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Old September 5th, 2019, 12:02 PM   #149
martok2112
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Default Re: Battlestar Galactica Movie News

While my views on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica have not changed (I still love that show as much as the original...difficult concept, I know), my views on Hollywood have changed a great deal over the years.

The two best movies I've seen in recent years have been Rogue One and Alita Battle Angel...

Otherwise, EVERYTHING now seems to be a remake or a reimagining....and unfortunately, for the most part, a remake or reimagining involves being "woke".... aka "politically correct", "feminazi", and full of things like "representation", "diversity", "inclusivity" and all those other Left wing buzzwords that have infested Tinsel Town for years. If someone writes a story that doesn't have enough blacks, Hispanics, or other so-designated "people of color", the story and its writer are considered racist. If a story or show does not have at least two openly gay people (who make it a point each episode or movie to remind folks that they are gay) then there's not enough "representation" and the writer and the story is considered "homophobic", "transphobic", "gender binary", etc. If the story and its writer do not present a female lead who makes all the men in the show or movie look completely incompetent or dependent on the skillset of said "Whamen", the the story and its writer are considered "misogynistic", "anti-feminist", or are considered advocates of rape culture.

I did not see this in the reimagined Galactica....and some foolishly claim that IT was the start of the whole movement for all of the above. Sorry, but tis not the case. If it were, the show would be considered racist for taking a black man who was a strong supporting character in the original, and turning him into a white alcoholic in the reimagining. Neither the original, nor the reimagining can be accused of a lack of diversity or being misogynistic because both had multiple ethnicities and colors, and strong female characters....and very rarely in either case did women require rescuing by the men. The original series (at least, the pilot episode/movie) could not be accused of being gender binary or "transphobic" because they did have one species that was both male and female (leaning toward "identifying as female"). About the only thing that the original show could be "accused" of by the Social Justice Warriors (SJW's) of today is "lacking representation of people of "other sexual orientations"...so they would likely call the show "homophobic". Also, those same SJW's would likely accuse the reimagined series of "playing it safe" because gay representation came in the form of two fairly hot chicks (Admiral Cain and Gina) having a somewhat lesbian thing. (SJWs accuse Frank Herbert of being homophobic because he made the main bad guy, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who is homosexual, a fat, diseased, murderous sexual deviant.)


Ghostbusters 2016 bombed because it was a poorly written story, and featured an all-female GB team who were largely unattractive to look at, and the males were made to be incompetent or simply dick-ish..and the "story", if you can call it that, comes across more like some kind of prolonged improv.

Lots of folks are really pissed off at Disney Lucasfilm because of the direction that the sequel trilogy has taken. The only Star Wars movie that has had a male lead in any of the Disney offerings has been "Solo: A Star Wars Story", and people boycotted it because of their feelings toward The Last Jedi. While I enjoyed The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, my enjoyment was not without a lot of reservations. Those movies left me wanting, did not do true respect to the Legacy characters, and really just felt like footnotes as opposed to any kind of Episode in a ongoing saga.

I think the Story movies (Rogue One and Solo) far outstripped the sequel trilogy thus far, and Rogue One is my all time favorite Star Wars film. Why? Because it is a WAR movie. Yes, it has a very hot female lead, but she is not what people would call a "Mary Sue" (to use the fanfic vernacular).

Ok..enoof on that, let's get back to the point: I once felt that people who clung on to the past by exclusively, and with extreme prejudice, writing a lot of fanfic about the original versions of their beloved properties (Battlestar Galactica) whilst eschewing any other version that did not fall into lock step with the settings and motif of the original were indeed just butt-hurt fanboys, but that is because I had been told by both sides of the fandom (both the original hardcore fans and the prospective fans of the reimagined show--sight unseen) that I had to choose a side...that I was not allowed to like and/or support both shows. So, I chose a side.....MY side, and I dropped fandom like the bad habit it still is. I still like to read such fanfics, because indeed they are of very high quality. It's the self-righteous attitudes behind some of them that give them a bad flavor. Yes, I wrote the long-forgotten Battlestar Galactica: Dark Exodus, but I did not write it with any kind of "I DO THIS BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY BATTLESTAR GALACTICA"... I just wrote it because of my longer familiarity with the classic show. Same thing with when I do CG model builds.... I mostly stick with the original versions, because they are the ones I am most familiar with....not because of some "aversion" to the newer takes. (Although I do find the U.S.S. Discovery to be a very uninspired design for a Federation starship.)

Why do I say it is still a bad habit? Because, there are toxic asshats out there who spew the following: "What?! You liked Star Trek 2009?! You don't know felgercarb about Star Trek!" (which is a rich thing to say to someone who has loved Star Trek for forty-five out of his fifty years of life on this planet). Yes, I LOVED the Kelvin era movies, but I despise Star Trek Discovery which was SJW front-loaded from pre-production. "What?! You liked The Last Jedi?! You ain't no true Star Wars fan!" Sorry, but again, rich thing to say to someone who has loved Star Wars for most of his life. Also, the thing is, with some of these people, it does not matter if you tell them "I liked The Last Jedi, but......". All they hear are the first five words.... nothing afterward. They hear those first five words, all of the sudden they declare you an SJW, Disney shill! (Although, in the broader sense, they would be technically correct..because, again, I am NOT a fan of anything, anymore, because of people like THEM.

So, since 2003, thanks to the childish fan wars over Battlestar Galactica, I have had little to no reason to return to fandom, because the attitude is largely still the same. I still love those things (Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, StarGate, Harry Potter, etc...most things involved in pop-culture), I still love to talk with fans about our common love of these pop-cuture icons, I still obtain collectibles when I can, I still do fan anmations and CG model builds, I just am not a fan of those icons anymore. Being a fan has become a badge of dishonor in my eyes.

I do agree with a lot of fans about the way Hollywood is frakking up our favorite franchises, with diseased SJW infestation in the constantly dying creative process. Star Wars, Star Trek, GhostBusters, etc., have taken a nose dive because of SJW demands that have somehow been given overwhelmingly undue power and influence. Where I disagree with a lot of those fans is when they disallow for someone like myself, being possessed of independent thought, to like what I wish to like, even if I recognize the many flaws and pitfalls of the things they may despise. It's the whole "with us or against us" mentality that keeps me from wanting to even consider considering (sic) returning to the ranks of fandom. I stand apart (though occasionally allied) with fandom, much in the way Han Solo stood apart yet allied with the Rebellion. I still do not, to this day, believe that the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica was anything like the trash being put out today.
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Don't be a fan. Don't be a victim!-Martok2112
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