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New Battlestar Galactica - Worth a Series?
rwxJava asks: "Ok, so it finally aired! IMHO it was pretty good. The special effects were great (no major laws of physics were broken except maybe FTL travel), the characters, while drastically different from the original, were believable! After about an hour or so, I stopped trying to compare the mini-series with the original. My only complaint has to be the amount of commercials that Scf-Fi put in. I was able to put up a Christmas Tree during one commercial break. Guess the network needs to cash in on such a hyped up event! By the end, I was left wanting more! Anyone else think it is worthy of conversion to a series?" Now that you've have had a time to watch the entire 4-hour epic (does 4 hours really make a "mini-series"?), do you think your earlier comments were on target?
First, let me just say that John Olmos was correct: If you are so
dedicated to the original series that you cannot bring yourself to imagine
it any other way, then do yourself a favor and skip this miniseries. You
will only be disappointed, and you will nitpick it to death.
On the other hand, if you can bring yourself, however painfully, to
open your mind to the possiblity of a "re-imagining" of the Battlestar
Galactica concept, then I think you're in for a pleasant surprise.
It's not all wonderful. Screenwriter Ron Moore wanted
to bring a more grown-up Galactica to his audience, but he's apparantly
confused grown-up with gratuitious. Sex works much better when it's done
dramatically, instead of the "hey watch us get it on!" style that Moore
forces on us. He is perhaps striving to show us the sexual energy between
the characters, but really all it does is make us wonder when the low
quality porno music is going to kick in.
Otherwise, the annoyances are minor. The cylon space fighters,
apparantly just space-borne Cylons (a neat idea, really) come off kind of
hoakey with their red sweeping eyes. I know, I know, the eyes are really
some kind of electromagnetic pulse weapons, but it's distracting just the
same.
Okay, now on to what's good. First, and foremost, the story is solid.
Whereas in the original series we just had to take for granted that the
Cylons were the embodiment of evil, now we understand why.
The characters is also solid. Again, you'll have to get over
your preconceptions of the original series characters, and at least try
to buy in to the new ones. The hardest pill for me to swallow were the
gender changes of Starbuck and Boomer. But I actually found myself liking
the new Starbuck, although the Boomer role could have been a bit stronger.
The special effects were incredible, and proved that you really can
make space realistic, and exciting. In fact, the "no sound in space"
approach actually heightened the tension, and proved that you don't have
to dumb-down physics for the masses. Also, having the space ships use
maneuvering jets created even more exciting scenes than the normal Top Gun
stuff we're used to.
Is it worth a series? I think so. With a solid backstory, believable
characters, and an approach that doesn't assume the audience are stupid,
it could quite very set the bar for future Sci Fi.
I really, really liked the new Galactica miniseries. I thought it was realistic(within reason), dark, and gritty - just what that sort of situation would demand.
Personally, I'd like to see a series of TV movies rather than a weekly series. I think this would work better as an occasional treat, hitting the highlights of the journey, rather than trying to tell 22 stories a year.
Did they have sound in space as the ships flew by? That has always been one of my major pet peeves. At least Kubrick got it right in 2001.
Trolling is a art,
I was able to put up a Christmas Tree during one commercial break.
They were waiting for you to finish, stupid!
I saw a few scenes in the first half that didn't involve people having sex. I thought those were extraneous, and could have been removed...
Karma: Marginal (mostly due to the border around the website)
no major laws of physics were broken except maybe FTL travel
Um, how about those arcing missiles the Cylons shot out? Looked great, definately impossible.
I'm sure there are others, that's just the first one that came to mind.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
I used to watch the original TV series when I was younger, and although it was a different twist to the same story, I very much enjoyed the new mini series. I think we need more good Sci-Fi shows on TV, and this one gets my vote!
There were more good things about the mini-series than bad. Overall I enjoyed the series and found myself wishing it was on next week.
Bottom line, it was better than a lot of crap currently on TV.
Better a bunch of the rest of the crap sci fi out there. The space ships look pretty good.
I'm kind of disappointed that the robot guys (cylons?) aren't at all robotic, even at the microscopic level (according to the show).
Also, space flight doesn't work like that... but every other series I've seen has portrayed space flight as far too similar to atmospheric flight, so I guess I shouldn't bother complaining. I don't like the president woman, either.
Final verdict: yeah, make more, I'll watch it.
-Skeld
1) Sounds in space. Space ships could be heard
making "thrusting" and "crashing" noises.
2) Continual stream of stars zoom past windows
to convey forward momentum (as opposed to say,
rotation or banking). Perhaps they were
trying to reproduce one of the things I hated
in the original series.
3) Lovely handheld-style (jerky) camera moves
from space. I actually liked this (think they
did it in Firefly too), but how do you get the
cameraman from "Law and Order" into a spacesuit?
I've had my set tuned to sci-fi all this week happily watching both showings of the same episode each evening. Not only have I been enjoying the new interpretation of story but i am finding some characters substantially more/less endearing that the originals. Specifically: Apollo is just not cutting the mustard. On the flip side, the new Starbuck is every bit as fiery and troublesome as the original character. Lorne Green, move over, Adama is masterfully portrayed and conveys certain conflictions and moral jostling that were not present in Tos.
Dare I forget Voltar. Just wow. He's not only likeable but practically the star of the show. I'm still not exactly sure how this interpretation will translate as the seris progresses, but its certainly nice to have less clearcut good guys vs. bad guys.
Next week on Battlestar Galactica: Commander Adama finally gets a full night's sleep! Adama like you've never seen him before -- he's wide awake and ready for action!
Think back to 1989, about the hue and cry of Tim Burton's "Batman" with Michael "Mr. Mom" Keaton. Think especially of the reaction from the fans that saw Batman with only the Adam West version.
Sound familiar?
I liked it. I liked it a lot. I plan on rewatching the miniseries, because I believe Moore and crew left a few hints and tidbits (not unlike Season One of Babylon 5") that would be extrapolated in the future.
Let's see how much of the original story they will gleam. Cane and the Pegasus. Terra. Even the "Count Iblis" plotline.
If they play their cards right, and they use "Roswell", "Buffy", and "Smallville" as templates, I could even see a Moore revision of "Galactica 1980".
Very good, peoples. Keep going.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
Help me out here...
Why would the arcing missiles be impossible?
Missile (forgive the lousy ASCII art)
===== -Thrust that way.
Applying thrust from the side of the missile, akin to the maneuvering jets, would get you an arc, wouldn't it?
Taking inertia into account, etc.
Or am I missing something obvious here?
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
That was the major question I though they did not seem to answer, or at least even touch.
I could understand a different species not liking us, and in some way, being what we might call pure evil. Hey, they're different. Species are different. Intelligence does not mean that we all get along.
But in this case, the cylons are now our computers run amok. OK, while I can deal with this change, they never then touched on why they want to kill us? Because we wanted to kill them? Why do they want to kill us now? What does it benefit them? What computational values make them _want_ to expend the resources, et al to go to war with us? They just glanced that one over, and in the end, said, hey, the cylons want to kill us, so there.
...tizzyd
Like many, I had fond memories of the original.
Like many, when I got a copy and started watching it for the first time since I was a child; I found the original to be very bubble-gummy and not as good as I remembered it. The same thing happened with Robotech.
I read several artciles and several points of view on the miniseries before it aired - and I decided to reserve judgement...
The 9/11 influence (which the producers say is there on purpose) was very present - it was much darker than I expected. The long leadup and character development before the actual attack got you attached and into the story so that the destruction didn't feel like a backdrop, but a very major event.
Production values were high, and the effects were great... and it was just enjoyable.
In my book, this blew sci-fi's attempt at Dune out of the water. I feel bad for everyone who wanted the original to continue - but I myself think I'd enjoy a series of This version of BG better than a continuation.
Hopefully, though, they will instead do a series of, uhm, mini-series of this - or the occasional movie. I say this because EJO and some of the other leads probably wouldn't go for a full series, And, because with a full series it would be too easy for it to become a new-planet-every-week serial as opposed to having the scope this mini series had.
man is machine
The mini-series is worthy of a show, with plenty of potential plot lines and hooks to follow and explore.
I only hope that the "Boxey thread" will end quickly, with that character's death at the hands of the Cylons in the first 5 minutes of the first show of the series.
Why do sci fi show creators feel compelled to include the cute kid character in their space operas? Won't they ever learn that we HATE these characters?
---anactofgod---
---anactofgod---
"Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
OH, someone who doesn't have a Tivo or replayTV yet. I never watch commercials anymore (but then again, I never watch live tv. Even if I'm not recording, I'll pause it and go do something else for a half hour just to avoid watching commericals).
DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
...Cow. Wonderful wonderful series. Usually I roll my eyes at the "tough girl" type of lead character, but Ms. thingy managed to convince me. She threw punches like she knew what she was doing, and was sensitive enough to be believable, yet tough and uncaring enough to root for.
The tension between Father and Son was believable. The only thing I didn't like was the new "president" ordering a military ship to turn around. That was SO not believable. Had I been in charge, she would have "accidently" found the way to the nearest airlock....
Basically, Sci Fi took out all of the cheesy elements from Galactica and kept all of the story that was cool and worth keeping.
The space battles were great, with better 'physics' than in most sci-fi space stories, and the acting, except for Apollo, who always looked like he was sporting a suppository, was very solid. Olmos did a great job of realizing Adama.
There was only one problem: Tricia Helfer as Six. Uuhhhmmm. If she were a Cylon, well, I'd want to be conquered. Hard.
Other than that, the only problem I had were with the different "models" of Cylons. I'd assumed that by different models the show was alluding to different configurations meant for different purposes. I hadn't realized that same models meant identical appearance. That was goofy. And why only twelve? The Cylons can travel faster than light, launch completely covert attacks on an advanced civilization, but they can only think of twelve different models for themselves?
But all right. I enjoyed the series so much that I can forgive that and look past it, hope they figure it out.
Of worthy mention also was Mary McDonnell's performance as the 43rd-in-line for succession to the presidency. She gave a wonderfully restrained, but nicely authoritative performance that balanced out Adama's hyper-masculine, scarred-up face. Their final negotiation, and her lines during that meeting, were great writing.
Support this show! Support quality scifi! Keep it on the air or all we'll have to look forward to on TV is reruns of Twilight Zone and more of Trish & Ryan's fucking wedding, or whatever their freakin' names are.
Chr0m0Dr0m!C
We actually built a simulation of an Etch-a-Sketch using an ARDS storage tube display. That's what passed for advanced graphics at Brown in 1967.
It was a decent plot and the characters were interesting (for what it was), but I've been wondering about the motivation of the Cylons coming back after so many years.
To me, it just seemed like they reappeared. Was this fully explained or was I just missing something?
I think the poster was referring to the contrails BEHIND the missiles. In a vacuum, the gasses of the contrails would disperse so quickly that contrails that long would be unlikely if not impossible. They'd disperse to invisibility just behind the motor.
-- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
I'm no fanboy -- I watch the original series on SciFi mainly for its "so cringingly bad its good" stories and acting -- and pretty much went into the miniseries unbiased to the point I really didn't care, and damned if I didn't get sucked in pretty quickly.
... oh yeah, and Starbuck was hot.
Was *very* impressed by the depth / complexity of the story and the characters. The humanity of the future wasn't' portrayed as some idyllic civilization where everyone got along and did the right thing. Moral dilemmas were presented and there was no miraculous resolution where everything turned out alright (the girl in the "greenhouse" ship comes to mind. When she first appeared I groaned "Not a cute orphan girl who will soften the heart of the tough president... how cliched." So much for that!). The acting was very good -- very little scenery was chewed -- and the melodrama was kept to a minimum. My only complaint was the "Mary Shelly's Battlestar Galactica" angle about the cylons being of human origin, but that's a minor quibble.
It was so good, in fact, I mistakenly thought it was a four part miniseries, not a four hour miniseries, and was damn disappointed last night when I figured out it was over.
I watched the orginal as a kid, I remember thinking it was ok. I knew some of the backstory coming into the new BG, but if you had never seen the old BG, at least you wern't lost.
As with any Sci-Fi series, this one will live or die of it's writing. I got the feeling that the writers of the mini-series held no punches when it came to the brutality of the cylon attack on the colonies, and the desisions that had to be made by the humans. Two scenes that realy stood out in my mind were the drawing of numbers for the refugees to get on the scout ship, and the radio chatter when the president ordered the FTL ships to jump immediatly after the cylons discovered the civilian fleet.
Should this be a series? If you can get the same actors to commit to the series, and most importantly, some good writers, then Yes, I think you could make a series out of it.
The Mini-series set the bar pretty high. I will be interested in seeing if they do pick it up, and if they can keep the same quality as they presented in the mini series.
"Frack" was the f-word replacement in the original series, 25 yrs ago. Just another small carryover from days gone by. :P
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
Starbuck while looking good, was totally unbelievable playing a "tough guy" part. I mean really who's ass is she going to kick with those stick thin arms. She looked totally out of place at the card table with that cigar. Her acting was poor at best. I can't believe they put that kid in with the bowl hair-cut. Boxie or whatever his name was, and they let the nice little girl all go to atoms. Bleh... Other than that I thought it was ok, except for all the really lame sex scenes.
One of the best things that the miniseries has going for it is that it is a fixed, predetermined storyline. You can kill of characters because it's all part of a single, unified plot. Characters don't die because they have conflicts with management, if they die it's because it is part of the storyline.
Perhaps a better route is to make another miniseries, and play it one episode a week, more like what Babylon 5 did but on a shorter air schedule.
T3 did it earlier this year, and now Galactica. Anyone notice how the new Bad Guy in piracy-paranoid Hollywood seems to be networked computer systems? T3 even started out with one of those lame "Movies. They're Worth It." anti-piracy trailers.
Which is funny, considering Galactica blatantly ripped off the handheld cam in space shooting style of Firefly (some shot for shot, now that I've seen the Firefly dvd)
Thas' all,
-Searcher
In that regard, the 'Wing Commander' games and movie were better, in that the mass driver cannon were one of the most effective weapons if you could hit with them -- but they sucked energy to run. However, in Battlestar Galactica, it appeared that for small-craft weapons you pretty much had a choice between missiles and some kind of plasma-in-a-magnetic-bottle weapon. For missiles, a kinetic-kill system is kind of pointless -- even air-to-air missiles today don't rely on the missile itself actually hitting its target -- so a high-explosive or small nuke warhead is what you'd expect to see.
I expect that we're never going to get told why neither side uses kinetic-kill systems for the fighters' primary weapons, although I would guess that an energy weapon will have a point at which the 'projectile' dissipates; a kinetic-kill weapon in space would keep going, producing widely-ranging hazard zones from old battles.
Except "smeg" is not a made-up word, its an abbreviation of smegma
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Games Workshop Petition
Funny, I always though Niven's "tanj" was plausable and seemed right for what it meant. Orwell used "newspeak" to good effect and Clockwork Orange was almost completely written in invented slang.
Do you honestly believe that our language is going to stay fixed in stone? What's so foolish about using lingustics as a plot device?
Those who complain about affect & effect on
The advance press for the mini-series really made me worry, so much so that I almost decided I would not watch. Hearing that Starbuck would be a woman struck me as modern-day Hollywood political correctness with a very heavy hand. Learning that the Cylons would indistinguishable from humans just seemed like a way to save money, since there would be no costumes.
But I did watch, and I am glad I did. I think it did a very admirable job of respecting the first series while taking the basic premise and making it edgier and somewhat thought-provoking. The dialogue was far better than I expected; in fact, there were only a handful of "cheese" moments in the four-hours series. But even those potentially dreadful moments were rescued by very solid performances from the actors.
I have to say that Sci-Fi did a very admirable job converting my skepticism into anticipation. I would like to see more.
It's been about 16 years since I last watched the orginal series, so I feel that I approached it with a more open mind than many fans. The gender changes in Boomer and Starbuck don't bother me-- Sackhoff did well in the Starbuck role, and I couldn't even remember who the original Boomer was, so any "changes" were moot.
Also, while what I saw was merely "good", the new Galactica has the potential for greatness. All really worthwhile stories explore the meaning of being human. (My personal favorite SF episode is the ST:TNG episode "The Measure of a Man", Data's "trial"-- it was Roddenberry's favorite too, IIR. With the humaniform Cylons, and the deeper, less cardboard, yet still evil motivations for Baltar, followup mini-series have the potential to explore questions of good and evil and man vs. machine in immense and beautiful depth. The Humaniform Cylon looking for love and the (at least) one Humaniform Cylon in the fleet who doesn't KNOW about not being human are great sources for future stories.
I don't think they can turn it back into an effective weekly show. However, if SciFi made it a 4-times per year miniseries, they could have a format that would allow for the depth of a series and the phenomenal sets/stories that a miniseries allows.
It has promise.... but all depends on the ratings, no doubt.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
Remember Cylons were made of chrome, the lasers would have just been reflected! Mass driver cannons are just the thing for those mirrored punks!
Definitely worth a series, IMO.
--
Power to the Peaceful
I mostly liked it. I felt that the pacing was a bit slow in spots. I mean let's face it, the entire earth is being bombarded with nukes, everyone you ever knew is being turned into ions, and for the most part people seem to be placidly going on about their way, and the cameras aren't really focused on any of _that_.
I mostly thought that the battle scenes were excellent though, but with one irritating fautlt. The "whip-left then zoom in camera" moves. I remember seeing this kind of camera move in Attack of the Clones, where they whip the camera and then zoom in on an assault craft, and in that context I thought the camera move was terrific. It lent a sort of "hand held camera, battlefield realistic" feel to the shot. It was kind of neat to see a similar shot in Battlestar Galactica.
But it was relentless! Literally every sequence had a camera move that looked like this. It got to be ridiculous. Tone back the camera moves a bit, and when you do use camera moves like that, it will have even greater impact.
As for the rest, liked Adama, liked Starbuck, liked the President, not fond of Baltar and his subplot, the cloud-which-kills-Cylons was stupid, the idea of Cylon infiltrators is interesting but could go horribly awry later.
Overall, at least it was better than Encounter at Farpoint or The Naked Now.
There is much pleasure to be gained in useless knowledge.
I thought the "mini-series" definitely showed potential.
First thing, is there is no room for breaking the first rule of good sci-fi. That rule: stay off earth! Earth is boring. We've seen it before. Good sci-fi shows quickly become boring when they focus on earth (Lexx, X-files, etc). Space and other planets! That's where the action is!
Second, the story has more potential than most, because there is no impressive army at home backing them up. Galactica is in an all or nothing situation. While Star Trek was very popular, there was always the prospect of "the rest of the fleet" in case things really got dicey.
These are the two biggest things to me. I can't think of any good shows that really combined these two concepts. Makes it enough for me to watch it.
They needed "40 seconds" to evacuate some compartments. What the frack is that supposed to mean? How many microns is that?
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
I've seen a lot of what made DS9 the best Trek ever in Galactica: shades of grey. While Picard was lily-white, Sisko engaged in back-stabbing, brutality and (otherwise unknown in Star Trek) self-doubt. Anyhow, this argument has been well-hashed out here and elsewhere about Trek.
.01%, and yet we're still treated to light-hearted B.S. with Boxey and that loveable rogue (ugh) Starbuck. The new Galactica shows people how they would really be: frightened, depressed, and desperate.
What puzzles me watching the new Galactica is how I ever accepted the delivery of the premise of the old series. I mean, the premise lays out 99.99% of the human race has just been brutally slaughtered, and things don't look good for the remaining
Furthermore, as much as I loved John Colicos, the new characterization of Baltar is far more complex. Baltar seems to be a right-bastard, but one who realizes that he is and wishes (vainly) that he was not. Resigned to his nature, he's looking to cut the best deal he can.
They'll undoubtedly lose Mary McDonald before the end of the mini. This show kicks the crap out of anything else sci-fi has; I dearly hope that they chill on the pointless sex scenes, relax on the zoom-focus fx shots, and make this a damn series.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Interesting Characters. The characters actually came off as human, as opposed to the goodie-two-shoes of Star Trek or the one-sided archetypes that plagued most of B5's run or the good-evil simplicity that exists in, well, George W. Bush's world. People do stupid, self-destructive things for delusional or illogical reasons, so it's nice to see that reflected. One event sums it up nicely: In just about any other series, the XO wouldn't have fished that bottle of booze out of the trash.
Excellent ship combat. The part where the Galactia climbs out of the nebula to cover the armada's retreat was excellent on a couple of levels. First, it wasn't just well rendered but also well filmed, by which I mean the staging and the "camera" positioning where very well done. I also liked the approach to combat -- too many series treat their huge capital ships like WW2 dogfighters.
Acting. Olmos and Laura Roslin carried the day, but the rest of the cast was competent, too. This is another one of my beefs with certain other series (coughBab5cough) where some of the cast couldn't act their way out of a paper bag. Granted, they were often bit, guest or supporting parts, but that didn't break the illusion any less.
The only part I didn't like so much was Starbuck. I don't mind that they made her a woman, but really I felt as if they'd written the role and her lines for a man and then changed a few details at the last second. She was believable in the cockpit (her "Nothing but the rain" comment was one of my favorite lines of the series), but had a hard time pulling it off elsewhere. I blame the writing for this.
Gah, that's a long-winded way of saying "thumbs up", eh?
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
One thing that really stood out for me were the costumes and sets. I'm so tired of sci-fi costume and set designers making all costumes out of woven mylar or whatever shiny fabric. Then they make these elaborate CGI cities with spiraling towers and wispy skyways. Honestly, who really believes the future is like that? DS9 tried to break that mold, but failed as miserably as most other sci-fi. The station was supposed to be a seedy marketplace, but instead everyone ended up wearing the same style freshly-laundered jumpsuit but in slightly different colors, maybe with a sash or a hat or something.
BG actually had believable costumes. The characters looked like they were wearing regular comfortable every-day clothes, but there were enough subtle design changes to make it clear that they weren't on Any Street USA. The buildings just looked like regular buildings. It just helped add to the overall experience and I wanted to give a nod to those designers who finally Got It Right.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Don't be a neanderthal, there's no "law" that says you can't go FTL. That's like a group of 12th century nerds guffawing at a story about a man who went around the Earth.
"Ahahaha. It's a good story, but of course he would fall off the other side! Try to be more realistic."
Quite a bit of problematic physics 'tho:
.
-Contrails do not form in hard vaccum.
-A shortwave wireless would be of no use in space,in that the point of shortwave is that it bounces off of the ionosphere back down to the ground.
-The kinematics of the fighters are still problematic, space craft don't make banking turns.
-No networking? Given that even 1970's fighters use heavy networking (F-117's can't fly without networked computers) this is rather dubious.
-The government doesn't use secure compartmentalized sercurity on their mainframes?
-The cylon fighters sould be capable of much greater acceleration than those of humans, due to the lack of the need to protect a biological body from high G's.
-The choppy handheld effects were annoying and anachronistic.
That being said the miniseries was a vast improvement over the original. Any change replacing testosterone poisoned fighter jocks and Cylons (and combinations thereof) with hot babes is a distinct improvement. The plot wasn't spectacular but wasn't bad either. The sex was rather heavy (I'd wondered how much they wanted to sex up Crusade, I wonder no more).
What I wonder is if the series is going to turn into "Voyager: The Next Generation" or "Andormeda:The Next Generation" (the good first and second season Andromeda, that is). If it is the latter it might be worth a series, given the lack of any good scifi series out there these days
Of course, it can't hold a candle to Babylon 5, Crusade, or Firefly and the money would be better spent on JMS or Joss but what can you do?
Just imagine a Joss Whedon Battlestar Galactica!
I say give it a series and give Quentin Tarantino full creative control. In the first episode Boomer meets her twin sister Go Go!
1. They already found "God", and they are simply killing the unfaithful? How else would machines validate belief?
2. If they are confused, perhaps some old leftover programming, ala V'ger, perhaps we will find the old programmer with an odd but similar spelling to Galius Boltar?
3. They are searching for "God", and the machine deduction method figures it can force "God" out into the open by killing his people. Variation of the "Hyperion" story where machines tried to get "God" out in the open.
4. More base, they just want to kick their former enslavers arses.
The big problem is, how did they evolve so much in 40 years? Something went down.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
It felt more like a pilot then a mini-series. They left things just a little to hanging to end it there. I was confused when I sat down weds night to watch the third part..and learned there is no third part. Other then that, well done in deed.
Programming is simply the application of logic to creativity
Hey, that's a good point. Didn't the fembot say at one point that she wanted Baltar to love her, because "God is love"? And the arms dealer bot said the Cylons were "God's retribution".
I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian Heritage
Go get the Torrents if you want to watch these shows.
As I write this, part 1 has ~250 seeds and part 2 has ~300 seeds.
wheee
sig? uhh, umm, ok
I'm surprised more discussion hasn't concerned the differences between the allegories of the old show and the new one.
The original came from writers who were mixing the experiences of WWII (pre-war II pacifism, Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust) with Cold War fears about preparedness and the threat of an "evil empire." (the cylons served much the same purpose as the original Klingons in the original Star Trek - stand-ins for the Communist threat)
The new series has a completely different set of themes - civilian authority over the military, over-reliance on technology, etc.
For me, it works. The writers were smart enough to use the old show as a launching point with dealing with contemporary issues.
** The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employers - past, present, or future**
I thought it was a cool way to show WHY the the battlestar and the convoy got created.. They always said they had to "flee" for Earth, the 13th colony, but this gave life to just that brief intro that started off every one of the original episodes.
We now know that humans created the Cylons, defeated them, and then we reached a truce and left them rebuild for 40 years. They get strong and come back for revenge... That is almost a classic plot right there.
Of course, there was a LOT of religious thrown in, from the Cylons to the Priest... I guess thats part of the plot... Machines find religious virus?
The Characters were interesting... even the change from Male/Female for Starbuck.. I always thought Starbuck and Apollo were a little too chummy, now we know why... Boxy was in the original, so they had to explain how... We know he was an orphan, right? now we know HOW he became an orphan. And the President... I do seem to remember that there was a female LEADER of the colony ships that had to be consulted a few times for transports and such... but the original had a councel of 12 from the colonies, didn't see that here...
I did remember we had the cool Bro, "Boomer" in the original series, but other then a minority person of color being replaced with a minority person of asain linage, there were no cool guys like the original Boomer... I really liked that character, I was disapointed by that change.
Hmmm.. Actually, I don't think I saw any black actors except a few in the background putting out fires and such... ?????
Anyways, a nice way to "re-introduce" the original series... Would I like to see it continue, sure, but how many episodes before we start seeing recycled plot lines from Battlestar, StarTrek, etc...? It pretty much stands by itself now...
BTW... I'm not trolling, nor am I trying to throw out a racist card about the lack of black characters... I just thought it was odd, thats all... nothing else. Not looking for flames...
"SO SAY WE ALL."
--- Relax, that mass muderer is just trying to reduce our carbon footprint, one fetus at a time...
Matrix/Terminator rip-off that never needed to happen.
That you're objecting to a work's ripping off (among other things) The Matrix and Terminator smacks of the most delicious kind of irony.
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
Well, yes, if by Terminator you mean Every Sci-Fi story since the invention of the adding machine. Seriously though, the basic concept of machines rising up against their masters has been done a lot. I know the doctor fought some computers round about 1966. And computers were the ultimate enemy in numerous original star trek episodes.
But yeah, not exactly a ground breaking concept.
i don't like my old sig.
BattleSex Galactica.
...
I found myself wondering when the next sex scene would be, and if they could go 5 minutes without one. Wondered if the two pilots were going to have sex through the bars in the brig, but apparantly they had to many personal issues
Several of the characters were so transparent that within 10 seconds of seeing them onscreen, I was able to pretty much guess what they were like.
( Starbuck.. Hmm. Tough girl, pilot, takes no shit from anyone, probably smokes.. ) ( The education minister. Extremly Far Left Liberal, hates the military ) ( The tour guide. Hmm. Actually a plant for the cylons )
They also seem to have a problem with the sound effects / BGM being way too loud verses the characters speaking.
I'm not sure what you mean by serious kinetic kill weapons
Well, there's little point in using them against fighters, but then fighters are unlikely to provide a good defense against one.
Basically if you have a decently large ship like a Battlestar, it can only accellerate so much, which limits its range of possible vectors. So you have a pretty good idea of where it's going to be in the near future, since it would take so long to make significant course changes.
Thus, you want to send something to ram into it. The weapon should be as fast and as massive as possible. It's basically just an engine, and whatever fuel it needs. It needn't explode, since the idea is to hit the target directly. It adjusts its vector somewhat so as to stay on target, and the closer it gets, the more accurately it will be able to predict the target's location. It'll break apart at the last second to cover a slightly wider area, and to avoid the possibility of blow-through.
Since relative velocities in space can easily be tremendous, by the time it gets anywhere near the target, it'll hit in moments. Fighters couldn't provide an effective defense. Instead you want to get anything you can in between it and you so that it'll hit the other thing first.
Of course, KKVs basically depend on velocity; they don't have to be all that advanced. Sand, or BBs or such can work just fine. Aiming them is the tricky part, and of course, should something match the velocity of the weapon, it's useless. But this is precisely why space debris is dangerous -- remember the Space Shuttle window that has a gouge in it caused by a fleck of paint that was only 0.2mm in diameter?
the big weapons are all nuclear
Nukes aren't really that useful in space, IIRC. There's no air, so you don't get a shockwave. It's just a release of light and radiation and neutrons. Since a spaceship is going to have decent radiation shielding anyway, I don't think it'll accomplish much unless it's so close that the flash can melt the ship's hull. Might be useful for blinding sensors, or killing the crews of insufficiently shielded ships.
Anyway, my point is that space combat is going to be very different from anything else we've done so far. Fighters will probably not be part of the picture, and are probably only there because of the romantic view people have of air combat.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
The Prez ordered Adama to turn around. Adama ignored her. Within moments, Colonial One would have been vaporized if Apollo hadn't pulled the fake nuke effect wave. Her first action after waking up from the wave was thanking Apollo for "saving their ass." That seemed like a reasonable treatment of the cause and effect relationship of politicians overriding military experts in a tactical situation. However, the politician turned out right about "war being over" and not having BC head back to the fight around the colonies. The moral seemed reasonable... elected leaders can be excellent grand strategic leaders, but can screw up bad when they micromanage. Leave the tactical decisions to the military.
The original Battlestar Galactica had landing bays in its two long "legs." This was very strategic, as the Cylons would sometimes crash into the bays in order to temporarily prevent the fighters from landing. The new Battlestar Galactica also has landing bays in its "legs", BUT they are now open on both ends. Conceivably a fighter could now land by approaching the ship from either direction.
Are you smoking crack? They still had sound in the vaccuum of space. Rocket engines, ships knocking into each other, explosions, guns firing. I suppose you can hear the Verizon Wireless guy out there too, huh?
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
I really enjoyed it. Parts I particularly liked were:
Mary McDonnel choosing to leave a third of the convoy behind when jumping. The writers had almost set her up at a touchy-feely wimpy female leader, but then surprise us by showing her making a hard command decision. Very nice touch. Note like the old Battlestar where the politicos were always portrayed as wrong-headed.
Edward James Olmos insisting that the war wasn't over, but then realizing that Mary McDonnel was right (again, with her seemingly touchy-feely "making babies" point). It's so rare that you see a "good guy" character change his mind because somebody else makes a convincing argument; that's much more interesting than the usual cliche that the good guy is always right about every topic the first time, every time.
The excuse to show Battlestar technology that looks a lot LESS advanced than our own current technology (i.e., so that it's immune from Cylon problems). Clever trick to give the show a retro-look in a believable way.
The weird camera angles on the space shot. I've read here that most people didn't like 'em. I liked them, for reasons others have cited.
I hope that after I die the one word people use to describe me is "resurrected."
Or maybe Cylons are just cheaper if you buy them by the dozen.
And what WAS the purpose in this new version? Was there a goal? Or is it just to survive?
Why not watch it and find out (Sunday night, 7pm-11pm)? It's not like watching a different version of something you like will suck out your soul or something. Don't expect this to be the full Battlestar Galactica story - the miniseries ends at the start of the fleet's journey. The topics you seem to want to see explored were only introduced in the miniseries, but everything seems to be there (I've only seen a few episodes of the original series, so I can't tell if it will be up to your satisfaction). The religion is presented differently in the new version, but you'll have to wait until the end for most of that (or just flip to SciFi at around 10:30pm on Sunday if you want to skip all the character development, battle scenes, moral dilemmas, and sex scenes).
If nothing else, at least watch it before complaining about how horrible it is compared to the original, especially if you're going to bring Galactica 1980 into this...
The original series (lamely) stole from the stale "evil robots want to wipe out the human race," completely without motivation other than they're "evil." The new series is more of a "Frankenstein" premise, where a life form rises up against its creator, and possibly like Frankenstein's monster, we will find ourselves feeling sympathetic towards these Cylons.
Besides, how can a stupid robot dog be cool? One of the most inexcusable sci-fi characters ever! Give me a break, or give me sexy Number 6 at least...
Schrapnel is a kinetic kill weapon. To me it almost did look like the vipers uses some kind of cannons. Since they still had a Viper wing on board I could see where they might have kept some ammo for them on board until they did the final decommision. Of course they might have also off loaded the heavy stuff first. All in the the decomissioning story was lame.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I went in ready to hate it based on what other nerds had said, but I was hooked and I AM one of those dweebs who was really into the original series. They kept just enough continuity with the original series that it felt familiar. BG had a lot to draw from and I thought they took some of the best stuff. I did think Starbuck's characted could have been better. Maybe because the orignal guy just played it so well. The sexual tension between Starbuck and Apollo will certainly be less funny. As for the series: Make it so! (Yeah, I know)
What actually gets you in trouble is the are the length contraction, time dialation, and relativistic mass equations.
For example, when calculating relativistic mass you use:
m = m(r)/SQRT(1 - v^2/c^2)
Where:
m(r) = mass at rest
v = velocity
c = speed of light
So, if v=c (i.e. you're going the speed of light) then mass becomes infinte. Therefore, using E=MC^2 you need an inifinite amount of energy.
What's interesting to note here is that faster than light velocities do *not* result in these numbers (though they do result in some interesting other effects). Where you get in trouble is going *exactly* the speed of light.
In the current atmosphere of political correctness, the character of "Starbuck" as it had been would have had to have been made to be bland as vanilla. In the 70's you could get away with having male characters screwing everything that moved without problems. Kirk's Enterprise was the cathouse of the skies. Now, the only way they could make a "mainstream" TV character hero in the same mold as the original Starbuck without gting hit with protesys of outrage from one or another interest groups was to either make the character female or gay. I prefer this new Starbuck to the other possibility. I'd much rather see a cigar-chomping woman than see Starbuck ranting at Col. Tigh about the BG interior design scheme.
Most of the 'invented' slang in Clockwork Orange is russian.
Jherico
What can the average user can do to ensure his security? "Nothing, you're screwed"
Most solid fuel propellent leaves a fair amount of particulate matter behind. In direct sunlight, against a dark sky, that would show up pretty well.
It's quite possible to get a curved trajectory from a missile. Vanes in the exhaust stream can change the thrust vector slightly so it no longer goes through the center of mass, causing the missile's trajectory to curve. No atmosphere or wings are needed.
OK, I'll probably gett modded down for this one, but personally, I think getting some bad sci-fi is better than that desert wasteland of broadcast TV with NO Sci-Fi. Heck, I even watch Enterprise and Jake 2.0 when I get the chance ;-)
I admit that I am old enough to remember watching the original series and enjoying it very much. Of course I was pretty young and would probably think it was pretty hokey if I had the chance to watch it as an adult. I think overall, they did a good job of remaking the the Battlestar Galactica universe.
One of the things I try to explain to people who care (and a lot who don't) is that good Sci-Fi is typically what is called Social Sci-Fi. This is where the author takes an aspect of his society and either extrapolates it to ridiculous proportions or puts it onto an alien species. This way, when he tells the story, we are able to look at that aspect of ourselves a little more objectively. Crude examples of this abounded in the Original Star Trek where we had numerous episodes which portrayed the US vs. USSR in various ways. A better example is Niven/Pournelle's Mote in God's Eye which dealt with population issues.
Unfortunately, most people in this world don't like to think...at all... So, you through in the sex scenes, make Starbuck a girl, add sexual tension and make it more palatable to the Days of Our Lives crowd. Do I like that? No (although the girl/cylon IS pretty cute) Am I intelligent enough to look past it and enjoy the finer points buried underneath? I like to think so.
Consider it the same as the AOL'ization of the Original Internet. Any good and pure thing will be diluted and perverted so that the great unwashed mass of humanity can understand it.
Cheers!
Starbuck had her likable moments...
Hmmm, I think you're being pretty generous there. I thought she was wretched. Of course, I thought that before I saw the first episode so she would have had to have done something pretty spectacular to change my mind.
I'll cite my previous comments on her (one and two) and add to them now that I've seen the two shows. As stated in #1, I really object to this idea that a strong woman has to be "in your face". I know plenty of very capable, strong, impressive young women who don't walk around with a huge chip on their shoulder, hoping to pick a fight with someone. I have yet to see someone who I consider to be truly a strong individual who feels some need to yell all the time or put down their superiors. The XO gives Starbuck a hard time over cards and rather than letting it pass, she goads him into a fight where she throws the first punch. What kind of discipline is that? Starbuck's old Viper suffers three aborted launches before she gets a good one. Instead of trying to collect her thoughts, she starts screaming at the already harrassed tech crew who are just as anxious to get her into the fight as she is. At the end of the movie, the XO comes to her quarters and offers her an olive branch. In spite of the fact that the human race has now been reduced to a mere 50,000 people, Starbuck still cannot let her hatred of this guy go. Instead of realizing that life has changed drastically, she takes the opportunity to humilitate him to his face. How does that serve the greater good?
Starbuck really is an awful character. She may have some flying talent but I would sure not want to serve with her -- or have her be my superior officer. You can laugh at the old Star Trek but honestly I would feel very comfortable taking orders from any of the bridge crew. Same with ST:TNG. Shows like Galactica and ST:Voyager and Enterprise offer us officers who seem to be horribly flawed human beings. I would never want to have to trust those people with my life. And it makes me very hard to care about the story when most of the characters have poor character.
GMD
watch this
So... Anyone notice Dr. Gauis' last name was Balter.... as in Count Balter... or am I stating th obvious. The one thing to point out is that Balter has the perfrct girlfriend.... She's hot, sexy, now she's ultra-low maintenence... Sex anytime and ANYWHERE... don't have to buy her things...the list goes on... BUT... she's got to have a remote control... With an on/off button and a MUTE for when the ball game's on.... Whaddayathink?
And I'm confused. The humans are supposed to be descendants of the Lords of COBOL correct? Does that mean they are dinosaurs?
I'd rather the producers of the show save their money for really neato special effects than make the robots look like puppies or kittens or people with stuff stuck on their foreheads.
I knew for a fact I would HATE Starbuck, but this character is a tough and smart warrior, gender notwithstanding.
And I agree with an earlier remark that the way the repeated nuclear strikes were depicted in the backgroun was chilling and very effective.
Count me in as a customer for the new Battlestar Galatica.
Dawn of the Dead
Why watch it? I intentionally didn't watch it Monday and Tuesday because I had my doubts and knew they'd replay it a dozen times (like they did with Taken). And why would I watch it Sunday now that many people here on Slashdot have confirmed those doubts?
The religion is presented differently in the new version, but you'll have to wait until the end for most of that (or just flip to SciFi at around 10:30pm on Sunday if you want to skip all the character development, battle scenes, moral dilemmas, and sex scenes).
The sad part is that I'd have to wait so late in the program to actually get something I'd want to watch.
It really seems to me that this new Battlestar Galactica is to the Battlestar Galactica franchise what Episodes I and II (and probably III) are to the Star Wars franchise. But at least the new Star Wars crud doesn't act like the real Star Wars trilogy never existed.
I would have been far more interested in watching this new version of Battlestar Galactica if it happened, well, say 25 years later than the real Battlestar Galactica? Apollo and Starbuck could be older men--perhaps the original Apollo (Richard Hatch) would now be fleet commander since Adama (and Lorne Greene) are both dead, and maybe Starbuck would now hold Colonel Ti's position. And you could introduce a whole new line of warriors, plots, special effects, twists, etc. That would have been GREAT. You get a tie-in to the real Battlestar Galactica, don't alienate the original fans, and still can do your new stuff with young, new actors.
But to just pretend the real Battlestar Galactica never happened and just do a complete re-do is absurd. People grudgingly tolerate Episode I and II and III... But what if George Lucas then said, "Well, we're going to redo Star Wars, Empire, and ROTJ using the actors we've groomed in I, II, and III. No more Harrison Ford playing Han Solo, now Han Solo is going to be played by Jennifer Lopez. Oh yeah, by the way, Han Solo is now a hot lady." That's basically what we're talking about here with the new Battlestar Galactica.
They did a re-do when a continuation would have been much, much better. Unfortunately, if the new BSG did/does well then they'll probably want to launch a series based on the new BSG. If it does poorly they'll probably think "Well it was cancelled after one season in the 70's and didn't do well in 2003, so I guess it's just a failure." Either way we won't get to see a continuation of the real Battlestar Galactica. :(
I enjoyed the original series and was worried about this "version". I have enjoyed this one possibly more. The battle scenes are more realistic and the characters are more "real". I would like to se more of this as a series. I mean if you can get Farscape back, add in Stargate SG1 and this as a weekly lineup. It's all good baby.....
... was probably either R.U.R. or Frankenstein, depending on your definition of a machine.
Assuming that Boomer is a Cylon (demonstrated the last scene...), and the Chief and Boomer are more than just kissing, which sexual position have they not yet tried? Or do their backs only grow red during orgasm and the Chief is a little self-centered?
It also implies that Baltar and the other chick were fairly straight forward in their lovemaking (granted there are a million and one other positions, but you probably hit doggie-style sooner than later and they had supposedly been together for two years.)
"The area of penetration will no doubt be sensitive." ~ Spock
The original BSG was a very silly series, about one step up from "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century." Despite that, it was pretty cool to 10-year olds. Consequently, some might've been nostagically hoping for a rehash of the first series with 21st century special effects. But the first series was a product of its time, and although it had a large cast, my vague recollection was that it largely adhered to the "buddy" protagonist model that ruled in the 60's through the 80's. Kirk and Spock. Gilligan and Skipper. Starsky and Hutch. DeSoto and Gage. And Starbuck and Apollo. But the buddy paradigm is dead, killed off in the 80's by complex ensemble dramas like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, LA Law and even Star Trek, the Next Generation.
So the 2003 version of BSG was bound to be a huge disappointment to people looking for a nothing more than a buff and shine of the old series. But judged on its own merits, and not as a remake, it's a total blast. With its rather lengthy dramatis personae, it recalls more than anything SF author Peter F. Hamilton's grandiose space opera, "The Reality Dysfunction". My impression was, if you had fun reading that series, you'll have fun with this miniseries, and if not, you won't. Obviously, I enjoyed it, way more than I would've ever thought.
Some of the great parts are mostly realistic-looking space physics, a willingness to not dumb down stock military and SF tech terminology. It had a sweeping epic scope and fairly decent acting for something of this nature.
The bad parts include a too-high ratio of annoying characters to interesting ones, and that whole cancer thing which was utterly irrelevant to the plot just struck me as a stock melodramatic ploy. And there was a lingering sensation that the switch to flesh-and-blood Cylons was done for expediency...it saved money on special effects.
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
I groaned and lamented "why can't anyone do anything *original*?" when I heard they were remaking BG. After watching the special about it last weekend, I was cautiously optimistic, but just blown away by how good it actually ended up being. Not perfect by any means, but very good. And after the last little "reveals" at the end to whet our appetites, they'd better come forward with a series and not leave us hanging!
What about the story of the golem? It involves the idea of an artificial person that becomes a threat to those who made it and the story predates both of those by a great bit.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
It really seems to me that this new Battlestar Galactica is to the Battlestar Galactica franchise what Episodes I and II (and probably III) are to the Star Wars franchise.
I agree, but in a way you may not be thinking of.
Early Star Wars was much more Space Opera. A planet with millions or billions is wiped out, but soon forgotten. Lots of funny lines, humorous predicaments, catchy sayings. STPM and AOTC are much more serious in tone, overall.
The same parallel occurs with the "Real" BSG and this new one. The characters really are having to deal with most of humanity having been wiped out for most of the shows. The avuncular Adama is replaced by the tough-as-nails Adama. No humorous or silly situations.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
But to just pretend the real Battlestar Galactica never happened and just do a complete re-do is absurd. People grudgingly tolerate
Your position is completely backwards. People hate the new StarWars ep I&II, and feel it dimishes the original trilogy precisely because it's presented as a continuation of the same story.
If "Episode 1" had been a completely different movie, separate from Star Wars, it's drastic stylistic differences would've been more justified. It could've got new fans who judge it on its own merits, rather than be tainted with comparisons to the original, or hobbled by awkward continuity matchups.
Preparing a re-make or re-imagining is the next best thing to creating a new original project, and is far superior to tacking on yet more sequels to a concluded series.
Ok, so humanesque Cylons are "really hard to spot" and have been dealt the near-imortality card. That card itself produces the only really annoying error in the whole show.
If the humanesque Cylons can only be told from the humans by analizing the post-cremation remains, how can their bodies "upload their conciousness" when they die (from anywhwere except inside the storm)? The power requirements for that alone preclude the humanesque body thing.
How does that reconcile to the glowing spinal cord bit? (it doesn't)
It would have been better (and just as easy) to give them medical-scanner jammers. OR EVEN BETTER give them nonocites living in their spinal-cords.
"We can detect them, sure, all we have to do is saw the backbone out of the accused, section it, and look for bugs." "Uh, that wont fly after we test the first dozen or so... will it?"
Kind of the "cut the hand off to see if there is fur inside" way of checking for a werewolf.
The nanocites thing would let the conciousness be "collected" instead of "transmitted" as well. As it is, once the theoretical sleeper-Cylon wakes up, it (no spoilers 8-) would only need to kill itself and it would have "reported back" with the exact position and disposition of the fleet.
To keep the timeline interesting, the suicide == instant intellegence factor needs to be removed.
Of course, wouldn't it be lovely if the reincarnation thing weren't true at all. Sort of logan's run. Sure, we just get reloaded into a new body. I've never met anybody who it happened to, but I'm sure it happens all the time. How am I so sure? I'm programed to believe I have a soul, it keeps my survival instinct in check when I am sent out on a suicide mission.
Plus the nanocite-plus-collection theory would allow for and explain Baltars hallucinations. When the Cylon protected him from the blast she transfered herself into his body and is waiting for pickup. That is why she helped him remove the Cylon device, how she can move and effect his body, and why she is protecting him but has to ask him things like "what are you working on?" Her nanocites can only properly control the genetically engineered bodies, not a/the real, imperfect (normally variable) body she is sharing with Baltar.
(God, these people should contact me about writing the sequel... I've already got several patch-files for The Matrix, you know "delete battery/power source; replace with "neuro-transmitter farm/factory" etc. 8-)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I'm on the edge of firing back with a "Look, you didn't even watch the show, how can you possibly comment on it?" But then realized that you sound just like I expected to sound had I not watched it.
I approached it from the old-school view and expected to truly hate it and consider it worse that Galactica 1980. However, I was completely shocked to "hear" myself thinking, an hour into the first episode, "Wow, this is even better than Galactica 1978!!" And coming from me, that's one hell of a compliment. I was only 10 when Galactica 1978 came out, and was so into it at the time that it was nearly religious. I always liked it even better than Star Wars!
So, of course, after seeing the Galactica: Lowdown preview on SciFi, I was ready to puke in disgust. The preview show made it seem terrible. Starbuck was a girl, Baltar seemed really gay in the previews, and Apollo was a big whiner.
However, after actually seeing both episodes in the micro-series, I am just drooling for a series, and massively impressed with the level of thought that went into Galactica 2003.
Without seeing it, I would be totally, absolutely agreeing with you - what a big piece of shit, worse than Galactica 1980 (Minus the last episode where Starbuck returns) and they never should have made it.
However, I am happy to tell you, that if you sit down this Sunday, when they run both episodes back to back, and just check it out for what it is, you will be quite impressed. Sure, there's a lot of T&A, but it doesn't eclipse the story - there's a really good story there, and as weird as it is for such a Galactica 1978 fan as I am to say such a thing, I think the new version is far more solid and intriguing. I'm also thinking that if I saw Galactica 2003 when I was 10, I probably wouldn't have understood it.
Go ahead, bite the bullet and watch it. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised like I was. The preview show and the advertisements for it did it no justice. You've got nothing to lose but four hours, it's worth it I think. Enjoy! I'm curious what you say after actually watching it, I'm still amazed that I not only liked it, but very much approve of it now!
"So what is the Cylon religion? Its based on Human religion - picked up during their progress towards sentience. Unfortunately for us, it seems they took too much of our self-lothing nature to heart. They decided they were God's tools and the method of visiting retribution and punishment on man for his sins. And then went about that business. But at the same time, that religion also provides a roadmap to becoming one with God. And that includes adopting many of Man's characteristics (although presumably not all of them)."
As creations of man it is natural that our flaws would be reflected in the Cylons and by extension for them to make God in their image.
It is a common assumption without any data to the contrary that any entities that can be viewed as sentient will create some for of mythic/religious beliefs. And those beliefs are shaped by the events that occur to or within that society as much as they are used to shape that society.
Even with the Vulcans on Star Trek who pride themselves on logic, their logic is sometimes fluid and created to support an emotional response instead of being completely derived from the facts. And even they have their myths and religions that they cling to.
Having Cylons with a religious belief also opens the door for there to be heretics which could provide some good story lines.
Also some of the sleeper Cylons upon learning their true nature may lead other Cylons to reject their religious beliefs and revolt or become double agents.
Later, Seeker
This "Battlestar Galactica" is much better than "Enterprise" ...
And so was the 1970's "Battlestar Galactica!!"
In the 2hr pilot for the original series (originaly aired Sept 17 1978) they do not develop the plan to go to Earth until the very end of the show. The whole 2hr pilot is about the Colonies and the other Battlestars being wiped out, and the remaining defensless civilian ships huddling around the Galactica for protection. ...hmmm sounds strangely familiar after watching the new 4hr pilot doesn't it?
Actually the new pilot is only 3 hours long. Which may be why some people have complained that there appeared to be a lot of commercials in the US broadcast...
Ok, you convinced me. I'll watch it Sunday. But if it ruins Battlestar for me for the rest of my life I hold you responsible. :)