Re-Imagining Battlestar Galactica

Right, I gotta admit I'm hooked.

Recently I chanced upon a sci-fi series that was a remake of an original 1979 production. It's called Battlestar Galactica. Who remembers the walking shining pieces of chrome toasters called the Cylons? Ok, maybe this will jog your memory. Starbuck? Apollo? Tri-winged fighter planes called Vipers? no...?

No one?... ok... I live in a different era, or maybe even a different world...

I'm not surprised since the original only ran for a season before the Moguls in Universal pulled the plug citing low ratings. But it garnered a cult following and over the years, they're still holding Galaticons and celebrating its 25th anniversary! :) no one can keep a good stuff down, no matter how deep you dig the grave.

Well, these very fans who grew up with it are adults now, and they have breathed a new life into this series. They tore the body apart, keeping only the chasis of what it stood for and gave it a brand new makeover that threatens to break Sci-fi genre on television.

It's grittier, it's edgier and there're no longer the cheesy 70s heroic antics that was so prevalent in the original series. People actually mourn for those who died in battle in this new series. In the previous one, comrades who died only serve to make the heroes look better and when they fly home, everybody just cheers brainlessly for them.

One particular scene in the first episode of the new series that really got my attention and my allegiance to this new series was when one of the heroines walked past a corridor filled with photos of the deceased. Pictures of loved ones and their families with candles that stood virgil lined the walls of the corridor, much like what you see when people mourned for victims of disasters, like 9-11 and the recent Asian Tsunami.

The remake, is not just another series filled with CGI, but it has character and real life tensions that makes it a real sci-fi drama.

ok,ok... still don't get what I'm talking about?

The story goes. Humanity's children, the machines, known as Cylons, rebelled against their masters and were exiled from the 12 Clonies of Mankind in another sector of space. They were driven away after a long and bloody battle between Man and Machine. However, after 40 years, they have returned to seek their revenge bent on totally destroying the human race.

The Battlestar Galactica, with a handful of civilian ships, survived the holocaust because it was the only Battlstar that was not affected by the virus which the Cylons had used on the human's Defense Mainframe, since it had technology so old, it wasn't linked to the Network.

Now, chased down by their enemies, they have warped out of the boundaries of their planetary system. Their only hope for survival is to look for the 13th colony of Man known as Earth.

Well, I guess, we're gonna be in trouble some day... thanks to our "brothers" who will be bringing a bunch of man-killers into our very own backyard...

Anyway, genocide aside, let's look at some Cylon fashion.

This was how they looked like 40 years ago.

This is how they look now.

Well, what can I say, I'm sure the Cylons did a great job with Extreme Makeover. Look at the hair! Look at those eyes! Look at the nose job! And look at those... ok, shall not go there...

Yup, they made themselves look human so they can infiltrate the colonies and destroy the human race. But, nah, not all of them are human looking, the rest are still metal tin cans walking around (robots in background, in case you're too focused on what's in the foreground, dodo...) But, I must admit, they still look menacing and insidious, thanks to modern CGI.

So, here's how it all began. Out of my curiosity, I downloaded the 1st epdisode of the series, which was a continuation of a 2-part TV movie, and watched it. Since then, I never looked back. I tried looking all over the place for the 2 parter on DVD but can't find it in Singapore. It turned out, that they didn't import any copies into Singapore.

Thankfully, my friend Troy who worked in New York, managed to gets his paws, on my behalf, on the last copy that was selling at Virgin records just below his office. Everywhere he checked, it was all sold out. And now... the last copy, probably, is in the hands of a Singaporean... wha hahahahaha.... Ahahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA.... stupid Americans!!

First, it was Creative on the Nasdaq, then it was Singtel buying out Optus Australia, and SIA takeover on ANZ... whaddaya know! the Singaporean invasion is beginning, and I'm following the Government's call for globalisation... wahahahaha...

"I bought your last copy of Battlestar Galactica 2003, stupid Americans..."

"Damn you, Chink!" (background cursing from stupid American...)

Alright now... let's not get hostile here.

Whatever it is, when the series is out on DVD, I'm gonna get my paws on it as well.