Battlestar Galactica (read you sci-fi haters!)

I just watched the end of Battlestar Galactica (BSG). For those of you that are unaware BSG is a sci-fi show on the sci-fi channel (or is that syfy now?) Anyway, the show breaks almost every pre-concieved notion of "sci-fi." There are no monsters. And there are no aliens. The show is simply about humanity and humanities hubris. The basic plot is that humans technological innovation leads to the creation of robots. The need for more and more complex tasks leads to more and more complex robots. Eventually, the robots rebel and call themselves Cylons. A thousand years after the initial rebellion and subsequent stalemate the Cylons come back and simply wipe out humanity. A few thousand survivors flee through space desperately attempting to stave off extinction.

One of the draws of BSG for me is simply that the show isn't about the robots, or the spaceships, those just happen to be around. The real show is about the people. Who are these people, why do they survive, where are they going? Most of the series revolves around the political intrigues of having a few thousand humans stuffed together in cramped quarters and running for their lives. Fear and doubt lead to riots, Coup d'état, McCartyistic finger pointing, cults, religious persecution, and near genocide on dozens of occasions. Through it all you follow these select few personalities. I have never loved any television or movie character as much as I have loved the BSG characters. They all profoundly change as the series progresses. They are all grey and dirty. They all make mistakes. And they are all distinctly human.

I guess my point here is to say, throw away those notions of Star trek and Star wars. Ignore the idea that sci-fi is goofy rubber suits and terrible lines. Forget that so much sci-fi is corny, hokey, and frankly bad. I love the genre of sci-fi and I feel that I can proudly state that I have watched a LOT of bad tv in my day. More proudly I can say that BSG is incredible. I can easily say that BSG is the best DRAMA to ever be broadcast to your television. By simply saying "it is sci-fi, no thanks" you are simply missing out on something wonderful. The way the series ended had me laughing, and crying. I know that I will miss seeing these characters once a week--and I will miss pretending, for just a hour, that I am one of them.