So, How bad is the new Battlestar Galactica going to be?

[Taur]

Just opened my Sunday paper and on the cover of the TV guide was a picture of #6.

A stacked blonde cyborg(?) with a number for a name. I guess she is supposed to be 1 better than 7. How original.

Is this the kind of original thinking I can expect to see from the creators of Battlestar Galactica?

[RawIsDan]

A stacked blonde cyborg=ratings. I don't know how it's going to turn out, I'm afraid they'll make too many changes from the original, but I'll give it a chance.

[oykib]

As long as Starbuck is still a playa and important characters die every now and again, I'll be happy.

[Taur]

Actually I thought I heard that Starbuck is a female.

And, there will be no "Pleasure" ships.

[Eilim]

I'll probably still be watching it, as I'm a sucker for any Sci-fi story and I was absolutely addicted to the original as a kid. I do have to admit I was one of the people groaning when I heard Boomer and Starbuck were going to be women.

[Nyarlahotep]

I'm going to check it out. When I first heard about it I was dead set against it (especially with Starbuck being a chick), but the stuff I have been seeing has persuaded me to give it a shot. I would have much rather had Richard Hatch's version get made. I like the premise of his show better and would have liked having most of the original actors come back.

[Bonegavel]

I watched the Low Down on SciFi and it almost seemed like they were pleading with the audience to give it a chance. Kind of strange.

I will watch. Of course, even though the orginals were good, they quickly destroyed the show I think they should have made it more of a mini-series as opposed to a "oh, we need the burning ship or Starbuck wears white episodes to fulfill a commitment."

The CGI looks good and I've seen approximately 2387 commercials for it, so I HAVE to see it now.

[oykib]

Originally posted by oykib
As long as Starbuck is still a playa and important characters die every now and again, I'll be happy.

Starbuck is a chick?

Fuck it. I'm not watching.









.. and I have now fulfilled my f-word quota for the year...

[mattwakeman]

If you want to read a totally biased view of the series and you can stand aintitcoolnews then try here for what is a bit of a negative view. Very amusing though...

[oykib]

Originally posted by mattwakeman
If you want to read a totally biased view of the series and you can stand aintitcoolnews then try here for what is a bit of a negative view. Very amusing though...

That review reminds me of the Sipmsons episode with Poochie: the rappin' dog.

"Remember kids... recycle...

TO THE EXTREME!"

[JonInMiddleGA]

The new "BS Galactica" will quickly reach previously unseen level of television sci-fi suckitude.

[sachmo71]

We'll see what happens, but I'm watching it.

[Taur]

Originally posted by mattwakeman
a bit of a negative view.

A bit negative? LOL

The review ends with A complete waste of time

And, I guess the Oklahoma Sooners were a bit over confident going into their K. State game.

[Leonidas]

How do you carry on without Lorne Greene?

I get the feeling this post is working under the misguided assumption that the original show was actually any good to begin with. My answer to the question is it can't be any worse than the original.

[mattwakeman]

I dunno mate, it looks like SciFi are giving it a go!

[kcchief19]

I saw that SciFi channel special, and yes, it did seem like they were begging people to give it a chance. Seems like they have made so many changes to it that any resemblance to the original will be purely coinicidental. And while I was and am strongly against making Starbuck and Boomer chicks, I am pleased to see they loaded this thing with babes, so that's at least one plus.

Except for the ships. Those are going to be similar, but I think that is purely because they have a Galactica video game coming out and it's going to be easier to sell a game with ships that look like the original.

I got the original series DVD set for my birthday, and even though I was a huge fan when I was a kid, I actually think the shows were better than even I gave them credit for. Granted, the writing was a bit stilted at times and the acting a little wooden in places, but except for some of the crap with Boxey and that frackin' Muffett they put it because ABC wanted to make it a more of a show for kids, it was very good. All TV shows need a year to get their feet under them. Few shows are truly excellent in their first year. I think if the show had a second season it would have really taken off.

I mean, for ground breaking TV, what othe show before BG had a freakin' hooker in the main cast ?!?!?!

[sachmo71]

Sci Fi fans are so dang funny. We clamor for more Sci-Fi shows, but we are so damn picky, word of mouth will often kill a show before it has a chance to establish a flow. It's almost comical when you think about it.

[mckerney]

It will be so bad that it will be terrible.

[finkenst]

I mean, for ground breaking TV, what othe show before BG had a freakin' hooker in the main cast ?!?!?!

John Laroquette Show.

[Chief Rum]

Originally posted by finkenst
John Laroquette Show.

Re=read the part you quoted. (Hint: The John Larroquette Show came out, what, in 1995 or so?)

CR

[bbor]

Battlestar Galactica is my most favorite movie ever.

I hope this series does well.

[oykib]

Originally posted by sachmo71
Sci Fi fans are so dang funny. We clamor for more Sci-Fi shows, but we are so damn picky, word of mouth will often kill a show before it has a chance to establish a flow. It's almost comical when you think about it.

That's because we almost always get complete drivel.

I can tell tell you that I heard nary a complaint about Farscape-- at least until Sci-Fi prematurely canceled it.

[RendeR]

Actually Farscapes eearly reviews were that it stank up the place, had no plotline worth paying attention to and the actors were better off heading to the bread line than their trailers after the first few episodes.


those aren't quotes I paraphrased.

The fact is, BG is going to be different than the original, they actually gave it a PREMISE , imagine that, a reason to be fighting the bads guys besides "we're good, they're not"

Starbuck will be better as a babe, the first one was a dumbass and made pilots look like morons. Richard Hatch, as much as I appreciate his efforts to get the show back on TV, had nothing worth putting on the air. The very idea of bringing ANY of the original cast back onto the show was ludicrous at best. When Lorne Greene died, so did every scrap of acting talent the first series had to show.

I love Sci-Fi shows. I watched every damned episode of BG when it came out. I lived for it. But the cold honest truth is the show sucked ass. Their budgets were slashed, they were put up against shows they couldn't possibly beat. Worst of all, after the pilot 2 hour movie, they had NOTHING, there wasn't enough writing talent to come up with 2 more good episodes let alone a whole season or more. They ruined it before it could breathe a single breath on its own merits.

I'm going to watch this new version, and I am NOT going to compare it to the 1970's farce that its built from. I'm sure I will get what I expect, a good solid sci-fi experience with a storyline I can believe and characters I can learn to care about.


end rant
stop whining about what you think it should be and sit back and suspend reality for awhile.

Ren

[RendeR]

actually, thinking about the people on this board, I'm wondering how many of you that have actually posted in this thread were even alive then, let alone old enough to watch and comprehend a science fiction tv show.

[Bonegavel]

Well, I for one was alive at the time and playing with my Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle with the ripcord action and I liked the original BSG, but which pre-teen at the time could have resisted its star wars-like goodness?

We can look back now and say it sucked, but at the time it was all we had. Space 1999 didn't come close.

I too am going to watch it and yes, I understand how to differentiate between the 2 shows. Richard Hatch needs to be slapped upside the head because he is bitter that his material didn't make it on the air. The CGI alone looks to be top-notch, and I am looking forward to see the direction in which they take the story.

[Tasan]

I was alive and watched it originally, and loved it then. Of course, now that I'm "all growed up" and Sci Fi has been running all the old episodes during the days for the last few months, I now realize how bad the show was. The original is good for a "feel good" laugh, but more than that and I think you're really pushing it for quality. The new mini-series? I don't know. I will watch it though, and give it a chance before just outright dismissing it. Too little sci fi around as it is to not support a big project like this.

[kcchief19]

Easy, Bucc-RendeR. I don't want you to blow a gasket.

I think you're being way too hard on the original series. And the reason BG was cancelled had nothing to do with ratings -- the premiere was and remains today the highest-rated series premiere ever and finished the season 24th, despite being bounced around by ABC and put into the horrible family hour on Sunday nights, which it had no reason to be in.

It had to do with the fact that the show was the most expensive program on television due to the special effects. The show was orginally slated as a miniseries and turned into a full series only when ABC saw how awesome the miniseries was turning out. As a result, Glen Larson and the creative team had no time to produce scripts, and even the special effects were shorted -- we got to see the same ships blowing up over and over.

ABC realized their mistake and tried to bring back the show as Galactica 1980, which was an absolute abortion. And that's surgar coating it.

Because of how much I enjoyed the original series, it's going to be very hard for me to go in blank. I hope I enjoy it, but it is going to have to be very darn good for me to forget the original. But it's happened before with movies and shows, so I won't be surprised.

[oykib]

Originally posted by RendeR
Actually Farscapes eearly reviews were that it stank up the place, had no plotline worth paying attention to and the actors were better off heading to the bread line than their trailers after the first few episodes.


those aren't quotes I paraphrased.

The fact is, BG is going to be different than the original, they actually gave it a PREMISE , imagine that, a reason to be fighting the bads guys besides "we're good, they're not"

Starbuck will be better as a babe, the first one was a dumbass and made pilots look like morons. Richard Hatch, as much as I appreciate his efforts to get the show back on TV, had nothing worth putting on the air. The very idea of bringing ANY of the original cast back onto the show was ludicrous at best. When Lorne Greene died, so did every scrap of acting talent the first series had to show.

I love Sci-Fi shows. I watched every damned episode of BG when it came out. I lived for it. But the cold honest truth is the show sucked ass. Their budgets were slashed, they were put up against shows they couldn't possibly beat. Worst of all, after the pilot 2 hour movie, they had NOTHING, there wasn't enough writing talent to come up with 2 more good episodes let alone a whole season or more. They ruined it before it could breathe a single breath on its own merits.

I'm going to watch this new version, and I am NOT going to compare it to the 1970's farce that its built from. I'm sure I will get what I expect, a good solid sci-fi experience with a storyline I can believe and characters I can learn to care about.


end rant
stop whining about what you think it should be and sit back and suspend reality for awhile.

Ren

Those reviewers were generally the same morons that say that each new Star Trek series is better than the last and surplants it as the greatest show ever.

Everyone I know who watched Farscape liked it. I'm tired of dealing with all these idotic shows. These execs seem to think that if they have CG and a hot chick that we should all just shut up and watch-- even dreck like Space: Above and Beyond or Lexx.

It's really unfortunate that a large number of sci-fi fans do.

[mattwakeman]

For sure Farscape rules and it is great that finally they are gonna have a 4 hour mini-series to hopefully tie up the ending. And as to Bottlestir Galactica well no matter how bad it is I can assure that a TV channel here in Britain will buy it!

[Chief Rum]

Originally posted by RendeR
The fact is, BG is going to be different than the original, they actually gave it a PREMISE , imagine that, a reason to be fighting the bads guys besides "we're good, they're not"

Starbuck will be better as a babe, the first one was a dumbass and made pilots look like morons. Richard Hatch, as much as I appreciate his efforts to get the show back on TV, had nothing worth putting on the air. The very idea of bringing ANY of the original cast back onto the show was ludicrous at best. When Lorne Greene died, so did every scrap of acting talent the first series had to show.

I love Sci-Fi shows. I watched every damned episode of BG when it came out. I lived for it. But the cold honest truth is the show sucked ass. Their budgets were slashed, they were put up against shows they couldn't possibly beat. Worst of all, after the pilot 2 hour movie, they had NOTHING, there wasn't enough writing talent to come up with 2 more good episodes let alone a whole season or more. They ruined it before it could breathe a single breath on its own merits.

I'm going to watch this new version, and I am NOT going to compare it to the 1970's farce that its built from. I'm sure I will get what I expect, a good solid sci-fi experience with a storyline I can believe and characters I can learn to care about.


end rant
stop whining about what you think it should be and sit back and suspend reality for awhile.

Ren

Render, I am not disagreeing with you, so don't take it this way. I honestly don't know if this new miniseries will be a good one. I don't even know if the last one was that bad. I was too young really to pay close attention to it, but I watched every episode in syndication in the early 80s and got a kick out of it.

Now, my idea of quality shows and good stroytelling and good special effects wasn't too developed then, and I haven't watched the old shows much since. All I know is when I was a kid I thought the show was pretty damn cool.

I am working tomorrow night, but chances are SciFi will show the debut again later on, so I hope to catch it on a late night second showing.

Now, the part that might upset you, the only flaw--and a huge flaw it was--that I saw in your post above: if the original was so bad, why is anyone remaking it?

Obviously, there must be something to it, something people took away from it as memorable. I'll bet there's a cult following for the show--there usually is for these sorts of things.

I'm not saying you're wrong that it is a poorly-produced and acted and written show, but they must have done something right, because I don't think even a cable channel aimed at the genre would spend gobs of cash remaking a show that was as much the piece of crap you seem to believe it to be.

CR

[HornedFrog Purple]

I remember reading some reviews of the Dune series that ripped it to shreds, but I ended up watching it anyways and ended up liking it for the most part.

I will give this one a whirl too. I hope they don't change around the ships much. I liked the cylon base, it looked like a big clam.

[sachmo71]

Don't believe the hype!

[Bonegavel]

I agree with the new Dune series HFP. I was never into the books and the Kyle MacLachlan movie made my skin crawl (though, I will watch it to catch glimpses of a youthful Sean Young) but i enjoyed the new mini-series.

As far as FarScape goes, I take constant ribbing from friends when I tell them how good the show is and I think Crichton is one of the best characters in the Sci-Fi genre. It took me a few eposides to really come to grips with the show because it is so different from most stuff out there and if and when the DVD set comes out in one huge volume (with the finale) I will most definitely pick it up.

[edit: actually finished my initial thought in the first paragraph. I was stuck on sean young.]

[Bee]

I'm looking forward to it myself. I was a fan of the original series and remember spending Sunday nights watching it every week. I agree that towards the end of the series it became pretty bad, but the early episodes were very strong IMO. The mini-series looks pretty decent from the previews. I like more traditional sci-fi shows (I don't care much for things like Lexx, but I enjoyed Space: Above and Beyond despite some of the issues with the show) and this looks like they'll stick to a more traditional sci-fi storyline.

[Raven Hawk]

I also plan on watching it. I will admit to thinking that it will be god-awful, but Render has convinced me to give it a shot.

I would have watched it regardless, as I have always been a BSG fan. I watched it when I was young and I watch it now. I've got TiVo set to record all episodes of BSG and I watch them when I get a chance.

I disagree, however, and believe that BSG had a premise. It had good plot lines, but fell prey to a bad episode ("Starbuck in white") every now and again. The plot lines, however, sometimes seemed to be killed by mediocre (at best) acting and mediocre (at best) writing. I still love the genre and premises generated by BSG.

I'm afraid that the new show will try to bring the "Pop" aspects of sci-fi into the series. One aspect that frightens me is that in the new BSG they have the Humans creating the Cylons (ala The Matrix) and the Cylons turning against them. Also they have the hot humanoid robot (ala Star Trek or T3).

I'm still hesitant, but I will be watching.

[RawIsDan]

I would have loved to been terminated by the girl in T3. Yowza !

I also watched the original series. Start off good and died off in the end like most tv series do. I mean they never shot any new battlescenes..just cycled out the same ones over and over.

[Easy Mac]

I don't think you have a chance with the T3 girl... she likes eat off a chag carpet... if you know what I mean.

[Kodos]

When is this thing on? I will probably check it out, as I enjoyed the series back in the day.

And how could you not like Space 1999? Okay, so I only remember the little ships, but they were pretty cool. I made lots of Lego space ships using a similar blueprint.

[Bonegavel]

As far as the cylons go, I'm not sure how interesting it would have been for them to just be some lizard like alien race or whatnot. I see the whole "we created that which we can't control" thing as a bit more interesting than the standard alien fare. These days, we have aliens up-the-ass and it would just be a been there, done that sort of thing, IMHO.

The original barely spent a centon () on the cylons as a race, and I think that worked because you always were wondering and kept looking for clues. I'm sure they would have lifted that veil given more episodes, but, as it is, you don't know.

Just like trying to debate TPF before its release, we will have to see tonight if they pulled it off for BSG. I think you would be doing yourself an injustice by boycotting it for whatever reason. The CGI appears worthy of a looksee, if nothing else.

[Raven Hawk]

BG,

That is so true and one reason that I liked the old series. You really don't know what the back history of the cylons is. All you know is that they are stalking the BSG! That is one of the reasons that I've been hoping for something like this to happen. I wanted to know who the cylons were and why they were coming after the humans. Perhaps if the series were permitted to continue, we would have realized that the "lizard like" cylon race was just a myth created by the humans to dodge responsibility.

Anyhow, they're begging me to watch it. I'm begging them not to kill it. I'll do my part and tune in for the mini-series. They'll have to do their part if they want to be successful enough to turn it into a series.

I'm just hoping that they give me at least 1 cylon centurion talking in the classic cylon voice.

[Bonegavel]

One thing on the Low Down that made me laugh was Richard Hatch. What a whiney bitch.

I can't wait until later tonight/tomorrow when those of us that have seen it, weigh in on tonight's eposide. Should be interesting.

[Nyarlahotep]

Originally posted by Bonegavel
As far as the cylons go, I'm not sure how interesting it would have been for them to just be some lizard like alien race or whatnot. I see the whole "we created that which we can't control" thing as a bit more interesting than the standard alien fare. These days, we have aliens up-the-ass and it would just be a been there, done that sort of thing, IMHO.

Yeah the whole idea of something of our manufacture rying to wipe us out is really original. I haven't seen it in anything since last month.

Originally posted by Bonegavel
The original barely spent a centon () on the cylons as a race, and I think that worked because you always were wondering and kept looking for clues. I'm sure they would have lifted that veil given more episodes, but, as it is, you don't know.

True, we barely got to explore the gold cylon vs silver cylon dichotomy before the show got dumped.

[Bonegavel]

NylonHoseStep,

At least it is different for the series itself.

[Nyarlahotep]

Why don't you tell us how revolutionary the idea of robots that have arms that fold back to expose guns is. You know, for the seires itself.

[Leonidas]

Space 1999 had the coolest theme song. It was right up there with Hawaii 5-0 and the Munsters. And who'd have thunk at the time Martin Landau would one day wind up with an Academy Award?

[Nyarlahotep]

Originally posted by Leonidas
Space 1999 had the coolest theme song. It was right up there with Hawaii 5-0 and the Munsters. And who'd have thunk at the time Martin Landau would one day wind up with an Academy Award?

A friend of mine got the box set when it came out (last year?), and man that show was awful. I am slowly learning to not watch shows I liked as a kid so I can keep my fond memories.

[HornedFrog Purple]

I just want to know what happened to the cylon king with the big afro, and what he and Baltar(?) do on that throne all day. And also the conehead cylon with the xmas tree lights. That guy should have been fired about 733 times.

[Taur]

After reading the reviews and listening to all the rumors, I was very disapointed.

It looks like the Sci-Fi channel is putting out a show with no original thought and geared toward the 13 year old horny boy. Like I said in the my original post "a blonde stacked cyborg with a number for a name, how original."

You may not believe this but it is possible to make a good Sci-Fi show based around a plot instead of having a mindless show involving oversexed woman with implants jumping in and out of bed. Leave that stuff for late night Cinemax.

See Babylon 5 for a true Sci-Fi show with an actual story.

btw---I loved to original show. Although it should only be judged against other shows from it's generation. TV was a little different back then.

[Nyarlahotep]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
I just want to know what happened to the cylon king with the big afro, and what he and Baltar(?) do on that throne all day. And also the conehead cylon with the xmas tree lights. That guy should have been fired about 733 times.

They used to sit on each other's lap and dream about capturing Moffet and a case of Jiff.

[Leonidas]

Do I get a hell-yeah for Buck Rodgers out there? All I remember was the show had lots of hot babes in skimpy outfits. I suspect that's another that I would think really sucked if I went back to watch it now. But they knew how to do it right with the T&A (as they called it back then).