Battlestar Gallactica (2003)

[Mr_Vindictive]

I know there was a lengthy post about this last year but I know how some people hate dredging up old topics.  :)

I finally got around to catching the mini-series last night on NBC.  I'm really amazed at just how good it was.  I'm also surprised that SciFi was able to pull something this good off.  

I never really watched the original Battlestar, and mainly only remember it from a few reruns.  Was this version true to the original?  

It really shocked me, seeing how old Edward James Olmos is now.  I can't say I've really seen him in anything since Blade Runner, and he's almost unrecognizable now.  Still, he put in a solid performance througout.

It kept me entertained through it's entire 3 hour run time and I can't wait for the series to premier on SciFi. Anybody know when that'll be?

[nobody]

The season premeire will be Friday the 14th.

And it's not true to the original- the Internet is swimming with grievances about that very "problem"... but having never seen the original series myself, I thought the miniseries "changes" were good. I'll definitely be watching Friday night.

[trekgeezer]

I've seen episodes 1-9 from Sky One (don't ask how). This series is kick ass. Richard Hatch (Apollo from the original) guest stars in at least two eps and he was one of the miniseries greatest opponents, now he is all over the place singing its praises. It is good and SciFi has already ordered six scripts for the possible second season just from the ratings in the UK.

[Sugar_Nads]

The original will always be better no matter what they try to re-invent.

All the a-hole executives at Sci-Fi feel like being a "creative genious" and as a result we the fans get shafted. Pedestrian storylines, mediocre acting and sex,sex,sex. That's all it takes to get people to watch any show now days.

[trekgeezer]

You obviously haven't watched it .

[Sugar_Nads]

No Geezer, you're wrong on that one. ; )

I have watched it and it doesn't even slightly resemble the original.

So, just how is the newer version better?

[Flangepart]

Hummmmm....better?

Am i the only one who thinks they did a better job of capturing the gloom and depression of watching an apocolypse?
The nukeing of the planets, the slaughter of the Colonial Fleet, and the leaving behind of the Non-Jump cabable ships......they never dwelt on this in the original series.
And these days....i'd expect the series ends with the humans getting vaped at the end.
And human appearing cylons...oh, THATS original. Too cheap to have cool looking cylon warriors.....thought the " Eye thing " is still silly.

Now...who wants to bet they run into Blake's 7 ?

[Mr_Vindictive]

I do have to agree with Flange on the "Human Cylon" thing.  One would expect in our day and age that there would have been some sweet CGI cylons.  Sure there were some clyons but they were mainly too far away to discern exactly what they look like.

I am hoping that in the series, we will get to see some more of the real cylons.

[Ed]

As a kid, I loved the show, really did.  But I fully realize how cheesey it  was at times.  I also try not to automatically think stuff I saw when  I was a kid is automatically better than modern versions.  I LOVED the 1930's Flash Gordon for example, in my mind is was as cool as Star Wars. But back to the battlestar...
The new one was surpriingly well done.   It was different from the original, and they were lower  tech in areas I found surprising.  Sometimes, I felt they were being different just for the sake of not being like the original.  But I give it a good solid B+, I'd watch it again.
Ed

[JohnL]

>I am hoping that in the series, we will get to see some more of the real cylons.

Don't count on it. Most of the articles I've read have stressed that the problem of not being able to tell who's human and who isn't, will be at the core of the series.

[trekgeezer]

There are regular  Cylons in the series, but they are the grunts. Actually they are different  from the ones in the original (they're not chromed) and somewhat the same (the moving red eye and they seem to be quite easy to take out).  I don't know if they actually have an animatronic version, but the CG ones are really look menacing.

I 'll tell you this, once you watch the first few episodes you're going to be wondering what the cylons really are and what powers do they have. This is a very intense show



Post Edited (01-11-05 07:34)

[ulthar]

Well, I wanted to watch it Saturday night, but our local NBC affiliate, after advertising BG during the day, aired a tribute to Quincy Jones instead.

Still waiting to see the new BG.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Trek,

I gotta know, just how exactly did you obtain the episodes?

I'm pretty pysched about it.  I checked SciFi and it looks like they're airing the miniseries either tonight or tomorrow night.  I might have to get my wife to watch it this time.

Too bad I don't have Tivo.  :(

[trekgeezer]

My son and his friend at college (Computer Science majors) brought them to me on a DVD when I asked them to record an Enterprise episode for me right before Thanksgiving. They probably got them off Bit Torrent.

They were .mpg and .avi files and weren't the greatest quality, plus I had to watch them on my computer monitor. Sky One also puts the damned logo about a third of the way down screen which is really irritating.  So, I will be watching them again on the TV .

I have seen eps 1-8. The atmosphere is really dark, and the paranoia keeps building   over time. The original series had a sort of campy quality to it.  This one is definitely a drama, but has a bit of comedy occasionally usually at Baltar's expense.  

I like the reality bits, like the Vipers having reaction control thrusters so they handle like the Starfuries on Babylon 5.  

EJ Olmos may look a little old now, but  in quite a few scenes he is just wearing the muscle shirt  they have under their uniforms and that man has some arms on him. I saw a picture of him and Apollo with boxing gloves on in and ep I haven't seen and I don't think I'd like him hit me.  I really like the understated way  he acts in this .  

I think you will like it , especially since you're not tainted by watching the original as a child.

You can check out some pics from both show here BSG

[Scott]

About the Vipers. When I use to watch the original series as I was a big fan. I was always concerned about the lost of Vipers during battle and their chance of reaching their destination before the Cylons would eliminate them. How would an emergency armada of loose ships handle the production of more Vipers?



Post Edited (01-11-05 10:25)