Over the last few weeks we here, along with other fan outlets, have been discussing the supposed script concerning Battlestar Galactica. No matter where you go, what you hear, what you see, everything keeps revolving back to one genre, Trek. For many years i have enjoyed Star Trek, much like millions of other people throughout not only the United States, but the world. Trek is a legend in it's own time and even the great Gene Roddenberry could never have seen the monster he has created. Trek is the basis that everyone seems to consider a new Scifi adventure. No matter what i read, what i see, what i hear, each new scifi proposal has one distinct phenomenon to which it must live up to, Trek.
As a fan of a genre that still lives on it's own merits, Battestar Galactica, we are yet again cursed by the Trek persona. Writers today have the inevitable task to write scifi devoid of Trek comparisons. So far it's been a loosing proposition. This curse not only is affecting Galactica, but has effected scifi for nearly 20 years. Each new scifi show that is born today seems to disappear without a trace simply because it could not live up to what came before it, Trek. Trek to me is a wonderful human accomplishment, one that has always seemed to keep us on the edge of our seats each and every week for over 30 years. How was it possible that something so wonderful could hold us beholden for longer than i could have ever dreamed possible? That question maybe never answered.
If we look back, what is to be considered as a scifi television success in the last 10 years? One for instance would have to most definately be Babylon 5. This very show broke new ground, away from the Trek persona but it too struggled for a seperate identity. In the end i do believe it was the one success that truely seperated itself from Trek, but just barely. B5 provided us with a different aspect to scifi, one that did not rely on Trek for it's identity, one that kept us thinking that there is more to scifi than just Trek. It also let us see that if treated right it could make us forget Trek, move past the starship mentality. Things were different and i liked it, and still do.
Where does today's Trek leave us? Close to an end. Close to a begining? If the "thoughts of reason" seep into the creative minds of the scifi writers of today, we could be seeing the next great thing in scifi entertainment, Battlestar Galactica. But the "reasoning" has to seep in. Galactica is not Trek, and should not have to "live" up to it. It needs to "defeat" it, and the only way it can is for people to believe in it, believe in what it is, what it was, and what it "will" become. Let it become a legend in it's own time, let it stand on it's own and break the barrier we are all fighting today, Trek itself.
Let Galactica, BE Galactica.
Goodbye Trek, it's been grand.
Glory to Caprica.
Trek, the destroyer of scifi.
