Battlestar Galactica Revival

Started this with my daughter, who sat down to watch under duress - an "old" sci-fi reboot of an even older sci-fi she'd never heard of is a hard sell - but she was hooked immediately. It's at least as good as I remembered. I wonder if it was pitched as "Das Boot" meets "The Day After?"

I was surprised to be reminded that the religious/theological stuff is there in the very first episode.

Oh, she found it amusing (rightly), that in the miniseries someone actually says "OK, Boomer."

Man, felt like Cain was around for much longer than three episodes.

Good character! Disappointing that she's killed off.

Which reminds me - one of the dumbest decisions the producers made, IMO, was to put Tigh in an eyepatch. He's the best actor on the show - don't cover his eyes! Idiocy.

Also: :( https://www.gofundme.com/f/michael-hogan-fund

The Chief Tyrol/refining ship episode is infuriating. Roslin and Adama doing one of the unexplained shifts from benevolence to acting like monsters, a window into the fleet that gets three quarters of an episode, wrapped up with Roslin giving a patronizing speech.

Can't watch BG without wondering what they do with all the corners of pages.

― koogs, Saturday, September 19, 2020 2:02 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was once told in pre internet times, that the corners from all Rizla papers were shipped to Sydney Opera house to provide the snow for their annual Christmas shows...

I expect something like that happens within the fleet.

yes, the famous snow-filled annual Christmas show at Sydney Opera House

started rewatching this and it's decent but ffs we get it, baltar is a sociopath -- please, enough with watching him try to converse/make funny faces with people *and* no. 6 simultaneously again and again forever

feel for tricia helfer condemned to spend four years nibbling on dude's ear, and also for dude having to do the same shocked expressions again and again

the general lack of music/space sound -- just drums and some minor (relative to, say, star trek) sound effects -- is intersting and effective

He finally gets a decent little run in the fourth season, which overall is even worse than I remembered.

Poor Gaeta.

They just could not keep Adama/Roslin/Apollo's characterization steady from episode to episode no matter which era of the show - Adama does his "no more friends" speech to the crew and threatens to shoot people and then the next episode is all "ur like a daughter to me" to someone who isn't Starbuck and then back to shooty then a mean drunk.

and in a single episode people are asking baltar to bless their children and others are picking up watchtower on the radio

Just watched this over about three weeks.

There's a lot of punching in the face, even boxing ep aside.

Is the smoking a running gag on the 70s? Do they smoke in the old ones?

Gonna miss Baltar and Caprica 6.

Old men fist fighting and crying with booze is definitely a big part of BSG appeal.

There'a an equal amount of young women being punched in the face (and doing punching tbf) by men. Just a lot o' punchin' all round.

I suppose some of the women are 2000 years old and/or not stricty women but the optics are the same.

Anyway, grim as much of it was I am slightly bereft at being dumped back on Earth 2.

What's next - Caprica?

There must be some kind of way out of here

I'd say if you are looking for another old scifi streaming show, I would check out Farscape. It is lower budget but it is more fun and less over the top grim as BSG.

If I was an entertainment mogul looking to make my scifi streaming show, I would adapt Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars series. Kinda surprised it has not happened yet, that book how it is setup I think could work well as a Tv show.

that one's tough because it covers such a long period of time that favorite characters would always be dying/disappearing. the expanse has lots of secondary characters coming and going but there's always at least a stable core

At least you don't have to pay actors more and more each contract renewal...

I think it would take a few seasons to do just the first book 'Red Mars'. I think it would work as more of a large ensemble like BSG or Game of Thrones.

I think I heard an Internet rumour that Red Mars was in the works.

I'd like someone to have a bash at the Culture novels.

I prefer The Expanse to BSG in a lot of ways, not least because it's proper hard Sci-Fi rather than a slightly half-arsed SF/mystic fantasy hybrid, but I don't think it reaches the heights of nailbiting drama BSG did at its peaks.

I think Amazon started working on a Culture TV show and gave up.

yeah Expanse is much more...clinical, maybe? it has a coldness and to it and isn't as interested in Big Obvious Themes or goopy love triangles xp

I think Amazon started working on a Culture TV show and gave up.

― DJI,

Fair play to be honest, it would need an absurd budget to do properly.

I tend to forget, when I'm reading Culture books, that many of the characters are weird multi-legged creatures and other things that might be tough to relate to as a television viewer.

I'm guessing they would just do the typical head loaf makeup that other scifi shows do.

animate it?

That would be rad

Sounds like it was Bank's estate that pulled the plug xps

https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/26/21402585/amazon-cancels-tv-adaptation-culture-series-iain-m-banks-consider-phlebas

Got my mom started on Galactica, should I warn her about the later seasons or make it a delightful surprise?

delightful surprise

100% agree.

Maybe take a health check after the season three opening episodes, that's the jump off point before you hit the weird part of the rollercoaster.

does she like the song "All Along the Watchtower" y or n?

The only song I’ve ever been sure she liked was “Sussudio.”

the Cylons woulda given themselves away by dancing

Serial killer doctor episode in season 3 merits my mom's first 100% critical text re: Galactica.