«

<< Gave the
action sequences a documentary feel, and did a lot to hide the seams between
CG and live action. >>

Made the ships look like an episode of Ultraman to me... but I liked the rest
of the show.

I still say, please let it be done at a slower pace and a larger budget than
having to crank out the eps for a weekly program. I think the reason what they
did worked so well is that that is as far as they figured it would go... the
end is obviously set up for continuation but I think they should take it the
route of the various Star Trek series and keep it to movies/mini series and put
more time and effort into less over-all production just to appease a few people
who need a fix weekly.

There were many concepts which demonstrated that the people writing have
allowed progress and evolution for something I thought was as stagnant as could
be... the series of my childhood has grown up into an enjoyable engagement for
my adult fan tastes and I would hate to see it get rushed and thinned out now
that they have my attention.

"Wade365" <> wrote in message
news:...

> I still say, please let it be done at a slower pace and a larger budget
than
> having to crank out the eps for a weekly program.

I'd be surprised if Edward James Olmos would commit to a weekly cable
series. But I've been surprised before. Or he could make only occasional
appearances, like Martin Sheen was originally going to do on "The West
Wing."

Whatever, I can't believe they're *not* planning a series, even if they knew
going in they might have to retool Adama's role. Now that the show did well
in the ratings -- and improved significantly the second night, which means a
lot -- and now that they have all the CG modeling done and almost all the
parts cast with young and relatively unknown actors.

Maybe Col. Tigh can be the week-by-week "command presence."

RichC

Since Sci-Fi is owned by Universal, hence all the Universal properties being
developed into series like a new "Quantum Leap" and the failed "Tremors: The
Series," I think Universal and Sci-Fi will want to give BG a chance if only for
the fact that it is in their best interests to run shows developed in house
that they own than to keep shelling out money to other studios like MGM to make
Stargate: SG-1 and the upcoming spin-off Stargate: Atlantis.

I like Stargate, but lately it seems that is the only new show Sci-Fi has that
is worth watching and so far season 7 has not engaged me like the previous
seasons.

I think part of the reason that Farscape was suddenly cancelled has a lot to do
with the whole developing projects in-house that they own. Just like many
studios aspire to be a "Disney" in terms of animation, I think every studio
would love to have a franchise like Paramount's Star Trek. Sure Enterprise is
not going to get the 7 year run like the previous shows, but give it a few
years or even a decade and they will hire fresh new writers with new ideas and
Trek will be back on TV.

Universal has potential franchise with Galactica. The least they should do is
if they are unsure, produce a second miniseries to air by next holiday season
and then base the decision to go to series on whether or not ratings and
reaction improves. I personally am a sci-fi fan and proud of it and I would
love too see the new Galactica go to series and if I could afford it, I'd want
to let Richard Hatch develop his "Second Coming" feature as sequel to the
original series to keep all BG fans happy.

Mark
GENRE ONLINE.NET: The Web Resource For Home Video Entertainment & More
http://www.genreonline.net
Mark A. Rivera - Writer/Reviewer/Editor/Webmaster

Mark Spatny <> wrote:

> And as long as this is off topic, I'd like to pose the
> following question: Why did so many fans complain about
> the changes made to Starbuck, but not the changes made
> to Boomer? And I'm not just talking about the race/sex
> change with Boomer, but that other thing too.
>
> As far as I can tell, there are only three possible reasons:
>
> 1) Starbuck was a lead, Boomer supporting.
> 2) Starbuck was a "man's man", and therefore it was more
> annoying to see a character with that name portrayed by
> a woman.
> 3) Its a race thing and people didn't care what happened
> to the black guy. I HOPE it's not this reason, but I have
> to wonder about it.
>
> See, the thing about it is, I find the change to Boomer
> MORE dramatic and outrageous than the change to Starbuck,
> for the reasons revealed in the last scene. That's WAY
> more of rewrite of the original characters than what they
> did to Starbuck. So why all the anger over Starbuck?

It seems to me that your Reason #2 is the primary one. Most
people I've talked to (including my girlfriend) seem to feel
that the "ladies' man" bit was such an inherent part of what
made the character work, that its omission (absent a decision
to make Starback Mark II a lesbian, of course) makes the
character decidedly *not* Starbuck.

However, I suspect that your Reason #1 is more likely to
be why those who are upset about the sex change to Starbuck
aren't as upset about the same being done to Boomer. Boomer
just doesn't have the "fan base" that Starbuck does.

For what it's worth, I didn't like the new mini at all. It
was a noble try, but ultimately didn't hold together. While
admittedly a fan of the original series -- more out of a
feeling of nostalgia than that I thought it especially good
-- I wasn't the least bit put off the new series by the
changes from the original. Unlike most fans, I had absolutely
no problem with the change of Starbuck from male to female.

There were only two changes from the original that *did*
bother me. The first was the seeming destruction of the
"best friends" relationship between Apollo and Starbuck.
The second was the "bleaching" of the cast.

Well, OK, there was also the absence of Athena, but since
it wouldn't have been Maren Jensen anyway...

-- jayembee

Rich Clark, says...

> I'd be surprised if Edward James Olmos would commit to a weekly cable
> series.

I wouldn't be surprised at all. He made the commitment for the PBS
series "American Family", and I'm sure Galactica will have a bigger
budget and audience.

<< I'd be surprised if Edward James Olmos would commit to a weekly cable
> series. >>

I'd be suprised if he wouldn't. Same goes for Scott Bakula doing Trek, like
he's busy? It's not like he's Colin Ferrel with his mug in every damned movie
poster these days, y'know.

"Mark Spatny" <> wrote in message
news: k.net...
> Rich Clark, says...
>
> > I'd be surprised if Edward James Olmos would commit to a weekly cable
> > series.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised at all. He made the commitment for the PBS
> series "American Family", and I'm sure Galactica will have a bigger
> budget and audience.

I hope you're right. His participation, and Ronald Moore's, were my main
incentives for watching the show. But the man has a distinguished career
that's mostly on a different sort of trajectory. The fact that he did the
mini is a good sign.

RichC

On 11 Dec 2003 15:28:05 GMT, ospam (Chris4V) wrote:

>Anyone else like this TV movie? Better then I thought it would be.
>
>this would be a good DVD release.
>
>
>Hope they make it a series after all.

I was elated when I heard the news that the Sci-Fi channel was bringing
the BSG series back. When I heard they were going to make changes, I
decided to keep an open mind and watch it before I passed judgement.
After finally watching the new mini-series, I can say this about it. In and of
itself it's ok but it's definitely nothing to write home about. It's about as
average as the rest of the garbage the studios are putting on television
right now but that's not the reason I don't like the series.

These are the reasons I don't like the new series:

Universal completely abandoned the fans of the original series. Just stop
and think about this. It was the fan club that kept BSG interest alive by
putting on conventions all over the world for the past twenty years. It was
the fan club that petitioned the studio to put the original series out on dvd.
And it was the fan club that petitioned the studio to bring back the series
where the story would continue with the same cast and characters 20
years after the original series went off the air.

What did the studio do? To their credit, they put out the dvd of the original
series but they completely screwed the fans when they made the new mini-
series. If it wasn't for the fan club's begging for them to bring back the series,
it would never have been made. It was the fan club's interest in seeing the
characters again that alerted the studio to the fact that they would be wise
to bring the series out of mothballs. Yet when they did, they effectively told
the fans to screw off by completely changing the characters and the arc of
the story. They could have easily created new characters but instead they
slapped the fans in the face with the completely butchered story.

It wouldn't have killed them to create all new characters but instead they
bastardized everything that was good about the characters that the fans
enjoyed when the original series was on TV.

The two biggest mistakes the studio made were:

1) changing the character of Apollo and his relationship with his father
2) making Starbuck a female and changing the friendship with Apollo .

The new Apollo is a whining little maggot who needs a royal ass-kicking.
He's not a character worth rooting for... he's just a punk who has a chip
on his shoulder and an attitude. Completely opposite of the original Apollo.

Making Starbuck was a royal screw-up too. Were this a new character
with a different name, I would have no problem with it. But making Starbuck
female completely changes the arc of the character. How? In the originals
series, Apollo and Starbuck were best friends from childhood up through the
military. They shared a deep platonic friendship that is not possible when you
make one of the characters a woman. Now exists the sexual element to deal
with which exists with any friendship between men and women and thus
destroys the original arc of the story.

The studio also screwed up by changing all of the other characters too.
Adama is no longer the noble leader trying to lead his people to safety.
Now he is a worn down man with deep issues and tons of emotional
baggage with his son that makes him not worth liking or rooting for.

Then there's the changing of Boomer to a woman. This again destroys
the platonic friendship element between Boomer, Starbuck & Apollo. At
least they made her Asian and not white. They shoulda left her black.

Add to that all of the soap-opera-esque treatments of the story and it
makes for a thoroughly unenjoyable viewing. Take the complete lack of
military discipline in the story. The way the characters act is completely
unbelievable by any rule of measure possible. If people in the military of
the real world acted in the manner of the characters in the new BSG,
there would be no military at all due to the infighting. It's impossible for
a military to maintain any semblance of duty and loyalty when lower
ranked soldiers speak and treat their superiors in such a manner.

I must point out that the one character I came to like and root for was
Baltar. In the original series he was not developed much and was made
out to be the personification of evil incarnate. This time, the writers did
a wonderful job by recreating Baltar as a man misled by good intentions,
only to find out too late that he was betrayed by the cylons. I felt a true
sympathy for his character in the new series. It's most unfortunate that I
cannot say the same for the rest of the characters who are forgettable
as well as unwatchable.

I give credit where credit is due. The special effects in the new series are
awesome. I like what they did with the battlestar as well as with the smaller
ships and the cylons. I don't necessarily care for the humanoid cylons but I
can live with that change. I liked the way most of it was filmed too except
for some of the zoom shots which I found to be very annoying to the eye.

However, great special effects do not a good story make. The story is as
poorly written, if not worse than, the original series with plot loopholes large
enough to fly a 777 through. The characters have been so drastically
changed that they are completely unlikable and pathetic, leaving no one
to root for except for Baltar. The arc of the story is more like a daytime soap
than anything else, with character development severely lacking. All the
characters are, more or less, worthless assholes.

Thus, even though the mini-series has high production value and is some
what better than I expected, I will not buy it on dvd nor will I watch any
series based on BSG they might put out. Should they decide to cater to the
true fans who put so much effort into getting them to bring the series back
the way the fans really wanted, I'll definitely jump on board but for now, I'll
sit this one out and stick with the original series I bought on dvd.

Universal had a chance to do things right and make a series that would
have taken the millions of fans across the world on a wonderful journey
spanning the galaxy. Instead, they've grabbed the fans by the throat and
force fed a load of unpallatable garbage down their throats leaving them
wishing for the old days when BSG was good.

But alas, my opinion, as well as all the fans who petitioned Universal to
bring back the series, means absolutely nothing. TPTB will do whatever
they want and cater to a new generation of fans at the expense of the
old generation. I feel that Universal missed the opportunity to create a
grand series that would have had serious theatrical potential but instead
fell upon the generic formulas they so frequently use for their shows.

What a pity...

Then again, that's just my 2 cents,

muscleman

"Riffraff" <I'> wrote in message
news:...

> I was elated when I heard the news that the Sci-Fi channel was bringing
> the BSG series back.

You apparently misunderstood. A remake is not a revival.

> When I heard they were going to make changes, I
> decided to keep an open mind and watch it before I passed judgement.

Clearly not, since you had apparently already decided that your standard for
judgement would consist entirely of comparing the remake to the original.
That's your right, of course, but don't pretend you're being somehow
objective.

> After finally watching the new mini-series, I can say this about it. In
and of
> itself it's ok but it's definitely nothing to write home about. It's about
as
> average as the rest of the garbage the studios are putting on television
> right now but that's not the reason I don't like the series.
>
> These are the reasons I don't like the new series:

[snip list of offended-fandom arguments]

Again, it's your right to feel the way you feel. But I think you give the
fans far too much credit for the existence of the remake, and then compound
that error by entending it to include the thesis that since the fans deserve
the credit, they also deserve to have the new version be exactly what they
said they wanted. As if there was actual unanimity among the fans anyway,
and as if a few thousand fans could somehow predict what several million
casual TV viewers would tune in to see (which was the studio's agenda, and
rightly so).

Personally, although I enjoyed the original when it was aired, and I'm a fan
of the genre, I don't think the series has aged well at all. I have no
interest in seeing any of the surviving cast (although a cameo might be
fun). And I applaud Ronald D. Moore for taking what was actually interesting
and sustainable about the original premise -- the struggle for species
survival, the mysterious mythology, the implacable foe -- and building the
foundation for a modern series on it.

The problem with the original series was that its creators didn't really
care about or know anything about science fiction as a genre. They were
trying to make adventure TV. It got stupid, and bad, real fast. It deserved
to fail. The remake has the same potential that the original series
squandered. It would have been a huge mistake to burden it with the failures
of the original.

RichC

"Chris4V" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Anyone else like this TV movie? Better then I thought it would be.
>
> this would be a good DVD release.
>
>
> Hope they make it a series after all.
>

I hope they don't waste time and money with DVDs (did Spielberg write this
junk, with all the character
and story-line changes)! BTW, when did the networks start classifying a
little 2 episode extended made for television movie as a "mini-series"? I
thought most mini-series were at least 4 to 6 episodes long running for a
full week or more. I guess they advertised this flop as a grandiose
mini-series thinking it would draw more viewers. I do have to say the show
is a little bit better than SciFi's current cornerstone programs - you know
the fabulously stellar programs like Scare Tactics, the shows hosted by
Bryan Gumbel or someone that keep dredging up ufo sightings, Roswell and
Area 51, all the killer insect/critter made for television movies, etc. I
bet Heraldo Rivera is ticked off that Gumbel has moved in on his schlock TV
programming turf.

srt