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Olmos Tells Fans: "Don't Watch Galactica"

Obiwan Kenobi writes "Edward James Olmos, in a meeting with a group of TV Critics, did something unbelievable: he pleaded with them to tell their readers not to watch the new Battlestar Galactica remake on the Sci-Fi Channel: 'I must say one thing and will say this very clearly, if you are a person who really has a strict belief in the original, I would not advise that you watch this program. It'll hurt them.'"

546 comments

  1. hmm by CptChipJew · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He's going to be sued for this.

    --
    Vonal Declosion
    1. Re:hmm by DoctorYoooWhoo · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least the XXX remake "BattleWhore Ejactica" was profitable, albeit derivative...

    2. Re:hmm by Geek+Tragedy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Olmos probably will be - the comment is a bit of a Gaff, isn't it? ;)

      *hopes moderators get it*

    3. Re:hmm by jmccay · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not likely, 90% of the fans were already planning on not watching, and sci-fi (and everybody involved) knows it. The Battlestar Galactica buletin at the sci-fi channel is full of complaints, "I am not going to watch because...", and leaks about the re-imagining of the series. The re-imagining is based off of the Battlestar Galactica movie, and all changes were made based on the so-called flaws of it.
      In fact most of them are planning on boycotting anybody who advertises during the mini-series. It's a poor script, and Ronald Moore has a lot of sexual issues (he turned Battlestar Galactica into a soft-porn flick).
      I hang out at the Sci-fi Board for Battlestar Galactica. There is very little support for this re-imaging on the boards. In fact, a couple of people started to fabricate A LOT of personalities to generate support for this re-imaging. In fact it pissed off Mr. Moore (Mr. Mooron) that he wrote a note on the web telling the people to knock it off.
      I doubt there are a lot of people that will watch it. The only resemblance it has to the original is it's name.
      Most of the characters in the re-imagine have major problems and can't be considered heros anymore. Starbuck and Boomer are Females now (just for the sake of the femist cause!)!!! The cylons were made by humans and now look like humans. There is no longer 12 planets with 12 colonies. There is 1 planet with 12 colonies that are technophobic. Baltar doesn't betray the human race on purpose (so he can rule his people). He is seduced by a female cylon.
      That just the high-lights. Check out BattlestarGalactica.com and search for the miniseries articles, and check out my earlier comment for more information.

      --
      At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
    4. Re:hmm by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fans don't not watch anything. It's their nature. They'll watch. It takes forever for fans to break their franchise-addictions, while they so often fail to give truly good new material their support.

      Pardon me if I sound bitter. The fact all the Star Wars and Star Trek movies made gallons of money, and that Gattaca lost money, tells me that SF fans deserve every bit of misery they get.

    5. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "...he turned Battlestar Galactica into a soft-porn flick..."

      "...I doubt there are a lot of people that will watch it..."

      Both of these cannot be true.

    6. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad the show won't ... aww forget it.

    7. Re:hmm by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      No "Voice of Doom"? Forget it.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    8. Re:hmm by Kibo · · Score: 2, Funny
      Starbuck and Boomer are Females now (just for the sake of the femist cause!)!!!

      I guess someone doesn't watch his daily interval of anime.

      Which frequently goes a little something like:

      Wake Up.

      Strech luxuriantly in light clingly sleep clothes.

      Playful lesbian tickle fights.

      Giggles.

      Talking.

      Explosions.

      Shower Scene.

      Existential Monologue.

      Follow up on a clue.

      Miracle of technology.

      Our heroine cowboys the fork up.

      More bigger explosions.

      Talking which diminishes todays victory...

      ...and sets up next weeks episode.

      Add work for washed up strippers working off their simply adequate implants to that list, and it comes pretty damn close to what Battlestar Galactica appears to be.

      (I always thought anyone on slashdot who didn't keep up with their daily anime and 80's music intervals would be summarily retired by Christian Bale.)

      --
      --Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
    9. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they would have made more money if they didn't have to write off all those f'd up laserdiscs.

    10. Re:hmm by Arker · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sounds truly awful, except for the soft-porn bit. Hell, I thought the original was soft-porn. Of course to a horny little boy, Cassi and Athena and skin tight costumes... they didn't actually have to do anything to get the effect. ;)

      --
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    11. Re:hmm by happystink · · Score: 1

      The funniest thing is, NO tv show could really be affected by a boycott by hardcore Battlestar Galactica fans, even Battlestar Galactica.

      But good luck on the boycott, if it works, your next step can be to take on "the femist cause" and then go after SCO with more gump than just linking an unfunny web comic in your slashdot sig!

      --

      sig:
      See the "..for smart people" banners Wired runs here? Look elsewhere guys.

    12. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds better than the original crappy series.

    13. Re:hmm by nanoakron · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'll be boycotting becasue they killed Farscape, which just shows the sci-fi channel has no taste and no time for real sci-fi, and couldn't give two shits about the opinions of their fans.

      In other words, I expected the remake to be a total farce of the original, because the sci-fi channel DOES NOT CARE about sci-fi.

      -Nano.

    14. Re:hmm by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1

      Considering that the original sucked ass, this version could only be better, especially if it doesn't have Boxie and his F***ing daggit, or the Eastern Alliance.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    15. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, in other words, it will be worth seeing.

    16. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or CHIPs in space.

    17. Re:hmm by PierceLabs · · Score: 1

      The more I read your post, the more and more I cringed until finally I read the part about Baltar and decided that perhaps I really DON'T want to see this. I didn't realize they were stupid enough to remake it from the beginning - its not like they couldn't have done a bagillion things by just picking up where the old one left off.

    18. Re:hmm by JudgeFurious · · Score: 1

      So the remake will be a total farce of a show that was in itself a total farce. Galactica fucking blew and twenty plus years later it blows even harder. Without doing it differently there's no way this would fly.

      If SciFi really doesn't care about sci-fi then they picked a series to bring back that's right up their alley. Battlestar Galactica was nothing more than an incoherent, Star Wars coat tail riding piece of late 70's network shit.

      Honestly I don't know how anyone could not be positive about a "reimagining" of it. The original was so bad that it can only get better.

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
    19. Re:hmm by jmccay · · Score: 1

      Actually, you REALLY don't understand how pissed the fans are at Moore and his re-imagining. Also, I think you don't understand the complete changes that Mr. Moore has written into the script! Imagine having Spock turned into a female Vulcan, and the Klingons friends with the Federaiton in the original series. Those changes don't even compare to what Mr. Moore did.
      Some of these fans have been trying to get a continuation since the series left the air waves! Several boycotts and petitions are now involved, and most fans supported Richard Hatches attempt to relaunch the series. He even did a trailor.
      They are releasing the original series on DVD later this year! Some of the fans are planning on watching those instead.

      --
      At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
    20. Re:hmm by jmccay · · Score: 1

      What's the piont of a porn flick without nudity? Use your brains man!

      --
      At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
    21. Re:hmm by jmccay · · Score: 1

      I usually find that when an author has to resort to sexually explicit story lines in anime and sci-fi that they've run out of really good things to write about. I don't mind occationally inserting a hint at sexual ccontent, but to rely on it completely, is a sign of a poor writer. They writer might as well write the cheap slutty x-rated novels!

      --
      At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
    22. Re:hmm by kannibal_klown · · Score: 1

      Don't forget "The Chronicle"!!! That show kicked some major ass!!! And they yanked it.

  2. Doesn't surpise me... by Flamed+to+a+Crisp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...After all, aren't remakes always worse than the originals?

    --
    It's... News for Nerds! Stuff that Matters! La-de-da-de-da-DE-da!
    1. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't know, that Ben Affleck/J Lo remake of Casablanca is sure to kick the crap out of the original.

      Oh wait...

    2. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by thynk · · Score: 1

      I dunno. IIRC, Evil dead II was a remake of Evil Dead I and was much better. Most of the time? Perhaps but always, no.

      --

      Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
    3. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 1, Interesting

      They did a pretty damned good job with Dune.

    4. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by coebabelghoti · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I'm with you on that. As much as I enjoy seeing Sting emerge from a shower in a leather thong and a fat guy pulling plugs out of guys chests and drinking their blood, I think Sci-Fi did about as well as anyone could in trying to bring that book to any screen.

      --
      "You couldn't fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine." ~Homer S
    5. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Doogie+Howser · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ...After all, aren't remakes always worse than the originals?

      Specifically, Masters of the Universe (He-Man), and Transformers (any remake/sequel).

      Both were 1980's cartoons, remade recently. Both remakes remake what it means to SUCK.

      This may be a biased comment, having grown up on the original He-Man and Optimus Prime. But, like Olmos suggests, I feel hurt having seen the remakes. I'm almost offended by them.

      --Doogie Howser

    6. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by malducin · · Score: 1

      Not always. Other 2 examples are John Carpenter's The Thing, and thje second remake of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the one with Donald Sutherland).

    7. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Pxtl · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Dune wasn't really a re-make. It was deliberately designed to _ignore_ the first film. It was just a second direct adaptation from Herbert's Book (which, IMHO, while was closer to the original content of the book, still missed the point).

    8. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by pantropik · · Score: 1

      I don't recall a 2nd remake of "Body Snatchers" with Sutherland. The first BS remake was pretty awful, though. It was just on Sci-Fi the other night.

      Are you sure the Sutherland movie you're talking about isn't "The Puppeteers," based on the Heinlein novel? I'm pretty sure he was in that.

    9. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      Hopefully they will include the original like Truth about Charlie/Charade, it might be good for exposing the really good orignial to a new audience. Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, if you haven't seen it go get a copy, it costs less than $10 to own, and its very, very good.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    10. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      The new transformers comic books are startlingly good acutally. DreamWave has finally gotten their act together with that shit. I highly recommend The War Within and Armada comic-book TF lines.

    11. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      Wasn't the most famous version of "Night of the Living Dead" a remake?

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    12. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by youaredan · · Score: 1

      Sometimes they are better... like Marilyn Manson's remake of the Cranberries' "Sweet Dreams"... or Oceans Eleven, or many more

      --
      -Digital Extremist // digitale
    13. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How could the remake possibly be any worse than the original Battlestar Galactica? Even as a little kid I hated it (and I actually liked Buck Rogers, so you know I wasn't very critical).

    14. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Posted anonymously because I know putting down Transformers on slashdot is sure to be modded down as the most extreame of all trolls. I recently saw a couple episodes of some 80s cartoons including GI Joe, Go-Bots, He Man and Transformers. I was horified that I'd actually grown up watching these things! I can forgive the drawing and animation, but the dialouge and plot were terrible! As bad as the new series might be, I found these to be in a whole other catagory of bad.

    15. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jeese, you know, I got a way to stop that from happening again.

      [soapbox="rant"]We make the MPAA responsible for every movie that comes out of Hollywood, then, if it breaks the copyright of another movie, we send a virus to make all of them sick.[/soapbox]

    16. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      I still prefer the original big screen release. I tried watching both SCI-FI adaptations, and they literally gave me a headache, but then my perspective was all off because I still remember the original.

      Same effect as with those remakes of the Stephen King movies.

    17. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by NeoChichiri · · Score: 1

      Pretty much...even if the original was bad...the remakes are almost always even worse. Just look at Godzilla...you had the original Toho group...even when they remade their own movie (called Godzilla 1985), it was still bad...but it was still funny and exactly what you'd expect from a Godzilla movie. Then you had the American version, and it was crap. It was nothing like the originals.

      --
      NeoChichiri
      http://www.neochichiri.net
    18. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by LouisZepher · · Score: 1

      Sweet Dreams was done by Annie Lennox of the Eurithmics, not the Crannberries...and no, his was not better. Good? Yes. Better? Hell no!

    19. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sweet Dreams was actually Annie Lennox. It's been remade a few times.

    20. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Pxtl · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think the big thing is just in raw quality - yes, the TV series is better written. IMHO, that's where the improvement ends. I found the original film to be better acted, better directed, and fucking gorgeous. And, once again, the demented mind of H.R.Giger did not fail to deliver: the Harkonnen were really, really scary. Plus, somehow I really liked the undertone of 80's metal guitars tucked into the symphonic soundtrack. And Sting is cool.

    21. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Jardine · · Score: 1

      Maybe I'm missing something but I watched the original version just after reading the book. Perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention to the movie, but I thought it was a steaming pile of shit. Even having recently read the book, I still didn't know what the fuck was going on.

      Now watching the miniseries version, I knew what was going on. The true test was the second miniseries. I still haven't gotten around to reading past the first book so I didn't really know the plot at all. But it was laid out clearly enough that I knew what was happening.

      What was it about the original movie version that was so good and what was it about the miniseries that was so bad?

    22. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by AsylumWraith · · Score: 1

      As is the most famous version of Dracula.

    23. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by The_Great_Satan · · Score: 1

      If I'm not mistaken you're thinking of Alejandro Jordorowski's earlier failed attempt at a Dune movie, for which H.R. Giger produced a few production paintings of the Harkonnen planet Giedi Prime and the famous Harkonnen chairs. To the best of my knowledge Giger was not involved with David Lynch's version.

    24. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by sammy+baby · · Score: 1

      Well - technically, Sweet Dreams was done by The Eurythmics. Annie Lennox provided the vocals.

    25. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      Trust the Fungus -Luigi

      Man, was I glad to see that movie released on DVD. So many people hate it, but I think it is great - even brilliant as far as that genre goes, and I've never played any of the video games either. Wish it was anamorphic though.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    26. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      Oh - my mistake. I read that Giger was involved in the Harkonnen design for a movie of Dune and assumed it was the Lynch version.

    27. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by noewun · · Score: 1
      Both Dune movies were disappointing in their own rights. The first made a mess of the story and threw out H.R. Giger's brilliant art direction. The second was a made for TV melodrama, and it showed.

      Long live the Harkonnen Chair!

      --
      I am a believer of momentum and curves.
    28. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It wasn't a remake.

    29. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by knewman_1971 · · Score: 1

      Are you smoking crack? The Ocean's 11 remake was better than the fucking original?

      Jesus-Please-Us, Chuckie-Cheese-Us! Keep a watch over your shoulder. The remarkably well-preserved corpse of The Chairman will be strolling up behind you with a clue-x-four any minute now.

      --
      where is the "I feel for ya, but that's some funny ass shit" moderation?
    30. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      Those awesome 1980's metal guitars were provided by Toto, most famous for Hold the Line and Rosanna - which was written for girlfriend, Rosanna Arquette, and also Africa, an Angry Pixie favorite.

      The Baron was really really scary. The Baron in the revision was so clean and noble, the tone was so wrong.

    31. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty much a big David Lynch fan, but I didn't know it when I first saw Dune in the theaters. I found out after the fact, so that probably has less to do with me liking it.

      Granted, the theatrical release was hard to follow unless you paid close attention, filled in the gaps, or previously read the novel. The director's full-length cut released to video then TV made it easier. I really loved the imagery, specifically the contrast. Geidi Prime was nothing like Caledan, which was nothing like Arrakis. The settings really set the tone for the mood of each house. The acting was superb. The various secret societies operating in the story weren't just background players as I found them to be in the revision. Having read the book also, I have always found the Lynch film to be more competent at revealing the Jewish Kabalist themes in the original novel. The revision seemed very secular to me.

    32. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by The_Great_Satan · · Score: 1

      The original movie wins on cast/acting, cinematography, costume design, (I can't accept Saudakar in foppish floppy French dandy hats), soundtrack, and overall brutality.

      Note that I'm comparing Lynch's Dune to Sci-fi's Dune and not their Children of Dune, which was a huge improvement and actually had some of the best costume design I've seen, period.

    33. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by The_Great_Satan · · Score: 1

      The point of the series, my opinion:

      "These are political questions," Odrade said. "They demonstrate how motives of bureaucracy are directly opposed to the need for adapting to change. Adaptability is a prime requirement for life to survive."

      Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

      All the political stuff is fascinating to the intellectual, but if it were your money on the line you'd make an action movie too.

    34. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Blondie-Wan · · Score: 1

      Though the most famous (the Lugosi one) isn't the best.

    35. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by malducin · · Score: 1

      Yes, there have been 3 versions of Body Snathchers. The original, B?W starred the great kevin McCarthy, It came out in 1956, directed by Don Siegel. The second one came out in 1976, directed by Philip Kaufman. Apart from Sutherland it starred other genre veterans like leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwrigth and Jeff Goldblum. If I remember right even McCarty has a brief cameo. Third version came in 1993 with Gabrielle Anwar (which happens in a military base, pretty crappy and probably the one you saw).

      But you are right I think Sutherland also starred in The Puppetmasters version which was ok.

    36. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by warloch71 · · Score: 1

      John Carpenter's The Thing is definitelly agood exemple of a remake being WAY better than the original. But yes, they are not legions ...

    37. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Clockwork+Apple · · Score: 1

      Umm... NO!

      If you are refering to the fact that Mr. Romero was inspired by the novel "I am Legend" then you are mistaken, in that the novel is MUCH diffrent than Romero's tales.

      If you mean you think that NOTLD was a remake of the first movie inspired by that novel, (which was called "The Last Man on Earth") it wasn't. That movie stared Vincent Price and was actually pretty close to the novel as I remember. The Charelton Heston classic "The Omega Man" was also based on "I am Legend".

      If you mean that you think that Mr. Savini's remake in the 90's is more popular than the original, then I think you are just plain wrong period.

      The 90's remake was a pretty good attempt to modernize the original script but failed to really capture the grit of the original. While BOTH of George Romero's "Living Dead" sequils were largly embraced by his faithfull following, only "Dawn of the Dead" is considered to be better than the original "Night of the Living Dead".

      --
      "Doctor, it's not the voices I hear in MY head, but the voices I hear in YOUR head that really frighten me."
    38. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AVOID THE SECOND MINISERIES LIKE THE PLAGUE.
      You've never read the two books it covers, so condensing two books into one miniseries that removes most of the story of both might not be as mentally frustrating for you, but it still seems unlikely that it would be enjoyable.

    39. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by youaredan · · Score: 1

      you're right - my bad! how stupid of me but the point of whether or not its better is irrelevant because its in the eye of the beholder ultimately.

      --
      -Digital Extremist // digitale
    40. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by The+Mgt · · Score: 1

      aren't remakes always worse than the originals?

      A remake of Battlestar Galactica couldn't possibly be worse than the original, could it ?

    41. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Renli · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Of course they are bad now. Your trying to watch something as an adult that gave you pleasure when watched as a child. Tastes change as you get older. I can't imagine myself at the age of 22 watching the smurfs, He-Man etc, playing cops with my finger as a gun, racing my collection of Hot Wheels across the kitchen. Just as at the age of 8 I can't see myself enjoying much of what I do now as an adult. (especially girls. no more cooties! ;)

      Will the kids who watched Teletubbies, Barney, the Power Rangers, etc still enjoy them as an adult? Doubtful. I hope not anyways.

      Hows the saying go? "When I was a child I thought as a child, spoke as a child. But when I grew to be man I put away childish things."

    42. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by gpinzone · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's a fair statement. The same applies with Star Trek. I mean take a look at some of those episodes. Giant space ameobas? Earth history on another planet? Feh. The reason you loved it was because for its time, it was special. Christ, in the 80s, everything was watered down and kiddie. This stuff was groundbreaking. Today, adult-themed anime is on TV with curses for christsakes.

    43. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      assume=ASS out of U and ME.

    44. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by CharterTerminal · · Score: 1

      What was it about the original movie version that was so good and what was it about the miniseries that was so bad?

      Speaking for myself (as usual), I found the miniseries to be excruciatingly dull. The dialogue and acting was every bit as flat as previous Sci Fi channel offerings have led me to expect.

      It's true that it was very faithful to the original. However, "faithful to the original" is not - to me - the total sum of quality. I could put socks on my hands and stage a puppet show that would re-enact "Dune" in its entirety, but so the hell what?

      The Lynch version, though... THAT is some high-class cheese! I wouldn't call it GOOD, exactly, but I love it more than you can possibly imagine. (How could I NOT love a movie whose key turning point involves Kyle MacLachlan solemnly intoning "My name is a killing word"?)

    45. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      > Jesus-Please-Us, Chuckie-Cheese-Us!

      That, sir, has got to be the most profane oath I've ever heard.

      (I applaud you :)

    46. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by jvalenzu · · Score: 1

      You must be thinking of the movie, directed by David Lynch, which was brilliant. It even transcended the genre. They did the miniseries, staring William Hurt, which sucked.

    47. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      assume=if I ever MEET YOU, sir, I am going to KICK YOUR ASS!!!

    48. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      I agree that its the worst written movie ever made - the director couldn't save the sad adaptation script. So, of course the movie made no sense. I just think that every other attribute of it is still good. Overall its a mediocre film just because of the script - I just think that it has a lot of artistic merit.

    49. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by The+Infamous+Grimace · · Score: 1

      "...I watched the original version just after reading the book...I thought it was a steaming pile of shit..."

      Ok, I just gotta agree with this. I remember reading a rewiew of the big-screen adaption that began "The Christmas turkey is here, and it's a big one..." or something to that effect. There was one point where I remember thinking "What happened to those 200 pages?". While visually gorgeous, it was crap. Gave me the trots, it did.

      (tig)
      "We do not inherit the land from our ancestors"
      "We borrow it from our children"

      --
      Ignorance and prejudice and fear
      Walk hand in hand
    50. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Rosonowski · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but it was pretty damn close.
      Campbell himself even said he didn't learn how to act until about halfway through ed2.

      --
      01101001 01100001 01101101 01101110 01101111 01110100 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110111 01111001 01100101 01110010
    51. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by knewman_1971 · · Score: 1

      /bow. I thank you, sir.

      --
      where is the "I feel for ya, but that's some funny ass shit" moderation?
    52. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Kosi · · Score: 1

      What, there was a Dune movie before Lynch made his in '84? Please tell more!

      I assume this, because you definitely can't talk about this awful TV mini-series some id10ts committed some years ago. 40 Megabucks were spent for this, but they did not hire even one good actor. The only "good" thing is that the story held more closely to Herbert's book. btw, in many scenes you could clearly tell the actors, the scenery and the painted backgound.

    53. Re:Doesn't surpise me... by Kosi · · Score: 1

      LOL, who else did laugh about those heli pilots patrolling the streets looking for G instead of just looking from above?

  3. who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who is Edward James Olmos?

    1. Re:who? by lpret · · Score: 4, Informative
      --
      This is my digital signature. 10011011001
    2. Re:who? by bad_fx · · Score: 1

      Maybe you could try RTFA? I know it's a novel idea, and some may think it's unreasonable, expecting a person to wade through the whole articl.. err.. many pages... umm... lot's of paragrap... err.. the first sentence to find out who he is, but I don't think it's too much to ask. Ummm, but just so you don't have to go through all that work:

      Edward James Olmos, the star of the new "Battlestar Galactica," has some advice for devoted fans of the 1970s sci-fi series: Don't watch the remake.

    3. Re:who? by Dinosaur+Jr. · · Score: 1

      He played Selena's dad in the movie SELENA, iirc. cheers

    4. Re:who? by Kosi · · Score: 1

      Remember Lt. Castillo from Miami Vice? Yes, that guy with the scars in his face. :)

  4. Ugh by Robert+Hayden · · Score: 4, Funny

    From everything I've read or heard about this miniseries (including conversations with some SciFi channel employees assigned to the project), it is exceptionally more crapacular than Episode I and Higherlander 2 combined.

    Avoid avoid avoid...

    1. Re:Ugh by Goldfinger7400 · · Score: 1

      But will it be worse than Babylon 5: Crusade? They really fought to keep that show from being aired, such a travesty it was.

    2. Re:Ugh by thegreat682 · · Score: 2, Offtopic

      In a related story... I want FARSCAPE back!!!!

      --
      Hard Hat Area: Sig Construction Zone
    3. Re:Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How could something be more craptacular than Highlander2 ???

      "There should have been.. ONLY ONE"

    4. Re:Ugh by Snarph · · Score: 1

      You lie! Nothing is worse, or can be worse than Highlander 2.

      I still remember talking my girlfriend into going to see it in the theater, raving about how great the first one was. I read a review that trashed must be.
      I thought I was watching the wrong damn movie for the first 20 minutes, and was in shock after that.

    5. Re:Ugh by Snarph · · Score: 1

      Well, that made a lot of sense.

      I read a review that trashed must be should read I read a review that trashed it and told her what a lousy critic he must be.

    6. Re:Ugh by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sounds like it's going to be a disaster on the level of the American version of "Iron Chef". It's really too bad TV staff assigned to do remakes don't give a crap about the show they're remaking. They want to do their own thing, and express themselves...okay well why are they doing a freaking remake then? Because they're bankrupt on ideas! Christ the circular craptacularness confounds me.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    7. Re:Ugh by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      Fools. There was no Highlander 2. There has never been a Highlander sequal, and the television series was inspired by original characters from the Highlander film.

    8. Re:Ugh by LouisZepher · · Score: 1

      How about Highlander 4 (End Game)? I was bloody pissed at the ending. The wrong goddamn MacCleod won the friggen fight.

    9. Re:Ugh by Snarph · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ah, okay, ya got me. I guess mentioning my "girlfriend" made it all too clear that my story was a fabrication.

    10. Re:Ugh by jmccay · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Most sci-fi fans don't like the head of the Sci-fi channel. They, and I agree, that she has ruined it. They play more horror than sci-fi. The there's that stupid crossing over guy and scare tactics!
      Ronald Moore, of Star Trek fame(he sucked then too), wrote the script, and he based it off of the movie! The movie was the first couple of episodes with a lot cut out. He didn't even bother to watch the WHOLE series! It was just one season. I have it on 5 tapes! I think Mr. Moore needs to rent more porn flicks to vent is addiction to sex (the re-imagining has been called a soft porn flick because of all the sex scenes in it).

      --
      At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
    11. Re:Ugh by noewun · · Score: 0
      --
      I am a believer of momentum and curves.
    12. Re:Ugh by gilroy · · Score: 0, Redundant
      Blockquoth the poster:

      Fools. There was no Highlander 2.


      Best summed up by the slogan:

      Highlander:
      There should be only one.
      :)
    13. Re:Ugh by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Oh you clever bastard. That should have been mine!

    14. Re:Ugh by SpryGuy · · Score: 1

      You lie! Nothing is worse, or can be worse than Highlander 2.

      I dunno. Did you ever see The Crow 2? :-)

      --

      - Spryguy
      There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
    15. Re:Ugh by treke · · Score: 1

      Highlander 2 in it's original cut shared very little with the orininal beyond a couple characters. There were later directors cuts that tried to make some sense of the story, but most fans of the first pretend the second one was never made.

    16. Re:Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe television programming that's /too/ interesting makes the mind less receptive to advertising. They got you by the balls. You're gonna watch whatever they give you.

      I predict a future where there's channels without any programming at all. Just kind of a flashing screen with rhythmic sounds designed to hypnotize and light up pleasure centers of the brain. Every once in awhile, you'll be instructed what sort of decision to make at the store or what political views to hold. And people will watch that in the future just like they do Springer/Friends/Trek today. The funny things is - it won't be much of a change from what we have now.
      Just a little more polished.

    17. Re:Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      In a related story... I want FARSCAPE back!!!!

      Let's bring that back on-topic.

      Bring Mother Battleship and Child through a wormhole and let them duke it out with the Galactica. May the best ship win.

      Anyone have Farscape and Galactica models for a space playing game (SPG)? Anyone have ideas on how umpteen viewers could affect their favorite ship so it's the audience members guiding the action (mob playing game [MPG])? We'll need Troll detectors and have them be Cylons which get blasted into space...

    18. Re:Ugh by drsmithy · · Score: 1
      You lie! Nothing is worse, or can be worse than Highlander 2.

      Er, how about Highlanders 3 and 4 ?

    19. Re:Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow, that sounds great!

    20. Re:Ugh by Renli · · Score: 1

      3 was bad I agree. 4 wasn't to hot. I just pretend its not Highlander and watch the fight scenes.

      But worse then 2? No. Good God No. Its obvious someone who hated Highlander wrote, directed and produced it. And how, after reading the script, the convinced the actors to do it I don't know. I'm hoping they had some contract clause forcing them to make a sequel. Its the only way I don't lose any and all respect for every person in the movie.

    21. Re:Ugh by Renli · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Something else that kinda bothered me was when they killed those immortals at the beginning. That sure looked like holy ground to me.

    22. Re:Ugh by J.+J.+Ramsey · · Score: 1

      "But will it be worse than Babylon 5: Crusade?"

      It's easy to be worse than Crusade. Crusade was pretty good. The worst episode was the first one, though, which was a lot like a B5 movie (and B5 movies tend to range from the mediocre to the awful).

    23. Re:Ugh by CharterTerminal · · Score: 1

      You lie! Nothing is worse, or can be worse than Highlander 2.

      Ha! You've obviously never watched Ankle Biters. I have seen many many bad movies (Devil's Rain, anyone? Universal Soldier 3?) but "Ankle Biters" was by far the worst.

      Traumatic amnesia prevents me from fully describing the extent of its wretchedness, but just to give you a taste: it's an amateur remake of Blade. Only with midget vampires. And the soundtrack prominently features an out-of-tune guitar played badly.

      (Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself! I rented my copy from the neighborhood Hollywood Video.)

    24. Re:Ugh by sogoodsofarsowhat · · Score: 1

      You've got it all wrong...they are just gonna redo it fror Mystery Science Theater....in which case it makes a fine B- film.

      --
      . I love the sound of burning women and screaming rubber....
    25. Re:Ugh by Brendan+Byrd · · Score: 1

      Hey, take that back! Crusade was an excellent series, but they put it in a crappy timeslot. They (TNT) promote the hell out of Babylon 5, and then the new series was crammed in the 10PM (or even 11PM) time slot. To me, that's just wasting money on advertizing, if you're going to doom the series with a bad timeslot.

    26. Re:Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > It's easy to be worse than Crusade. Crusade was pretty good. The worst episode was the first one, though, which was a lot like a B5 movie (and B5 movies tend to range from the mediocre to the awful).

      That first episode (with all the fighting and near-mutiny) was the DIRECT result of TNT executive meddling. They demanded that certain things go in that episode, or no series. JMS did so, but *only* in that ep.

    27. Re:Ugh by willtsmith · · Score: 1

      I really loved this show, but they were kinda running out of ideas. The whole, "variations on maniac chasing us around" thing was kinda getting a bit redundant.

      The laid a very nice ground work for movies which I hope to see soon in theatres. The work of Henson's creature shop was truly outstanding and gives digital characters a run for their money.

      --
      -------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
    28. Re:Ugh by Goldfinger7400 · · Score: 1

      Okay, I have to admit that I only saw the first episode, and after that stayed well away after hearing a slew of bad press and fan reviews. Also, the time slot was really bad, I interperated that as the network trying to keep it from being showed to unreceptive fans. So, maybe I should've given it a bigger shot, but I was really weary of having my great opinion of Babylon 5 torn asunder by a network-squabbled spinoff.

    29. Re:Ugh by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Even the "Renegade Edition" was a really phenomenal crap-fest. In the running with Battlefield Earth for "Worst way to waste two hours EVAR!"

      What a horrible, horrible, horrible movie. What the HELL was Sean Connery thinking!?

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    30. Re:Ugh by Moofie · · Score: 1

      You don't understand.

      [Jedi mind trick]THERE WAS no Highlander 2[/Jedi mind trick]

      Trust me. If you pretend it didn't happen, your world will be a shinier, happier place. Put the memory of this movie there with the one when Uncle Lester touched you in your bathing suit place.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    31. Re:Ugh by smash_phase · · Score: 1

      Hmm, you left out Andromeda!

      Lot's of Eye-candy, okay, but what a piss-poor script it has and every episode is majorly flawed.. Every episode of ST:TNG is even better directed..

      I guess the only reason I still watch it, is Andromeda itself and with that, being a techie, I mean the ship, ofcourse ;-)

      Hmm, does Galactica have a nice "ship" as well?? :-)

      --
      /* Be the change you wish to see in this world - Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi */
    32. Re:Ugh by dubiousdave · · Score: 1

      I actually said that out loud in the theater, and heard people all around me laughing. I think someone even clapped.

      --
      Thank you. Drive through.
    33. Re:Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, quit slagging the "Iron Chef"! That show is hilarious. I especially love the sexy voiceovers for those hot little oriental actresses.

    34. Re:Ugh by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      I'm talking about the American version, with William Shatner as host. It was a good idea, but what happened to it is happening to Galactica...idiot bigwigs in the TV heirarchy changed it for no good reason, destroying what made the original worth watching.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  5. Lorne Greene is choking on his Alpo by windowpain · · Score: 3, Funny

    Poor bastard.

    --
    Insert witty sig here.
    1. Re:Lorne Greene is choking on his Alpo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought Lauren Green was an anchor for FoxNews.

  6. It's too bad you won't live, Michael by NicotineAtNight · · Score: 1

    But then again, who does?

    1. Re:It's too bad you won't live, Michael by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      But then again, who does?

      Probably the best role, IMHO, he's ever had. He's done some good work and all, and on principal he's probably going to survive bad-mouthing a project he has worked in. Especially if it's a real dog or preposterously redone in the awful mode Hollywood often mistakes as what people really want to see.

      I skipped Hulk and I'll probably skip a lot more this summer. Some good stuff on DVD and money is being directed toward a more deserving project :-)

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:It's too bad you won't live, Michael by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look, it's not hard to tell the difference between 'principle' and 'principal'. A principle is an idea, and principal means main. So the principal principle here is 'pay attention'.
      At least you didn't stick in a 'rediculous' in there.

  7. Egads!` by UrGeek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The original "Battlestar Galactica" was not the worst science fiction show on TV but it was not good, not good at all.

    Maybe I will like this new one after all.

    1. Re:Egads!` by gjbivin · · Score: 5, Funny

      I believe it was Harlan Ellison who called the original series "Battlestar Galaxative".

    2. Re:Egads!` by blandthrax · · Score: 1

      No, Buck Rogers was much better b/c Erin Gray looked incredible (to a first-grader especially) in that tight-fitting shiny space suit. Yowee. Uh ... yeah, Battlestar Galatica sucked.

    3. Re:Egads!` by dbc · · Score: 1

      It *wasn't* the worst??? Good gravy, how can it get worse?
      Look, I own a legitmate, fully paid for, video of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" -- Ed Wood did better stuff than any episode of BG. BG never failed to, within a few minutes, turn my stomach out of shear stupidity of dialog, poor plot, and reckless ignorance of science in a science fiction story. And it is obvious that I have a strong stomach. (See above: Ed Wood).

    4. Re:Egads!` by Wavicle · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, not mention really, really bad physics.

      Col. Tigh: We're dangerously low on fuel
      Cmdr. Adama: Bring the fleet to a halt.

      Uh... yeah... must be because of all that interstellar drag. The next line should have been:

      Col. Tigh: I said WE'RE LOW ON FUEL.

      But in all honesty, I was so young when Galactica was made, I really just watched it because I liked to pretend I was Boxie... a six yaron old snot nosed brat living on the coolest ship in a rag-tag fugitive fleet, fleeing the Cylon tyranny.

      --
      Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
      Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
    5. Re:Egads!` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Erin Gray in that space suit. Princess Leia in that gold bikini.

      Ah, mammaries, er, that is, I mean memories.

      Please don't hold them against me. Doh! I mean do hold them against me. No - Please don't hold it against me.

      I'll be in my bunk.

    6. Re:Egads!` by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hmm.... I wonder which was harder to follow, Battlestar Gallactica or Galactica 1980? For that matter, which was worse: Battlestar Gallactica or Logan's Run, the series. Add the Planet of the Apes TV series and we have a good poll.

    7. Re:Egads!` by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      fleeing the Cylon tyranny.

      I seriously initially I read that as fleeing the Cylon tranny

      The show would have made so much more sense then. Did the story arc ever explain why everyone spoke perfect English, used Grecco-Roman names, and were looking for 1970s Earth?

    8. Re:Egads!` by algernon7 · · Score: 1
      All I can say to that is

      Beeeedeeee Beeeedeeee!

      Remember the little necklace 'bot thingie that was super-intelligent? Dr. whosawhatsit?

      Or was that a wrinkle in time? :)

      And even in my formative years, I had concerns about Mr. I'm a little-too-light-on-my-heels 'falconman' or whatever his name was...

    9. Re:Egads!` by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To be fair, if you really were going to make progress on an interstellar journey in the timespan of one TV episode, you'd need to be using some kind of warp-type drive. Moving at superluminal velocities by bending time and space might not be frictionless like classical motion.

    10. Re:Egads!` by knewman_1971 · · Score: 1

      It was Dr. Theopolis.

      --
      where is the "I feel for ya, but that's some funny ass shit" moderation?
    11. Re:Egads!` by agurkan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      well, as a physicist i have to disagree. the ships in battlestar galactica do not move by classical propulsion, they use that only to maneuver. the real means of travel is via distortion of spacetime around the ships which does not change your inertia but let you move in spacetime by modifying the geodesics. incidentally, this is why these people do not feel the fictitious forces due to accelaration of the ships. of course that distortion does require energy so bringing fleet to a halt is necessary when you are low on fuel.
      i hope this clarifies...

      --
      ato
    12. Re:Egads!` by glenebob · · Score: 1

      >> fleeing the Cylon tranny

      The Cylons never really caught up... maybe if they had installed an overdrive?

    13. Re:Egads!` by zangdesign · · Score: 1

      Really bad physics? Who gives a damn? I don't - I watch a show to be entertained, not educated. There's enough physics in the real world what with having to dodge falling safes and keeping my Acme rocket skates underneath me that I, for one, don't care at all.

      Geez. Learn to enjoy life. If you keep expecting TV to be real, then you need to watch the Crocodile Botherer or something ("Oy, me and my wife, we're gonna move these 'ere crocs from this mudpit where we put'em yesterday, to this other mudpit where we got'em from originally!").

      --
      To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
    14. Re:Egads!` by Artifex · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I seriously initially I read that as fleeing the Cylon tranny


      They were. Haven't you seen the Imperious Leader?
      --
      Get off my launchpad!
    15. Re:Egads!` by Wavicle · · Score: 4, Informative

      Did the story arc ever explain why everyone spoke perfect English, used Grecco-Roman names, and were looking for 1970s Earth?

      It kind of did. Though they never address the language thing.

      There were 13 colonies of these space-faring folk. 12 of them were named after birth signs, and the 13th one didn't have a name, but they set sail and ended up founding earth. Thus the egyptian architecture and greco-roman names were all artifacts of the fact that they all come from the same planet and then branched out into space. Why the 13th colony decided to give up on technology after arriving on earth, I dunno.

      Anyway, the Cylons apparently make peace with the 12 high tech colonies, but in reality they were just maneuvering for a suprise attack. They destroyed all 12 home worlds and all the battlestars except Galactica (and Pegasus, but we don't find that out until later). The remaining humans quickly figure out that chasing a pipedream towards the fabled 13th colony (which they've only heard in their mythology) is their best bet.

      So they take whatever ships they have that are still usable (rag-tag fugitive fleet) and high tail it out of there (fleeing the Cylon tyranny). Every so often they stumble across a cylon outpost and have to blow stuff up.

      --
      Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
      Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
    16. Re:Egads!` by Wavicle · · Score: 1

      That's actually Lucifer, second in command on the basestar that Baltar is given by the Cylon Imperious Leader to track down and destroy the last of humanity.

      --
      Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
      Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
    17. Re:Egads!` by Wavicle · · Score: 1

      the real means of travel is via distortion of spacetime around the ships which does not change your inertia but let you move in spacetime by modifying the geodesics.

      Having watched the series far too many times, I assure you they moved by means of classical propulsion, and what's more the only ship in the fleet that could get up to light speed was the Galactica.

      Maybe you are right afterall. When the Galactica did open the throttle and speed along at light speed, it managed to get to Apollo and Starbuck and back to the fleet without everyone in the fleet having to wait a few thousand millennia for their return.

      incidentally, this is why these people do not feel the fictitious forces due to accelaration of the ships.

      The one technology they must have had is artifical gravity. None of the big ships rotated, but they all had gravity. So they probably used the technology to counter the force of acceleration.

      --
      Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
      Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
    18. Re:Egads!` by Wavicle · · Score: 1

      I watch a show to be entertained, not educated.

      Maybe if you watched some quality science fiction you could get both.

      --
      Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
      Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
    19. Re:Egads!` by zangdesign · · Score: 1

      Good overall story, decent effects, but the acting wasn't very good and the writing on individual episodes was uneven. I give it a B+ for effort.

      --
      To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
    20. Re:Egads!` by pyrrho · · Score: 1

      clearly you havn't attempted to interpret hard enough.

      clearly Adama thinks within the fleet's rest frame, he does not measure speed in terms of velocity but in acceleration, bringing the fleet to a halt means only zero acceleration. By the way, that really is the only sort of halting if you think about it.

      Now as for the special effects of the fleet stopping... um... that was metaphorical.

      Hey, people have done this to their own bibles for thousands of years, I can do it for b-grade pulp-sci-fi. And you can always root for the robots. They tended to do quite well in the original, iirc.

      I liked the comback series where they finally found earth and rode flying motorcycles around contemporary earth.

      --

      -pyrrho

    21. Re:Egads!` by gclef · · Score: 4, Funny

      Battlestar Galactica line: Cylons at 10 Angstroms!

      Friends mom: Wow, that's close enough for sex.

      Us (ignorant kids): huh?

    22. Re:Egads!` by Melchior_of_wg · · Score: 1

      But if this is true, how can you halt something that isn't, as such, moving?

    23. Re:Egads!` by dinivin · · Score: 1


      It's impossible for me to be entertained when the acting, as on B5, is utter crap.

      Dinivin

    24. Re:Egads!` by PsibrII · · Score: 1

      Not a big surprise. Harlan Ellison lives to bitch and complain about everything. "My fans and all sci-fi fans are the lowest scum of the earth. Buy my new book dirtbags!" The actual rant was about 16 pages, and that was long before he became Harlan Ellison Talk Show Media Whore. I think that it was only the fact that Larry Ellison started saying more freakish things every week that saved Harlan from an angry lynch mob.

    25. Re:Egads!` by prokofiev · · Score: 1

      Careful there...despite being a Brit, I *loved* (and still do) BG, despite the fact that my g/f calls all Sci-fi that comes out of the US "Cowboys & Indians in the sky shite".

      /hugs Firefly DVD

    26. Re:Egads!` by Beliskner · · Score: 1
      Having watched the series far too many times, I assure you they moved by means of classical propulsion
      Yup, 40 Watt light bulbs seems a pretty conventional form of propulsion to me.
      --
      A caveman dreams of being us, the incalculable power and riches. We dream of being Q, then what?
    27. Re:Egads!` by timeOday · · Score: 1

      Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what they had in mind.

    28. Re:Egads!` by dcmeserve · · Score: 1
      ...incidentally, this is why these people do not feel the fictitious forces due to accelaration of the ships.

      Except when the fighters launch. :)

      --
      "Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
    29. Re:Egads!` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Harlan Ellison lives to bitch and complain about everything" Of course he does, that is way we love him. But be careful, he also likes to sue people. Which is why I am going to be chickenshit and post anonymously.

    30. Re:Egads!` by UrGeek · · Score: 1

      "Good gravy, how can it get worse?" The vast wasteland is litter with incredibity bad science fiction. In the early days of the Sci-Fi, it made up about 80% or more if it's programming - thankfully they are better now. Here are a few of my personal worst. Many are from the distant past and I hope buried forever:

      Lost in Space (definitely toward the bottom of the heap)
      Rocky Jones: Space Ranger (I did love when I was six).
      Radar Men of the Moon (I did love when I was 7 - until Alex Shepherd was launch and I learned what Real Space Flight is)
      My Favorite Martian (okay, I did love Bill Bixby and Ray Walson, but as sci-fi, it sucked)
      Buck Rogers (okay for high camp, but at the time they were almost serious!)
      Almost any and every show that was based on Time Travel.

      With all of the great, great science fiction that was written since the 40's and later, there was no excuse for bad science fiction on TV in the 50's and beyond except that TV was ruled by stupid man in suits. Times have changed. They have one or two stupid women around and an occasional smart person who lets a Star Trek:The Next Generation or a Babylon 5 happen. But then they killed "Firefly", proven that the stupidity still rules TV.

      Hell, even the complaint that good sci-fi requires a big budget is disproved by that jewel of BBC sci-fi, "Blake 7".

      I never saw "Plan 9". I have no time for any more bad crap.

    31. Re:Egads!` by UrGeek · · Score: 1

      "Galactica 1980", "Logan's Run", and "Planet of the Apes" were TV series? The smell must have knocked out my memory and thankfully, I never watch them. The body can protect you occasionally, thank the sweet Goddess.

    32. Re:Egads!` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eek. Reminds of the black father explaining to the Steve Martin character in the movie, "The Jerk":

      "Now, son, this is shineola, and this is shit. You polish your boots with shineola, and you don't step in shit."

    33. Re:Egads!` by VivianC · · Score: 1

      Hmm.... I wonder which was harder to follow, Battlestar Gallactica or Galactica 1980?

      Can we please just all agree that Galactica 1980 didn't exist except for the one episode where they have Starbuck do the Enemy Mine ripoff?

      Thanks, I feel much better now.

      --
      Viv

      Gmail invites for ip
    34. Re:Egads!` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had one of the best times of my life spending a week in England. This Yankee has seen the Motherland and if someone would sponsor me, I would move there in a heartbeat.

      But no nation is complete without stupid people.

      BTW, thank you for "Blake 7", Douglas Adams, and most of all, Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

    35. Re:Egads!` by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      Christ. You should have narrated the show.

    36. Re:Egads!` by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      I never watch them.

      I watched them. Horrible spinoffs cause alcoholism.

      Did anyone like the Alien Nation series? Did anyone still like it when Sci-Fi saw fit to air it several times a day?

    37. Re:Egads!` by UrGeek · · Score: 1

      "The original "Battlestar Galactica" was not the worst science fiction show on TV but it was not good, not good at all."

      Thank you all for your good mods and comments.

      And you, you know who you are, I have to say that expressing one's honest opinion is *NOT* flamebaiting. I, sir, am no troll!

    38. Re:Egads!` by cubicleguy · · Score: 1
      Why the 13th colony decided to give up on technology after arriving on earth, I dunno.

      Couldn't find any dilithium crystals here, obviously. ;-)

    39. Re:Egads!` by jwilcox154 · · Score: 1

      Did the story arc ever explain why everyone spoke perfect English

      It must be the universal translators that Gene Roddenberry had installed on all T.V. sets for Star Trek. ;)

    40. Re:Egads!` by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      Good answer. I would have also accepted, "Because if they were speaking in perfect Lithuanian, the show would have made even less sense."

  8. In a related story... by Alan+Holman · · Score: 5, Funny

    In a related story, William Shatner wants people to watch ST:TNG, DS9, VOYAGER, and ENTERPRISE, because they're "da bomb."

    1. Re:In a related story... by daeley · · Score: 3, Funny

      Of course, Bill probably did a little too much LDS in the 60s.

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
    2. Re:In a related story... by NeoChichiri · · Score: 1

      That was Leonard actually...Bill's probably is that he wears a really bad hairpiece. heh

      --
      NeoChichiri
      http://www.neochichiri.net
    3. Re:In a related story... by daeley · · Score: 1

      Well, it was Bill that said Leonard was the one, so he may have been lying to cover his own sins. ;)

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
    4. Re:In a related story... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you need to get a clue, as in watching some Star Trek movie, maybe the one where they go to 20th century Earth to get a whale or something.

    5. Re:In a related story... by leshert · · Score: 1

      Of course, Bill probably did a little too much LDS in the 60s.

      Funny, he doesn't look Mormon...

      (+1 if you get the bad sci-fi movie reference)

    6. Re:In a related story... by Blackneto · · Score: 1

      Paraphrasing Spaceballs?

      --
      Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice...
    7. Re:In a related story... by NeoChichiri · · Score: 1

      This is true...course...it's more likely that they're BOTH guilty. :-)

      --
      NeoChichiri
      http://www.neochichiri.net
  9. Reverse psychology? by GreatOgre · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Best way to get people to do something is to tell them not to!

    1. Re:Reverse psychology? by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

      Best way to get people to do something is to tell them not to!

      Does the reverse also work? Let's try:

      Buy Windows! It's all integrated and driven by PowerPoint and Clippy to think for you.

    2. Re:Reverse psychology? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "Best way to get people to do something is to tell them not to!"

      DON"T PIRATE MUSIC! Yup! It works.

    3. Re:Reverse psychology? by pipingguy · · Score: 3, Funny


      Homer's brain: Use reverse psychology.
      Homer: Oh, that sounds too complicated.
      Homer's brain: Okay, don't use reverse psychology.
      Homer: Okay, I will!

    4. Re:Reverse psychology? by minusthink · · Score: 1

      Bart: You're absolutely right, Homer. We don't need a babysitter!
      Homer: [suspicious] Wait a second...
      [Pulls a paper from his pocket: "Always do the opposite of what Bart says"] Hmm...you kids _do_ need a babysitter!
      Bart: Blast that infernal card! [to Homer] _Don't_ give that card to me.
      Homer: Here you g -- [pulls back] No!

      thx to snpp.com

      --
      "when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.
    5. Re:Reverse psychology? by minusthink · · Score: 1

      [author's note: at the time of writing, I have no mod points]

      Ned: Well, tippety-top of the A.M. to very-good-body here. As chairman of the PTA, I am de-diddley-lighted to take over here and I think I can put the "pal" back in "principal".
      [everyone laughs]
      Chalmers: Heh heh, yeah. And I'll put the "super" back in "superintendent".
      [one person coughs]
      It's the same exact joke. What gives, Leo?

      --
      "when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.
  10. Any disrespect to the original is balanced out... by douglips · · Score: 4, Interesting

    by the fact that Starbuck is played by
    Katee Sackhoff.

    Yummy.

  11. Won't hurt that much. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    'if you are a person who really has a strict belief in the original, I would not advise that you watch this program. It'll hurt them.'

    "On the other hand," he continued, "If you really have a strict belief in the original, watching this probably won't make your life any worse."

    1. Re:Won't hurt that much. . . by FatherBusa · · Score: 1

      Anyone who describes their relationship to a television program as involving "strict belief" should probably stop watching television immediately.

    2. Re:Won't hurt that much. . . by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      'if you are a person who really has a strict belief in the original, I would not advise that you watch this program. It'll hurt them.'

      If you are someone that has a strict belief in the original, what's your secret of eternal youth? Its target group was 8-10 year olds. I was in primary school when I saw it, I was offended by its stupidity.

    3. Re:Won't hurt that much. . . by Erik+Fish · · Score: 1

      TV Death
      ST.PAUL, Minn. Aug. 25, 1979 (AP) -- The parents of a 15-year-old boy who jumped 200 feet to his death from a bridge after Battlestar Galactica was canceled say the boy's whole life was wrapped up in the television space show.

      "I hope we never ever see it on TV again, because it would just crush us," Dawn Seidel, the boy's stepmother, said Saturday.

      Eddie Seidel Jr. was buried Friday. He committed suicide in the pre-dawn darkness Wednesday after telling police from his perch on the High Bridge railing that he was upset that Battlestar Galactica had been dropped by the ABC network.

      "I talked about suing ABC or doing something," Mrs. Seidel said. "But my husband said to just leave things like they are and not make a big hassle out of it.

      "I know it's not their fault because they had the program."

      Like many a teen-age boy, Eddie was deeply absorbed with outer space subjects.

      For Eddie, said Mrs. Seidel, it meant a roomful of posters, magazines, plastic models and other paraphernalia about Battlestar Galactica.

      "They made a lot of money off him," she said. "He bought everything put on the market. He also took tape recordings of all the shows."

      Eddie's world was wrapped up in the programs he viewed in his own bedroom, on a TV set he bought.

      His father, Edward Seidel Sr., described Eddie as a sometimes brilliant boy who couldn't find enough in life to keep him interested.

      The father said he learned about four years ago the boy had been sniffing gas with friends so he sent him to a psychiatrist.

      "The psychiatrist said he was just kind of bored with life, that there was nothing here for him to excel in," said Seidel. "There was no real challenge here on this earth.

      His stepmother said he got Bs and B-pluses in school, and an occasional A, but that he was mostly bored with classes.

      Seidel said his son came home from his job as a supermarket stockboy about 5 p.m. Tuesday, apparently in good spirits.

      The boy went to his room to watch television. The family did not see him the rest of the night. When his 19-year-old sister, Crystal, passed Eddie's door later that night, she found a note -- his last will and testament. He had gone off on his motorbike.

      He told his parents in the note they'd find his body under the High Bridge, a half-mile, two-lane link between downtown St. Paul and the suburb of West St. Paul. The Seidels reached it about 10 minutes after Eddie had jumped and landed on ground beside the river.

      Seidel said when Eddie learned last spring that Battlestar Galactica was being canceled, he contacted the ABC network to ask officials to keep it on. The last rerun of the program was shown Aug. 5.

      "I really should have tried to get him into a gifted chldren type situation," Seidel said. "But it's too late to look back and say I should have."

      He said he didn't realize what an influence a TV program could have on his son.

      "I was never sure it did influence kids that bad, but now I'm convinced it does," he said.

  12. Yawn by SYFer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's been saying this for quite some time now (Google: olmos galactica purist).

    Clearly this is just PR. I wonder how many of the "purists" will actually tune out?

    Suckas.

    --
    "...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
    1. Re:Yawn by Tri0de · · Score: 4, Funny

      Both of them

      --
      "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts."
  13. At least he's brutally honest by SpriteGF · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I find it amusing that this new series takes on the name of an original series to draw that initial crowd of original Battlestar fans. He just might be doing the smart thing by lowering expectations. That way, the viewers will know exactly what to expect (i.e. not much) and they won't bitch and moan as much on the Internet afterwards on how bad this new series was, in their eye. Reverse psychology as a public relations tool? :: firastudios.com ::

    1. Re:At least he's brutally honest by Babbster · · Score: 1
      Not once did EJO indicate that he thought the miniseries was "bad." He simply says that people who are huge fans of the original and expect more of the same are going to be disappointed. Personally, I think that's a good thing. Even as a youngster watching the series I could think of ways the show could have been done better and I liked the show. On the other hand, as an adult, I now find the series completely unwatchable.

      Besides, if someone is going to remake a movie, TV series or anything else I want it to be different...maybe even better. I was already committed to recording BG on my handy-dandy ReplayTV, and this story does nothing to diminish my interest.

    2. Re:At least he's brutally honest by jmccay · · Score: 1

      Too bad your reverse psychology didn't work. The fans are bitching and complaining now, and they will be during and after the show. The message boards are usually full of complaints with new people deciding not to watch each week. The fans are also tellin all of their friends not to watch it too. There are A LOT of fans they even have an online role playing game for a few years now.
      What you don't realise is that a continuation of the original show has been proposed and almost came to light 2 times within the last 4 years. Eventually, the owners of the rights gave the idiot writer Moore all the freedom he wanted.

      --
      At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
  14. Reverse Psychology? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I WANT to see it damn it!

  15. that sound is more important than you are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that sound is more important than your entire life.

    and it will stop you from having an orgasm on the playboy channel.

  16. It will suck by Tailhook · · Score: 2, Insightful

    More "space opera" with the emphasis on opera. Lots of badly acted interpersonal drama with an occasional shoot-out. Why? Because no-name actors playing kissy face are cheaper in their first couple years than special effects.

    The Star Trek folks even figured out how to deal with the now-famous actor (read $$) problem. Cancel the series and start a new one. Frequently.

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    1. Re:It will suck by Raul654 · · Score: 3, Funny

      The Star Trek folks even figured out how to deal with the now-famous actor (read $$) problem. Cancel the series and start a new one. Frequently.

      I'm offended, but can't quite figure out where the error in that statement is

      --


      To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
      --E.C. Stanton
    2. Re:It will suck by miu · · Score: 1
      The Star Trek folks even figured out how to deal with the now-famous actor (read $$) problem. Cancel the series and start a new one. Frequently.

      If you pay the actors what they can now demand you could wind up with Buffy season 7. The world cannot risk that happening again.

      --

      [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
    3. Re:It will suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mapellegrini@comcast.net

    4. Re:It will suck by Maserati · · Score: 1

      Ok, the moderators really are on crack. This is insightful not just funny.

      --
      Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
    5. Re:It will suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you know? Your just a cheap lambo wannabe anyway...

  17. An obvious ploy... by the+darn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your Reverse-psychology-fu is useless against my hazy recollection of C-3PO wannabes with KITT eyes and creepy cyborg bear-things!

    --
    Ceci n'est pas un post.
  18. If only by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

    If only it would be released in a theater, then I could demand my money back..and sue for pain suffering...

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    1. Re:If only by pyrrho · · Score: 1

      that's how I felt about the real movie. I was just a kid and did like the series because I would like anything with a robot or computer or sci-fi of any type, a crappy movie would have been fine. It was the pilot and a couple episodes or something allong those lines. Scifi-ploitation.

      --

      -pyrrho

  19. After seeing the previews by Generic+Guy · · Score: 1

    I'm not interested in watching it, anyhow.

    --
    { - Generic Guy - }
  20. the reason the new one isn't pure by kaltkalt · · Score: 1

    is because it's full of rap music, product placement advertisements, gratuitous sex scenes (well those are okay), crappy dialogue, additional characters, and a new ending. just a hunch....

    --

    Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
    1. Re:the reason the new one isn't pure by sTalking_Goat · · Score: 1
      is because it's full of rap music, product placement advertisements, gratuitous sex scenes (well those are okay), crappy dialogue, additional characters, and a new ending. just a hunch...

      What?!! Thats it, the final straw...

      now I'm defintely watching it.

      --

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

    2. Re:the reason the new one isn't pure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As everyone knows, if there's any two things that go together, rap music and sci-fi are it!

      Oh, humanity, the, oh, oh, oh, oh, ugh.

    3. Re:the reason the new one isn't pure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Silly rabbit, rap doesn't go with anything.

    4. Re:the reason the new one isn't pure by yomegaman · · Score: 1

      Do yourself a favor and check out the "Deltron 3030" CD. You won't be sorry.

      --
      ...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
  21. What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Goldfinger7400 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I've often wondered why the Sci-FI channel goes to such incredible lengths to alienate what would be one of its key audiences, specifically, the Buck Rogers/escapism crowd. Fantasy-ish shows dealing with interesting issues through the use of cartoonish characters that serve as a foil for the seriousness of situations always seemed to be at the heart of science fiction for me. Yet when I turn on the Sci-Fi channel for some light entertainment, more often than not I'm greated with some awful, disturbing horror movie.

    Granted, these shows are cheap, but Sci-Fi got great ratings (i think) when they brought Star Trek to the network, proving that light entertainment is appreciated. So why the realism in a Battlestar Galactica show? Why the heck is Sci-Fi so dark?

    1. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by RobPiano · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I'll have to say is:

      SAVE FARSCAPE!

      Thank you,
      Rob

    2. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by coyote-san · · Score: 1

      Stargate SG-1 is currently the most popular show, by far, and is hardly lite fare.

      --
      For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
    3. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Sabalon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      AMEN!!! Crossing-Over? Scare Tactics?

      I understand that original programming is costly, though they seem to be doing good with Tremors, Stargate, Farscape, etc... even the Dune series were well done.

      But if they don't spend the money there, then what about re-running other shows...there is a huge list of both good and bad stuff that they could show. They have shown some things, others they haven't. (assuming that sci-fi also includes fantasy)

      ST: TNG, SeaQuest, Dr Who, Hercules, Xena, Highlander for some of the long running stuff that would fit.

      As for some shows they could probably get cheap that were one-series things: Battlestar Galactica, Otherworld, Automan, Wizards and Warriors, Space above and beyond, etc...

      There is a huge list I can't remember. I just looked at the schedule for next week, and they do have some shows in there I didn't expect, but lots of runs of old (ie cheap) shows like ST: TOS, Dark Shadows, Outer Limits, etc...

      They'd be better off with more variety.

      Oh well...I guess I'm in the minority or something and just cranky.

    4. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. I used to have digital cable just for Sci-Fi's Farscape, one of the last good sci-fi programs out there. They announced its cancellation and so I dropped digital cable. What good is a science fiction channel that lacks science fiction?

    5. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by feronti · · Score: 1

      Actually, several of the shows you listed were on Sci-Fi at one time or another:

      • SeaQuest (and the far inferior spin-off SeaQuest 2065 or whatever it was)
      • Space Above and Beyond (One of my personal favorites)
      • Battlestar Galactica (They showed the entire series from start to finish several times)

      The problem isn't necessarily the availability of the shows, but the fact that even the most dedicated fan can only watch the same show so many times before they just stop watching altogether.

    6. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Mr.+Piddle · · Score: 1

      ...Sci-Fi got great ratings (i think) when they brought Star Trek to the network...

      This must be the explanation behind the "New TNN". Granted, I don't mind at all being able to watch ST:TNG again, but having it come on right after WWE Smack Down is a bit disorienting.

      --
      Vote in November. You won't regret it.
    7. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're plushing over a by-gone era. Consumers today want gritty razor's edge kind of shows. SCI-Fi has to put out in order to compete against police/law/medical dramas, reality TV, and cable news shows.

      But looking back Sci-Fi has always had elements of horror in it and vice-versa. Consider the bulk of pulp fiction dramas from the 20's-40's or the sci-fi/horror flicks from the 50's. As I remember it wasn't until the late 60s and early 70s that a clear demarcation line was drawn between horror and sci-fi. The Omega Man probably doesn't count though. The 80s were mixed, and the 90s were just plain boring ;)

    8. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by ElGuapoGolf · · Score: 1

      Man, you're so right on...

      Would it kill them to show Doctor Who? They could run episodes for at least a decade, if they started with the old black and white ones.

      And yes, I know, the special effects were special in that "riding the short bus" kinda way. Okay, they were awful. But you had good plots and multi episode story lines (hell, multi-year story lines).

    9. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Ooh, flashback. I remember in the year 2 B.T. (Before Tivo -- that would be 1998) Babylon 5 had just moved to TNT and they were showing all the old episodes (many of which I had missed) so I recorded them on videotape. There was some wrestling show that came on right after B5, so when I came home, that's what channel was always selected. And there are wrestling matches at the ends of many of my B5 tapes.

      It's a serious contrast in writing styles and quality. B5 was much better written than WCW wrestling.

    10. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      Fantasy-ish shows dealing with interesting issues through the use of cartoonish characters that serve as a foil for the seriousness of situations always seemed to be at the heart of science fiction for me.

      No, a thousand times no.

      While stuff like that can be good (as Dr Who, Red Dwarf and other British series -- if the Americans have ever done anything watchable on those lines I must have missed it), the heart of (TV) SF is stuff like Babylon 5, and in eras past, The Twilight Zone, some Star Trek (TOS) and mostly serious drama like these. The equation of science-fiction with "cartoonish" is teeth-grinding, and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    11. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You want the "core" audience -- "journey to the center of the earth" -- for the sheer aura of fun

    12. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by jmorris42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      AMEN!

      Preach it brother!

      This is a question I have had for years, why doesn't Sci_Fi channel actually run Science Fiction? Take a look at their schedule for a week and count up the hours actually running things that qualify as Sci-Fi and it comes up pretty damned short.

      Freddy, Jason and Chuckie are NOT Sci-Fi.

      Most of the other slasher flicks are NOT Sci-Fi either.

      John Edwards is NOT Sci-Fi.

      Beyond Belief is NOT Sci-Fi. (Having an actor from a Trek franchise as host does not make a show Sci-Fi.)

      In Search of... is NOT SCi-Fi.

      Scare Tactics is NOT Sci-Fi.

      Braveheart is NOT Sci-Fi. (Yes they actually ran it.)

      And I'm sorry, I want someone to explain how Dark Shadows is Sci-Fi. Being a cult classic doesn't make a show Sci-Fi. Let some other channel run it.

      --
      Democrat delenda est
    13. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sci-fi Channel is Dead! Long live Sci-fi Channel!

    14. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Automan was pretty pathetic, though probably very popular amongst the /. crowd.

      In case some of you haven't seen it, its a rip-off of "Tron hologram meets Knight Rider" that has an all powerful sidekick called "Cursor" who can draw him any random thing he wants (fast car... money... etc) and it works in real life.

      Otherworld was absolutely terrific though!!

    15. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by blincoln · · Score: 1

      Would it kill them to show Doctor Who? They could run episodes for at least a decade, if they started with the old black and white ones.

      Space, the Canadian equivalent of Sci-Fi, made that mistake while I was going to school up there. The ratings ended up being so poor that they never got to the colour ones.

      IMO only the most hardcore Dr. Who fans are interested in watching the early episodes. They're *so* drawn-out and tedious, like a soap opera set in space.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    16. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Fesh · · Score: 1

      So, by that logic, Event Horizon actually is a Sci-Fi flick...? That just doesn't work for me.

      --
      --Fesh
      Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
    17. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're not in the minority... SciFi has new profit-driven programming decisions.

      Basically the realm for the oddball intellectual crowd is now targeted for:
      low-budget self-produced (CHEAP), dumbed-down (ACCESSIBLE, especially to the "I hate sci-fi but my 'other' is watching this").

      This is why Lexx was killed IMHO. They also killed off FarScape before its fifth year because it was both expensive AND was about to be available for syncication.

      You'll also see a heavier "reproduction" theme in SciFi shows now... this is to pacify the women (not all women..) in the audience who DO NOT LIKE SCIFI but immediately perk up to the "i want a baybeee" storyline. This helps SciFi deliver a broader demographic, and pull in commercials for cleaning products, etc.

      BTW that is not intended to label all women as having breeder brains (I found one who doesn't).

      And besides, LOTS of shows "throw a bone" to secondary audiences... for example, scantily clad women to catch a guys attention (when the story might generally suck).

    18. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Saad+M · · Score: 1

      I agree. After Sci-Fi stop showing Babylon5 here in the UK I kinda gave up on the channel as a whole.

    19. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by heli0 · · Score: 1

      "ST: TNG"

      Viacom (MTV/Nickelodeon/VH1/TNN/CMT/MTV2/TV Land/Home Team Sports/Midwest Sports Channel/Showtime/The Movie Channel/FLIX/Comedy Central/Noggin/Sundance) owns the syndication rights for that show.

      --
      Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
    20. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Sabalon · · Score: 1

      That is true. Though I think they'd be better off having run each show once a week as opposed to several episodes a day.

    21. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Sabalon · · Score: 1

      Some of them like "The Chase" could probably appear to a wider audience.

      But some of them were just so drawn out. The Web Planet was one - just constant being captured and escaping from one side to another. And The War Games - 12 episodes of running from one Time Zone to another.

      I think that the problem isn't really that the stories aren't good, or that they are too soap operish - just that the way they are shot is so different from the way shows are done today.

      They are missing the xTreme closeups, the radical camera moves, 500 cuts in 20 seconds during an action scene that are so common today. Instead they concentrated more on the story.

      Even the later ones were like that. Less focus on the action. That'll make it hard to appeal to younger audiences. But if they were to run them, here is one older audience (with a wallet) that would pay attention.

    22. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      John Edwards is NOT Sci-Fi.
      ---->

      It is fiction, at least...

    23. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by gregstumph · · Score: 1

      Space: 1999
      UFO

      'nuff said

    24. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by BrynM · · Score: 1
      This is a question I have had for years, why doesn't Sci_Fi channel actually run Science Fiction?
      The same reason MTV doesn't play music videos: They are done with their hook and now have the luxury of milking their reputation. It hasn't hurt MTV very much at all.
      --
      US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
    25. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      That's the problem with categorizing things. I'd say Event Horizon is Horror with a Sci-Fi setting. I'd say the same thing of Alien, but there's elements of other genres too.

    26. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      In Search of... is NOT SCi-Fi.
      Oh, I don't know. It's certainly not sci-fact.
    27. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Moofie · · Score: 1

      That just doesn't make sense to me. If people want to watch gritty police dramas, they'll watch gritty police dramas. Why is every cable channel competing for the EXACT SAME VIEWERSHIP? Why can't there be some, I dunno, DIVERSITY in the offerings? Why can't Sci Fi do something different?

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    28. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      It's the same demographic many of these channels are after. What it is, 20-26 year olds? I'm a TLC addict myself, but that channel probably appeals more to women than men anyway. The intellectual set have the science/history channels. Sci-Fi channel seems to appeal to the older crowd - at minimum the Gen X'ers, so Sci-Fi is probably doing a good job at doing something different. I just know that there are soo many more movies in the horror/sci-fi section at Blockbusters than what is regularly shown on Sci-Fi. I wish I could see more of those titles. But even those flicks were heavy on horror. Galaxy of Terror for example, or Saturn 3.... Maybe it shouldn't be called Sci-Fi channel?

      Is Mystery Science Theater 3000 still running?

    29. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Moofie · · Score: 1

      I just don't understand why there isn't SOME kind of market for the sorts of things I like. Am I crazy to think that, gosh! Some people actually like science fiction stuff? Is there not a market to be served here?

      The problem is one of scope. Sci Fi shouldn't be trying to compete against the super-stations with zillions of dollars to throw at programming. Since Sci Fi is OWNED by those superstations, I don't understand what "competition" could even exist! Sci Fi should be competing against other ways I want to spend my time. Right now, I'd far rather read a book than bother myself to even find out what crap they're broadcasting at the moment. If I thought there was a non-zero chance that they were showing something I might like to watch, I might just turn on the TV and find out.

      Yeah, I might be a member of a small demographic, but I can't be the ONLY real science fiction fan out there.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    30. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by mfrank · · Score: 1

      Got UFO on DVD, Space 1999 is on the list.

      In a while there won't even be a reason to get basic cable :)

    31. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by tukkayoot · · Score: 1
      A lot of the shows you mention were the shows they played back when I actually watched the channel.

      So, yeah, you're right.

    32. Re:What is Sci-Fi's core audience? by Sabalon · · Score: 1

      Figures - I missed their good times cause the cable company I had at the time took forever to pick it up and then had it as part of some extra package that was another $10/mo

      By the time I get M2 or VH1 Classic, it'll be crap too.

  22. Wait! No more long council meetings? No more ... by burgburgburg · · Score: 4, Funny
    slow space convoy shots? No more the same ten space battle sequences again and again and again and again? No more Lorne Green and John Calicos and "By Your Command"? No more figuring out ways of running away faster? No Muffit, the robotic daggit?!?

    I just might watch.

  23. That is NOT what he said. by sakusha · · Score: 4, Informative

    Olmos said that FANBOYS of the old series should not watch the new series because they backstory was thrown out and a new one created. He never said people in GENERAL should not watch it.

    Oops, I think I multi posted this by accident. Sorry.

    1. Re:That is NOT what he said. by Moofie · · Score: 1

      If it's not going to be Battlestar Galactica, why call it Battlestar Galactica? If they're not going to follow the original themes and characters and (at least to some degree) production design, why not do a new franchise?

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    2. Re:That is NOT what he said. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Because they'd have to spend money on advertising. With the BG name they get millions of viewers to tune in - even if half of them walk away saying, 'blech', they've watched the commercials.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    3. Re:That is NOT what he said. by Moofie · · Score: 1

      But, somebody had to say "Hey! Let's make sure the fans don't see anything they like!" What motivated this? I mean, if it sucks, but it sucked like BG used to, at least I'd be able to get a nostalgia jag. But, if it a) sucks and b) doesn't let me relive my childhood, you get Phantom Menace. Where's the percentage in making bad stuff? I mean, i understand that George was on an ego trip, but some flunky writing for BG wouldn't.

      I just don't get it.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    4. Re:That is NOT what he said. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Bonnie Hammer has been putting the smackdown on just about all the SciFi programs with swashbuckling male leads (Invisible Man, Farscape, etc.). Starbuck fits the pattern. I think this is political correctness, not market research.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  24. I'm sorry... by bc90021 · · Score: 1

    ...but unless Dirk Benedict is in it, it just won't be Battle Star Galactica.

    1. Re:I'm sorry... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      No no no...

      We need Dirk to concentrate on a much anticipated new A-Team series.

    2. Re:I'm sorry... by toriver · · Score: 1

      Well you could always play the game instead - he's there.

  25. More proof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    seems like more proof that creativity is dead in media, people need to take more risks to create new things, i dont wanner see more re-(runs|makes|mixes) of reality TV,pop idol,(pokey|transformer)mercials for the next 30years

    do we really wanner stay as bunch of pussies trawling 70's film catalogs looking for remake opportunitys and constructing short term boy bands instead of investing in long term talent ?.

    no wonder people would rather steal/copy/download media for free than hand over their $$ to only be treated like dickheads and rewarded with more of the same, (MP|RI)AA need to get their members to buck up their ideas or none of them will cease to exist in 10years.

    reminds me of an old retail saying:
    "the customer is always right"

    is anyone listening or do we have to wait till the media industries are dead before anyone will hear us and reconsider their position ?.

    1. Re:More proof by PhoenixK7 · · Score: 1

      Remakes have been a staple of human entertainment for MANY years. I would go so far as to say a majority of movies were based on a book, play, musical, opera, or some other dramatic/literal presentation.

      Permutation defines entertainment of all sorts. Pretty much every single general story type was discovered and exploited millenia ago.

      That said, reality tv, american idol, etc are crap. They are cheap to produce, and they rarely disappoint the masses. They almost never build much of a highly supportive fanbase, because there's little to them. You can flip on the TV and instantly know what's going on

  26. Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by MsGeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm curious...I wonder if the mythos of the show, which were basically cribbed from the Book Of Mormon and also may or may not have included some items of Mormon dogma that the LDS folks wanted to keep secret, will remain intact in the remake?

    It is interesting to note that the LDS Church did not sue ABC over Battlestar Galactica. Then again, the Super Seekrit Skripturez of the Church of Scientology are very well protected under the Sonny Bono Act, where the Book of Mormon passed into the Public Domain generations ago. If someone cribbed the bizarro stuff that passes for "higher revelations" in the CoS and used them as inspiration for a SF movie/TV show, the one who had the temerity to do so would probably be legal dead meat. Not to mention OTHER possible ramifications...[shudder]

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
    1. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

      Having read the script for the first three hours, I can tell you that any aspect of the LDS stuff that was embedded in the original is either completely eliminated, or only present in as much as it has to be for the core concept (fleeing the Cylon extermination fleets). It is very close to the original Pilot, if you discount the "council of 12/President, lost tribe" stuff.

      I'm actually looking forward to downloading it of USEnet (I will not honor SciFi channel with my ad-watching viewership since they cancelled Farscape), as it looks like it could be very good, if produced correctly.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    2. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Teancom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As an active, temple-going Mormon, and someone whose seen the original BG movie, I had to have the connections pointed out to me, and even then it was just surface stuff like calling the council at the beginning of the movie "The Quorum of the Twelve" (or something like that, it's been a year or so and my memory is hazy). It was more along the lines of insider jokes for fellow mormons to laugh at (the writers were mormon). Either way, it was *not* some sort of "expose" of the "secret Mormon dogma". There is nothing to sue over, or worry about...

      Oh, and the people that had the temerity to base a work on the CoS were Cos members themselves. And the results *were* horrific, but only to the audience. Unless you *liked* "Battlefield Earth"?!?!?

    3. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Talk about misinformation. Glen A. Larson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and did what a lot of writers do - write about what you know. The church itself had nothing to do with the production of the show or have any input. There are several BG FAQs floating around that do a good job of explaining any Mormon connections. You should do yourself a favor and do some research before posting.

    4. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by drayzel · · Score: 2

      Yeha, ya know... I've read the Book of Mormon, I don't remember any parts about space ships and phaser gun thingies. Kind of wish there was though, it would have made church a whole lot more enjoyed as a young boy!

      If you havn't noticed by now we Mormons aren't all that secretive about our religion. There is whole bunch of young guys in suits, ties and name tags all over the world trying to tell people all about it.

      My only real memory of BSG was how easy it was to make the bad guys ships with two paper plates and a magic marker. I'd run around all day making those stupid Cylon noises.

      Speeking of Sci-Fi and Mormons. Their was a great Sci-Fi spoof called "Space Elders" on a local radio station a few years back. Two Mormon missionaries would travel all over space, running into characters from Star Wars, BSG, Star Trek, and just about every other sci-fi movie out there. IIRC, the series ended after they converted the BORG and the collective then converted the rest of the galaxy.

      ~Z

    5. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      I've read the Book of Mormon, I don't remember any parts about space ships and phaser gun thingies.

      I guess you missed the FAQ on the "Galactica Code" and how, when applied to the Book of Mormon, reveals the true origins of Man, God and that Moroni guy.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    6. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Deagol · · Score: 1
      If you havn't noticed by now we Mormons aren't all that secretive about our religion. There is whole bunch of young guys in suits, ties and name tags all over the world trying to tell people all about it.

      Well... true, the LDS folks peddle their religion like Kirby vacuum cleaners, and they have one hell of a huge, friendly sales force. However, there are things that aren't well known, and the Church gets touchy when reminded about certain topics.

      Take the Tanner lawsuit. Very simliar to the bogus Co$ claims of copyright infringement. Teaching people how to get on the Church's "do not call list" (so to speak) doesn't exactly warrant a lawsuit, in spite of the references to the secret Handbook.

      Then there's the Mountain Meadows Massacre thing. Yeah, it's not really a secret, but I know a lot of LDS folk who are quite ignorant about this chapter of their history.

      Don't get me wrong, I have nothing in particular against the LDS Church -- no more than most other religious establishments, I guess. At least the Vatican actually apologized pretty recently about the crusades and some of their bloody history. Good ol' Gordie may acknowledge the Massacre, but as far as I know, the Church has yet to admit fault. That whole celestial afterlife thing is kinda weird, and the genealogy thing freaks me out as much as the US Census. But they's good people. ;-)

      However, being a Utah resident, I resent the church's strong influence over pretty much everything.

      Speeking of Sci-Fi and Mormons. Their was a great Sci-Fi spoof called "Space Elders" on a local radio station a few years back. Two Mormon missionaries would travel all over space, running into characters from Star Wars, BSG, Star Trek, and just about every other sci-fi movie out there. IIRC, the series ended after they converted the BORG and the collective then converted the rest of the galaxy.

      Yeah, that was a funny show. I liked X-96 Files better. One of the better radio stations in the area.

    7. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Gumshoe · · Score: 1

      Serious question: What has Battlefield Earth got to do with Scientology, apart from Ron Hubbard? Are there scientology themes in the book/movie that I don't know about?

      I have no time for scientology (or any other religion for that matter) but Ron Hubbard has always struck me as a pretty good author and I see no reason to ignore his SF just because I dislike the dianetic and scientology movements -- so many people seem to recoil at his name and dismiss his fictional work simply because of the association. In fact, before Hubbard wrote "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" for Amazing Stories (which Campbell foolishly published), Hubbard was one of the more popular SF writers.

      How does the existance of lunatic psychology theories detract from his works of Science Fiction?



      (I want to make it absolutely clear that I'm not a raging Hubbard fan. I just happen to think he's a pretty good example of the Golden Age SF author.)

    8. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've read the book, but not being a CoS member (haven't read Dianetics either), I can't be certain there aren't some CoS concepts alluded to in the book, but if so - they are far from obvious. No "e-meter" stuff going on in the book and it didn't turn up in the movie either despite how badly they butchered the storyline.

    9. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by ubugly2 · · Score: 1

      "If someone cribbed the bizarro stuff that passes for "higher revelations" in the CoS and used them as inspiration for a SF movie/TV show, the one who had the temerity to do so would probably be legal dead meat. Not to mention OTHER possible ramifications...[shudder]" I thought the movie THEY LIVE covered it pretty well..

    10. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by John+Harrison · · Score: 1
      You are comparing the Mountain Meadows Massacre with the entire history of the Catholic Church and saying that the Vatican comes out on top from your point of view? The church just did a full dig there to document the whole thing. They could have just left it buried.

      The Tanner lawsuit doesn't even approach the amount of litigation that Co$ has caused. It was a minor blip.

      True, if you are Mormon and don't live in Utah, you wouldn't have heard of these, since the Boston Globe (for instance) isn't likely to care.

    11. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by stwrtpj · · Score: 1
      Ron Hubbard has always struck me as a pretty good author

      Certainly Scientology's teachings read like science fiction at any rate.

      But you do have a point. I read Battlefield Earth some time ago, before I knew anything about the evils of Scientology. He's not the best author by far. Much of the book is a bit formulaic. But it kept me interested because I wanted to know how the story turned out. The physics in the book came up a bit short, but other than that, it was not bad.

      Now unless I'm really dense (and it has been a long time since I read the book), I did not recall any Scientology tenets in the book. I think the book predated all that, but don't quote me on that. The movie, well ... it reeked, but more because it had a stupid screenplay, awful acting, bad makeup/costumes and John Travolta.

      --
      Karma: Frotzed (mostly due to the Frobozz Magic Karma Company)
    12. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by AeternitasXIII · · Score: 1

      Glen Larson, the primary guy behind Battlestar Galactica (and Knight Rider), is a member of the LDS. LDS didn't go after the show because Glen probably had their tacit approval. After all what better way to spread the faith than have some of its harder to swallow elements enter into the public consciousness through a highly hyped TV show.

    13. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by heli0 · · Score: 1

      What has Battlefield Earth got to do with Scientology,

      It IS scientology. Scientology is based on space aliens attacking earth and cave men flying space ships to fight them.

      Read about their nonsense here: http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/

      --
      Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
    14. Re:Gratuitous Mormon Content, anyone? by Gumshoe · · Score: 1
      Scientology is based on space aliens attacking earth and cave men flying space ships to fight them.


      Is it ?! I didn't realise that. It sounds very Von Daniken TBH. I should give Von Daniken his due though, and say that he hasn't made a religion out of his beliefs, only a themepark.
  27. Translation by Nova+Express · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Despite thousands of manhours spent honing the concept, we were unable to make it as suckey as the original. We apologize for this, as we know that the medicore acting, idiotic scripts, irritaing kid and robot, and repetitive battle scenes were integral to making Battlestar Galactica what it was, but they just set the bar too low for us to crawl under. Again, we apologize, and we'll be using all the skills Hollywood is known for to make sure the series becomes more wretched and unwatchable as time goes on, climaxing in the premier of Galactica 2005. Thank you."

    Maybe if they kept the theme music and threw every other "classic" element away...

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

    1. Re:Translation by miu · · Score: 1
      Maybe if they kept the theme music and threw every other "classic" element away...

      But will they still use those ridiculous time measurements? I haven't seen the show in 20+ years so I'm a little fuzzy on the what they were.

      Or will they show that same fighter launch sequence over and over?

      My guess is that the show will contain a couple tributes/gibes to the original and ignore it other than than that (a la the non-explantion of old Klingons vs. new Klingons in Star Trek).

      --

      [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
    2. Re:Translation by sammy+baby · · Score: 1

      The phrase that I recall is "Just a senton!"

      Side note about the repeated sequences - the network put a big budget squeeze on the series, which was incredibly expensive to shoot (you try hiring ILM to do special effects for a weekly series, and see what it does to your wallet). So you'd see not only the same launches, but the very same combat sequences, with a Colonial Viper blowing up a Cylon... uh... ship, and flying through the debris, from exactly the same angle, over and over again.

    3. Re:Translation by red+floyd · · Score: 1

      Give me a centom or two, and I'll figure out the time unit translation!

      --
      The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
    4. Re:Translation by nhavar · · Score: 1

      Never EVER underestimate exactly how bad Sci-fi channel can suck. EVER. Think that they can't top the suckiness of the original try

      Tremors the Series, NOW SHOWING 'The Arrival 2' (since the first one didn't suck nearly enough), Dune, Children of Sucking Dune, Scare Tactics, sucking for showing Braveheart ON SCI-FI!

      The suck award goes to Sci-fi channel for pullin' out all the stops and finding every single giant reptile/bug/sea-critter movie ever made and playing them relentlessly as well as every teen slasher horror flick. Now I know what horror truly is - TV execs without a clue as to who their fanbase is.

      --
      "Do not be swept up in the momentum of mediocrity." - anon
    5. Re:Translation by grumpygrodyguy · · Score: 1

      Maybe if they kept the theme music and threw every other "classic" element away...

      Funny post, but please refer to the above poster's comment as to why the originals were better.

      --
      The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
  28. Don't talk that way about one of Canada's by burgburgburg · · Score: 4, Funny
    Finest Shakespearean Actors!!!

    Plus he'll get Hoss to beat you up.

    1. Re:Don't talk that way about one of Canada's by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      He's dead, Jim.

    2. Re:Don't talk that way about one of Canada's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're both dead, I believe.

  29. It can only get better by Sabalon · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Face it - as much as I have fond memories of the original, it was something hacked together to be a running series to have lasers becaue star wars did.

    Overall, it was kinda cheesy and almost a family show. (Acutally as I remember, they had a lot of stuff crammed into that one season) As I remember, a lot of time with Boxey and Daggit. They took this to the next level with Battlestar 1980.

    If the sci-fi version cuts out some of the cheese and makes a darker galactica, more power to them. For a rag-tag, fugitive fleet, they seemed pretty well off.

    As long as they have the original music, it can't be bad :)

    1. Re:It can only get better by Rxke · · Score: 3, Funny

      ...As long as they have the original music, it can't be bad :) OOOOOOWWWWW!!!!! that hurt! I can still remember, even as i watched the original series as a snotty nosed 10 somewhat years old, cringing when i saw the scenes of their 'parties' That made me really mad, like this is the future, all metallicky-silvery hi-tech stuf, and they are dancing on some kinda waterded down muzak disco stuff, 'dancing' with stupid colored err... tubes in their hands, boy oh boy, was i pissed when i saw that, it was sooooo bad. Of course, now, seeing where the music bizz is heading, these days, maybe they WERE right.... /shudder/

    2. Re:It can only get better by Rakarra · · Score: 1
      They took this to the next level with Battlestar 1980.

      For heaven's sake, don't even mention "that show" by name.

  30. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the Felgercarb?

    1. Re:WTF? by ethaz · · Score: 1

      It's spelled feldergarb and that means "shit" as in excrement.

    2. Re:WTF? by SEWilco · · Score: 1
      Felgercarb!

      That's the proper presentation for the topic.

      "Felgercarb"? On the show it was pronounced as "Feldercarb". That must be a soft "g", as in "genius".

  31. bad/not bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wouldn't abandon all hope yet.. Face it, the original was quite horrible anyway.

  32. Actually by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

    I actually don't mind the remake of Transformers. It's ok. The H-Man remake is god-awful. I also noticed a remake of Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles on Fox the other weekend. Didn't see enough to form an opinion either way. But it appears to be darker than the original cartoon series.

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    1. Re:Actually by Exatron · · Score: 4, Interesting
      The He-Man remake has been better than the original in every conveivable way.

      Transformers Armada is atrocious. Half the time Armada's writers can't bother to get the characters' names right, the animation gives new meaning to the word cheap, and the writers spend so much time hinting at "epic" storylines that the series effectively goes nowhere. As far as remakes or sequels to the original Transformers go, this one is at the bottom of the barrel. Expecting another G1 or Beast Wars is probably asking for too much, but at this point I'll take Beast Machines or Robots in Disguise over the Armada cartoon.

      The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon is mostly based on the original Mirage comic, which is why it seems darker than the original cartoon.

      --
      "I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
      "Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
    2. Re:Actually by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      Whoa - there's a comic-faithful version of TMNT? This I gotta see.

      For the record, I liked Beast Machines. Some of the eps were weak (like blowing up cybertron every 3 episodes) but overall I enjoyed it a lot. I felt the characters were much better developed (Primal becoming more and more of a space-cadet while Cheetor has to take command more).

    3. Re:Actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Waspinator was the whole reason to watch Beast Wars & Beast Machines.

    4. Re:Actually by Sevn · · Score: 3, Informative

      In the original comic, the turtles were almost as
      bad as shredder. They'd kill a lot of innocent
      people and utterly destroy private property to get
      at him and it ROCKED. God I hope when you say
      it's darker, they captured the feel of the comic
      perfectly.

      --
      For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
    5. Re:Actually by Chicane-UK · · Score: 1

      I had the misfortune to catch Transformers Armada on childrens morning television here in the UK about a month or two back...

      Its early, I just woke up, I flicked the TV on and I see Transformers and think "My god, this must be the new Transformers series.. this has to be worth watching!" - about 3 minutes later I can't bear to watch any more. The artwork was nice but the animation was awful, the voice acting was rubbish, and I couldn't even follow the plot.

      I just wish they would just clean up and re-run the original stuff, and re-release the movie at the cinemas.. those cartoons were excellent, and the movie was fantastic - I know i'd love to go and see the movie at the cinema cause I missed it when it first came out!

      --
      "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
    6. Re:Actually by penginkun · · Score: 1

      Well, you know there have been lots of Transformers series over the years. To understand this you need to understand that it's anime. Anime series often do this-rework the basics of the show from season to season. Things change. That's why Armada is so radically different from the original series. It's from Japan, and in Japan what sells right now is monster raising/collecting, hence the minicons.

      And you DO know it's a kid's show, RIGHT? It's not meant for adults. The dialogue is pretty silly. If it fails to please you in the same way the original did, maybe that's because you've grown up and your tastes have changed.

    7. Re:Actually by Rares+Marian · · Score: 1

      No it's beacuse the original was of 15 year old level, and 8 year olds were watching it. Now it's 8 year old level and 25 years olds are watching it.

      Smart 8 year olds loved it because it was smarter than the other 8 year old compatible cartoons, also known as commercials in disguise.

      --
      The message on the other side of this sig is false.
    8. Re:Actually by PsionicMan · · Score: 1

      Look, I love Transformers just as much as anyone else--hell, I've got the season 1 dvd set and will get more when I have some, you know, money--but it's downright silly to claim that Transformers wasn't another "commercial in disguise". It was there to sell toys, same as all the others. The only difference is that it also happened to be really cool at the same time.

      --

    9. Re:Actually by penginkun · · Score: 1

      Huh? We talking about the same show? The original was written for 8 year olds too. But 15 year olds were watching it.

      Cartoons in America are regularly aimed at preteen boys, except for the obviously girly stuff like My Little Pony and Care Bears.

      I suppose next you're going to tell me GI Joe was aimed at ROTC candidates. ;)

    10. Re:Actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, I don't know which comic you read, but in the Eastman and Laird series, the real series...the turtles did not kill innocent people.

      They did however each have very distinct personalities and Raphael had serious issues with his violent tendencies.

      Everyone they killed deserved it. They never just randomly killed pedestrians or anything.

      Go back and re-read the series.

      Casey Jones was a fucking psychopath who enjoyed Cagney and Lacey for christ sakes.

      The dark and gritty images of the original were very strongly influenced by Cerebus.

    11. Re:Actually by Blackneto · · Score: 1

      I thought that the H-Man remake was using the original scripts but just updated the Animation?

      --
      Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice...
  33. New Galactica is the Cylon "Why We Fight" by joneshenry · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The old Battlestar Galactica suffered in comparison to Star Wars because the television series could give no hope that the heroes would win. The heroes were therefore losers. On the other hand the constraints of network television story telling demanded that the enemy Cylons, at least the normal soldiers, be portrayed as being ridiculously inept and incompetent, to be swept away like flies in single combat when the heroes used their innate ability. Both sides were portrayed as losers.

    Decades have passed and United States audiences willing to watch science fiction have been exposed to anti-heroes in the mass media, from the movies to TV shows such as the Sopranos to WWE pro wrestling. The anti-hero is almost a norm, and it is expected for the weak to be continuously humiliated.

    Now is the right time to re-image the Galactica story. Instead of network television having to cater to mass tastes, the Sci Fi Channel can concentrate on a smaller niche, a niche that is quite comfortable with WWE or reality show entertainment.

    When I read purported leaks of the Galactica storyline by Ron Moore, I saw that Moore had solved all of the problems posed by the constraints on the original series. What Moore has done is to understand that while the supposed heroes are required to fill up time on the screen, the real stars of the series are the Cylons. Victims in modern television are no more to be pitied than the people trampled in a Japanese monster movie. The story of Galactica has never been about the humans, it should have been, and Moore has remade it to be, about the rise and victory of the new dominant species, the new top predator.

    Many will criticize the ridiculous and humiliating portrayal of humans in the new Galactica series. What they fail to see is that we should watch the story as if it were told from the Cylons' perspective. The new series will examine why humans are inferior and why Cylons are obligated to wage total war to eliminate human evil.

    Root for the true good guys of Galatica--the Cylons.

    1. Re:New Galactica is the Cylon "Why We Fight" by balthan · · Score: 1

      the Sci Fi Channel can concentrate on a smaller niche

      That "can" should read: "could, but most definately won't,".

    2. Re:New Galactica is the Cylon "Why We Fight" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whatever it is you're smoking, I'd like some too.

    3. Re:New Galactica is the Cylon "Why We Fight" by FatherBusa · · Score: 5, Funny

      The new series will examine why humans are inferior and why Cylons are obligated to wage total war to eliminate human evil.

      Yes, and I think the general reaction of the Cylons should be one of insoucience. Rather than getting all worked up about "human evil," they should simply have a meeting in which they decide that the only reasonable response to this problem is the genocidal elimination of the human race.

      The point of series then becomes the preposterous striving of the human characters in the face of this perfunctory act of bureaucratic expediency.

    4. Re:New Galactica is the Cylon "Why We Fight" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Cylons weren't incompetent...they were just lousy shots. You try hitting something with your only eye bouncing back and forth in your head!

      Anyway, I liked them. They were shiny and mean and had sinister voices and manta-like spaceships...all of which I suspect will be swept away in a misguided effort to be arty.
      BG was never art. It is a space opera. Lots of spaceships blowing up. Killer robots. Damsels in distress. Jane Seymour. Bring it on.

      I forgot my point.

    5. Re:New Galactica is the Cylon "Why We Fight" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The new series will examine ... why Cylons are obligated to wage total war to eliminate human evil."

      You mean they're going to say they have to rid the universe of human weapons of mass destruction? :-)

  34. Some other links by ethaz · · Score: 1

    There are some other stories on this press conference like this one.

  35. In other news... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 1

    Sean Connery warns people not to view LXG unless they want to get into a fight with the manager about getting a refund.

    Jennifer Connely advises taking some NoDoze or at least a double cappucino before attempting to view the Hulk.

    and Johnnie Depp warns ladies not to see Pirates of the Caribbean unless you want to fall in love with in all over again since you just recently got over your obsession with him after viewing Chocolate for the 20th time.

    1. Re:In other news... by wfbush · · Score: 1

      ...and Arnie warns people not to see T3 unless they are prepared to choke to death on the incredibly lame ending...

  36. Classy move by infonography · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Hollywood is out of ideas, to borrow a phrase from Fark. Even if he's just trying to head off nitpicking from critics the previews I've seen are rather lackluster. DUNE sucked, and the killed off Farscape. Beyond that the SciFi Channel needs to get over it's fear of Anime. I realize they are trying not to swamp the channel with Animated (but really cool) stuff and turn into a Cartoon Network knockoff. However if they keep trotting out RICHARD GRIECO someone will step in and take their nitch.

    Tech TV's Anime Unleashed is trying really hard and getting out the Channel for IT Nerds image.

    The SciFi Channel is fast becoming 'The place bad programing goes to die'

    --
    Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
    1. Re:Classy move by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      Agreed - you Americans are (were?) lucky - in Canada, we have the Space channel, and that description "The place bad programing goes to die" hits the nail right on the head. I hope your Sci-Fi doesn't become the same.

    2. Re:Classy move by Comsn · · Score: 1

      except Crest of the Stars and Silent Mobius are some horrible animes'. at least scifi was playing Project A-Ko and some other campy stuff...

      channel for IT nerds? with shows like the screensavers? they need a more advanced computing show, or one that doesent revolve around case mods...

      anyways, i'm waiting for scifi to grab up Space Priecinct. http://us.imdb.com/Details?0108938

    3. Re:Classy move by AveryT · · Score: 1

      Having lived on both sides of the border and experienced both Space and the Sci-Fi channel I can state without reservation that Canada's Space channel is by far the superior product. Too bad that free trade does not extend to the cable industry because this is one Canadian channel that would kick it's US counterpart's butt if given the chance to compete.

    4. Re:Classy move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All I know is that Canada requires a certain level of Canadian participation (hiring people? programming decisions?) in the running of a TV channel. That's why a huge number of U.S. channels don't air up there.

    5. Re:Classy move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "DUNE sucked"

      As a fan of the books, I would have to say that Dune didn't suck. That abortion of a movie version in the 80s sucked, but the SciFi version was rather true to Herbert's original creation. Maybe you should turn the TV off and read a book sometime.

      I would have to agree about the Anime though. Robotech would be a perfect fit for the channel and would be a way to ease in the more complicated/adult anime.

    6. Re:Classy move by infonography · · Score: 1

      I lived in Seattle, which is almost the same thing. Uncut Lexx and a whole provence {Québec} full of frenchmen does tend to cut down on the prissy moralism of the broadcast stations like we got here.

      --
      Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
  37. Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by DavidBrown · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Think about it. The original concept of Battlestar Gallactica was great: Refugees struggling to escape annihalation and find a new home. But there were so many bad, bad things about BG that had nothing to do with the state of the art of special effects.

    Here are some examples:

    1. The damn robot dog.
    2. The incredibly stupid plots - even in the TV movie. Remember the insect aliens running a casino to entrap humans into becoming larva food? The first half of the TV movie was great, but it went way down-hill from there.
    3. The damn robot dog.
    4. The damn robot dog.
    5. Cheesy 70's hair. At least Boomer didn't have an afro, but that wasn't much help.
    6. The overall plot turning into something that wasn't all that different from Space 1999 - each episode was either a throw-away event where the BG either meets aliens or suffers a cylon attack, and then escapes at the end - usually after being betrayed by the aliens or fighting off another cylon attack. The episodes dealing with the plot to find Earth were mostly "Gilligan and the Castaways almost, but not quite, make it off the island again" episodes.

    The things I remember about BG that were cool was the tech - the whole idea of an aircraft carrier in space, the way-cool Cylon fighters and base-ships, the cylons themselves (except for the leader-bots, which were lame). Even the thinly-veiled Mormon philosophy was OK.

    There's just one thing I'm hoping for: No damn robot dog. If they have to have a robot, it had better be Crow-T-Robot, Tom Servo, or Bender. Or a damn robot dog that's very quickly taken over by the Cylons.

    Oh yeah, and make Starbuck a lesbian, too.

    --
    144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
    1. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hey, the damn robot dog owns :)

    2. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by anzha · · Score: 1

      6. The overall plot turning into something that wasn't all that different from Space 1999 - each episode was either a throw-away event where the BG either meets aliens or suffers a cylon attack, and then escapes at the end - usually after being betrayed by the aliens or fighting off another cylon attack. The episodes dealing with the plot to find Earth were mostly "Gilligan and the Castaways almost, but not quite, make it off the island again" episodes.

      Now if Braga would have just stopped going with that goofy morality episodes and actually worked on getting Janeway et al home...

      Oh. Wait. For a second there, I thought you were talking ST:Voyager...my bad.

      --
      Do you know why the road less traveled by is littered with the bones of the unwary?
    3. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      6. The overall plot turning into something that wasn't all that different from Space 1999 - each episode was either a throw-away event where the BG either meets aliens or suffers a cylon attack, and then escapes at the end - usually after being betrayed by the aliens or fighting off another cylon attack. The episodes dealing with the plot to find Earth were mostly "Gilligan and the Castaways almost, but not quite, make it off the island again" episodes.

      Gee, replace "Cylon" with "Borg" and I think you've just described ST:Voyager there. =P

    4. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by stwrtpj · · Score: 1

      You forgot a few:

      7. The damn robot dog.
      8. That goddamn robot dog. 9. Can we blow up the fucking robot dog? Please?

      --
      Karma: Frotzed (mostly due to the Frobozz Magic Karma Company)
    5. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Al+Al+Cool+J · · Score: 1
      The things I remember about BG that were cool was the tech - the whole idea of an aircraft carrier in space

      Really? I was into naval warfare as a kid, and I always that part was totally stunned.

      Aircraft carriers became the dominant force in naval warfare because aircraft fly whereas ships don't. Ships are slow because they have to displace thousands of tons of water in order to move. Aircraft have no such limitation, so they are much much faster, giving them a huge advantage over ships.

      But in space, small fighters have no such advantage over larger ships. As long as the technologies can scale, and there's little reason why they couldn't, bigger should be better.

      Bigger weapons and heavier armour have generally dominated warfare. The major exception is aircraft, but only because their biggest problem is remaining airborne, and heavy armour is rather counterproductive.

      Sorry, but the Galactica isn't the equivalent of an aircraft carrier. It's the equivalent of a motor-boat carrier -- a large ship that launches dozens of much much smaller boats -- a concept so fundamentally flawed and useless that it never existed, at least not in a combat role.

    6. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Trinn · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah, and make Starbuck a lesbian, too.
      I totally agree with this position. And, hear me out, please, it's not for a simple reason that most men would think and assume. I think it is about time for a mainstream show to have a character who simply is a lesbian, no special reasoning behind it. I mean we're much closer to that point with gay men, but lesbians seem to be few and far between.

    7. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Beliskner · · Score: 1
      The damn robot dog
      Then why the hell is Aibo so popular? It's making millions???
      --
      A caveman dreams of being us, the incalculable power and riches. We dream of being Q, then what?
    8. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Cerberus7 · · Score: 1

      Oh, hell, that'd be perfect! Have a brief cameo of an Aibo-like creature, being played with by some kid, and have the Aibo thingy die a horrible death by climbing into the engine of a Viper (or whatever they use in this movie). Show the glory that is a plastic robot getting incinerated by jet exhaust in FANTASTIC SLOW MOTION! Just be sure to write the name "Muffit" in big bold letters on the side of the dog. Awww, yeah! :)

      --
      I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
    9. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by hobit · · Score: 1

      Actually, "The Wire" on HBO has a character like this. She is a lesbian, and it is getting a fair amount of attention this season. But the "lesbian sub-plot" is more about domestic relationships than anything else.

      --
      As Nietsche famously said, "If you stare too long into the Abyss, 1d4 Tanar'ri of random type will attack you."
    10. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by DavidBrown · · Score: 1

      The Pythons and Cylon fighters were a lot faster than the Battlestar Gallactica. AND, Cylon fighters took out the rest of the Colonial Fleet. So BG canon would seem to indicate that the military reality was that fighters were necessary and militarily effective.

      --
      144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
    11. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Deadstick · · Score: 1

      None of those come close to the fighter pilot helmets with a fluorescent light shining in the pilot's face to keep him from seeing anything...well, OK, the dog.

      rj

    12. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot one other bad thing: Galactica 1980 in its entirety.

    13. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Ultraken · · Score: 1

      Battlestar Galactica isn't the only thing guilty of this--virtually every sci-fi series seems to put lights in space helmets. In these cases, showing the actor's face is more important than realism.

    14. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of the most popular shows here in Australia, a (pretty good, actually) hospital drama called "All Saints", has had a lesbian doctor in it for the last few months. All on mainstream commercial TV and screening 8:30 pm on Tuesdays.

    15. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Aircraft carriers became the dominant force in naval warfare because aircraft fly whereas ships don't. Ships are slow because they have to displace thousands of tons of water in order to move. Aircraft have no such limitation, so they are much much faster, giving them a huge advantage over ships.

      But in space, small fighters have no such advantage over larger ships. As long as the technologies can scale, and there's little reason why they couldn't, bigger should be better. "

      Think mass rather than weight. With shorter range required the smaller fighter has less momentum to use up when turning and hence would be more manoevrable and accelerate faster.

      Same advantage as a destroyer vs a battleship.

      A better parallel perhaps is a mixed fleet with oil tankers to replenish the shorter-range destroyers. Except in this case you don't want to be stuck in fighter by yourself for weeks on end so you might as well keep the fighters inside the "tanker" until they're needed.

    16. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Oh yeah, and make Starbuck a lesbian, too.
      I totally agree with this position"

      69? ;-)

    17. Re:Thank the Elders it's not going to be the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never bothered watching it. I just remembered an SF fan friend calling it "Battlestar Craptica"...

  38. Re:Michael by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yeah, especially considering the mental disabilities he has to cope with.

  39. Never heard of it by dicepackage · · Score: 0

    And to think if it wasn't for Edward James Olmos I would never have known about the remake on the Sci-Fi channel. Thank you Edward James Olmos

  40. Grammar pedantic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'I must say one thing and will say this very clearly, if you are a person who really has a strict belief in the original, I would not advise that you watch this program. It'll hurt them.'

    He says "I would not advise that you watch this program" - I think he meant "I would advise that you not watch this program".

    1. Re:Grammar pedantic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Faux pedantry, my friend.

      He's *not* advising that fans of the original *don't* watch. Rather, he's refraining from advising fans of the original to watch in the first place. See, he's *expected* to advise them to watch. Therefore, by refraining from doing so, he's making a statement without trashing the show.

  41. What is so wrong with The Sci-Fi Channel? by El+Camino+SS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Really people. If the sci fi channel had the real money to pump into something, they would. *Cough* Farscape! *cough*

    Complaining that the sets look cheap on a non-mainstay cable channel isn't the reality of television now. Farscape was the most expensive made for cable show ever. It really needed a lot of viewers. I was one of them, but obviously the economics don't support it. Period. So it died. I cannot help that. I was watching. But at least Sci-fi is trying to do something original. It is at least aggressive about growing its audience. That is why I watch them. They try. And they make original TV. So there. Can you say that about many other channels? Does lifetime have a budget for their made-for-tv crapfests that last seventy million hours? NO. Sci-fi is working on it. It may not be the best, but they are working on it.

    Now that Galactica (a mediocre at best TV show, but one that makes us remember our past, I even had a jacket as a kid) comes back for a little cable money, you all start screaming that it is crap long before it airs. Months before it airs. Look, they just cannot afford to make the best shows with the best actors. YOU NEED TO BUY MORE ADVERTISING AND THEN THEY CAN AFFORD TO GROW THE BRAND. Sorry, as much as I am a sci-fi nut, we are a niche market. We will always get a "niche price" on things. Pray that you are not the Oxygen channel and that you have the Isaac Mizrahi show as your original programming.

    Look, complaining about the Sci-Fi channel will not change the fact that they are broke and trying to change that. Giving you something to watch... even if it is a remake, is not cheap. They at least have the balls to venture on TV. They are spending money, employing light riggers, paying actors, and getting TV made when you have no room to bitch or get stuck with the same reruns you've seen since '95.

    Stop bitching about anyone making new programming, because if the execs smell backlash, then we are getting NOTHING NEW, and they are putting all of their money into TRADING SPACES. Got it?

    1. Re:What is so wrong with The Sci-Fi Channel? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Hold on there for a second, pardner. You're saying we should be GRATEFUL when television gives us a new, crappy series? Count me out, chump.

      Personally I'd enjoy a new Galactica with a "Band of Brothers" personality. Would really make the story of fleeing the Cylons hit home.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:What is so wrong with The Sci-Fi Channel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really people. If the sci fi channel had the real money to pump into something, they would. *Cough* Farscape! *cough*"

      Yeah, but look what they did to mst3k. A great concept, that they DESTROYED with the requirements on the types of movies they could riff on.

    3. Re:What is so wrong with The Sci-Fi Channel? by GeekTek · · Score: 1

      Stop bitching about anyone making new programming, because if the execs smell backlash, then we are getting NOTHING NEW, and they are putting all of their money into TRADING SPACES. Got it?

      Actually, they're putting VERY LITTLE money into Trading Spaces. Speaking from the perspective of someone in the 'Industry' and works with the production companies that create these shows, I can tell you that its some of the most economically sound programming ever made. That's (obviously) the reason there is so much reality programming in the summer. Networks can create cheap programming to retain viewers during the difficult months of summer while not increasing their budgets significantly. The problem of cable and nice weather stealing viewers all summer long because of the barriers to entry for new programming is no longer as drastic as it once was because of America's seemingly insatiable lust for voyeurism. A million dollar prize at the end of the season is recouped within the first few episodes in saved production costs. The execs are happier than pigs in shit. But I digress.

      Point being that, in general, production values are going up (special effects getting cheaper, etc), production costs are going down (the increasing use of less experienced and cheaper labor, cheap cameras, more 'reality', product placements, etc), and the networks love it. Granted, advertising is way down, tivo (and derivitives) are gaining eyeballs, and the balance hasn't been reached. However, they're adding more product placement, banners and such to battle these factors. IMHO, it's a no-brainer decision to drive production costs down as far as possible for most networks. Give the people what they want, spend less and make more money.

      Sci-Fi deserves kudos for spending real money on original programming, but it bucks the trend of most of the other networks. Even production companies working for the 4 network shows are seeing their budgets shrink with new productions. Let's hope their gamble pays off.

    4. Re:What is so wrong with The Sci-Fi Channel? by delus10n0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      The problem is Sci-Fi is wasting their money on "Sci-Fi Originals" such as:

      * Tremors - Does anyone even watch this show? Holy crap it's bad.

      * Crossing Over - You might as well take a power drill to the temple of your head.

      * Dune/Children of Dune - I'm not a big fan of the original Dune movie, so I gave these a chance. They're awful. The original movie is better.

      * Riverworld - Who watched this? If you did, can you explain to me what was going on, and what the purpose of the film was? Thanks.

      These sci-fi original movies haven't even aired yet, but look ridiculous:

      * Alien Hunter - The commercials make it look awful and the plot synopsis sounds like a rehash of a dozen other sci-fi flicks/shows.

      * Encrypt - Wow. A prison with a state of the art security system set in the future. Sounds an awful lot like FORTRESS. You know, the ones that did so well for Christopher Lambert.

      * Soulkeeper - I don't even have to mock this. Look at the short description from scifi.com: "A pair of thieves, hired to steal a stone that can raise the dead, go up against a Biblical bad guy who wants to use it to create an army of evil dead!" Scary!

      * Deep Shock - Environmentalists unite! One day nature will bite us back in the ass. No really!

      * Webs - Too awful for words. Eight Legged Freaks was funny because it was campy and wasn't taking itself seriously. This movie is, and isn't even slated to be a comedy.

      Anyhow, maybe I'm just a little bitter over them cancelling Farscape, one of the greatest sci-fi tv shows of all time.

      --
      Not All Who Wander Are Lost
  42. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i can get on board with any actress named sackhoff

  43. This Just In... by Enrico+Pulatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you have a "strict belief" in sci-fi, you're setting yourself up for a whole world of hurt.

    1. Re:This Just In... by questamor · · Score: 1

      That was my thoughts on reading through the article. While I watched BG when I was young, and didn't so much mind it, a new series with a mild base in the same ideas won't take away what's pure to the purists. It also won't much bother those who are new to it.

      I mean, seriously WHAT could possibly live up to the expectations of a group of people with any kind of 'strict belief' in Battlestar Galactica anyway? or Star Wars, or Star Trek etc.

      Every time a series has been reinstated or rebuilt like this, there's a bunch of people who won't like it. Perhaps the majority, even - but it'll gain a new audience if it's good enough, and will continue on as a series exploring completely different ground. Hell, even if it were a completely faithful remake of the original, expecting it to go more than 3 series without offending anyone by bringing in new content is a ridiculous expectation.

      Try getting the few thousand existing fans of BG to agree on where it should/could have went if it continued in production - won't happen.

    2. Re:This Just In... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      I roll 20 to disbelieve...

  44. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by The+Phantom+Buffalo · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder how well she can pull off the cigar smoking, womanizer role.

  45. Face by rf0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Its just not going to be the same without Face from the A-Team. I always wanted to see the cross over where the Cylons captured Face + The Rest of the A-Team and then out of a the pieces of their jail cell they created a tank/car, resuce everyone, ended the war and no-one actually got killed :)

    Rus

    1. Re:Face by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      But how would the A-Team get the van to leap over the battlestar?

    2. Re:Face by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I ain't flyin' in no interstellar cruiser wit' dat crazy fool Murdock!

    3. Re:Face by Wiz · · Score: 1

      Mr T's van is a helluva fast foo!

  46. Don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    There's already a movie been made on the Book of Mormon. This movie is not sponsored by the church in any way either. It will be out in theaters in September.

    So when it comes to legal issues, this Book of Mormon movie would easily be a problem, just like you said. However, when the church leadership has been asked on these types of movies, they allow people to make these kinds of commercial adventures, without any opinions on the matter.

  47. Death to fanboys by Teahouse · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Truth is, the same fanboys that are bitching about this are the ones that were aghast that Star Trek centered a show on a space station, went apopletic when they expanded a certain female elf's part in LOTR, complained that Dune wasn't exactly like the book, and demanded that Wolverine wear yellow spandex in X-Men.

    My advice is that you accept shows with an open mind if you want to see more sci-fi on TV, and go out and meet a female once in a while. Your comic books and Illustrated Guides to the Enterprise will still be next to your computer when you return. Trust me.

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  48. I Was Worried Once I Saw Ron Moore's Name On It by TheWanderingHermit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I used to pitch stories to Star Trek: The Next Generation. My agent was the same one that got Ron Moore started. She got me in the door and I would pitch stories over the phone (I'm told this is VERY rare) to Moore. Even though I did get a couple mentions (by reference, not by name) in "Hollywood Scriptwriter," I have to point out, before I make my comments, that Ron Moore is making a living writing for film and TV and I'm not (although my company will soon be producing video and digital film).

    Ron likes to change things. He's the writer at ST:TNG who would frequently change things from the way they were. He wrote "Relics," the episode where Scotty is found in an old ship and says, "I'll bet Jim Kirk himself took the Enterprise out of mothballs to find me." Later he, with Brannon Braga, has Scotty see the gaping hole in "Generations" where Kirk was "killed."

    Ron, as best I could tell, is a very intelligent, articulate, and friendly (if shy, it seemed) person. I would never wish him any ill will. However, he has shown that whenever he works with anyone else's material, he "loves to change things" (as Scotty once said). He seems to actually take delight in making sure he takes the original material and changes it enough to actually irritate fans of the original.

    Once I saw his name attached to the project, I basically decided I was VERY unlikely to watch it. When I found out Starbuck was a woman, I was sure I wouldn't watch it. It completely destroys the "buddy" relationship that was so important to the original.

    1. Re:I Was Worried Once I Saw Ron Moore's Name On It by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Why does this not surprise me one bit? I always knew there must have been some idiot dumbing up the stories for Next Generation. He doesn't work for the Simpsons these days, does he?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:I Was Worried Once I Saw Ron Moore's Name On It by titzandkunt · · Score: 1


      "When I found out Starbuck was a woman, I was sure I wouldn't watch it. It completely destroys the "buddy" relationship that was so important to the original."

      I agree. It's always disappointing to see the homo-erotic sub texts being ripped out of a series, and being replaced with bland, everyday unresolved heterosexual erotic tensions.

      T&K.

      --
      Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable...
  49. Gratuitous CoS content... by MsGeek · · Score: 1
    Oh, and the people that had the temerity to base a work on the CoS were Cos members themselves. And the results *were* horrific, but only to the audience. Unless you *liked* "Battlefield Earth"?!?!?

    Indeed...I thought I had erased the horror of "Battlefield: Earth" from my brain. But you had to remind me. DEEEEEP Hurting!!!!!

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
  50. hardly by mkweise · · Score: 2

    He's going to be sued for this.

    Hardly. By making an unexpected statement like this, he generates additional coverage; the slashdot coverage alone is probably worth an additional ratings point or two!

    After all, aren't *you* now more likely to watch it than before--if only to find out for yourself what all the fuss was about? I know I am.

    --
    Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
    1. Re:hardly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the slashdot coverage alone is probably worth an additional ratings point or two

      As if random comments by notorious fagot fuck holes would make any difference.

    2. Re:hardly by lilricky · · Score: 1

      No, Ill just wait until its posted on usenet and watch it then, that way if it does suck, I wont feel guilty about adding any viewer ratings, even though Im not one of the Neilson(sic) families.

    3. Re:hardly by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      I was a Neilson family for a while. I suspect my votes got tossed. None so blind...

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    4. Re:hardly by fehlschlag · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The remake could hardly suck as bad as the original. How much cheaper could it have been done with the same fighting sequence being played over and over again?

    5. Re:hardly by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 1

      I'm an unofficial Neilson family now. A guy at work somehow wound up assigned as one and doesn't want to mess with it. He gives me a new booklet to fill out each thursday. Me and my wife, six "kids" and five "guests" get entries.

      Can you say "rating spike"?

  51. Just wondering guys, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Why is Bea Arthur the Slashdot scifi topic icon?

  52. Red Dwarf & Dr. Who by Teahouse · · Score: 1

    If Sci-Fi really wants to get off cheap, they should simply show Dr. Who and Red Dwarf in the afternoons. I'd TIVO both of them!

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  53. Sci-Fi Mythos by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Sure, people might bitch and complain about the Mormon influences in BG and the cribbing of Joseph Campbell in Star Wars, but they were the heart of each movie. Star Trek was just a western in space with capitalist vs. communist overtones.

    This new version (without seeing a single episode) is completely devoid of what real fans of the show liked. It's like finding out that Darth Vader was really really annoying kid who then later turned into a total poser. Oh wait, that really happened. Now you can see what fans are feeling.

    Hey, it wasn't the best show that it could have been. The daggit should have been set on fire, roasted and shot into space. Sure, they could have used more space scenes, but you have to understand that ABC wouldn't pay the money to produce more and they were rushing the entire project. Glen Larson did the best with what he had at the time... which was the late seventies. Everyone in the thread seems to be trashing the obvious mistakes, but forget the great stuff the show had. The *robot* cylons were the shiznit. The Vipers were cooler than X-Wings and I'd take Face... er, Starbuck and Apollo over Luke and Wedge any day. The cylon bases were kick ass and Boltar was the guy you loved to hate.

    Let me sum up. BG without the Mormon mythos behind it simply isn't the same show. You don't have to agree with the theology any more than you had to agree with the Catholic undertones of the X-Files to enjoy the show. Heck, when the show was in it's first one, no one really even knew it was there. It's what the show was based on and Sci-Fi is using the show in name only to attract viewers. Sci-Fi really should have let Glenn and Richard Hatch do the show *they* wanted done which would have kept the backstory intact and allowed the show to be updated and entertaining.

    Here's hoping that the miniseries is a failure and the series never gets started.

  54. Request: Please change the Sci-Fi icon. by ashitaka · · Score: 3, Funny

    That face scared the crap out of me when I saw it at the end of Star Trek many, many years ago.

    I'm now scarred for life.

    --
    If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
    1. Re:Request: Please change the Sci-Fi icon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's good to know that I'm not the only one. I think the high pitched sound that came with the picture of that scary ass alien didn't help either.

    2. Re:Request: Please change the Sci-Fi icon. by The+Iconoclast · · Score: 1

      Make that three! When I was a kid, I always turned off the TV before the end of the credits roll just so I didn't get nightmares.

      --
      Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
    3. Re:Request: Please change the Sci-Fi icon. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2, Funny

      Here, have some tranya. That'll buck you up.

      Chris Mattern

  55. Powered by Tektronix by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Somebody cares about that turkey?

    A computer-related note: Unlike the original Star Trek bridge, the Battlestar Galactica controls and displays actually worked. Tektronix provided much of the gear. This created a problem - the actors had to be trained to run the stuff. The Trek crew could push random buttons, but the Galactica crew had to get it right. They hated that.

    1. Re:Powered by Tektronix by gangibson · · Score: 1

      Wow, shades of "Galaxy Quest!" Could the set have actually functioned as a working starship? No wonder they want to bring it back! :)

    2. Re:Powered by Tektronix by Hecateus · · Score: 1

      Tektronix provided the gear? I don't recall seeing any color printers, but hey...Cylons pH34r t3h Phaser 780!

    3. Re:Powered by Tektronix by Blackneto · · Score: 1

      Heh.
      I worked on a few Tektronix printers.
      They just seemed to be HP Laserjets with different firmware. Copy of the 4M to be precise.
      Of course HP used to use Canon engines so who knows.

      --
      Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice...
    4. Re:Powered by Tektronix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Tektronix provided the gear? I don't recall seeing any color printers

      No color laser Phaser printers; I recall Tek 4050 series terminals. A buncha 4052 15" displays (1024x1024 CRT, nicely hi-res), complete with visible tape cartridge slots manned by Nav people at the control stations on the Gallactica bridge.

      Since you may not be familiar with the look: The 4052 was very hi-tech, and exceedingly expensive at the time. They did have some very fun games: Weather War, Red Baron (as in "Snoopy and the Red Baron") and tank war were a lot of fun. Were I older when I was introduced to it, I might have enjoyed Mugwump more. Lunar Lander was more than halfway impossible.

      But that's off-topic, the point is that Gallactica had nothing to do with Tekronix Phaser printers, but with their 4050-series terminal machines.

  56. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by User+956 · · Score: 1

    Any disrespect to the original is balanced out by the fact that Starbuck is played by Katee Sackhoff.

    Are you sure? She must weigh at least 300 pounds.

    But then, if you're a chubby chaser, by all means, have at it.

    I prefer Keira Knightley, personally.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  57. Space: TIS by GrimSean · · Score: 1
    How exactly do you figure that Space is the place where bad programing goes to die? Granted, it's summertime, so I'm sleeping late and working to make money to pay tuition, thus less TV is watched, but Space is one of the few channels I tune into regularly. Sure, they run four hours of Star Trek in a row (one of each series except Enterprise), but you get Forever Knight in the morning, an eclectic mix of movies, and coming this fall Stargate (not to mention Brimstone , Angel and many more!). What more do you want?( Firefly perhaps?) We're not the US with 300 million potential viewers, so we get fewer dollars and fewer original programs, but it's always been that way.

    Besides, if Moses hears you bitching, he'll punk you good, or send Rick the Temp after you.

    --
    I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own. - Christopher Walken
    1. Re:Space: TIS by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      Whoa - I need to keep a closer watch on teh schedule - tho I don't consider Angel to be quality programming, the rest of that list I didn't even know was on space (and yes, Firefly is god). Damn, then why do they have crap on in prime time?

    2. Re:Space: TIS by GrimSean · · Score: 1
      Glad to be of help. The only thing that really ticks me off with Space is the repeat of Voyager at 10pm, but I think that will change with the coming of Stargate in September.

      And as to crap in primetime - Brimstone is Monday, Farscape is Friday, and the rest is so-so, with Angel, Enterprise, and Tremors: The Series, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday respectively, but it's better than nothing (Tremors is watchable if you're drunk or really, really bored).

      --
      I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own. - Christopher Walken
  58. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Babbster · · Score: 1

    I don't know about the cigar smoking, but even an attempt at some womanizing should be welcomed by every sci-fi geek.

  59. And... by JohnwheeleR · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Don't read this post.

  60. Not so bad... by fm6 · · Score: 1
    Hey, that's perfectly good physics. Check your Aristotle!

    What used to really bug me is the way the fighters would act exactly like a fighter plane travelling through the atmosphere. They'd even sort of sway up and down while travelling a straight course.

    But hey, the thing was a simple ripoff of Star Wars, right down to the cute robot. So of course it had to have bad physics!

  61. Harlan Who? by fm6 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, Starlost was much better! Especially the dialog!

    1. Re:Harlan Who? by steveg · · Score: 1

      Harlan wasn't too happy about Starlost either. Hence Cordwainer Bird.

      --
      Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed.
  62. It's a Good Thing by balthan · · Score: 1

    It's a good thing SciFi got rid of Farscape. Now they can distance themselve from that "spacy" image they detest.

  63. xihr tells fans by xihr · · Score: 1

    No shit, man.

  64. SciFi can afford this? by FullCircle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But they could not afford one last season of Farscape to end the series that loyal fans had watched for four years?

    SciFi is trying it's level best to run headlong into the ground.

    They do not have my sympathy.

    --
    If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
    1. Re:SciFi can afford this? by GooberToo · · Score: 1

      Maybe, if they lose all their fans and come in last place, they can move to a new stadium? ;P

  65. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, you jerk. She's a mega fox!

  66. Re:Wait! No more long council meetings? No more .. by 27B-6 · · Score: 1

    Don't fear, in order to draw the younger crowd, the producers have signed Poochie to play the part of Muffit.

    --
    "Trust in haste. Repent at leisure"
  67. Olmos - star of "Stand and Deliver" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Edward James Olmos portrayed the inspiring math teacher Jaime Escalante in the movie Stand and Deliver. (I'm a little surprised no one mentioned it yet.)

    Off topic, but also note this interesting article regarding some negative consequences of the movie on Escalante's career.

    1. Re:Olmos - star of "Stand and Deliver" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for that. This article was one of the most interesting things I've read this month.

  68. My respect for Edward James Olmos has deepened. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not only is he a well regarded leader in the Latino and Hispanic community and a prominent typecasted actor in short lived PBS productions, he's also a proponent for the greatness that is/was/is Battlestar Galactica--the series! Loren Green would be proud.

  69. The "real" name by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 1

    Ah, but Crazy called it "Cattlecar, the Laxative" which I, at eleven, thought was inspired.

    Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
    1. Re:The "real" name by macshit · · Score: 1

      I was always fond of `Cattlecar Badactica'...

      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
  70. Space 1999 by poptones · · Score: 1
    Was one of the few SF shows that didn't completely suck. And its predecessor, U.F.O, was equally inspirational to a kid who loved building models and dreamed of space. I couldn't stand Galactica when it was on the first time - it fits perfectly in that long line of quality 70's shows like Knight Rider and Dukes of Hazzard and B.J and the Bear.

    I wana see them remake Lost In Space. And not like that damn pretentious movie - do it right. I wanna see David "Dad" Hasselhoff and Ileanna "Mom" Douglas and Alyson "Judy" Hannigan and Johnny "Don" Knoxville (he could even do his own stunts!) and Renee "Penny" Olstead and Gavin "Will" Fink (or Mike Weinberg) getting chased around by the real star of the show: the evil Dr. Smith, brilliantly acted by the one living soul who was born to play him.

    1. Re:Space 1999 by NormalVisual · · Score: 1

      Agreed - I loved Space:1999. To me, the Eagle is still one of the most original and practical spacecraft to grace the small screen. And I was *so* in love with Catherine Schell in the second season... :-)

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
  71. How strange... by fm6 · · Score: 1
    Well, I thought it was pretty bad too. But I find the outpouring of Galactica bashing to be very strange. Sure, it had a ripoff premise, bad writing, mostly bad acting, and of course bad science. But every space opera I've seen on the big or little screen had some or all of these. But if you bash Star Wars (at least the first trilogy) or Babylon 5 on Slashdot, somebody will spring to its defense, citing imaginary literary element or "suspension of disbelief". But not for BG. Very curious.

    Especially since there are a lot of people there who are pretty fanatical about the original series. They're fairly pissed about this remake and have made a lot of noise in support of a sequel instead.

    Of course, there's no chance that anybody except these same fans would watch a sequel of any kind. But hey, since when did fans care about stuff like that?

    1. Re:How strange... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      Oh I will happily criticize Star Wars. It sucked when I saw the original in theaters. The special edition didn't help to improve things, and the prequels are just sad. George Lucas is the Bill Gates of the movie industry, getting by on a single product line that is guarded like Fort Knox, and that was built atop themes and storylines that precede it. I will say this those in defense of the original: Han Solo fired first! Deal with it!

      I did love Babylon 5 though, but I first encounter it after it was in Season 3 on TNT. I like characters that have depth.

    2. Re:How strange... by macshit · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but `good' space opera manages to have all that stuff (bad acting, science, etc), but still be compelling, either because it's exciting or strikes a chord with man's yearning for the unknown or something.

      B.G., on the other hand, was just sort of ... blah. It was like space opera written by your accountant.

      [of course as a kid, I watched it anyway!]

      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
    3. Re:How strange... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Richard Hatch is a twit. He has had absolutely no career since they dumped him from Galactica 1980, and he's spent the last TWENTY YEARS grousing about it.

      He runs the battlestargalactica.com site, so every time you see "we" as in "we protest" all you have to do is remember it's really just him in his underwear raving and pounding his fist on his computer keyboard hoping for a guest spot on "Walker, Texas Ranger".

    4. Re:How strange... by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Depth? Character screaming cliches at each other is depth?

    5. Re:How strange... by UrGeek · · Score: 1

      "But if you bash Star Wars (at least the first trilogy) or Babylon 5 on Slashdot, somebody will spring to its defense, citing imaginary literary element or "suspension of disbelief". But not for BG. Very curious."

      Let me explain this to you. "Star Wars", "Babylon 5", and the original "Star Trek" series all have many flaws but they benefit from have either better writing than 95% of anything available at the time, or in the case of "Star Wars", great storycraft and cinema mojo. They were were we call, Good Stuff. We bash BG because us is what we call Bad Stuff.

      The prime directive is tell a good story. It can even overcome a low budget and cheesy effect as in "Blake 7".

    6. Re:How strange... by fm6 · · Score: 1

      OK, that's a decent point. I have to admit that the basic stories on my least favorite space opera, B5, are sometimes quite interesting. If only the show as a whole didn't make me nauseaous...

    7. Re:How strange... by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

      It's depth when actors are making the most of characters that were written two-dimensionally. I thought the original cast did a much better job of handling the asides and internal monologues.

    8. Re:How strange... by fm6 · · Score: 1

      I guess most people don't mind watching good actors do bad material. I'm not like that though. There are actors who, as the saying goes, can entertain you by reciting the phone book. Didn't see any of them on B5 though.

  72. "you've done a man's job, sir" by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 1

    by posting that.

    From Blade Runner to Miami Vice to cheesy guest shots to a remake of BG. It's all been downhill.

    Actually, I thought that his character kicked major ass in Miami Vice, but I just had to get the swipe in.

    Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
  73. Expansion of Mr. Olmos' Comments by Babbster · · Score: 3, Informative
    You can go here and read the FULL comments by Mr. Olmos. The linked article didn't take him out of context or anything, but his comments are expanded quite a lot on his own page.

    In short, he is NOT saying that he thinks the current BG project is of poor quality but rather that die-hard Galactica fans might not like the changes.

    I think most of his attitude is probably being caused by the fact that there are probably some shrill BG geeks keeping close track of production and e-mailing him with their complaints.

  74. Battlestar Galactica: The American Family by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    EJO plays a middle aged Hispanic fuddy duddy who wishes to retire from his career as a starship captain and spend more time with his family, but whose plans are suddenly thrown into jeopardy when his planet is invaded by evil, sadistic immigration enforcement androids. Rita Moreno plays the faithful but frail mother who is well known for her great tacos. His hot blooded, lady-killing but devoted son is portrayed by Ricky Martin. Lou Diamond Phillips plays Ricky's out-of-control, destined-to-die-in-a-knife-fight younger brother. Janeane Garofalo portrays the hot left wing activist daughter who aspires to one day make films for P.O.V. and open a shelter for homeless pets in Chinatown on the other side of the tracks.

  75. Ah, but the *comics* can be amazing by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Oh, sure, remakes can be terrible, though I loved Aliens, T2, and any number of other remakes and sequels.
    As mentioned elsewhere, we all know that Evil Dead II was amazing.

    What I want to see is a BG based on the comic, which got to be one of the best dark and weird comics from the majors in those pre-indy days.
    Fraud, incompetent leaders, black markets, prostitution, homeless people stranded in the halls while Caligula-like banquets take place behind the guard of the growing private militaries. Adama flaking out and being stranded in the interrogation tank for something like six months in real time, the whole Solaris/robotic society subplot, the young Adama flashbacks to the colonies at their height. It's all good.

    Add in the freaky proto-byrne baroque artwork (dig those branches on the "food planet") and it was a decade ahead of its time.

    Give me a series well-based on that and a trilogy of movies based on the first three years of Micronauts, and I'ld be a happy man.

    Damn, I haven't thought about BG in *years*. I LOVED that damned comic. I can see the images in front of me as I sit here. They're engraved in my brain.

    Road Warrior meets Blade Runner meets the Terminator in claustrophobic, disease-ridden ships, all with space battles, oasis planets, and a search for the heavenly world of the gods made flesh.

    Aw, sh*t. Now I gotta go out and buy some.

    Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
  76. Galatica Pump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Without this tape, you aint't gonna figure out how to get the ribbed latex suction vacuum ring to work.

    We are talkin' 'bout my new penis pump, aren't we?

  77. It will suck-Troll theater. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welcome to the never-ending series know as Star Troll. Hightlighted by first posts, bad grammer and spelling. Topped with stereotypically bad humour, and cold grits down someone's pants. Somewere in the series a troll in a pink shirt (wash colors seperately from whites) will be shot, and a drunken doctor (Hey! IANADBIPOO "/.") will utter those famous words; "Can I have his parking spot?". To timidy go were all other trolls have been before (We get a discount, and it's not Disneyland).

    [insert lots of farting noises at this point, and crappy music that died before Disco did].

  78. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Holy crap! I sat behind that girl in high school biology. That was of course before Oregon's public schools and economy went down the crapper.

  79. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 1
    --
    Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  80. And Noah kept telling the Highlander. . . by kfg · · Score: 1

    Only one, only one, only *one!*

    KFG

  81. Re:It can only get better-Tim Burton. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "If the sci-fi version cuts out some of the cheese and makes a darker galactica, more power to them. For a rag-tag, fugitive fleet, they seemed pretty well off."

    Oh great. Tim Burton's remake of Battlestar Galactica. The space jockies all wear tights, and the captain has rubber nipples.

  82. Fellow slashdot reader! by bruthasj · · Score: 1

    >> From there, things get difpferent.

    Great job charlie!

  83. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by SpryGuy · · Score: 1

    Uh, not EVERY sci-fi geeks. Not only are some sci-fi geeks straight women, but many are even gay men. Don't be so heterosexist. :-)

    --

    - Spryguy
    There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
  84. LOL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've watched both, and I have to say that wrestling has far less cringe-inducing dialogue and hack acting.

  85. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Yummy

    Are you sure? Dude, you really need to get out more.

  86. Re:Wait! No more long council meetings? No more .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's going to fight Cylons... TO THE EXTREME!!!!

  87. You Make No Sense When Speaking of Trek. by SEWilco · · Score: 2, Funny
    You mean there's something other than my Super-8 films of the TV screen when Star Trek was oh-so-briefly on the air? Did someone film it in 16mm or kinescope?

    I have heard mention of "The Next Generation", isn't that a DVD copy of the Star Trek series? And I don't know why DS9 is mentioned so much, 9mm is only 10% wider than my 8mm film.

    1. Re:You Make No Sense When Speaking of Trek. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know why that's funny, but it isn't.

  88. The more correct/geek reference would be.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    his role in Blade Runner.

  89. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Babbster · · Score: 1

    I've known many straight women who enjoy watching two women together, so I wouldn't exclude them from my generalization. I've known far fewer homosexual men, so I'll accept my punishment for that with grace. :)

  90. We need a boycott tracker! by gklinger · · Score: 1
    Lets see, I have to boycott Disney and all things related (which will be really tough if they ever release the new Tron), everything and anything that has to do with SCO and now Battlestar Galactica?

    Geez. It's getting hard to keep track of everything I have to boycoot to be a good little geek.

    Bonus hint: Did you know that if you speak into the back of a fan you sound just like a Cylon? (It's late and I'm slightly delerious, forgive me.)

  91. Holy meaning change! by Trillan · · Score: 1

    pleaded with them to tell their readers not to watch the new Battlestar Gallactica

    This does not appear in the text. The quote was for "devoted fans of the 1970s sci-fi series" not to watch it, not for all readers not to watch it.

    Which means I'll definitely watch it... I liked Lorne Green out of the original series, but that was about it.

  92. Yay! by WheelDweller · · Score: 1

    Maybe this means it won't be so sappy. It hits me about the way CHiPs does...just too seventies-sappy.

    But then when it first came out (and was interesting, BTW) I was only like 10. >)

    --
    --- For a good time mail uce@ftc.gov
  93. 3 words by Dogun · · Score: 1

    Bring back Farscape.
    Damn, I loved that show. I wonder what those savefarscape.com people are up to these days?
    First Dune, now BS??? Exactly how bad were the revenues that Farscape was bringing in? 'Cause they'd have to be pretty damned bad in order to prioritize a Battlestar Galactica remake...

    But hey, I'm just drunk and frustrated. Minus the drunk part.

    1. Re:3 words by Ziviyr · · Score: 1

      The latest Babylon 5 spinoff had some pretty badass revenue potential when it wasn't being pitted againt major sports events. (the one before it had some interesting episodes due too)

      I really want to know whats going on with Sci Fi...

      --

      Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
  94. I always liked BG by TerryAtWork · · Score: 1

    Because it put an aircraft carrier in space, as opposed to Star Trek which put a battleship in space.

    --
    It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
  95. WTF? by Moderation+abuser · · Score: 1

    Strict belief in the original?

    The original Battlestar Galactica was rubbish anyway. What kind of sad git gives a toss about the original?

    What it does point out rather clearly though is the kind of crap which the media is churning out. Remakes and sequels, then more remakes and more sequels. That alone is a good enough reason not to watch.

    --
    Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
  96. An interesting article by NeuroManson · · Score: 1

    This one gives both the pros and cons of the new BG miniseries, and has many valid points:

    http://www.battlestargalactica.com/features/arti cl es_interviews/archive/2002/dec02b-plain.html

    --
    Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  97. I so wanted a Dagit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I think you're confusing the robo-dag with Roborville from thunder cats. Hope this help.

  98. clever bastards! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they know the original sucked!

    but please don't get me wrong. I loved it. But then I also loved Space 1999, so I have no taste.

  99. very by pyrrho · · Score: 1

    apt

    --

    -pyrrho

  100. Bad Physics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For bad physics, it's difficult to beat "Space: 1999".

    First an "explosion" blows the Moon out of orbit, accelerating it to such a speed that it passes a new star system every week. Of course, neither this explosion or the instant acceleration kill anyone.

    Each week the Moon goes past another star system, and the residents have time to take a shuttle to a nearby planet (with intelligent life), and then to take the shuttle back to the Moon. Which is, conservatively, moving at the turtle-like pace of 200 light-years per year (4 light-years from Sol to Alpha Centauri, times one new star system per week, times 52 weeks per year). Visit aliens for a half-day and the Moon will travel 1/3 of a light year away while you fight or chat.

    Those must be some Shuttles, to let them catch back up again with the Moon ...

  101. WARNING: spoilers by ndogg · · Score: 1

    Sorry, forgot to mention that the reviewer has left many spoilers in his comment. Read only the first two paragraphs and the last one if you want to avoid the spoilers.

    --
    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"
  102. Expiring Galactica copyright might benefit public by Adam+J.+Richter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If coyprights were accelerated to the 14 years duration of the Copyright Act of 1790 (USA) and the Statute of Anne (England), then the original copyrights on Battlestar Galactica would now be expired and we might have more competition in Galactica sequels (which would have their own copyrights begining when they would be made).

  103. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by tbmaddux · · Score: 1
    You need to work at this a little harder. Allow me to suggest:

    HOT OATMEAL! KATEE SACKHOFF NUDE AND STIFF!!!

    --
    Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
  104. I got rid of SCIFI by macemoneta · · Score: 1

    After they canceled Farscape, I canceled SCI-FI, by dropping down a tier in my cable bill. I lost a bunch of channels (including SCI-FI), but there was nothing worth watching on them anyway.

    On the flip side, as a result of this change I save over $350 a year on my cable bill. More toys!

    --

    Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.

  105. I think I've seen it all now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hardcore battlestar galatica fans! i'm amazed anyone ever liked that show nevermind worshipped it. whatever next? buck rogers?

    1. Re:I think I've seen it all now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be-de, be-de, be-de.

      Yeah, Athena was quite a hottie on Battlestar Galactica, but she was nothing compared to Erin Gray on Buck Rogers. OK, the helmet and white suit was a little goofy, but the blue suit was definitely memorable.

  106. Re:It can only get better-Tim Burton. by Crazy_Vasey · · Score: 0

    It was Schumacher that did that whole rubber nipples thing to Batman.

  107. Re:Wait! No more long council meetings? No more .. by pyrrho · · Score: 1

    except they must keep the "by your command" thing... ! the rest, good riddance.

    --

    -pyrrho

  108. Yes it was by systembug · · Score: 1

    Even 70`s Buck Rogers was better. But I digress.
    As a pre-teen, I really liked Galacticas escapist feeling, flying through space, occasionally blowing up some funky robots - kinda nice. But eventually I'd notice the flaws, and that was even before that kid, and the Galactica reaching earth.

    The show was crap. Real crap. Bad in ervery aspect.

    Will the new one be any good? I don't think so, but everyone longing for a faithfull rerendering of the original deserves to be hurt. A lot.

    --
    The only skin on a computer should be porn.
  109. Kibo said it best by cgreuter · · Score: 1

    I must now refer you to the ageless wisdom of James "Kibo" Parry on this subject:

    BATTLESTAR GALACTICA IS ABOUT BREAST CANCER

    Really! Just google for "Battlestar Galactica" and "breast cancer".

  110. So let me get this straight... by ThePatrioticFuck · · Score: 2, Funny
    Nerds in basements everywhere are complaining about a new sci-fi series, one which has (supposedly, I haven't looked yet) hot female characters, and sexual elements to the story line?

    Did I somehow slip into Bizarro world? :)

    TPF

    1. Re:So let me get this straight... by saden1 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      We need another Babylon 5! There hasn't been a sci-fi series as good for almost a decade now.

      --

      -----
      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
    2. Re:So let me get this straight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suspect JMS has more fun and less hassle writing for Spiderman....

      (ran across the Mainframe version of Spidey last night...Pixar it ain't (and it's a big leap forward from ReBoot of course) and there's some glitches, but it's not bad...

    3. Re:So let me get this straight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      STFU already!

  111. "An Urgent Message From Edward James Olmos" by Conspir8or · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As seen on a piece of junkmail that Homer immediately discards on an early ep of "The Simpsons."

    Will be avoiding this show, not b/c it's a poor version of the original "Battlestar Galactica," but b/c it's "Battlestar Galactica." They could have directed this $$$ into any number of original concepts, or, God help us, more "Farscape," but instead they decided to run a few volts through this corpse to see if it'd sit up. To hell with that.

  112. Re:Wait! No more long council meetings? No more .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  113. Man, I need more coffee! by 87C751 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Road Warrior meets Blade Runner meets the Terminator in claustrophobic, disease-ridden ships, all with space battles, oasis planets, and a search for the heavenly world of the gods made flesh.
    I have got to get more caffiene... I read that as "Blade Warrior meets Road Runner"!

    Aieee! The images! The images!!

    --
    Mail? Put "slashdot" in the subject to pass the spam filters.
    1. Re:Man, I need more coffee! by wiggles · · Score: 1

      I can see it now... Wesley Snipes straps the ACME(R) Lil' Bat-man(TM) costume on and jumps off a cliff, waving his sword as the Road Runner speeds for the tunnel..... You fill in the rest :)

    2. Re:Man, I need more coffee! by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      I love it! This is so much better than Battlestar Gallactica, new or old.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  114. Highlander 2: The Sickening by TopShelf · · Score: 1

    Whoever wrote the following line from that movie needs to be strung up by their thumbs:

    "Don't you remember? We're aliens..."

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
  115. Aircraft carrier? by Badanov · · Score: 2, Insightful
    When I watched in the 70s, I loved BSG.

    One thing bothers me now, that didn't then, was the aircraft mix. Other than shuttles, the only tactical spacecraft was the fighters, and the only weapon they carried was a laser weapon of some kind.

    No jamming craft, or EW craft, and worst of all, no tactical bombers-missile launchers.

    The whole idea of having an aircraft carrier isn't just to carry airrcaft. Were that true, they could have pushed a tactical fighter off a garbage scow and lit up the engines. The whole idea of having an aircraft carrier is to project massive offensive military air power across great distances.

    You mean to tell me that despite all their great technology they can't come up with a single nuclear tipped cruise missile; that the mission planners couldn't even think of a single small nuclear strike against clearly incompenent robots? They can create a robot dog for some 8 year old mouth-breather, but they can't come up with better ordnance than a laser?

    Okay, I have ranted enough.

    --
    Dawn of the Dead
    1. Re:Aircraft carrier? by ChrisWong · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They did have missiles: the Pegasus, remember? Blew up two enemy base ships. The Galactica itself had guns of comparable firepower which it used in another episode to blow up another of those base ships.

      It is not that clear that nukes are that useful in space. In a vacuum, there is no material to push around, so you won't get the mushroom and shockwave. The intensity of the heat will drop off very rapidly with distance. A heavily armored ship might get a nice sun tan if a nuke detonated next to it, but perhaps not much more. So nukes will look comparatively wimpy in space.

      In any case, I get your point. Weapons tend to be wimpy in SF. If weapons grow commensurately lethal with technology, the carnage would be such that you might not expect the main cast members to be alive long. Dramatic dogfights might not be possible. That would make lousy TV.

  116. What about Galactica '80? by Megane · · Score: 3, Informative
    The article mentions that the original "just lasted one season in the late 1970s". While I admit that they might very badly want to forget about Galactica '80, the fact is that this turd, which had a plot that first appeared as a parody six months earlier in Cracked magazine (!), in fact was broadcast by ABC. NBC's short-lived and low-rated Quark was a much better show.

    I'm sure I'm not the only kid who was scarred for life back in 1980 by this travesty inflicted upon humanity.

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  117. Unfortunately... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...in this case it's much better being clueless.

  118. Dont watch the original either by Evil+Pete · · Score: 1

    It wasn't only the bad physics, it was also crappy acting and crappy sets (a la Von Daniken influence) and they they boasted that they had developed a cookbook method way of generating the space battles so they could dish it up endlessly. And that's what it looked like. Puke. All the space battles were the same. It got boring after episode 1.

    --
    Bitter and proud of it.
  119. What's in a name? by Blackheart2 · · Score: 1
    The more people say that the new BG bears no resemblance to the original, the more I have to wonder why the hell they are so upset about it. People are talking about boycotting the new show's sponsors in protest. If it's a completely different show, why? Did you also protest Law & Order because it's not X-Files, or Farscape because it's not Quantum Leap?

    So the show has the same name as a show you like. Big deal, it's happened before. So the premise of the show is the same as an earlier SF show. Big deal, there are only about four or five premises in the space opera genre anyway. So some of the art style will be reused. Big deal, who cares.

    Maybe you should judge the new show on its own merits. A show can be good without being Battlestar Galactica. Anyway, BG was not exactly Shakespeare in the first place.

    Geez, you would think that people who believe in open source and the right to reuse things would not make such a furor when someone decides to do something new with existing material.

    --

    BH
    Fools! They laughed at me at the Sorbonne...!

  120. Interesting... by TygerFish · · Score: 1

    This is an interesting thread. I mean, the original battlestar galactica was one of the worst pieces of crap ever and I don't understand the source of the passion for it.

    I mean, I can understand someone's objecting to the remake of Galactica on the basis of its being bad television, but I can't understand anyone disliking it from the perspective of someone who is 'preserving a classic.'

    I am not, repeat, not, a troll. I just want to express thought that I feel is truthful: Battlestar Galactica was pure seventies nonsense--a show with Hanna-Barbera-cartoon production values, ludicrous plotlines and resolutions. How ludicrous? it's this way:

    'look, that basestar has gone close to the surface, blow up the unstable planet under it!'

    Its key feature was a cloying, low-brow virtuousness that was painful to watch back in the day, and that is only watchable now because of the series's nostalgia factor for someone who was fourteen at the time.

    I can understand someone saying the new version sucks, but, Really, ror anyone to say that the remake betraying it is saying something very, very strange...

    --
    To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
    "Yeah. It smells, too..."
  121. What was SciFI thinking? by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    Ugh... If what you just said is true, then they shouldn't have even bothered- it'd been okay as it's own thing, but to have called it Galactica, well...

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  122. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Talking of Blade Runner, have you all checked out www.futurenoir.com?.

  123. Sci-Fi Chan is to Sci-Fi as MTV is to Music Videos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  124. ATTN: Geeks: GET A FUCKING LIFE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the hell is wrong with you people? It's a FUCKING TV SHOW YOU FUCKING MORONS!

    Sheesh. I'm sure I'll get modded down as a troll, but at least look at the post first.

    This is a TV show-a pretty stupid one at that-from the late 70's which failed after one stinking season. Galactica 1980 was even worse. Is there nostaglic value? Sure. I still get a kick out of watching the pilot/movie and some of the eps, but overall it's almost as wretchedly stupid as some of those 1940's Flash Gordon serials.

    Get a grip! There's got to be something more important, some priority higher than whether or not to watch the new Galactica.

    Me, I'm gonna watch it. As I said, I enjoyed the old show (bits of it, anyway) and I'd like to see how they've updated it. Yeah, it'll probably suck like 99.99% of all entertainment these days (including pretty much ever sci-fi-related movie out there right now) but at the very least it might have some entertainment value.

    Deciding you're not going to watch it because it's not "Faithful" to the original is assinine. It'd be like not watching Dune (either one) because it's not 100% faithful to the novel. But the worst part is the pontification. GET A GRIP! IT'S JUST A TV SHOW! Save the high-and-mighty attitudes for the Linux v Windows discussions. Sheesh. What a pathetic bunch of losers you people must be!

  125. Genocide: A very bad direction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > What they fail to see is that we should watch the
    > story as if it were told from the Cylons'
    > perspective. The new series will examine why
    > humans are inferior and why Cylons are obligated
    > to wage total war to eliminate human evil.

    Genocide of a species is never good and never justified. I don't want to invoke Godwin's Law, so I won't elaborate further.

    Your idea isn't totally lost. If it was told by a resistance group within the Cylon empire. Some of the original repilians who created the cylons might be alive and might be among the resistance.

    The cylon empire may be "the winners" but they won't be absolute winners. There will still be hope.

  126. Cattlecar Galaxative by eutychus_awakes · · Score: 1

    I still have the plastic "turbolaser blast" from a 70's vintage Colonial Viper up my nose.

    I'm not old. I'm 37.

    --
    This sig is a test. If this had been an actual sig, you would be reading something quite a bit wittier than this now.
  127. Piranhas versus Sharks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Galactica Aircraft carrier idea is basically restating that piranhas and sharks have different advantages and disadvantages. Why limit yourself to one defense (or attack) strategy when you can have it all?

  128. They must have tried very hard by bettlebrox · · Score: 1

    to make it worse than the original!

    --

    I have a very small mind and must live with it.
    -- E. Dijkstra

  129. Sci-Fi by Kyouryuu · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I've often wondered just what exactly is up with the Sci-Fi Channel. They seem notorious for taking really good ideas and then crushing or otherwise mauling them. Battlestar Galactica was never a show I watched nor can I say I was ever a fan enough. But the fact that this new one promises to be very different from the original prompts me to wonder why they didn't just create an entirely new series with new characters and hype it to death.

    Anyhow, back to my original point. Sci-Fi has virtually no good programming. As the person way up above said, they spend a lot of time airing shows that have nothing to do with sci-fi (except for Crossing Over... of course ;p). The final straw was when they killed Farscape. In their deus ex machina ending, Aeryn and John get vaporized and left to die. The crew screams and begs for mercy. And then Sci-Fi thanked the viewers for 5 great years. Yeah - that's what did it for me. The whole "You really don't give a rip about your fans, do you?"

    Then there was Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was saved by Sci-Fi after Comedy Central decided to can it, it's true. But they stipulated that MST3K stick with sci-fi and horror movies (Horror is sci-fi? Since when?). Now they run the same five episodes ad nauseum every Saturday. Ironically, Sci-Fi's filler material consists of the same movies Mike and the crew would "pay homage to."

    There also was the Saturday Morning Anime a long time ago, which was an introduction for many people to the art form and probably was one of the first major showings of anime on the cable networks. Even if it wasn't the greatest anime, it was better than the Ray Bradbury Theater. But Sci-Fi in their infinite wisdom scrapped that idea as well and the station continues to be decisively animephobic.

    So, for me, Sci-Fi is a waste of a television station. A good idea marred by horrible execution and ignorance. Maybe someday they'll get the clue that I don't want to watch cheesy B-movies from the 1950s, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

    So it's not a complete diatribe (too late), you might ask what I would do if I were Sci-Fi. Well, first, I'd either surround myself with a combination of older space operas and have at least two exciting new ones. If we can't have the lavish sets of Farscape, we can scale it down a bit. Have some anime movies from time to time. Ditch all of the goth and horror nonsense that isn't sci-fi. It's probably okay to keep some of the new age programming, like the UFO secrets thing or even that show where they have the homebrew sci-fi clips, but don't rely on it. And for crist sake listen to your fans. Not the rabid fanboys who know what kind of underwear Captain Kirk wore in episode 24, but your typical casual fan. Fans make sci-fi work. Without them, you have nothing.

    1. Re:Sci-Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      What a fucking dumb shit you are.

      Farscape ended with a cliffhanger because the people who make the show thought they had a another year. The cancellation came and the sets were being taken down with literally a couple days warning.

    2. Re:Sci-Fi by dreegle · · Score: 1

      The cancellation of Farscape was also a turning point for my respect of the network. I gave it the benefit of the doubt for a while, but resented Stargate SG-1 being literally force-fed 2 episodes at a time at first. I used to be bummed for a week if I didn't get a good tape of Friday's shows. Now I don't bother.

      Scare Tactics is just embarrassing to watch at best, mind-numbing much of the time. Tremors is just not that interesting. Two movies was as much as the concept had. The series has little to do but play out variations on a theme. And aside from a couple of interesting episodes (like the black hole) Stargate SG-1 is highly derivative, and more of an army show than a SciFi show. None of them hold a candle to Farscape.

      The final straw was now they've taken off even the repeats of Farscape except Sunday nights, replacing them with fine movies, like Universal Soldier III...Ugh!!

      I don't expect them to pay for shows that are losing money, but they've turned to just filling up space. I believe they are now owned by USA networks, and the greater cable gods seem to have less and less interest and insight into what makes SciFi unique, both as a genere and a network. In short, they don't seem to care. And it's too bad.

      As far as Battlestar Galactica goes, I was never a fan, and couldn't get too worked up about how the new one compares to the original...but I don't see the current management giving me much confidence that they even want to produce something really good...they just play with their numbers, and if a show is cheap to produce (like, presumably Crossing Over and Scare Tactics are) then they'll suffer a small audience drop since they end up netting more.

      Anyone know if Scare Tactics is getting decent ratings? If so, I doubt it is the usual SciFi Core audience.

      --
      http://WeedTracks.com/ - 80,000 Weed files, Legal, Sharable Digital Distribution
    3. Re:Sci-Fi by mr_resident · · Score: 1

      I couldn't agree more. Except for Stargate:SG1, the Non-Sci-Fi Channel seems devoid of any sentient life whatsoever.

      When they canked The Invisible Man, I was appalled. When they canked Farscape, I was stunned.

      When will these empty suits realize that the proliferation of cable channels means that no single show is going to get the ratings they had in the days when there were only 3 networks? Instead of trying to reach out to a broad auidence, why aren't they picking a target demographic and programming for their tastes?

      The Cartoon Network is the real Sci-Fi Channel. Samuri Jack, Justice League, old-school/new style Anime. Hey, somebody over there is knows sci-fi.

      The idea of remaking Battlestar Glalactia is so pathetic anyway. That show was a terrible bomb filled with expensive effects and lousy writing. Even the reruns got low ratings.

      Now they're giving Martin Scorsese millions to do a sci-fi mini series? Yeah, nice one. With his long experience with the sci-fi genre, I'm smelling a huge, stinking pile of Gangs of New York proportion.

      I suppose this means the market is ripe for a competeing sci-fi channel. Would some mysterious billionaire please give Harlan Ellison, Peter David and J. Michael Straczynski a blank check so they can get started on it!?!?!?!

    4. Re:Sci-Fi by Kyouryuu · · Score: 1

      Yeah, like you said, it's often times not so much what Sci-Fi cancels, but what replaces the empty space that gets left behind. It leaves me scratching my head, wondering how in the world the replacement could be more successful or profitable than what it replaced.

    5. Re:Sci-Fi by Kyouryuu · · Score: 1

      I don't doubt what you say about what led to Farscape's demise. I completely understand that the final episode had a deus ex machina ending mainly because the producers through they'd have another season. My point is, it's still Sci-Fi's fault. Sci-Fi commissioned Farscape from Jim Henson Studios if I'm not mistaken and it's Sci-Fi's fault for pulling the plug prematurely. If Sci-Fi owed anything to the fans of Farscape (for five great years of loyalty), it's to give the designers of Farscape the freedom to end the series properly and in a tasteful way - either through one last episode, or through a made-for-TV movie. That's what should have been done. What was done was not only a giant bash in the face to fans of the series, but perhaps the most flippant way you could possibly end a series that brought your meager network five years of attention.

  130. Check out the real facts about Mormonism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out the real facts about Mormonism from those of us who used to be Mormon:

    Exmormon.org

    For example, you can read about:

    --Mormon founder Joseph Smith's fascination with magic, including searching for buried treasure guarded by demons, seeing visions in a "peep-stone" in his hat, and ancient treasures guarded by magic lizards.

    --Mormon founder Joseph Smith's fascination with having sex with other men's wives and daughters, including girls as young as 14 year-old.

    --The Mormon church's corrupt leadership group of old men who have systematically promoted racism and conspired to cover-up child molestation.

    --All sorts of bizzare cult magic and crazy doctrine along the lines of the Jim Jones cult and the Waco cult.

  131. Ponderosa is space by baomike · · Score: 2, Funny

    I kept looking for Hoss.
    It might have improved it if he had shown up.

  132. Sigh... by CommieLib · · Score: 1

    I guess I'm the last good old boy standing who still sees "tranny" as short for "transmission".

    --
    If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
  133. is sci-fi a public company? by RestiffBard · · Score: 1

    we could all just buy up the shares and become the stockholders that usually fuck things up but instead we'd can the morons that have so completely ruined what once had the potential to be a great network.

    Scifi channel is so utterly out of touch with their audience.

    --
    - /* dead coders leave no comments */
  134. BEE BEE BEE BEE by jayrtfm · · Score: 1

    "Now what?" "We wait for the bee"

  135. CPA Movies by fm6 · · Score: 1
    Huh. That's pretty apt. It also describes a lot of movies that weren't "bad", but which really turn me off. Like:
    • Batman. It wasn't about good versus evil. It was about establishing a brand.
    • Chicago. Yeah the song and dance numbers are cool. Anything from the brain of Bob Fosse is cool. But the device they used to translate the show from the stage to the screen (It's all Roxie's fantasy!) is totally lame, and relies too much on the credulity of the audience. I've never never seen a movie so thoroughly detached from actual human motivation.
    • Everything Steven Speilberg made after Jaws. And even that one was blind luck: if the mechanical shark hadn't broken down, forcing them to improvise around it, it would have been just another lame horror/disaster flick. Perhaps critics would be calling it "Airport goes to the beach"!
  136. Re:It can only get better-Tim Burton. by Sabalon · · Score: 1

    I'd love to see Burton do something like this.

    HIS batman was pretty good.

  137. No kidding by msobkow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Kill off an original top-quality show like Farscape, and instead produce drek like Tremors, Battlestar Galactica, and those awful made-for-SciFi movies of theirs.

    I'm starting to think they hate science fiction, and should be relabled as the "Schlocky Horror Channel".

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:No kidding by amuro98 · · Score: 1

      SFC doesn't hate sci-fi.

      They're just following MTV's recipe.

      MTV is to music (and music videos) what SFC hopes to become for sci-fi.

      They're doing a good job of it right now, with such shows like "Scare Tactics" (which is facing a lawsuit), "Crossing Over" and "Dream Team".

      "Children Of Dune" was OK (though I still hated the costumes!) but I fear that will be the last production worthy of a science-fiction channel that SFC will ever do... Since then, what have they given us? Garbage, garbage, garbage.

    2. Re:No kidding by jo42 · · Score: 1
      > original top-quality show like Farscape

      Excuse me?
      Having the characters be consistently pissed off and angry is "original" and "top-quality"? And having them babble about stuff, places and races that they pulled out of their arsesses?
      Right...

  138. Who is Edward James Olmos? by whjwhj · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Who the f*ck is Edward James Olmos?

    In typical slashdot fashion, it is, of course, assumed that EVERYBODY knows who this guy is and thus not worth mentioning. The arrogance gets annoying after a while.

    1. Re:Who is Edward James Olmos? by wolverine1999 · · Score: 1

      AS far as I am aware, he's a police sergeant in Miami Vice....

    2. Re:Who is Edward James Olmos? by whjwhj · · Score: 1

      Heh heh!

  139. Lots and lots of assumptions here... by El+Camino+SS · · Score: 2, Insightful


    This new version (without seeing a single episode) is completely devoid of what real fans of the show liked.

    Really? Well, I was 6 when the real show came out. Maybe I'd just like to kick it a little bit with some new Galactica. I certainly am a fan (matter of fact I have my tiny little Galactica kids jacket framed in my home) and I would like to say no one alienated me. You just said that you and everyone else has not seen the new Galactica... yet you run it into the ground. Seems like you are obviously in on what is happening with it, which like everyone else here with an opinion means YOU HAVE NO FRIGGIN' IDEA.

    Dune was fine. "Children" was actually good. They were all exceptional for low budget. So there you go.

    Just because Starbuck is a chick doesn't mean it won't be good. Hell, that actually sounds like fun to me. After all, we're not talking Shakespeare here. We're talking fun. I don't think of Battlestar as a tome to the ages. I think of it as low budget fun that had spaceships that turned left all the time in space.

    Screw the mythos. The only mythos I remember in Battlestar was that they all war helmets that looked like pharaohs... and that they did a kind of "wandering people" thing. More Moses to me.

    So what if they change it? It was silly stuff to begin with. I doubt there will be any protests in the streets about this one.

    Looks like fun... not the meaning of life.

    1. Re:Lots and lots of assumptions here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's going to be a porno movie actually!

  140. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by dcmeserve · · Score: 1
    I've known far fewer homosexual men, so I'll accept my punishment for that with grace. :)

    Hmmm... naa, sometimes a joke works better in its implied form.

    --
    "Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
  141. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by dcmeserve · · Score: 1
    Don't be so heterosexist.

    Or would that be "heteroamohomosexualist"?

    --
    "Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
  142. BG did have a good line or two by UrGeek · · Score: 1

    As bad as it was, BG did pop in a good line or two. One of my favorites (from the few that I watched) was:

    "Just what sort of crime is STARBUCKING?"

  143. As a fan of the original series... by downix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm actually looking forward to this. Sound corny, but I'm curious to actually witness what they've done. Sure, I loved the 70's show, but I'm not so foolish as to think that it is a golden goose. I see potential in this interpretation, even with the less-than-folklore aspect in comparison to the original. I see strong actors, a good plot, and most of all, a far grittier template to work from.

    The only thing I've read that I'm less than thrilled about is the sex. I'm sick of sex in sci-fi. I don't want to see Ripley's underwear. I don't want to see the vulcan chick get jelled-up. I don't want to see Baltar getting a hummer from a damned inflatadate!

    --
    Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
  144. I'll watch it by EvilStein · · Score: 1

    It's either that, or another 24 episodes of Spongebob Squarepants.

    Since TechTV has decided to suck these days, might as well watch Sci-Fi for a bit. :P

  145. Farscape's cancelled, you insensitive clod! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    though they seem to be doing good with Tremors, Stargate, Farscape, etc.

    Not so well. Farscape's cancelled (because of costs, they say, so where do they get money for Galactica?), Tremors is cheap and crappy (as opposed to the movies, which were cheap and fun), and they got Stargate from Showtime, so didn't have to pay the setup costs.

    People have asked for Doctor Who since the channel started, and they've always refused - and if KTEH (PBS) can afford it, they certainly can.

  146. Re:Highlander 2: The Sickening by BrynM · · Score: 1

    "There can be only... An entire race of us on a far off world." It just doesn't have any umph to it....

    --
    US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
  147. Late Night by dmaxwell · · Score: 1

    Put them on at 1:00 in the morning on Friday and Saturday nights. It's not hotly contested time and the hardcore fans would tune it. If you're hardcore about something that obscure, you just have to take what you can get.

  148. Extreme Suckness by dmaxwell · · Score: 1

    It has all of the cheeziness of anime intended for 7 year olds. Why do they have to triumphantly say the names of their weaponry when they shoot someone? ULLLTRAAA LASER! MONDO ROCKET!!! Gack! It makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out. Speaking of Galactica, it also abuses stock footage. Anytime a composite robot transforms, it's a mini tripout video so they can disguise the fact they always use the same clip for that transform. It also has the worst of anime asthetics when humans are portrayed: Upside down gumdrops for eyes, ultrapermed color coded hair, no chins, and flapping gaping orifices for mouths. It contains every bit of suckness that an action cartoon intended for (uncritical) young boys can have.

    1. Re:Extreme Suckness by BrynM · · Score: 1
      Anytime a composite robot transforms, it's a mini tripout video so they can disguise the fact they always use the same clip for that transform.
      Ever since that technique was perfected in Voltron, everyone from Power Rangers to Pokemon has relied on it.
      --
      US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
  149. Leaked Outline! by serutan · · Score: 1

    At last here is the story line for the new Galactica movie:

    A solar storm has rendered space flight and related special effects impossible. Commanded by Manuel "El Guapo" Adama, a ragtag fugitive fleet of carts and wagons cannibalized from supply ships and damaged vipers plods across the western prairie of a faroff planet, dragging the ponderous Battlestar on skids through the punishing dust. In hot pursuit behind them are the leather-clad Cylon clones, grotesquely painted, pierced and feathered but with perfect teeth, riding their armada of heavily armored motorcycles and dune buggies.

    Apollo - the commander's idealistic son. An ace fighter pilot, his true love is the accordion.

    Francine Starbuck - once a champion triad player and college roommate of Apollo, he underwent a sex change and is now the lesbian lover of Boomer.

    Belinda "Boomer" McNeil - beer drinking squadron commander and Starbuck's special friend.

    Baltar - a tragic figure, was negotiating a peace treaty between the Cylones and the regular humans when a sudden unexpected solar eclipse fulfilled the ancient prophecy and started a bitter war of extermination. Hailed by the Cylones as their supreme leader, he's really just a nice guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Boxie - a robot boy with a real dog. Surrogate son of Apollo and Serena, Boxie accidentally killed his mom with a freak short circuit while handing her the soap. Apollo constantly fights the urge to dismantle him.

  150. I'm sure SciFi is concerned by this by JudgeFurious · · Score: 1

    No doubt they will miss having that critial group of people who watched the original and remain dedicated fans. I'm sure they'll mourn the loss of all 82 of them.

    Relative to the number of people who have never watched this show newcommers (people born after this abortion went off the air) will be in the majority. At best this show, if they like it, will prod some of them into trying to see the original movie and/or episodes. Then they will laugh and turn it off.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
    1. Re:I'm sure SciFi is concerned by this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are more fans than you realise!

  151. Scotty never said that... by ShaunDon · · Score: 2, Informative
    I know this is off topic and nitpicky, but Scotty never said "loves to change things" -- McCoy said in the motion picture "I know engineers, they love to change things" when imagining his new sickbay.

    ShaunDon

    1. Re:Scotty never said that... by TheWanderingHermit · · Score: 1

      Let's see...
      loves to change things from my post

      and

      love to change things from your comment.

      Okay, so I added the "s" to keep the verb in agreement with the noun. To be technical, I should have written that word as "love[s]" with the braces to indicate a change.

      On the other hand, if you look, I was basically staying with his quotation. If that one letter to keep the tense straight is so important to you, then I strongly suggest you get a video of Shatner's "Saturday Night Live" sketch -- the one where he tells everyone to "Get a life!" I suggest watching it for 2 reasons: 1) If you're that stuck up on the quotation differing by 1 letter, you are very much the kind of fan depicted in that sketch and described by Shatner when he was ranting, and 2) you seriously need to get a real life.

    2. Re:Scotty never said that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It wasn't just that one letter was off. That would have been easy enough to pass up. Keep in mind that this is slashdot, this thread is about star trek, we don't have lives (nod to Shatner on SNL) and you, a once hopeful scriptwriter who pitched ideas to the ST franchise and complained that Ron Moore loves to change things, attributed a ST line to the wrong character!
      BTW, nice idea about following convention and writing "love[s]" to show that you changed the quote to maintain the grammar of your sentence. Although the missing letter was not the grandparent poster's complaint, it doesn't hurt to show fellow slashdotters how to correctly quote a sentence fragment without messing up your own grammer. This ranks up with learning the meaning of irony, which may or may not be demonstrated in your reply.

  152. Don't watch Galactica? Simple by Ask-A-Nerd · · Score: 1

    Geeks among us, what is the quickest way to get someone to do something? Tell them NOT to do it, the man is pure genius unlike the Fox executives that have cancelled other excellent shows. What the heck do they know!?

  153. Or The Crow, the series? by Population · · Score: 1

    Where he gets a JOB!?!

    Dude, you're a corpse raised to enact vengence.

    You don't have to pay taxes.

  154. Taking the Mormon stuff out? by 2muchcoffeeman · · Score: 1
    Does this mean that the new series (mini-series, microseries, attempt to make money, whatever) won't be a steaming truckload of Mormon propaganda like Glen Larson's was?

    Yes, I know that was insensitive. But it needed to be asked.

    --
    Prevent Windows piracy. Use Linux instead.
  155. cant believe this hasnt been linked to yet.. by dougnaka · · Score: 1
    --
    My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
  156. uh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what a fucking bunch of losers.

    instead of arguing about the TV...

    TURN THE FUCKER OFF!

    idiots.

  157. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by willtsmith · · Score: 1

    I beg to differ.

    Irregardless of what she tells you, a woman who enjoys seeing two women together is either lesbian or bisexual.

    Likewise, a homosexual should be pretty grossed out by seeing a heter-sexual couple in action. If it's not THIS way, I don't know how you would ever be able to assign the labels: hetero, homo, and bi to sexuality.

    --
    -------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
  158. Gattaca lost money? How? It cost $300 to make by BenJeremy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Gee whiz, they shot the thing in some shopping mall and I think the only spaceship shot was a launch plume (could have used stock footage of a Saturn V takeoff.)

    Some might call it "intelligent sci-fi" - I call it cheap and boring. Give me a rousing Space Opera any day over the visual valium of Gattaca.

    1. Re:Gattaca lost money? How? It cost $300 to make by Kosi · · Score: 1

      visual valium of Gattaca.

      Yes, although "Contact" with J. Foster is far worse. Just when you think that after a long, long introduction finally the real storyline begins, the movie's just over.

  159. Well, I always thought Cylons were badass by TerraFORM · · Score: 1

    I always wanted (and still do) to be one for Halloween, now THAT'D be cool.

  160. to reply to myself by Renli · · Score: 1

    "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

    Been bugging me all day, theres the correct quote.

  161. too bad that "irregardless" isn't a real word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Bummer. Check out the irregardless entry at dictionary.com. In fact, here's a quote: Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

  162. Excuse me? by DaBj · · Score: 1

    Spaceship? Pray tell, what does spaceships have to do with Science Fiction?

    You have had too much Star Trek/Wars brainwashing.

    --
    "GNU's not Unix....it's Linux" / Kami "kokamomi" Petersen
  163. This just in: reading comprehension rates down... by Stickster · · Score: 1

    The summary shows an astounding lack of attention to the news story. Please go back and reread the first few paragraphs. Olmos is not telling critics to tell their readers not to watch the show. He is telling hardcore fans that they will probably not like it, and therefore not to watch it. Neither comment would be an extraordinarily wise one coming from a lead actor in the show, but the latter is obviously far less damaging, seeing as how there are quite a lot of people who will be seeing the new show without ever having seen the original.

    Certainly a lot of purists (whatever that means, since we are, in fact, talking about a TV show, for Pete's sake) are going to throw up their hands in disgust at any tinkering with the original's characters, plot points, art design, costumes, hardware, and whatever else it is that people of that ilk fuss and obsess over instead of living their lives. But the show's writer, Ron Moore, does bring up some very interesting points in the far more illuminating article available at the Mercury News. There was a lot of deeper drama that was never touched in the original, even though I suspect that the strong thread of spirituality and morality that ran through the original series will probably not be as prevalent in the new one. For some people that's not a problem; my personal view is that good writing is good writing, so I'll judge for myself after I see the show.

    I have fond memories of the original myself (well, up to the 1980 abortion they called a series comeback), but that probably has something to do with the fact that I was 9 years old. I'm hoping that the channel that aired the first really decent adaptation of "Dune" might actually be able to pull off something that is a little more filling in the dramatic sense than the cotton candy that was the original series. I mean, let's face it, folks, a good bit of the time the original was about as dumb as a box of hair.

    I have to say that, on the whole, I am pretty impressed with Olmos' straightforwardness. It's probably not incredibly politic for him to have done, but it took a lot of guts for him to speak the truth out loud, when other people don't want to for fear of riling up the obsessives and fanatics. That'll get me to watch, and now it's up to the writer(s), actors and director to keep me interested.

  164. Re:Gattaca lost money? by Arjuna · · Score: 1

    The actors' fees may have been a significant part of the film's cost. If the actors were unknowns perhaps the film would have done better on the balance sheet.
    I appreciated the movie because it was focused on the implications of a single technological field. Scifi is always a tension between fantasy and prediction and I liked that Gattaca didn't need to make myriad predictions about technological issues that were peripheral to the plot. It felt chiseled down to its essentials, a well proportioned but stylised film.
    But YMMV :)

  165. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Moofie · · Score: 1

    What does "irregardless" mean?

    --
    Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  166. Committing daggit to launch... now! by leonbrooks · · Score: 1
    The daggit should have been set on fire, roasted and shot into space.

    Installing Longhorn should just about do it.

    I'm very much in favour of shooting the smoking remains of the daggit into space, both for the intrinsic pleasure and because it'd have given them more than the three or four launch sequences that they had. And used. Again, and again, and again...

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
  167. I HAVE A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA!!! by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 1
    Let's watch the miniseries, and THEN judge it!

    Wow. Where's my Nobel Prize?!

    IgNobel Prize?

    Oh well... we trailblazers are never appreciated in our time.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
  168. Re:Gattaca lost money? by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

    Gattaca cost about $36,000,000 to make. Not chump-change, but Star Trek: Nemesis cost almost twice as much - $70,000,000; Erin Brokovich cost $51 million, for comparison.

    ST: Nemesis has grossed $97.5 million already. Gattaca has made less than $20 million since it came out in 1997. Battlefield Earth grossed more than Gattaca did (although, with a $70 million price tag, it at least had the decency to lose money, too.) And you wonder why they don't make challenging SF, and keep milking the franchises dry?

    I thought Gattaca was everything that cinematic SF should be - a reflection on the effects of speculated technology on human endeavour, with a good, character-driven story that avoided melodrama. Like much good SF, it was both about our time and not about our time - and the cinematography was a delight.

  169. Re:Sci-Fi Chan is to Sci-Fi as MTV is to Music Vid by N'vok · · Score: 1

    In the UK, all MTV shows are music videos. The sci-fi channel's still crap though.

  170. Re:Gattaca lost money? by DeadScreenSky · · Score: 1

    And it had a ridiculously cheesy ad campaign. I remember the trailers alone managed to keep me away when it was in theaters, though I eventually enjoyed it on video.

    "There is no gene...for the human spirit!"
    Bleh!

    --
    There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
  171. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who is Grace? Tell us more about the punishment.

  172. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He didn't say he knew them biblically. Oh, I see, it was implied.

  173. Feldergarb!!! by infonography · · Score: 1

    Sadly I can't get the Theme from 'Dual, Parallel Trouble Adventure' out of my head. And Soultaker is a very nice style to it. I really enjoyed the Silent Mobius Movie, but yeah, it Feldergarb.

    --
    Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
  174. core audience of Sci-Fi (the channel, not genre) by phastest · · Score: 1

    Buck Rogers...now THERE is a show that deserves a good, solid "re-imagining" if there ever was one. Just so long as they hang on to the skin-tight costumes and restrict all female cast members to model-grade starlets (brains optional, but strongly discouraged), they'll have a very loyal audience indeed.

    Erin Gray 0wned my adolescence.

    And then there was the darker side of the show, which was really only suggested in the most vague terms...images of a nuclear holocaust which nearly eliminated humanity...the loss of so much of the species' culture (hamburgers?)...and the presumed lonliness of a man out of place in time.

    Those dreary portions actually stimulated my imagination a lot as a young teenager, particularly when the stimulation of Col. Deering departing a room (sway...sway...sway...) wore off for a while.

    Special effects from that time were very cheap to accomplish. Sci-Fi (channel) could, today, do even better with a $500 Dell PC and a copy of Adobe Premiere (or a linux box with appropriate tools..but then that might require a little learning curve, which takes time, and time is money, etc.).

    So, you big bad executive producers, soak up a few episodes of Buck Rogers...then go whip your "re-imaginer" with whatever grade of damp pasta is required to bring THAT show back, 21st Century Style!

  175. I want to be a Nelson family by Conspir8or · · Score: 1

    I want to be able to point at the TV when the last episodes of cancelled shows are broadcast and yell, "Ha-haah!"

    Oh wait, I already do. "I said, 'Ha-haah!'"

  176. "spinoff" of Star Wars by peter303 · · Score: 1

    BSG followed TV's long tradition of cloning and imitating successful movies. In this case it copied the immensely successful first Star Wars movie and its FX innovations.
    TV SciFi was pretty successful up to the mid-1960s with Outer Limits, Star Trek I, Jetsons, Twilight Zone, and even the cheesy Lost in Space. However they were very expensive to produce. Then along came the death of technological utopiaism that followed WWII and culminated in the Moon landing. Big science was seen as evil- pollutors and war-promoters.

  177. Re:Any disrespect to the original is balanced out. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Likewise, a homosexual should be pretty grossed out by seeing a heter-sexual couple in action.

    Not really true. I'm 100% homosexual, and I can watch straight porn. Well, I can if the guy is good looking. Two women together don't gross me out, it's just dull and boring. A man and a woman together, well, I just concentrate on the man and I wish I were with him, and ignore the girl. Two men together, now that's *hot*. :-)

    The one thing I don't get is I have several lesbian friends who like watching gay male porn. They say it's "hotter" than lesbian porn. That, I just don't get at ALL.

    I guess it just goes to show how complex human sexuality really is, huh? :-) The big three labels (hetero, homo, bi) are merely broad categories. They're not the only categories (at the very least you've left out asexual), and there is tons of variety within each one. If I were you, I'd use labels like that as a convenience, but don't put too much into them. No single label ever fits anyone perfectly.

  178. Re:Egads! by UrGeek · · Score: 1

    "Did anyone like the Alien Nation series?"

    Oh, it was just okay.

    "Did anyone still like it when Sci-Fi saw fit to air it several times a day?"

    No. But not as much as I hate seeing the same damn commerical many times in an hour. That is sooo cheap.

  179. Re:Egads! by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

    Cheap yes...but Sci-Fi probably needs the money. It doesn't have the kind of financial backing that other channels have. For example, TLC has the Discovery Channel, a major money maker.

    At least I haven't had to endure another Sci-Fi Chain Reaction in a while.

  180. Wake up! Time to...beep beep! by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 1

    Ya know what I love about that image?
    That with the way CGI is advancing, give it another three years or so and some bored /.er will now probably create that scene.

    I LOVE LIVING IN THE FUTURE!

    Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
  181. Selfish by kenp2002 · · Score: 1

    am I the only one that sees a cronic pattern of behavior by fans that re-makes and spins offs should cater to their own personal memory of the series? Has it ever dawned on anyone that the re-made show isn't for the old fans but maybe, just maybe, written for a new crowd of people? All I head is whiny Trekkie-types complaining that it isn't like they remember it. Perhaps that is the point. Not ever spin-off of a franchise if meant to cater to the fading memory of "OLD SCHOOL" fan.

    --
    -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
  182. Re:Egads! by UrGeek · · Score: 1

    To recap, I said:

    >No. But not as much as I hate seeing the same >damn commerical many times in an hour. That is >sooo cheap.

    And then Angry Pixie said:

    >Cheap yes...but Sci-Fi probably needs the money. >It doesn't have the kind of financial backing >that other channels have. For example, TLC has >the Discovery Channel, a major money maker.
    >
    >At least I haven't had to endure another Sci-Fi >Chain Reaction in a while.

    And now I come back and say:

    I don't understand. It would seem that Sci-Fi would make more money by selling more unique adverts that selling the same ones over and over. I imagine they have to offer a discount when the same is shown 6 times an hour.

    I mean cheap as in whoredogslut cheap.

  183. The word is 'craptacularity' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on! Craptacularness?
    Craptacularity, craptacularity, craptacularity!
    Let's get it right, people! The whole world is watching.

    1. Re:The word is 'craptacularity' by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      wouldn't want to misspell an nonexistent word, now

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  184. The truth hurts by Redbw6 · · Score: 1

    Sometimes the truth hurts. If this really is a poorly made remake then I give the guy credit for speaking the truth.

  185. Re:Egads! by Angry+Pixie · · Score: 1

    Oh, I misread that. I thought you didn't like the sheer amount of commercials. My retort... Sci-Fi has a hard time finding advertisers willing to pay for what is likely exposure to a very small demographic. If you want to sell Formula 409, the Big Three are still the best places to advertise, and if you want to sell high-end electronics, you go for the yuppie crowd watching TNT, WB, and Fox. That must be it. Why else must I endure Girls Gone Wild commerials on Comedy Central? I guess advertisers assume that Sci-Fi channels fans aren't interested in anything other than Highlander/Xena/Hercules collectables... well, Girls Gone Wild videos too.

    As a result, Sci-Fi is forced to air their limited commercials more often in order to fill the allotted time for commercials breaks. They probably have to sell advertising time at a discount as it is. If this is the case, their whole business model is wrong. They shouldn't be bartering (I believe that's the word they use in media)for time.

    Oh, apparently we Sci-Fans eat at Applebee's and Chile's A LOT!

  186. Re:Sci-Fi Chan is to Sci-Fi as MTV is to Music Vid by ProfBooty · · Score: 1

    vh1 is the same way, in face mtv2 was created to show videos, but seems like less and less are shown.

    the only all video channels MTV offers are their genre channels, such as mtvx(all metal, later replaced by MTVJ) vh1 classic etc.

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