Battlestar Galactica

Battestar Galactica.  I enjoyed the original 1978 television series starring Lorne Greene, Dirk Benedict & Richard Hatch when I was young.  It tells of the overthrow of the human race by the Cylons, a race of machines initially created by humans, and the subsequent escape of the remaining human race across the galaxy, heading to the "Last Colony" which is Earth.  I found myself watching the series finale of the updated version with Edward James Olmos & Mary McDonnell last night and I especially like the ending in which the trial for the human traitor Gaius Baltar (played by James Callis) comes to a close.  Admiral Adama (Olmos) breaks a 2-2 deadlock vote and chooses to acquit Baltar.  President Roslin (McDonnell) laments the acquittal, to which Adama says "not guilty is not the same as innocent."  In a world where every remaining shred of human dignity is lost, where all civilization no longer has any meaning, where lving is reduced to human survival, the morality of all acts becomes relative, and the only thing that separates man, beast & machine is the way we face life as life goes on.  I've been pretty much a jaded man these days, but sometimes, on rare occassion, I see the spark of humanity still shining through.  Sometimes it takes a fantasy TV series to philosophize and internalize the meaning of life...