BattleStar Galactica Review
I was curious about BattleStar Galactica as a sci-fi lover, the moment I heard about it. I had a little notion about the older tv-show and knew that it was a classical human against robots story. What I expected from the new series was again a classical human against robots story with some visual effects spice add-on.
The new story begins with 2 episode MiniSeries nearly lasting 3 hours and shocking enough to make you yearn for more. (This yearning will be addiction later on) The MiniSeries starts with all 12 colonies of human population nuked and just one Battlestar and few civilian ships left behind. When I watched the MiniSeries I knew that it's an extraordinary story with extraordinary athmosphere and extraordinary visual effects.
The plot of BattleStar Galactica is: Remains of the 12 colonies start their journey in search of the 13th colony which has dwelled to an unknown planet called "Earth".
The series deals with a question scratching your brain "What defines a human being?" The cylons which have their own feelings, thought, beliefs and motives, leaving you thinking of "how can a human life be more valuable than a cylons?" The main axis of the story is walking around this confusing and one of the favorite question of science fiction. (My favorite movie Blade Runner also approached this question)
The characters of the series is strongly developed. Main character Adama is the strongest character ever written, a man who can stand solid even when whole human population is about the extinct. Starbuck is a wild character that can't be tamed. (In the original series the character was a man but now a woman for the reasons I will explain in following paragraphs) Lee Adama, son of admiral is trying to prove himself (which is kind of hard for being the son of most solid character ever) and we analyze the father-son relation evolving through out the series. Laura Roslin is the president of 12 colonies who became president as only remaining government official. She is the only one who can challenge the authority of Adama. (We get to see the struggle between military and civilian authority) Through out the series we are told the story by analyzing the relationship with those main (and many other) characters.
The plot is built in a complex structure which differs from reality that the series are simulating world in different conditions, making us think "What if the world was like ...". We can say that there are signs of matriarchy in the series where president Laura Roslin is a strong woman like Starbuck who is displayed as a woman unlike the original series. The concept of God is highly present in BattleStar Galactica. The humans are polytheist, they believe in 12 Gods representing colonies while cylons are monotheist believing in one and only God. BattleStar Galactica has many references to the real world. The names of the twelve colonies resemble the 12 zodiac signs: "Aerelon, Tauron, Gemenon, Canceron, Leonis, Virgon, Libris, Scorpia, Sagittaron, Caprica, Aquaria, Pykon". The name of characters are resembling myths; Adama for Adam (First man) , Helena Cain for Cain (First murderer) and etc..
You can check for references and other useful info about battlestar galactica at BattleStarWiki.
The three seasons is over now and the fanatics of BattleStar Galactica are now waiting for the fourth (and last probably) season. There is also a movie about the story of Pegasus : "Razor". I am sorry for fourth season to be the last one but I have faith in BattleStar Galactica writers and they will give a fulfilling last episode to fans.
