Is anyone watching Battlestar Galactica? (Hinting of 9-11??)Mega Vanity -sorry

Today | RandallFlagg

[RandallFlagg]

The first 2 segments are just SCREAMING at hints towards 911. I highly suggest folks watch it.

[Victoria_R]

I tried.

I gave up when "Starbuck" jogged past some guy who was dressed in a 2003 A.D. suit and tie that looked like he had stolen it out of Bill O'Reilly's closet and some people wandering around in 2003 A.D. polo shirts.

Based on the preview, which I found I could watch only if I turned the sound off, the costumes look like someone went out to Goodwill and bought the crappiest stuff they could find. Even the uniforms don't fit properly.

[mhking]

I thought it was a nice touch that the viper pilots were expecting cylon ships with cockpits.

The ships as Cylons themselves with the red eye going back and forth - smooth touch.

[mhking]

The original Galactica was three separate entities, the two and a half hour pilot movie, "Saga of a Star World" (which in the east was botched up in it's original 1978 airing by Jimmy Carter with Sadat and Begin signing their peace accord), the 24 episode "original series" of BG (which technically ran the last portion of the 77-78 season and the first half of the 78-79 season on ABC), and the incredibly dreadful (and incessantly forgetable) "Galactica 1980", which showed the refugees finding Earth. If you think the original series was bad, you hadn't seen how low things could sink until you saw this piece of drek.

[Junior]

I wrote the following review for the various lists I'm on:

Let me preface this by saying I am one of the biggest Battlestar Galactica fans to ever come along the pike. I started watching it from Day 1 in 1978 (I was 13 and in the eighth grade) and caught every episode. Over the years I've watched the series several more times. I even muddled through the execrable “Galactica 1980” (though I don’t consider it part of “canon”).

I approached the Science Fiction Channel’s current efforts with both anticipation and foreboding. Of late there has been a tendency for Hollywood to take a perfectly good idea from the past and completely trash it. I’d heard the hype — a female Starbuck; the Cylons weren’t robots but human-looking androids — hence my trepidation. However, I promised myself I would approach this as a stand-alone project.

As a stand-alone it almost works.

The person or persons writing the script have some familiarity with the original. They even gave one of the flight leaders the name “Tag,” an obscure reference to a pilot in the original series (“They got Bunker! They got Tag!”). A few bars from the original theme were played during the flyby at the museum dedication.

The writers did not throw away the robotic Cylons. A mock up of the original centurion was mounted in the museum that was the Galactica, and the Colonial representative in the opening scenes was looking at the specifications for the same model. The female android mentions the model still exists because it has its uses. The newer Cylons look a bit more like a cross between the killer robot in “Judge Dread” and the battle droids from Star Wars. They still have their red, scanning “eye.” The Cylon fighters are no longer manned (robotted?) but are themselves robotic — with the same scanning red eye.

There is some effort to even make the physics right, though it is still pretty much Hollywood space. The ships have directional thrusters (which show as little gas jets around the nose of the vessel). The spacecraft still maneuver like aircraft though, so I’m not sure why they even made the effort.

The biggest disappointment was the Battlestar Galactica itself. The original ship had a gorgeous, lumpy, “I mean business” look. The current version, from what I could see of it (my eyes aren’t what they used to be and the ship is on the screen for only a few seconds at a time) looks more like a flying prophylactic (“ribbed, for her pleasure”). It is much smoother (except for the aforementioned ribs) and appears to have large, clear windows covering much of its surface. I could be wrong, but I need to get a longer, better look at the ship.

The interior is also a bit of a disappointment. The original ship looked like a warship inside; pipes and conduits lined the bulkheads and it had a definite military feel to it. The new version goes more Star Trek-y in its interior decoration, with a nod to the military (the old-style Navy squawk boxes mounted on the bulkheads were a nice touch). On the plus side, the writers have some experience with the Navy, as many of the orders given and jargon used by the crew rang truer to these old salty ears than some of the stuff I’ve heard pass for bridge chatter come out of Hollywood.

I’m not sure what to make of them turning the original character’s names into call signs. “Apollo” and “Starbuck” were, for me, those character’s names. They were memorable, too. I couldn’t tell you what the characters’ “real” names are in the newer version (though they were definitely American-sounding — I think Apollo’s was “Lee” and Adama’s first name is “William”). The female Starbuck also works to an extent. She’s definitely got the original’s carefree attitude, but this one has a chip on her shoulder a mile wide. The two-hour first episode had more sex in it than an episode of the Love Boat; the folks most likely to be watching this are people like me who began watching the original series when we were younger. We want action, dammit, not love scenes.

The female Starbuck also brings up another question: are they going to have a Cassiopeia character? This was my wife’s favorite character and one of the reasons she watched the new series with me. Of course, when I explained that a “Publican” (Cassiopeia’s profession in the original series) appeared to have been the equivalent of a call girl, she became noticeably upset…

The pacing of the first episode was slow, and the regular sex play didn’t help matters any. The special effects are definitely above the SciFi Channel’s regular fare, though not up to ILM standards. The producers appear to have taken a leaf from Babylon 5’s book and invested in decent CGI for most of the space scenes.

I’ll give the first episode a B overall. Hopefully things will pick up.

[PogySailor]

Well, I thought I wouldn't like it, but I do. A couple of things that I liked:

The Cylons aren't interested in a negotiated truce. They want to destroy humanity completely. The "liberals" on the show have yet to figure that out. We shall see how this plays out.

Better character development. Some insight into the people rather than just set piece characters such as "fighter jock".

Much better effects, but it is 2003. Sure the flight physics are still wrong but at least there is an attempt to make them more realistic.

A couple of things I didn't like (maybe a little picky):

Mixed up military ranks. Commander is a Naval rank, but in this show Captain Adama is junior to Commander Adama. Opposite of the real rank structure. Of course this could be because they are "aliens" afterall.

Baltar is somehow of duped into giving the Cylon "female" access to the defense systems just for a roll in the hay? Kinda weak IMHO.

Smoke trails from the missiles? I'd like to think they would use something besides chemical propellant.

And just where does the omni-direction lighting come from in deep space? Everything seemed to be evenly lit.

[Rebelbase]

I fell asleep before the first commercial.

[ChadGore]

[TexConfederate1861]

Now I can tell ya...I grew up on the old Star Trek, but if you have never watched "Next Generation" you are REALLY missing something. I enjoy BOTH for their own merits. Patrick Stewart is one hell of an actor.

[MarkL]

I watched for a few minutes until I saw they had Starbuck as a Woman.

Whenever I go into Starbucks, all I ever see behind the counter are women... What's the problem?

Ohhh... Sorry, never mind...

Mark

[RandallFlagg]

I remember wondering how Lew Ayres let himself get get cast in his role in the first BG, considering his famous WW2 pacifism.

He was a pacifist in the original as well. "The Cylons want peace as well," were a few of his last words before he was blown out of the stars by the Cylons.

That and, "What? No. It can't be?!"

[RogueIsland]

I watched for a few minutes until I saw they had Starbuck as a Woman.

Check out Dirk Benedict's hair in the original. Starbuck was always a woman.

[RogueIsland]

Only one Cylon has been seen so far and it is a blonde chick. Mean.

Umm... the first two Cylons shown are robotic types. The infiltration unit enters after they do.

[GreenLanternCorps]

9:20am and this thread is still going strong! This is why I love Free Republic!

[RogueIsland]

However when I saw they replaced Starbuck with a woman I lost all interest.

Too bad. She kicked a$$. Best casting decision in the film.

[Arkinsaw]

Umm... the first two Cylons shown are robotic types. The infiltration unit enters after they do.

I missed the first couple of minutes. Oops.

[Lee'sGhost]

"I watched for a few minutes until I saw they had Starbuck as a Woman."

"I refuse to watch it because of this."

Oh for Pete's sake, don't blow off a halfway decent Sci show because of that. You know, in its own way, such an attitude is its own political correctness. We're talking about an alien culture -- not Earthlings. You can debate all you want about whether women should be in combat and all that, but this is fiction -- you know, make believe. And let's be honest, she looks and acts more like a man than pretty little Apollo does.

It's not the best show, but it's not bad so far. I think tuning out may be your loss.

[jeffc]

I watched for a few minutes until I saw they had Starbuck as a Woman.

I saw that, too! Then she sucker punched a superior officer and swaggered off to the brig. Way too PC for my tastes. Why are all the women on TV butches and the "men" woosies? Don't they want guys to watch their shows?

[Lee'sGhost]

You like Farscape and you think BSG is cheesy? PUHLEEESE!
Farscape is like step above that old space show with the marionettes.

[Grampa Dave]

Get the Dish or Direct TV. There are all types of great deals re free installation and receivers with a one year contract.

Have your credit card billed monthly for no hassle. Also, there is no local tax like on cable. That just goes into the local liberal tax plundering pot to provide goodies for your local libs and their illegal alien slave population.

The only problem with the satellite systems is how good of a picture your old tv has. We keep waiting for our 14 year old tv to die to justify a new one.

Cable out here is all ways down due to a drunk hitting the telephone pole, bad weather or the cable company just shutting it down to install new cable or do something with a new development. The only time ours goes down is when our not 3 year old yet grandson pulls the id card out of the receiver, laughs and tries to run away with it.

[IGOTMINE]

Yep. When I saw that I thought about our Navy's infatuation with "netcentric" warfare.