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krpalmerI had been keeping a close eye on when Battlestar Galactica would return to the Space channel, but in the process I was perhaps almost surprised (but pleasantly) to see that a new season of Doctor Who would begin just days later on CBC. Beyond, of course, that they're the two live-action science fiction television shows I'm watching these days, there's a sort of special connection between them for me.
I was perhaps just a little too young to become really interested in the original Battlestar Galactica; the late-1970s Star Wars "ripoff" I was more interested in was Disney's The Black Hole movie (if mostly for its robots and other mechanical designs). When I heard the show was being remade and reimagined, I was simply curious, but when I heard its miniseries beginning was being expanded into a series, I perhaps felt almost compelled to start in on it from the beginning. With too many other science fiction television shows, from Babylon 5 to Farscape to Firefly (cruelly, in that case I bothered to watch the first few minutes of the first televised episode, thought, "Huh, space western," and then decided I didn't have the time to follow it), I found myself in retrospect with the odd sense that I had missed out. This time, things would be different... and while my overwhelmed sense of "This is the greatest thing ever!" I was left with by the first series episode of Battlestar Galactica did fade to a more measured appreciation of the series, I was still glad I'd made the effort this time around. Then, though, when the talk of a revival of Doctor Who materialised into a broadcast on CBC, I was able to start watching it, and that was that.
Right now, it seems that the shift in setting that closed Battlestar Galactica's second season seems to be working in keeping the show interesting. As many have said, things are getting unpleasant for humanity (something about the constant overflights help make their environment intimidating to me), and I just may have fixated for the moment on the changes and promotions among the characters left on the battlestars. (Of course, I should pretty much expect they may not be able to keep their hands clean forever...) I was interested and a little bit pleased to see Kat's minor character status continue to advance to CAG status, and it was nice to see the Sharon stuck on Galactica be accepted into the Colonial Fleet... although I spent a little while in sudden wondering if there was a resonance between this and humans being enrolled by the Cylon-controlled police before telling myself that Sharon had gone over to the human side of her own free will in the very first place; she hadn't been just captured to begin with. The cliffhanger was a definite stunner, even if I had spent a few moments beforehand wondering why people hadn't settled where there were the trees shown in the location shooting...
No sooner had Doctor Who begun anew than the show had to switch Doctors, but this is of course one of its peculiar strengths. Over the course of one episode, I found myself going from wondering "Do these references to the previous season make it harder for someone to start fresh at this point?" to being impressed by the development of a returning character; the show may also require starting from its new beginning, but in a useful way. The special effects do have a somewhat "obvious" quality to them, and yet I contemplate that they try to show a lot more variety within and between episodes than Battlestar Galactica needs. Two shows restarting in an interesting way are better than one.
I was perhaps just a little too young to become really interested in the original Battlestar Galactica; the late-1970s Star Wars "ripoff" I was more interested in was Disney's The Black Hole movie (if mostly for its robots and other mechanical designs). When I heard the show was being remade and reimagined, I was simply curious, but when I heard its miniseries beginning was being expanded into a series, I perhaps felt almost compelled to start in on it from the beginning. With too many other science fiction television shows, from Babylon 5 to Farscape to Firefly (cruelly, in that case I bothered to watch the first few minutes of the first televised episode, thought, "Huh, space western," and then decided I didn't have the time to follow it), I found myself in retrospect with the odd sense that I had missed out. This time, things would be different... and while my overwhelmed sense of "This is the greatest thing ever!" I was left with by the first series episode of Battlestar Galactica did fade to a more measured appreciation of the series, I was still glad I'd made the effort this time around. Then, though, when the talk of a revival of Doctor Who materialised into a broadcast on CBC, I was able to start watching it, and that was that.
Right now, it seems that the shift in setting that closed Battlestar Galactica's second season seems to be working in keeping the show interesting. As many have said, things are getting unpleasant for humanity (something about the constant overflights help make their environment intimidating to me), and I just may have fixated for the moment on the changes and promotions among the characters left on the battlestars. (Of course, I should pretty much expect they may not be able to keep their hands clean forever...) I was interested and a little bit pleased to see Kat's minor character status continue to advance to CAG status, and it was nice to see the Sharon stuck on Galactica be accepted into the Colonial Fleet... although I spent a little while in sudden wondering if there was a resonance between this and humans being enrolled by the Cylon-controlled police before telling myself that Sharon had gone over to the human side of her own free will in the very first place; she hadn't been just captured to begin with. The cliffhanger was a definite stunner, even if I had spent a few moments beforehand wondering why people hadn't settled where there were the trees shown in the location shooting...
No sooner had Doctor Who begun anew than the show had to switch Doctors, but this is of course one of its peculiar strengths. Over the course of one episode, I found myself going from wondering "Do these references to the previous season make it harder for someone to start fresh at this point?" to being impressed by the development of a returning character; the show may also require starting from its new beginning, but in a useful way. The special effects do have a somewhat "obvious" quality to them, and yet I contemplate that they try to show a lot more variety within and between episodes than Battlestar Galactica needs. Two shows restarting in an interesting way are better than one.