BSG, the Obsession

I’ve slipped into a Battlestar Galactica related frenzy. Part of me regrets ordering season 4.0 from Amazon; they weren’t delivered until Monday. That left me five precious evenings to rewatch those episodes before the second half of the final season kicks off Friday night at 10 p.m.. Unfortunately, Monday is also my D&D night: no watching that night. I also have plans Friday evening right up to premiere, and we have a friend coming to dinner tonight. These are all good things mind you; the unfortunate part is the synchronicity of it all. The reality is, I won’t make it through them all in time, and that’s okay. I feel worse for the first time viewers I know who are trying to make it through ten episodes in order to synch up with the rest of us for the series’s final push.

I also picked up the BSG soundtracks that were missing from my collection; they all now live happily in my iPod. We also have a some folks coming over to play the board game (of which I’ve written previously) on Saturday – let me tell you, trying to fill up all six slots for that game is trickier than it sounds. I have a long list of folks who have expressed clear interest, but I can’t invite them all. I only have the one board. Naturally, I’ve received a handful of varying degrees of ‘tenatively yes’ responses as well. Juggling all this reminds me of trying to staff a restaurant or something. It’s all very complicated.

As I re-watch the first half of season four over a short amount of time, I’m reminded of Return of the King. Both have a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short amount of time. Neither is prepared to hold anything back when it’s all said and done. This leads to fluid storytelling that drifts from the kind of focused narrative we’ve come to expect. While each episode does have a beginning middle and end, one leads directly into the next. None are truly self contained.

This all works better when you watch them consecutively, with little break in between.

I also realize now that I may have been a little drunk during my first viewing: the accompanying whiskey is part of the experience for me. Trying to keep up with Tigh or Adama has gotten me into trouble before... (well, the red wine I had with dinner earlier that evening also had something to do with it).

It also occurred to me that I’m every bit as obsessed with BSG now as I was with Star Wars from 1979 to 1995, or Twin Peaks from ’95ish – ’97ish (that was an all video experience). It’s fun!