Battlestar Galactica (2004) is currently streaming online…for free…on SyFy’s website!!!
Why is this a big deal?
Battlestar Galactica (BSG) was one of the biggest sci-fi shows near the start of the millennium. I was a casual fan as a kid, but the 2004 show made me into an actual fanatic of the series. I devoured every clip I could find, recorded every episode, and re-watched each episode again and again after it aired. I had college watch parties in my dorm room just to watch the final two seasons and I currently proudly wear subtle Galactica patches on my jackets and backpacks….so yeah, I love this show immensely.
So why is it such a big deal now? Well, no one was streaming the series for a while. It was on Netflix for years, then Hulu, and then a gap where the only way to watch the show was either purchase the blu rays or digital copies. Finally, it’s back online thanks to Syfy.com (for free! +/- a few ads) and, if you’ve never watched the series, I want to give you a few reasons to check it out…
- BSG navigated us through a post-9/11 world with nuance and sophistication.
- While several shows like 24 would attempt to make people feel like they had immense, lone action-hero types of power to confront both the real and imaginary dangers America faced, Galactica tackled those fears with much more subtlety and showed that the world wasn’t nearly as simple as terrorists bad, America good. It had the strength to tackle that uncomfortable space and make us think about how to not only proceed as citizens, but also as a nation. BSG did this without beating us on the head; it was really good sci-fi that worked hand-in-hand with modern parallels.
- That said, Cylons were never a perfect parallel for terrorism, nor were they meant to be. This allowed producers Ronald Moore and David Eick the ability to discuss a number of complicated issues, especially as the multitude of models began to surface. Particularly, the Cylon desire to become more human worked to humanize an enemy that had devastatingly struck at our protagonists and made it hard as a audience member to quickly and dispassionately demonize them.
- Moral decisions were never trivial. Each pressure cooker moment revealed just as much about our human protagonists as it did our machine antagonists, which would continue even as those lines got blurred in later seasons. BSG continued the strong sci-fi tradition of taking our current debates and letting the episode’s unique technical situation create an engaging conversation. Especially as the early 00’s was focused on military intervention, government overreach, abortion, and then some, BGS presented those issues and handled them with the upmost care.
- Solid mixture of practical effects, musical scoring, and the right amount of CGI.
- Galactica combined an interesting use of small camera techniques such as inner cockpit shots and cameras that seemed mounted onto the spaceships that created a feeling of being on a smaller scale within in the vast expanse of space. Muffled sounds in the space battle sequences let you feel the weight of gunfire and explosions in space without completely sacrificing the vacuum of space mechanic.
- Bear McCreary’s theme song is so good it’s hard to imagine a different theme song, other than the original 1970’s one, of course (he sneakily includes that one throughout the new show a few times). It strikes the right balance between militaristic and religious/spiritual musical cues and works incredibly well with every tone and the overarching themes (well…there is that one weird track in season two… you’ll know it when you hear it).
- There’s excellent CGI in this show, and while there’s certainly some spots where it doesn’t hold up as well (It’s been almost two decades), they were very strategic when and where those shots happened. That diligence has definitely contributed to those moments standing the test of time.
- It Never Got Enough Attention
- Yes, I know. Everyone’s favorite franchise never should have ended or didn’t get a fair shake, you got me there. And no, Battlestar was never in a Firefly situation, but being on SyFy Channel (or Sci-Fi, as it was spelled back then…geez I’m showing my age) meant there were plenty of people who never saw this show in it’s fullest. The original mini-series that hooked me and so many others debuted on NBC only to then start airing on SyFy. There’s also the small matter of the 2007 Writer’s Strike that affected the final season and definitely affected one storyline in particular (I can’t really talk about it without spoiling; there’s a particular mid-season break that shouldn’t have happened that made a particular plot point seem bigger than it was.)
- Over four seasons, BSG received 19 Emmy nominations, winning 3 times in sound editing and visual effects. Nothing to scoff at, obviously, but those tend to be the categories sci-fi shows excel at. A true shame that none of the actors, actresses, and writing in this series didn’t pick up wins.
- Astounding character arcs and performances
- Most BSG fans would likely agree with me that there are few poor performances within the series, but you will know them when you see them. If you hold my feet to the fire and want me to highlight the best of the best, you can’t talk Galactica without a few names…
- Laura Roslin (Mary McDonald)
- Best president in any series period. Yeah, even better than Josiah Bartlett. There. I said it. McDonald plays Roslin with grace and grit, being as soft as she wants to be with those she loves and as callous and rigid with her opponents. And honestly, you kind of need that kind of fortitude if you want to protect the remaining members of humanity. As you watch season one, pay attention to her early conflicts with our next character…
- William Adama (Edward James Olmos)
- You’re going to grow to love this old man. This chiseled veteran of the First Cylon War, Commander Adama, is constantly at odds with Roslin on how to best protect the fleet, but they begrudgingly accept how important their continued cooperation is to their survival. There’s a great moment in the mini-series that encapsulates this realization when Adama repeats the phrase, “They’d better start having babies,” echoing a argument Roslin made earlier than he had quickly dismissed.
- Gaius Baltar (James Callis)
- Where to even start?! Honestly, he’s a terrible human being, and yet you can’t stop watching to see how he’s going to get something past the crew or keep his treachery from being discovered. I can’t say much more than this, but the closest comparison I can give you is Parker Posey’s portrayal of Smith in the new Lost in Space series. It’s that powerful combination of conniving energy from a character you should hate that makes them continuously interesting.
- Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff)
- Galactica fandom lost their collective shit when we found out Starbuck (originally played by Dirk Benedict) had been cast as a woman for the new series. 4 seasons later and no one remembers that childish blowup because no one can honestly picture Starbuck as anyone else. She wears her character flaws on her sleeve and will out-drink and out-smoke the best of them – all the while irritating the mess out of characters and audience alike if you get too attached.
- I would talk about more characters and there’s some glaring obvious omissions, but if you’ve never seen the series before, I honestly have a hard time talking about them without spoilers, so how about you trust me that there’s a treasure trove of arcs I haven’t even touched on yet.
- You’ll Start Saying “Frak”…A Lot
- When you want your gritty 1970’s science fiction show to convey the majestic power of a F-bomb, you get creative. If you hear it in conversation, it can instantly identify a fellow fan and create an instant connection. There’re plenty more sayings you’ll catch as you watch the show, so I’ll let you enjoy those as they come.
- If you get hooked, you will have a wealth of additional content to check out, like the TV movies/series Razor, Blood & Chrome, and The Plan. If you want to dive deeper into the AI conversation, Caprica was an interesting take and direction for the series, though at the time it was a hard show to get into right off the heels of Galactica’s series finale.
Last Note: Watching Galactica for the first time or hundredth time won’t prepare you for Sam Esmail’s upcoming revival on NBC’s Peacock app (Mr. Robot) but it will take you back down memory lane with of one the best modern television shows. I’m hopeful the new series will be fantastic since Mr. Robot was a superb show, but I’m not holding my breath.
Want to relive the journey with us? Our official BSG re-watch has started, check it out here!
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