[WXM]

Hi everybody!

This is my first posting here. My only activity with any BSG bbs's was giving a vote on each of those two important polls a short while back on sci-fi (I heard of this whole issue via StarshipBuilder.com). I wrote a longer version of this letter to mail back then, but I kinda knew it wasn't ready then so I held off. Last weekend I heard the new call for mailing to Universal so I pulled it out again and rewrote/hacked out about 60% of it (it's still probably too long--oh well). Before I present it I'll say where I generally come from on the BSG remake: I am really disappointed with how this whole project has gone thus far. Making a new BSG with all that was in place... well, the project almost designed itself, and in a way to be a big success. Yet... well, you all know how it's evolved. It kind of reminds of ST:Voyager (though it's not the same situation). Logic of drama (and hence full success of the series) dictated something solid as far as the directions they needed to go to satisfy the audience (based on what *they themselves established*) yet they somehow missed the mark anyway and ended up with something that didn't deliver what it should have (to put it nicely). Really too bad.

There are more points I wanted to put in the letter about the BSG remake than those I stated, but as you know it's better to not send them a novel. Maybe I'll spew some of them later if some chatting is inspired by all this. Anyway, here's my letter:
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To Universal Studios by a non-fan (for the past 24 years anyway) of Battlestar Galactica -

Hi! This is a letter about the whole Battlestar Galactica remake issue though note that I am not in league with the fans you have apparently been hearing of/from for a while. I have actually not watched the show at all since it first aired, though back then (when I was a kid) I did watch every episode and had fun doing so, as I did with almost all science fiction films and TV shows back then. Up to the point of writing and sending out this letter I have never communicated with the BSG fan base. Also, I am not a friend, relative, etc. of anyone who will gain in some way by your studio (or whomever) doing what I recommend below. I am just a generic sci-fi TV series/film fan and a model builder, and it was through my looking at a sci-fi modeling web site that I came across this whole issue, one which prompted me to write this letter to you (the first of this kind I have written).

To throw in my two cents, I personally am attracted to the idea of a project that uses the old cast (and a couple of shots of the old, original model, which the owner apparently would be willing to allow). To me, that route has much more potential to be interesting and entertaining than another pure remake ala Lost in Space (the movie), The Vanishing, The Haunting, Gone In 60 seconds, Car 54, Invaders From Mars, etc., etc., etc. I know it's not fair to judge a project before it is finished, but with the track record of pure remakes (you surely know I could have made the above list much longer) you can surely understand why I am, as are many others, reluctant to get enthusiastic over a pure remake piece. I would have to hear from a couple of my very picky friends that this pure remake BSG was fantastic before I would consider giving it a chance myself. On the other hand, the idea of having Richard Hatch and others original characters and elements has great appeal to both me and others I've talked to about this whole thing, and I would be greatly interested in seeing something that not only had a real sense of cashing in on the nostalgia factor, but was an update at the same time. It is a shame that you don't see the value of this approach. I believe you're throwing away elements that could give this update project an edge over the myriad other "updates" done since the late 70's. Isn't it the high point of a remake the cameo by one of the original actors? Well, you could have that tenfold with your Battlestar Galactica project if you used all that is seemingly available to you. Most remakes don't have such an opportunity. I would think that you would want to do something to make your project stand out from the crowd in a positive way. I guess I am here to try to let you see that the interest of someone who is not one of a handful of hardcore Battlestar Galactica fans was piqued by the earlier production ideas.

The fact that Richard Hatch has done so much on his own for this franchise after its demise...: he was just an actor on a show that got cancelled after one season, and he could have easily left it behind as so many other actors do, but he instead stayed with it, went on to write novels and apparently made a trailer that generated a lot of buzz (I never saw this, but you probably know more than a bit about it already). That is admirable, and all that alone would make me really interested in checking out a project involving him. Again, I'm not a relative of the guy, I've never met him, have no real desire to meet him. I would just like to have a sci-fi show/film series to look forward to watching as I've basically given up on Star Trek and Star Wars (I was a huge fan of both before they lost their heart years ago--I pitched to Paramount for ST:Voyager but I don't watch Enterprise and thought ST:Nemesis was too soul-less to want to view more than once). I guess it's a matter of heart to me. Richard Hatch has proven that he cares about Battlestar Galatica, and knowing that some level of heart is behind a project is a bit of a lure to me. And I can't help but feel that I'm far from alone on this.

I guess that sums up what I wanted to say. I hope this was of some interest to you. Thanks for listening and good luck to you and your projects.

- Will M.