Sunday, March 29, 2009

TOOBWORLD LOOKS AT BSG: PART TWO

From the April 28, 2006 edition of "Inner Toob":

It would be nice to fill out that particular dimension a bit, so that it's not so void of TV shows. Therefore, as far as I can see, since 'Firefly' is set in the future, and 'Galactica' hasn't reached Earth yet, for the time being I see no reason why it can't share the same dimension as 'The West Wing', 'Mr. Sterling', and 'Smallville'.

After first visiting the burnt-out cinder of a planet which was their fabled version of "Earth", the Galactica fleet reached our concept of "Earth" about 150,000 years ago. (Kara Thrace knew "there's got to be some kind of a way out of here" when the brokered peace with the Cylons fell apart - she went for broke and jumped the old battlestar, based on musical notes that also served as coordinates. And that's how they ended up in the Sol system in "the prehistoric dawn on a small blue-green planet in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy.") So part of that quote of mine above no longer holds true. Not only had they reached Earth, but had done so many thousands of years in the past.

I have friends who have asked me to consider both versions of 'Battlestar Galactica' for inclusion in my vision of Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld. Their argument basically is that the new version happened in the distant past, and then History repeated itself as the original series took place in the decades leading up to 1980. But I still have to hold that this re-imagining of the series has to find a new home in some alternate TV dimension. Such a repeat of History is too great a coincidence, not that it's impossible in Toobworld. Depending on how this Thursday's finale of 'Life On Mars' plays out, I'm hoping to keep the American version in Earth Prime-Time just like the original British series; there are ways to splain around it. But this kind of repeat of events and characters goes beyond the realm of believability.

And it's not just the original 'Battlestar Galactica' that would be duplicated. There's also a key segment of the TV version of 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' to consider - when the Golgafrinchams crashed on Earth and became the real ancestors to the human race. So I'm thinking the first part of my original premise can stand - the whole enterprise would be better suited for a particular alternate TV dimension, that in which Matt Santos is the current President of the United States, the dimension of 'The West Wing'. Other series already included in this dimension are:

'Mr. Sterling' (meant by its creator to be in that same world)
'Smallville' (since Clark Kent had not come to be known as Superman yet - and STILL hasn't)
'Raising The Bar' (different NYC D.A. than 'Law & Order', which is a powerhouse Toobworld staple)
and possibly the USA version of 'Life On Mars'.........

It's not bad company to be keeping, so I can't see why there should be complaints. I rather like the idea that two of the most critically acclaimed series of all time share the same dimension. In fact, some of the characters from 'Battlestar Galactica' could be distant ancestors to those in 'The West Wing'.......

BCnU!
Toby O'B

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