Why the 1978 Battlestar Galactica Doesn’t Suck

[alchemist]

I dunno. I think there is scope for a blog called "Why the new Battlestar Galactica sucked."

No. 19 would be "God did it" and no. 6 "But how did those ancient Cylons get here?"

 

[BAYLOR]

I saw this, all of the episodes, when they first came out. Like Teresa said, there wasn't much going on in Sci Fi tv world back then. Decades later I heard someone, for some unfathomable reason, was going to do a remake. I wanted to gouge my eyes out and tear off my ears to avoid the cold sweats caused by the original. No, mate, said a friend, it's all right. It's all right. And it was. Everything wrong about the original, scripting, acting (although with those scripts Lord Sir Laurence Olivier would have trouble), direction, production, the guy who served the coffee, everything, was turned on its head by the reboot. With respect to fans of the original, who would want to see, let alone see again, this unimaginably dreadful show, when the reboot is sublime. And that folks, is my two cents worth.

The reboot was an incredible series. I liked the fact (Richard Hatch the Original Captain Apollo) had major role in as Rebel Tome Zarek. Hatch was outstanding in role of Zarek.

 

[Droflet]

I dunno. I think there is scope for a blog called "Why the new Battlestar Galactica sucked."

No. 19 would be "God did it" and no. 6 "But how did those ancient Cylons get here?"

BLASPHEMY!!!! Not about God doing it, the sucky bit.

 

[Mad Alice]

I think they are both nice shows. Granted the original was done in a folksy manner, but it was a product of the broadcast media of the day. Can you really see the new series standing up toe to toe against "Happy Days" and "Little House on the Prairie"? I think only "Nightstalker" was even on the same page as the new Battlestar. But nothing else on the line-up. Sometimes the public is only ready for baby-steps of change. The original series was a crawl in the right direction, that helped feed a Star Wars hungry public, and create a new generation of sci-fi aficionados. Thus in a way enabling our comparatively rich fantasy and science fiction programming of today.
(And besides which, Starbuck was cute. )

 

[Grimward]

My reason for not hating Battlestar Galactica 1978? It tried to fill a seemingly (to me as a kid) interminable void for a year between Star Wars movies (the original Episode VI and The Empire Strikes Back) where my appetite for space was concerned. Space 1999 was good, but ended in 1977, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a) pretty bad, and b) didn't show up until 1979.

 

[Droflet]

Fair points from both of you. Yes, they were lean times indeed. They had to be for me to watch, hmm, those shows. I've been in therapy ever since.

 

[alchemist]

BLASPHEMY!!!! Not about God doing it, the sucky bit.

Nah, it was an excellent series. Not perfect, but still enjoyable and though provoking.

 

[Droflet]

Sorry Alc, I was about to reply when I threw up in my mouth. And yes, I know your devious plot to send me back to therapy. Damn you sir.

 

[Denise Tanaka]

My reason for not hating Battlestar Galactica 1978? It tried to fill a seemingly (to me as a kid) interminable void for a year between Star Wars movies (the original Episode VI and The Empire Strikes Back) where my appetite for space was concerned. Space 1999 was good, but ended in 1977, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a) pretty bad, and b) didn't show up until 1979.

Same here. Hold my hand and let me take you on a journey to those days before cable t.v., before VCRs, when there were at best 12 channels on your antenna-fed t.v. and you rushed home from school to watch "Land of the Lost" and "Thunderbirds" and "Space:1999." Original BG was the most ambitious thing on American t.v. at the time. I heard each episode cost $ 1 million to produce, with special effects and building those elaborate spaceship sets with all functional electronics. Put that against the Mary Tyler Moore show and you can see the network suits freaking out.

Sure it's easy to look back at vintage things and nitpick. Hey, I'm a historical costumer too and some of those outfits from the 15th century.... wow! But at the time, from the POV of the people in those days, it was the best thing yet.

 

[BAYLOR]

My reason for not hating Battlestar Galactica 1978? It tried to fill a seemingly (to me as a kid) interminable void for a year between Star Wars movies (the original Episode VI and The Empire Strikes Back) where my appetite for space was concerned. Space 1999 was good, but ended in 1977, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a) pretty bad, and b) didn't show up until 1979.

The pilot for the 78 series wasn't bad , In fact at one point it was released as a feature film in the theaters. For it's time it had good special effects and production values, but the writing for the series was poor. And The show was in the top 20 at the time it was cancelled. The problem was that It simply cost too much to make per episode .

 

[AdamaMC]

I liked the originals, but do prefer the remake. BSG 1978 was made before I was born, but think it must have been re-run in the 90's at some point. My first scifi introduction was TNG Encounter At Farpoint. The original BSG was probably the first series I got into after that.

 

[logan_run]

I prefer the original tot he new because the new tries too much to be a drama and less as science fiction.

 

[RandalRR]

It is interesting I happen upon this...as I just saw, and went back to a post I made at byyourcommand.net many months ago.

I am adding some of my past thoughts on this..as I was and am a fan of the original more than R. Moore's rendition.

Why I like Battlestar.


it is the result of being less stellar than Star Wars..11-12 yrs old..and having season 2 cancelled.

And some of the Scifi aspects..but the story....a Human Holocaust..an Exodus..a Journey to far away and unknown places..and more and what really got me then,, was..they were coming here.

and....asks...Are we a race worth saving? ( and used later in R. Moore's version)

Some questions BSG has me asking...
Story of survival and facing the possibility of annihilation and extinction.Story of hope..that we are worthy.
That there may be others who ,like us,,struggling to cope.
That humans may indeed advance enough to explore the heavens.
Are we worthy? ready?
And what will happen if they did arrive here.....this one has been stuck in my mind since season 2 was cancelled.


Classic good vs evil..only good and evil is Humanity itself.
Adama and Apollo...(tos) being of good nature and character and wisdom,,while another human is opposite(Baltar).
Humanity being what it is and struggling to be what it would like to be.
then you throw in Cylons......man its just a perfect platform to
tell stories that relate in so many aspects to these things.


In a lot of ways,the NuBSG was about many of these things also.It was a fine show for what it was.....
for me...though, the timeline does not make sense,,the logic of it....Cylons being the AI we have come to fear....was created by us,but yet existed with us since before they were created...yada yada etc...
To me,,Cylon's are an outside..alien pressure on top of everything else.The Hammer that crushed the civilization of men....being sold out by a man.
..and the sex thing and God aspects..I never really did understand wth that was all about.....but I do understand God personally.

If I were to guess...Moore was expressing that the God aspects are what we as a nation are experiencing or will have to at some point.

For any one's attention. I am just a fan of the original.The new one I have a hard time watching..as I am biased from being exposed to the original when it aired.
I thank you for your time.
Have a Blessed Day.

 

[S Blake-Smy]

Gotta say, I watched the original as a child and loved it. After watching the remake, I can't bear to even consider the original as anything other than a rough pre-vis or dry run. I bought the new one as a complete box set and have watched a few times on a binge; it just gets better every time.

So, I'm sorry, but I'd take the remake over the original every time.

 

[Judderman]

I really enjoyed the first version of Battlestar when I saw reruns of it around the age of 8-10. Great fun and included "Face" from A-Team as Starbuck to add to the cool factor. It beat reruns of Buck Rodgers or Lost in Space, though I enjoyed those too. Probably not as good as Quantum Leap though. Incredible to think Alien was released around a similar time.

Also you have to appreciate a series where a Chimpanzee acts as a robot dog. Probably wouldn't be allowed now though.

http://screenburn.kotaku.com/the-robot-dog-from-battlestar-galactica-was-a-chimp-in-1567516744

By the way, is the remake good from early on, or does it take a while to build up like Babylon 5? I think I only watched a few episodes when it first came out.

 

[Droflet]

You MUST see the new one, Judderman. It is OUTSTANDING.

 

[S Blake-Smy]

...By the way, is the remake good from early on, or does it take a while to build up like Babylon 5? I think I only watched a few episodes when it first came out.

Personally, I think it is good right from the start, but like in all things you have to get used to certain dynamics and character personalities. an aspect I really like about BSG in particular are the arcs, even characters you may think are boring or 2 dimensional at the beginning grow because of the trials they face as it all plays out. The fleet is very different at the beginning to how they are at the end which is one thing that for me separates it from the original; there is an arc for the 'whole', as well as the 'parts'.

Give it another try, start with the pilot and at least watch the first season if it hasn't grabbed you by then it probably won't at all.

 

[Narkalui]

I agree with Blake, although I was hooked immediately some people found the first series a little slow, of those the ones who kept Faith to the end of series 1 continued to the end.

So yeah, stick with it to the end of series 1.

 

[Ed Ryder]

I grew up watching the original series, so good or bad, it'll always have that place!

I thought the remake was fantastic until they painted themselves into a corner. It still has some of the best moments in TV scifi though, and managed to supplant Severed Dreams for ultimate space battle.

 

[Chinspinner]

I saw some repeats of the original when I was a child, but Star Trek was the big sci-fi franchise by then. I think the first half of the new BSG was some of the best TV ever made (if they had cut the fluff, say ten episodes a season it would have been a LOT better but unfortunately a lot of US shows seem to be about quantity at the expense of quality and tight, stream-lined plotting and pacing), but the mini-series up to the climax of Season 3 was superb. After that the tone and direction just inexplicably changed for the worse.