The new Battlestar Galactica is an awesome show, BUT

[joft]

this thread is not mainly about Battlestar Galactica unfortunately. Rather, it's about something that's been gnawing at my "soul" (cough). I'm not sure if this is an INTP tendency, or an IN tendency, or just a tendency of losers like me who have absolutely no "life" whatsoever, but does anyone else experience an immense desire for some type of fantasy story to be real and to be a part of it? I'm not so sure it's a loser thing either, because I remember being like this when I was much younger and in school and had friends and stuff (therefore, it is not teen angst either, cough). It's like having a dream that was so much better than what you're waking up to, and you wish so badly that the dream was real, or even just that you could fall back asleep and go back to that place. This usually happens to me with science fiction things, namely star wars, farscape, and now battlestar galactica.

It can get pretty intense; somtimes I lose my appetite for food. And I can just wander aimlessly through the days thinking about some alternate reality and whether it's unhealthy for me to want to escape my reality so much and so on. I've noted that this longing for a different reality is what managed to hold my interest during the years that I was involved in church. It's not even any kind of "deeper meaning" type of thing, I think it's every bit as shallow for me as simply being bored with this life and attracted to flashy, dramatic, fantasy stories. Even more pathetically, I usually fall in love with a character from that fantasy world, this is like the ultimate insulting thing to me. It's the epitome of irrational, yet I can't (or maybe just won't) stop myself. I have noticed one thing about it though, it helps to group all of those feelings into that one area, which helps me keep them in check with how incredibly irrational I know they are.

I think I should just go to a shrink instead of posting this stuff here. But honestly, the new Battlestar Galactica is awesome. I only started watching it two weeks ago, and just finished downloading/watching the miniseries (which I guess was like the pilot for the show), and I'm hooked. I never watch tv, and the last time I watched a specific show consistently was like 4 years or so ago when I watched farscape almost every week for a season and a half. The ONLY thing I have even the SLIGHTEST bit distaste for is their religion thing, but that's seriously nothing and I'm totally getting used to it, totally.

[garak]

Yeah that's one thing I've always loved about shows like star trek, and role playing games. The worlds created within them seem so awesome, and often I even suspected that I held "special" powers like the heros in those stories. I still kinda wonder about it.

Although they never really occupied me outside of the viewing/playing time.

[jimkopelli]

I like them, but I don't really desire to be a part of them. I'll spend time in them, sure... but I always think of the little things that aren't written in.

[crule81]

I haven't seen the new BattleStar Galactica, but it's gotten decent reviews. I'm pissed because it can't be BattleStar Galactica without Dirk Benedict. I heard they replaced his character with a girl!

As to the whole fantasy world thing, I used to be a pro at this when I was a kid. I am an only child and I had no kids my age in the neighborhood, so I had to learn to entertain myself. My fantasy world consisted of a mix of Star Wars (mostly), Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rodgers (70's style) with some Star Trek in there. Later, I invented an expanded world of G.I. Joe with an alter ego of myself starring as Cobra Commander. In High School, I created a version of myself that actually had a girlfriend. Currently, I fantasize about a life as a history professor or one where I derive my whole income from interest, gains, and dividends on several million dollars worth of mutual funds and bonds.

[nobarcode]

I used to watch Planet of the Apes when I was a kid and dreaded it, but remained riveted. I understand why now. But I really identified with Land of the Lost. I wonder if the sleestacks have evolved.

[crule81]

Did you know that one of the sleestacks was none other than NBA "Bad Boy" Bill Lambier?

[Nighthawk]

Does anyone else experience an immense desire for some type of fantasy story to be real and to be a part of it?Totally. That's why I'm a 43-year-old man hooked on MMORPGs. World of Warcraft is my current addiction.

[Ascending]

Once again, I can identify with frightening accuracy.

[ApeTheDog]

Sorry, but... we ARE living in a science fiction story. We're living in the science fiction stories Jules Vernes wrote, amongst others.

Though maybe what appeals to you about living in such a story is the simplicity and straightforwardness that's a part of it. If that's true, I don't think you can reasonably expect that to ever happen. If the USS enterprise was a real spaceship flying around right this moment, it would be a nest of sex, jealousy and all other human vices and weaknesses just like most modern day ships are, because the nature of man doesn't change - rather than the perfect group the series make them out to be.

This is one of the things I often think about, when I wonder what life would be if magic was real. You can't help but come to the conclusion that people would take it all for granted, exactly the way they take electricity for granted - electricity is by no means less spectacular than magic could ever be.

[joft]

i don't really think it's so much simplicity and straightforwardness. I think I prefer complexity actually. My reasoning is, my life is incredibly boring, by anyone's standards, so I'm drawn to excitement.

To illustrate and prove my point, I'm going to say something that I know makes me sound like quite possibly the biggest asshole on earth. But stories about disaster and catastrophe have great appeal to me... I'm putting it lightly, let me just say it as bluntly as possible. I actually wish things like what happened in Independence Day would happen in real life. I would welcome the excitement.

No, I don't really want the human race to be almost wiped out, no I don't really want anyone to die or anything like that. But those types of stories, those disasters bring together those of mankind who are left, and make opportunities for heroes and self-sacrifice and all those things that make a story inspiring...

[ApeTheDog]

I know exactly what you're talking about. I was the one who started a topic on this forum about the comet that had a 1 in 34 chance of hitting earth and kept track of the odds of it hitting earth. I was really dissatisfied when it turned out it wouldn't hit.

The idea of a nuclear holocaust really appeals to me.

[n0mad]

Yeah, I had (and still have with same intensity) various fantasies. Some are sword and sorcery type, some are where I (with some strange event) mutate into the best psionic in the world etc.
But mostly, fantasies are post-apocalyptic ones, where only I and a handful of ppl survive, and I start a little community (of which who I'm leader, of course ) :). Fresh start.
I, seems so, live a lot in fantasy worlds. They're pretty much detailed, too.

[gypseymothlee]

Who doesn't like the idea of life without all the boring parts. I feel the same way sometimes. All the people in those stories have a place where they belong and a purpose for their existence, even if everyone is against them.
Of course the other half of the time I want to jump into TV show to tell people that they're being idiots and their plot is predictable.

[Ckyzxr]

Totally. That's why I'm a 43-year-old man hooked on MMORPGs. World of Warcraft is my current addiction.

Ditto. 36 years old here.