A little BSG musing

[vaznetti]

I am so tired it isn't even funny. I was still working last night after midnight, because a lot of stuff has hit all at once; I didn't even make it out of the office until 8. So that brownie was a real lifesaver, but now I feel thickheaded and grumpy.

I've been watching BSG and loving it, although I have a few general thoughts about the worldbuilding. One thing I've noticed in commentaries is that this is a show about people trying to hold their society together. I think that's true, but I'm starting to wonder about all the people who are doing the real day-to-day society building in this universe: the ordinary civilians. The people who got onto a shuttle one morning with a suitcase, only to find themselves a few days later at the far end of the galaxy with the whole world they knew in rubble. What are their living conditions like? How much space do they have? How much food, and where is it coming from? What kind of social organization are they developing? How many of them have sunk into depression? How many of them are looking for a way to volunteer like the would-be pilots of episodes 4 and 5? Those people were thrilled at the chance to join up, and probably for a number of reasons. What are they doing with their time? How have they divided up the work of keeping their ships working? Is the passenger/crew divide starting to break down, or becoming stronger?

I was wondering about their living conditions in particular, because President Roslin's quarters looked rather cramped, particularly in comparison with Adama's; but as president she's likely to have more space than others. But then, Colonial One is a shuttle rather than a full-sized ship. Some of the ships we saw in the miniseries are quite large (I'm thinking in particular of the ship with the little girl, which was left behind) but others must be very cramped. And how long were the journeys those ships were on, when the Cylons struck? This is the thing I'm most interested in. It seems that the civilian ships must be more like ocean liners than airplanes, since no one has run out of food yet (or rioted over cramped conditions). I suppose that only long-haul ships would have faster-than-light in the first place, so they might be better provisioned and roomier.

It's possible that these questions were answered in the miniseries, and I've forgotten it; I expect the show to deal with them soon, because that's the kind of show it seems to be. The issue of food supplies and water supplies have already been raised, after all. At the moment, we see the world more through the eyes of the military than anyone else, and they have certain prejudices against civilian life; I'd like to see the show explore the realities of civilian life, rather than those prejudices.

Comments

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

The other thing to consider is that, going by the number of days Helo's spent on Caprica, it hasn't yet been two months since the 12 colonies were destroyed.

[vaznetti]

Two months? Can it actually have been that much time? It seems to me like it ought ot be less than that--but that's a long time. Where are they getting their food from?

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Actually, I believe the whole season only takes two months ... I mean, in the last episode, Apollo still had the scars from the beating he took on the prison ship, so I'm guessing at most, it was only a week later.

I'm less enthused about the Caprica storyline so I don't pay as close of attention to when the blip the numbers at the bottom of the screen, but now I feel compelled to go back & check how long it is between "33" and "You Can't Go Home Again."

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

According to the title card, Helo's only been on Caprica for 15 days. So two weeks. Which feels about right to me.

[vaznetti]

That makes much more sense--it just seemed impossible to me that two months could have passed already.