Elephant Talk

OK, I’m going to dip into the geek pool — familiar waters for me, I should add — and give my opinion on the Star Trek versus Battlestar Galactica debate. Sam J. Miller wrote a very good analysis comparing the two shows, highlighting the optimism of the former and the bleakness of the latter, also pointing out how they reflect their respective cultural zeitgeists. As he writes:

“These days, Battlestar Galactica’s warning that technology and progress will bring us to the brink of total annihilation is far more resonant than Star Trek’s hope that technology and progress will solve all of our problems.”

I was never that into the original Star Trek series, but I am a huge fan of The Next Generation. That show was quintessential science fiction, with some brilliantly inventive stories. We got some real mind-benders that dealt with the nature of reality, death, time travel, dreams, free will, and other aspects of human nature. But we also got some intriguing cultural and political parallels of the time — gay rights, abuses of power, the individual versus the collective, war treaties, colonialism, terrorism, etc. Each episode seemed to be a sort of life lesson and a means toward inspiring our better nature. American culture was more positive then, not to mention more innocent.

Ronald D. Moore was one of the principle creative forces on the latter (better) half of the show’s seven-year run. He is also the lead creative force behind his more recent project, Battlestar Galactica. This show displays humanity in a different way. As Miller points out, unlike in TNG, humanity in the BSG future is still very, very flawed. The “heroes” of the show rig elections, assassinate enemies, make bad decisions, destroy themselves, and behave like depressed drunkards. Why shouldn’t they? Most of their species has been eradicated and hope is fading. They’re confused and afraid.

This is the fear that underlies modern society. The fear of today isn’t simply that the Soviets or the Americans will hit the red button at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons; it’s the feeling that this time, perhaps we deserve our own annihilation (again, paraphrasing Miller, but also reiterating my own opinion, which I expressed here a couple months back). It is our own mistakes, our own lack of foresight, our misunderstanding of our enemies, and an inability to change that gives us this feeling that we are unworthy of continuing. This is an oft-echoed theme of BSG, and it’s the reason the show works so well. It’s also the reason that the constructed world of BSG is far more compelling and complex than TNG.

But does that make it a better show? This is where I’m going to disagree with Miller, Moore, and perhaps every media critic out there who adores Battlestar Galactica.

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It finally happened. Battlestar Galactica has become Lost. I suppose that’s what happens when a formula works. Keep the mystery alive, tease the audience all along the way, twist the frak out of things now and then, even change character motivation. I mean, c’mon, Colonel Tigh?!

We’re all suckers. We love it. We hope it all makes sense somehow. We put faith in the producers and writers. But we’re putty (not to mention commerce) in their hands.

Still, I loved the BSG season opener. Kara was great, the space battles were epic, some nice philosophical conundrums, and they obviously have a lot of story yet to tell. The bummer was no Athena. I don’t care if she is a cylon, I want her to bear my children.

It’s a beautiful day outside, but I’m spending it inside thinking about the end of the world. I can’t help it. Somehow it manages to seep into everything I experience in the mediated realm. Nearly every film or TV show seems to have a subtext of our impending end of days.

In television, if you take away the reality shows, the top 3 most downloaded shows all have some theme of the end of humanity: In Heroes, we have the constant threat of Earth-shattering catastrophe; In Lost, we have an undercurrent of doomsday; in Battlestar Galactica, we have humanity obliterated except for some 40,000 survivors.

In the news, we get the end of the white man. We have rice shortages in Asia and a food crisis worldwide. The Korean peninsula seems to be edging closer — at least in fist-shaking — toward nuclear obliteration. We have popular books speculating on Earth after humanity. The dollar is shrinking, the ice caps are melting, terrorism shows no sign of being defeated… It’s as if humanity feels so out of control, that there’s a weird kind of acceptance. I wonder if it’s because, at least in the United States, there’s a feeling that it’s about time, that we somehow deserve this through our own inability to show foresight. We can’t make the right sacrifices because we’re confused and powerless. We have a thousand voices telling us how bad everything is. After a while it’s hard to cancel out all that noise.

I think the pervasiveness of media has had an enervating effect on its public. People are constantly overwhelmed with whats, but they’re not given many whys. The chatter that passes as discourse doesn’t offer solutions. To provide a solution is to offer an opinion. Under the protective shield of objectivity, this is a no-no.

So people disappear into their tiny little sheltered worlds, consisting of a significant other, a friend or two, mom and dad, and maybe a dog. Everyone else has their own little world too, and all these little worlds cross paths politely, but no one really connects with our collective greater nature. It’s scary, all that thinking and opining, so let’s all shut up and smile, leave each other to our nightly entertainment, our dinner parties and favorite TV shows. If we’re doomed, so be it. Just make it quick and painless please.

…

I had a point to make in all this, but I forgot what it was.

That was easily the most frustrating episode of Lost ever. I hated it. I loved it. The plot structure was great, but the writing was horrible. Yunjin Kim’s acting was fantastic, but there were some horribly forced scenes. This is the first time I’ve felt intentionally screwed over by the writers, and it has me a little worried. I hope they really do know what they’re doing.

It was great to see Jin and Sun again. I’ve missed them. And it’s fun for me to see Seoul and hear all of the Korean with subtitles. I must be learning the language more because I could recognize a lot of the phrases and structure. That was a first.

(As always, click only if you’re caught up)

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I’ve got a whacked out theory as to who the spy on the boat is.

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I’m a little late with this — the semester starting this week and all, plus coping with a particularly vicious hangover — but I finally got around to watching the most recent episode of Lost (”Constant”). Five minutes into it, this overwhelming sense of joy hit me. Finally, after all my lame guesses that always turn out wrong, I managed to get something right, and it’s a big one.

As always, unless you’re caught up with Season 4, don’t continue reading…

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Lost is the perfect show for the online world. People watch it, then they rush to the web forums to talk about what the hell is going on. A lot of people seemed to be disappointed in the season opener, but I thought it was great. I continue to be impressed and amazed by how the writers are able to give real answers while also sustaining the mystery. They also gave us a new big question to ponder: Who are the Oceanic Six?
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Around the time I was getting ready to leave, I knew that once I got back it would be just about time to plug back into my televisual obsession — ABC’s Lost. It starts up again on 31 January. Like every fan, I’ve got theories as to what’s going on. I’m going to blog about that now, so if you eventually want to get into the greatest show ever but haven’t yet, don’t click on this little “read the rest of this entry” thing right here:

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