Battle Star

Perhaps I am simply becoming more aware of these things, but mistake me if I’m wrong, is American television not experiencing something of a Renaissance at the moment? The likes of ‘Lost’, ‘24’, the ‘OC’ and ‘Scrubs’ etc seem to be winning over people in their droves. And not just Americans, but intelligent and straight thinking Europeans, people who would otherwise baulk at the thought of consuming anything ‘American’. My flatmates, for example, have recently become slaves to the goings on of another, slightly less known television drama called ‘Heroes’.

Has this always been the case? Has American television always secured a devoted fan base, a devoted and cross-generational fan base at that (many of my mates parents can’t get enough of ‘Lost’ for example). Or is this something new? I suspect it is. Sure we all watched ‘Friends’ and many became addicted to ‘Sex in the City’ but never did these programs seem to attain the cult status that program after program seems to be acquiring. I could be dead pretentious and pretend I could explain it away by noting that cinema attendance, for example, has always risen in relation to the stress a nations people perceive themselves to be under. Escapist pastimes attract more when reality is so dire. And with global warming and global terrorism – is it to big a leap to say that people are sub-consciously becoming more and more absorbed in their television sets?

Probably not. Perhaps it is the natural by-product of the fierce competition that came with the digital revolution and more consumer choice. Perhaps television is simply a format that is coming of age, hitting its peak. Perhaps it is to do with the way people watch these programs – many, if not most download from the web and watch what they want – when they want it. Perhaps it is all three of these things. Perhaps it is not any of them.

Either way – I have also fallen victim. I have held out for so long against these television temptations, like a Frenchmen determined to cling on to his outdated way of life when all around are happily munching on Big Macs. But my resistance has finally given out. The Americans rapped up a quality drama series in a Sci-Fi cloak and slipped it past my defences.

Battle Star Galactica. Was a 70’s movie I used to watch as a kid from time to time, usually when I’d run another VHS of Star Wars into the ground and had little else available. Well it’s back. And it’s been back for sometime. And I’ve been ignoring it for sometime. But at the prompting of a flatmate and a good review in the Big Issue I decided to take a look.

And its fantastic! I’ve only watched the four-part pilot so far – but it looks and feels amazing. Real life drama which shows a vision of the future, complete with all the nitty gritty, untidy and dirty side of life that other Sci-Fi’s badly lack. Yet it does so with a certain degree of style and with a healthy dose of social commentary. Apparently in the second series the humans are living under occupation and have to fight back – Iraqi style – with suicide bombings and hit and run attacks. Even the pilot is overflowing with historical and cultural references. Some talented and brave writers one feels, who do not pamper the American’s sense of superiority as say – ‘24’ – does.

It’s Sci-Fi, it’s dirty and it’s deep. I love it.

Well done America.