Wow!

My thoughts? Well, I'll tell y'all one thing, I was VERY surprised. I usually have very little faith in remakes, and BSGINO was no exception. With that said, the remake was VERY good!

I'd swear, this show took more risks than other shows that I've seen in a LONG time and it was done right in this mini, thankfully.

I actually enjoyed every minute of it. Though, I will say this, #6 was the most god-awful character I have ever seen. Very VERY annoying! I'd swear, everytime I saw her I just wanted to shoot her!

But besides that, everything else was fine. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it's better than most other things out there. Will it replace the orginal series in my heart? Hell no! The new BSG may have been good, but it doesn't have the heart, soul, and charm of the original. And from the looks of it, that can't be changed.

My score for the remake:

9/10

[dec5]

But 11/10 for Grace Park(Boomer)....our new imperious leader...hee hee....

[malachi42]

I was pretty impressed too. I particularly liked the fact that the characters were not so much larger than life that they weren't human. I'm not comparing them TOS, but to TV in general. Most TV and Film feels like the characters have nothing whatsoever to do with real people. Waitresses wear Armani and live in 3 million daollar lofts, Police detectives in custom made suits, how am I supposed to relate to them, to believe in them and their story or care anything about them. It keeps me outside the story, at arms length from the characters. I think the mini was very succesful in placing us in the situation that we were watching. What would we do, how would we survive, how far would we be willing to go in order to survive? What would happen to our personal issues and personal lives in such extreme circumstances.
But I am a junkie for good character development. I don't care if it is The Crucible or Fraser, it is all about character. Good believable characters. Whether they be in fantasy or fiction, it is what makes good storytelling. The fact that there are some very heated debates going on at the SiFi board about 9/11 as a result of the mini means to me that the show has accomplished what I believe the role of good drama and literature is. To make people think and quesion.

[TomB]

I particularly liked the fact that the characters were not so much larger than life that they weren't human.

I both agree and disagree on this.

While I agree that the characters were accessible, I didn't find them particularly heroic. With this type of show I like to see the "good guys" doing heroic things. In the miniseries, Apollo did basically one thing that almost qualifies and that was shooting down the missiles targeting Colonial One. Starbuck had the best hero scene by defending and saving Apollo.

But the rest of the show was about making hard choices: Boomer only being able to take a few people on her raptor, Apollo and the President having to abandon the sublight ships, Tigh having to sacrifice crewmen to save the ship.

All of this, of course, is very realistic and pragmatic, but not very heroic.

I wanted to see at least a few instances where things that were seemingly impossible were acomplished. I wanted the heros to encounter the impossible and not accept that it is hopeless.

It's been a LONG time since I've seen the original series, but I think that is what sets it apart from the mini-series. Don't get me wrong, I loved the mini-series, cared about the characters etc. But I didn't get the feeling I got, for example, from Star Wars when Han and the Falcon showed up out of nowhere to cover Luke to destroy the Death Star.

I'm not interested in a soap opera examining the inner struggles of the crew. I want an action adventure with heros that save the day. Maybe not larger than life, but at least heros.

-Tom

[malachi42]

I understand your points Tom. I don't consider good drama to inherently be a"soap opera". It seems to me that most of the big Science fiction/fantasy shows ie. Star Trek, Star Wars. LOTR, all stick pretty closely to the thematic standards you have outlined about heroic acts and the heros who perform them. I actually can't think of many mainstrean shows of the genre that haven't stayed true to those themes. But I can't think of any shows that have dealt with the characters in SciFi/Fantasy in realistic ordinary human terms. People with faults and foibles, who face the same demons and challenges that most people do, and yet placed in extraordinary circumstances rise to the challenge. They don't become completely differnt people. They remain who they are which brings all of their issues to play in the circumstances. I find that a very novel and unusual approach to the genre. I have friends who have absolutely no interest in SciFi who watched the mini and really liked it. The more viewers who can overcome their aversion to SciFi and can learn that they can indeed relate to and enjoy the genre, the better the odds of all of us seeing more of it on our screens in the future.

[GalacticanCajun]

I too was surprised that I enjoyed the mini as SciFi. It was not TOS, but it was better SciFi than SciFi network has put out in a long time. Much better than, say Antibody.

[ViperAce]

My thoughts on this thread ...

I believe a lot can be said for the new term "ordinary heroes" ... as we have seen since 9/11 ... Police and Firefighters, who had not had heroic recognition in the public .. were suddenly thrust into the limelight ... how many spinoff copshows have we seen since 9/11??? LOL I believe this "new" idea in SciFi will go far ... whether it be BSG or something different ...

(as a side note I did find Browder's John Chriton to be a very human ... believable character through most of the Farscape run ... though his survivability throughout the many circumstances was par-for-traditional scifi.)

[TomB]

I'[m not against the humanity of the characters. Don't misunderstand me here. And I'm all for the ordinary heros theme. But I would like to see these ordinary people actually perform some heroics if you get my drift.

I don't want larger than life Han Solo/Like Skywalker/Indiana Jones idealized heros. The characters they defined in the mini-series are fine. I would just like to see those ordinary people do some out of the ordinary things. I think a balance is in order.

Now, part of this is because the mini-series functions as a pilot. It defines the theme of the show, the universe it is set in and introduces the characters. This takes a lot of time when you have more than one or two central characters.

I also don't consider good drama to mean soap opera. But I see a danger of it becoming one. When the X-Files first came out I loved it. You got a different story each week. It was cool, creative and made me think about things. Eventually it abandoned the episodic approach and went to more of a running storyline with a new plot twist each week. It was boring, in my opinion. It no longer made me think. Or rather no longer made me think about anything meaningful outside the show. It became more of an "I wonder what plot twist the writers will throw in next" kind of thing rather than a "what if this were true" kind of thing. Now, it's possible to do things both episodic and continuous. But I haven't seen much of that. Maybe "Northern Exposure" did it to some extent.

There is a trend that has been irritating me about television in general.(Not necessarily scifi as my wife hates scifi so I don't get to watch much. Had to kick her out of the living room where the digital cable is to watch the miniseries.) That trend is to try to be more realistic. And for some reason, more realistic seems to mean dirtier, grungier, and bleaker. The best example I can give for this is NYPD Blue. First of all, this show does not reflect my reality. Second, even if it did, I don't want to watch that. I watch TV read books and play games as an escape from reality: a diversion--entertainment. If you can enlighten me at the same time, great. But that is a secondary goal. You have to entertain me first. If I want reality I'll watch the History channel or CNN/BBC/MSNBC/FOXNews. (I'm a history buff and a current events addict.)

I don't want the glossy good feelings of Star Trek or the original BSG. I just don't want it to be primarily about the dynamics and psychology of living on the ship. If that's there fine, but I want the focus to be on the fight against the enemy and the quest for a safe haven and the worlds they find on the way. Somehow without becoming Star Trek, of course.

This post is getting too long and I still don't think I've explained my point adequately. One of my flaws is that I tend to be wordy.

Anyway, I guess one of the major reason I liked the miniseries was that in the old series my favorite character was Starbuck and in the miniseries my favorite character was still Starbuck. And that I see both versions of the character as having essentially the same spirit.

-Tom

[malachi42]

I think you made your point very well, very articulate.
I think it probably comes down to taste and expectation. I don't mind a little escapisim now and then, but my tast does run to the realisitic and gritty. I think television and film are burdened by too much escapist fare including the vile genre of reality television, which I consider the worst of escapist fare. In particular I cannot bear shows that are in a real contemporary setting and yet the truth is that it may as well be complete fantasy because your average waitress can't afford Armani or a million dollar loft. And I believe television and film can be a great vehicle for getting people to consider and discuss the world we live in. i am thrilled that the mini has inspired debates about 9/11. We need as a country to do more than hang a flag on our car and then go back to shopping. I came of age in the 70's when so many filmakers created work that was truly relevant o what was happening in the world around us.
One needs escape as well or we'd all be suffering major depression, but I believe it is important to have both. Spiderman and Death Of A Salesman both serve their purposes.