Out of all of the challenges that I’ve done over the past couple of years, I can say that BGC has inspired my current project the most. Not that Buffy or Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars don’t play a role, because they 100% do, but it’s more in the spirit of things than anything else. BGC on the other hand? I’m not lifting anything, but so much about the feel and themes has seeped into what I’m writing at the moment.

For example, Genom (and I guess by extension, the Tyrell Corporation) is a major influence on one of Paradiso‘s villains, Albertus Incorporated, and Brian Mason heavily inspired one of Albertus’ key employees, who I’ll go ahead and reveal is named Rosalie Vega. I can’t say that my version of a hardsuit doesn’t make an appearance, nor that I have created an equally ineffective police force, akin to the AD Police. None of this is a direct lift from BGC, but once you see it, you’ll be able to point it out incredibly easily.

I learned a lot from the series, too, in a similar manner to what Friends taught me: what I don’t want to do. The overall story has to be strong; in the original series, the connections to previous episodes were tenuous at best, requiring multiple views to catch everything, and in Crash, the story became so illogical by the final episode that you wondered if you’d just watched The Adolescence of Utena (which is a movie I love, by the way – Utena turns into a car) by way of Sailor Moon. I also want to make sure that I stay inclusive in a way that lets people feel seen and appreciated, instead of tokenizing people or refusing to give them a life outside of that small part of themselves. Not that I’m doing anything revolutionary, but my plan is to have multiple queer people in main roles, in addition to characters that I don’t feel have as many stories told about them. I’m not trying to make up for what I feel BGC didn’t do well, obviously, and I’m grateful for the learning experience.

Will I go back and watch this show again? Oh, most definitely. I usually watch at least a couple of episodes once or twice a year, and I anticipate that will likely happen shortly after I graduate (which is coming up!!). And who knows? Maybe I’ll do some supplemental posts when I have a little more brain power to process things? Because this show deserves to be studied and critiqued; it was such a progressive show that almost makes up for its shortcomings with how much it tried to push the envelope, and it truly is a shame that few people know about it today.

And that concludes this month’s challenge! How is it already March?? I mentioned above that I’ll be graduating soon, and well, I wasn’t lying. I graduate in August, so long as I do well in Med-Surg, and I’ll be trying to post regularly, at least my weekly “on rotation …” posts. I’m also starting a new job today, so that may actually bring some stories, anyway!

Alrighty, I’m off to my orientation, followed by a pretty important exam, so … wish me luck!

Art Credit: FanPop