peter noble
October 27th, 2003, 12:13 PM
Galacticon has come and gone has as the release of the complete series on DVD, so what pray tell happens now?
Well as I see it either the show falls into obscurity or we work to keep it alive, as we’ve done these many years.
I prefer the latter option.
In this life, one rarely gets something for nothing, and keeping interest in the show is never going to be easy, There have been no new episodes for 24 years, and in the U.S. its appearance on your TV screens doesn’t even rate use of the word sporadic, but people remember the show.
Galactica fandom is like the rag-tag fleet itself, spread over the surface of this planet, sometimes in the most unexpected places!
Galactica fandom’s lack of cohesion has always been its Achilles heel, but now that’s got to change, it must change, if we’re still going to be discussing the show, in a year or 25 years from now.
There are Galactica/Galactica-related websites all over the internet, yet do they ever cooperate with each other in safeguarding the show? No!
There are all of these little electronic empires with their respective kings and queens, lords and ladies of all they survey, but if they don’t unite, try fresh ideas and let go of their pride, they will soon be monarchs without any subjects.
In my three years on the internet, the names of the fans who have dropped from Galactica fandom’s scanners are innumerable, and you know what, I mourn the loss of every one, because they believed in the dream of the show returning, believed in its message and the actors who played their heroes and the men and women who made their adventures spring to celluloid life week after week (except when pre-empted).
There still out there somewhere, it’s our job to bring them back into the fold, because with them we are stronger.
As a fandom we must take back our show. Over the years we have attached ourselves to people who were in a position to bring it back, but before these people ever appeared or re-appeared, the show was already ours, it was ours the minute it left the air.
Everything we must do to continue that story left unfinished 24 years ago, must first serve us, before it serves someone else, in the end we are the ones who pay the money and feel the joy or the pain.
Money. In the end that is lowest common denominator, cold hard cash, the thing that sorts the men from the boys. They don’t call it show business for nothing.
We can sign all the petitions and write all the letters we want, but in the end Mr Studio Executive is always going to say: “Show me the money!” Or more precisely: “Show me how much money I can make without hardly spending any!”
Right now Battlestar Galactica fans, and the nameless faceless who remember the show, are showing the bean counters of the Black Tower how much money their property and future franchise can make.
It must not stop, it can’t stop, it’s up to everyone of us to promote this DVD release, tell your friends, if you’re feeling generous buy ‘em a set for Christmas, or buy them the movie version if you’re strapped for cash.
Every BSG website should have on their front page an ad for the set and a link to where you can buy them from!
It doesn’t stop there either, there’s a console game coming out that features two of the original stars and the original ship and designs from the at the moment aborted Tom DeSanto version of the show. There’s a behind the scenes book, a new set of trading cards, a company (Factory X) that has the licence to manufacture high end merchandise.
The BSG websites should be promoting these products and even more importantly we should be buying them!
Mr Studio Executive is going to be going over the figures that these products generate, and you know the one thing he likes most of all in the world is making money. So it is in the realm of possibility that he can come down from the mountain and say: “You have done well my faithful consumers, would you pay us more of your hard-earned green to watch what you’ve all been shouting about for so long?”
Galactica fans everywhere would shout a resounding: “Yes!” And there would be dancing in the streets and small children would have smiles on their faces and they would all be a little poorer but they would not resent it.
That’s the dream given form, I still believe in it, after watching the show on DVD it all came back to me, all the reasons why I’ve loved Battlestar Galactica for 25 years, and I’d do almost anything within reason to expedite the dream.
The question is: Are you all still up for it? After 25 years of being told your opinion doesn’t matter, are you still willing to fight for what you believe in?
I hope your answer is “Yes!”
Well as I see it either the show falls into obscurity or we work to keep it alive, as we’ve done these many years.
I prefer the latter option.
In this life, one rarely gets something for nothing, and keeping interest in the show is never going to be easy, There have been no new episodes for 24 years, and in the U.S. its appearance on your TV screens doesn’t even rate use of the word sporadic, but people remember the show.
Galactica fandom is like the rag-tag fleet itself, spread over the surface of this planet, sometimes in the most unexpected places!
Galactica fandom’s lack of cohesion has always been its Achilles heel, but now that’s got to change, it must change, if we’re still going to be discussing the show, in a year or 25 years from now.
There are Galactica/Galactica-related websites all over the internet, yet do they ever cooperate with each other in safeguarding the show? No!
There are all of these little electronic empires with their respective kings and queens, lords and ladies of all they survey, but if they don’t unite, try fresh ideas and let go of their pride, they will soon be monarchs without any subjects.
In my three years on the internet, the names of the fans who have dropped from Galactica fandom’s scanners are innumerable, and you know what, I mourn the loss of every one, because they believed in the dream of the show returning, believed in its message and the actors who played their heroes and the men and women who made their adventures spring to celluloid life week after week (except when pre-empted).
There still out there somewhere, it’s our job to bring them back into the fold, because with them we are stronger.
As a fandom we must take back our show. Over the years we have attached ourselves to people who were in a position to bring it back, but before these people ever appeared or re-appeared, the show was already ours, it was ours the minute it left the air.
Everything we must do to continue that story left unfinished 24 years ago, must first serve us, before it serves someone else, in the end we are the ones who pay the money and feel the joy or the pain.
Money. In the end that is lowest common denominator, cold hard cash, the thing that sorts the men from the boys. They don’t call it show business for nothing.
We can sign all the petitions and write all the letters we want, but in the end Mr Studio Executive is always going to say: “Show me the money!” Or more precisely: “Show me how much money I can make without hardly spending any!”
Right now Battlestar Galactica fans, and the nameless faceless who remember the show, are showing the bean counters of the Black Tower how much money their property and future franchise can make.
It must not stop, it can’t stop, it’s up to everyone of us to promote this DVD release, tell your friends, if you’re feeling generous buy ‘em a set for Christmas, or buy them the movie version if you’re strapped for cash.
Every BSG website should have on their front page an ad for the set and a link to where you can buy them from!
It doesn’t stop there either, there’s a console game coming out that features two of the original stars and the original ship and designs from the at the moment aborted Tom DeSanto version of the show. There’s a behind the scenes book, a new set of trading cards, a company (Factory X) that has the licence to manufacture high end merchandise.
The BSG websites should be promoting these products and even more importantly we should be buying them!
Mr Studio Executive is going to be going over the figures that these products generate, and you know the one thing he likes most of all in the world is making money. So it is in the realm of possibility that he can come down from the mountain and say: “You have done well my faithful consumers, would you pay us more of your hard-earned green to watch what you’ve all been shouting about for so long?”
Galactica fans everywhere would shout a resounding: “Yes!” And there would be dancing in the streets and small children would have smiles on their faces and they would all be a little poorer but they would not resent it.
That’s the dream given form, I still believe in it, after watching the show on DVD it all came back to me, all the reasons why I’ve loved Battlestar Galactica for 25 years, and I’d do almost anything within reason to expedite the dream.
The question is: Are you all still up for it? After 25 years of being told your opinion doesn’t matter, are you still willing to fight for what you believe in?
I hope your answer is “Yes!”