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Sister's got me watchin' new-style Battlestar Galactica. And call me nuts, while I am finally enjoying the HELL out of military science fiction books in the form of the Honor Harrington series,* I have to admit in this series I'm way more curious about just what kind of culture builds up in the civilian fleet.
I mean, they hint at it, but not nearly as much as I'd like. C'mon--you have just under 50,000 people who escaped the end of the world with only what they had on them at the time. There might be Exciting War Shit going down in the military, but that's a hell of a lot of civilians sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Grief at the end of the world can only get you so far--after a while, you'd get bored. I want to know what people are doing. Are there clubs? A lively trade in books? Did the lucky people with things like art supplies or blank books** suddenly find themselves rich, or maybe besieged by desperately bored people? Do people have portable DVD players or iPods or such--and if so, do they start charging for viewing movies? Or for turns on a portable game system? And what do they charge with? They make a few references to rearranging the economy, but I want to see that in action.
And I want to see how they stay alive and supplied. They also make some references to that, and it drives the plot of a few episodes--"We need more beryllium spheres, so we have to stay in scary territory!"--but how do they keep the organic stuff going? Hydroponics? Is there a way to make more important commodities?
And do the different ships get tribal? Does one ship have a different culture from another? And--and--DANGIT, these are interesting things! I want to know more! Military science fiction is all well and good, but give me Anthropological Science Fiction any day.
... I'll be right back. I suddenly seem to have some ideas ...
*Which I have been trying to read for YEARS, but The Liberry has the whole series except for the first two. Finally had to buy the damn thing.
**My sister and I are totally convinced there is a paper mill somewhere aboard the Galactica.
I mean, they hint at it, but not nearly as much as I'd like. C'mon--you have just under 50,000 people who escaped the end of the world with only what they had on them at the time. There might be Exciting War Shit going down in the military, but that's a hell of a lot of civilians sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Grief at the end of the world can only get you so far--after a while, you'd get bored. I want to know what people are doing. Are there clubs? A lively trade in books? Did the lucky people with things like art supplies or blank books** suddenly find themselves rich, or maybe besieged by desperately bored people? Do people have portable DVD players or iPods or such--and if so, do they start charging for viewing movies? Or for turns on a portable game system? And what do they charge with? They make a few references to rearranging the economy, but I want to see that in action.
And I want to see how they stay alive and supplied. They also make some references to that, and it drives the plot of a few episodes--"We need more beryllium spheres, so we have to stay in scary territory!"--but how do they keep the organic stuff going? Hydroponics? Is there a way to make more important commodities?
And do the different ships get tribal? Does one ship have a different culture from another? And--and--DANGIT, these are interesting things! I want to know more! Military science fiction is all well and good, but give me Anthropological Science Fiction any day.
... I'll be right back. I suddenly seem to have some ideas ...
*Which I have been trying to read for YEARS, but The Liberry has the whole series except for the first two. Finally had to buy the damn thing.
**My sister and I are totally convinced there is a paper mill somewhere aboard the Galactica.
