Parallel universe *possible SPOILERS*

[francisdouse]

I don't know if it's been mentioned here before as I'm quite new here and I've also done a search but..

I think the new BSG universe is a parallel universe to our own. It wouldn't have taken much money to make the new BSG 'different' but not too different, but instead they've opted to make TNS very contemporary to modern culture, more than is feasible even with the greatest stretch of the imagination, with a difference of say 50 - 100 years relative to us, the notable difference being they are space-capable:

Clothing that is worn is the same as worn today and probably for quite a few years yet.

Technology is similar, clocks, LCD screens, phones, microphones, intercoms, wireless radio, guns all identical with just a slight difference.

Fixtures and fittings, lamps, furniture.

Vehicles - any one else notice during Starbuck's flashback of when she met Adama for the first time the vehicle driving past slowly behind him?

Helo and Boomer, when they find the bunker - the transmitter which looked almost like a recent-ish receiver. The cafe upstairs just like today's, the toaster which alerted the cylons as sold everywhere right now.

Cities, we've seen some look contemporary to our own, even down to dirty streets and graffiti, some look quite futuristic (up to say 100 years from now?).

History: Greek gods, the galley ship model Adama was working on, I've even noticed a chinese-looking terracotta warrior type statue in Adama's quarters and other historical items.

My point is, they could have made these things look distinctive enough cheaply to indicate BSG takes place in our distant past or in our future. But I do not believe they've done it so save a mere few dollars on props, I believe it's intentional, because rather than the new BSG being set in the past or future, it's parallel to our own. This does raise some interesting questions about Earth and Kobol, maybe Earth is not even in their own universe?

I also remember reading an interview with the series creator when he referred to 'this parallel universe', I'll try and find the article but I honestly can't remember where I read it at this point.

I know their scripture say 'all of this happened before and all of this will happen again' but I can't believe toasters, clocks and trucks are going to be re-invented looking exactly the same with exactly the same taste in clothing, that would be utterly ridiculous. Our world is today unrecognisable compared to 250 years ago! A culture split from us even then and allowed to evolve would be quite alien to us, they certainly would not produce exactly the same products. They've gone to so much trouble in making it convincing, it has to be intentional. The only logical explanation to me is a parallel universe and some crossing from one universe to another may be needed to find *our* earth... unless they find a different earth altogether.

Has anyone thought about this? How are other reconciling all of this?

I guess the last two episodes may answer this or provide a context, then again I guess it will be a nail-biting, screaming-at-the-TV cliffhanger....


By your command...

[Big Brother]

As far as I know, all sci-fi TV shows are assumed to exist in a parallel universe to our own, rather than literally existing in our own universe. Otherwise, we'd be screaming for Tricia Helfer, Edward James Olmos, and so forth to be immediately locked up, dissected, and cremated and the ashes analyzed, because after all, we know that people who appear identical to each other (especially to known Cylons) are obviously Cylon agents. The same goes for the Olson Twins, of course.

As for the anachronisms you note...making 3-D physical props that will pass inspection in an age of DVD, widescreen TV's and freeze-frame PC's is likely incredibly expensive. The days when Star Trek TOS could machine some conical shapes out of chromed steel and pass them off as medical scanners with a mere overdubbing of a whirring sound effect are over. At this early juncture in the series, everything is new, so everything has to be made from scratch for the first time. Every set, every prop, every bit of costume. In order to get the eps in on-budget, I'm sure they have to cut corners somewhere. One obvious corner they cut was filming in Vancouver rather than LA, but that doesn't hurt much (unless you have an irrational anti-Canada bias like me).

I still haven't seen the series, but it sure sounds like another corner they cut was in props and set dressings. The corridors and such on the Galactica in the miniseries were nothing to write home about, and aside from a few neat items here and there (Boomer and Helo's gyrojet pistols were kickin' awesome), neither were the props or set dressings.

But, quite frankly, if one must cut corners, I'd rather it was here than in the writing or the space-battle CGI shots. Andromeda has much cooler corridors, but their writing (since firing RHW, Ethlie, and the other original writers) has been crapola lately. Enterprise can't be beat when it comes to production values, but their writers are so worried about hurting the future profit possibilities of the franchise that they're afraid to take risks. Firefly briefly managed to hit on all cylinders, but was so expensive that it couldn't get ratings to justify the production costs. The same happened to the original BSG series, blowing all their money on model-photography special effects and expensive sets with real working computer displays and leaving none for a decent writing staff or a reasonable shooting schedule for filming episodes.

I'll live with some barely-redressed FN P90's for the guards on the Galactica. I'll live with a Spanish Galleon model in Adama's Ready Room (although, if you're the Sci Fi channel, couldn't you hire some fanboy to make a scale model of that galley from Riverworld? That would at least have been a funny in-joke).

I couldn't live with actors so rushed to get the scene in the can that they are forced to go with the first take and not give the actors a chance to get really into character. I couldn't live with a writing staff so overworked that they were still working on revisions for the episode currently being filmed (as happened on G80). I couldn't live with a special effects budget so tight that they were forced to run clip shows and write special ship-in-a-bottle episodes to save money, like Andromeda was often forced to do (granted, done right, as with "It makes a Lovely Light", those shows can be good, but it takes a special kind of writer to pull that off, and that well can't be gone to too often or it dries up fast...witness the failure by the same writer in "The Things We Cannot Change").

[francisdouse]

I'm sure the props, dress etc IS intentional rather than corner cutting per se. all designed to build up to a head-scratching and surprising twist...

Like the Cylon raiders....

Otherwise, to me, it would just loose credibility (and everyone I've spoken to face-to-face feels the same way) and the lovely collections I am building each week will be consigned to File 13! ;-) But I think they've gone to lengths to make it look and very credible and believable.

I have more theories, but am waiting for the next two episodes before putting my foot in it. ;-)

By your command..