Spoilers ahead.
I finished watching the entirety of the 2004 "Battlestar Galactica" series, not counting the two television movies and the webisodes. And that's more than enough for me. I have no interest in tracking down the longer versions of the episodes, all the extras, or the spinoff prequel "Caprica." As I explained in my writeup of the first season, "Battlestar Galactica" isn't really my kind of science fiction. It's a shouty military show about warfare and constant conflict, where entirely too much of the motivation on both sides seems to boil down to preordained destinies and religious fundamentalism. And this didn't change as the show went on.
I want to make it clear that there are some very good single episodes of "Galactica" that I really liked. The initial premiere miniseries is one of the best pieces of modern science-fiction television ever made. I admire the show's willingness to tackle spirituality, morality, class, race, labor, warfare, and politics from a variety of different angles. I like that none of the characters are infallible, and sometimes even the worst ones are capable of good insights and acts of courage. However, the larger storylines are generally disappointing, especially in the final seasons after the New Caprica arc is wrapped up. The social allegory gradually morphs into religious allegory, with some bizarre storytelling choices the closer we got to the ending. The character drama is generally okay, but I found it very difficult to stay invested in anyone's fates once it was clear that magical resurrections for both the Cylons and the humans were going to be a recurring thing.
I enjoyed many of the characters, especially Katee Sackoff's Starbuck, Kara Thrace. However, there was a lot about "Galactica" that I found difficult. I warmed up to some of the characters over time like Saul Tigh and Galen Tyrol. Unfortunately, I was constantly confusing Apollo and Sam Anders (Michael Trucco) until well into season three, and sometimes Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) and the Sixes. Don't get me started on Athena and Boomer. Gaius Baltar actually grew on me, because of how good he was at getting under the skin of everyone around him - two of the rare funny moments in the show involve characters reacting badly to the mention of his name. The acting generally got better with time, especially when they started adding more seasoned genre actors like Dean Stockwell, Lucy Lawless, and Callum Keith Rennie to play Cylons. Michelle Forbes and Mark Sheppard on the human side didn't hurt either.
The writing was very hit-or-miss all the way up to the end, sometimes orchestrating great feats of long-form drama, and sometimes resorting to cheap melodramatic devices to keep the audience engaged. It frustrated me to no end that the characters had mood and personality shifts constantly. For instance, the episode "Dirty Hands" features an Adama and Roslin who are unusually stubborn and unreasonable in the face of the injustices that Tyrol uncovers, forcing him to take drastic measures. The episode is otherwise excellent, but the tonal whiplash from this story coming directly after "A Day in the Life" with a much more empathetic Adama and Roslin, was significant. "Battlestar Galactica" is unusual for its darker, grimmer tone and content. However, that's another problem. Having characters who are constantly irritable, impulsive, and prone to aggression at the drop of a hat, week after week, simply isn't much fun to watch. As I've pointed out previously, the show was habitually overserious, with barely any humor in it, and sometimes the funniest bits were unintentional. I'm all for more adult treatment of sexuality in my sci-fi, but Baltar and Caprica's horny antics were often so campy and melodramatic, they bordered on parody. So ironically, most of the sex felt like a joke.
I'm glad I waited to watch "Galactica" until after it was over, and I had some distance from the initial discourse around the show. Looking at it in the context of the science-fiction television that came before and after its release, "Galactica" is an important bridge between the "Star Trek" style episodic shows, and the more serialized, character-oriented shows that became popular later. However, it was still carrying a lot of baggage from older science-fiction narratives, and parts of it haven't aged well. The writers repeatedly ticked me off with bizarre plot twists and poor planning. It's trying much too hard to be adult and edgy, and ends up looking more juvenile as a result.
I'm glad I watched the show, and very glad that it got made the way its creators wanted, but I have to conclude that I am not a fan. And this is where I leave it.
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