Current SF TV plus some non-SF

Current SF TV – plus some non-SF
For all the complaints about the quality of TV, there is a lot of good stuff on TV – so much so that I have deliberately kept away from shows that I’m sure I’d like based on what people have told me (CSI is a good example) because the half dozen shows I do watch cut into my reading time. It is certainly a great time for SF TV, as two of the very best shows on the air (as picked by mainstream critics, not just by SF fans like me) are SF: Battlestar Galactica and Lost. Meanwhile, Stargate SG-1 is having the most interesting season it’s had in several years, and Stargate Atlantis, while not up to the level of its parent show, is still an enjoyable interlude between Galactica and SG-1. And, of course, on top of this, American viewers will soon get to see the new Dr. Who, which is the best Dr. Who ever done.
Battlestar Galactic, which had a very good first season, is having an even better second one. This came as a complete surprise to me, since the original show wasn’t very good, I didn’t hold out much hope for the new series. The pilot was interesting, but a bit overlong, but the show picked up steam.
Galactica continues to seriously examine important issues, ranging from the balance between civilian and military power in times of war to how prisoners should be treated. The high point of the season so far has been the three part return of the Battlestar Pegasus. This basic plot device was used in the original TV series, but since I haven’t seen that show in 25 years, I don’t remember many details. The new series takes a much darker look at the return of the Pegasus, and uses it to really delve into some key issues and developments for the show. At the start of the first of the three parts, Pegasus’s arrival sparks celebration, but this soon turns to dismay as it becomes apparent that Admiral Cain, the commander of the Pegasus – who outranks Adama – assumes that her powers in time of war are unconditional. Moreover, she is one of those management types who, without bothering to determine how well an existing organization is working, begins shuffling things about to have it her way. Things come to a head when she sends over an interrogation team to question the Cylon prisoner Galactica is holding, and it becomes apparent that their idea of questioning involves brutality and even sexual assault. When two Galactica officers try to stop it, the head interrogator is killed. Admiral Cain’s response is to order the prisoners to be executed without trail, and Adama has to threaten force to stop it.
The portrayal of Cain (played by Michelle Forbes) is frightening. She is contemptuous of civilian authority and her only concern is fighting the Cylons, no matter what the cost, and with essentially no moral compass that rules out any amount of brutality to do so – including abandoning or even killing civilians. She is contrasted with the Galactica’s Adama, who initially showed similar (though less extreme) impulses in the first season, However, Adama’s impulses are always tempered both by his concern for the civilians under his care and by the basic desire to do what is right and abide by the laws of his civilization. This contrast, of course, gives us a mirror that we can use to look at our own civilization. I continue to watch Galactica each week, looking forward to seeing where the creators will take the show next.
The start to the new season of Stargate SG-1 wasn’t really promising. I enjoyed Ben Browder in Farscape, but he’s not as good an actor as Richard Dean Anderson, who he was replacing. And the early part of the season had several episodes that, while enjoyable, weren’t up to the best of Stargate. But that soon changed, with the introduction of a new menace, one even more frightening than the Ga’old, the chief villains of earlier seasons. Previous seasons had established that the original intelligent beings in the galaxy, the ancients, had “ascended” – evolved to another form of existence, in which they are no longer concerned with what goes on in the galaxy. In the new season, we discover that some ancients, who now call themselves the Ori, did not want to leave the galaxy behind when they ascended. Instead, they wanted to control and be worshiped. The Goa’uld wanted the same thing, but the Goa’uld were the nasty Gods of Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc. mythology: very powerful, but certainly not the level of power that most contemporary religions attribute to a God. Moreover, the trappings of the Goa’uodl were the trappings of mythology, and that affected the way viewers perceived them. The Ori and their emissaries the Priors have the trappings of religions we are familiar with – the Priors often look like Christian pilgrims in the middle ages – and the Ori have powers closer to what we would consider God-like. Moreover, while the Goa’uld wanted obedience (belief was secondary), the Ori demand belief and worship, and wipe out those who disobey. This combination of power combined with undertones that resonate more with the viewers make the Ori a truly frightening adversary.
SG-1 is doing a fine job of setting up the conflict with the new villains. In addition, the show continues to have good production values, generally good writing, and good acting, led by Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping. Beau Bridges is also doing a good job as the new commanding general.
Meanwhile, Lost is having another interesting season, with the backgrounds of yet another group of people to explore. The mystery of what’s really going on here is still unfolding, and I just hope that Abrams and the production team can pull it off, that they really do know what’s going on. (As opposed to Chris Carter, who, it became clear as the X-Files reached it’s fourth season or so, was making up the “mythology” as he went along.)
What else do I watch? As I said above, I watch Stargate Atlantis, which is enjoyable, has good characters, and sometimes good situations, but isn’t up to SG-1.  For one thing, their adversaries, the Wraith, look and act like rejects from B-grade horror movies, which takes something away from what is otherwise a well-done show.
I started watching House because I’ve been a Hugh Laurie since his portrayal of Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster. Here, he plays a bad tempered, crotchety, but brilliant doctor, very different from what I’d seen him do before (and with a convincing American accent). The first half of the first season tended to repeat the same basic plot structure, and the show at that point was mostly interesting for its characters, but it’s gotten better.
Finally, I sometimes watch Numbers, a drama in which a math professor is called in by his brother, and FBI agent, to help solve crimes. I was drawn to a show that showed complicated equations in the credits and often included the professor (David Crumholtz, who played Mr. Universe in Serenity) often giving short math lectures to the FBI agents. The show is frustrating in that it alternates between weeks where the math really is an integral part of the plot (using statistical analysis of various sorts to narrow down the area where a killer might strike next, for example) with weeks in which it’s a real stretch to work in a math element. But when it’s good, it’s a lot of fun. And the geeky element goes to show that not all TV is aimed at the lowest common denominator.
And I’ll also note that I watch two animated shows: The Simpson, still reasonable after all these years, and Justice League, which has established itself as one of the best superhero renditions ever done.
So, overall it’s a good time for TV – perhaps too good. I like to read more than I like to watch TV, so I can only make room for a limited number of TV shows.