Good sci-fi at last: Battlestar Galactica
25 Jan 2006 
in the late evening 
Matt Winckler
After a long and weary quest, I believe I have finally found good sci-fi: the remade (not 1978) series Battlestar Galactica. We rented the initial miniseries and the first disc of season 1 from Netflix, and I am impressed. I particularly like the fact that it’s not ridiculously clean and futuristic (like Star Trek, for instance), but that the humans face all sorts of problems (or advantages) with old equipment, and yet at the same time it’s not old and rickety (any spacecraft that can survive a 50-kiloton nuclear detonation deserves some respect in my book, even if it is old). And space battles are carried on not with some ultra-futuristic laser weaponry, but with actual shells and projectiles being fired from machine guns and cannons, along with missiles.
The series also handles its computer-generated sequences very well. The CG is sophisticated enough that it doesn’t detract from the experience whatsoever, unlike some other series I could mention, where you desperately wished they’d have left all CG scenes out. (*cough*Babylon 5!*cough*) In fact, it was one of the CG scenes that gave me the rare “goosebumps because it’s so cool” sensation. It was the scene in the miniseries where the Colonials are coming out of the EM storm around Ragnar, with the Cylons waiting for them outside. Galactica sets itself up to protect the civilian ships as they make the FTL jump, and its big cannons pop out of their recesses and start tracking on the Cylon ships. Then they open fire with a barrage of flak shells, and the scene shows Galactica’s sheets of fiery outbound tracers intercepting incoming missiles and fighters as the civilian ships emerge from the EM storm and make the FTL jump. It’s just one of those moments where honor and valor (Galactica placing itself in harm’s way and taking many hits to protect the civilians) are portrayed remarkably well, combined with a brilliant display of military might.
Really, I have only one complaint, and that is about sci-fi in general and not Battlestar Galactica in particular. My complaint is that there are two things that are both universally present and universally poorly done when it comes to sci-fi: religion and romance. (Under “religion” I also throw in “token psychics” or “counselors” such as are present in Star Trek.) Every series I can think of has both religious and romantic elements and inevitably bungles them both. Battlestar Galactica regrettably falls into the same trap in a few places, but I will say this: so far, it bungles them far less than other series.
So then, the next 6 movies in my Netflix queue are settled upon. I’m going on a Battlestar Galactica craze, and I can only hope that it’s able to maintain the same level of quality throughout. (On a last note, I will add this: in Netflix, I think it’s the first thing I’ve seen to have a complete and solid five-star rating. Most really good things have five stars minus a little sliver on the last star, but not this. It’s encouraging.)