I loved the original version, it's a camp classic, and it's such a shame that the people who made this didn't reinvent it as .. something new that simply used the premise they have here, instead of bolting to the story (So very badly) on to the original. I think the new show is absolutelly superb, with gripping storylines and a complex background, I just wish they could have figured out a way to call it something else!
The one thing that does rub me up the wrong way is the similarity between everything in Galactica to.. America. The original made great efforts to change things, little words, like having cubits for currency, or those eponymous six sided cards.. they were human but you could imagine them being a branch from an ancient people.. it just feels a little too dumbed down. Every time I hear Roselyn say "Articles of colonisation" you can almost hear her say "Declaration of independance".
The one thing I do like, however, is their polytheism (though they, I noticed, only recently remembered to say 'gods, instead of god
), and how the robots only believe in one god.. it creates allot of tension and flips it allround so you're never really sure who's right and what their motivations are. I also love how you just don't get the Silons.. what are those agents trying to do.. what is their true motivation.. intreaguing..