The Mini Series

[Colony_Fleet]

Capes

If they brought back the old actors with their capes, it would be awesome. They can do several episodes of a time travel nature, and see the older Galactica cast with their capes! It's all about the capes.

 

[timdgreat]

whats so great about the capes?:rolly2:

 

[dvo47p]

Originally posted by timdgreat whats so great about the capes?:rolly2:

Capes, I don't know 4 sure, the only time they wore 'em was like during cerimoies & funerals.

This thread (a waste of bandwith & time & space) seems to equate 'em with some superhero, whatever nonsense.

 

[timdgreat]

Hey dvo47p, just because u dont agree with the way discusions is going doesnt mean u should bash it, From the way they were portrayed in the first series the main charecters were like super heros, they never lost always won.:rolly2:

 

[STATICX]

Originally posted by timdgreat
From the way they were portrayed in the first series the main charecters were like super heros,

No offense buddy, but you sound as ignorant as Ron Moore did in his interviews. You are even echoing his words.

Did you even watched the original series?

Super heroes, how were they super heroes? They couldn't fly. They didn't have super speed nor super human strength. They were just as mortal as you and I.

Originally posted by timdgreat

they never lost always won.:rolly2: [/B]

They sure lost the big one on the three hour pilot episode. All 12 planets destroyed. Billions of people were killed from the attack on the colonies.

Adama's wife was killed as was his youngest son Zac. At least the original Apollo blamed himself for Zac's death instead of a 3 year grudge on his own father.

Lost Planets of the Gods, when the Cylons attacked the Kobol, Starbuck tells Adama that "We lost a lot of good pilots up there". Then a Centurian shoots down Serina in cold blood. She dies.
Yep, they sure won that one as well. What a victory for Apollo. His wife dies and he is stuck raising her litte brat.

Gun on Ice Planet Zero, everyone dies except Commander Kroft.

In most space battle sequences, there is always a viper or two being blown to bits in the background.

Shall I go on?

Yes, I admit some of the episodes were fluffed up because of the heavy Censorship during the late seventies.

As for the capes, the Colonial Warriors only wore them on formal occasions.

As for the other capes in Sci-Fi, lets see. There's Lando Calrissian, Count Dukoo, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Senator Palpatine. There's also Klingon High Commanders who wears the capes.

Let us not forget George Costanza's father's lawyer sported a cape as well.

 

[dvo47p]

Originally posted by STATICX Did you even watched the original series?

Shall I go on?

Let us not forget George Costanza's father's lawyer sported a cape as well.

Shall I go on? Pray tell yes, if your opinion/view agrees with mine!

George Costanza's dad had a cape, so he could fly, too. I missed that one, sh*t.

Ignorance is getting lucky, I saw Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series on Ebay for $14.50.

Scifi has the artwork for the 4 hour mini @amazon now!

No New Galactica For Now
Sci-Fi not ready to commit to series order just yet.

December 23, 2003 - The success of Sci-Fi Channel's recent Battlestar Galactica re-imagining / re-make must have taken a number of people by surprise. Despite critical and fan lambasting, the mini drew impressive numbers for the cable channel, chalking up some of the best ratings in the network's history, so it seemed inevitable that a series order would be announced soon.

Earlier this week a number of web sites announced that just such an order had been inked. Not so, according to a spokesperson for the Sci-Fi Channel. While it still seems likely that there will be some action on the Galactica front, no orders for either a series or a sequel to the mini-series have come from Sci-Fi Channel. No decisions or orders for new episodes will happen until after the first of the year, so cool your jets, little Colonial Warriors.

 

[Tabitha]

Well, not to dampen the conversation or anything, but I thought I would weigh in with my tuppence after viewing this mini.

I thought I was going to hate it, but shock horror, it turned out to be pretty good tv! My memories of the original are very very dim, so I wasn't consciously comparing it to the first incarnation, but I managed to get a smile out of the nods to the original (like the museum pieces etc).

The acting was in general pretty good - although Starbuck was a bit of a pain in the neck (I think she is supposed to be?). I think the actress went overboard a bit, but her performance did bring to mind the mentality of the fighter jocks of Top Gun, which I suppose she is meant to be a future version of.
I liked the fact that most of the cast were relatively unknown, and even the familiar names didn't bring too much baggage with them from previous roles.

The production value was consistently high, and the special effects were great - although I don't know how much my admiration of the FX was influenced by my love of Firefly, as the same company did the FX for both.

I hope this gets picked up for a series, it was about 20 times more riveting than the average Enterprise, and reminded me of Babylon 5 on a higher budget.

And that cliffhanger! Oh no!

 

[timdgreat]

Originally posted by STATICX


No offense buddy, but you sound as ignorant as Ron Moore did in his interviews. You are even echoing his words.

Did you even watched the original series?

Super heroes, how were they super heroes? They couldn't fly. They didn't have super speed nor super human strength. They were just as mortal as you and I.

no i did the series i jsut got something diffrent from it then u did, and from the way i saw the original series the main charecters were like super heros in that they could overcom any enemy every time, or mabye super heros is a bad way to describe them, mabye just invunerable.:rolly2:

 

[dvo47p]

I know what I post about, folks

As a work of science fiction, this re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries-***-pilot runs warm to
ice-cold. There are a very few moments of science fiction on the two night copy on Glen A. Larson’s remake of 'A Saga of a Star War', not the TV series Battlestar Galactica, ah ha, t is still for sale @ amazon.com it was made in '78, not as a eries but one of several TV movies.

Sadly, these warm plotline moments are few and far between. For the most part, Mr. Moore has over thought his re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica to bring us a jumbled mess of cliches, dime store psychology and the general feel of a show that wants to be more than it can be.

Reports are to be believed, this version seems to exist solely so the Sci-Fi Channel and Universal can keep their rights to the concept from reverting back to series creator Glen A. Larson. From the way this script reads, I can see how this is a distinct possibility.

This new Galactica might not become as bad as the never-released "Fantastic Four" movie from Roger Corman's company several years ago, but that film's failure to even get released straight to video should be a shining example to the producers of this show of what can happen when you try to lowball a high-concept idea.

 

[DragonBaby]

For Uk viewers the latest Sky magazine lists this as showing on Mon 16th Feb at 9pm.
They are showing it on sky movies 2 as a two hour film and the next night they show part 2. No mention of it as a series or mini series. Just treating them as movies.
Bit rough on people who dont have movie channels on their line up though.
Personally I'm trying to keep an open mind. I was only 8 when the original series was on tv and it was the first sci fi show I ever watched. Got me hooked on sci fi for life. So naturally I'm a bit skeptical about changing it around and updating it. But I'm going to give it a go and try and see it not so much as a remake but a new show with an old storyline.

 

[ray gower]

I saw the first part of this tonight. I agree with DVO on a couple of points for once, it is not like the original Battlestar Galactica.

It is a far more adult than the original, less corny, better acted and the story is far better, from the complacent attitude of th civil authorities before the attack, to the semi-organised panic as they try and get the Galactica into some form of operational condition by the end. In short it throws the original into a cocked hat. I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow.

I don't think that Starbuck has really lost much either from the change of sex. In fact she is a far better charcter as a rebel rather than a wise cracking con.

Now if only they would do that with Star Trek?

 

[dvo47p]

DING, IT MUST BE RAY!

WRONG RAY, I JUST POSTED THIS BUT *YOU CATCH MY DRIFT, OLD BUDDY*

The real Starbuck used that line, when broke or in trouble, quite often.

Sky TV on the other side of my fvorite fishing pond are junior partners in the new 13 episode, Battlestar Galactica 2005

Ronald D. Moore set out to re-do science fiction, with a prophylactic?

Why for his resume, certainly not our viewing pleasure.

Do read Ron Moore’s synopsis, Call it:
"Naturalistic Science Fiction." or "Taking the Opera out of Space Opera".

CLICK HERE TO READ NOW > www.filmjerk.com/nuke/article353.html

RETURN, POST YOUR OPINION
RDM: “This idea, the presentation of a fantastical situation in naturalistic terms, will permeate every aspect of our seriesâ€: Pray tell where, Ron?

RDM: “Our goal is nothing less than the reinvention of the science fiction television series. We take as a given the idea that the traditional space opera, with its stock characters, techno-double-talk, bumpy-headed aliens, thespian histrionics, and empty heroics has run its course and a new approach is required. That approach is to introduce realism into what has heretofore been an aggressively unrealistic genre.â€

The show on Scifi is not so much science fiction but a soap opera set in that genre, but why? I’ll tell you why, so Universal could maintain the Battlestar Galactica franchise. Why did Universal farm it out to “Aces & Eightsâ€, CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP & CHEAP…………….

1.) Ron’s Galactica light fits into Scifi’s MOTIVE OPERANDI, less scifi Action as in, few Space Ships, Battles in Space, and not much else Space in Space based show, go ponder this, I have but why?

2.) What really bugs me the most is this show has no vision. I find this hard to put into words, say camaraderie, oh a Marine would say Simper Fi, and everybody knows what he means. Not on Galactica lite, “We are at war†whoopee sh*t, Sherlock, just who don’t know that, Commander Husker?

3.) Athena had history with Starbuck, Cassiopeia had a reputation and Starbuck, Apollo had Serina & Boxey, Adama had what had survived of his family and the remnants of The Twelve Original Colonies of Man on his shoulders. But Adama had a vision rooted in faith, the Colonials followed, sometimes flawed with the shortsighted Council of the Twelve, & say a Sire Uri, to bear.

4.) Way no joint concern for the future of civilian’s on the run, packed on ships like cattle? What civilians? What other ships, zip, nada just a few faces like Trek, gee whiz I wonder how he…..................

5.) No Colonial Movers, any other ships but Galactica, why not? CHEAP CHEAP did I mention CHEAP?

6.) ST: TOS had humor, ST: TNG had humor, ST: DS9 had humor, Star Wars I, II ,III, IV, V had humor
all three Indiana Jones had humor, Battlestar Galactica TOS had humor, so what happened to humor Ron?

7.) The mythos of Earth isn’t a legend, it’s a The Garden of Eden joke/fairy tale, told by the President the Sec. Of Education over heard?

8.) The CG dogfights that Ronnie “eschewed†look like a cheap video game, designed by dyslexic guys on cheap hardware with Atari software, (sorry Ken) Come on was there anyway to figure out what was really happening in those dogfights besides the ones where Baltar’s sex chip fixed fight, please tell me!

9.) Apollo what a leader, I’d follow him only to resign my commission, he inspired squat!

10.) Kara, other than screaming in her cockpit & ramming Apollo’s Viper? What did she do other than get missed by slow motion missiles, in the oddest space battle ever put on tape?

11.) Sex, hell sex is OK Boomer jumping Chief Tyrol’s bones was almost great, Boomer is a Cylon, get it!

12.) Notice all the heavy breathing was with a Cylon?

13.) Romance, flirting, love triangles, cute kids like Boxey, death grief, triade, Chamilion, Boomer hot wiring cars, Beings of light, Babes for Starbuck to save/rescue, Sheba kissing Apollo on the last episode, oh my

14.) The Real Adama was inspirational & thoughtful whereas Husker was just what?

15.) Call it "Naturalistic Science Fiction." Bullsh*t, nope call it CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP and oh yeah they are very CHEAP

 

[ray gower]

I agree fully with the comments from EdwardHavens in your link, DVO.

But I think about the only one of your comments I will respond to directly is about the comparitive costs. The rest would be a fascinating debate on its own (perhaps a new thread?)

Personally I do not care if the original Battlestar Galactica was the most expensive show in history, whilst the new version was done for the cost of a postage stamp. My observation is that they got far better value for money in the later.

It has been a long time since I have actually been looking forward enough to the next episode of any science fiction show to amend my routine to watch.

Not that there was anything wrong with the original. With its superficial stories and acting it was a product of its time.

Not withstanding concerns over idea of having re-invented the wheel, I hold to my original view that if the new version had been simply like the original, it would have failed miserably. This version is different enough to give an old dog potential, just as long as they don't foul it up for the continuation.

 

[dvo47p]

The new series has inspired the characters with categorically no depth or humanity required that the series spend time developing them. But there is too much of a bad thing — the premiere, including commercials, was over four-hours long. Ray what the mini was four episodes strung together, remember each hour only has about 41 to 39 minutes of actual Galactica lite. The credits role four times, then the ads, ads & ads, on the premiere of Battlestar Galactica lite, soon to come on DVD the art is up @ amazon.com, fan interest will determine a release, it looks good but I shall not buy one,

The writing lacked the depth of Star Trek: Voyager, the special effects lagged behind Babylon: 5's, the characters were weak clichés, and it was often sappy and it still lacked any sort of epic quality. The 12 Colonies foolishly signed a peace treaty with the robot Cylons. But the treaty was only a cover for a giant sneak attack. The Colonials were forced from their homes, their civilization shattered. A few, with the will to carry on, gathered the survivors and began searching for a lie called Earth?

The original was a space opera filled with larger-than-life constantly plucking victory from the jaws of defeat. Lorne Greene's silver-haired Commander Adama was regal — whereas Edward James Olmos shows his age.


Political correctness also changes the new version. Some changes are obligatory and cosmetic; the old Battlestar Galactica's womanizing Starbuck is now a woman. Other changes are more interesting. In the original the Cylons were vicious robots that hated humanity — period. In the new version the Cylons were created by humanity, and their animus against humanity takes on religious overtones (some can also pass as humans). Humanity, on the other hand, feels guiltily responsible for the Cylons. But get this the new and improved Cylons believe in God, all 12 models of ‘em? Sex, there is a dizzying array of rivalries, and emotional rifts — and gratuitous sex everywhere.

It isn't Shakespeare, it isn't even Star Trek, but the central themes of Battlestar Galactica — of the fragility of civilization and of the consequences of its demise — it does not come through in the new version.

In a nutshell, BG is sorely lacking in the essentials that would have made this an epic journey as it was meant to be for the human race in a distant galaxy. Moore did not re-imagine this series; he remained true to the original while borrowing heavily from other scifi and stuck to the stereotypes we with some intelligence have come to abhor. All you who bellyache that the old show is dead and that this show is new/different are horribly mistaken not to mention willfully blind. If that were true, I wouldn't be able to draw so many comparisons with it.

What Moore has done is produced a hackneyed dinosaur that should have been left incased in rock and only marveled at as a fossil. Clearly I can see intelligence does not rule the entertainment world. When I, a layman, can see directly through their pop psychology, I know I'm not being mentally engaged. And in the end, that's what matters, that and well it sucks!

 

[Dave]

You still watched it though. Several times, I guess, if you were able to time the adverts.

When I get the chance, I'll watch this too and make up my own mind about it.

 

[Brit Chick]

I'm with Tabitha here - I was fully prepared to watch the first part and hate it - I have always been a fan of the original series - I've seen them all many times and frankly the idea that they were gonna turn Starbuck into a woman freaked me out.

But I like this - it was way way darker than the original and it was different from the original, but wasn't that the point !

Lets not forget the main thing here, its En-Ter-Tain-Ment ! thats all.

We all have opinions and express them, thats why we're on the forums, but you know what, I never quite understood why anyone would want to devote so much time and energy to watching a show (very closely apparently) and disecting and posting about it if they really didn't like like it. I wouldn't waste that much time on a show I didn't like !

I did think the guy playing Adama had presence, not sure why they turned Colonel Tighe into an unpleasant drunk but it fitted the storyline to raise friction with Starbuck. At the end when he was more or less apologising to Starbuck, holding out the olive branch I glad she shot him down and told him what she thought. Now in the original series that would have been all hearts and flowers but that wasn't what this mini was all about, This was about the realities of a situation and I reckon the response was right for the character

Wasn't keen on Baltar - not mean enough and you are never gonna get scarey like John Colicos for that character! Jeez that guy was enough to give a young girl nightmares!

I watch Sci Fi and Fantasy mostly to be taken away from reality (I could take drugs, but who can afford it!) - I agree that the best sci fi shows are the ones with a shed load of humour in them, and the original Battlestar had humour in spades but I also want to have to exercise my brain some - I'm a Farscape fan - what can I say ! that gives me both humour and intelligence!

I read in TV zone last month that this has been picked up for a full series by Sci Fi. Apparently it pulled the highest ratings of a mini series ever (presumably they are only referring to the US sci fi channel), more than Dune and Taken - the ratings increasing for the second night.

When they make the series, I'll watch it and hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as the mini.

 

[stevcolx]

BSG 2003 Dvd

Get it from Amazon. I did!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...9655/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-8555562-7078228

 

[Dave]

I've finally seen this!

Saw the first part tonight on Sky One. The second part is on tomorrow, and the series begins on Monday.

After all the negative comments, I too was fully prepared to hate this. But I thought it was good and the persistent negativity is beginning to bug me.

I do understand why fans didn't want this. Personally, I think it is so unlike the original series that it should be called something else entirely, but it's been made now. They have lost the battle for a continuation (though maybe not the war) so can't we now just discuss this series in this forum without references to the original?

And what have capes got to do with anything?

Originally posted by Brit Chick
But I like this - it was way way darker than the original and it was different from the original, but wasn't that the point ! ...

This was about the realities of a situation and I reckon the response was right ...

Wasn't keen on Baltar - not mean enough...

I agree, they seemed like Space Marines or Starship Troopers ought to be.

Baltar wasn't really evil at all in the first part, just a little lost and stupid. I guess the second part will show him growing more in that direction.

 

[Rik_the_Riff]

Time for me to weigh in, and make myself unpopular in another forum. I'm 17. I have watched a lot of sci-fi for my years, and this includes some of the original BG and, last night, the first half of the miniseries. I have the following to say;

The original was dreck. Really it was. I found, when my sister would watch it on Sunday morning re-runs, that I could tolerate only intermittent 5-minute bursts. It was plastic in every aspect. It's like going back to watch Star Wars when I'd seen Babylon 5 - SW looked like a cheap excuse for George Lucas to indulge an 8-year-old's fantasy.

I expected to not like this new series. I have read some interviews with various producers of the new show, and they all seemed rather in love with themselves and preachy (a bit like me, I guess, but I don't have millions of bucks per episode to throw aounrd yet). Watching the series, I was blown away. I am a firm believer that Firefly is the best thing to happen to sci-fi in at least a decade, and I saw the same strengths in BG as I did in the other show, alongside a greater confidence on the part of Universal.

I also knew, coming to this forum, that it would be dominated by people who thought the new series sucked. It doesn't. I do agree that science fiction is fiction, and thus 'realism' is not a term that can be applied. However, as long as we are discussing science fiction and not science fantasy, it is important to remember that THE LAWS OF PHYSICS STILL APPLY. And sure, there are errors in BG. There are also strengths here that need to be held on to. Have none of the new BG's detractors read Arthur Clarke, for crying out loud? Scientifically, not a whisker out of place, and some of the most absorbing stories I have ever read.

Any complaint that characters, despite attempts to make them meaningful and deep, come across as hammy or fake seems to be directly contradictory to any complaint about realism. Equally, I think it's extremely unfair. I found the characters to be at least as realistic as the science in the show. Take Baltar; I don't remember him from the original series, but in the miniseries, he comes across as a vain, arrogant, but essentially good man - a character type you must have met at some point. This is not a hammy character, or a 'fake' character, it is a character who, as a real person, would be fake much of the time.

And the plot isn't epic? I don't know where that one comes from. It is epic and it is soaring and it is glorious. And it is far more powerful than it might have been because we view it from such true perspectives; we are not watching it from the perspective of characters who have 'contractually obliged to not die 'til the end of the series' stamped on their foreheads. We are watching it from the perspectives of old, ill, bitter and weak characters, and by their involvement can we see that the plot is epic; what could be more epic than a tiny fleet of ships looking for a way home? The Lord of the Rings is about two Hobbits who get saddled with a mission that's bigger than them, remember. Star Wars (and I know I said it's dreck, but it is also epic) is the story of a Farmboy and a Criminal who wind up stuck with the task of stopping an invulerable weapon. Epics are epic because the people in them are small.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and I haven't seen it all. I may just be an ignorant teenager; feel free to think so. I very much believe, however, that in the post-9/11 era, we need more TV like this, not less. Would you rather Sci/fi pulled the budget entirely and we were left with sport, news, reality TV and the Simpsons?

Just a thought,

Rik

</rant>

 

[ray gower]

Actually, we (Ascifi) have managed to remain as amenable and as openminded as possible about the new BG. While a couple of the bigger BG boards appear to be eating a certain amount of humble pie in recent months.

But I do think you are being a little unfair to the original.

The problem with the original was that episode stories varied wildly in quality. The best example is the oft repeated film made by lashing the first two episodes together. The first half is not far behind New BG in story or character. Unfortunately the second half was written by the Clangers and acted by Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men.

On the other hand a first episode is always good.

Meanwhile BG80 was awful start to finish.