Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #462548 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781932100945
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author

Customer Reviews

Challenges you, just like the show. Way better than the "official guides"
I recently purchased both season 1 and season 2 "official guides" and was immediately disappointed by the lack of intelligent content. There were a few tidbits of information about the producers' perception and experiences in creating specific episodes, but I was so disappointed by a lack of meaty material and the excessive number of PR photos which showed us nothing new about the show, the actors or the creative process.

Battlestar Galactica reminds me a little bit of how The Simpsons is always saying more than you think. You watch and you know there's something metaphorical going on, but not sure what it is at all times. That's why the official Simpsons guides are so great - the point out the references and allusions you might have missed.

This supposed "unauthorized" collection of thoughts and opinions has the content I was looking for. Right out of the gate the first writer, Eric Greene, talks about terrorism, 9-11, human rights and a myriad of current events and how they're dealt with in the show. It challenges you. For example, as admirable as President Roslin is, she clearly violates her stated beliefs of supporting democracy. Just like the show, the author doesn't let you off the hook. It demands that you look at the situation in its entirety and admit that maybe what you emotionally want isn't exactly what you say you believe.

This first essay even offers a few examples of metaphor that I know I missed entirely. The assassination of Boomer on Galactica? Think 1963 in a parking garage when a man named Jack Ruby decides to take matters into his own hands.

"So Say We All" even pushes the buttons of its own audience by including an essay entitled "GINO" or "Galactica in Name Only." It's an in your face negative review of the modern BSG and praise of the original (which I personally find to be campy nonsense). I have to respect a book more when it's willing to include material that bashes the very show it's trying to praise.

That's the kind of content I wanted from the "official guides." BSG is a political show for our times. At times it's liberal, at times it's conservative, at times it's in the middle. Part of that process is not taking the easy route. It means challenging its audience to think and examine their own beliefs. And that's exactly what "So Say We All" does as a book. I highly recommend it.

Thoughtful Essays
Overall well-written, thoughtful essays, on a variety of aspects of the show - religion, gender roles, the media, politics, psychology.

A few too many of them focused on the show's relevance to current politics, which, please, I am SO tired of people on both sides of the Iraq War fussing at how some movie or TV show is so "liberal" or so "conservative," didn't anyone ever hear about classical themes?

I would have liked more humor, even given the general darkness of the show. The only "funny" essay was the one that placed characters into different jobs, which I thought was thoroughly un-funny, and the weakest essay of the book. I liked the inclusion of a negative essay, a bold move but one that made me appreciate the updated show more.

Thought provocing and fun
Being a huge fan of the 78 series, I was interested in the "remake" of Battlestar. Needless to say, I am completly hooked. I recieved this book for Christmas, as sort of a joke from my family. The book is very interesting with essays from all sorts of people who are highly respected by their peers. I found the stories to be thought provoking, insightful and some of them are very funny. I am glad that I got this book and have enjoyed reading it. One essay is wrong on the cylon numbers but can be forgiven by the overall subject.