TV is Superior to Movies - Battlestar Galactica

TV is superior to movies example of the month: Battlestar Galactica

There are those of you who feel like the outer space thing is too goofy and silly. Shame on you. Battlestar Galactica is one of the best examples of using a foreign setting to tell a story that would be nearly impossible to tell if it were done straight.

Back in the day, the way you told a story you weren't allowed to tell was to make it a western. You wanted to talk about racism during the fifties... you made a western about a cowboy falling in love with an indian. You wanted to talk about communism or discrimination or drug use or anything taboo, you made it a western. One of the reasons the western died was that there was no longer a need to have this fictional backdrop to tell a compelling story.

But even today, there are taboo topics that in and of themselves invoke emotional responses that would make it difficult to tell an honest story without the baggage of today getting in the way. Today, it is no longer the western that serves this purpose, it is science fiction. Enter Battlestar Galactica.

On the surface, this is show taking place 'a long time ago in a galaxy far, far way' but it is anything but. The whole arc about the occupation of New Caprica can really screw with your brain when you realize which characters represent the US and which character represent the Iraqi's.

How can you have a show where religion is a central theme and not have preconceived notions about Christianity or Judaism or Islam? Simple... make up whole new religions and invert who you feel you should be rooting for.

How do you have characters curse like sailors without saying real curse words? Frakkin' watch the show and you'll see.

Program: Battlestar Galactica
Episodes: 78 episodes (Pilot miniseries, four seasons, post series episode) and a series of webisodes that aired between seasons.
Status: Series concluded

There is a prequel series called Caprica that looks very, very promising as well.