Alright, I’m going to start this off with an unimaginable but simple statement: I’m a sci-fi nut who has never watched Battlestar Galactica (I’m talking about the new series, here). I liked the idea of it, I just didn’t have any interest in it. Everything I knew about Battlestar Galactica beforehand matched it up with Star Wars: A New Hope. Some even went so far as to tell me that if you’ve seen Star Wars, you didn’t need to see the original Battlestar Galactica, and it sat as mostly a cult classic. Having not grown up with it, I chose not to care about it.
Throughout the 1990s, I grew up with Star Trek, which I was born on. Over the years my appreciation for certain shows grew while others slipped to near zero (Voyager, don’t even get me started), but as my interests matured, I discovered the gem that was Deep Space Nine. DS9 is probably the most forgotten of all the series’, rated least favourite next to Enterprise. Few realized the awards and appreciation that this series actually got during it’s original run.. from people who weren’t even Star Trek fans. It did something that Star Trek hadn’t done in a TV series before: it tried to tell a story.
When planning to write about DS9, I ran across an article comparing the two series’ and discovered that the main vision behind DS9 was also behind the new BSG series. This pleased me, greatly. Now I -have- to watch it. The article is linked at the bottom, but for anyone who hasn’t seen DS9 (and I mean REALLY watched it), you really won’t understand it.
I’ve met a lot of people who’ve “seen” DS9, meaning they watched some episodes here or there and had absolutely no idea that there was a story arc that encompassed half the series, so I suggest now that you give it a shot. It starts off slow, but there is some INSANELY good character development. Treading on the darker side of humanity and starfleet to show that the Federation isn’t the utopia that we’d like the future to be, but damnit we’re trying. Constant suspicions that are reminiscent of the Cylon threat, because of the Shapeshifting ‘Founders’, and while the series didn’t end on the greatest note, it’s definitely worth the watch. The journey is fantastic.
Now, time to watch BSG, the “new, improved” DS9.
Bashir: Out of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren’t?
Garak: My dear doctor, they’re all true.
Bashir: Even the lies?
Garak: Especially the lies.
Battlestar Galactica? IT'S A FAAAAKE!