Already have all of season 1 of Caprica — slowing rationing the shows out to myself, because it is dead now, isn’t it? Not renewed for any more seasons, I thought I read.

etc etc.

I thank you for your kind words, as do all my site’s commenters, I’m sure.

With great affection – Mike.

Star Wars is probably the most world reknown science fiction saga there is. It propelled many into science fiction when shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers and V were hanging in on the fringes. Granted George Lucas really left the feel of the original Star Wars with his pre-quels. Though I will grant that it enthused a new generation into a love of Sci-Fi.

Star Trek is one of the LONGEST running generes. It’s multiple spin-offs and movies are proof of it’s popularity. It was a vision of Gene Roddenberry’s future and one that offered hope. I am not a Trekkie, I do not dress up and go to conventions. The fact that there is a long standing Star Trek convention that even non sci-fi fans know about (and yes make fun of) is further proof of its strength in Sci-Fi. I am afraid I have never heard of a BSG convention (Oh people dress up at Comicon or other conventions).

Stargate ran for 10 seasons, with a spin off that ran for 5 and a second spin-off already slated to run 20 episodes into a 2nd season. That says something for a Sci-Fi franchise (One of my favorites Firefly didnt make it past season 1 (Though they did get a movie!)). You ridicule Richard Dean Anderson for his quips in the show. Yet that is what was so endearing about him and made it fun! Not everything has to be dark and edgy (Are you just in need of being depressed or feel it is not sci-fi unless everyone is dark, mysterious and filled with drama?)

Now you are entitled to your opinion and it’s fine if you did not enjoy all things Star-related. I do not want to try and change your mind or convince you otherwise. However, you may get ugly all you like. It does not change the success these franchise’s have seen, which speaks for itself about its popularity as Sci-fi franchises. How many seasons did BSG last? 4 (SG-1 had 10). Now, maybe you want to pad your numbers and count the original BSG (Same storyline). However, look what they needed to do to BSG in order to make it succesful, unlike the original (The original Star Trek did more for Sci-Fi then the original BSG). They needed to make BSG dark, edgy and filled with drama. Did it work? Yes! I enjoyed BSG (Well until the end when it started to get confusing and never really satisfied me with answers). Caprica is an awesome spin-off and I am enjoying that as well. So do not think I am bashing your favorite Sci-fi franchise. Just because you have a distate for the other Sci-Fi franchises does not make them any less popular Science Fiction and can not discount the impact it has in bringing new generations into the love of Sci-Fi. they did it MUCH more then BSG ever did.

Now for those of you that are questioning some of the science fiction and how things work in Stargate (Power consumption and such). GET OVER IT! BSG doesn’t even try to explain their technology or how systems work. It just exsits. As for the power of Stargates in the middle of no-where. If you actually ever watched the entire franchise, it is explained. The DHD devices hold a tremendous amount of power, but it is finite. Smanatha Carter explains how the DHD found in Antartica could not be used, because they could not power it up. But the power does last for hundreds of millions of years. Does it have to explain how? NO this is SCIENCE FICTION! If it was not fiction and could be explained then we could build it and it would not be Fiction. Stargate does at least TRY and use existing theories and such to give a reason for how things work. Again, I never saw them do that in BSG. As for the Stargates in the middle of no where on SGU. THEY ARE NEW! Did you not pay attention to the show? There is a ship flying ahead of Destiny SEEDING planets with Stargates. Thuse those Stargates power supply will be fresh and will last for millenia. It also is explained that Stargates are huge Superconducters and have been known to draw power from other sources. Before you start complaining about the FICTION in a Science Fiction, perhaps you should watch ALL of the series.

Furthermore, the person talking about only Desert scenes for Stargate. You obviously did not watch the series either. There were FAR more planets with trees and other vegetation, then there were without. Before you question why, it is explained that many worlds were teraformed by the Goa’uld for the pupose of transporting human slaves to them (Also explainining why humans are found on most other planets). The use of desert worlds was actually far mor infrequent then you seem to think and even when they were used, it was often cause they were RE-VISITING a planet. Such as Abydos.

Now, even I had questions about some things in all the shows. Most notably was in Stargate most everyone spoke english. However I SUSPENDED MY BELIEF, for a SCIENCE FICTION! Why you ask? Because I knew that the franchise could force their writers to have to put something in about language barriers everytime and would just come up with the Star Trel like Universal Translator. Star Trek Enterprise made the language barrier a theme throughout its production (Remember Hoshi). Stargate made the decision just to skip having to explain it everytime and make everyone speak english. It did focus some episodes on Daniel Jackson having to try and communicate outside of English (Mostly though he just had to translate writing). My point is THIS IS SCIENCE FICTION! It is meant to be entertaining and move a story along. Yes in REAL LIFE we would have to deal with things like language and maybe we would need solar collectors if we ever designed a ring that could create stable worm holes to other planets. But, until we do have such technology, take these shows for what they are and once again, GET OVER IT!

To sum up. Caprica and SGU are fantastic shows and I hope they last for some time. Though it seems the BSG and Caprica series are not meant for long term (eventually Caprica is going to hit where BSG starts). Perhaps that is a new format science fiction is trying to take. 4-5 seasons then a spin-off. It certainly seems like the traditional way of producing a season is no longer in use. Caprica only has 10 episodes and was started in Nov 2009 (they like to make us wait now). I do agree with the writer of this article. The way they made SGU more dark and edgy is awesome. Stargate Atlantis had continued the easy going camp Cololnel O’neill attitude and while fun. It would not have worked for SGU. The conflict between the civillians and millitary is great for the story and adds drama. It also is more realistic for this type of scenario. These were not the people who were SUPPOSED to go to Destiny. Unlike Atlantis where it was the team chosen by it’s leaders and thus would be more cooperational, disciplined and optimistic. The lives on SGU’s Destiny were thrown into their circumstances and thus the conflict and lack of discipline is something you would expect. Kudos for the writers and producers recognizing this. It makes them all seem a little more human (not super-human). I think BSG is the series that started this kind of edgy space drama and they continue it with Caprica. One of the things I like about Caprica is that humans still have their vices. Drugs and alcohol. Shoot even smoking cigarettes was a big theme of the Caprica series (Don’t most shows shy away from showing cigarettes or smoking in their shows now a days?). We are humans we have vices and for those vices to show up in a show, brings them a little closer to reality. But never forget this is SCIENCE FICTION. So do not expect tecnical schematics and accurate physics to line ever piece of technology the writers introduce (Come on stones that transfer consciousness across galaxies? A phone booth that travles through time and dimensions?). It is those items that stretch our imagination though that make shows endearing and make us ask the question….is it possible?

Thank you for reading this, though you may not all agree with my statements and comments. It shows the power of these shows, when it can engage us and opens up such discussions between us. So for now…Na-Nu Na-Nu