I need to give BSG a second chance

[xela]

It was as a teenager, during the initial network TV run of the original Battlestar Galactica, that I quit being willing to watch a TV show just because it was SF. So when BSG was resurrected in 2003, I wasn't very hopeful. (Especially after having my expectations raised by the first four seasons of Babylon 5 and Firefly. So I watched roughly half an episode of the new BSG miniseries in 2003, went "Enh", and haven't given it much thought since. (Yes, a lot of my friends have been raving about it. But I became inured to my friends raving about a show during the heyday of The X Files.)

But I just listened to this review, ion NPR's Weekend Edition, which blew me away. One of NPR's top political reporters, Andrea Seabrook, who normally covers Congress, was guest hosting this morning.

Andrea Seabrook:

I'm going to name a television show, and I predict you're going to think of campy plastic spaceships, and tin-can robots.... The new, updated Battlestar Galactica is not only not cheesy, it takes on some of the most complex ethical issues of our time. Still, don't take my word for it, Weekend Edition's entertainment critic Elvis Mitchell joins us.... [They exchange greetings, and she continues:] Elvis, okay, I confess: I love this show. It's dark — it's like film noir, almost — the characters are complex, and the story lines are relevant, of all things. The reviews also back me up, don't they?

Elvis Mitchell:

Yes. Nice to have the critics turn around and be right every once in a while.... There tend to be two kinds of Sci-Fi shows: The Star Trek model and the Star Wars model.... This ... is like neither....

The discussion gets difficult to condense at that point, and I don't want to transcribe the whole thing. But it makes a compelling case for why the new BSG is great television. A very compelling case. So I've decided to give BSG another chance.

So, to those of you going "Told you so!" right now, I say "Yes, you did. Thank you. Now, when you're done gloating, would you be so kind as to tell me where I should start with old episodes, and which are essential to watch in order to get current enough that watching new episodes will make sense?"

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[crs.livejournal.com]

Let's see... start with the pilot... then watch the next episode after that, and then the one after that... continue through the end of season 1. Then watch season 2 similarly.

There will be a couple rough patches you need to plow through but it's all worthwhile in the end. These patches do not appear, to my recollection, until late in season 2. I could try to figure out more specifically if you wanted, but I am a completionist at heart and therefore don't have that info at the tip of my fingers. The rule of thumb I formulated went something like: if the episode starts with a scene and then cuts away with text on the screen like "20 hour earlier...", there's a good chance you can skip the episode.

[kareila]

I would say all episodes are essential. Things happen each week that will matter later on, although certainly some more so than others.

There are three DVD sets available in Region 1 that will get you up to the beginning of the current season, which started three weeks ago.

"Season One" contains the original miniseries and all (thirteen?) first season episodes.

"Season 2.0" contains the first half of the second season, and "Season 2.5" finishes the second season - approximately 20 episodes in all, IIRC.

After that you could use the iTunes store to catch up to broadcast on the current season, or else wait for one of the rerun marathons SciFi airs every few months.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I've been working my way through it fairly recently, borrowing my housemate's DVD box set.

It's a weird one I have to say... some of the episodes are so amazingly dull, sort of a watching paint dry experience. You get to the end and think, stuff happened, I'm sure stuff happened, can't remember any of it, was it important?

But then I could never understand the appeal of Stargate SGI, I mean, I love sci-fi, and I will go out of my way to watch it, but the number of times I've sat down to watch Stargate and found myself in the kitchen washing up, or tidying the lounge, or reading a book halfway through an episode. At least Battlestar is engrossing enough for me to sit through it without nodding off.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

I've never seen even a partial episode of Stargate. I have a vague sense that I've seen promos for it, and went Uh. Whatever. And I don't recall anyone ever talking about it, the way people did about B5 and Firefly, and are now about BSG. So I figure the odds are pretty good we're not missing anything.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Ugh! Italics overdose!

That's what I get for not previewing...