Battlestar Galactica: Onward to the end

Some musings on the possible end of Battlestar Galactica, which is concluding over the next two weeks.

* * SPOILER ALERT * * if you haven’t been up to date with the latest episodes (i.e. up to “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”) …

Battlestar Galactica…is having some FTL trouble

I’ve been meaning to write some notes about the last few episodes of the final season of BSG, most recently “Blood on the Scales”. But the real-life coup in Perak state has somewhat drained my zest for writing about similar events in the Galactica world. Maybe this is how viewers in the U.S. feel when BSG has offered them a social mirror for Iraq and Guantanamo.

Something else I will post soon is a beginner’s guide to BSG since I’ve been praising its virtues to anyone that’ll listen. Rest assured, the cheesiness of the 1979 original is absolutely absent from the present reincarnation.

Meanwhile, anyone who is up-to-date on the latest episodes should definitely head over to Mo Ryan’s blog at the Chicago Tribune. She always does a great job posting follow-up features and interviews for each new episode.

Those with a musical dimension to their fandom (…Hutnyk, I’m looking at you) should check out BSG composer Bear McCreary’s beautiful blog, complete with episode stills, instrumental and composition details, as well as actual scores of the themes used. Beware, it is SPOILER heavy.

Is more “Heroes” worth it?

In the first season the tagline was, "Save the cheerleader, save the world." By the dismal third season morose fans cried, "Kill the cheerleader, save the show." Cheerleader's superpower? Immortal regeneration.

Not so long ago I declared officially (that is, over a pint of Guinness) that superhero series Heroes was dead to me. Terrible plotting, abysmal character development, mediocre acting, recycled X-Men stories – hell, recycling the previous season’s plot devices –  finally took their toll on my geek stamina after watching the slide from a strong first season to the crevasse of season 3.

Now, I read that the fourth season (which started on Monday) is attempting to redeem itself by drafting Battlestar Galactica writer Mark Verheiden. Now Battlestar (or BSG) is one of the best shows out there in terms of writing, photography, acting, and conceptualisation. It is, in short, everything Heroes is not and probably should be.

Even letting the world be apocalypse-d might be a good thing, it certainly worked for BSG. Except for Heroes some time-travelling jerk keeps saving the future and leaving the present trapped on the Mobius strip of stalled character development.

I have a soft spot for comics, but I graduated from Marvel-style superhero narratives a loooong time ago. I’m a Vertigo, Dark Horse, or indie guy (and the main things I read now are the print continuations of Joss Whedon’s Buffy and Angel).

One ex-cheerleader who can sustain a series...and hasn't been stopped by death.

I don’t know if Heroes can be saved from itself, but clearly some sense has entered showrunner Tim Kring’s mind by reaching out to Verheiden, who is also a veteran comics writer. Hopefully for fans of the show and the fence-sitting “hope-fans” like me someone like Verheiden who can write good drama and knows the genre will give us some quality entertainment.

I’m going to hold off clicking on the ‘download’ button and lurk around the fansites to see if the show really does redeem itself. I have too much self respect to torture myself with crappy telly especially after BSG has raised the bar. I’ll be happy if Heroes fixes its flaws since BSG wraps in March, but I’m not holding my breath.