Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake series

[darth_librarian]

Anyone else in the UK catch this?
its' the 13 part running series, as opposesd to the 4 hour mini series has just started its run in the UK, (first in the world, I believe).
I have to say, having slagged off the whole re-imagining premise, and not being a massive fan of the orignal 70's series, i thought the first episode had a lot of merits.

The episode starts with the fleet on the run from Cylons, who catch up with them every 33 minutes between jumps. As well as giving the cast an element of desperation, the reoccuring baddies leant a kind of ground-hog day inevitability to the whole thing.
Added to this was the fact that no-one had slept in 158 hours, and that fighter pilots were being given pills to stay awake (a la vietnam..)
The desperation on all the cast's faces was evident throughout, a far cry from the original where they cried for a few scenes then played tennis a lot.

As for the feel of the series, it is dark and gritty which I like. The downside is it's a bit to close to 'real life' in terms of language and costumes etc to make humans from a colony on the other side of the galaxy seem belivable. Still, it meant you could associate with them. I thought the cast were good, and character development was firmly in place.

Music was ok, but i do miss the Glen A Larson track.

The effects rocked. I love the whole shaky-cam thing. I know others don't but i think it worked well here.
One of the best series openers i've seen in a while. If anything it reminded me a bit of Space, Above and Beyond. But better.

I'd reccommend that peeps give it a try, at least.

 

[vacantlook]

I was dead-set against the new Battlestar Galactica when the miniseries came out however long ago now that was. But I did find myself interested in the advertisement for the series that ran during the Farscape mini. I wonder if by any chance SciFi here in the US will rerun the BG mini before they get to showing the series itself; I think I might would cave in and watch it if it did 'cause I'm feeling rather starved for science fiction. <sigh>

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

Thats exactly what sky did with us. I seond the point about being sci-fi starved, prehaps that's why i liked it so much...

but it was good.

 

[Sindatur]

VL, I have a feeling they will show the Mini, as a lead-in to the series. I was quite happy with the Mini myself. Didn't really like the Starbuck girl though, she was just too butch, a strong female as a female character would've been better, than a female actor playing a male part. No problem for me with them changing Starbuck to a woman, just that even know it was a woman playing her, she was still a male character.

I believe the series was originally scheduled to play in November or December, so since it's now scheduled for January, maybe they will show the mini ahead of time.

Other than my gripe about Starbuck, I was quite pleased with the Mini, and am looking forward to the Series.

 

[admiraldave]

I was in favour of the reimagining prior to the mini, really enjoyed the mini, and also loved the first episode. It was gritty and intense.

The direction has also improved, one of my biggest beefs with the miniseries was the director loved to spin the camera around the actors, which was both dizzying and annoying. I didn't notice that in the episode.

I'm also really enjoying Starbuck and Apollo. They've got an interesting dynamic that's fun to watch. The relationships in this show are definitely one of the strong points.

All in all, I'd say this is a solid series.

 

[JJCoolbean]

The Battlestar Galactica mini may air on NBC before the new series debutes in January. NBC and Sci Fi are owned by the same company and according to friends of mine (I work in the film/television business) NBC wants to build up the upcoming series. They supposedly see the series as a potential breakthrough for the network in the way that South Park broke Comedy Central into the mainstream. Apparently Sci Fi's ratings have been increasing lately and female viewership is at around 40-45% of the whole, so the execs see the network moving away from just being a niche network. A potential "must watch" series like Battlestar Galactica could further the network's aim to broaden it's viewership.

By the way, Sci Fi once envisioned Farscape as being a signature series while it was in development, but the ratings never panned out. Meanwhile, the Battlestar Galactica miniseries received the highest rating of any cable miniseries last year, was one of Sci Fi's highest rated programs ever, and the reviews were generally excellent. My own view, an opinion that I'm told was the Sci Fi Channel's view as well, is that Farscape isn't really the type of program to breakthrough the mainstream. Critics of the science fiction genre would probably have a problem with the more fantastical elements of Farscape (Is there a character on the show that didn't die and come back to life?). The stories could get pretty convoluted at times making the show next to impossible to follow at some points for the newbie and even difficult for the regular viewer to keep all the plot twists straight. For the built-in science fiction fan, Farscape is tailor made science fantasy escapism, but for the uninitiated it can seem the very personification of nerd television with plenty of preposterous plot twists, paper thin characterizations, and self-conscious film geek "technical" gimmicks. I like Farscape, though not as much as several other science fiction programs, but I can see why the program has it's critics. I find the show alternately exhilarating and maddeningly unsophisticated at times. The writers will give you a few episodes of characters being affected by those around them and changing in the way that Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine did quite well, then the reset button seems to be hit and they suddenly fall back into the usual broad sitcom squabbles.

Battlestar Galactica isn't going to have muppets. It is going to be gritty with character driven stories in an action packed environment. It isn't going to be the usual alien of the week with the funny forehead. In fact, Ron Moore has said that, within the Battlestar Galactica world, the "human" are the only known race. Basically, the casual viewer won't need the same suspension of disbelief that a Farscape viewer would need. This doesn't mean that the show will be any good. Everyone will need to make up their own mind about that.

But if the show is successful we science fiction fans win. First, we get a quality science fiction program to watch each week - I loved Ron Moore's work on TNG and DS9. Second, any success might counter the current trend away from science fiction (Enterprise's struggling ratings and the poor ratings of shows like Firefly and Farscape haven't helped).

 

[AntonyF]

I thought it was good, as was the original pilot.

It's pretty intense right now, I do look forward to seeing them broaden the stories and do other things too.

I'm not a fan of the whole blonde Cylon/Baltar stuff... it's too attenuated and, well, dull.

And Helo was back. WOOO! I loved that.

ColonyEarth, that's interesting. NBC is having some real difficulties right now, so seeing it go on to NBC to give it a bit of bolstering is quite amusing. But the more chance of it continuing the better, and some NBC exposure may just do that.

 

[hypatia]

Battlestar Galactica isn't going to have muppets.

Personally I have never understood why people hate the idea of muppets representing alien characters in sci-fi. Unless you really think aliens will all have two eyes, two arms, etc, it is a pretty good way to get other types of alien characters a chance to be shown in sci-fi.

Although I'm also weird in that I love sci fi for its ideas. I really don't care a lot about the fx.

As one who is usually disappointed with modern television science fiction I'd just like to ask this:

For someone who didn't get into the original BG, what would you say is the most intersting aspect of this new series? (I keep trying to decide if I should give this show a shot or not.)

 

[admiraldave]

Personally I have never understood why people hate the idea of muppets representing alien characters in sci-fi. Unless you really think aliens will all have two eyes, two arms, etc, it is a pretty good way to get other types of alien characters a chance to be shown in sci-fi.

I agree wholeheartedly. Especially when the "muppet" characters are some of the more interesting, well-developed and nuanced characters in sci-fi.

For someone who didn't get into the original BG, what would you say is the most intersting aspect of this new series? (I keep trying to decide if I should give this show a shot or not.)

Most interesting? Hmmm. I can only speak for myself.

First, there's the gritty realism of the show. The original movie had the refugee survivors of the Cylon attack go to a disco party planet, so they can cut loose after seeing all that they knew and loved destroyed. In the reimagined series, people look shell-shocked. There's an honesty to the premise that's refreshing.

Second, admittedly I like the new Cylons. Before they were some kind of generically genocidal aliens, now they're AIs that rebelled against humanity in the first Cylon war. They've discovered God and have a more personal score with humans. It's not that original, but it is well executed.

Thirdly, I like the characters. Especially Starbuck, Apollo, the President and her aide.

 

[hypatia]

Starbuck is a woman now, right? That was one of the more controversial decisions about the new series, right?

 

[Markas]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

I think that the particular friendship of Starbuck and Apollo could be captured by having Starbuck be female, as long as there wasn't any romance. Why can't two people of the opposite sex keep their hands off of each other in series like this?

The Cylon babe irritates me.

 

[rangerPHIL]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

Cylons - who look like humans - well that will keep the effects budget down a bit...

 

[admiraldave]

Starbuck is a woman now, right? That was one of the more controversial decisions about the new series, right?

Yeah, but it was a good decision. To be honest, I find the controversy ridiculous.

 

[AntonyF]

The muppets took me a lot of time to get used to.

When I first saw Farscape, I took one look at the muppets and turned it off. When I first started giving it a chance, I hated Rygel Pilot etc. Then I grew to a sort of tolerance... thinking "I like Farscape, but if just they didn't have those damn muppets."

But, now, I wouldn't have Farscape any other way.

But it just took a lot of reeducation for me to accept them.

 

[colonyearth]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

The Cylon babe irritates me.

I'm with Markas on this one. Cylons that look human. Well, ok to an extent perhaps, but if it's just so you can keep the budget down, then that's a cop-out to me.

I want the real Cylons damnit!

As for the NBC post, Antony, that was JJCoolbean, not me.

JJ, I would love to know what you do in the biz. PM me sometime.

CE

 

[AntonyF]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

I think the human-like Cylons are a neccesity.

You can't have interaction and drama with robots week after week. No more than you could have Borg as a villain each week. You need that human element, that ability to be deceitful and interesting. The original series knew this, and they got Baltar in (and, to an extent, Lucifer even if he was a robot). This way they've taken it once step further, having the human layer for the interaction and the robotic ones as a nod to the past. Plus she mentioned the original series ones were still about, potentially leaving us to see them.

Something else they sorted out: the ships fly themselves. Much better. I could never fathom why a race of robots would build ships for themselves to fly, rather than getting the ships to fly themselves.

Sorry for the mix up of people... you all look the same.

 

[MeadDrinker]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

I've seen a few, it's almost got a Space: Above and Beyond feel (which I like.) The shaky cam is good when appropriate, but I found it overdone. They'd be sitting talking and the camera would be all over the place; I wonder if they found the cameraman ducking and weaving distracting.

On the question of the names... Why keep them if you are going to rework the character (Boomer?) Haven't seen much of Starbuck yet, but I don't see how anyone could emulate Face...

 

[A_M_Swallow]

The Battlestar Galactica mini may air on NBC before the new series debutes in January. NBC and Sci Fi are owned by the same company and according to friends of mine (I work in the film/television business) NBC wants to build up the upcoming series. They supposedly see the series as a potential breakthrough for the network in the way that South Park broke Comedy Central into the mainstream. Apparently Sci Fi's ratings have been increasing lately and female viewership is at around 40-45% of the whole, so the execs see the network moving away from just being a niche network. A potential "must watch" series like Battlestar Galactica could further the network's aim to broaden it's viewership.

Bye Bye Sci-Fi.


A science fiction channel trying to enter the main stream is committing an act of stupidity.

<font color="red"> GROSS STUPIDITY </font>

Out of the hundred plus channels there can be no more than 5 main stream channels. The fourth and fifth channels will probably be making a loss. The also runs have the same costs of the medal winners but do not have the sales. (The same limitation applies in the film industry and car making.)

If Sci-Fi wants to broaden its viewers chase the people who watch neither soaps nor sport. That way it can say to advertisers, "If you want to reach these people come to us."

(Geeks are a weird lot they have above average salaries, attend college, save a lot of their income, buy flats on mortgages, about a quarter of the male ones buy washing up liquid and are made on gadgets.)

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

I certainly can't see much else on US sci-fi that would appeal to mainstream, they'd have to do better than one show, even if it is a very good one.

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Spoilers!! - Battlerstar Galatica remake serie

Watched the third ep of this last night, with Richard Hatch as an imprisoned terrorist. It was just great all around. Am really loving this series so far, totally against my inital reaction to it being announced. I'd go as far as to say its the first show since Farscape i've been excited about, and made an effort to stay in and watch, as oppossed to working late or going out on the beer etc....
I'd urge all o' you Stateside folks to watch it come the new year!!