Olmos transports from 'Family 'to 'Battlestar Galactica'

Pittsburgh Post Gazette ^ | April 29, 2003 | Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV Editor

[RayBob]

The first season of PBS's "American Family," in which Edward James Olmos plays the conservative patriarch of a Hispanic Los Angeles family, comes out on DVD today.

But it's his role as another patriarch that's bound to get TV viewers in their 30s and 40s talking. Olmos is filming Sci Fi Channel's miniseries remake of the late '70s TV show "Battlestar Galactica." Olmos takes over the role of Commander Adama, originally played by the late Lorne Greene.

[HamiltonJay]

B5 was always presented and visualized as 5 year arc...the 5th season was less "action" than the previous 4, but it did a good job showing the aftermath and rebirth that needed to occur.

I rank B5 as probably the single greatest Sci Fi to ever get produced and aired. Not every episode was supurb, but as a package, nothing else comes close.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

And add my name to the 'Bring back Farscape' list.

Did you watch the "Series Finale"?

The last thing on screen after Arin and John were "disintegrated" was..."To Be Continued".

What's up with that?

[discostu]

It wasn't an action series, it was a stupid series. The Hulk was an action series, Baa Baa Blacksheep was an action series. SAAB was dreck. Unix didn't like it, none of the critics liked it, lots of people didn't like it, that's why nobody watched it, that's why it got canceled.

[Lil'freeper]

What's up with that?

Hedging against Tremors' predictable demise???

[Lil'freeper]

Make that guaranteed demise.

[Paul C. Jesup]

The Hulk was a super-hero series you idiot.

By the way, Ender's Game is a ripoff of Starship Troopers.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

That's why there were three of them.

Yes, I remember. I also remember it was almost always the third one that got the UFO. That's kind of pushing it.

[discostu]

Maybe SciFi is planning on doing it as TV movies. It worked pretty well for Alien Nation.

[discostu]

Super-heroes are an action sub-genre you flaming moron (done with the insults? I'd rather keep this conversation above the level of the schoolyard but if you insist I will fight fire with fire).

At least when Card ripped of Troopers he didn't make it stupid. SAAB was a long series of poorly done cliches masquerading as innovatice sci-fi. It was part of a long series of proof that Chris Carter was a one hit wonder.

[Lil'freeper]

that's why nobody watched it, that's why it got canceled.

IIRC, while it is true that the ratings were low (as they usually are for sci fi,) the two main writers were also heavily involved with the X-Files and decided to drop SAAB as they felt they were getting stretched too thin.

It had a few good points that I would have liked to see develop but every person I know with some military background absolutely hated it.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Super-heroes are an action sub-genre you flaming moron (done with the insults? I'd rather keep this conversation above the level of the schoolyard but if you insist I will fight fire with fire).

No really considering the Fox Animated Batman series was more of a drama/action series.

And you are crazy for wanting to start a flame war.

At least when Card ripped of Troopers he didn't make it stupid. SAAB was a long series of poorly done cliches masquerading as innovatice sci-fi. It was part of a long series of proof that Chris Carter was a one hit wonder.

Let me guess, you hated the Matrix and Star Wars also.

[Question_Assumptions]

B5 was always presented and visualized as 5 year arc...the 5th season was less "action" than the previous 4, but it did a good job showing the aftermath and rebirth that needed to occur.

B5's arc was always a little fluid, though, and JMS didn't know if he was going to get that 5th season (remember that the final episode was shot at the end of the 4th season, which is why it has Ivanova) -- so he finished telling the main story arc in the 4th Season. The 5th season was interesting but I would hate to see another 4 or 5 seasons of lingering "aftermath" and "rebirth" like the last season.

I rank B5 as probably the single greatest Sci Fi to ever get produced and aired. Not every episode was supurb, but as a package, nothing else comes close

If you take when it was made into account, the original Star Trek series does. So does Twilight Zone, if you count it. But Babylon 5 is certainly the best of the newer science fiction series. And it is a credit to JMS's skill as a writer that, as an atheist and fairly liberal guy, he was able to write convincing religious people and conservatives and had 3-D characters all around.

I think that Firefly could have been a pretty good series with some more support and time. Farscape would have been better, I think, without the body fluids and gratuitous T&A. I'm also curious what Space Rangers could have looked like given more time. But there isn't much you could change about Babylon 5 to make it better (OK, I could live without the blatantly pro-union episode with the "Rush Act", named after Rush Limbaugh).

[Question_Assumptions]

Yes, I remember. I also remember it was almost always the third one that got the UFO. That's kind of pushing it.

You can only siphon away so many taxpayer dollars into a black project like a moonbase without the taxpayers getting suspicious.

[Lee'sGhost]

The movie was OK -- not great -- but OK. I was referring to the TV show.

[Question_Assumptions]

The problem with Space Above and Beyond was that they didn't know if they wanted their Marines to be pilots or ground pounders -- so they chose both. Ugh. No one is going to send pilot in as ground forces. If they had made them some sort of special ops force instead of misfits, it might have made a little more sense. Then again, Hollywood seems to think that misfits are the cream of the military since most military action movies are about misfits.

[discostu]

The super hero genre changed in the mid 80s with Batman Returns and The Watchmen. Suddenly authors realized that costumed vigilantes are inherrently insane. The genre changed. At the time of The Hulk though it was action pure and simple, and to some extent it's starting to come back to that (turns out that really only Miller and Moore can do the dark hero comic well and even they started losing their touch when they started making some money at it).

You're the one that threw the first insult. Don't talk to me about starting flame wars. As I said I'd rather keep things above the schoolyard, but when you decide your best retort is calling me an idiot we all know that YOU know you have no point and must resort to flames.

I like Star Wars it was fun and the plot made some sense, bad Empire rebels and a sexy princess while generic is at least internally consistent. I hated the Matrix because the story is stupid, at the point when Neo finds out the world he's in is imaginary, that the real world completely sucks ass, and that he is basically a god in the imaginary world he's stuck in but he decides to fight against it anyway the movie becomes incredibly stupid. Temporary suspension of disbelief is gone at that point as I'm thinking "you can't win and no sane person would want to anyway, use your god powers to become Hefner and be done with it". It's still fun to look at, the special effects are amazing, but it (and probably its sequels) is a movie to watch with the sound turned off and music on the stereo, as there really is nothing intelligent said in movie. Now if you want a really good movie in the same category as Matrix only with a remotely intelligent plot try out Dark City, that is a "the world isn't real" movie that actually takes the time to make some sense, the effects aren't as good but you won't be wondering why the characters are fighting it.

[Lee'sGhost]

S:A&B Yes! A show driven by characters, conflict, human struggle. For once TV got it right. Special effects only to carry the setting, not for their own sake. And it only lasted one season . . .

[Question_Assumptions]

The problem with the Matrix was that the whole idea of human bodies as a power source. If you want to use living tissue to generate power, any number of bacteria or lower animals would do. I find the movie enjoyable simply by deciding that Morpheus doesn't know what he's talking about and that there is a better reason for the humans' captivity. There have been so many complaints about that part of the story that I suspect we will get a better reason in the sequels.

[dvwjr]

There was a Sci-Fi series way back around the 60's which I really liked. It starred Roy Thinnes and was called "The Invaders" The neatest thing was when he would kill one of the aliens, their bodies would burn up which was explained as having something to do with their souls going back to their home planet.

I remembered "The Invaders" also, and that got me watching the SciFi channel three year series starting in 1998 by the name of "First Wave". The evil aliens, when killed would dissolve and "burn up" just like an updated "Invaders" alien death. Just with modern CGI tech. The "First Wave" was the name given to the alien scouts/infiltrators, the Second Wave was the invasion, and the Third Wave was the final subjugation/elimination of mankind. But the Second Wave/Invasion will only come if the First Wave is successful...

Here is the information on the show: First Wave Finale. It is now in syndication on SciFi as afternoon filler. I guess that most of its viewers were young enough not to recognize it as idea recycling from "The Invaders" in some ways. It did however have a great opening/credits segment.

The narration from the opening credits of each episode:

"In 1564 Nostradamus predicted the destruction of Earth in three terrifying waves. The first wave is here. My name is Cade Foster. These are my journals. They killed my wife and framed me for the murder. Now I run, but I don't hide. With the prophecies of Nostradamus as my guide I seek them. I hunt them. I will stop the first wave."

- Cade Foster

Here is some of the relevant details about the show, it was alright...

Show Description: Originally Aired 1998 - 2001

Number of Seasons: 3

Stars: Sebastian Spence as Cade Foster
Rob LaBelle as Crazy Eddie
Dana Brooks as Colonel Garce
Roger R. Cross as Joshua
Traci Elizabeth Lords as Jordan Radcliffe

Description:

Created by Chris Brancato with Francis Ford Coppola and Larry Sugar as Executive Producers. Reformed thief Cade Foster discovers that aliens are among us in the form of genetic clones, intent on enslaving the population. To assess the human potential to fight back, they gather data from 117 test subjects. When Foster remembers the tests conducted on him, the aliens frame him for his wife's murder. Pursued by police, aliens, and mysterious government agents, Foster discovers the lost quatrains of Nostradamus. The quatrains tell of three waves which will destroy the planet, unless a "twice blessed man" can stop them. Aided by quirky cyber-journalist - Crazy Eddie, Foster investigates strange occurrences which have ties to Nostradamus' quatrains, hoping to find what he needs to forestall the aliens' plans.

Source: First Wave - Google cache

dvwjr

[discostu]

That's one of the big problems. It also suffered from a poorly designed universe, one episode the enemy was on Mars the next everything was many solar systems away, nobody seemed to be able to construct an arc for the war. Finally there was a clear attempt to work an anti-war message into it which really didn't make sense given the back plot (how do you project a war where humans are defending themselves from an invading species they never even heard of before they attacked as a "bad war"). Overall a very poorly done TV show that had a lot of potential but not the right people to bring it out.