Galactica remake is 'fraking' spectacular

[GoldCylon]

Chances are, few people actually stay home on a Friday night or set their TiVO for 9 p.m. to watch "Battlestar Galactica." They're missing the critically acclaimed show that is considered "the best show on TV."

The chances are even slimmer that people know it's a remake of one of the campiest television shows ever made. The original version of "Galactica" premiered in 1979 as a made-for-TV movie that was quickly changed to a series.

It was notoriously camp: the laws of physics didn't apply, costumes looked like rejects from "Logan's Run" and the show lasted barely a season before it had to be spun-off into the even campier and much derided "Galactica: 1980." Also, the villainous race of alien-made robotic Cylons was considered so close to the Imperial Stormtroopers of "Star Wars" that George Lucas sued Universal.

This time however, things are different.

The redesigned Galactica still leads a rag-tag fleet in search of Earth, and the Cylons, created by man this time, have returned after their initial rebellion and nuked the 12 colonies on which humanity lived.

There are parallels to contemporary times, which lead the show to be culturally relevant to today's issues. There are suicide bombers and terrorist cells, disputed elections and military coups, and a war the leadership calls "unavoidable."

It's not as obvious as "24," but then again, when people are on their seat as often as Galactica viewers are, that doesn't matter. It's the human drama that makes the show.

Edward James Olmos plays the fleet's admiral, William Adama. This is a role Olmos was born to play.

His love-hate relationship with his son, Lee, played by Jamie Bamber, was featured heavily in the first season, as well as Adama's conflicts with the new President of the Colonies, played with believable conviction by Mary McDonnell. Many overlook the drama because it seems science-fiction-y. The show could be set on an aircraft carrier (which is really what the Galactica is) in the Pacific and no one would have any reservations about watching it.

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