I gotta say it... Battlestar Galactica...

Those two words used to stand for "cool when I was 11, but awful." I'm extremely impressed by SciFi's remake. It's the only TV show that I absolutely have to catch each week.

I'm especially surprised at how good the first season is. The character development is really coming along. Frankly, it's the best first season I can recall in a science fiction series.

Many of you Trekkies will know what I mean. I can barely watch most episodes from the original series.

If it's ST:TNG, the earlier episodes SUCK. If Riker doesn't have a beard and/or the uniforms are one-piece, I keep flipping channels. And the longer Worf's hair is, generally, the better the episode.

DS9 was bad early on, too. It isn't that great without Worf, either. If Sisco has hair or doesn't have a beard, I keep flipping channels.

Voyager started badly. I didn't get into Voyager until 3rd season or so (when DS9 ended and the decent writers came on board for Voyager).

And the latest series? I didn't get into ST:Enterprise until just recently and just when it got good they cancelled it. At least they came up with a story for why the Klingons' heads were bumpy, then weren't, then were.

But BSG has been good from the first episode. I have yet to be disappointed. I've really liked how Baltar has gone from being a victim of his own ego/carelessness to where by the end of this episode he's getting a kick out of being a traitor. I really liked seeing the turmoil between the President and Adama start to sort itself out. I have no clue where they're going with the Helo-lost-on-Caprica storyline, and I'm actually curious about it. My only complaint was with the ship designs... and I've gotten to like the ones on the remake better. I still like the original theme music, but it's just not appropriate to the mood of the new show.

I remember seeing the show as a kid and how cool I thought it was. I saw a few episodes years later, and was amazed at how cheesy it was.

I agree with your whole post, except I still love the first Star Trek series for nostalgic reasons. :)

some of the acting sucks. Really sucks. Halo and Boomer are good, but the woman who plays Starbuck...geez. It must cost a fortune to repair all the scenery she chews up. Apollo isn't much better. At least he isn't constantly mugging for the camera. And I don't understand what the deal with Olmos is. He's a great actor, but he plays Adama absolutely devoid of any feeling. Not in a good way, like a Vulcan, but like a cereal box.

And enough with "frack" already. Nobody on that show can say it without sounding stupid. Not that I'm averse to fictional sci-fi swearing--"frell" was pulled off pretty well in Farscape--but "frack" is an eye-roller.

The running gag of Baltar getting caught jerking off by somebody is hilarious, though.