it's been a while

The last time I had an obsession with a television show was two summers ago when I tried to convince my (then new) roommates that one of the best shows on television (which, of course, they had never deemed worthy enough to watch before) was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I brought over a friend's entire collection, which we then copied onto the computer and burned onto DVD's.

And though it's arguable (to some) that Buffy is good tv fodder, the roomies liked it, at least the first two or three seasons.

I guess before I go on, I should at least say a couple things about my television viewing habits. I tend not to really watch television very much, being somewhat of a pretentious artist that lived without a tv for two years. With the advent of the dvd and collected series, I've become something of a gobbler of television programs. I want it all in one big heaping serving. I love when cable channels do marathons (even if I'd never expressed interest in the program previously); I watched all of America's Next Top Supermodel simply because one after the other kept coming and I couldn't stop. This is how I read books (all in one frenzied day) and it seems to be in keeping with my other types of consumption.

For the last year or so, the itch to watch Battlestar Galactica built itself up slowly. It started one lone night when Sci fi was airing an episode somewhere in the second season that, of course, didn't make any sense to us at the time. The storyline is highly myth-based and it's rare that there's an episode that stands alone as its own story. Then another episode emerged during a bored session with the remote control (which still didn't make any sense) and it was certain that we had to figure out that show and fast.

But then I started school and life just got kind of hectic and out of control...until I got an offer for Netflix. Eric used to have Netflix but cancelled it, so I took the opportunity to sign up, start a que, and of course, at the top of my list was Disk One Season One of Battlestar Galactica. When I informed the roommates, I knew Greg would be excited, but Jill informed me she had all of the BG series on her que. I simply shrugged and told her it was at the top of my list. (how's that for territoriality and alpha girl behavior?)

So it came, and we rapidly coursed through all of Season One, which was much shorter than Season Two (in the typical treatment of "shows" a smaller run was "ordered."). Season Two actually just ended, but the first half is available on Netflix and Disc One of Season Two is waiting in the computer, ready to go, waiting for Eric and I to be able to watch it together.

So why do I like the show so much? I guess to me it's kind of brilliant. Everything about it is just right, except for the fact that nothing makes much sense if you're arriving late, which I usually am. I love the dialogue, the writing, the plots, the characters, the scenes, the equipment, the war, the philosophy, the religion, the ideas, I love all of it. I even like the fact that for most of the time, the good guys are good but sometimes they aren't, sometimes they break the rules to do what they think is right and they're still pretty much fragged (or fucked as the writers of BG made up to conviently avoid the bleeping).

Mostly I think I like it because there is no current science fiction television series on the air that is as original as this series. Some of us nerds are very tired of watching the posh crew of the Star Trek TNG, or the grainy original series with Captain Kirk, or the other Star Trek spinoffs. I think the last sci-fi show I championed heartily was Sliders, though I admitted it was very weak in many areas is out on Netflix, and it suffers not from myth-based chronology, but from other things...still Sliders was a very good show in my opinion.