This Tired Evangelist Can't Resist...

After my frequent entries about church, plays not to miss, and other indirect prescriptions for living your life, I hesitate to make more suggestions for how you should use your time.

I hesitate, but I cannot stop myself from the small nudge that an hour a week watching Battlestar Galactica  is well spent.

We find it amazing drama with captivating acting and a storyline that comments on today's issues without being obviously preachy -- this is no cheesy Star Trek with half-white-half-black aliens stupidly facing off against half-black-half-white aliens.

Instead, we are immersed in murky situations of unclear morality. The good-guy major characters disagree on what to do, and it's not even clear that the good guys are going to carry the day anyway.  It's a dark show.

But, non-Sci-Fi people's eyes glaze over very quickly whenever a Sci-Fi series is mentioned.  So, I have kept myself from proselytizing too loudly on the street corner. 

Then I ran across the San Francisco Chronicle's television critic's review this morning.  Tim Goodman has the little man jumping out of his chair, and sounds more cheerleader-like than critic. Goodman writes:

... the show really is that good -- you are hereby notified that the sci-fi geeks are not kidding this time. Battlestar Galactica not only lives up to its sci-fi gold-standard reputation but also should be considered straight up as one of television's most appealing dramas, no matter the genre...

What makes Battlestar Galactica cross over to non-sci-fi fans is that stripped of the space conceit and relatively few sci-fi elements, it's a top-notch drama with fascinating characters, solid writing and an eagerness to explore complicated social, political and philosophical issues. (Read the full review)

Goodman's comments give me hope that perhaps I can spread the word to a few more lost souls.  It's not too late!

The Chron review also points out that catching up with the story is easy -- much easier they say than figuring out Lost. Goodman gives a couple paragraph version of all you need to know, and Sci-Fi does a nice job with a 3-minute recap online and text primers of season 1 and 2. There is also a 44-minute "story so far" episode that was shown on Sci-Fi and is a free iTunes download, but quoting Goodman again, "Even if you miss the splendidly concise prequel, 'The Story So Far,'  it's not as if you've got to learn Mandarin in a week in order for it all to make sense."

But, I fear that Goodman an I am making Battlestar sound like a chore on a task list. Don't watch Battlestar because it's going to be good for you.  Watch it because it's good fun!