Battlestar Galactica

Who said fan fiction was not quality?

Hugo Awards, named after the Amazing Stories editor Hugo Greensback, are given out once a year for the best Science Fiction or Fantasy works of the year before. This has been going on since 1953, and the latest nominees for 2008 have just been announced. In the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category, we have Star Trek: New Voyages: "World Enough and Time" on the ballot, along with Battlestar Galactica "Razor", Doctor Who "Blink", Doctor Who "Human Nature" / "Family of Blood", and Torchwood "Captain Jack Harkness".

This shows that is not only the spirit the Star Trek is alive, but that it is gaining some respect out there. The New Voyages are fan works that rebuilt the sets from scratch and made new adventures. The effort has received some official kudos, with George Takei (TOS's Sulu) and others even playing parts. For more information, and to watch the shows, go to www.StarTrekNewVoyages.com.

To be honest, I am quite pleased with all of the nominees. The New Voyages are fun, Doctor Who is always pleasing, Torchwood is a great swashbuckling XFiles, and Battlestar Galactica is sure to entertain and intrigue. At this point I really do not have a favorite in this category, but if the New Voyages win it would give a good shot in the arm to more Trek, which is always wonderful. (When it comes it Trek I have never been one of those "less is more" mongers).

More details about the nominees:

Battlestar Galactica "Razor" written by Michael Taylor, directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose (Sci Fi Channel) (televised version, not DVD)
Dr. Who "Blink" written by Stephen Moffat, directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC)
Dr. Who "Human Nature" / "Family of Blood" written by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer (BBC)
Star Trek New Voyages "World Enough and Time" written by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree, directed by Marc Scott Zicree (Cawley Entertainment Co. and The Magic Time Co.)
Torchwood "Captain Jack Harkness" written by Catherine Tregenna, directed by Ashley Way (BBC Wales)

Aloha from the Beach,
greg

In the most recent episodes of the Battlestar Galactica re-imagining, we have four rather major characters who discover, or at least have a strong reason to believe, that they are Cylons. That is, they are indeed their own worse enemy.

The beauty of this is that there is no active betrayal, no sudden change, or no sure way of knowing for certain that it is the case. You simply are.

I find this intriguing, this instant conversion of everything you are and you believe in. Suddenly you are a spy on your own psyche, watching and noting anything that could be considered out of the ordinary, at least as you define it. You become the stranger, desperately seeking a measure of proof to know who you truly are one way or the other.

What a powerful psychological weapon this becomes at the disposal of the Cylons. All you need to place the weapon into action is to plant the seed of doubt. In this case, all it took was music that no one else could hear, simple music that did not fit into the normal realm of accepted perception. This could be extended to practically anything that could be weighed by our mind's judgment, such as visions, smells, even subtle shifts in attitude. A bad day could truly turn into self-inflicted disaster.

This is probably one of the better mechanisms of attack found in Science Fiction, and while it has been explored before this is a fine example of playing it out on a grand scale. What better than to turn the enemy on themselves, and in this case the turmoil is carried down to the individual as they begin to doubt their own purpose.

Imagine the feeling the characters would have when looking in the mirror, wondering whose eyes are looking back at them. Then again, given all that we know that the human race is capable of, seeing a Cylon looking back at you might not be one of the worse things. That is, if you don't mind religion seeking murderous robotic races as a general rule of thumb.

Aloha from the Beach,
greg

Tag: Battlestar Galactica

Star Trek: New Voyages are 2008 Hugo Award Nominees

A Cylon in the Mirror