Battlestar Galactica - TV-PG
Exciting space drama has complex adult themes.
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- TV Rating: TV-PG
- Network: SciFi
- Genre: Science Fiction
- >Available On: DVD,Download
Parents need to know
Families can talk about how they would react if they lost everything and had to start over. Some people would find the strength to protect their people, but others might turn inward and focus only on protecting their own interests. Though it's hard to know how anyone might act in a life-or-death situation, it can be interesting to speculate. What would your teens take with them if they had five minutes (or less) to leave the house? What would you do if the slate was wiped clean?
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Social Behavior:
The Colonial Fleet is a rigid military hierarchy that places a high value on respect for authority. Certainly there are a few somewhat rebellious characters, but even when they appear to be disobeying orders, their actions are still in support of the overall good, and are generally lauded by their peers. The storylines featuring the often-tense relationship between the military and the civilian government, which is not bound by the chain of command, are complex, and demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the use, and abuse, of power. On the downside, there's plenty of betrayal to go around, and a robotic army is out to destroy the remains of humanity.
Consumerism:
There's no room for product placement in a show focused on a completely foreign culture, especially one in which every city -- and almost every commercial product -- has been reduced to rubble.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Many episodes feature scenes of soldiers drinking, usually in the context of blowing off steam after battle, and often while mourning fallen comrades. Many of these scenes make it clear that the characters are quite drunk; a couple of characters are clearly alcoholics. Occasional use of stimulants to keep the soldiers alert during extended shifts, and the show stresses the downside of abusing such drugs.
Violence
In this alternate reality, humans are at war with a ruthless robotic enemy, and violence is a given. Battles tend to be on a large scale, showing combat between spaceships far more often than hand-to-hand fistfights, but later seasons have amped up the violence, including some torture scenes and attempted rape.
Sex
Most episodes have some romantic interludes, which range from relatively tame to somewhat racy, though none include nudity or explicit scenes.
Language
No explicit language, unless you count "frack," which is all too common among this offshoot of humanity and sounds quite similar to an expletive used on this planet (though it's managed to escape the ire of Earth's censors).
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Will Wade
Is it any good?
Battlestar Galactica's strength is the way its characters each choose to react to this untenable situation. Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) gives his crew a reason to fight by setting off in search of a planet long considered a myth -- Earth. Some choose to believe in this quest, while others decide the only way to survive is to put themselves first.
One critical difference from the original show is that some of the Cylons are now identical to people. Boomer, a supporting male character on the first show, has been recast as a female Cylon sleeper agent (played by Grace Park), and her struggles to comprehend the fact that her human tendencies are little more than programming make for one of the series' most compelling storylines. Indeed, her confusion lies at the heart of Battlestar Galactica, as the viewers and the cast attempt to define what it means to be human.
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Parents and kids say
All Reviews
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