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Olmos Tells Fans: "Don't Watch Galactica"

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the felgercarb dept.

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.'"

3 of 546 comments (clear)

  1. 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
  2. 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?

  3. 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.