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New Battlestar Galactica Premieres Monday

An anonymous reader writes "In several news articles, 'Battlestar Galactica' returns in a new four hour mini-series on the Sci-Fi channel this Monday. However, there has been fan furor over some changes to the story. Aluminum Cylon enemies look more like humans, complete with feelings, including one with rabid sexual desires, and the quest is not for a mythical Earth, as it no longer exists. More information at the BattlestarGalactica.com website, and the Sci-Fi channel."

7 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. another botched memory? by sweeney37 · · Score: 5, Informative

    let's not forget that Edward James Olmos has warned fans of the original series to not watch.

    Mike

    1. Re:another botched memory? by D'Arque+Bishop · · Score: 4, Informative

      According to the producers, Olmos's warning was kinda taken out of context. Apparently he loves the new BSG, but felt that die-hard fans would not appreciate the changes made to the show. The quote printed on the site linked in the parent makes me agree with the producer. (Namely, "The intent and the way we've built the reality is very different from the reality of the original.")

      The producer's rebuttal can be found here.

      For what it's worth, I've been watching my box set of the original series while stuck on a business trip. I'm hoping the new series will be good, but even if isn't, well... they're different series, and I'll judge them on their own merits, not how they relate to each other.

      Just my $.02...

  2. Number 6 by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 4, Informative
    A hot Cylon in a low cut dress...woo hoo! Here's the actress' biography from the SciFi site:

    Victoria's Secret model Tricia Helfer was born in Donalda, Alberta, Canada. The 1992 Ford Supermodel of the World winner and former Elite model has graced the covers of such magazines as Elle,Amica Italia and Cosmopolitan UK, and has walked the runways for Christian Dior, Givenchy, Claude Montana, Emanuel Ungaro and other top fashion designers.

    Clearly the producers have spared no expense in landing top thespians. According to IMDB, her previous acting gigs include:

    A part in an episode of CSI, where she played a model who ends up dead.

    A small part in the 16 minute short "Eventual Wife"

    A judge at the 2003 Miss Teen USA

    The role of Farrah Fawcett in "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'"

    IMDB also reports her measurements are 34-24-34

  3. Re:OT: aintitcool site contents by Schnapple · · Score: 4, Informative
    Knowles designed the site on his laptop in 1996 or so when he was in the hospital. It's pretty much been unchanged ever since. His forums are ultra-low-tech and tend to attract the lowest of life, and the whole thing's powered by inefficent CGI scripts so when something popular drops (like his early review of Episode 2), the site's unreachable for days.

    In short his site is indicative of eight-year-old design sensibilities.

  4. Re:Anybody watch SciFi Previews? by Marsala · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not quite. It was mentioned in the series (sorry, not enough of a fan to quote the episode title) that the silver droids with the sweeping red LED eye were built by the Cylons, a reptilian race.

    The Cylons were fighting some war, so they built themselves a nice little robot army and gave them a simple command: "Go blow stuff up and kill things." So the robots go out and do it and wipe out the Cylons' enemies. Then they start looking for new targets, and, well... the Cylons happen to be the closest civilization, so the bots wipe them out. And then they start wandering the universe looking for stuff to kill.

    It's basically the same premise as the Berserker novels by Saberhagen.

    Moral of the story: Automating killing machines with just enough intelligence to distinguish between a lifeform and a rock and giving them power supplies that last for hundreds of thousands of years is a really, really, monumentally stupid idea.

    And, just for the record, if a huge armada of homicidal robots showed up and started razing my world, I really wouldn't give a crap where they came from until *AFTER* I'd managed to stop 'em.

  5. Lost Tribes by JohnsonJohnson · · Score: 4, Informative

    The 10 Tribes were not "lost" in the sense of being missing. The short story is that the Hebrews organized themselves into 12 tribes, presumably founded by the sons of the patriarch Jacob who had 11 sons but the tribes descended from Joseph traced their roots to his two sons. Each of these tribes occupied a different area of

    When the Babylonians returned the tribes to Israel and Jerusalem, which was located in the lands of the tribe of Judah, was reconstructed, some of the other tribes began traditions that were an amalgamation of ancient Hebrew and Babylonian culture. The tribe of Benjamin sided with Judah in returning to a more strictly Jewish lifestyle. So that's how the other 10 tribes were "lost", a more accurate description would be they, left the faith, or were, lost to God, depending on whose point of view you wich to honor.

    At any rate, we know exactly where those 10 tribes went. The lands they occupied became known as Samaria or the home of the Samaritans, hence the story of the good Samaritan.

    The idea of a 13th tribe is peculiar to the Mormons though, although I think other Judeo-Christian sects claim to be yet another unknown tribe of Hebrews. I believe according to Mormons the 13th tribe were the ancestors of Native Americans.

    Incidentally the Biblical use of the word tribe is more closely related to the modern idea of a clan: a people group related by blood. A tribe is a people group related by language and custom, usually made up of multiple clans. The clan system helps prevent inbreeding since your close relatives are easily identified.

  6. Re:Anybody watch SciFi Previews? by Zoop · · Score: 4, Informative

    In the earlier one, the Cylons were just mad at humans. That's all we knew. Why? Nobody knew. What was their history? Nobody knew.

    Yeah, nobody knew...unless you, you know, watched the first three episodes.

    Cylons had been a reptilian race that created robots as slaves--the robots had themselves a revolution, and were bending everybody to their order, but in a weird bit of synchretism (sp?) kept the name "Cylon". Humans were the only power that hadn't bowed down before them, and they'd been fighting on and off for the better part of a thousand years.

    So they hit on a peace conference, and then sucker-punched everybody with the fleet away at the signing ceremonies. The Cylons, much as Hitler and with the Jews, were determined to exterminate every last remnant of this troublesome race. Like the Mormons, the Humans took a wagon train to the promised land. Like the Jews, they were looking for the missing 13th tribe to fill their ranks and enable them to stand up to the cylons and hit back.

    It was also very influenced by the self-perception of America in the wake of Vietnam. 60's idealism was dead, the Soviets were on the move, and the US was very much the underdog as the Sovs broke treaty after treaty (ABM, SALT I, etc. etc.). How different a world we live in.

    Anyway, the backstory was told in the first movie and in repeats as the first three episodes. But if you missed that, then yes, take it as read that robots hate humans, commence plot.