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

[muridae-x.livejournal.com]

I have also been watching BSG and loving it... but only since last week, when I finally got around to watching the miniseries. Call me slow... Alas, this means that I've now completely missed the first run of season one on Sky One, but I'm pinning my hopes on the DVD release towards the end of March.

In the meantime I plan on rewatching the original series, which I also liked - though very much in the way that I liked Voyager - more for its occasional flashes of brilliance and a potential for greatness that the writers and producers never quite delivered on, than for its actual episodes. So far the contracts in the new series has struck me forcibly as being something of a blending of both of those series... but with a deeper thought and analysis of the problems incumbent in the situations being set up. It gives me a certain confidence that the show will eventually deal with some of those things, and put that emphasis on the passengers and the supply shortages and the medium term adjustments that these people are going to have to make in their lives to form a society on the run... and that it might just be a case of when they have time to get around to it.

*sigh* I've watched so much crummy stuff over the past few years. It's entirely typical that as soon as something comes along that actually has the potential to engage my interest, it sneaks out of the starting blocks before I get around to looking up and noticing it.

[se-parsons.livejournal.com]

I noticed that they destroyed the one ship that seemed to have plants on it. It wasn't FTL and they left it behind with the Cylon attack.

They'd better have some kind of food-creating ability or they're in deep doo doo. We already saw the water shortage because of the Battlestar.

It would be easy enough to set up hydroponic systems in big cargo holds, though. I wonder if we'll see that.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

You know, I was just wondering whether the civilians aren't getting horribly, HORRIBLY bored - because they must have exhausted all of their reading matter etc., and they're in these cramped conditions... I picture something like the DP camps in post-war Europe, only with the added fun of not being sure their enemy isn't coming back to kill them again.

I bet there's lots of boozing, casual sex, card games, maybe some attempts to organize schooling or something for the children... (Hey, someone should write some fic about this!)

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

They did bring up food in "Water." Baltar's calculations were...intimidating, to say the least. And so far, I've been able to put off my wanting to see what's going on with the civilian side by saying "they're still in 'flight, flee, hunker and hide' mode." But I would indeed like to see more of the civilian side of things. Other than snippets, it would be nice if they will spend an entire episode, I dunno, maybe following Roslin around for a day. That'd be cool.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You know what I think? When they get the promised elections, and election-campaigning. That'll be when we'll see how the civilians are coping on a day-to-day basis.

[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.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

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.

Same here. My first thought was, hey, I wonder why all those people trapped on the space equivalent of a Greyhound Bus haven't gone batshit crazy yet? How can they be supplied with enough air or power to last, much less food for the long haul? What can the toilets on those buses smell like by now??

But then I realized, the civilians only exist when the plot needs them to, and they disappear when not needed.

Actually, I bet civilians are really quite nutritious. Solved that problem, then!

There are a number of unaddressed logistical problems with maintaining a refugee population of thousands. At least, kept apart in their tiny bus-prisons, they can't go all giving each other dysentery.

[leadensky.livejournal.com]

Brilliant questions, and ones I, too, would love to see addressed in fic, but even more than that we need to see in canon.

The shift for the civilians must, I think, be even more significant than for the crew of the Galactica - they are, to some extent, doing what they always do, while the entire world order has changed for the civilians - with the possible exceptions of the ships' crews.

I'm holding up the 'crew' of Lost in my mind, up against what we've seen of BSG, and Lost isn't coming out looking so good. I hope - I expect - that what we're eventually going to be shown of the civilian social structure will be more cohesive and competent than either Jack's refugees or Tigh's fears low expectations.

I don't agree that the show's producers/plotters view the civilian component of the fleet as plot-disposable, it's just that things are rather busy this sec, and with the threat of the Cylons hanging right there to trump any minor things like heart attacks, broken laundry machines, rude cabin staff and people sleeping in hallways, I can see where they haven't had the chance to address those issues yet.

I think we're getting hints, though. Roslin asked Adama if he had a physican on board - I wonder how much of that was resonable precautions and how much was driven by her not knowing if there were any other doctors in the Fleet. Following the attacks, physicans/police officers/public officals might have not left their posts, and might be less well represented among the Fleet than normal population distributions would indicate. (Wildly speculating, here.)

As for who we could follow through the fleet - the military doc could be a interesting fellow to follow for a day.

- hg