Space at Its Deepest Point (and Adult Sci Fi for People Who Hate Sci Fi)

by Diane Werst

From www.newsday.com [1] (actual link to long to reproduce)

Possible Spoiler Alert

Whew. Having just watched the next two episodes of Sci Fi's re-imagining of the post- holocaust saga "Battlestar Galactica," I have only one question:

Is this the best show on television right now or what?

Actually, this surprisingly introspective hour of nail- biting suspense, philosophical clashes, knuckle-bruising action and steamy, interspecies sex raises a hundred other questions, too. What does it mean to be human? Is there a God? Where do civil liberties stand in a time of siege? When does cautious suspicion morph into obsessive witch-hunting? Who gets to define justice and morality? How do we decide who can be trusted in an age of covert terrorism? Does any other TV drama use female characters this dynamically?

And the biggest question of all. Two socko episodes this Friday (at 10 p.m.) and next (Feb. 25 at 10) manage quite disturbingly to make you contemplate this stunner: Are we cheering for the wrong side in this life-and-death struggle between humans and the ruthless, human-looking Cylon cyborgs they've unleashed on the universe?

With all due respect to fans of the 1970s rock-'em sock-'em ABC original "Battlestar Galactica," this fresh odyssey, redeveloped by Ronald D. Moore from Glen Larson's promising original concept, is a hundred times smarter and a thousand times more thrilling. This is truly adult sci-fi for people who don't even like sci-fi.

Those who do have a head start, of course, in any tale filled with spaceships and their accoutrements. But the real fascination of "Galactica," even more so than other space-based soul-searchings such as "Farscape" and "Star Trek," lies inside the judgments of the human mind.

In fact, crucial parts of this series do take place inside people's heads. This Friday's midway-through-the-season episode showcases that beautifully. When it comes to the scientific genius who helped the Cylons nuke this tale's galactic human colonies (in the show-launching miniseries, now available on Universal DVD), he's a reluctant turncoat essentially controlled by a hot blond Cylon babe, who exists only within his brain yet electrifies all parts of his body to keep him under her control. When James Callis' Baltar decides he's had enough puppeteering, Tricia Helfer's Number Six vacates the mental premises. And an identical-looking copy of the same Cylon model appears in the flesh, so to speak, as a human aboard the fleeing Battlestar Galactica who charges Baltar with treason.

What sets them against each other is, of all things, a theological disagreement between Number Six's insistence upon "one true God" and Baltar's science-based scorn. Has this Cylon or the Cylons - or are they one unified being? - twisted God to her/their/its own purposes? Or do the Cylons know something we don't? Once the issue of Baltar's "guilt" is at least temporarily resolved, next week's meaty script further raises the stakes.

An even more "manipulative, cunning" Cylon model played by former "Due South" star Callum Keith Rennie is discovered on another ship in the ragtag Galactica-led fleet housing the 50,000 remaining human refugees. Sent to interrogate him is Katee Sackhoff's top-gun fighter Starbuck, still rehabbing from last week's near-death downing on a hostile planet. Through physical torture and dueling mind games, their riveting exchange fills us in on the humans' polytheistic faith and the Cylons' yet more devout belief in their own shared soul.

It also reveals that the Cylon reason for attack goes far beyond plain mechanical orneriness. Significantly cited are the "sin, hate, corruption, evil" they say is exemplified by the former masters on whom they've turned.

Too deep for some tastes? No need to go there, then. "Galactica" is satisfying on many levels. Take sex and violence. If not this week or next, "Galactica" does find time for lots of slam-bang adventure and special effects mayhem. Plenty of sensual activity, too. Despite their technical workings, the Cylons "live" like humans, and that visceral existence is heightened in the female characters who provide the richest threads in Moore's dense tapestry.

His stories effectively use female sensuality to deepen the conflict, not exploiting skin or sex, but recognizing the instinctual power of physicality that women traditionally embody. It's no accident, certainly, that Starbuck escaped death last week by wriggling inside a "living" Cylon fighter craft and becoming one with its blood and tissue to fly safely home. As the Galactica crew now attempts to reverse-engineer the craft, Grace Park's hotshot pilot Boomer indicates a corporeal connection with it, too. She's a Cylon model herself, one who doesn't know she is, but who has come to suspect her own unwitting duplicity. Which leads to the truly mind-bending exploration of the twisted emotions inspired when you can't even trust your own body. Does Boomer have to be who she is? Or can she become "human"?

And we haven't even gotten to the political tugs-of-war between Edward James Olmos' intimidating military commander Adama, Michael Hogan as his resentful second and Mary McDonnell as the minor cabinet member who has suddenly inherited the human presidency amid her own secret battle with cancer. If these details sound like they're piling on, they're not. They've each got a role to play in this ever-widening yet always tightening tale. When next week's Cylon troublemaker extols life after death, ramifications hit home all over the place. Then he drops an astounding shocker. "Battlestar Galactica" just keeps getting better.[/url]
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