I picked up this show a while back after a recommendation from my parents. The premise is kinda cliched at first glance, but as with everything else, the really good parts come from what they do with it. Great writing, great characters, great acting. It may not be a space drama, but it's damn good sci-fi.
If you haven't watched it, it's not difficult to catch up; there's only 30 episodes in 3 seasons so far, and the next season starts this summer... and after finishing the last episodes of the most recent season, I'm not quite sure who the bad guy is.
(Spoilers beyond this point, of course.)
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Seriously, I'm fully expecting that the Volm aren't going to turn out nearly as nice as they've seemed so far. For one thing, isn't it interesting how both the Espheni and the Volm wanted to do the exact same thing: moving the surviving humans onto reservations? The Volm can claim all they want that it's for our own protection, I'm not buying that. It can't be a coincidence that both alien factions want the exact same thing. Of course each faction could want it for their own reasons; I don't think they're working together. I just don't think the Volm have our best interests at heart. (That won't make the Espheni seem any better, though.)
Early on, Tom tried to make some parallels between the American Revolution and the fight against the aliens. And Pope, in his completely tactless yet accurate way, pointed out that that didn't make Humans the American colonists... we're more analogues of the Native Americans. So when Cochise landed, the first thought that went through my mind was, "Oh look, here come the French."
I guess that's a history major's joke. If the Espheni are the British, and the Humans are the Native Americans, that makes the Volm the French. (And the rebel skitters are the American colonists, I guess.) The French and British weren't really interested in anything but furthering their own interests, establishing influence on new territory simply to deny it to the other side.
My favorite character is easily Pope—not because he's likable, but because beneath his asshole demeanor, he's an intelligent and reasonable man who's usually right about his arguments, he's just not sugar-coating them. (It took me three episodes to recognize him as Major "Disaster" Davis from Stargate, beneath the long hair, scruffy beard, tats, and blustering voice.)
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
I'm with you on the Volm; they're not as benevolent as they seem. Once they use their gun on the Espheni, watch it get pointed at an uninteresting world in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
What do the Volm have against Ford Prefect's homeworld?
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
My bad; I was trying to remember the name of the planet the Rigellians were enslaving the US to build a cannon to destroy...
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