In a lot of ways, I agree with the opinion that Battlestar Galactica is currently the best drama on television. Even though it's a science fiction series, which automatically makes it lose credibility for many people, it deals with matters of politics, religion, race, warfare, and humanity in ways that other Earth-bound series either can't or don't. Since its debut in 2003, it's been able to sustain itself, keeping me interested and excited in ways that "LOST," "Heroes," and other "next big things" haven't. No sophomore slump, no dropping the ball--it seems to get better with each new episode. So when the third season was finally available on DVD last month, I had to bite.
Season 3 starts with the premise that the ragtag fleet of humans who have escaped the Cylon attacks have decided to settle down on an inhospitable planet, dubbed "New Caprica." The new president is Gaius Baltar, who betrayed humanity in the first attacks of the Cylon invasion, and who has been a man of dubious morality since then. Humans are leaving space and settling on the planet's surface, and the first arc of the season's episodes are mostly planetbound. This is an interesting change for a space opera--and only skeleton crews are left aboard the
Galactica and
Pegasus. We see the lives of the heroes we've known over the previous 38 episodes veer one of two ways--monotony and depression, or resisting the Cylon's puppet government of New Caprica. This leads to complex interactions between the characters, and often to tragedy.
The domestic life leads to sorrow for most of the main characters in this season--Apollo, Starbuck, Athena, Helo, Saul Tigh and others are all devastated by what happens to their personal lives in this season. Still others, most notably Admiral Adama and President Roslin, move cautiously toward a relationship, and we applaud every shaky step.
What I like best about "Battlestar Galactica" is the big picture, because it usually reflects our own history, and the history we're making now. Season 3 is no exception. We see the effects of the Cylon genocide on humanity's remnant, and it's intriguing to see the debates that the military (Admiral Adama) and the civilian government (President Roslin) have when a "payback genocide" of sorts becomes a possibility. Is it moral for the humans to try and wipe out the Cylons with a virus? We also get war crime trials that are reminiscent of Nuremberg, and battle scenes that are up to feature film standards.
This season advances some of the series-long storylines beyond what we've seen before. We spend more time with the Cylons than we have in previous seasons, including seeing what life is like on their ships. It's a society of robots--what does that look like? It's intriguing, and when one of their models of cyborg ends up with a Messiah complex, we see more of their religion how it dovetails and conflicts with humanity. We also see more of the myths and religion that guide the humans--supposedly leading them to Earth, which is where their Ur-ancestors came from.
The final episodes of the season are some of the most compelling, with some of the series' "big questions" answered. We find out that some key members of the crew have been Cylons the entire time. Does that mean they can't be heroes? Does it mean they can be trusted? What will they do to each other? To themselves? We also see a potential "shortcut" to Earth that will require great sacrifice. It's a cliffhanger of sorts that had me aching for the fourth season of this outstanding series to start. It did, last week, and it's looking like a great beginning for this series' final season.
My only gripes are ones that are matters of taste more than quality. The show is quite often optically and thematically dark. Sometimes the "shaky cam" in the battle scenes, combined with the darkness, means that I don't see what's happening in the shot. This is a violent series, sometimes shockingly so. That's a turnoff for many viewers, and while I don't necessarily like it, the violence is usually used to further the story, and isn't treated as cavalierly as it is in several other, similar series. Injury and death are treated with respect and pain, and we see the far-reaching impact of these tragedies on the characters in the series.
The six disc set is packed with additional extras beyond the 19 episodes of Season 3. This includes more than a dozen deleted seasons, producer commentaries, and video diaries. The best extra is the "webisodes" of "The Resistance," originally broadcast in 3-5 minute chunks on the internet. It holds up as well as anything else in the series, and fleshes out what was happening on New Caprica.
MORE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5
Battlestar Galactica: Razor
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