Go Back   Colonial Fleets > BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DISCUSSION AREA > The Last Battlestar......Galactica!
Notices
The Last Battlestar......Galactica! For discussions about the ORIGINAL series
What Dreams May Come!

Reply

 
Thread Tools
Old December 7th, 2003, 10:11 AM   #1
peter noble
Strike Leader
 
peter noble's Avatar
 
Colonial Fan ForceCo-Founder
Colonial Fan Force
COMMAND INSIGNIACo-Owner
TombsofKobol.com

Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Derby, England
Posts: 2,560

Default A battle for 'Galactica's' soul

http://www.sunspot.net/entertainment...al-artslife-tv

Miniseries updates ’70s sci-fi show, and that has some folks fuming

By John Coffren Sun Staff

Originally published December 7, 2003

You'd swear the collective groan from diehard fans of the original Battlestar Galactica could be heard in the next galaxy.

But Ronald D. Moore, writer/producer of a new Battlestar Galactica miniseries for the Sci Fi Channel (9 p.m. tomorrow and Tuesday), isn't listening.

"There are certainly hardcore fans of Galactica [1978-79] that are just never going to give it a chance," said Moore of his sequel, which keeps the basic plot but turns the cast of characters on its head. "I have sympathy for the fact that they're upset but, I also know they're a very, very small audience."

The new miniseries goes for more adult fare, including sex, most notably between human and robot, and violence.

Moore knew certain aspects of his script, assailed on the Internet, would "raise hackles." Chief among them was switching the gender of cigar-smoking, womanizing, ace fighter pilot Starbuck (now played by Katee Sackhoff) and making the Cylons human constructs.

Bad-guy Baltar (James Callis), who sold humanity out in the original, becomes a misunderstood genius duped by a dish who's really a dishwasher - Number Six, a Cylon robot spy played by Victoria's Secret model Tricia Helfer. Adama (Edward James Olmos) is a commander in name only, taking orders from Colonial President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell).

"[Fans of the original] only sort of got wind of something, got upset about it, when it was all ready done and delivered," Moore said. "I don't think anybody can do a continuation and pick up right where they left off 25 years later and get the ratings."

Glen A. Larson, creator of the original Galactica, who has his own big-screen update in the works, agrees - to a point.


'The core story'

"I feel vindicated that they went to the core story and that is what we started with. It's great to see something have legs after all this time," said Larson, credited in the remake (pseudonymously as Christopher Eric James) as a consulting producer and writer even though he wasn't consulted and didn't write a word. An arbitrator saw enough similarities between Moore's work and Larson's Saga of a Star World - the original pilot - to merit the credit.

Larson's strongest criticism is that the miniseries is so contemporary: "It sort of drove me crazy to have so much dialogue that is earthbound and colloquialisms."

Fans on one Web site (www.cprompt.ca/Boycott) were so upset they were driven to call for a boycott - of advertisers of Sci-Fi Channel, Vivendi Universal, USA Networks - and posted 1,683 signatures, as of last Wednesday night, from supportive fans.

Still, there is common ground between Moore's update and the beloved original.

"I think the best part [of the original] was a very dark premise: the destruction of an entire civilization, and the heroes of the story are the survivors who escape in a ragtag fleet with the Galactica to protect them from the wolves in pursuit into the night," Moore said. "Then they kind of quickly put that behind them and it's off to the casino planet."

As for the original series' demise, Moore noted that it operated in a television era that hadn't seen a prime-time science-fiction program since Star Trek (1966-1969), and added that the motion picture Star Wars (1977) was the only other genre example.

"They felt they had to deliver Star Wars-type fighters fighting Cylons and they had to do sort of Planet of Star Trek shows," Moore said. "They just sort of ran astray and never quite figured out what the show was suppose to be."

Larson also pointed to the $1 million-plus budget of each original Galactica episode. ABC had two science-fiction properties at the time. The other, Mork and Mindy (1978-1982), was cheaper to produce, so Galactica was jettisoned.


Identifiable characters

For the new miniseries, Moore wanted his version to move away from that larger-than-life, hyper-reality and instead have very identifiable characters and settings more truthful to the spirit of our times.

"Science fiction, at its best, is a way of examining and dealing with contemporary social issues," Moore said. "It isn't just about escapism and fantasy."

Take 9/11. Here, the issue of terrorism is addressed through the robotic Cylons, who no longer lumber around in gleaming armor with "Speak-and-Spell" voices, but can appear as humanoid agents that live among us to better commit sneak attacks.

The new Cylons have found religion and believe they are the chosen ones who, in order to do God's work, must kill us.

And the aftermath of the big Cylon attack, glossed over in the original, Moore said, will be dealt with in a very realistic way. "If you think about the reality of what would happen in this situation - 50,000 people are going to survive out of a population of tens of billions of people - there's going to be some really ugly decisions that have to be made."

The Sci Fi Channel will decide, based on ratings, if the miniseries becomes the pilot of a new series that could be launched next summer.

Larson said he hopes the miniseries brings new fans up to speed in time for his movie, which he hopes to have in theaters in the next two years. Despite passing the miniseries script off as "dealer's choice," Larson found it difficult to watch his television show done by others.

"I said to someone, it'd be like going and finding your daughter lap-dancing someplace," he said. "She can look beautiful, but you might wish that the circumstances were slightly different."

They will be in the new film, he said. "You can well count on our efforts being a lot more [true] to that which has generated all this interest and kept it alive all these many years. My interest is in a little more science, and I don't mean science-fiction."
__________________
"Battlestar Galactica will never happen again the way that it was." – Laurette Spang
peter noble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old December 7th, 2003, 10:14 AM   #2
peter noble
Strike Leader
 
peter noble's Avatar
 
Colonial Fan ForceCo-Founder
Colonial Fan Force
COMMAND INSIGNIACo-Owner
TombsofKobol.com

Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Derby, England
Posts: 2,560

Default

Quote:
My interest is in a little more science, and I don't mean science-fiction.
Huh?

What the frack did Glen mean by that?

Peter
__________________
"Battlestar Galactica will never happen again the way that it was." – Laurette Spang
peter noble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old December 7th, 2003, 11:45 AM   #3
dec5
Warrior
 
dec5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 194

Default :lol

Lets just say Glen aint no Gene Roddenberry......or George Lucas for that matter...

He never really seemed to know BGfans......heh...Larson seemed to never really have good relations with his former stars either.......well, maybe with just Dirk.....

What did Glen mean by they??


Is Glen is going to include the mini series cast???...Does he have some sort of understanding with Moore..??

Last edited by dec5; December 7th, 2003 at 12:01 PM..
dec5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old December 7th, 2003, 02:15 PM   #4
MattmanClassic
Shuttle Pilot
 
MattmanClassic's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 15

Default

Quote:
Lets just say Glen aint no Gene Roddenberry......or George Lucas for that matter...
Roddenberry wasn't very open to the fans in reality. He always believed in giving them what they "need" instead of what they "want". Maybe that's why he became an "executive consultant" after Star Trek - The Motion Picture. He just wasn't tapping into the fans' wishes.

And of course Lucas...well...since he got his "god-complex" as of late, he's been much less receptive to the little people. For example, take the whole deal with his refusal to release the original Star Wars trilogy to DVD.

Oh, and then there's Rick Berman, the guy in charge of the Trek universe. Fans wanted George Takei in Excelsior, but instead were handed Enterprise.

I'm not sure if anyone in charge of these franchises really cares what the masses think. All they care about is milking these classics for all they're worth and patting themselves on the back for their ingenuity. Don't get me wrong, I still have hope, but it fades everytime I see an ad for the mini.

Okay, depression time's over. Time to whip out the DVD series set again.
__________________
"Don't worry, Bruce. It's an optical illusion. Those shorts make him look taller than he really is."
MattmanClassic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old December 7th, 2003, 03:21 PM   #5
dec5
Warrior
 
dec5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 194

Default Yeah...

It is a business....But at least Gene fought to have the whole original cast.....

Lucas for all his micro management tendencies, he does keep to his main storyline...even though his casting is a bit disappointing as well as his "kidifying" the franchise.


The Rick thing was tragic......Excelsior would have been ground breaking with Sulu....


Even now with Enterprise falling in the ratings, they think giving T'pol, a new hair do, and more emotion (sex), is going to help......NOT.

dec5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old December 7th, 2003, 05:43 PM   #6
originalsinner
Guest
 
originalsinner's Avatar
 
Posts: n/a

Default They?

Does Glen mean the Original cast? or the mini series cast and the Original cast? Or hot babes like in the mini?
  Reply With Quote
Old December 8th, 2003, 07:16 PM   #7
Belloby
Bad Email Address
 
Belloby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Posts: 169

Default

Oh boy, this just got a whole lot more complicated.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Star Trek fandom.
Belloby is offline   Reply With Quote

Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Question about the Battle of Cimtar Apothis The Last Battlestar......Galactica! 40 April 25th, 2013 08:54 PM
Which Viper Pilot Had The Most Kills PART II: BG Battle Statistics ViperTech The Last Battlestar......Galactica! 9 January 29th, 2004 12:15 PM
You know you've watched to much battle star galactica when....... Faust The Last Battlestar......Galactica! 17 December 10th, 2003 08:00 PM
Battle of the Network Stars.... Titon The Last Battlestar......Galactica! 2 July 26th, 2003 09:22 PM
A Q&A with ‘showless’ Joss Whedon dvo47p Miscellaneous Entertainment 1 May 18th, 2003 09:56 AM




So sez our Muffit!!!

For fans of the Classic Battlestar Galactica series



COPYRIGHT
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:59 PM. Contact the Fleet - Colonial Fleets - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top
Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.11, Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content and Graphics ©2000-Present Colonial Fleets
The Colonial Fleets Forums are run by Battlestar Galactica fans, paid for by Battlestar Galactica fans, for the enjoyment of fellow Battlestar Galactica fans.



©2000-2008 Colonial Fleets