battlestar galactica

Science fiction most often takes place in societies with more advanced technology than ours. Since our world has effective birth control, it seems reasonable to assume that most science fiction societies would have even more reliable birth control, would have had it for longer than we’ve had it, and, thus, would have integrated it more fully into their cultures. In such societies, an unplanned pregnancy would be virtually unheard of—unless it were related to social prohibitions against birth control or to some weird alien/nefarious/divine intervention. Yet much of science fiction TV and film treats unplanned pregnancies as if they were the natural order of things.

Battlestar Galactica

This is the third of my three-part series. This one’s a little different, and includes spoilers for everything that has aired so far.

I love this show so frakking much! Surprising me more than anyone, it has managed to climb to the number one spot in my mind. I still consider myself fairly new to my geek cred, and can’t say I ever considered the Sci Fi channel a place to find awesome programming. That’s right—I was one of those elitist snobs who considered this genre “hoaky” or “too unrealistic.” Thanks to a slew of friends, the influence of Joss Whedon, and now Ronald Moore, science fiction dominates my TiVo. Battlestar Galactica (amongst other programs, such as Farscape and the new Doctor Who series) has proven over and over again that this genre is nothing approaching hoaky. And the first arc of this season has surprised me in too many ways to recount. The biggest, though, is that I was in tears over the death of Ellen Tigh, easily my most hated character of Season’s 1 and 2. What the frak?!?

October is one of the better months of the year: leaves change, the weather cools, and costumes and candy are plentiful. This year, I have another reason to be excited about October – three returning television shows. During the first week of October, Veronica Mars, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica all return for what promises to be a terrific season of television.