Sdoziernc, I just found your letter. You summed it up perfectly.
Last weekend, X2 opened to crowded movie houses worldwide. It ended up with a total three-day gross of close to $155 million, $85 million of it coming from movie-goers in this country.
This sci-fi/adventure film was written by the talented team of producer Tom DeSanto and producer/director Bryan Singer. It is based on the Marvel Comics' X-Men characters. Both Singer and DeSanto are huge fans of this comic series, and both have been hailed by both fans of the series and film critics for remaining faithful to the comic series ideas to draw their inspiration.
Two years ago, both men were planning the same treatment for the 1978-80 TV series Battlestar Galactica, which has a huge cult following to this day, similar to Star Trek. Both Singer and DeSanto were planning a continuation of the original ideas of the series, featuring some of the characters (notably Lt. Starbuck, the series' most popular) from the original show, and feature state-of-the-art special effects and sets for a television series production that were worthy of a theatrical feature.
But alas, it was not to be: when Bryan Singer left the production to focus his attention on the production of X2, the television network Fox (which had agreed to air a two-hour pilot produced by Singer/DeSanto) withdrew their support, leaving DeSanto with no network and no funding for the project. At this point, the president of the SCI FI Channel, Bonnie Hammer, stole the production rights out from underneath DeSanto and commissioned a Battlestar project of her own. DeSanto had sets built, actors hired and was just a few days from production. Hammer hired television writer Ronald D. Moore to write a "re-imagined" concept of the series, complete with foul language, sexual assaults, soap-opera elements and humanoid Cylons (the robotic bad guys of the original). This has outraged fans around the world, who had been hoping for a continuation of the original series, which is what Singer and DeSanto intended to do.
My point is this: There is a difference between what Universal Pictures could have had and now what they're going to get from this now-lost potential franchise. They could've had a lavishly produced, top-quality science-fiction series produced by two of the top filmmakers in the world, which honored the original series for which it was based, therefore bringing an established fanbase to it. Instead, they now have a cheap, violent, hokey, cheaply-produced soap opera written by a former disgruntled Star Trek writer (Moore), which was commissioned by a woman (Hammer) who knows absolutely nothing about science fiction or what makes it so special. She cancels the critically acclaimed Farscape to show rubbish like Tremors and Scare Tactics? A reality show on the Science Fiction network? Please ... how insulting.
If you get a chance to see X2 in the theatre, just watch the movie, the reactions of the fans in the movie theatre and keep track of how much money the movie grosses. Read the reviews as to why the movie is doing so well. Then say to yourself, "Wow, those guys (Singer/DeSanto) are really talented ... Universal could've had the same thing with Battlestar Galactica".
I, as a longtime Battlestar Galactica fan, will not watch the re-imagined Galactica when it airs in December on the SCI FI Channel because it is not Battlestar Galactica. It is another writer's work with the name Galactica slapped on it. I support any effort by Bryan Singer, Tom DeSanto, original series creator Glen Larson or even original series star Richard Hatch ("Apollo") to bring Galactica back with the original cast and original concepts of the show, updated for today's audiences with the same values that made it so special those many years ago.
Steven Dozier
sdoziernc@mchsi.com
New BG Letter at ScifiWeekly.com
