I emerged blinking and squinting at daylight, out of my flat, this week after discovering a new addiction in the form of Battlestar Galactica TV (mini-series from 2003, then episode 1, episode 2...). I've always been a sci-fi geek but what really got me was the elegant way in which the new BSG producers had updated the story universe for our times while keeping the aesthetic and plot of the original series intact. I loved the way dated technology elements from the first series was given a new context (which I won't reveal here). No wonder that there is a staggering amount of official and fan information (and spoilers) online about this show. Nothing dated about the VFX here and the "reality space" aesthetic of dodgy camera angles and lots of jerking around works to hide the CG.

My first glimpse of this was actually a few years back at a conference in the form of a rather special interactive TV prototype designed for the then-named XBox 2. Commissioned by the American Film Institute, interactive Battlestar Galactica overlaid elements from the upcoming Xbox game with the TV show itself, all presented via a spatial navigation system designed by Dale Heristad and his team from Schematic (e.g. TimeWarner interactive TV trials in Orlando, Minority Report, X Files, XBox 2....). We're talking very slick and functional eye candy here.

Smooth segues from TV to shoot 'em up to network promos to EPG (electronic programme guide) gave a taste of what interactive TV and hence what re-mixable film experiences could be like down the line. This is one series that deserves special treatment. Go Boomer!

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

http://www.afi.com/education/dcl/2003.aspx