SCIFI DVD EXTRAVAGANZA

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I got battlestar galactica and firefly this christmas... yay
Having rewatched a couple of episodes of BSTAR has reminded me of why I feel the new SCI-FI channel movie sucked.
Sure some of the acting may have been lame, and the special effects repetitive but for its time Bstar was ahead of the game. And do you want to know why?
Mythology.
Thats what the series is all about, the reality of myths and the nobility of spirit.
Sci-Fi turned it around with one simple stupid change.
The Psilons.
By making the Psilons a human creation they remove the external threat of the show and make us more culpable in the eventual destruction of our race. It worked better that the Psilons were created by another race (which they then overthrew) because then our understanding of their nature would be incomplete. Their programs, motivations and reactions would not only be alien colored by alien perception and thought. They are the bogeyman we can never hope to understand.
In spite of military overtones Galactica is also not a military show. It worked best as a wagon train series drawing from American mythology and history.

the Western is also very apparent in Firefly the smart Jos Whedon epic series dropped by FOX last year mid season.
Im sure I dont know why they never developed a fan base wht with their never being on in the same time slot, or the same day and without any advertising by FOX itself. Heck Girls Club got more advertising and it was cancelled after an episode.
Still with the DVD release fans can see a smartly written and beautifully shot science fiction show where the future isn't perfect, but dirty violent and exciting at the same time. Firefly is the western reborn with charaters moving out to the fringes to start new lives and live free from harsh laws.
Both DVD's remind me of what I love in Science Fiction.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

and all this time I was sure it was "Cylon"


but you're right about the mythology. I didn't watch the SF miniseries, though. I was scared to try it.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

it is Cylon... sorry not much sleep last night.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

oh, I thought maybe I just had it wrong.

But on a completely unrelated note, I can't find my copy of "Freedom City." Last I saw it was when I was reading it right before you came over on Saturday. Then we sat down where I was reading it. It COULD be at one other place, but I dont' remember ever getting it out of my bag, and now it's missing. Did it happen to slip get mixed up with your stuff when you were packed up?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

no I would've noticed that... sorry... what did you think of Dungeoneer?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

dang, wonder where it is.

I liked it. It was a little dungeon crawl, but like you said, more people would have added a complexity that would have been more entertaining.

[Fellfrosch]

Whoa. I was pretty sure that the humans created the Cylons in the original series--and I haven't seen the new mini-series, so I know I'm not confusing it with that. I'll have to look that up...where I don't know.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

nope the cylons created the cylons... they were a lizard like race that made the robots to compete with humans physically... they rebelled and destroyed their creators and then began to conquor everyone. Humans became involved defending other races which fell prey to the cylons and eventually are destroyed by them. Think of them as Babylon.