Golden Toaster Awards

Now there’s a rock passing by over head in a few hours. The near-Earth Apollo asteroid 2004 XP14 estimates in at about 600 meters in diameter as a Potentially Hazardous Asteriod, 1 of 796. Best odds of ending life as we know it still fall to 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4), who has a 1 in 38,000 chance in the April of 2036. Just in case you’re thinking of starting your very own doomsday cult. Or joining mine.

But speaking of star-studded events, the 2nd Annual Golden Toaster Awards celebrating the sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica were held again online at Hanger Deck 5 Friday night. Your very own Olive, who is known to the denizens of SciFi’s message board as the zombie DeadSkin, presented Best Supporting Actor. Although it went to Tyrol instead of Helo, the show was still spectacular and the event’s organizers deserve a shout-out for their stellar efforts. Although the show’s re-imaginer RDM and his wife, known on SciFi as Mrs.Ron, weren’t able to attend this year, both sent in speeches by proxy. RDM presented for the award “Best Usage of the Word Frak.”

“How do I love the word "frak"? Let me count the ways... Initially, it was simply a case of personal triumph to be able to slip one past the dread Standards and Practices Politiburo, but as the series has gone on, it's become a bit of a signpost for us all. Frak is a way of defying “politically correct" television and all it stands for. It's a way of saying we're going to discuss things are sometimes unpleasant and unappealing. The self appointed guardians of the public somehow seem unwilling to let the audience decide for themselves whether a show's content is offensive or not. The fact that frak is the stand-in for a word which has been banished from the airwaves because it describes *gasp* the act of copulation, is even more valid, in that it makes the hypocrisy of the whole censorious system plain: you can imply it, you can openly show it, you can think it, make it absolutely clear to anyone watching the show exactly what you mean, you can even come within two tiny letters of it -- but you dare not actually say it, for the heavens may part and the politicians may thunder. Our goal is to make fraking good television, not politically correct television. So frak it all. The award for best use of the word frak:Winner: Laura Roslin to Gaius Baltar after the second Presidential debate: “Why don’t you go frak yourself.” (“LDYB pt. I”)”
Hanger Deck 5. http://fanficwritersworkshop.invisionzone.com/index.php

Battlestar Galactica recommends itself so well that it’s a pity so few people watch: pagan society, first female president, female fighter pilots, religious prophets, baby-snatching, election stealing, and moon-shine. Now I’ve always been curious why for a show about a society of pagans I find myself in such a slim minority in the demographics of the show’s viewers. I only know of one other open pagan poster on SciFi, who interestingly enough lives in Baltimore. You’d think I’d get more than a blank stare from other pagans when I mention I watch a show about the remnants of a pagan society destroyed in a nuclear attack by an evangelical faith proclaiming orders from the “one true god.” Although I’m sure I’d be far less pleased if that tag line did actually market well.

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