Hi everyone,
Yongjin invited me here from SyFy. I am fairly new there too, as I didn't start watching Battlestar Galactica until it was over via Netflix, but did instantly fall in love with the show and wished I'd seen it as it aired... I haven't watched much StarGate yet - only season 1 of SG-1 so far, but am working on it (though I have gotten sidetracked and started watching Heroes on my Netflix). My dad & sister both LOVE Stargate, so I decided to give it a try. It's pretty good so far, but I prefer Battlestar - at least so far (can't make any definitive judgments until after I've seen them all; after all, until I had FINISHED BSG, I preferred Deep Space 9)...
So, I guess, since Yongjin asked me to, I will say some of the reasons I like BSG.
I am not a big battle sequence/action fan, really. So, the drama and character development were AWESOME for me.
I LOVE Science Fiction, but not because of the action element (though that's how I can get my husband to watch it with me). I like science fiction, because it lets you explore the realm of IF - it requires great imagination. But, beyond that, it allows you to explore political/social things in a second-hand way that is not as personal. BattleStar Galactica DEFINITELY did this, and that is one of the main reasons I REALLY, REALLY enjoyed it!
I did enjoy the spiritual aspects of BSG as well. I loved seeing how it could, also, be explored in a science fiction way so as to make it less personal. Really rather fascinating - and though some people would deny it/miss it, it was there throughout the entire series. And yes, the head characters were blatantly spiritual beings. There would be no way to know some of the things they were saying if Baltar was merely schizofrentic (sp)...
Basically, in short, Battlestar Galacitca was a show both my husband and I could watch and enjoy! This is very often not the case! He really isn't a big fan of science fiction, and I am, but we both enjoyed this show. After nearly every episode was over, we'd sit there and discuss it for hours with the different social, political, or spiritual implications. It was a LOT of fun to be able to do that!
Now, I will definitely concede a little and say that parts of season 3 were a little rough. They missed it in several episodes in a row, in my opinion. And it probably would've been pretty easy to tune it out at that point if it wasn't so easy to just order the next Netflix DVD. Though, in my opinion, season 4 really brought it back around.
Now, since I was not there at the beginning (or even during the airing), I'm not sure about this, but, according to what I've picked up from the podcasts (the commentary that are on the DVDs - also available through iTunes for free BTW), Ron Moore did NOT have a plan going into the whole thing. It was planned to be serialized, but they didn't have specific ideas of exactly how it was going to be accomplished and did just write it as it went along. And even as far as it being serialized, a lot of the PTB at SyFy wanted it to be more episodic anyway - hence the several stand-alone episodes that appear from time to time, especially in season 3, which, IMO, is what made season 3 a little less than the other seasons... I have read the show bible that was mentioned, and it doesn't refer to any grand mapping of the plot either - just mostly a lot about the world and character backstory (which a lot of comes out in the shows anyway)...
Evidently, Yongjin has posted my response to a person on SyFy above. For clarification, my answers are the ones he put in the italics...
So, there's my post. Look forward to interacting with y'all as the show airs again (though I won't be watching it as it airs since I don't get BBCAmerica, so will be going off of memory)...
I did watch the next two eps and my main question is this. 
