BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Should I watch? by reginaroadie

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Should I watch?

POSTED BY: REGINAROADIE
UPDATED: Monday, January 31, 2005 18:33
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VIEWED: 8676
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Thursday, January 6, 2005 5:26 PM

Hey, all. On Saturday night, NBC is going to be showing the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA miniseries that was on the SciFi channel about a year ago. I don't get Sci-Fi and I was curious about it and I was wondering if I should tune in.

On the one hand, some people have said it was terrible and a bastardization of the original. On the other hand, I have never seen an episode of the original series or the movie it was based on. I am a GALACTICA virgin, so to say, so I won't be watching it, seeing what they got right or wrong or any of that.

So should I see it or skip it?

"NO HAI ES BANDAI. THERE IS....NO.....BAND. AND YET....WE HEAR A BAND."

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 5:38 PM

COSMICNOMAD

Watch it. Just got it on DVD and it was pretty good. There was some hullabaloo about Starbuck being female, but it worked really well. Won't kill you anyway.

**cosmicnomad

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 5:48 PM

DRAGONFLYDIRECTOR

Watch it, give it a chance, unlike most of the original Galatica Fans - they gave it NO chance. Whoops - I AM a 'oldster BSG fan' and I LOVED the mini-sreies!

The original was campy had sometimes silly - but the CORE of the story was always compelling.

The Galatica 2003 is a 're-imagining' that story.

Is it different than the original? - Yes

Is it a bastardization - NO!

Does it have kinks to work out - Every show does!!! But this one is pretty good in its own universe. Give it a chance to unfold. You may enjoy it!

"Observe Analyze & Respond"
Motto of the A.P.E.s
Alliance Protean Engineers

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 6:29 PM

HARDWARE

Quote:
Originally posted by reginaroadie:

So should I see it or skip it?

You should watch it if only to see our dear beloved Serenity in the air one more time. It is in the scene early in the first two hours where there is a wall of glass to the left of the scene. The scene starts out in Caprica City on Caprica, big view out the window/wall and there is Serenity sailing by.

The rest of the show is pretty darn good too. Not the bright and cheerful 70's show, but good in its own way.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 7:39 PM

BRITCHICK

WATCH IT!

Living in the UK I've been lucky to see every episode so far.

It's not Serenity, but it is good. I watched the original as a child, and this is way way better. It has more suspense, lots of twists and turns, and is quite compelling.

Firefly it ain't, but it ain't half bad.

Like fireflyfans.net?
Help keep the site running.. Why not donate?
see links on homepage

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 7:55 PM

NEEDLESEYE

Yes! Do watch it! . I'm a BSG fan from it's beginning, and I thought the new version's first epi.s were top notch material. Really very good.
I'm looking forward to watching the new series myself.

Keeper of Jayne's goggles. 8)

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 7:57 PM

TOMANTA

Abso-freakin'-lutely. I never saw the original, but the new series is indescribably good.

Lots of new, good shows on TV this year, and they are getting good ratings. Good news :).

"FOX! Where the shit hits the fans." - Tim Minear

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 8:33 PM

FAHQ

See it.

While the concept of the original was good, the overall quality left something to be desired.

The NBC airing will be cut down from the original Sci-Fi version of 4 hours to 3, so you may want to buy or borrow the DVD from a friend instead.

Its worth it. Damned good stuff.

I prefer Starbuck as a woman over Dirk Benedict's miserable acting.

"My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."

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Thursday, January 6, 2005 9:34 PM

PURPLEBELLY

Definitely worth watching. I've not seen the other versions, but each generation should retell their myths

While it's not perfect, the new BSG does address current issues of response to disaster, redemption through trial, fighting for a lie and others that have figured in other successful series like Lost and The Wire. It's even capable of self-referential humour

Select to view spoiler:

in an episode guesting Richard Hatch in a confrontation with the new Apollo

Shame about the Celtic-twilight score and sound in space, but Zoic is good as always.

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Friday, January 7, 2005 12:42 PM

MRSKBORG

I've been watching this since it started airing over here in the UK. I was very worried about when reading up on the production and the new cast, me being a fan of the original way way back.... This is really , really good. In fact, its great. Yep, definatley one to watch.

"This movie may be a beautiful butterfly, but I loved that damn caterpillar." Joss Whedon.

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Thursday, January 13, 2005 3:54 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

I'm not sure why they felt the need to make the changes that they did. Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo? Don't get me wrong, I think the new character of Starbuck is played great. The actress does one hell of a job. Very interesting and all that, but .....why?

It's been so long since I watched the original, I guess I never really paid much attention to the story line. It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'. It hurts the brain to have to think this much.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Friday, January 14, 2005 6:27 PM

PBI

I'm a fan of the old BSG and I say the new version blows the original out of the water.

The mini-series was shown here in Canada last year on Space and we get to see the first season of the show beginning the 15th of January.

What makes this version better? Realism. Okay, so they caved to the 'sound in space' advocates, unlike Joss with Firefly, but that's a small nit :) When I watched the original, I felt as though as I was watching a typical Hollywood version of a military/political event; hopelessly contrived. Not so with BSG. The show comes across almost as a documentary; I've served with, commanded, and been commanded by people who acted like some of the characters in the new show. Awesome.

The new version is also a lot darker, almost heartbreakingly so in places, and the producers seem to be assuming that their viewers have a few brain cells to rub together, which is refreshing. I was quite pleased with how they tweaked the backstory; basically, the final battle/ambush from the old version never hapened, or the Colonials managed to escape from it and battle the Cylons to a stalemate, the Cylons went away, and, some 40+ years later, we pick up our narative. I was particularly pleased how they worked in our more modern understanding of cybernetics and the penetration of computers into all aspects of society.

As for Starbuck being a woman now, who cares? It was a bit jarring at first, but Katee Sackhoff is a terrific actress (as any who saw her in The Education of Max Bickford know) and the change in the character of Starbuck helps instantly snuff out any lingering assumptions us old fans might have mistakenly made about how or why things were happening; even though I knew the basic story going in, after about the first hour, I was no longer sure the new version would stay with the sacred cows of the older version. Awesome.

The casting on this show was and is absolutely brilliant. Now, if the writing on the series stays true to the mega-pilot, this show has the potential to be another Firefly, though hopefully it will last a bit longer :)

If you can survive death, you can probably survive almost anything.

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Friday, January 14, 2005 8:36 PM

GREENFAERIE

Should you watch?

Simple answer:

Abso-Frakkin'-lutely!

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:18 AM

WILDBILL

My hopes weren't very high for this series but "33" had me on the edge of my seat. Oh, and Starbuck is hot.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:25 AM

NERVOUSPETE

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo??

It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'.

Starbuck isn't actually a lesbian. Yes, I know, the hot blooded male demographic dreams of Boomer and Starbuck together, but it isn't going to happen. I realise that there are BSG 2005 virgins here so I won't reveal what I have learned watching it in the UK, but Starbuck is DEFINITELY not a lesbian. And Apollo does become more manly, indeed sometimes even savage, as the series continues.

Each character has an arc, they are not quite the same people ten episodes from now. Expect changes to happen.

The new vipers were disabled by the special EMP/hacking weapon the cylons deployed. The old ones although not as up-to-date are invulnerable to this method. That's why Galactica and her old Vipers, essentially a floating museum, survive the attack.

The cylons fought humanity to a stalemate. The cylons then left for about forty years. The human fleet grew huge again and the cylons couldn't attack with any confidence of victory - until they found their secret weapon to disable the new ships of the human fleet.

Oh, and the Sci-Fi channel edited about half an hour or forty minutes from the full NBC version (or was that vice versa?) so you miss a bit of handy exposition and lots more Adama. Gagh.

Pete

P.S: The show is very good, Baltar is incredibly funny and it is the best sci-fi since Firefly, though not AS great as Firefly, natch.

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:26 AM

NERVOUSPETE

And I am in love with Cally, the flight deck girl.

Pete

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:34 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:
And I am in love with Cally, the flight deck girl.

I realise that love is blind, but there is a queue. And that's Crewman Specialist to you, Mister.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:43 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo??

It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'.

Starbuck isn't actually a lesbian. Yes, I know, the hot blooded male demographic dreams of Boomer and Starbuck together, but it isn't going to happen. I realise that there are BSG 2005 virgins here so I won't reveal what I have learned watching it in the UK, but Starbuck is DEFINITELY not a lesbian. And Apollo does become more manly, indeed sometimes even savage, as the series continues.

Oh, I know Starbuck isn't SUPPOSE to be a lesbian. She seemingly had the hots for Apollo and all, but she definatly displays some of the Xena " My character isn't gay, but we can still play along with some stereo typical gay themes" things about her. Like I said, I think she does an amazing job w/ the character. Certainly enjoyable to watch.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 5:33 AM

CYBERSNARK

So, any woman who is confident, aggressive, and has a sense of fun/adventure is based on lesbian themes?

Wow, that's like, half the female characters I write. . .

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 6:14 AM

FORRESTWOLF

Well, I'm sure the other threads are discussing this stuff, but regarding the Zoic-produced space scenes:
If for nothing else, watching it to see Firefly-style space shots is incredible. Quite a trip down Firefly memory lane, to see all the zoom effects that are very familiar. Big wideangle view of capital ship, followed by HUGE zoom down to the wee little viper. Really captures space being fracking (or is it gorram?) big.

As for sound, Purplebelly, I agree that it IS there (lasers are loud and such), but it's pleasantly understated. There's a lot of shots with very little sound, and the physics appears Newtonian, like Firefly often is. When vipers get to where they want to be, they pivot and fire, while coasting. And the concept of thrusting, then shutting down and coasting to hide, is used.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 8:45 AM

PBI

There are no lasers, either, unlike the old version. Those are tracer rounds. Part of Adama's instructions to Tigh were to "find him some bullets" or something along those lines, and later dialogue seems to confirm that the bullet reference was not talking about those large missle warheads, but the ammo for the vipers.

It does make one wonder how they're going to resupply during their flight across the galaxy, but that's some built-in suspense, I suppose :)

As for the use of sound in space, well, as long as the rest of the show is of sufficient quality, I'll overlook it. It's a bit like complaining that a wad of 20s are torn :) As long as the money's still good, that's good enough :)

If you can survive death, you can probably survive almost anything.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 8:49 AM

FINN MAC CUMHAL

I never thought of Xena as being lesbian. She was just the original ass-kicking chick.

The new BSG is definitely a bastardization of the original. It’s a product of lazy minds that couldn’t make their own ideas stick without stealing someone else’s. It’s a total Ronald McDowell.

That being said, I recommend that you watch it. Despite its writers/producers pathetic attempt to push their own story from being the BSG name, it is actually a very good show, from what I’ve seen. And if a spiteful diehard original fan like myself can say that, I think someone who isn’t burdened by such emotional baggage would like it even more.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 9:40 AM

TMURRIE

The original was boring and I never liked it. Sometimes a remake can bastardize an old show, but in this case a remake is much much better than the original, I want to see where go with this in the series.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 1:28 PM

DANFAN

I tried to like the original BSG and the cheesiness of it finallly turned me off. so I approached the miniseries with an open mind. I really enjoyed it. I had no problems with the reworking of the characters (e.g., female Starbuck).

The real test came when I loaned my tape of the new BSG miniseries to a friend who is a diehard fan of the old show. She went into it wanting to hate it. At the end of the first two hours she was all "how do I connect this to the original? How did they get back to the old planets? It doesn't make any sense! I hate the female Starbuck!" and so on.

By the end of the second two hours, she had turned 180 degrees.

Here is the secret to liking the new show... fix it in your mind that the original BSG and the new BSG have NO CONNECTION whatsoever. The new one IS NOT a sequel to the original. It is a retelling of the original story! So you don't have to connect them. Or figure out why they got back to the homeworlds after the last episode of the original series. Just figure this is a complete retelling of the old story from the start.

The makers of the show shot themselves in the foot by the "40 years after the first war" element to the story and the picture perfect resurrection of the old Viper, and the photos/models of the old Cylons in the museum. It practially invites you to try to link the stories into some overarching timeline. But if you resist that urge, and accept these visual ties to the old story as nothing more than homage, then the new series stands on its own quite nicely.

I like it. I suggest you watch it.

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 1:52 PM

DRAGONFLYDIRECTOR

About the 'bullets' for the Vipers:
1) Adama could be using a euphemism about obtaining ammo for the fighters. So bullets could mean the refill of the 'fuel' of an 'electron -- cannon' or somesuch.
IE using a series of electromagnetic coils to hyper accelerate bundles of electrons or plasma material.

OR

2) There are real 'bullets' {and in the vein of real heavy weapons} the bullets may be composed of 'trans-uranic' slugs -- chunks of 'used' uranium that is molded into ballistic projectiles.

Until we see the loading of the Vipers ... or if anybody has caught something that shows the ammo in the background of a flight deck scene -- we can only speculate.

"Observe Analyze & Respond"
Motto of the A.P.E.s
Alliance Protean Engineers

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:50 PM

SNIPER

You should watch it. It's outstanding.

I've been assuming that they're using bullets, not lasers. At one point, Adama says "Get me some bullets, Chief."

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Saturday, January 15, 2005 9:56 PM

PURPLEBELLY

Quote:
Originally posted by danfan:
... accept these visual ties to the old story as nothing more than homage, then the new series stands on its own quite nicely.

I agree with you completely, but what surprised me was the way that references to previous BSG and the heritage battles have been made to work. The museum getting in the way of the action and Richard Hatch's guest role work for me both as part of the present narrative and wry acknowledgement of the past.

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Sunday, January 16, 2005 2:52 AM

PBI

One thing I forgot to add about the term 'bullets' is that the artillerymen I've wrked with refer to their ammo as 'bullets'. Now, the thought of a 105mm or 155mm shell being referred to as a bullet slightly offended my sense of tradition, as I'm used to bullets being things that come out the end of personal weapons, but who am I to argue? ;)

The point is that, while I think it's fairly certain that the Vipers are using actual projectiles (the sound effects ssound a lot like rapid fire projectile weapons to me), the type of projectile and/or any warheads they might have are questions that are totally up for grabs.

If you can survive death, you can probably survive almost anything.

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Sunday, January 16, 2005 8:08 AM

DANFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
The museum getting in the way of the action... work for me both as part of the present narrative and wry acknowledgement of the past.

Good catch there, Purplebelly! That had completely gotten by me. But I see it now that you've pointed it out.

Sometimes I think I watch movies intelligently and sometimes I think my brain is like oatmeal any time the tube is on.

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Sunday, January 16, 2005 8:57 AM

CREVANREAVER

For a supposed history of the Twelve Colonies, take a look at the link below.

http://www3.telus.net/public/akamyot/chistory.htm

This is it's home site.

http://www3.telus.net/public/akamyot/bsgrpg.html

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Sunday, January 16, 2005 9:30 AM

MACBAKER

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte (sic) Apollo?

Curious how you see a strong female character as a confused butch lesbian. Seems like you have some issues to work out!

I like Starbuck. She's tough, but from the episode's "33" and "Water", it's obvious she is also compasionate. It's also obvious there are some sparks between "lesbian" Starbuck and "effeminate" Apollo. Hmmmm.

As far as Apollo being effeminate (issues again?)? In the episode "33", it's clear that Apollo is anything but effeminte. Taking out a ship that could have nearly 1400 of your fellow humans on it, to save more, shows that he has the guts to make the tough command decisions. The fact that he's haunted by those actions later, just proves he's human, and not some cold hearted macho moron.

I'd given some thought to movin' off the edge -- not an ideal location -- thinkin' a place in the middle.

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Tuesday, January 18, 2005 11:11 AM

THEREAVER

I have over 10 hours of it that I haven't had time to watch. I'll watch it next Saturday and Sunday. Looking forward to it now. (BTW I live in the UK)

I'll rape you to death.
I'll eat your flesh.
I'll sew your skin into my clothes.
If you're very very lucky, I'll do it in that order - TheReaver

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Friday, January 21, 2005 7:49 AM

RITAK7

i missed the mini-series.did baltar know he was collaborating with the cylons? i am quite curious to find out

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Friday, January 21, 2005 7:49 AM

RITAK7

i missed the mini-series.did baltar know he was collaborating with the cylons? i am quite curious to find out

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Friday, January 21, 2005 8:31 AM

PBI

SPOILER WARNING.

Yes, Baltar knew. Six told him just before the Cyclon attack started.

If you can survive death, you can probably survive almost anything.

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Friday, January 21, 2005 1:41 PM

RITAK7

so did he find out just before or did he know all along? is just insanely self-interested and blind or is he full on villianous? thanks for the info

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Friday, January 21, 2005 2:42 PM

DANFAN

Baltar did not know she was a cylon before the attack. He was just insanely self-absorbed and blind.

In fact, the way they've been writing his part, he isn't even a competent scientist. He had the contract to develop the security features of the military software. He took on the blonde chick as an "assistant" because she was good. She did ALL the coding on the security features of the control software in defense systems. He took all the credit. Then, as the attack on the colonies started, she told him she was a cylon and had used the access he gave her to that software to insert the backdoors that allowed the cylons to shut all the defenses down.

He's been trying to hide his culpability (and his incompetence) ever since.

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Friday, January 21, 2005 3:51 PM

RITAK7

oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh

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Monday, January 31, 2005 8:16 AM

HJERMSTED

I rented the Farscape miniseries last week and was underwhelmed (however, I had no previous experience with the series so I will try again after I watch all the episodes in order). I was expecting to have the same reaction to Battlestar Galactica but didn't at all.

I took in the Battlestar Galactica mini-series over the weekend and was very impressed with what the producers have done with a cheesy late 70s premise designed to cash in on Star Wars. In the new BG, the characterizations, the plotting, the sets and the effects all surpassed my expectations. I enjoyed seeing again ZOIC's superbly fluid special effects (that they perfected on Firefly!) as well as the use of handheld cameras roaming around in incredibly detailed fully enclosed sets (another idea from Firefly).

If the one hour episodes are handled with as much care (as I'm guessing they are) the BG remake series will be a keeper. Nothing Sci Fi Channel has shown past or present is as intiguing to me as this new Galactica. Kudos!

mattro

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Monday, January 31, 2005 6:33 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
I'm not sure why they felt the need to make the changes that they did. Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo? Don't get me wrong, I think the new character of Starbuck is played great. The actress does one hell of a job. Very interesting and all that, but .....why?

It's been so long since I watched the original, I guess I never really paid much attention to the story line. It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'. It hurts the brain to have to think this much.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

I didn't know what to make of this when I saw it on the TV, it seemed to be a pretty good series but it also had a few flaws and I was missing some of the story from the early part of the show. I then decided to check it up online, to see in any of those Trek webs or BSG sites had info on it. I must admit when I saw this my first thought was “they must be getting desperate for material” but the series is fine yet it ain't the best and there are many trekfans plus fans of the original who are unhappy.

Looking at the websites I see there is a HUGE fight between 'purists' (people who loved the original BSG and HATE the remake) and remake fans. If you folks tought some of the postings here were bad, they ain't nothing compared to what goes on the other sites, you'll soon see some very bitter posts. Remake fans said the show had best cliffhanger in the history of televison! No way - becuase I was very disappointed, + maybe folks out there are just desperate for the "next best sci-fi" show. Not everyone is fond of the script and some have criticised it as a space version of 90120.

It must be near impossible to please the original fans of Battlestar-galactica, they are unlikely to do a U-turn on the show anytime soon. Perhaps the worst are the cirtics of writer Ron Moore, who is a veteran of a host of sci-fi series, they say BSG seems to be an overwhelming number of characters that ring false, in particular a number of forced melodrama. To quote some posts they say Jamie Bamber ("Band of Brothers") is moody and quiet and is mostly dull. Katee Sackhoff ("Halloween: Resurrection"), as the female incarnation of Starbuck, looks like a futuristic Butch lesbian and acts like she's suffering from prolong PMS. So they do a reversal of the gender of Starbuck and then we have a Boomer. Why change characters instead of making new ones? Some of the orignial BSG fans say Moore thought a female has to act like a crude brute in order to be seen as strong and independent. Plsu you get a feel its almost like the rabid fans of the Orginal starwars being angry with the re-make is something that BSG is facing. They accuse the re-make as just a poor attempt at cashing in on a previous franchise and say it is making an incredibly poor and cliché ridden show while you're at it. These fans are unhappy with the "documentary style" battle coverage was sucky and a number wanted it to be marginally like the Babylon 5 battle sequences, which were shot semi-documentary style. I've also seen others accuse BSG of stealing bulks of material from BladeRunner, the Prisioner, Firefly, Imposter and a heap of other sci-fi authors like Bradbury, Asmov, Heinlein, Clarke, Philip.K.Dick, but if they had stolen so much you'd think this wouldn't be a bad thing. The die-hard fans of the original appear very unhappy with the drama in today's Battlestar galactica saying the new BSG = Days of our lives in space. Remarks have been made that character reacting to their boyfriend/Girlfriend actions or having cancer or mistakes they made in the past is melodrama, and many of the trekkies accuse BSG of this. I think I may have been influenced after reading the views of others, but I still think BSG is good. It's okay, but it's not even close to being the best sci-fi show ever, which is what a lot of people seem to be saying about it.

There is an idea other there that Moore's reimaging probably would have been better served to be set in a colonized Sol system and called something besides Battlestar Galactica. Over at the Trek site there are points made on the lack of accuracy in the science of space and astronomy, definite focus on scientific accuracy is one of them. B5 could fall into the list, as the Babylon-5 crew went to great pains to work with NASA and the JPL to get the future Earth science as right as possible. Those who hate the new BSG are entitled to their opinion, those who love the show are also entitled to spread the word on how great the show is. I myself originally thought “they must be getting desperate for material” and where are the cool Cylons ??

But I haven't been totally disappointed in the show, it has some very good things about it and shows promise. There have been many shows that have been slow to start for example the first few episodes of Babylon-5 weren't the best but it grew into a great show, and the early Season of Farscape is not wonderful but later the series grew into a cult classic.

I'm not over-joyed with the new BSG, but I don't hate it either unlike the purist radicals who were fans of the original. The current direction BSG is taking is not wonderful but there are many parts which have been pretty good + I'm will to give the show another chance. I don't think the show is bad, but in my opinion these are the sort or writing errors that will keep the series from being in the "excellent" category. They're going to have to do a better job of making these sorts of decisions the characters must make believable

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