I have finally watched this show to its end.

People had been telling me how good it was for years, but I generally didn’t have the time to get into it, and I figured – you know, how good could it be?

Then I saw Carnivále. What an excellent show. Properly written 1930s, dustbowl-era dialogue, a wide variety of characters, all with large personal arcs to go through, photography that nearly made me weep at the beauty of it all, as well as a healthy flavour of prophecy and doom. If you haven’t seen it, buy the DVDs. I promise you won’t regret it.

It was cancelled. As favourite shows of mine tend to be. It was cancelled after two seasons.

But then I discovered that its second-in-command, Ronald D. Moore, had actually left the show after its first (and stronger) season, to work on Battlestar Galactica. Suddenly, I was very interested.

I have since, of course, bought the DVDs and torn through them at a speed that would make an FTL jump look slow. *cough* If you’ll pardon the sci-fi metaphor.

The story is one which starts with a genocide. The Cylons (evil robots from space) destroy the humans’ home planets, and then relentlessly pursue the remaining 50,000 or so humans across the galaxy.

But, of course, this is the 21st century, and we expect a bit more from our TV shows these days. So now some of the evil robots look like people, the ship on which our characters live is a junky heap of metal, and personal, social and governmental complications make up most of the plot.

It is the characters that make Battlestar Galactica. The primary cast is simply enormous – and takes in everyone from the struggling head-of-state (formerly secretary of education, but the highest-ranking surviving member of the governemnt) to the oil-handed deck engineers. Each one – and this is what’s really impressive about the show – is drawn with care, and has their own distinctive personality and voice. We are presented with flawed people making difficult choices and, while they don’t always make the right decision, we can always understand what leads them to act the way they do.

The show, though it does have an involving and involved plot, is largely one of allegory. Clear references to the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, torture, homosexuality, suicide bombing and religious fundamentalism and conflict act as themes throughout the series. They are never dealt with lightly, though. The show doesn’t moralise. To a large extent it presents us these issues from an angle we won’t have seen them from before, but still allows us to make our own choice on the issues.

We also see the enemy three-dimensionalised. Yes, they have different customs and cultures; yes, they have this weird, monotheistic religion (wow!) – and even, yes, they practically wiped out our entire species, but they are seen as redeemable. Even likeable.

I read an article in the Guardian a couple of months ago, saying that the biggest problem with this show is that you want to tell people about it so that they’ll watch the show – but you’re afraid to tell them too much because it will spoil it. That’s why I’m not saying anything about the plot here. But the show avoids the trap many television shows fall into: it doesn’t have a status quo. The plot is labyrinthine and continuous, and nearly never settles down to tell single-episode stories (though the tone can still be intimate when the plot demands it).

So what we’re dealing with is a multi-faceted, layered, complex science fiction drama action politics show with interesting characters and a long, compelling plot arc. A show that shows us the good and bad sides of humanity, and never flinches from either one. We’re living in an era of good TV, and this is still a show that stands out. In short, it’s a show you should watch.