Rod Serling did it better… but Battlestar Galactica still hot

SPOILER ALERT… don’t read this if you haven’t seen the final episode for 2008!

BSG fans no doubt delighted at the 2008 season finale where all sorts of insane tensions mount between humans and Cylons.

And Xena (oops, I mean Cylon number Three), that ever-enchanting toaster, offers an innocent civilian up to death before a truce is made between humans and Cylons.

Interesting that the truce isn’t achieved by brute force but by human and Cylon goodwill, along with President Apollo’s diplomacy.

All round great job… kudos to all concerned in the production.

Except for one thing… the final scene where Earth is trashed? Rod Serling did it way better.

If you don’t believe me, just check out the episode “Time Enough at Last.”

Cylon’s despair

Cylon’s despair, originally uploaded by earthpages.

Sci-fi fans are all hip to the idea of human beings wondering if they’re cylons… but what about the other side..?

Original Creative Commons photo “Liverpool Street station crowd blur” by David Sim » www.flickr.com/photos/victoriapeckham/164175205/

Are you up to tachyonic speed?

C. F. Fitzgerald, “Tachyons” pp. 421-423 cited in
Tachyons, Time Travel, and Divine Omniscience
Author(s): William Lane Craig
Source: The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Mar., 1988), pp. 135-150

I remember once saying to a friend that the pop group The Clash could have had an influence on the music of Beethoven. She couldn’t really see what I was trying to say and, to make matters worse, I didn’t have the conceptual tools back then to elaborate very well.

But these days the notion of retrocausality has been popularized by Stephen Hawking and other top scientists and philosophers take it very seriously.

So I ask… Are you up to tachyonic speed?

total recall

total recall, originally uploaded by earthpages.

will mankind build on mars? i think it’s only a matter of time…

BSG Razor – Way better than I expected

Battlestar Galactica: Razor – Trailer / Preview

Let’s face it. Galactica peaked for a while and then got increasingly lame. So I only had a mild interest when I saw the ads for Razor. But I did watch it. And I’m glad I did. All expectations surpassed. Just like the ‘old’ Galactica Re-imagined before it got all bloated out of shape.

Don’t miss this one (if you like Galactica, that is…). The new character Kendra Shaw (played by Hong Kong-born actor Stephanie Jacobsen) is nothing short of fantastic. Jacobsen charges right into the Galactica scene as if she’d been there a very long time. Impressive, to say the least. And Admiral Cane (remember Ensign Roe from Star Trek TNG?) is pretty good too (even if her hair is a bit different from her previous appearance in the episode Pegasus, which is supposed to be the same time period as Razor).

As for the old cast, they seem to be getting a bit bored with it all. Kara Thrace just doesn’t have the pluck. Admiral Adama is still solid but not quite as soulful as before, as if he’s thinking about his swimming pool while competently going through the motions… And Apollo, well, even he isn’t quite as sparkling as usual.

The cylon blonde (played by Tricia Helfer), however, is far more convincing than before. At least one of the old crew got better with time… even if she is a cylon!

But what I’m wondering is why they don’t give actor Sebastian Spence a fair chance? He played Cade Foster in the cult classic First Wave. And I thought that was a great show (in a campy sort of way). So far I’ve only seen Spence smile and a mutter a word or two on Galactica…

Anyhow, let’s hope that Razor portends the upcoming 4th season of Galactica. For a series that was getting pretty soft, Razor restores the edge.