Battlestar Galactica Miniseries
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Sci Fi Channel will be airing a 2 part miniseries based on BattleStar Galactica in a little under two months. I’m curious to hear everyones take on it. Are you looking forward to… …watching it? ….cursing it?
Personally I’m kind of excited about the miniseries. Sure they’re changing a few things, like cast genders changes(PLEASE don’t let there be inter-character sexual relationships!). But by modernizing it, the special effects will be better and [i]hopefully[/i] it won’t appear as sappy as the original (when compared with modern plot lines).
What’s your thoughts?
BS Galactica never got a shot. It was a 1-season show followed by a failed spinoff called Galactica 1980 which frankly was crap. But the original series was pretty cool. The effects were clones (pun intended) of the Star Wars series, the storyline was far more ambitious than any American Sci-Fi show to date. They included futuristic sports (so the fighterpilots could do more than well…fighterpilot), A machine race that humanity created only to have them revolt, a great communal system at a time when communal systems were laughed at, and of course who can resist good ol’Face (Dirk Benedict)? Even a monkey in a robot suit, someone call PETA!
Seeing how they established a huge storyline involving modern day Earth as the mystical “13th Tribe of Humanity”, (much in the way I think Farscape was going with their storyline) they got a lot to work with and nothing to lose.
Sure Galactica 1980 reached Earth, but does anyone even remember that series? 😳
I’m looking foward to how they are going to rework the series
[quote=”LexxLurker”]
Sure Galactica 1980 reached Earth, but does anyone even remember that series? [/quote]
Unfortanetly no matter how much I try to forget I still remember Galactica 1980.I plan to watch the new show with an open mind. It will be interesting to see how it looks. It just won’t be the same without Lorne Greene.
I remember the obligitory annoying small child and a robot dog tippy or chippy or something annyoing.
Hi Fellow Galacticans,
I’ll be watching, possibly taping it, since I watched both Balttlestar Galactica & Galactica 1980 when I was younger; I hope it’s as good as Battlestar Galactica & not make it as bad as Galactica 1980. When Richard Hatch would talk about it at Gally, I was hoping he would succeed & make a movie or something out of it; obviously he succeeded.
It probably won’t be the same without the same people who portrayed them, but it will be neat to watch; Starbuck a girl, hmmmmmmmm 🙄 I don’t know.
My favourite characters from the show were: Starbuck, Apollo, Daggett (robot-dog) & the kid, Apollo’s son. My least favourites were those tin guys & their master.Galacticans Unite,
Jhevz 😉Watched a preview the other night on Sci-Fi and it really had me excited! It looks *nothing* like the old series. Even old Baltar is a younger (and skinnier) version. I guess they’re saving the Psylon(Psilon, Scilon, whatever!) for a surprise, have not seen any previews of them.
Another part of the preview that was amazingly surprising was the action. They show some guy get blown apart trying to board his ship, a few minor space skirmishes, and (thank god) NO MONKEYS IN DOG SUITS! 😛
Considering my old fav’Face Starbuck character was emasculated I wasn’t expecting much, but
W 😯 O 😯 W
Looks really good! Can’t wait.
I will watch it, but I have some doubts too. The word “re-imagining” is a Hollywood buzz-word anymore. Look it up in the dictionary and it might say something like “a term applied to projects by people who are incapable of coming up with something totally original.”
On the other hand, how many different interpretations of the legend of King Arthur have there been over the last several centuries?
As an old sci-fi geek, I have to check it out anyway 😉
I’m with jkd112 all the way on this one, however, I haven’t seen the previews. In Canada we’ll have to wait a little longer for it on Space, but I can easily contain my excitement.
Sure the original was corny, but that was part of the charm. Still as long as they don’t remake or “re-imagine” Galactica 1980, I’ll be happy. I mean, how could they ever do that classic justice? Somehow I suspect they could, and it wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
[quote=”Jhevz”]…When Richard Hatch would talk about it at Gally, I was hoping he would succeed & make a movie or something out of it; obviously he succeeded.[/quote]
Not really, he would still like to see a movie and video games as a continuation of the original story, but when it comes to the miniseries he’s not happy since it doesn’t follow what he, and the fans he says, had hoped for. He feels the new miniseries lost the heart and spirit of the original, and he had hoped that the old actors would play a role (he was offered a fairly small non-Apollo cameo role but turned it down I believe).
This is a very interesting read: [url=http://www.cylon.org/bsg/bsg-hatch-01.html]Recent Richard Hatch Interview[/url]
Wanna hear something funny (in a geeky sorta way?). I have all but 2 of the BG collectors cards. From 1978!!! I need to get Richard Hatch to sign one.
Like I said – I’m an old geek!
I watched “The downlow: Battlestar Galactica” last Saturday. I even recorded it to the computer just incase I wanted some screen grabs.
I have a mixed reaction. On one side it looks really cool, good graphics, an epic storyline. But on the other hand, it could be another lame scifi channel original: lots of sex, violence, and bad dialogue. AKA a total cowflop.
I’m hoping for the former.
I’m not too excited myself. But its not something I’ll most likely forget to watch, like Enterprise. Who knows, it may be good enough to warrant a Sad Guide.
I’m not old enough to remember the original. Actually I still had a few years to go before being born. All I’ve seen were the scifi channel during the daily cycle. So I don’t have an attachment to the characters or plot as much as older fans. Personally I thought the original was campy. But I do like the character of Starbuck, that played by Dirk Benedict. I know other fans share this opinion. And as the Richard Hatch interview suggested, if they had to castrate Starbuck, they could have done it better. But this is all in theory. I reserve final judgement until I watch the miniseries.
Oh yeah, one last thing: first sign of Starbuck – Apollo romance or sexual tension, and I reaching for the remote.
[quote=”jkd112″]Wanna hear something funny (in a geeky sorta way?). I have all but 2 of the BG collectors cards. From 1978!!! I need to get Richard Hatch to sign one.
Like I said – I’m an old geek![/quote]
Well, he should be obliging. After all, Apollo is an “old Greek” too! 🙄
Ahem, so.. now that those US Sadgeezers with access to the SciFi Channel have had the chance to see it, waddya think: better than you were expecting, worse, same, undecided?
I just finished watching it again. I was thoroughly impressed. I was expecting too much after the recent media blitz, but I was pleasantly surprised. The acting, special effects, direction, sound, writing, camera work and story were all exceptional. This miniseries seems to have nothing in common with the original is terms of quality. The original was campy, this new series portrayed humans, as humans, not some utopian ideal. I’m going to hold off on final judgment until tomorrow. But so far, so good.
I’ll certainly be posting a more complete review later this week.
The real problem here is it’s tough to get the original series from my head. Therefore I got a years worth of shows in my head as 1 story Versus 2-hours of a 4-hour miniseries.
Was the miniseries great? Yup, so far.
Is it the best new Sci-Fi on? Yup, so far.
Is it Battlestar Galactica? Ermmm.
The story is there, but the characters arent. Adama has less self-confidence than before. Apollo is a whiny git. Starbuck is a man, woman? Hard to tell, but it ain’t our old Starbuck, not by damn sure.
What is there is explainations. And a damn fine Sci-Fi show to boot.
We get inside access to the story before BSG. The destruction of the 12 colonies beginning with Corsica. We see how the remanents of Humanity bind into a singular force with one goal in mind, to find Earth. Or so we can assume from the original series.
The acting is well done, Adama may ham up some scenes but hey? Didnt he always?
The action is incredible. Very realistic space combat, the best I’ve seen since the Wing Commander/Babylon 5 era. The explainations are all in there. Wanna know why the original series had such crappy green-screen computers? The new series has a great logical explaination besides: “Well thats what was out in 1979”.
One giant failing thus far however. The original series made it clear that each Original Colony represented a culture from our Earth.
Battlestar Galactica was from Corsica, which was an EGYPTIAN colony! There was also Mayan Battlestars in the original series. And the helmets of the fighters represented their culture. This diversity seems totally gone in the new series, replaced by a uniform society.
The New Gaius Baltar is great. In the original series this guy was an absolute twerp with no redeeming qualities other than his banter with Lucifer. In this series we have a young arrogant Baltar, who we find deserves his eventual destiny as the antithesis of humanity.
Ultimatly, if you’re a Sci-Fi fan, check this out! You will not be disapointed, however if you’re a purist, and you still have posters of Dirk Benedict, avoid it like the plague.
My review, 9/10 the first night. 1 point docked for ol’Starbuck, may he rest in peace.
🙁 ❓ Well I kinda watched some of the BG back when and though I agree with the better fight scenes and more characterization; I’m not exactly sold on the story subplots. A lot of them have been there did that and wot’s up with the gratuitous sex scenes. You would think that all they know how to do is rip each other’s clothes off and have at it; every other relationship was that it seemed; i guess romance is non-existent in the future. Which I found particulary funny and ironic is that the girl on the commercial about male enhancement pills would do better as the female blonde cylon; the actress they used was tall and attractive I suppose but not an impressive actor nor was the good-looking British traitor.
I did like the crew chief though; and you know sparks are gonna fly there between command and him. And the blonde rebel (I’m not good with these names and it’s the middle of the night when i get to see it) she turned in a good performance. I was intrigued by the reference to religion and cuture of these colonies; if they can get away from the traditional disaster…. our world is destroyed what shall we do; let’s take a jump….. theory and develop a few more NEW plot ploys, well i think it will be very entertaining.
It was a lot better then I thought it would be. I really liked the sound effects during the space battles. I thought Edward James Olmos did a great Adama (more “human” then Lorne Green) as it’s been pointed out the people were flawed and therefore easier to sympathize with then the first BG. This series was my favorite when I was younger (I had the BG sheets and pillowcases!) but this is one of the rare cases when a “reimagining” actually worked! I wasn’t disappointed with the female Starbuck as she did a great job playing a fighter pilot (she had a definate jock-mentality like you would expect) In all the mini-series was more visceral and “real” then the original. While I certainly hope that it will be a regular series I wouldn’t expect it to last long as the price for those special effects must be enormous even with CGI. I’m afraid that like the first BG it could be cut short bacause of the price. I almost would have preferred a long mini-series (like [u]Taken[/u] or [u]Dune[/u] ) to this two hour thing that just whetted our appetites.
Buk
It was great!
Not perfect by any means, but really, pretty good!
I was really impressed with the space battle effects. Possibly the best I’ve ever seen. ANYWHERE.
Yes, the best way to enjoy the show is to do your best to completely forget the original. But if you can manage that, I think you can really enjoy this new vision.
I’ve only got two complaints:
1) we only got to see “real” cylons twice; at the very beginning and at the very end. We wanted more cylon action.
2) the miniseries was admittedly a bit slow in places. This didn’t really surprise me, as pilots (especially extra-long pilots) tend to be a bit slower, because they have so much to set up. I expect the pacing will be much better, should they make this into a regular one-hour TV series.
What did the rest of you think?
It was in all honestly better than I expected and what I am going to say next would probably get me killed by a swarm of nerds but I have seen enough of the original series to know that the mini-series is much better. Its one thing the series never really impressed upon which was how truely violent the destruction of their world(s) was.
Anyway I haven’t seen as much disturbing imagry on cable TV since Lexx. The one that sticks out in my mind was Baltars reaction to the flash of another bomb going off. For some reason that really reached in and grabbed me.
Second was the president ordering the FTL ships to leave the slower weaker ships behind. Man I couldn’t have made a decsion like that.
I really like the new Battlestar in that it really has an old battleship feel to it.
I mean I really think it has the potential to be a great TV series if thats indeed what happens here.
For those who were curious about how the proposed Tom DeSanto Galactica would’ve been, at http://www.colonialfleets.com/ there’s a short video presentation, very cool (scroll down News page to the Foundation Galactica Demo online article which has links to download it – requires divx codec or player) — love the score.
For some background information … quoted from [url=http://www.battlestarpegasus.com/gallery/desanto_singer_2001/index.html]battlestarpegasus.com[/url] (a set of slides from DeSanto’s version can also be found at the battlestar pegasus link):
[quote=”battlestarpegasus.com”]During 2001, Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer (X-Men) announced their intent to bring Battlestar Galactica to the small screen, starting with a television pilot and ongoing series for the FOX Network (U.S.). While details were not broadly shared with the public, the production was planned as a continuation of the original 1978-79 series, set 20+ years since the last episode (“The Hand of God”) and ignoring the ill-fated spinoff, Galactica 1980 (save for the events of one episode, “The Return of Starbuck”).
Information about the series plans were kept to a minimum, due to network negotiations, production development and the wishes of the producers to unveil the production with minimum spoilage. Unfortunately, due to the events of September 11, 2001 (as conveyed by Mr. DeSanto at Galacticon 2003), the production took significant, critical development delays. By December 2001, Mr. Singer was fully committed to directing X2: X-Men United and the production was shut down. Mr. DeSanto strove to keep the production alive, although the SCI-FI Channel took the reins and “re-imagined” it with it’s December 2003 mini-series effort…[/quote]By the way, I saw some of the new Galactica miniseries. Unfortunately, I was out for most of the time as it aired on Space the Imagination Station… was pretty good from what I saw (more complex characters than the original; not so corny). One criticism though, I think it will date just as the old series did (which was way too obviously stuck in the 70s) but not quite so much perhaps — not just because of the effects, but also because of the dialogue. There was one particular line that made me cringe, “Let’s go kick some Cylon ass.” Aside from it being rather, erm, crass, it’s an all too common movie/TV cliché of the day. Sometimes for a show to endure well, it’s best to make it as timeless as possible (of course Galactica, like LEXX and others, doesn’t take place in the future…) – there are exceptions… They tried to make The Prisoner timeless in a way, but then in the final episode, The Beatles “All You Need is Love” is blaring on the jukeboxes as they start gunning down the establishment – subtle, huh? 😉 — not to mention words like “hip”. Great how the Galactica looks with its old WW2ish looking components – was also well explained why they used “primitive” technology in the series… of course their technology is not really supposed to be based on Earth technology, but nice for the viewer to have easy reference points… dialogue included, I suppose.
I know I was skeptical, but… This isn’t very new news anymore, but it looks totally official… Sci Fi is committed to making 13 episodes. I found this story at cinescape.com [url=http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Television&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270355&obj_id=40796]HERE[/url]
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004
By: PATRICK SAURIOL
News Editor
Source: The Sci Fi Channel[quote=”P. Sauriol”]Sci Fi Channel has announced that it has officially given a greenlight to the first season of the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Instead of receiving an order for a minimum of six episodes (as one of our sources informed us last month), the network has committed to 13 episodes of the series, with production scheduled to commence next month in Vancouver. All principal cast members from the mini-series will reprise their roles in the series and executive producer Ronald D. Moore will serve as the series’ head writer. David Eick also acts as an executive producer.
Speaking with Sci-Fi Wire today, Moore provided new information about what to expect in the 13 episodes, as well as possibilities for storylines. The atmosphere of the series will continue to reflect the sense of doom that permeated the mini. “There will be lighter moments,” explained the showrunner. “I’m sure there will have things that are unexpected and fun to play as time goes on. But the miniseries, that’s the bar. That’s what we’re trying to [do]. … We want to do that show every week.”
Moore also talked about trying to write characters for the original GALACTICA cast that may turn out to be reoccurring faces in the new series. “I’m probably going to approach a couple of the actors, if not all of them, at some point, and talk to them about that possibility, because I think that would be kind of cool and fun. And I think it would be interesting to find things for them in the new series. And not just, like, a walk-on, although you could do always do that. But it would fun to give them a role and have them bring something to the new show.”
Finally, fans of the old school GALACTICA have been wondering in message forums and chat rooms if any of the stories seen in the classic BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series could also be revisited in the new show, if it went to series. Moore admits that he’s already begun thinking about doing just that. “I’ve talked about revisiting the ‘Pegasus’ episode, because I think that’s a cool idea at some point,” the writer reveals. “There’s a possibility in my head we might go back and play around with the ship of lights that was in the original series. And I’m going to sit down and watch all 22 of them again, kind of go through it. But the first thing that springs to mind is that the old show did a lot of planet-of-the-week type episodes, and we’re specifically not doing that on this. So a lot of those aren’t going to translate very well.”
Broadcast date information as to when the first of the new episodes would air wasn’t given.[/quote]
I was hoping they’d revisit that Pegasus episode too — loved the Pegasus. Sounds cool. And glad they’re seriously considering utilising recurring characters from the old series. I’d read before that Richard Hatch (not the one from Survivor) had been approached, but he wasn’t interested. He had really wanted to play Apollo, but then he didn’t want a reimagining of the series; he was pushing for a continuation; a sequel (they tried a sequel before with Galactica 1980 and the results were less than stellar).
I saw the mini-series over the last few nights and I was simply gobsmacked, it was absolutely amazing and one of the finest pieces of Sci-Fi I have ever seen.
It had me gripped, the story was scary and very psychological, the horror I felt for the little girl left behind on that botanical ship, the guilt of Gaius Baltar for what he had done was played out brilliantly,
the whole series was so far removed from the original it was untrue, and it worked because of it, it was like Tim Burton’s Batman against the 60’s version.
I don’t think a sci-fi programme has hit me as hard as the first Lexx eps, I’m dead chuffed they are continuing the series and this is what I look forward to above all else.
No offence to the original BSG, but this take on the story is the way it should’ve been, but then that was a different era and it was aimed at much younger viewers back then.
Another amazing point is that the effects were outstanding, with the zoom in’s and camera angles, surprisingly all this was done on Nvidia graphics cards (Quadro) and for me it was right up there with anything ILM could’ve done.
I particualrly liked the way the way the colonnials had to revert back to the old tech, very well played out.
Final verdict: Simply StunningI finally watched the first part of it, and wow! I thought it was very good — flawed, but still quite riveting. Really, it felt so different from the original that I had little problem with the changes — still have difficulty thinking of it as Battlestar Galactica, it’s a brand new show.
There was more complexity to the characters, especially Baltar — the old psychotic one was just so pathetic; this one brings poignant pathos to the role.
The new Adama is excellent, but then what can you expect from Olmos?
The butch new Starbuck may take a little while to get used to (I’ve had enough of brash kick-ass women in recent sci-fi shows and films — and no one does that better than Ripley anyway).
Apollo — like Hatch’s character, this one is on the sensitive side. However, this one is also quite effeminite which sets up an interesting dynamic between him and his father/ interesting contrast… And since his friend is the butch Starbuck, it’s interesting to watch — gender bender roles. I’m not sure if he’s intentionally playing the part gay — I hope he is because it should make the show more interesting.
Boomer, well her character isn’t well defined yet… a little flat and uncharismatic. Dont know about the Chief/ Boomer romance… Don’t want it turning into a space opera.
The new President is excellent.
As for the cylon woman, 6 of 12… Don’t know yet, it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. Calling her Number 6 though… “I am not a number…” Not only will people think of the Prisoner when they think of her, but there are obvious similarities to 7 of 9 from Voyager, and then there’s Six from Tripping the Rift… She aint no P. McG, but she does have [i]six[/i] appeal. (they also had cylons that look like people in Galactica 1980).
Anyway, I was really riveted by the show after a while… Very good indeed, I’ll definitely watch the series when it airs. Do hope the Pegaus makes an appearance — Commander Cain, Lloyd Bridges, was excellent in the original. Would be great to see either Jeff or Beau manning the Bridge of the Pegasus in this new one. And I hope that my fave character from the original makes an appearance: Count Iblis (played by Pat McNee of The Avengers before).
I ran across the show last night and watched it for two minutes….. Some woman was running down the isle….. 🙄
[quote=”A-DM”]Another amazing point is that the effects were outstanding, with the zoom in’s and camera angles, surprisingly all this was done on Nvidia graphics cards (Quadro) and for me it was right up there with anything ILM could’ve done.
I particualrly liked the way the way the colonnials had to revert back to the old tech, very well played out.
Final verdict: Simply Stunning[/quote]The camera’s handy-cam feel was absolutely horrendous. How are you expected to follow the action. Bad decision in my opnion – it feels like LA Law or some other drama show.
As for the actual effects, space effects are so old that event the smallest effects houses dish out excellent stuff. Ask them to do a character with covered in fur and I don’t think you’d get the same quality…
All that being said, the writing was quite good. The focus of the show seems to be well split between character relationships and the unfolding events. The actors were actually good, except for Adama’s son…
I have a feeling we won’t be seeing much of the old menacing psilons which is a shame. They really made the show fun to watch – what was that clever robot called, the one with the lights in his head? Lucifer? Tripping have a cameo of that guy…pretty funny.
The mini series has just screened downunder, and the television series follows soon. I quite liked it, apart from it being literally too dark in places. In space, no one can see you scream.
The series is definitely promising, and will compliment my other fav cult ‘sci fi’ shows – the fricking awesome Carnivale and the big tease that is Lost.
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