Games, Deadlines & Galactica

The Wife has officially turned into a gamer. She’s not a hard core gamer, and she’s not going to be takin’ it online and trash-talking with the l33t speak anytime soon in Counterstrike or Quake servers, but you know you hit a turning point when the often ignored portable gaming system (In this case, a Nintendo Dual Screen that was given in the Christmas of 2004 as a gift and went by largely unused) finally gets a game and is played whenever possible.

I myself finally slacked off on Guitar Heroes, but that was because of two prime factors, Battlestar Galactica and work respectively. Work was articles and scripts. Of the three articles I’m owing to GameAxis, two have now been cranked out with a final one probably finished by tomorrow. There was also another Nanoboy script and that’s also been done and submitted.

But my God, I’m still in abject amazement of how good Battlestar Galactica is.

I mean, I loved the show when I saw the mini-series. I was digging it even more when I saw the first season. Now I practically worship Ron Moore. He doesn’t have the wittiness of Joss Whedon (And to be honest, Joss will always be the more “fun” writer for me) but man does he go places with science fiction that no one had ever dared and he goes right into the heart of darkness, turns on the flashlight, and makes sure you take a good, hard look, no blinking allowed.

I think the thing that I’m really, really starting to love about his take on this show is the ambiguity of it, which translates, ultimately in more believeability. If I had to start tossing themes at this show, one of them would be “No one’s hands are clean.” Because the main characters, as likeable, admirable, or pitiable, or sympathetic as they may turn out to be, make mistakes. And sometimes those mistakes are big ones that can cost lives. In a situation like that, do you simply say “You screwed up, I don’t like you anymore?” Or do you try to reconcile it with what you previously knew. CAN you? In the same light, antagonist characters that are nominally supposed to be “bad guys” are capable of inflicting great suffering but are also capable of reacting to suffering–of themselves and others–in very real, very understandable and even respectable ways. So when they perform acts of courage, or compassion or when they suffer unspeakably, do you say, “The law is ‘what have you done for me lately’ and since this latest activity is a good one, I don’t hate you anymore?” Or do you try to reconcile that with what you previously knew. CAN you?

I really, really, really love this show…