An excellent article on the opening episode of this season's Battlestar Galactica.

One thing that remains resonant with me as Battlestar Galactica pushes buttons and explores both spiritual and political themes is that... when we lose our sense of humanity, we lose our ability to thrive and evolve as a species. The only way that the cylons have been able to evolve is to take on human form, and to surprisingly, begin to feel, think and believe things that they hadn't anticipated when starting this whole "birthing" experiment.

It's equally as thought-provoking to experience the "human" cylons presenting a whole new "face" of "the enemy" to the fleet/civilians, making it more difficult for humans to kill them without thinking about it first. The same conflict is more and more present as the human cyclons interact with the fleet/civilians. It's interesting that what seems to be de-programming "Sharon" is her capacity to feel emotions like love, trust and recently... loyalty to people that she was once programmed to destroy. It's really an eloquent way to explore these issues without being "preachy" or taking one particular side.

I love Galactica because it explores all of the gray areas in some very deep and profound political, social and spiritual issues. These issues are far too complex to be cut and dried, black and white. When we begin thinking in black and white terms, we may as well all be robots too. I'm always so thrilled when art and fiction remind us of these very resonant real-life things... it's why I loved V for Vendetta, too... come to think of it, Galactica really has that same epic and profound scale as V for Vendetta... except on a weekly basis, which is great!

I'm really pleased that Galactica earned a Peabody Award, because it's been confounding and disappointing to see it passed by at the Emmy's and Golden Globes year after year. It's because Science Fiction has a "stigma" attached to it; it's been that way for years. Nobody on "the boards" of "esteemed Hollywood societies" want to give credit to Science Fiction as a relevant and award-worthy genre. I hope that maybe Galactica can tear down that stigma. I know that Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide have wanted it to take home some awards... maybe that will encourage the rest of the "industry" to take notice and give them the "official acclaim" that's been long overdue.

This season looks like it will be the darkest ever, and I cannot wait to see how life on New Caprica all unfolds.

SPOILER ALERT:

What did you all think of the first episode? What do you think is going to happen with Starbuck now that she has a half-cylon daughter?

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