Posted on 10/17/2004 2:26:25 PM PDT by GOP Jedi
Gene Roddenberry had always used the original "Star Trek" to help produce commentary on social issues of the time like the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the like. It's something that has been done for many years with other science fiction writers both before and after Roddenberry as well ... but it's something that has been mostly absent from most science-fiction of today.
That could change, however, with the new "Battlestar Galactica" series set to debut this week on United Kingdom's Sky One, and in January in the United States.
"For those of us who take our sci-fi with a pinch of salt ... there are far more interesting things going on here," executive producer Ronald D. Moore recently told the Sunday Times. "There is great safety in genre and, at a time when the American media stands accused of soft-peddliung news and hard-selling patriotism, 'Battlestar Galactica' is taking some risks. Conceptually, the best science-fiction has always been socially and politically relevant," Moore said. "The original 'Star Trek' was famed for that, as was 'The Twilight Zone.'"
And those risks mean tackling the issues that people are talking about today ... on this planet. But Moore said he was surprised that not only would he be able to take that route with "Battlestar Galactica," he was being encouraged by Sci-Fi Channel to do it.
"At script stage on the pilot, I got a note back from the top ofr the network supporting the references to Sept. 11, the 'war on terror' and Al Qaeda, and encouraging me to take it further," Moore said. "And I thought, 'The network's telling me to do this? I'd be more than happy not to have to hide my evil plan."
So, what social issues will be seen in the new series? How about a direct reference to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, where Iraqis were tortured and humiliated by U.S. troops. Moore said there will be an episode of "Galactica" where a Cylon is tortured and humiliated.
"Discussions on that one were about as charged as you're going to get," he said. "But there was never any suggestion that we shouldn't go near the issue."
Joining the cast since the miniseries last year is veteran actor Edward James Olmos, who plays the starring role of Cmdr. Lee Adama. Olmos not only is acting in the series, but he's directing as well. He said he's happy to be a part of the series, as long as it doesn't go into juvenile science-fiction.
"If the writing falls short, then Adama has to be killed immediately," Olmos said from the set. "The first three-eyed creature I see, I'm outta here."
While some purist fans are still against the reimagination of "Battlestar Galactica," Moore said he hopes many will find how a fresh set of eyes on the series could do a lot of good.
"Even as a kid watching the original, I knew there were things that didn't work," Moore said. "Glen Larson starts with this incredibly dark idea -- the genocide of an entire race by robots. Our heroes flee into the night, scrabbling for survival, hunting for this mythical place called Earth. That's a great premise, but it's ABC in 1978, and you ain't doing that every week. So one week, we're at the casino planet, the next, it's a ripoff of 'Shane,' then the 'Towering Inferno.' It becomes popcorn escapism."
So, how does Moore deal with some fans who remain angry with him about his work on "Galactica"? He said he isn't fazed at all.
"I got death threats when I killed Capt. Kirk in the Star Trek movie ('Star Trek: Generations'), and I survived, so none of this sweats me," Moore said. "The 'Battlestar Galactica' fans have a way to go before they impress me with how frightening they are."
The Farscape movie is on tonight. that's a pretty good show.
Battlestar Gallactica? I haven't seen that in yahrens.
I've been waiting for it for a LONG time now! I hope it garners enough support for a second life :-)
In the pilot they already did that, but this was before Abu Garib. For those who did not see the show. The Cylons in this show look like people and the purpose of the mistreatment was to determine if the prisoner was a Cylon and to extract information.
I don't mind oblique references to the events of today, but if they get too heavy handed it will get old quick. They will need to do this with a deft hand. I don't see a big danger in this Clintonian epoch. They can't spin Sci-Fi worse than the DNC spins the real world.
Just like the Old Twilight Zone, the viewer is free to be moved or not, influenced or not by what they see.
I tuned into the first part of the new pilot. After a while, I swiched to MNF. The announcers' swooning chatter about McNair/McNabb (I can't remember which) was more tolerable.
BTW, I saw the original when I was a kid.
As for Babylon 5, which was one of the finest series ever created, the producer J Michael Straczynski had a guiding principle.
No cute robots. No cute kids.
Sound advice. Galactica always posited Adama vs human peacenik appeasers. That is not the way people are. Didn't anyone want revenge ?
From youth to now, I took my scifi as entertainment. I like the mini skirt uniforms in Star Trek, the Sec Officer Yar in Next Gen (she can detain and beat me anytime), I like Seven of Nine in Voyager (she can assimilate me anytime), and the Vulcan in Enterprise can fix my back problem and insommia anytime. Yeah, Star Trek is definitely better. God bless Gene Rodenberry.
Doctor Who was often "light entertainment" as well as television sci fi. A lot of it was just well-loved character actors running to and fro in cramped sets and spouting entertaining dialogue. Some of the better episodes featured clever funky aliens and mind boggling mysteries and what not, like some of the better Twilight Zone episodes, and that's about as much as you can expect from television science fiction. But real science fiction would likely bore most people to death and doesn't have well-endowed women in tight clothing in every scene.
I have to admit--Dirk Benedict was the original Breck Girl. He puts Edwards mane to shame. ;)
Glen Larson's two sf shows of the time, Galactica and Buck Rogers, both warned against the dangers of laying down your arms to make peace with your enemy, though in Buck Rogers they managed to expose the truth and avoid disaster. Galactica was unabashedly pro-military and a harsh critic of appeasement (witness the times when the Council of Twelve wanted to end the war and stop the fighting, but then something would happen and Adama would be proven right). Galactica had a lot of good things to say about human freedom, values and faith. This new show just strikes me as cynical. I actually like Ronald Moore's work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he's mismatched with Battlestar Galactica.
Nope. It was mormonism. I was at Trekcon in Tulsa in June of this year and the actor who played Bojay was asked about it and said the show had a basis in momonism.
That hairy thing is disgusting!!
And I am NOT talking about Muffit!!
It's easy to confuse them though, since Mormons took a lot from Judaism (i.e. the twelve tribes, the Council of 70, etc.).
I've downloaded the new BG eps from the UK. I'm pleasently shocked: it's fantastic. It might literally be the best sci-fi show ever. Just shows that like JMS, Moore is a liberal who can still write well and treat conservatives with respect.
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