Galacticon

K and I have become addicted to Battlestar Galactica, which aired between 2004 and 2008 on the lowly Syfy Channel. I know we are addicted because I get very angry every time there is a lame episode, which is happening more often now that we are in Season 3, the season "where Galactica lost its way." I feel betrayed by this series and I swear I am done with it. That is how I know I am addicted. It feels like the emotional push-and-pull of an affair.

K punched me in the arm last night after I scrolled ahead to see when the series was going to get good again. I discovered a spoiler reading through the synopses, oops.

Furious!

First, I'd just like to say that I was skeptical of this series and Syfy's low-budget history of purchasing schlocky content for its programming. I have worked on a few movies that ended up on the Syfy Channel, and, let me tell you, it is nothing to be proud of.

But this show is pretty durn good, and one of the main reasons is because it seems to be addressing many important sci-fi themes in its episodes. I'll say it: Battlestar Galactica is superior science fiction; more so than the Star Wars franchise, which isn't really sci-fi, more like space fantasy.

We are getting to know the writers and the directors, and who is great and who is not, and which episodes were probably purchased on spec, since they involve writers who never returned and involve plots that have nothing to do with anything else. These are the worst and most frustrating episodes: the ones where half the cast is on hiatus and none of the main storylines are pushed forward and it's just a standalone plot that has nothing to do with anything--characters are introduced just to be killed and when it's done you wonder why you wasted your time with it.

If I waited an entire week for such an episode, I'd be even more furious.

Here are some pros and cons of the Galacticon:

Pros:

-Canadian actors and production lend series a stilted "foreign" edge

-Best director able to combine terrible new age soundtracks with sublimely emotional scenes

-Supporting actors (not Edward James Olmos) are Canadian and have never gone on to do anything else meaningful (except for the Asian American Cylon who is in Hawaii Five-O), thus they completely embody these characters.

-Great handheld, zoomy CG shots of ships in space!

-FX great for low-budget television

-Aforementioned sci-fi themes addressed

-Baltar

-Documentary-style shooting surprisingly non-annoying

-The use of "frack" as a substitute for "fuck"

Cons:

-Some questionable actors in supporting roles

-QC problems in the latter half of Season 2 and Season 3

-Actors not strong enough to transcend their directors-for-hire (great acting when working with skilled director, bad acting when working with poop directors)

-Uneven writing

-The use of "frack" as a substitute for "fuck"

This is my first time to sit down and view the entire lifespan of a television series on fast-forward. What becomes clear is how hard it must be to farm out episodes to guest directors and writers and juggle the cast and keep quality up when you're cranking out 20 episodes on a short production schedule.

If the original creators wrote all of the episodes and the main director directed all of the episodes, then this would be the most amazing television ever created.

But it doesn't work that way. They have to crank out 20 hours of television a season, good Lord. It's almost 80 hours of content, total.

Talk about a real space opera.

And to think that a movie that's 2 hours and 20 minutes feels unnecessarily long. How about 80 hours?

For now, though, the Galacticon and I are taking some time off from each other. I hear the last season is fantastic, but I'm not sure I can muddle through the half-assedness.

I need you to commit to this relationship, Galacticon.

I need you to believe in us.