Rabe said:
And the president's still alive? Didn't she have a pretty evolved terminal illness way back in the first season?
Highlight to read, since it's a big season 2 spoiler:
Boomer and Helo's baby was born a few eps before the finale. In it, the ship's doctor discovered that the baby's unique physiology/blood had healing properties. He tested it on the Laura and she was cured of her cancer. They also decided to tell Boomer and Helo that the baby died, and they shipped the infant off to a woman somewhere in the Fleet.
Honestly, that was my only real complaint about season two (okay, that and Lee's little flirtation with Dee, ugh). It had a bit of a Starchild effect and felt cheap, but I understood some of the storytelling reasons behind the decision.
That said, I adore this show. I never watched the original in first-run, and viewing reruns on Sci Fi every now and again, I usually laugh my way through the entire episode. It is a classic show, but if someone tried to air that today, as is, it would get canned after three episodes. And it must say something if the original series lasted ONE season. To SF fans, it's a classic. To the rest of the TV audience, it's just silly camp.
Marketing the new BSG to a broader audience was brilliant. The humans are enough like us that we can identify with them (neckties and license plates), but also different enough (praying to Athena) that we never mistake them for us. They don't have to wear silly costumes and weird Egyptian helmets in order for us to believe that it's a SF show.
It can be an emotionally draining show, but that's why I love it. I know I can watch it, and be affected by fiction every single week. Affected by the story and the characters. Few shows can guarantee that, fewer novels, and even fewer movies. Adama and Apollo have one of the most complex father/son relationships out there. I adore the father/daughter relationship Adama has with Kara Thrace (who is, in a way, a completely different character who just happens to have the handle "Starbuck").
Plus any show with a naked Jamie Bamber gets points from me.
The one thing I still don't get are the conversations that go like this...
Me: Have you seen the new Battlestar Galactica?
Them: That show is terrible. The original is so much better.
Me: Have you actually watched an episode of the new one?
Them: No.
Reminds me of my six year old nephew. He refused to try tomato saunce on his spagetti because he didn't like it. "It's gross." He had to have it with butter only. Funny how he'd never once tried it with tomato sauce, so how did he know he didn't like it? Then one day he gave it chance, and loves it!
Hmmm....
But I digress.
My number one reason for loving this show, and why it's better than most TV on air today: there is
not always a happy ending.
There, I said it. I hate it when there is always a neat little solution to every week's problem, wrapped up with a bow on top. That's why I don't watch sitcoms anymore. I want something with an edge, with emotion and with impact. Maybe I don't like every storyline, or every direction they choose to take the show, but its brilliance far outshines its flaws.