Bsg-75

[Phantom]

As a mini series I can let the mythic connection go. But, the whole religious connections were one of the things about the original that I found very interesting. It adds to the whole "Good vs Evil" concept...Which is what BSG was. There were no Grey areas in the thinking of the show, and it added to the "epic" feel of the show as well.

Yes, it was cheesy. Yes, the acting could have been better, and yes, the stories could have been more imaginative. But, it was still a fun series.

[General Chang]

..at Scifi.com's Battlestar Galactica board. Some of the discussions are good, others banal, others downright anal.

As for me, there is room in my heart for both BSG's.

Many of the bashers of the new mini- do so because of the leaked script that they felt was "Felgercarb" to put it politely. Some feel that the new BSG is nothing but softcore porn. I think that is a bit unfair. I doubt that the "sex scenes" take up more than seven percent of the whole miniseries. "This is not the BSG that I will let my children watch." some say.

Some say that "sophisticated audience" is a poor euphemism for the "MTV/Britney Spears" generation, which they claim this new show is targetted towards. They seem to want to hang the whole "softcore porn" descriptor on the new show.

I guess we will find out, Monday. I plan to videotape it, and then eventually get the DVD when it comes out. Whether the show flies or bombs, I will have the DVD sitting proudly beside my other future purchase, the entire original epic series BSG DVD's, in perfect harmony.

Respectfully to all, whether pro- or anti- mini,
General Chang

[aelius]

But Phantom, the gray areas are where drama is born. Black and white stories lead to lazy writing. Conflicted characters are more interesting than ones who are pure and noble and without doubt.
That's one of the reasons I like the new storyline. At least from what I have seen in the previews.
The "epic" feel of the old BSG is one of the things that flew better in the seventies than it would today. Personally I like my shows to be a bit grittier than that.

[AslanC]

Avoid this you can.

I read the script about a year or so ago.

Overall it seems from what I have read about the mini, that the script was legite.

I hold no hope.

I had said I would watch it and make up my mind, but I have no hope.

That said I am sure it will be a big hit.

If the fans could forgive the finale of Buffy, I am sure there will be many who like or even love this version.

I highly doubt I will be one.

That said I will watch, and maybe, just maybe I will be surprised.

[Phantom]

Originally posted by aelius
But Phantom, the gray areas are where drama is born. Black and white stories lead to lazy writing. Conflicted characters are more interesting than ones who are pure and noble and without doubt.
That's one of the reasons I like the new storyline. At least from what I have seen in the previews.
The "epic" feel of the old BSG is one of the things that flew better in the seventies than it would today. Personally I like my shows to be a bit grittier than that.

If I read you correctly, then I have to say I disagree. You can have conflicted characters in a black & White "setting, the Arthurian legends, most Greek myths are all about Good v Evil, but the human factor is still there. You don't need shades of grey to tell an epic story.

[REG]

If you want to tell an epic story, tell it once.

That's why Star Wars is something that cannot be made a long-running TV series for today's audience. Maybe in the 70's and 80's, but today's TV audience they want something relatable, sort of the antihero theme. The flawed characters.

I mean that's why Smallville is still going so far. Before Clark Kent becomes Superman, he has to go through the trials and tribulations of his awkward teenaged years. Even when he is brought up by good parents, he is still able to get into mischief.

You can do the straight-and-narrow good vs. evil formula, but it will get boring, unless you keep throwing adversities after adversities, but even that gets boring because we average joes cannot relate to larger-than-life perfect heroes.

The Arthurian legend is great and all, but can you expand it into a long-running (let's say 5 years) TV series about King Arthur? Maybe as a mini-series, but the Ron D. Moore's BSG is a mini-series that is hoping to do well enough to be picked up as a series. So he has to think ahead.

[spyone]

Originally posted by Ramage
I mean, there is the Top Cartwright in outer space being chased by a bunch of aliens who think "Pong" is a great targetting program...

Bear in mind that those displays were cutting edge at the time, using computers donated by Raytheon. An early example of "product placement", every keystroke an actor made actually did what it was supposed to do (call up the targeting display, show a map, etc.).

Yes, there was cheese. Most of it was because the show aired at 7pm on a Sunday. Ships shot down could not be called "kills" since that implied the cylons were alive. The cylons couldn't be alive if you wanted to have them blow up on screen.
And they seemed to use the words "Star System" and "Galaxy" interchangably to mean a solar system.

[aelius]

Originally posted by Phantom
If I read you correctly, then I have to say I disagree. You can have conflicted characters in a black & White "setting, the Arthurian legends, most Greek myths are all about Good v Evil, but the human factor is still there. You don't need shades of grey to tell an epic story.

True, you do not "need" shades of gray to tell an epic story, but to me the shades are what make a story more believable. And more interesting. I like the Arthurian mythos, the Greek myths, and even The Lord of the Rings, and that one is definitely black and white. However REG has a point when he talks about sustainability. Even as a teenager I always found Apollo to be annoyingly self rightious. The holier than thou hero who always did the right thing and sacrificed and self sacrificed and aside from some minor and occasional grief, never thought twice about it. I always liked Boromir, a classic example of a flawed character in a black and white setting. He knew what was right, but was tempted to take the shortcut. In the end he chose to die in what I always considered one of the two standards for heroic death when I was a teen. The other was Duncan Idaho holding the hall creating a pile of dead Sardukar so Paul and Jessica could escape in Dune. (Duncan never has been given a proper death scene in either of the Dune adaptations by the way)
Thus while the seventies BSG was very epic and full of the mystical mumbo jumbo that was so the rage then, the new BSG can't take that route. It would be seen as even more cheesy than the origional.

[Phantom]

Just saw Part I tonight and I have to say with the exception of one or two very minor points this mini series hit it right on the mark.

I really liked the "gun camera" type of space dogfighting, very similar to fighter combat in B5. Still liked the old Mk II's over the new Vipers...they just looked so . I'm really looking forward to the conclusion and I definitly wouldn't be opposed to seeing this as a full blown series.

[aelius]

Glad you liked it, Phantom.

[Phantom]

Originally posted by aelius
Glad you liked it, Phantom.

I have to admit with only a few exceptions it was done pretty much like I would have done it I think. I like the characters, particularly Lt. Thrace and Col. Tigh (my favourite character from the original), and the relationship between the Adama's is an intriguing twist, and I like that they have given the characters complete names. The Galactica herself was a little too streamlined for my taste, but they stuck to right designs overall. VIPERS...that's all I gotta say, MKII's all the way!

My biggest complaint is the portrayal of Baltar. "Why yes I will use my great intellect to help with the defense of the Colonies. Oh, by the way I gave my girlfriend the access codes so she now has access to planetary defense for all the colonies, the complete deployment and abilites of all the Battlestars and how to deactivate them. Hope you don't mind." "Oh, I just found out she's a Cylon agent." AARRG! This character was meant to be (EVIL) a mirror of Adama, not a milk sop!

Sorry, rant over. Anyway, as a BSG purist I have to give it thumbs up. This is how Sci-fi should be done. I could really get into this as a new series, and RPG franchise would be nice to.

[AslanC]

I will be brief. I hope

I am not a fan. It bores me.

BSG had a real alien quality. We were watching people who sort of seemed like us, but were still different enough to be not us.

This show literally feels like the USA in space, right dopwn to the set up of their government and the of Colonial 1 (ala Air Force 1).

Sorry but I get enough of that in the real world, I would rather my sci-fi be a bit more... adventurous.

Also I understand that the budget was tright, but this tell-don't-show attitude started to really annoy me. It almost made me long for stock footage loops

So over all a thumbs down.

I don't begrudge anyone who enjoyed it, it just failed to capture my imagination in the slightest.

[Phantom]

Watched Pt II tonight, WOW! Battle of Ragnar was very well done. Definetly had the feel of a pilot...especially the ending. We can hope. I could live with the occassional special movie (mini series.)

Have to admit the problems they put into each character added something to the story, they weren't the standard stock heros who go out and battle evil, and lead perfect lives during the downtime, they were poeple. Which is what the story was about.

[Snake_Plissken]

I have to side with Aslan on that one. I've only seen the 1st part and I'm planning to see the last one sometimes over the weekend. So far I'm not too impressed overall. I will have to say however that I think that the original BSG was nothing more than an attempt to capitalize on the SW craze and in the end is nothing more than a show for young children. At least the new version is aimed at "grown ups". When I was a small child I remember getting very excited during Saturday afternoons because the French half of our state tv was showing BSG. It was by far my favorite show (along with Buck Rogers). I even remember the time when I was scared to death of going to my dentist and I pretended that the dentist's chair was some sort of high tech command chair on board the Galactica and that thought was the reason why I made it through. Yeah you can laugh now But I digress... so:

The likes:

-the overall military feel of the show
-the actors. They're really good. Olmos (spelling?) is an awesome Adama, O'Donnell is very good as the (new) president- I also really liked the new Tigh, Apollo and ouf course the new Baltar.
-I really don't get why there was such a fuss over the 'gratuitious sex' stuff. I never felt that the female Starbucks was written in for the tit factor. I really liked the character.
-The retro feel like the controls, the panels, etc.
-the new designs for the Vipers, the Cylon attack fighters, base stars. I even like the new Galactica.
-the action scenes.
- the fact that they acknowledged the old series by showing some elements from it like the old Cylons, the BSG theme, etc.

The dislikes:

-like Aslan said, not only this feels nothing like the old BSG (not entirely a bad thing however) but it feels like 'North America' in space. I mean come on people with ties and and checkered shirts. I was surpised I didn't see a McDonalds...

To my eyes this would have been a much better series if they didn't use the BSG universe as a 'frame'. Maybe also I would have kept the Egyptian theme, however corny it may be.

[Phantom]

I agree with all of Snake's likes, especially Lt. Thrace. However, I hated Baltar, didn't seem too smart for the Greatest Mind in the Colonies...Certain not worth Helo sacrificing himself.

The "North America" in Space...well I guess. I saw it as an attempt to make the Colonial background more familiar to the audiance. Speaking of franchises I did like the little quip about why they couldn't use the Port Launch Pod...Capitalism at its best.