Note: This was written years ago, but it still applies. Hope you enjoy.
Some time ago, I was asked on a message board what my view of the new Battlestar Galactica was. I said at that time that I haven’t watched it yet because I haven’t bought the DVD’s. I like watching shows on DVD, especially classic TV like Emergency (I get to see Engine 51 everyday because it is the engine for the volunteer fire dept. here in Yosemite) and Battlestar Galactica, and recent shows (some not so recent) like Babylon 5, The West Wing, Northern Exposure, Firefly, Alias, and Absolutely Fabulous. The real reason – I hate commercials, and this comes from someone who was almost in one herself many, many years ago. For a long time (several years), I was never going to watch the new BG. I was one of those fans who didn’t want a new revision but a version with the original actors and characters, and of course their offspring. I wanted to see BG the way I remembered – Starbuck, Apollo, Boxey – er, Troy, and the metal Cylons. I would have protested the new BG if I wasn’t so busy writing. Thank goodness for Richard Hatch’s books and comics because I’d been wondering for years (or yahrens) why no one got off their butts and at least write newstories, like with the Star Wars books and comics. I even remember telling Richard at San Diego Comic-con in 1996 (on Star Wars day – which ended up being Battlestar Galactica day for me) that I’m glad someone is writing BG stories, even if they are comics, and soon books. At least I didn’t have 3-day laryngitis like I did when I met Mark Hamill in 1995. It turned out that I wasn’t the only fan who didn’t want a revised version of BG, including Richard Hatch. So I guess after three years of hearing that the new BG is the best show on TV, and feeling that Richard Hatch was a traitor (for like five minutes) for being on the new BG (he even mentions it in the liner notes of Redemption) and that he embraced the new BG, I finally decided to watch the new series. So I bought the DVD’s, watched them, and even shared them with my mum while visiting her in Ireland. I enjoyed them immensely. My mom enjoyed them, too. This is the same woman who screams “You met Richard Hatch” in a store in Waco, TX in January 1997. She’s an All My Children watcher, and knows every character’s plots since the beginning of the show (yes, that’s why she freaked when I told her I met Richard). She saved my BG stories all these years, too – the ones I wrote in 1978-1980.
I like the new Cylons, especially Six in Baltar’s mind. And I also liked it when Bartar was in hers. It shows the two of them are more alike than they think. Even though one of the reasons why I hadn’t watched the new BG is because Starbuck is a woman, I’ve actually come to like Kara. And I also like Tom Zarek, probably because he says what is on his mind. Is he a terrorist? Is he a freedom fighter? Is he a genius? Is he a manipulator like Emperor Palpatine? Is he laughing boy?
I’ve watched seasons one and two three times, once with the commentaries. The madness of Dirk Benedict cracked me up. I can completely imagine him standing there in the temple with a cigar in his mouth saying, “I’m God.” It would have made a good piece for a gag reel. I was laughing so hard that I had to pause the DVD and run to the bathroom. And then when “Don’t cross the streams” and “Cross the streams” was said during the “Home (pt. 2) episode commentary, I was laughing again because it was “Ghostbusters” lines. I had to watch that movie afterwards and complain about barely hearing the two lines to “I Can Wait Forever” over the mover’s Walkman as I usually do.
I have only two complaints. I hate the name Lee. No, I loathe the name Lee. First name only, and that spelling. I still wish Starbuck was a sexy blond man. Sue me. Dirk Benedict was my first crush. Yeah, I know he’s not a blond, but he was on BG as Starbuck. I think admitting that made me feel my age.
Okay, so I’ve come around full circle about the new BG. I embrace it, but I will tell you this. The classic Battlestar Galactica is still the best for me. I’ve never once stopped being a fan. Not like with Star Wars, where I never thought about it during my teens, or when I stopped reading the books when they changed publishers and Luke married Mara Jade, but that ended, too. I even got people to talk about BG while waiting in line to see “Revenge of the Sith.” I brought Destiny with me to read while in line. With the 30th anniversary approaching, I’m still a Battlestar Galactica fan, and that will never change. Frack! Am I that old?
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