April 15th, 2008
Battlestar Galactica Is More Than Science Fiction
Three science fiction television series stand head and shoulders above all the rest: StarTrek (the original and all its derivatives), Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica. Firefly had potential to join this elite group, but was much too short-lived. The focus of this article is on Battlestar, since the series is entering its final season.
The current Battlestar Galactica is a superb science fiction series. No, that is too weak a statement; Battlestar Galactica may be the best dramatic show on the tube, regardless of genre. In 2006, BG won the Peabody Award, a first for the SciFi Channel. Time Magazine called it one of the top shows on television and described it as a ripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with religious fundamentalists, sleeper cells, civil liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner torture scandal.