Filling the Well

I’ll be watching Battlestar Galactica tonight with a lot of anxiety. I think the writers have dug themselves into a hole they can’t get out of. I still haven’t forgiven them for the “All Along the Watchtower” crap. And they’d better have a really, really good explanation for the last four Cylons. I mean, come on. Talk about pulling plot twists out of thin air.

On a happier note, I just watched “The Day the Earth Stood Still” for the first time in forever. Wow, that’s a damn fine movie. There’s a remake slated. I’m torn. On the one hand, why would you want to remake a nearly perfect classic film like this? On the other hand, the story and themes are so incredibly relevant right now (humanity, overcome by fear, reacts violently and irrationally) an update may very well be in order. If only I trusted Hollywood not to completely frak it up. (mumblemumbleIamlegendmumblemumble)

Two problems. Keanu Reeves as Klaatu? Er… And second: these days, I’m not sure it’s believable that our space technology is far enough along to actually be a threat to anyone Out There. Not like it was believable in 1951. Alas.

I both hate and love the way that Hollywood is currently mining my childhood for material. I hate it because it makes me feel old. (The Denver oldies radio station has recently bumped its format up to “60’s, 70’s and 80’s.” Deep sigh.) But I love it because it speaks so directly to my inner ten year old.

I watched a lot of TV as a ten year old. Make of that what you will.

As for the shows themselves, I think “Battlestar Galactica” has done a great job improving upon what was originally a rather flawed execution of an interesting idea. (But we watched it anyway because dude, spaceships.) I’ve seen a few episodes of the new “The Bionic Woman.” I wanted to like it, and I did for great long stretches of it. The implications are cool. But the characters started shifting into meat-puppets-in-service-to-bad-plots mode and I kinda lost interest.

Last night, I watched the new “re-imagined” “Knight Rider.” I have a confession: I was pretty much sold as soon as the theme music came on. Because that music is like heroin. And I’m a junkie for it. This is a case where the cool outweighed the logic. Because KITT now has bulletproof nanotech shielding. And nanotech camouflage. (And is nanotech the new cyberspace or what?) And there’s this scene where, I don’t know what the hell happened, KITT went all superdense or super shielded or something and crashed into an SUV and the SUV was, like, totalled. And then there was the cameo by David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight who is the new Mike’s father because instead of being a “re-imagining” this actually includes continuity from the original show in its background and how cool is that, and this is all very cute and fun, and the very last scene is the whole team in the semi truck briefing new Mike and new KITT on their new mission, and I’m all chortling because it’s just like the old show, only the mission they’re talking about is in Prague and I’m like, how are they going to get KITT to Prague? But they open up the back so KITT can drive out, just like in the old show, only this time it’s not a truck, IT’S A FREAKING C-130!!! and I totally fell off the sofa I was giggling so hard. GASP!

So yeah, anyway. My inner 10 year old gives this a thumbs up. (My outer grouch has chosen not to think about any of this too much.)

And where’s my re-imagined Wonder Woman?

UPDATE:  See, I’m not the only one who watched it.

This time of year we seem to get a lot of “buy your wife a new car” commercials. Does anyone ever actually surprise their spouse with a new car with a big bow on it like that? And why don’t they ever show wives buying their husbands cars?

The women in these commercials look so happy and tearful. Not to be a spoil sport, but this would not be my reaction. No. I’d be more inclined to say, “Are you crazy? What the hell were you thinking? We can’t afford this! Where have you been hiding the money for a down payment on a car?! I thought we agreed to discuss major purchasing decisions together!”

But that’s just me.

The reality TV craze in its current incarnation has been going for quite a while now. It must be getting to the point where just about everybody knows someone who’s been on a reality TV or makeover show, right? Hundreds of shows over the years, thousands of participants…

I know two. Granted, they were guys I went to college with and haven’t talked to since. But it was pretty cool seeing them on their respective shows. (The one on “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” I knew about ahead of time and made a point of watching. The one on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” I didn’t and got to yell at the TV, “I know that guy!” That was fun.)

So here’s my question: How many of you know someone who’s been on a reality TV show? (Let’s go ahead and include makeover shows and game shows like “Deal or No Deal.”) Details aren’t necessary unless you feel like sharing. I’m just curious about how pervasive this really is.

First off: “BSG: Razor.” Loved it. More on that in a bit. First I want to declare my true feelings for BSG.

I love this show. Love love love with big floaty hearts.

However. I lost faith in the second half of the third season. The show lost its way and I’m not sure it can find it again.

Backing up: I love this show for all the many brilliant things it does. After years (decades) of squeaky clean Star Trek, it gives us military SF that actually looks like the military, with all the jargon and behaviors that go along with it. It’s topical without being obvious, insightful without being heavy handed, because it’s all done through the characters. Great, flawed, human characters. And it’s extrapolative in the very best tradition of science fiction. It asks “What if?” and answers that question in a thoughtful, realistic way. Then it keeps going: Then what? What next? And what would that do?

BSG did that without blinking for two and a half seasons. What if human civilization was destroyed and only a small fleet fighting for survival remained? Well, if the civilian government remained intact there’d have to be some kind of power sharing with the military. What if the military leader purposefully uses a religious legend to motivate people? Then what happens if the civilian leader actually starts believing it? Well, that would split up the fleet. What would happen then? And so on.

Then the show started swinging wide and hitting fouls. Instead of drawing stories from the existing situation and extrapolating further, plots dropped out of left field involving mega soap operas that depended on the characters behaving like immature dimwits. And we know these characters aren’t either. (I’m wondering if the New Caprica story arc just made everyone tired.)

I don’t even want to talk about the “All Along the Watchtower” nonsense. Really.

Back to “Razor.” This was a big step toward getting back to the heart of the show, which is about good people reacting to horrific situations. The brilliant thing about the Pegasus story is it’s the alternate Galactica story. It’s what could have happened if just a few things had been different. In effect, there but for the grace of Laura Rosslin go they.

And Kendra was amazing. Brilliant. Unlike any character I think I’ve ever seen on TV. Yes, she’s a pretty much a war criminal. The thing is, she knows it, and is in so much pain, and has no choice but to keep going the way she’s always gone. Cain is very big on her razor metaphor, and she did a great job making Kendra sharp and relentless. But what Cain failed to tell her is how difficult it is to stop being that razor when the fighting is done. It’s a huge credit to the writing that it didn’t occur to me until about twenty minutes before the end of the show that Kendra wasn’t going to make it, because this is a flashback and she isn’t in the rest of the series. Talk about your unsentimental endings. But again, this character couldn’t have it any other way.

That line about Starbuck near the end? Took a big step toward redeeming the muddle at the end of last season. Now I CAN’T WAIT for the series to get started.

And I gotta say, the cameo of the old school Cylons in the raider ROCKED.