Wayback

I’m late to the party but I recently discovered that, as part of our subscription to NetFlix, we can watch some titles from our PC without having to wait for a DVD in the mail. As a result I’ve been able to catch a few episodes of old TV shows without having to interrupt TT’s steady USPS delivery of Crime Drama Porn (CSI, Law & Order, etc.)

A few minutes ago I watched the pilot episode to the original Battlestar Galactica. I was a fan back then; I had just seen Star Wars and I was already fascinated with anything Sci-Fi. I suppose that’s why I was able to overlook the badness that was the original Battlestar Galactica. Yikes. Still, there was an element of nostalgia seeing my favorite characters: Commander Adama, Apollo, Starbuck (a boy!), Boomer (also a boy!), Athena and, of course, that hawt unnamed female communications officer with the ponytails who said, “launch vipers.” Yummeh!

I suppressed my gag reflex at the first sight of Boxie, the little space brat and his pet dagget. In more modern space epics such as the new BSG, little kids generally, you know, sorta die in horrible ways. That’s quality TV!

What really struck me was how clean the dialog was. I mean, here we find the dregs of humanity in a “rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest for Earth,” stripped of their families, loved ones and possessions, saying stuff like, “this is a terrible tragedy.” In the new BSG, after the destruction of the Colonies, every other word is “frack.” Why? Because the situation is fracked up and people stop being polite when they’re stripped of their basic comforts. That’s fracking cool TV!

But seriously, thank you NetFlix for making my life even more sedentary than it was before.