Talkie Zoo: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Originally, I wasn't really very interested in watching this series. The older version was so contrived and lacked substance, but I gave in to a suggestion from someone close to me and started watching Battlestar Galactica, the series that began in 2004. This series has two very fine actors in it. Edward James Olmos, who plays the ship's Captain Adama, and Mary McDonnell, who plays the president of the thousands of citizens aboard the ships which comprise the entourage of Galactica.

The story is that all these people are seeking a new world - a new Earth, if you will - to settle on after their own planet has been destroyed. They are pursued through space by Cylons, which is a race of robots that originated on Earth as servants. The robots became self aware, and that's where the problems began. Eventually, they learned to make themselves appear human ("skin jobs") to fool the humans and infiltrate their ranks. If one of them is killed, their brain power is uploaded into another skin job.

The crew of Galactica is comprised of both men and women who aren't afraid to fight and die to save the people. Among them is Cara, a macanudo cigar smoking top-level pilot. She's quite a character herself. Tough. A fighter. Courageous. She worked her way up from poverty to a level of fighter pilot many of the men aboard envy.

It took me several days to watch the whole series, but it was well worth the watch.