare text overlapped on shots of
a ship docking at a lone space station. No music. The
starkness and quiet is reminiscent of "2001"
THE CYLONS WERE CREATED BY MAN.
THEY WERE CREATED TO MAKE LIFE EASIER ON THE TWELVE
COLONIES.
AND THEN THE DAY CAME WHEN THE CYLONS DECIDED TO KILL
THEIR MASTERS.
It continues in this vein and ends with:
NO ONE HAS SEEN OR HEARD FROM THE CYLONS IN 40 YEARS.
That is really all the background that is given through
the course of the next 4 hours. This is a human story
and very little is given to explaining how things
work. Some ships have warp drives that allow them to
"jump" to pre-calculated spots in space. Others do
not. The ships seem to fire some kind of bullet, as
opposed to a laser, but little explanation is given.
Radio transmissions suffer from time lag due to
distance, and there is no "future look" to any of the
proceedings. They dress like us, talk like us, have
morning news programs, cancer, nuclear weapons, and a
department of education. Then on the day that the last
remaining warship from the Cylon War is being
decommissioned and turned into a museum, their world
comes to an end.
The Galactica was designed to function with computer
components that were not networked together. The
Cylons had the ability, since they are machines, to
disrupt networks and control them. So the Battlestars
were created where many things are done manually and
non interlaced. Acute fear of technology is one theme
that is prevalent throughout the movie. It is a fear
that is validated early on when the Cylons, fresh from
unleashing hundreds of 50 megaton warheads on the
twelve planets, render powerless the Colonial fleet.
The "how" is explained, the why never really is. In
numerous scenes the Cylons make reference to "God",
and seem to believe they are on a crusade from Him to
wipe out humanity. The religious zeal of Al Qaida
seems to be the metaphor here. Since the Cylons have
twelve models that look and act human, the theme of
"the enemy is us" becomes clearer. When the main
characters, Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama, Commander
Adama, Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, and others
learn of what has happened to their worlds the
reactions are varied and powerful. Some react with
disbelief, others anger, some with panic. Over time,
when the number of humans left is around 50,000, those
emotions coalesce into dread and hopelessness.
This is powerful stuff and I was surprised by how well
it was done. The camera work is primarily handheld and
gives the drama an immediacy much like NYPD: Blue
and The Shield. Early on a space station is
destroyed by a Cylon attack and a large piece of
degree rushes toward the camera. At the point when you
think it will fill the screen and face to black (as we
have seen numerous times before) the camera's view is
wildly shifted, as if the debris smashed into the
camera. It could be dismissed as a gimmick if that
"reality" aspect was not carried through the entire
show.
I know I have mentioned little about the characters,
acting, dialogue, effects, or even the plot. The
acting ranges from understated and intense to over the
top. Some of the dialogue is hammy, but most of it
hits the mark. Edward James Olmos is incredible as
Adama. In his early scenes he portrays Adama as a well
respected and revered father figure to the crew
of the Galactica. As the crisis ensues he transforms
into a battle hardened veteran and is forced to make
decisions that will ultimately take the lives of his
crew and those that depend on him for the good of the
fleet. From the moment the Cylon attack begins he is
desperate to enter the war. His realization at the
end, that the war is already over and they are now in
a battle against extinction, is profound and handled
with nuance.
The special effects are understated and very good.
Ships move as you would assume spaceships should. The
only sound they make is a retro jet firing to turn and
rotate, and a muffle thump from their weapons. The
almost silent battles are eerie and underline the
desperation and futility of what they are doing. The
ship design is all well done, and the "new" Vipers are
sleek and powerful, while looking exactly as you
remember from the original show. The producers pulled
off a neat trick to feature new designs as well as the
ones that fans of the series will remember.
I could keep going on but I would rather leave it to
you to discover. I'm sure it will be on DVD in the
next few months. Do not pass up the chance to see it.
The movie is left with several loose ends and one
large twist in the final frame that leads one to think
that the intention is for the story to continue. Even
if it does not, these four hours are well worth any
science-fiction fan's time. Think of it as the
anti-Star Trek; Humans above technology.
For anyone that has yet to watch the best science fiction series of all time, here is how it all began:
