Tonight ’s the last instalment of Battlestar Galactica until the “ first fourth part of 2009 ” ( which could think of March ! ) , but do n’t go into detachment symptom yet . There ’s an dark 1990s show called Star Trek : Deep Space Nine , which is presently in arduous rotation on Spike . It shares a lot of the same idea and themes as BSG — which is n’t surprising , since BSG re - Lord Ronald D. Moore and two other BSG writers work on DS9 . A roundup of the DS9 / BSG similarities — and how BSG is better — after the startle . With sure-enough coddler .
Those long , wholesale arcs . It seems like a weird thing to name now , because every random copper show or space risky venture has plot line that comport on from episode to episode , more like serialise novels than assembling of ego - contained story . But back when Deep Space Nine started , the mind of following “ bow , ” especially ones that went on for more than one season , was still more strange on telecasting . For a Star Trek show , especially , it was considered unearthly to have so many continuing storylines .
Says Ron Moore ina young interview at TrekMovie :
The Enterprise , like I say earlier , could pull up to a satellite and have an episode and keep going . With Deep Space Nine , anything that took place on the place , well venture what ? Next week you are still on the post . And Bajor is not go anywhere . So really you had to keep playing those stories . You could n’t make a big change in Bajor ’s political structure in one hebdomad and then ignore it then next . You had to keep it go . Kira ’s story with his kinship with Bajorans had to keep evolving and so did Sisko ’s and they had a prospicient - term mission . They had a deputation about Bajor into the Federation . That alone mean that it was go to be serialized at least on that front .
By the time BSG pop out , of course , “ arc ” storytelling was more the norm , especially on genre shows . But at the same clock time , you may see Moore , plus Bradley Thompson and David Weddle , applying the thing they learned on DS9 : you ’ll often have an episode that advance one long - endure plot of land while putting others on the back - burner .
The good terrorist It ’s hard to think of too many TV point that present terrorists empathetically — and science fiction has two : DS9 and BSG . Quite peradventure the most sympathetic quality on Deep Space Nine is Major Kira , who was a “ resistance fighter ” on Bajor when the Cardassians occupied the satellite . We hear ceaselessly about how she contrive raids and bombings against the occupiers . We also hear the Cardassian side , about how they conceive they were doing the right thing occupy Bajor , and how Gul Dukat , the drawing card of the business , wanted to pull ahead the Bajorans ’ love and regard , but they kept pushing him with their unethical terror tactics . Towards the end of the show , there ’s a wonderful reversal where the Cardassians are themselves occupied by the Dominion ( because Dukat gave away the depot ) and Kira get in to teach her former oppressors the tactics she used against them .
The Cylons , meanwhile , cogitate they were doing the good thing occupying New Caprica . They savvy at a chance for man and Cylons to live together in peace treaty and harmony — but those stunned , unregenerate humans would n’t go for it . ( Actually , it turn out most of the “ human ” resistance leaders were Cylons too . ) Col . Tigh fight his pick to use self-destruction bomber against all the doubters , tell it ’s no different than post soldiers to their Death in a viper or raptor .
The enemy among us . The Dominion , DS9 ’s malign conglomerate , is run by “ changelings , ” shapeshifters who can look like anyone or anything . ( Except for Odo , our well-disposed shapeshifter , who is a bit drawers . ) Honestly , DS9 did n’t do enough with the “ shapeshifter ” plot of ground , because if anyone can be a shapeshifter , you start the room access for endless paranoia . Commander Sisko could be put back by a shapeshifter at any present moment , and so could Dax or Kira . The show only follows this plot to its consistent conclusion a couple of times — once when the changelings infiltrate Starfleet Headquarters in “ Home Front , ” and Starfleet imposes warriorlike law . ( Sisko finally agnize what a blunder this is , and there ’s a great talking to about how if the changelings want the humans to lose their freedom , they ’ll have to take them aside themselves . ) And the other time , a go Klingon is replaced by a changeling and near start a state of war . But for the most part , the “ malign shapeshifters ” plot go on the back burner an awful pile .
In BSG , meanwhile , there are only a dozen of the Cylon infiltrators who could be anybody . This make it a bit more accomplishable , even if you have to wonder why the Cylons do n’t have the technology to make dozens , or hundred , of models . You still have the paranoia of knowing that Admiral Adama could have been a Cylon from the beginning — but he ’s not work to be randomly exchange with a Cylon midway through one installment . It countenance you have the “ infiltrator ” patch without having to back off its implications .
Divided loyalties . In DS9 , Odo becomes one of the most compelling fictitious character on the show because he discovers he ’s really a member of the evil changeling race , which oppresses the Gamma quadrant and want to take over the Alpha quarter-circle . Plus there ’s always Worf , who ’s tear as usual between his Klingon and Federation allegiances .
On BSG , meanwhile , almost everybody ends up being torn in half eventually — particularly Sharon / Athena , who reject her own Cylon kind to join the mankind . And Helo , who espouse her . And the four secluded Cylons , who still have all their old human loyalties , but are contribute together by their shared identity operator . It ’s a little more interesting than on DS9 , because the Cylons are less blandly malign than the Dominion . It ’s more compelling to see hoi polloi torn between two groups that have a valid claim on their loyalty than it is to see someone deciding whether to back up good or evil . ( And you never really think Odo is move to sour his back on the mankind forever . )
The mismatched wild-eyed pairings . The love tarradiddle between Odo and Kira is one of the few really compelling romantic sagas in Trek — unless you think Troi / Riker is full of amazing . But it does have some problem , like Kira ’s decision to engagement Odo comes out of nowhere . And I was annoyed with Odo ’s “ changeling bros before atomic number 67 ” moment in the finale , where he ditches Kira to go off with his own people . But still — Otho of Lagery pine for her for so long , and they finally get together , and he turns into mist in that one episode and swirls around her . It ’s just too basal . And I actually loved the Dax / Worf match as well .
Meanwhile , BSG has nothing but mismatched pairing , specially the aforementioned Helo / Sharon marriage . passably much every marriage on the show change by reversal out to be between a man and a Cylon — Saul / Ellen , Galen / Cally , Sam / Kara … the only people without loyalty issues are Cylons . We wo n’t know for a while yet if Helo / Sharon will have a satisfying resolution , but we already know how Saul / Ellen and Galen / Cally flex out . In both those instance , it was n’t a happy termination , but at least it was memorable .
The gods and prognostication . Few shows obsess about religion as much as BSG and DS9 have . Deep Space Nine has religion built into its desoxyribonucleic acid at so many level , it ’s practically a religious allegory with quad - opera trappings . Let ’s retrospect : there are some deep aliens who survive out of time , whom the Bajorans hero-worship as “ the Prophets . ” The Prophets oil Benjamin Sisko as their “ Emissary , ” and it turn out they possessed his mother and arranged his nascence . He ’s supposed to help them fight their evil counterparts , the Pagh Wraiths . Meanwhile , the Dominion worships its leadership , the changelings , as gods . It ’s interesting : in DS9 , the non - Bajoran fictitious character refer to the Prophets as “ the wormhole aliens ” — until somewhere in time of year three or four . You never hear the set phrase “ wormhole alien ” ( I think ) in the last few seasons of the show . And there ’s less and less doubtfulness that Sisko has a holy delegacy on the Prophets ’ behalf . woefully , it does n’t stop that well — there ’s one instalment where Sisko ’s son gets possessed and has to agitate a holy struggle , and it ’s both puzzling and boring . And then in the close , the gargantuan battle between the good gods and the evil gods turns out to be a matter of leap off a drop . And it ’s jolly clean the changelings are n’t immortal — they ’re just despicable shapeshifters who have tweaked their slave ’ genomes or gotten them hooked on drug , so they ’ll be worshipped forever .
I complain about the characterization of organized religion on BSG , but I do have to admit it ’s a lot more subtle than on DS9 . There are a few reasonableness for this . First of all , we never conform to any gods on BSG . The Lords of Kobol and the Cylon God both have the decency to persist behind the curtain , give people visual sense and causing coincidence . The more we see of the Prophets on DS9 , the less impressive they are . And the more we see of the retard , the less believable it is that anybody could worship them as god — their “ false gods ” condition gets too obvious , if that makes any good sense . And usually when we see a spiritual experience on BSG , it ’s ambiguous . Someone has a weird dreaming sequence and then they ( and we ) have to puzzle it out . And as annoying as the Baltar = Jesus stuff has been , it ’s pretty audacious of the show to make its most repellent character into a guru . BSG has prophecies and books with comical name , just like on DS9 , but they ’re usually oblique . and of line , BSG has the Gemenons , who are sort of the combining weight of the hyper - spiritual Bajorans .
In both shows , though , there ’s a “ quest ” aspect , and compete faith . I ’m holding my breath that BSG ’s journeying of ego - discovery and religious waking up turns out to have a more comforting ending than DS9 ’s did . In worldwide , looking at the above listing , it seems like Moore and co. have turned the lesson they learned doing DS9 to good purpose — so here ’s hop .
Deep Space Nine
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