So I hear that Bryan Singer, that dick that ruined Superman, is planning to make a feature film version of Battlestar Galactica. You might be thinking: ‘Oh, cool, more Battlestar! I can’t wait to see The Old Man, Tigh, The Chief, et al, again!’ But guess what: this film has nothing to do with the sci-fi reboot that single-handedly changed the face of sci-fi on TV today (one only has to watch an episode of Stargate Universe to see this is the case).

Singer’s film is apparently another reboot or re-envisioning. The balls on that guy! Like the recent news that the Spiderman franchise has been burned so that it can be resurrected so soon and without much consideration, one has to wonder at Singer’s motives. So I thought that now was as good a time as any to share the love I have for Battlestar Galactica that I’m sure is to be ruined if Bryan Singer has any say whatsoever.

50 years after the Cylons—a race of robots created by and for the purpose of man—rebelled and disappeared, they have returned to exact revenge on the twelve colonies of humanity, wreaking havoc and killing all but a few who were lucky enough to escape. These few: a huddled mass of space-ships headed by an old, ready-to-be-decommissioned starship The Galactica, leave their respective colonies with a purpose: to find the lost thirteenth colony that set out thousands of years ago to a fabled planet called Earth. Oh my God, that’s us!

But their journey isn’t easy, as the Cylons continue their pursuit to obliterate all of humankind, and some of these Cylons have in a sense evolved, and now look nothing like their centurion underlings. These new Cylons can pass for humans and have infiltrated the colony as it moves towards finding Earth, which brings intense fear and paranoia.

With shows like Star Trek and Stargate: SG1 on offer, Battlestar was really timely both in that audiences were hungering for a new, different take on sci-fi, and also in what was happening and is still happening in the world today.

Largely focusing on terrorism and war, Battlestar hit home in a few different areas, namely that the good guys aren’t always good and the bad guys aren’t always bad. It blurred the line, which was refreshing to see after so many other sci-fi shows paint the humans as being on the side of right without question. It pitted its characters against incredible odds, never gave itself easy options or ‘outs’, and wasn’t afraid to go into deep, dark territory.

The characters: some taken loosely from the original, some re-imagined and others newly added, have detailed and incredibly interesting character arcs, and none of them are spared hard decisions. Each must sacrifice in order to grow, and they each learn a lot, some perhaps more than they’d care to know. Any examples I could give I’m sure would be spoilers though, and that’s not how I roll.

In a genre that has always been pretty slick and clean in terms of it’s aesthetic, Battlestar’s look has also had a lot of influence in the last few years, particularly in the J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek and with the aforementioned Stargate: Universe, each of which have taken the gritty, hand-held look of Battlestar for themselves, sometimes with mixed results.

Though the ending was a bit of a let down, do not let that deter you. If there is a show in which the journey is more important than the destination, along with being able to witness some really well handled character growth throughout—which in my opinion outweighs the annoyance of a dissatisfying ending—Battlestar Galactica is it (I’m looking at you as well, Lost).

Battlestar Galactica is awesome and you can be too if you watch it!

Glenn Leavold