The Scifi Guys like Battlestar Galactica

dvo47p · January 2nd, 2003, 07:09 PM

Other than the Pulse, The Scifi Guys are keeping Galactica in the news on a regular basis, check 'em out @ http://www.scifiguys.com/index.jsp send them a less than 250 word note about Battlestar Galactica.

-- From: Dave
RE: A loyal fan of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Arlene - The reality of producing a new or recreated television series based on material that is 20 years out of date is not a cheap prospect. While the audience that watched the program 20 years ago are guaranteed (in a certain percentage) to tune in, the new version of any program has to also draw in a new audience. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is a viable property to come back as a series, but MCA/UNIVERSAL cannot take a big risk here and create a series with all the original elements. There is no guarantee that all the original fans would tune in. MCA HOME VIDEO ( a division of Universal) tried releasing the series on VHS a number of years ago. The net result was that roughly half the series was released on video tape before they cancelled the rest due to poor sales. To ask the studio to bring back the original cast, original composers, pick up the original storylines, and so on... when the fans wouldn't support video tape sales, is asking an awful lot. Richard Hatch is having great success with his series of novels. Novels do not have to generate the same kinds of sales, as an episode of a TV series. Richard Hatch can sell 100,000 copies of his book and be a huge success. If a TV series gets 100,000 viewers, its not going to be viewed as a huge success, and will be quickly cancelled.
Right now, Ronald D. Moore is the best shot that this series has of seeing the light of day. Its a sure bet that the fans could be better spending their time trying to get behind this version of the Galactica story instead of creating a lot of friction. You should keep in mind that the recent recreation of LOST IN SPACE has been cancelled and will not be produced. Enough noise and you will get this production shut down. The likelihood of it getting picked back up again after that is close to ZERO.
Its time for the fans to unite with this production instead of complaining about something that hasn't been put on film yet. Ronald D. Moore produced some of the finest episodes of Next Gen. Give the man a break and give him some room.

-- From: Taylor
[RE: Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) told the ONION A. V. CLUB that his character was originally suppose to be a girl named Leslie Crusher.]
The word "Onion" in this makes me suspicious. What I've always heard is that Wesley Crusher was always Gene WESLEY Roddenberry's alter ego in TNG.

-- From: Betsy
I just want to say I love to read your newsletters.
They are informative without being critical.
Now that Firefly is history, maybe they could find the money to do Farscape. I really liked that along with Stargate on Friday nights.I wish someone would pick up Farscape, there is so much more that could be done with it. As far as this year, I do love 24, John Doe and Stargate. Enterprise is good too with Scott Bakula. He is good as a first Starship captain. I always was fond of Battlestar Galactica. Didn't care for the remake a few years ago. I would love to see Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict reprise their roles in a new one.

-- From: Paul
I am shocked and in disbelief. This is too far from the original premise to be good. My grievances are many. Starbuck is and always will be a man. They decided to make the character a female for reasons beyond me. The family element was another thing that I liked about the original. Apollo looked up to his father in the same way that I did. Now they are adversaries. Unbelievable. Today if the characters hate one another it sells. What does that say about us as a society? Not much.

michaelfaries · January 2nd, 2003, 07:30 PM

dvo47p,

Where did the quote about the BG videos come from? I know a Universal contact who says something TOTALLY different. (It wasn't lackluster sales.) Some of the comments are interesting, but miss key points including what's actually happening with the production/script, what Universal itself is doing right now, what fans want, etc.

I'm also fascinated by what they're covering -- and not covering -- about BG. There are two BG script reviews out there: One from a fan, one from a non-fan. You'd think they might want to cover that.

Michael
:colwar:

thomas7g · January 2nd, 2003, 07:47 PM

I disagree with the main comment.

I would rather watch reruns than see this production be made as is. Its really bad. Even if it wasn't called Galactica I would think it was really bad. Even if this had nothing to do with the old show I would still say this is really bad. True I haven't seen a finished product, but when you put crap in your stew, chances are it won't turn out gourmet.

Better the revival dies. Than see this finished. And I'm not even a hard core revivalist. I would settle for a remake. I would love to see a new galactica. But this is crap.

dah66 · January 2nd, 2003, 08:10 PM

If video sales were bad, why would they be completing a DVD boxed set? If something doesn't sell, most companies move on to something that does.

dvo47p · January 2nd, 2003, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by michaelfaries
dvo47p,
Where did the quote about the BG videos come from? I know a Universal contact who says something TOTALLY different. (It wasn't lackluster sales.) Some of the comments are interesting, but miss key points including what's actually happening with the production/script, what Universal itself is doing right now, what fans want, etc.

I'm also fascinated by what they're covering -- and not covering -- about BG. There are two BG script reviews out there: One from a fan, one from a non-fan. You'd think they might want to cover that.
Michael:colwar:

Looks like Dave makes up his facts, that must be why he is a Ron D. Moore fan.

Quote:

http://www.scifiguys.com/index.jsp
-- From: Dave
RE: A loyal fan of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
MCA HOME VIDEO ( a division of Universal) tried releasing the series on VHS a number of years ago. The net result was that roughly half the series was released on video tape before they cancelled the rest due to poor sales. To ask the studio to bring back the original cast, original composers, pick up the original storylines, and so on... when the fans wouldn't support video tape sales, is asking an awful lot.

This one sliped through, I have sent The Scifi Guys an email about this guys bogus information. I did not want to edit out a pro Ron Moore posts, I would feel like a censor.

Battlestar Galactica videos are fast movers on E-Bay, plus we have all seen those 'WARM' VCDs & Telemovies.

dvo47p · January 13th, 2003, 06:25 PM

-- From: John

http://us.f803.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Sho...Inbox#section6

[Re: Dave A loyal fan of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?]

Has posted inaccurate information regarding Battlestar Galactica on video. Universal Studios has never released all episodes of Battlestar Galactica to video. Universal did combine different episodes into very poor quality Tele-movies, these sold out.

Amazon.com has all eight VHS 46 minute videos listed from the original series, (24* episodes of TOS) all of them are out of stock. The 2 hour 5 minute opening TV movie is still available on DVD. All episodes of Battlestar Galactica are scheduled to be released this summer on DVD, according to Universal Studios and accessingram.com. (*including the television movies as three episodes)

Ever since the poor reviews of Ron D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica script by Edward Havens http://www.filmjerk.com/archives/021...galactica.html and Michael Faries http://www.battlestargalactica.com/f...02b-plain.html Battlestar Galactica BBOARDS have been flooded with Trek fans that know very little about Battlestar Galactica.

Fans of Battlestar Galactica have been active for years regarding releasing TOS on DVD, I wonder if "Dave A loyal fan of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" is aware of this? http://www.petitiononline.com/bsg2001b/petition.html

This guy's best seller is Battlestar Galactica: http://www.cybershire.com/~thill/page700.htm, he was tossed of Ebay and is one step ahead of the MPAA.

dvo47p · January 13th, 2003, 07:52 PM

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-- From: Arvid

[[-- From: Taylor

[RE: Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) told the ONION A. V. CLUB that his character was originally suppose to be a girl named Leslie Crusher.]

The word "Onion" in this makes me suspicious. What I've always heard is that Wesley Crusher was always Gene WESLEY Roddenberry's alter ego in TNG.]]

Despite being reported by the 'Onion,' it is 100% true that originally Dr. Crusher's kid was to be 'Leslie.' If you look up any decent "Making of TNG," it will tell you the same thing. As for why Leslie became Wesley, my girlfriend, a follow trekker, told me that Roddenberry felt that the female coming-of-age-story had not really been told (It hasn't been), but the suits overruled Roddenberry's choice.

Taylor may be right that little Crusher was something of an alternate ego for the Great Bird. The difference in gender doesn't rule out that possibility because may writers put a little something of themselves in there characters.

-- From: Taylor

"The West Wing" could qualify as Sci-Fi, since it IS about an alternate reality presidency.

-- From: Annie

I always thought that Ronald Moore had a brain. You know...something that went further than using sex to sell science fiction. Last I heard he was a good writer with some real talent.

Somewhere there seems to be a notion that if you don't have a woman in skimpy clothes cavorting around the universe that you can't produce a science fiction series. Might I toss out Babylon 5? Stargate SG-1? Heck...they managed to do it without the doing the 7 of 9 outfits or having the hero sleep with every woman in the universe.

If this is what we are going to get from the new Battlestar Galactica...then maybe the series needs to stay in the past as a fond memory. I certainly won't be watching.

-- From: Barb

Dave wrote: [[ Right now, Ronald D. Moore is the best shot that this series has of seeing the light of day. Its a sure bet that the fans could be better spending their time trying to get behind this version of the Galactica story instead of creating a lot of friction. Enough noise and you will get this production shut down. The likelihood of it getting picked back up again after that is close to ZERO.]]

Well, Dave, I certainly hope the loyal fans of the *original* Battlestar Galactica *do* make enough noise to get this production shut down. I mean, come on! They're making Starbuck a *girl* for crying out loud! And making Starbuck and Apollo just nicknames now? This isn't Battlestar Galactica anymore. This is now original science fiction. If this is what other producers/writers have in mind for this series, I don't *want* it picked up.

-- From: John

[Re: Dave A loyal fan of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?]

Has posted inaccurate information regarding Battlestar Galactica on video. Universal Studios has never released all episodes of Battlestar Galactica to video. Universal did combine different episodes into very poor quality Tele-movies, these sold out.

Amazon.com has all eight VHS 46 minute videos listed from the original series, (24* episodes of TOS) all of them are out of stock. The 2 hour 5 minute opening TV movie is still available on DVD. All episodes of Battlestar Galactica are scheduled to be released this summer on DVD, according to Universal Studios and accessingram.com. (*including the television movies as three episodes)

Ever since the poor reviews of Ron D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica script by Edward Havens http://www.filmjerk.com/archives/021...galactica.html and Michael Faries http://www.battlestargalactica.com/f...02b-plain.html Battlestar Galactica BBOARDS have been flooded with Trek fans that know very little about Battlestar Galactica.

Fans of Battlestar Galactica have been active for years regarding releasing TOS on DVD, I wonder if "Dave A loyal fan of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA" is aware of this? http://www.petitiononline.com/bsg2001b/petition.html

This guy's best seller is Battlestar Galactica: http://www.cybershire.com/~thill/page700.htm, he was tossed of Ebay and is one step ahead of the MPAA.

What do you think? Your opinion matters (a little). Let us know at Sci Fi Guys.