By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Battlestar Galactic started off strong with one of the greatest debut episodes in sci-fi history, “33”, arguably one of the best debut seasons of all time, and although the final season was controversial, it is still hailed as one of the best science fiction shows. . That’s not to say it’s perfect, and you need look no further than “Black Market,” from the latter half of Season 2, for evidence of just how much worse it could get. With humanity fleeing the Cylons, you’d think there are bigger problems than illegal trade, but that’s the whole point of the episode, which could be removed from the series without anything being done. lost.
The black market
President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) asks the military to shut down the black market that has sprung up within the Colonial Fleet, blissfully unaware of the extent of the corruption. The commander of the Pegasus, Jack Frisk, is found murdered shortly after accepting the mission with Apollo (Jamie Bamber) assigned to the case. What Apollo uncovers is a small-scale conspiracy, with Frsk, Balter (James Callis) and Tigh (Michael Hogan) all involved, that would carry a little more weight if Battlestar Galactic had not revealed that Apollo patronized the black market services of Shevron, a prostitute aboard a pleasure boat.
Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch) sends Apollo to the leader of the smuggling operation, Phelan, where the true scale of the operation is revealed. Battlestar Galactic normally deals with different shades of gray for its characters and forces the heroes into moral situations with no clear answers, but this time Apollo is faced with child trafficking. When he kills Phealan, he is justified in doing so, although of course the snake in the grass that is Zarek steps in to fill the void as the new leader of the black market, which Apollo convinces Roslin he is necessary for fleet improvement. .
No impact on the rest of the show
Aside from placing Zarek in a position of power within the civilian fleet, the “black market” has no place in the great history of Battlestar Galactic. Even the exposure of smuggling, illegal goods and prostitution is compromised given the context, because if humanity is on the ropes, why does it matter if it falls into a gray area of the law? Murder, kidnapping, and child trafficking are different stories, which is why showrunner Ronald D. Moore stuck them in.
A missed opportunity
In an interview with SyFy, Moore explains that the inclusion of child trafficking helped avoid the moral questions that Battlestar Galactic usually hired for a cheap solution to the problem. The plot falls apart once you realize the setting of the series, but the episode had the potential to explore some of the science fiction that Star Trek stays away from, with the Federation no longer trading money for goods. What is life like for those at the bottom of the fleet ladder? We’ve seen episodes that talk about it, but “Black Market” remains a missed opportunity.
The legacy of Battlestar Galactic isn’t tarnished because of an out-of-place episode, but it serves as a reminder that, if the remake ever starts again, there are plenty of different areas of the universe to explore.. In truth, “Black Market” remains a good sci-fi episode, and it could rival some of the best from another series, but the bar for Moore’s dark and gritty reboot was so high that it fell woefully short . We didn’t need another reason to hate Zarek.