That's right, everyone. RDM's phenomenal 're-imagining of Glen A. Larsen's 'Sci-Fi Exodus', the original BSG - which itself celebrated its 35th Anniversary this year - premiered exactly 10 years ago tonight.
Even though I know many fans feel like the series ended with somewhat of a whimper, it will forever remain my absolute favorite television series in history, and is a series which, like its 1970s namesake, left an indelible mark on the television landscape.
To celebrate the anniversary, I thought I'd emulate IGN and count down my favorite (5) moments from the series, and also invite others to do the same.
#5: The discovery of Kobol
BSG's first season needed something that would keep viewers interested and talking enough that they'd return for its second run of 20 episodes, and the writers delivered exactly that when they had the fleet discover the ancient birthplace of humankind, Kobol.
Everyone cites the New Caprica arc that closed out Season 2 and opened up Season 3 as one of the series' best arcs, but I'd put the Kobol arc ahead of it because of its duration and the way in which it more directly impacted the first several story arcs of Season 2 than the New Caprice arc did Season 3.
#4: Dualla's suicide
The devastating news that Earth was a nuclear wasteland was the breaking point for so many of the show's characters, but one of the most shocking and surprising consequences of that revelation was the suicide of Dualla, particularly since it came practically out of nowhere.
#3: Kara's death, resurrection, and disappearance
For all of the flack that it received online, the decision to turn Dirk Benedict's beloved Captain Starbuck into a female character - Kara Thrace - was one of the reimagined BSG's numerous masterstrokes, resulting in the creation of one of the most complex and flawed female characters in TV history.
Beyond just making Kara a phenomenal character, though, the writers then proceeded to give her one of the best story arcs in the series, capped off by her fiery death in Maelstrom, miraculous resurrection in Crossroads P2, and mysterious disappearance in Daybreak P3.
#2: Zarek and Gaeta's mutiny
RDM and Co. hit the proverbial jackpot when they created the character of Tom Zarek and were able to convince the 'original Apollo', Richard Hatch - who had himself been a vocal detractor of the decision to reimagine the show in the first place - to portray the character.
Although he wasn't a series regular, the writers clearly enjoyed writing for Zarek as much as Hatch enjoyed playing him, which gave us the brilliantly written and acted mutiny instigated and led by Zarek in the aftermath of the devastation found on Earth and the 'truce' with the Cylons that had led the fleet to Earth in the first place.
#1:Cylon Earth
For 60+ episodes, BSG had been about the search for a new home, and in Revelations - halfway through the series' 4th and final season - it appeared as if that search was at an end... only for RDM and the other brilliant creative minds behind the series to drop one of the biggest bombshells in TV history: instead of being the characters' salvation, their new home - Earth - was a dead world that had been destroyed - and inhabited - by the very enemy they'd been seeking to find refuge from: the Cylons.
Those are my favorite moments from the new BSG. What are everyone else's?
Even though I know many fans feel like the series ended with somewhat of a whimper, it will forever remain my absolute favorite television series in history, and is a series which, like its 1970s namesake, left an indelible mark on the television landscape.
To celebrate the anniversary, I thought I'd emulate IGN and count down my favorite (5) moments from the series, and also invite others to do the same.
#5: The discovery of Kobol
BSG's first season needed something that would keep viewers interested and talking enough that they'd return for its second run of 20 episodes, and the writers delivered exactly that when they had the fleet discover the ancient birthplace of humankind, Kobol.
Everyone cites the New Caprica arc that closed out Season 2 and opened up Season 3 as one of the series' best arcs, but I'd put the Kobol arc ahead of it because of its duration and the way in which it more directly impacted the first several story arcs of Season 2 than the New Caprice arc did Season 3.
#4: Dualla's suicide
The devastating news that Earth was a nuclear wasteland was the breaking point for so many of the show's characters, but one of the most shocking and surprising consequences of that revelation was the suicide of Dualla, particularly since it came practically out of nowhere.
#3: Kara's death, resurrection, and disappearance
For all of the flack that it received online, the decision to turn Dirk Benedict's beloved Captain Starbuck into a female character - Kara Thrace - was one of the reimagined BSG's numerous masterstrokes, resulting in the creation of one of the most complex and flawed female characters in TV history.
Beyond just making Kara a phenomenal character, though, the writers then proceeded to give her one of the best story arcs in the series, capped off by her fiery death in Maelstrom, miraculous resurrection in Crossroads P2, and mysterious disappearance in Daybreak P3.
#2: Zarek and Gaeta's mutiny
RDM and Co. hit the proverbial jackpot when they created the character of Tom Zarek and were able to convince the 'original Apollo', Richard Hatch - who had himself been a vocal detractor of the decision to reimagine the show in the first place - to portray the character.
Although he wasn't a series regular, the writers clearly enjoyed writing for Zarek as much as Hatch enjoyed playing him, which gave us the brilliantly written and acted mutiny instigated and led by Zarek in the aftermath of the devastation found on Earth and the 'truce' with the Cylons that had led the fleet to Earth in the first place.
#1:Cylon Earth
For 60+ episodes, BSG had been about the search for a new home, and in Revelations - halfway through the series' 4th and final season - it appeared as if that search was at an end... only for RDM and the other brilliant creative minds behind the series to drop one of the biggest bombshells in TV history: instead of being the characters' salvation, their new home - Earth - was a dead world that had been destroyed - and inhabited - by the very enemy they'd been seeking to find refuge from: the Cylons.
Those are my favorite moments from the new BSG. What are everyone else's?
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