It's May 1, 2008. Do You Know Where Your Android Is?

Retrofuturism, or the future of times past, is a source of endless fascination for me. From the helmet-clad space rangers of the Forties to the polyestered denizens of Logan's Run, visions of the future have often proved absurdly inadequate as predictors of technological development. Science fiction itself has learned to look with irony at the ridiculous failings of ambitious visions of the world of tomorrow: Case in point, the deliberately corny adventures of Janeway and Paris in the world of Chaotica.

But the past, like the future, can be fertile ground for reinvention. Witness the case of Battlestar Galactica -- the “poor man’s Star Wars” that ran in the 1970’s and was replaced by the truly awful Galactica 1980 (which is a horror story in itself). Contra, “Nu” BSG — the one co-created by Ronald Moore.

Critics charged in the original run that Battlestar Galactica was a copy of Star Wars, which had proved itself the sleeper surprise hit of the decade. I suppose that it was things like the design of the giant Galactica vessel, which seemed reminiscent of a Star Destroyer, and the Vipers, which seemed similar to X-Wings, that made people think that the series was simply a pale imitation of Lucas’ film. It didn’t help things that the color scheme of the good guys’ clothing (browns and suedes) was similar to the “space cowboy” look we saw in Episode IV.

Prior to this, your typical space opera was more in line with the futuristic look of the day. Space: 1999 was a good example -- another ’70’s series set in space but one that pre-dated both Star Wars and the original Battlestar Galactica.

The point, I suppose, is that none of these aesthetics proved more durable than any other. None was adopted by Moore in the new version of Galactica, praised by critics and audiences alike.

What endures, by contrast, is the art of storytelling. And why should this be a surprise?

For the future is, in the end, unknowable, and what we tell of the future is simply what we believe of the present.

As for that android ... tell him it's time for bed.