One of my most amazing and amusing discoveries when I was getting more interested in Mormonism as a social history, that subtext. In the same way that all the Christianity in Narnia flew over my head when I first read it, I had to have it pointed out to me later vis-a-vis all the stuff in Galactica that was pure Joseph Smith. So much for allegory!
I kind of hope they put Hatch and/or Dirk Benedict in a throwaway cameo role
Hatch is doubtful for reasons outlined above (though it seems Ron Moore at least is trying to keep in touch with the fanbase via him at points), Benedict I could see...
Yes, I owned a BG novelization many years ago in my callow youth -- it was of the two part ice planet/big gun episode (actually, why couldn't the damn ship have just steered somewhere else?). Weird thing was it was actually pretty good.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 2 March 2003 01:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
Best part of the reboot aspect: they get to ignore Galactica 1980, as should we all (except maybe the Starbuck/Secret Origin of Cousin Oliver episode).
― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 2 March 2003 01:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
Yeah, that one was actually pretty great (certainly did the same theme of Enemy Mine better than the movie version did, lemme tell ya).
What WAS the deal with Cousin Oliver? Exactly who thought it would be a good idea to cast a younger version of Paul Williams, or to even create that role? The Wesley Goddamn Crusher of his time.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 2 March 2003 01:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 2 March 2003 01:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
This page I just found details more about why the 1980 series was as bad as it was. Thankfully I've somehow forgotten about the Super Scouts.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 2 March 2003 01:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 2 March 2003 02:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Didn't Richard Hatch and Glen A. Larson both have rival revivals planned at about the same time?
― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 2 March 2003 10:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 2 March 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 2 March 2003 16:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
It did have some things going for it... I'll always remember the noises the launching fighters made from the neighbouring cinema while watching Watership Down.
― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 2 March 2003 22:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
no need to feel sorry abt it DV.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 2 March 2003 22:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
does anyone remember the weird later episodes where god shows up to bail them out of trouble?
― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 2 March 2003 23:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
Turns out the original series is also going to come out on DVD shortly.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 16:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 16:41 (twenty years ago) link
By the way, I noticed on one of the displays on the Galactica the words popping up on the screen: "Made in USA". How's that for a civilization that hasn't found Earth yet?
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 24 October 2003 02:53 (twenty years ago) link
Yeah, December 8. Oh, that's not ominous AT ALL! They must be trying to piggyback on the anniversary of the Immaculate Conception.
Why do you have a problem with the Galactica being made by the Universal Spaceship Assemblers, Sean?
― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 October 2003 02:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:05 (twenty years ago) link
Moby should be in this movie.
― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Kim (Kim), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Kim (Kim), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:19 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:21 (twenty years ago) link
Now I just want the Galactica 1980 one with special remove-the-Super-Scouts track!
Actually, I want audio commentary by Dirk Benedict and Moby on all of it.
― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:32 (twenty years ago) link
(Or am I?)
The original pilot is genuinely good. I'll stand by that for at least a week.
― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 October 2003 03:37 (twenty years ago) link
Just saw the brief ad for Monday's miniseries (it's probably on the web or something, but I have no soundcard), and it seemed to come down to this: "God didn't create the Cylons. Man did."; hey, that's a mighty Earth-like planet there, I hope it isn't actually Earth; oh, it's Mary McDonnell; "let's go kick some Cylon ass!"
I'm not sure what to think.
― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 20:50 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 21:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 21:10 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Thursday, 4 December 2003 05:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 12:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 14:42 (twenty years ago) link
I miss the visual style of the original most, I think. But I'm curious enough to watch part 2.
― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link
Good Points:1) The Battle Scenes roXor!2) Ship design is excellent.3) The Female Starbuck was a good idea.
Bad Points1) The whole Cylons are now disguised as humans shtick.2) Costume design is a bad knockoff of Babylon 5.3) The bland bland bland guy playing Apollo was a bad idea. (I mean, shit, the guy from the original series was this Jim-Morrison looking sex symbol guy that it made sense for the hotties to be hanging all over him. This guy isn't merely bland, he's a boring actor.)4) The whole "Cylon chick who is devoutly religious" thing is probably going to either a) confuse the issues by adding fake spirituality or b) open a can of worms by implying that the heroes are all athiests "...as all good heroes should be..."; while hamfistedly making the bad guys all "Fundamentalists."
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 18:17 (twenty years ago) link
I like the human Cylons! In theory. In moderation.
The religious Cylon thing ... boy, I'm not sure how to take that. Taking the religious subtext from the original and .. making it explicit and some kind of plot point? I guess? I don't know. We'll see how it turns out.
― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 18:34 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 19:05 (twenty years ago) link
(Or they could be riffing off Mormon stuff I don't know anything about, to be honest.)
― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 19:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 03:53 (twenty years ago) link
I will definitely catch this Galactica miniseries at some point -- if it repeats while I'm at home over Xmas, then. Otherwise I'll wait on the inevitable DVD.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 04:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 11 December 2003 07:45 (twenty years ago) link
Watched more of it this morning. I was quite impressed that they actually dealt with the mechanics of zero-g inertia with things moving in space and filled in the details of Viper maneuvering jets, etc.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 11 December 2003 21:39 (twenty years ago) link
That's hardly a sophisticated assessment, but the original show starring Lorne Greene as Adama and Richard Hatch as his star-pilot son was hardly a sophisticated hour of television. In fact, the original "Battlestar Galactica" was a cheesy low-brow piece of science fiction entertainment that lasted only one season.No. It lasted at least three, and had an (admittedly awful) sequel.
As in the original show, the malevolent Cylons were once a race of shiny tin cans who have now evolved into slimy creatures that can take on the form of humans.Slime? No, they were just robots with realistic looking skin.
I told y'all that the religion aspect was going to piss off somebody.
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:19 (twenty years ago) link
― stevie (stevie), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:26 (twenty years ago) link
The navigational effects were awesome. The way the ships moved reminded me of playing Descent.
The faster than light travel was realistic from the standpoint that as soon as you jump ... POOOF ... your gone.
I think we all get very attached to the things we saw in our youth. Sometimes, when you go back and watch some of that stuff again, you realize it's pretty stupid. Original Battlestar Galactica's was way to uptite about having greek names for EVERYTHING.
Criticisms of the new version:* I can appreciate trying to "bring home" the drama by not dressing the actors in polyester jumpsuits. However, I think the Pinstripe shirts some of these guys were wearing gave you the sense that these people just wandered onto the set in their street clothes.The officer uniforms from the original were better. As others have pointed out, these one's look like they came straight off of Babylon 5.
* They are using techno buzzwords like "wireless" way too much. I'd like everybody to review their original Star Trek. They had boxes/gizmos and they were effectively magic. The crew didn't describe HOW the boxes worked.I can remember watching Star Trek in the 80s and saying "Those little cassette thingies they put data on are way too unrealistic". They look nothing like a floppy disk. Well guess what, all those magic doohickies on Original Star Trek are now realities: Flip Phones(communicators), Stun Guns (phasers on stun), Pocket Computers (Tri-Corders).So please stop trying to be techno hip. It's not REAL science fiction, it's a space drama. Battlestar Galactica with techno goop (not even CORRECT techno-goop) is effectively Star Trek Voyager.
* I like the angle with Baltar. Hoever, they've effectively turned him into Dr. Smith from "Lost In Space". Coincidentally, they were also trying to find Earth.
* I don't get why the fighter bays have to "retract". This is like the Enterprise splitting in two. There is no reason for it.
* The "Model 5" hallucination to some degree is a rip off of John Crichtons "Scorpy" implant on Farscape. BTW, quit calling EVERYTHING a chip.
Good stuff
* The Cylons are creepy. They are also multi-faceted. They are somewhat emotional.
* The effects are Bab 5 effects, and they are excellent.
* The bull-Amazon Starbuck is an interesting twist. I also like how these old GOOFY names are just their pilot handles.
* Ships move more like they should.
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Friday, 12 December 2003 15:28 (twenty years ago) link
Canadian Television Premiere BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Part 1 - Saturday, January 17 @ 9pm ET Part 2 - Sunday, January 18 @ 9pm ET
(Toronto - December 12, 2003) The ultimate battle between man and machine begins as the long-awaited re-imagination of the cult classic, Battlestar Galactica, comes to Canada exclusively on SPACE: The Imagination Station. A tale of the human struggle to survive, the new miniseries stays true to the core of the 1978 original, but introduces some exciting new twists including the transformation of Starbuck, the tough pilot (originally portrayed by Dirk Benedict) into a female character, played by Katee Sackhoff (Halloween Resurrection). The two-part miniseries launches Saturday, January 17 @ 9pm ET and concludes Sunday, January 18 @ 9pm ET. SPACE will also air a special look at the making of the miniseries in Battlestar Galactica: Behind the Scenes, a SPACE original production on Saturday, January 17 @ 8:30pm ET.
Starring Oscar nominated actors Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner, Miami Vice) as Commander Adama and Mary McDonnell (Dances With Wolves) as Colonial President Laura Roslin, the miniseries begins as Commander Adama and the crew of the Galactica embark on plans to put the aircraft carrier in retirement. The ship has been out of commission for almost 40 years, since the end of the war between the people of the 12 Colonies of Kobol and the Cylons, the robots created by the humans.
As plans for the closing festivities for the beloved vessel get underway, a new breed of Cylons, which are virtually indistinguishable from human beings, suddenly attack and it is up to the crew of the Galactica to save the future of the human race. The lesson they soon learn is that the flaws are not in their creation, but in themselves. Also stars James Callis (Bridget Jones's Diary) as Dr. Baltar, Alberta-born model/actress Tricia Helfer as Number Six, Jamie Bamber (Band of Brothers) as Apollo, Grace Park as Boomer, and features Canadian actors Aaron Douglas, Paul Campbell and Matthew Bennett (Cold Squad).
Battlestar Galactica was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia and directed by Michael Rymer (In Too Deep, Queen of the Damned), and written and executive produced by Robert D. Moore (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Roswell).
SPACE: The Imagination Station, a division of CHUM Television, is a 24-hour-a-day English-language national Science Fiction, Science Fact, Speculation and Fantasy channel (www.spacecast.com).
# # #
― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:10 (twenty years ago) link
Yeah, that's a great name.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:12 (twenty years ago) link
Please note the following correction: Ronald D. Moore is the writer and executive producer for Battlestar Galactica, and not Robert D. Moore. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions.
― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 12 December 2003 16:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 15 December 2003 16:18 (twenty years ago) link
and then Anders picks up the phone and calls Starbuck and asks if she ever truly loved him
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 19:55 (three years ago) link
and then Christian Bale shows up in an expensive suit and kills everyone
― sarahell, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 20:00 (three years ago) link
or did he?
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 20:01 (three years ago) link
oh wait, that was Batmanstar Galactica!!!
― sarahell, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 20:04 (three years ago) link
The first episodes of the miniseries are still so good
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Thursday, 10 September 2020 06:21 (three years ago) link
If I'm honest, I probably like the miniseries more than the series. A similar argument can be made for the LOST pilot being the best the show gets. Both of them have so much promise
― Vinnie, Thursday, 10 September 2020 14:26 (three years ago) link
Can't watch BG without wondering what they do with all the corners of pages.
― koogs, Saturday, 19 September 2020 14:02 (three years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 September 2020 12:21 (three years ago) link
Oh, she found it amusing (rightly), that in the miniseries someone actually says "OK, Boomer."
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 September 2020 12:22 (three years ago) link
Man, felt like Cain was around for much longer than three episodes.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Tuesday, 29 September 2020 04:19 (three years ago) link
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
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 29 September 2020 09:27 (three years ago) link
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.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Tuesday, 6 October 2020 03:18 (three years ago) link
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
― 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.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Tuesday, 6 October 2020 11:23 (three years ago) link
yes, the famous snow-filled annual Christmas show at Sydney Opera House
― erratic wolf angular guitarist (sic), Tuesday, 6 October 2020 18:19 (three years ago) link
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
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 13 October 2020 03:59 (three years ago) link
He finally gets a decent little run in the fourth season, which overall is even worse than I remembered.
Poor Gaeta.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 04:02 (three years ago) link
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.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 04:04 (three years ago) link
and in a single episode people are asking baltar to bless their children and others are picking up watchtower on the radio
― koogs, Saturday, 27 March 2021 11:58 (three years ago) link
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.
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 27 May 2021 11:09 (two years ago) link
Old men fist fighting and crying with booze is definitely a big part of BSG appeal.
― earlnash, Thursday, 27 May 2021 12:49 (two years ago) link
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.
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 27 May 2021 12:56 (two years ago) link
I suppose some of the women are 2000 years old and/or not stricty women but the optics are the same.
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 27 May 2021 12:57 (two years ago) link
Anyway, grim as much of it was I am slightly bereft at being dumped back on Earth 2.
What's next - Caprica?
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 27 May 2021 17:00 (two years ago) link
There must be some kind of way out of here
― burnt hombre (stevie), Thursday, 27 May 2021 17:31 (two years ago) link
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.
― earlnash, Thursday, 27 May 2021 20:44 (two years ago) link
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
― mookieproof, Thursday, 27 May 2021 21:00 (two years ago) link
At least you don't have to pay actors more and more each contract renewal...
― DJI, Thursday, 27 May 2021 21:09 (two years ago) link
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.
― earlnash, Friday, 28 May 2021 01:13 (two years ago) link
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.
― chap, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
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.
― chap, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:38 (two years ago) link
I think Amazon started working on a Culture TV show and gave up.
― DJI, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
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
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, 28 May 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
― DJI,
Fair play to be honest, it would need an absurd budget to do properly.
― chap, Friday, 28 May 2021 16:44 (two years ago) link
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.
― DJI, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:50 (two years ago) link
I'm guessing they would just do the typical head loaf makeup that other scifi shows do.
― DJI, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:51 (two years ago) link
animate it?
― koogs, Friday, 28 May 2021 21:01 (two years ago) link
That would be rad
― DJI, Saturday, 29 May 2021 15:40 (two years ago) link
Sounds like it was Bank's estate that pulled the plug xpshttps://www.theverge.com/2020/8/26/21402585/amazon-cancels-tv-adaptation-culture-series-iain-m-banks-consider-phlebas
― groovypanda, Saturday, 29 May 2021 15:54 (two years ago) link
Got my mom started on Galactica, should I warn her about the later seasons or make it a delightful surprise?
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 03:20 (two years ago) link
delightful surprise
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 03:28 (two years ago) link
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.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 10:53 (two years ago) link
does she like the song "All Along the Watchtower" y or n?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 16:35 (two years ago) link
The only song I’ve ever been sure she liked was “Sussudio.”
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 17:18 (two years ago) link
the Cylons woulda given themselves away by dancing
― hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 17:20 (two years ago) link
Serial killer doctor episode in season 3 merits my mom's first 100% critical text re: Galactica.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 2 February 2022 03:06 (two years ago) link