Frak is Back

It's been seven long months, but tonight Battlestar Galactica returned with new episodes.

Sort of.

I say that, because it many ways, this isn't even the same show. It's all the same characters, but most of the roles have shifted around in the two time jumps we've now made (one year, in the final twenty minutes of season two; four more months before the opening of season three). Some of the people who were strong allies have become estranged, and new pairings of characters have come about (not too many Tyrol/Tigh or Tyrol/Gaeta scenes before tonight, for example).

The core allegory has now shifted to a portrayal of an uninvited foreign government occupying another civilization to enforce a new way of life. And the show is not pulling any punches in showing this in stark, truthful, sometimes horrible detail -- suicide bombings, people taken from their homes in the night by armed soldiers, execution squads.

No, this is not the Galactica I loved so completely for two seasons (and a mini-series). Nevertheless, in its transformation to this new kind of show, it has retained everything I liked before. Powerful and gritty drama, deeply drawn characters being put through the emotional grinder, and intelligent writing with a strong perspective and point to make. So far, I'm loving this new Galactica just as much as the old Galactica. (Or, if I'm counting the 1979 original, should I say I'm loving this third Galactica as much as the second?)

Sure, it may be too early to celebrate based on just two new hours, but it would seem that Battlestar Galactica is in no way suffering from the total reboot of its concept in the way Alias did when it tried a similar time shift between years two and three.

You'd think seven months of waiting to get to this point would make waiting just one more week for the next episode no problem. But I'm already itching for it.