Act of Contrition

I can't believe it's come to this. I grew up refusing to watch or endorse anything that was even remotely sci fi/fantasy-related, so now, whenever anybody brings up movies or TV shows like V, Legend, The Never-Ending Story, or The Secret of Nimh, I simply cringe and walk away. I felt the same way about Star Trek, the Star Wars series (which I've since seen and loved), and anything Lord of the Rings-related. And do NOT get me started on Harry Potter. Anything that requires a family tree and knowledge of a new language was always death to me, never mind that I can turn on a soap opera and be instantly hooked.

A couple of years ago, when everybody and their brother was BLOW!ing out about the Lord of the Rings trilogy, my friend Caroline and I talked about making t-shirts that read 'HUMANS NOT HOBBITS' to express our disdain for any popular narrative that includes things like robots, cyborgs, or flying whozeewhatsits. What can I say? I've always had an aversion to outer space.

But last weekend, Drum was down sick with a stomach bug, and we popped in the mini-series and first season of Battlestar Galactica, Sci Fi Channel's update of the late '70s TV show that was always being rerun on channel 53 where I grew up. Because we had nowhere to go but the couch, Drum and I ended up getting through the first ten hours of the series. And holy shit, I AM HOOKED!!

The premise of the series is basic: Human-created Cylons have been engaged in a 40-year war with the humans on the planet Caprica. When they return to Caprica's atmosphere and basically BLOW! out the entire planet, less than 50,000 survivors escape in a fleet that includes the Battlestar, and head for the mythical 13th planet, which is also known as...Earth. Captain Adama leads the Battlestar; his hot, buff son Apollo is the renegade fighter; Mary McDonnell plays President Roslin, the steel magnolia who purrs out orders and never breaks a sweat. (Honestly, this lady is a gay icon in the making.) The whole show is fast-paced, easy to understand, politically relevant, and freakin' sexy, too.

So yeah, I love me a sci-fi show. The day had to come...I'm just glad it's a show that's proven to be more than worth my time.