Lt. Starbuck … Lost In Castration.

Big Hollywood ^ | January 19, 2009 | Dirk Benedict

[EveningStar]

Once upon a time, in what used to be a far away land called Hollywood (but is now a state of mind and everywhere), a young actor was handed a script and asked to bring to life a character called Starbuck. I am that actor. The script was called “Battlestar Galactica.”

Fortunately, I was young, my imagination fertile and adrenal glands strong, because bringing Starbuck to life was over the dead imaginations of a lot of Network Executives...

Witness the “re-imagined” “Battlestar Galactica,” bleak, miserable, despairing, angry and confused. Which is to say, it reflects in microcosm the complete change in the politics and morality of today’s world, as opposed to the world of yesterday. The world of Lorne Greene (Adama), Fred Astaire (Starbuck’s Poppa) and Dirk Benedict (Starbuck). I would guess Lorne is glad he’s in that Big Bonanza in the sky and well out of it. Starbuck, alas, has not been so lucky. He’s not been left to pass quietly into that trivial world of cancelled TV characters...

[Borges]

The 1991 Robin Hood you're referring to was written by a couple of British guys out to deconstruct their own mythology. Ever see ‘Robin and Marian’ Sean Connery playing revisionist, aging Robin Hood and every bit of heroism sucked out of his character. It's a terrific film.

[RobRoy]

I haven’t had TV since 1997 but was a big fan of the original series back in the day. When my daughter offered to loan me her DVD copy of the first season of the new series I thought it would be great. It was at first. I loved the special effects and there were some interesting story twists.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish it for two reaons.
1. The new “human like” cylons were, by the definition of human, actually human. They could even procreate with “real” humans. They were really all the equivalent of “manchurian candidates”. It also means the Cylons had developed the godlike capability of creating humans. Beyond the silly implications of this is the fact that if they really had done this, their entire strategy would have changed since they need only do to the human race what the Muslims are doing to europe.

2. Things happened way too slow. This one was the killer. I got the distinct impression I was being strung along so I’d stay until the next commercial. I hate being maniuplated.

Interestingly, a friend loaned me a copy of the entire Firefly series and I LOVED it. I own it now ahd have seen the whole thing several times. I also own Serenity and likewise have seen it several times. The stories are wonderful, engaging and the characters seem like “real” people. When the companion breaks down into sobbing tears in one episode, simply amazing...

[50sDad]

You are telling me they NEUTERED the Legendary Commander Cain? Glad I have missed the last three seasons.

[Antoninus]

Purchasing what? Any book/TV/movie at all? Any and all worthwhile culture? I’m supposed to not watch/buy something like say ‘Doctor Who’ because it’s made by the BBC?

Personally, I limit my TV viewing to almost nil. It is utterly unproductive time. In fact, the only thing I watch on any regular basis it a Korean series called, "The Great King Sejong"--a 100+ part historical drama which is vastly superior to anything on American television.

As for books, I don't buy anything from the large publishing houses at all, unless I hear first that the work is apolitical at least. In a recent survey, Publishing Trends discovered that nearly 90% of the people who work in big publishing are Obama supporters. Who do you think you're helping by buying their products?

One should be able to survive and enjoy life without an injection of leftist-inspired entertainment media on a regular basis. You may even find that your life improves...

[RobRoy]

>>LOL! Excellence article. There is no masculinity anymore. Have you noticed that the females in movies now days are taller than the males?<<

Yep, and in the real world, two middle aged guys could easily take on all five of them at once.

[edge10]

Well said.

Just ‘Say No’ to GINO. I’ll be so glad when it is off the air.

[50sDad]

Find books written before 1965 to get a perspective of the change for the bad.

My dad gave me the hgih school history book he used before he went to WWII. Christianity all through it, non-Western "civilizations" were clearly inferior, evil men were evil, not just misunderstood. Man, for that kind of clarity today!

[Antoninus]

Two words: Robin Hood.

That was a dreadful movie. But what do you expect from Kevin Costner? And let's not forget that Last of the Mohegans remake they did in the 1990s. They made Hawkeye into a "gone native", Fabio-looking dude.

[GOPsterinMA]

Good points...Hope Ms. Maren is doing fine...she was a hottie for sure!

[GonzoGOP]

The turned the character from a “By the Book” commander into a Psyco DBFH with a homicidal streek who kills more colonials then cylons. Hot actress though.

[Borges]

If you take that point of view you cannot consume any media at all, especially American films, thereby skipping a major and formative part of American culture.

[Toki]

I’ve done this same thing with watching B5 through. It truly speaks to what could happen now, but more of insidious and deadly ways (and with spaceships :D).

I”m actually quite excited to have done this because of the fact I’m taking a Scifi and Politics to fill up my last hours to graduate.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The last semester or so always seems to include “interesting” courses. I did an independant study in philosophy that somehow linked sun bathing, weightlifting, and the collected works of Yukio Mishima.

Now, 28 years later I’m pale, out of shape, and realize he wrote trash.

[dilvish]

The commander of the Pegasus was pretty nuts in the first series too. Remember the last we see him and Pegasus he’s needlessly taking on two base stations, gun ho to the point of suicidal.

A lot of stuff in the new series has it’s seeds in the original, and the lack of sanity in the Pegasus commander is one of them.

[Antoninus]

If you take that point of view you cannot consume any media at all, especially American films, thereby skipping a major and formative part of American culture.

Not in the least bit true. I consume plenty of media--most of it is truly 'underground', as in, books published by small presses, small-time musicians, independent films, etc.

If a "major and formative" portion of American culture is putrid propaganda, I refuse to subject myself (and especially my children) to it's negative effects. And I especially refuse to give the enemy who hates me any more of my money. Those days are over.

[Borges]

The 1992 ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ was great. Michael Mann took a stodgy relic of a novel and turned it into a piece of expressionist art.

[Borges]

Even independently financed films are generally distributed by major Hollywood studios so you aren’t avoiding much.

[ItsForTheChildren]

What’s next... Mr T is recast as Mrs T?

That's Ms. T, you sexist jerk.

;-)

[dilvish]

My one problem with Last of the Mohicans was how not Michael Mann it was. Good movie, good story, well told, but Mann has a certain visual style that I really enjoy, admittedly it’s not possible for him to use that style in any movie that takes place before about 1950 maybe 1940 because it revolves around using hyper modern buildings with a particular look. He still found some amazing vistas, but a Michael Mann movie without those funky buildings just felt like it was missing something.

[Desron13]

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