The Reality of Science Fiction

Science Fiction. It's the genre that people love to poke fun at - myself included. Almost anyone can safely recite the normal stereotypes about sci-fi shows and their fanatics. Fans of anything that contains the United Federation of Planets and the USS Enterprise are generally the target.

Recently, however, there has been a reemergence of the genre. Earlier this year, Star Trek was reinvented for a new generation of fans; and was done so rather successfully, I might add.

For the first time since forever, there was a Star Trek film that kicked major ass, and didn't go into needless 45-minute scenes where there was a debate between a Captain and his Number One about how the Prime Directive would be not breached while visiting a pre-warp planet in order to formulate a report on the telepathic abilities of the Vespaccian Vorknuckle flower and its ability to prevent mass hunger of the dancing Monkeydolphin Birds of Yawndoze Prime.

Having said that, it still provided many lowest common denominator scenes in the form of spatial anomalies, black holes, time travel, imploding planets and spaceship laser battles.

You see, sci-fi is often a victim of its own success. Pioneering space opera franchises like Star Trek often create the pop-culture benchmarks and set fictional references for subsequent sci-fi shows; doomed to become overused parodies of themselves.

How often have we heard of matter transporters, laser guns and hyperspace in things other than the show in which they originated?

This is often why all science fiction is lumped together in the one category. And it is here that Battlestar Galactia provides salvation for the genre.

Battlestar Galactica lived through several different incarnations in the late seventies and early eighties. It never really became hugely successful in mainstream society and only gained a small legion of cult followers.

In 2003, however, it was remade into a re-imagined made-for-tv miniseries, which blasted new life into it as one of the most popular science fiction shows of all time, having only just now in 2009 had its series finale after four and a half seasons (Season 4 came in two parts due to the writers' strike) countless webisodes, one made-for-DVD feature-length movie, the announcement of a spin-off series and even the plans for a feature film by Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men movies.

The first thing you notice when you slap on the DVD is how very real it all feels. Aside from having one of the highest special effects and computer graphics budgets of all time for something made specifically for television, there are no aliens with two heads walking around the place. While there are robots, they are the creation of humans and not some ancient race of space-faring lizard people. On the space-going vessels, "Engine Room" is about as technical as the jargon gets. The guns shoot bullets, not plasma bolts while back on planet the modern society depicted thrives on a heavy mix of greedy neo-liberalism which extolls the virtue of wealth, owning a petrol-guzzling all-terrain vehicle and a house with sweeping water views.

This is perhaps when the cataclysm that nearly wipes out the human race hits home so strongly. It is not done with a Death Star, but with a nuclear holocaust by people who may indeed resemble a neighbour, a friend, a lover.

The show makes many startling yet cautionary points about how we should take responsibility for previous mistakes: technology comes at a price; wars don't end once an armistice is signed; and, possibly the most shocking parallel to the real world post September 11; the role of religious fundamentalism and political extremism.

Battlestar Galactica departs from the traditional space opera in that instead of having an entertaining or trivial role, the clash of political ideologies and mutual hatred of oppising religious faiths take a front seat throughout the entire series. The polytheistic humans have an official religion; and even more interestingly, their machine creations (and brutal enemies), the Cylons, have an agenda given to them by what they say is divine will.

The parallels don't end there, as throughout the series - as the galaxy is traversed - the brutality of terrorism and moral crusades, evangelical devotion, sectarian politics and even suicide bombings are portrayed graphically and realistically in a contemporary critique of current events being played in the real-world arena. Not bad for a so called "sci-fi" show in which the characters are literally 100 000 light years from Earth.

Battlestar Galactica is more than just a piece of science fiction. It is a parallel of the modern world located in the depths of empty space. Its purpose isn't intentionally to boldly go where noone has gone before; yet in terms of cinematography and social commentary that is exactly what it does. It challenges us to see past cultural and racial stereotypes and to sympathise with the suicide bomber even though he kills more of his mates than he does the enemy.

I previously made the mistake of thinking that all science fiction was the same. Battlestar Galactica is not. It is the show that may indeed be the salvation of the prime time TV space opera genre. Even though it's over, its influence will hopefully be felt for years to come.

So say we all.