I took a science-fiction literature class in college (yes, that and taking a Shakespeare class when it wasn't required cements my nerd status). One of the first things we were told is that the best science fiction is nothing more than a vehicle for a story/lesson. Sure, there is fun to be had with sci-fi such as the original BSG and Star Wars (which is more science-fantasy), but what many consider to be serious sf (the appropriate abbreviation according to my prof.) is deeper than that. So in that regard, the new BSG series is much more serious sf than the old one was. Since I don't remember much of the old series (I was born in '77, after all), I can't attest to whether it's any more entertaining than the new one in my opinion. I can say that I can appreciate both "for fun" and "serious" science-fiction and I love BSG and can't wait for it to come back on the air.
I just figured she was the 5th Cylon of the Final Five, so when her ship exploded, she was reborn and came back to freak out Lee (among other more important things, I'm sure.
Yea, I can definately understand the appeal of the new series. It's well acted and all the technical production is solid... it's just too... I dunno... filled with generic doom. Nothing good ever happens... who needs interesting aliens and whatnot? ... we'll just pound home the constant non-stop ridiculous amounts of people arguing. Maybe things have gotten better after the first season... but wow... right from the beginning when a single numeric code is all the Cylons needed to completely cripple all of humanity's defenses... I knew I was in for trouble. All of the "seriousness" is lost on me when the show is based around such a ludicrously dumb band of bickering humans that I couldn't care less about.
I thought that the first series did a better job just looking at your professor's criteria. For the most part, each episode was it's own self-contained story/lesson... kind of lke Star Trek:TOS. The characters were boradly defined archetypes that could be plugged into that week's required story/lesson. The focus was sharper. Sure, it was cheesy cornball goofiness a lot of the time... but it was an honest, simple effort that didn't feel the need to overdo the generic character driven melodrama. I guess I don't appreciate the "seriousness for the sake of itself" slant that modern sci-fi TV series have warped into over the last 20 years or so.
Just FYI - It's been announced that Season Four will be the last season.
Finally. For those of us who can only catch this on DVD, season 3 is scheduled to be released on March 25th.
Amazon has Season 3 listed for release on March 18th.
And it's back on Universal HD, looks like they are starting with season one. It's not on their own website schedule yet , but it's on others... I wonder if they will jump ahead when it's time and give us the season 4 episodes a week after they are on Sci-Fi like they did with season 3, or we may have a long wait until we get season 4 in HD.
If we're talking the new one...after the original mini-series....you and be both.
I'm incredibly okay with it.