Dave, he who goes bankrupt first wins!

[GoranAgar]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005JM3C.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Ok, it was not the most important part of Science Fiction history, but you have just got to love that box.

[LARAMANIAC]

ooooooeeeeeeeeeeee *drooooooooool......................diggee.....diggeeee!!!! :p

[John Carter]

Kewl!

I used to dig that "By-your-commaaand" Cylon stuff back when.

New series coming.

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/about/intro/

Says they're going to "reinvent the TV science fiction genre".

Apparently this means Starbuck's a lady, and the Cylons look like humans.

Sounds like too low a budget for mechanical effects and costumes to me.

[Lara Croft Online]

You saw what the Sci-fi channel did to Sliders why should this be any different :rolleyes:

[GoranAgar]

Could be fun.

I love that they kept the basic design of the Vipers.

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/images/downloads/images/bgpic_05.jpg

[CatSuit&Ponytail]

Too bad this "#6" character is just another blonde 7of9 wannabe/blow-up doll android. She looks a bit like Galaxina, no?
I guess that means the Cy-lons will be the cyBorg, eh?

But the ships are nice.

[DaveJ]

If the box had the strobing red light for eyes thing, I'd consider it.

I don't mind cute new ladies in SF..... the more the merrier!

[GoranAgar]

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/images/downloads/images/bgpic_05.jpg

Did you notice the ship is fresh out of the box and still in try-me-mode? You have to remove them orange thingies to activate all the features. :D

[theBlackman]

I loved the original when they would launch 6 ships all with exactly the same smears on the left side window.

I hated the program. Even then it was too juvenile for my liking. But on the rare ocassions I did catch a bit. I always laughed at the use of a single prop to represent 3 or more different vehicles.

At least they could make some minor change to appear as though it was not the same one. Still makes me laugh.

And, of course, the new version will have the unnecessary "love/hate" interest that all the new crap series have.

I sorely long for the old days when a story was told, as a story, without a lot of hokey romanitic or sexual bullflop thrown in to "spice" it up for the hormonally disabled boys and girls the sponsers want to sell their crap to.

[DaveJ]

From the Glen Larson stable - the guy who thought 'SF' stood for "stock footage".

[CatSuit&Ponytail]

I hear, and participate in, a lot of moaning about the general lack of new ideas and rehashing that TV and Hollywood dish out. Someone recently ranted over how even the Matrix was just drivel in comparison to real SF like Bladerunner, and all the supposedly "deep" ideas from Matrix were just Zen for Dummies quotes. ("Whoooaaaa") Anyway, it occurs to me that fast food entertainment is embraced because we are way too tired from everyday life to take the time to create and enjoy a 6 course meal of drama, tragedy and comedy in the classic sense. I'm afraid gaming falls under this plague as well, with eye candy graphics taking the front seat to creative writing, who is always stuffed in back or more precisely, in the trunk like a dead body ready to be buried in a shallow grave. ;) Games get prettier, but just like peroxide, are dumbed down to compensate.

Stock footage means nothing if the tale is told well. But consumers don't have the patience, because they are consumers. Actually, Babylon5 is a good example of stock footage not detracting from engaging storylines and gripping characterizations. I am really enjoying seeing nearly epic plots being brushed across a whole season, and not MTVed into a 2 hour feeding frenzy. Do I digress? Sorry. :p

I am also happy that I haven't (yet) seen any Borg in B5. ;)

I'll give the new BattleAxe a try, and probably enjoy it, because, I am tired. ;) :D

[DaveJ]

Originally posted by CatSuit&Ponytail
Stock footage means nothing if the tale is told well.


Very true.
But from a production point of view, stock footage usage is lazy and insulting to the audience.

"Use it again - they'll never notice....."


Plus it lets the side down when performers and writers and designers have given their all.

Which is why "Farscape" rules.
;)

[LARAMANIAC]

Originally posted by theBlackman

I sorely long for the old days when a story was told, as a story, without a lot of hokey romanitic or sexual bullflop thrown in to "spice" it up for the hormonally disabled boys and girls the sponsers want to sell their crap to.

Here!! Here!! Before I start to billow, I have not had the pleasure of Revolutions yet, and so my hopes are still entact, for now!! :p But Reloaded gave me just the feeling you are describing up there, theBlackman. I actually thought the first Matrix movie was excellent, but my gawd why did they pull that crap in Reloaded. Does Hollywood honestly think that we can't survive one movie without the slap and tickle?? The 'mush' that was present in Reloaded was unnecessary, shock! horror! unnecessary sex I hear you say...........but yes as you rightly point out theBlackman it would seem that Hollywood is decidedly distracted by the hormonally challenged of our world!!! Sad!!! :p

Back to Battlestar Galactica................this was the era in which I was impressionable, this was one of the programs that nurtured my love for Science Fiction. To look back on - yeah the effects seem simplistic - but nostaligically they still work for me. :D

Starbucks a lady - oh no, no, no! :( :rolleyes:

[maniac44]

I never watched Battlestar Galatica (only saw it while I channel surfed right by it, looked to cheap for me to want to watch and seeing Lorne Greene made me think of the Western "Bonanza") so I don't know anything about it.

But there's a character named "Starbuck"???? :confused:

I wonder want big international company is going to sponsor this show?? :rolleyes:

[LARAMANIAC]

Hmmmmmmmm I wonder who you mean maniac44!! :p

Starbuck............
http://www.starbase21ok.com/DIRK2.jpg

But I much preferred Apollo myself!! :p
http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/Battlestar/apollo.jpg

[John Carter]

Hehe, that guy that played Apollo lobbied for 15 years to get a revival of Battlestar G. I don't know if he has anything to do with this one or not, but I don't think so.

[THE True Lara]

LM! You preferred Apollo over Dirk Benedict?! ;) :p

I read an interview with Dirk a few years back that spoke of the series coming back as a special and original cast members being involved, but I've just had a quick shufty round the net, and can't find it now.
Funnily enough, I reckon Dirk could still play Starbuck -the man simply doesn't seem to age! :o
From what I've read so far, I don't know if this is quite the revival people have been waiting for though.

[DaveJ]

Thats the new management at Sci Fi channel for you.

They cancel a truly great show like Farscape, and re-hash some 70's cobblers instead. Aimed at everyone, pleasing no-one.

[THE True Lara]

That's sadly symptomatic of many channels these days though.

[Deekman]

Originally posted by LARAMANIAC
Starbucks a lady - oh no, no, no!
They did the same thing to Ibanez in Starship Troopers!

[theBlackman]

OK. I have just seen a blurb for Galactica. I will definitely NOT WATCH THIS TRAVESTY.

The majority of the Blurb was just what my major complaint about new series (any new series) is about.

Sex, Sex, and more SEX. The CYLON 6 is a sexy vamp who uses her "wiles" (displayed in bed in livid color) to subjugate the hero(s) of the series.

This one goes straight into the "remove from contents of mind immediately" category of my brain. And immediately into the crapper.

[Jewel]

It seems Richard Hatch (Apollo) did try to get the series revived. In 1999 there was a movie called Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming, which he co-directed, co-wrote and was executive producer of. I have no idea how well it did and I can't say I remember seeing it advertised. As far as I can tell, he has nothing to do with this version, though he was interviewed for the special on SciFi (I think it was BG: Unplugged.).

Dirk Benedict (Starbuck) was also interviewed. They had him talking to the chick who will play "him" in the new BG, in a Starbucks coffee shop. He also gave her one of the stogies Starbuck used to smoke on the show. Both the Starbuck AND Boomer characters are now females in the new version of BG. Wrong choice I think. I think they should have kept them "as is".

There was also a series in 1980 called Galactica 1980 in which BG had finally reached Earth. The only characters I recognize on the list are Adama, Boomer and Tigh, played by the same people who played them in the original. I'm pretty sure Richard Hatch had nothing to do with this show.

As for the Cylons being humanoid, I think that's wrong too. And how come they don't include Athena, Cassiopeia and Sheba???

[theBlackman]

Originally posted by Jewel
And how come they don't include Athena, Cassiopeia and Sheba??? [/B]

Athena has a gig guiding hunting parties in the Sarenghetti, Cassiopeia is busy keeping her heavenly group from drifting apart, and Sheba got a job as a queen; in a drag club.

All three when interviewed about the new series, said even working for free was a better gig than the new BG.

[Jewel]

You mean the three original actresses were interviewed about possibly being in the new series? Hehehe! They wouldn't look as good next to the younger faces...especially if they were playing their "old" characters. :rolleyes:

[theBlackman]

Originally posted by Jewel
You mean the three original actresses were interviewed about possibly being in the new series? Hehehe! They wouldn't look as good next to the younger faces...especially if they were playing their "old" characters. :rolleyes:

JOKE. ATHENA is the Goddess of hunting. CASSIOPIEA is a STAR Cluster (constellation), and SHEBA was the Queen of a country of the same name. :D

[Jewel]

Just call me "Dense". :o

[John Carter]

Watching this new "BG" series now. Much better than expected. The CGI is good, looks a lot better.

Something that should be of interest to all the techhead/networking types here is the manner in which the Cylons achieved their suprise victory. The toasterheads achieved complete information warfare dominance throughout the entire networked system spectrum, result: hundreds of millions of notional humans turned to radioactive ash. Only the obsolete Galactica, equipped with non-networked systems not vulnerable to compromise, survives to fight another day.

As I consider the sad state of my networks at work, I am glad they are so unstable that we don't totally rely on them anyway.
It will be very bad if we do, someday.

There isn't any great display of thespian expertise in the show, but it is good enough. As with the first one, the individual performances are secondary to the overall transition from smug self-confidence of the humans to unbelieving shock and horror, then to the spectrum of aftermath reactions: grim determination to survive, self-sacrifice for the greater good, quivering self-serving selfishness, numb passivity in the face of doom.

Battlestar Galactica can be now and in the past has often been indifferent and sometimes ludricrous entertainment. It has always been to me, even as a kid, also a parable. The theme that most people associate with stories like this is the theme of determined resistance against the odds, fighting despite the seeming impossibility of success. The theme I associate it with is the tragic inability of humankind to learn from its past, the belief that such horrors that happen only to others, not to us. Wake-up calls don't last too long for us, it seems, so there is always another awakening into nightmare.

[CatSuit&Ponytail]

Originally posted by John Carter
...so there is always another awakening into nightmare.

So, I shouldn't ask how your day went dear? :o ;) :D

[fozzy]

I enjoyed what I saw last night. We will see what tonight has to bring. With all of the promo that the Sci Fi channel has done for this show I had assumed it was going to be an on going new series, I did not find out until yesterday that it is only a four hour pilot. I'll give it a chance as pretty much everthing else on T.V. at this point is crap anyway. After all what did I miss to watch? The Average Joe finale!:o

[Dad]

As a big sci-fi fan I enjoyed the new Battlestar Gal... show. The cylon ships was funny to see the head light thingy on them.

[Jewel]

Did anyone notice the "quietness" of space and the battles within? Very different from Star Trek, etc., battles.

[DaveJ]

In a fit of nostalgia I bought the original series boxset (the artwork version, not the one in the ugly helmet box thing).

Better than I remembered, despite the schmaltz and repetition of stock footage - which rendered most action sequences dull as all dullness.

But the chemistry between the cast was infectious, the premise engaging and the guest cast always interesting. Excellent picture and sound on the discs, too.

I realised that the series never properly aired over here, and the pilot episode had only ever been shown in truncated movie form. So it was a bit like seeing an extended Director's cut for me.

Shame that ABC rushed into production of the show a year earlier than Glen Larson would've liked, resulting in rushed scripts and cheap sets.


The new version has yet to air here in the UK (February on Sky Movies, I think) but looks suitably interesting.
I like the fact that Starbuck is now a woman. Cast a man in the part and he was only ever gonna be unfavourably compared to the inimitable Dirk Benedict. And I think as TV has changed over the last 25 years, its nice to see women given meatier roles unlike the background objects d' eyecandy of the original.

I think dismissing it out of hand because it had a woman being saucy in the teaser is a bit sloppy though. If thats all that one takes away from the ads for the show, it says more about the viewers' mind than it does the series intentions.