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New Battlestar Galactica Series Starts Tonight
Snaller writes "Tonight the Scifi channel begins airing the new reimaged Battlestar Galactica series. Having run to rave reviews in the UK, the new series is darker and grittier than the original, and showrunner Ron Moore aims for a more adult narrative with comments on issues such as terrorism, security, freedom, religion and what it means to be human in a series which is essentially one long story arc. The entire cast from the 2003 mini series is back and the first episode, called '33', picks up almost where the mini series left off: The humans are still on the run, but each time they come out of hyperspace, the Cylon armada catches up 33 minutes later ... every 33 minutes. When we join the crew this has been going on for five days."
Any plans to rerun the miniseries so that those of us that missed out can get the backstory?
Inquiring Tivos want to know!
A remake! How original!
Three men walk into a bar. They all got concussions.
I haven't gotten a chance to watch the miniseries, yet. Think I should still try and watch this? I caught a little of what looked like BS:G movie (was that the miniseries) last week on ABC, but I missed most of it. Would I be way lost?
Im hoping this is as good if not better than the original. The original was awesome, but the effects just were not there, now however we have the technology for it. I can't wait!
BattleStar Galactica episodes on btefnet
Hasn't already debuted 5 or 6 times?
At least you know when not to take a bathroom break.
*DrugCheese rants*
to stay inside?!
I hereby lift my Starbucks Grande Latte to the success of this awesome science-fiction tv show.
UK viewers are about half the way through this series already... and we're getting Stargate first... Makes a change.
Stick with Galactica for a few weeks. It'll get better, honest.
When it came on, I was hesitant. I mean, Starbuck is a chick?!
But as the series has progressed I have become as much a fan of this reincarnation as I was of the original.
Scifi channel should start airing episodes when the rest of the world does, with the internet people who are actually interested in the series have most likely already seen the released episodes. Once the media execs realise that the internet has basicly tied the entire world on one release schedule they'll actually see the true ratings for the episodes.
Great even for those few of you who aren't into sci-fi.
I'm willing to bet the 33 minute problem will come down to isolating one of these two- or both- to fit in with the story line.
But now this raises an interesting question: At the end of the miniseries, it appeared that the Imperious Leader was wearing Shannon "Boomer"'s body model. Could similar models be networked? Thus providing a locator beacon every time they leave hyperspace- that it takes the cylons 33 minutes to home in on?
If I was Adama, I'd set the next hyperspace jump for exactly 29 minutes....always in the same general direction but enough off so that it was unpredictable....until I was so far out that the cylons could NEVER catch up.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Sounds like what I felt like during Calculus 3.
This show is in a different league to Stargate SG1/Atlantis, Enterprise, and the rest, and certainly doesn't need to rely on lazy nostalgia for the original.
"the new series is darker and grittier than the original"
is that really saying much? Mary Poppins is darker and grittier than the original series also.
come on fhqwhgads
You could not come right out and say a "beowulf cluster of boomers", could you?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The story of 33
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
Hey, Baltar, I've got your Cylon detector right here. (pause to make out with Cylon chick) It's called a blacklight. (hang on, gotta fap again) If your pants are glowing with stains from busting one out every five minutes (damn, that feels great!) and everyone else on the ship is grossed out by it, odds are you're under Cylon influence.
Now if you'll pardon me, I've gotta go boink this hot imaginary chick in the red dress again. See you after the commercial.
It's beened aired elsewhere already. I've downloaded adn watched the first 11 eipsodes. Looks like they were recorded from some British channel.
If a million monkeys randomly pounded on keyboards, they would all log into AOL.
I'd say the Cylon model was at least a 36 or a 38.
Kinda gives new meaning to the concept of "model number".
Aint it cool news have compiled a list of comments from american media, and they are almost all very positive.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Have to admit it is a pretty good series anyway.. I was a bit wary when they announced strange changes from the original like turning Starbuck into a foxy blonde chick but it worked! Excellent stuff.
I only have Basic Cable, you insensitive clod!
Seriously. It's $10 cheaper to order Comcast cable Internet with basic cable. THis is how they getcha -- basic cable only has like 20 channels, 5 of those are religeous, 5 are shopping channels. We do get the Outdoor Hick Network, but not the Discovery Channel. Pretty much only useful for recording Enterprise with my MythTV box.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
I was pretty young when battlestar galactica was on tv. Mostly, what I remember is being in love with Starbuck's fighterplane, um, ship, whatever cuz it had this really sexy voice and, like, whenever he got beat up and knocked out she was like, "Starbuck! Honey? Are you ok?" And I was like, wanting so bad to be IN that ship....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
so, i've seen the first 10 or so episodes, and let me tell you, this show has restored my faith in the sci-fi genre. after so many bad seasons of "enterprise" it's nice to know there are still some people out there who can do it right. I highly recommend this show to just about anyone.
Just out of the nerdiest sort of curiousity - does anyone have a timeline of the events in the miniseries? My understanding is that all the events in the mini take place in a day or two, tops, and possibly much less. Does this seem right?
I'm the stranger...posting to
Sounds like it should be the new hit realtime series aired on commerical TV. It could be 33 minutes over the entire course of a season, aired in realtime...not counting commercials.
This flies in the face of science.
Split the fleet intp parts. Jump.
If a fleet evades, then do the same thing with the fleet that was tracked.
Once you find out which ship is being tracked (gee could it be Galactica?) repeat the process but start swapping passengers among ships.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
I guess in a world where Britney Spears or Adam Sandler can have millions of devoted fans, even the original Battlestar Galactica can have them, too.
The scene in the new miniseries, with a horizon filled with mushroom clouds and desperate people blindly fleeing, by itself kicked the ass of the entire original series.
And don't even argue with me or I'll bring up Galactica 1980. AND I'll bitch slap your sorry ass, punk, and then make you cook me a steak.
--- Ban humanity.
Actually two episodes are airing tonight. '33' at 9pm ET followed by 'Water' at 10pm ET.
I think the Cylons will be quite obliging, especially if the parts are to be molecule-sized.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I welcome our new Cylon overlords. Especially if they are hot as that blonde chick.
Reject Fear - Embrace Hope
People in the know were already watching it on Sky One out of the United Kingdom. It's already up to the 12th episode, so NANNER NANNER NANNER!
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
I'd just like to know?
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
It's fresh, original looking, well written and well acted. And faithful to the spirit of the original series.
This is the best sci-fi TV since ST:TNG and makes the new Star Wars movies look like the daggit crap they are.
Sam
The original series ended in 1980. It was followed up by a doomed sequel series Galactica 1980.
So I guess we can expect little 'homage easter eggs' like this throught the series?
Minutes?! You jest, sir! Surely, you mean centons?
A letter has appeared on the sci-fi forums, urging anyone who wants the serie to continue to watch it on television too, to keep the ratings of the show up. http://mboard.scifi.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2 84022&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#284022
There is nothing not to like about it. The CG is great, the physics is as close as Hollywood will probably ever get to accurate (the fighters use thrusters! There's very little noise in space!). The cinematography is gritty and "realist", but not gratuitously so. The storyline (11 episodes in) is a bit on the mystical side, but a lot tighter than the original. And! There's less reason for the heterosexual male segment of the audience to feel conflicted about being attracted to Starbuck!
-- Proud descendant of semi-nomadic cattle-herders.
I thought it was all about the HOT ROBOT SEX!!!!
Its been Airing on Sky One in the Uk for ages alright and its not bad, abit slow to start off but its coming into its own now I think
Funnily enough I'm amzed half the geeks with dsl here havn;t already downloaded the episodes of various torrent sites as its extremely popular and even the makers of battlestar asked users not to do so as it'll drop rating in the USA when the shows comes out (tonight)
"WebTV: bringing the Internet into the shallow end of the gene pool since 1995" - Martin Bishop
The Cylons don't want to become our overlords. They want to be our exterminators.
Thus making it like every other pop sci-fi T.V. show out there. Where can a guy go to watch cool science fiction without the preachy script-writing?
One of the noteworthy things about this series is the CGI. Watching the mini-series run, I felt the CGI was very well done, considering it was sci-fi original programming. The team did some very interesting shots, such as the camera being "late" (that is, a tracking shot were the object is unfocused, then comes into focus) and also "rattle" effects, where the camera is seated near an engine and the shot shakes, as if you were on the fuselage of the starfighter. I felt these techniques were very effective and drew me further into the action.
Interestingly enough, I felt the same way when I was watching the Firefly series. Lo and behold, the same did that worked on Galactica worked on Firely, and is also doing post-production on Serenity.
Respect It.
To provide some context I've been a long time sci fi viewer like many of you. I enjoyed the original series but was never a fanboy about it. However, I became somewhat put off when it appeared Moore rebuffed Hatch's attempt to revive the show because he wanted to pursue his own revisioning of the series. I was also a fan of Farscape and wasn't thrilled about how that series demise was handled. However, the ads looked good and I checked out the miniseries. While I have some reservations about small nit-picky things I think it's one of the best sci fi series I've seen in a long time. I *may* have already checked out a few of the episodes as well via the use of time travel. *cough* They're even better than the miniseries. The series has an intensity and sense of urgency and drama that I've found lacking in other series. This may be my preference for more "hard" sci fi which must sound laughable to those of you who remember the original series. Give it a chance - I think most of you will be happy you did!
This sunday, 3-7pm
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
I'm thinking about this, and 33 minutes is 1,980 seconds. (No, the original BG premiered in 1978, so no coincidences). Now, if you take the speed of light - 299,792,458 m / s, and multiply that by 1,980, and you get 593 million kilometers (368 million miles). That is the distance transited by any transmission signalling the Galactica's position in 33 minutes (assuming the Cylons don't lag on their decision to pursue).
Is that all they've got? That is just over twice the distance of the Earth to the Sun at aphelion. I'd think that FTL would get me further that 2 AU in a jump.
Obviously there's a good explanation (which conveniently ignores modern physics).
If someone (with a ratings box) becomes a fan of the show, he'd want to see more of it, so he makes sures to watch it when it aires - he makes sure that his vote is counted as it where. But if it someone who tried it and hates it, he wouldn't have stuck with it anyway, no?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I got to see the SkyOne airings and I must say this is currently the best drama on TV. It's certainly funny when appropriate, it's very sexy, and it's definitely good science fiction, but the levels of dramatic tension are astounding. Each episode of the first 11 I've seen has impressed me with new surprises layered atop steady, logical plot advancement--evading cylons, finding supplies, rooting out spies, rebuilding fleet organization, casting off old releationships due to new circumstances. But always there's tension, drama, a sense of the importance of survival. It draws you in and makes the viewer feel this frenetic struggle to survive.
And understanding the Cylon motivation has proven to be a philosophical, religious tangle. They're not one-dimensional machines--they seem to be acutely self-aware and trying to discover more about the nature of their souls, so to speak. The whole series is a major accomplishment and a departure from formulaic, one-dimensional sci-fi.
"It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word."--Andrew Jackson
is dreaming if he thinks for even 1 centon that he can fill the disco boots of Lorne Greene.
The series has actually been airing in Europe for the past several months. For those Americans that were too impatient to wait, the episodes been available off your favourite torrent sites for some time now.
So far, 11 of the season's 13 episodes have aired and been made available online in TV, PDTV and HDTV formats.
As well as being in higher resolution/quality than your average TV broadcast, these online copies are commercial-free.
Personally, I recommend downloading them and watching them on your computer, but also tuning your television on to the sci-fi channel and muting the sound, so that Sci-Fi gets paid for these shows and they may be able to continue producing them.
/dev/random
I've been eagerly anticipating the new series with bated breath.
It's got some really interesting story lines going on, and I think the writers have been doing a fantastic job. In my eye it's been pretty original as far as sci-fi goes. =)
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
So, when will someone remake Space 1999? 2006?
Well, bad CGI camerawork anyway. I sure hope they dump this 'NYPD Blue idiot cameraman" style with the space battles. It made the ship sequences in the mini series *painful* to watch.
I finally saw the new pilot last Sat. It reminded me of my reaction to the original. Some good and some bad. For me I wished they had tried to keep more of the good from the original and then put in the good from this one. For being reworked, the new seems a bit primitive in technology and view of the characters. Scorecard about what is good about each from my view.
Tech:
Old:
Better bridge, uniforms, ships. Other than FTL, technology seems cooler/advanced for weapons etc. They use computer screens for information not paper.
New:
Real FTL drive, better tactics for using fighters because of how FTL works.
Plot:
Old:
Really drove home importance of freedom and the need to protect it. Also really believed in finding Earth.
New: Story continues on attacked planets with human survivors. Also more realistic in government trying to continue after disaster.
Characters:
Old: Apollo/Starbuck friendship was better.
New: Rework of Baltar's character is interesting to a more sophisticated seduction/betrayl. Also, Is he going nuts and will he ever figure out how to really help against the Cylons.
Future:
Old: 70's TV show making got in the way of making it really good.
New: They can do a real story arc if they want. The question is do they?
Showrunner Ron Moore has started a blog where he comments on each episode - here is his comment on Why 33 ?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
...But it sounds like we're getting the new and sexy version opening with a very tired old sci-fi plot. Do you people just not remember the 12 other series' and or movies which have done the "relive it over and over" schlock? Didn't Shakespeare or Homer steal this from somebody?
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
...that SCI FI TV needs...becuase its been terrible lately...
I thought me had it with Farscape for a bit, but it feel apart. It was good for the first couple seasons, but then it went off track and the casual watcher (to survive a show needs to be accessible the casual watcher) couldn't keep up with the plot twists and the cast changes. This killed the show...
Enterprise is so far off course its going to exit the galaxy. Its good but its not trek, and its pulling concepts out of the trek archive that only the hardcore trekkies can follow to try to survive...not a good plan. What they need is a good hardcore war, but its not really in the cards because of Trek Cannon for the time period.
StarGate I still love but lately it just seems a bit Earth bound, I have hopes for the second half of the season. And we know there will be a 9th now...the replicators in the new human form lurk and I think this is the way to bring new interesting plots the G'uld, have run thier course for now...
Atlantis is good, but I think its still finding its stride...I'm not in love with the chracters or plots yet, and the main baddies have not really put in a serious appearence since the Opening....
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Having seen episodes 1-11, this is by far the best SciFi I have ever seen. Second would be Farscape. Third would be Stargate Atlantis and SG1.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Only on Slashdot.
You sure!?
I've seen all 11 episodes already... Just turn to channel number usenet...
Unfortunately this channel isn't carried by most cable providers.
Call your cable companies and demand that they carry the usenet channel!
You too can watch all 11 episodes...
I watched the Reader's Digest version of the mini that was on NBC the other day, and was pleasantly surprised. Aside from the obligatory Dangerous Hottie to trigger the teenage hetboys' fear/desire reflex and keep them interested, it was pretty darn entertaining. Not enough to persuade me to pay to get the Skiffy Channel, or to start getting copies via social or computer networks, but definitely worth watching if you have access to it.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
I've seen the first 8-9 episodes and I'm loving it. What I like about is that it has a certain "reality" to it that most other sci-fi episodes have not. It looks like it won't resort to standard cheesy sci-fi plot fillers when they run out of original material. Cheesy plot fillers being time travel, parallel universes, holodecks, body switching (shudder). Star Trek regularly uses these plots, Stargate does this also but manages it a bit better because it doesn't take itself too seriously and Farscape is just.. on acid.
B5 was good though.
ps. I haven't seen a single episode of the original series, I'm still hoping bsg keeps it a bit more "down to earth" than most other scifi
The one thing I remember about the original series, besides the Cylons' cool oscillating red eyes, was that they had to hold down the "Turbo" button in their spacecraft to go fast. Perhaps if the Cylons catch up so quickly and frequently it is because they have a better understanding of Newtonian physics.
Seriously, there's been nine articles at slashdot on the Battlestar Galactica series and mini-series. All for a show that isn't even worth two stories. The level of integrated advertising in slashdot's "news" is becoming more and more apparent.
I'll be sure to use my "tivo" ;)
There are spoiler reviews out there if you read Battlestar sites.
Yes, Boomer is a cylon
BTW, I don't think that the Boomer model is the "Imperious leader", because there are artwork mockups of "proposed" imperious leaders.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Stargate SG-1's and Atlantis' new episodes are being shown first in GB. At least those are the only ones I can find on bittorrent.
...more Mormons in space!
We were in season two and I had missed the first season. So I grabbed a capture from sky one off netnews and watched it to get caught up. Now after reading the /. story I realize I've watched this season. Doh!
-- john
in response to all this, since I've never seen any of the Battlestar shows, I logged on to Netflix and added all the original series plus the miniseries. The original series, for those who don't know, is ten discs in length -- and I scrolled down my queue, and every single one was listed as "Very Long Wait." Not short wait, not "Available Now" not even "Long Wait." "Very Long Wait."
That is, except for Disc 6 -- next to that entry, it says "Available Now."
What the hell is wrong with Disc 6 that nobody wants it?
All the battle sequences give you that feeling down in Moria.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
The mini-series pilot was released in Canada in summer 2003. atings were good enough to make a series out of it. Because of the expense, a British station helped fund the show on the condition that they air it first.
In December 2003, the pilot showed in the US and UK. Starting in January, the mini-series episodes (of which 13 have been produced) started airing.
Last weekend, NBC aired an edited (cut from 4 hours to 3) pilot at primetime. The Sci-Fi channel (owned by Universal [which owns NBC as well]) is showing in two parts, the origional, full pilot. It is also showing old episodes of the original show. The new version is going to start being aired in the US now as mentioned in the story.
The producers made a plea on one of the Sci-fi Channel web forums to not download the show since the survival of the series (i.e. Season 2) of course depends on ratings. Even with a business degree, I simply cannot understand why companies stagger the release dates on movies, music, or software so much. Let both sides of the pond see the series at the same time and you'll get the viewers and won't screw yourself since people will get the content they want anyway. In the binary newsgroups (alt.binaries.dvdr) someone has posted 3 DVDs of the series (each containing 3 episodes) with some pretty good menus. I've watched them and think it is a well done series, and think '33' is a good first episode. Even after seeing it, I will have my TIVO pick up the episodes since I know TIVO collects anonymous statistics for the ratings systems. To make sure the show is recorded as being played, I'll just start the episode before turning off my TV for the day, ensuring that it gets marked as being watched, with even commercials being displayed at normal speed!
At least the studio talking heads are not pulling some bonehead move like they did with 'Firefly' in that the episodes were all resead out of order, thus cunfusing the initial audience and obviously causing an untimely death. Maybe with the movie, the series might have a new chance at life if it does well.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
...to tell if the nerds at the scifi convention are heterosexual or homosexual when all you hear is "...Starbuck is so Hot!" from a small collection of nerd-men...
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
I am glad to see others out there feel EXACTLY the way I do about these shows. I was starting to think that I was the only one who found each of these shows somewhat off the edge of the 'satisfying' platter. I crave a good Scifi series and each of them seems to have a problem that makes them somewhat unattractive. Stargate has the best take, but you hit the nail on the head with the 'earthbound' point. The new Startrek series is too much of a departure from the context of the other series for me. I think they also botched it by making it a completely linear series. One episode depends completely on the previous. That's a soap in my eyes and I have a hard time going back to it with each new eposide. Atlantis has some potential, but they need more time to find the stride as you say. I also have to wonder if the lack of a McGyver character in the plot also is detracting. RD Anderson makes the SG1 series in my eyes in amazing fashion with his one of a kind irreverant attitude towards technology and authority. His kick back style of humor keeps one foot in reality which is important for that type of show.
If Battlestar plots out a season with the underlying theme of humanity in the battlestar timeframe, they will be latching onto what made the original Star Trek wildly popular. It may very well work. Above all though, they need a Daggit. I WANT MY DAGGIT!
Suprnova was good for it. Actually the show is quite good. I would say less cheesy than the original. The biggest difference is that Boomer and Starbuck are girls. But the plotline is quite interesting.
The battle scenes are good as well but this whole "shaky cam" thing gets annoying especially the quick zoom they do a lot.
Worth watching I would say but YMMV
But the original series sucked balls. It lacked the bravado of the original Star Trek, the technical accuracy of Space 1999.
I mean, c'mon...Starbuck was FACE from the A-Team.
I guess they were trying to save money
a) The use of 4 button jackets and ugly patterned dress shirts for the men.
b) The use of off the shelf Altec headsets.
c) The foolish notions of "networking" computers. Any ship that large would HAVE to implement a network. Though, it's probably hard to explain communication protocols to a "general" audience.
Other than that, everything seems pretty cool. This is picking up the "dirty, grity" thing that I originally expected from Voyager.
Casting cyclons as fundamentalist murdering zealouts is SPOT ON!!! I think there is Frankenstein aspect to the Cylons. I think they are trying to PUNISH the humans for "playing god" by creating sentient beings. The cylons are "born again" as the new "chosen people" of god.
I expect some time travel at some point. Because there will be some prophecies that are fullfilled.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Unless you have a Neilson box. TVs don't report in what you watch. At least mine doesn't... I hope... (glances at tv in fear) ... Gotta go!
best sci fi show out ther seen the first 8 episodes- thank you bit torrent
USENET news is a good way of getting them too. (alt.binaries.multimedia, alt.binaries.multimedia.sci-fi). You have to work a little harder to get them. (Scan for a release, DL sections, run par2 to rebuild missing or flawed sections, & unrar to decode them, and you need a superior newsfeed (props to Verizon)). But its one less p2p problem to subject oneself to.
And speaking of Enterprise, yes B&B have royally messed it up by dumping too much 'future' technology into it. They've got shields, transporters, the whole bit. The show is practically indistinguishable from the other Star Trek series. They could have been out repairing every hole in the ship, shooting projectile weapons, having to use a shuttlecraft or physical means of transport, and made some great novel stories. The only things I think that series has done right are that Vulcan story arc, and featuring the Andorians. I'd love to see them really piss off the Klingons as well, and I'd love to see them make some huge earth-shattering mistakes... but alas, I'm afraid we're gonna keep seeing the same old sanitized version of the future.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
Get ready for some cognitive dissonance.
---- DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT INFORMATION ABOUT FUTURE EPISODES; IT CONTAINS SPOILERS!! ----
That said, here goes:
In the third episode Richard Hatch, who played Apollo in the original series, makes his first appearance of many in the series. He plays activist Tom Zarek-- terrorist to most, freedom fighter to some -- who stages a prison riot and hostage situation wherein an attempted rape and murder occur. The episode, appropriately, is called "Bastille Day." There are a bunch of lovely scenes where the new Apollo and Zarek interact (violently, sometimes).
Later on, Zarek runs for Vice President. Whether or not he wins, I won't say. Hyuk hyuk.
I don't know any 1980 Galactica fanboys, but I imagine this will cause them great...consternation.
Don't worry, you'll have to wait for 2 months before that episode.
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
HDTV? Where did they get an HDTV feed of the episodes from?
Does anyone know if this is being aired in Canada? Any cable networks carrying it?
It pulled me out of my suspension of disbelief every time.
Never destroyed my fantasies about Maren Jensen however.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
The great thing about this isn't that Hatch was cast just to throw a bone to the fans of the old show, but rather that Hatch is great in the role of Tom Zarek. His performance is really spectacular. It's understated and deliberately opaque. You're not supposed to know whether Zarek is a good guy or a bad guy, and you don't!
In other words, his performance on the new "Battlestar Galactica" is head-and-shoulders above any of his performances on the old "Battlestar Galactica." Maybe just because he's older and more experienced as an actor, sure, but the fact that he's been given much better writing doesn't hurt one bit.
Is that "I'm president cuz I was #50 on the list" woman. The only reason there is a line of succession is the psychology of controlling a large group of people... of course the people are all dead.
Any military commander would tell her to shut the hell up and leave things to real leaders.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
You're saying the Cylons are methaphoric Born Again Christians? No way!
The people of Galactica have priests, prayers, prophecies, and "Lords of Kobol". It's the humans that believe in God.
The Cylons are science-worshipping techno-droids with an ultra-left wing communist society and loose sexual morals -- check out how skanky blonde Cylon; devil-in-a-red-dress!
If you ask me, it's the left-wing, pinko, atheistic Cylons that are trying to exterminate the God and peace loving "born again" humans. A pretty accurate methaphor, if you ask me. ;-)
Sam
If you haven't already, you might want to consider picking up the DVD set of Firefly. An excellent and innovative sci-fi series that was killed off by Fox before they could finish an entire season. Supposedly, they're working on a feature film that will be in theaters this summer.
I just saw it, having missed it the first time around. What impressed me most was the direction of the space flight sequences, like a frightful space ballet with much more adherence to actual space physics than the original*. The sight of a salvo of missiles arcing over to disabled ships was eerily beautiful.
I haven't seen anything like that since Kubrick's 2001.
* I'm fine with some literary license, but they totally ignored reality to the point of annoyance. Come on, they're hurtling through space but have to stop because they've run out of fuel as if they were a present-day naval convoy?
Why is it that every battle scene in space everybody is so close together? Crap, the Cylon?s are using 50 mega-ton nukes, you think they would put a little space between themselves.
I've seen the new BSG series through episode 10 and I've found it to be highly entertaining, it is a well written and well acted (Edward James Olmos the standout) scifi show, not something that is too common. One quibble is we've seen two shows that kind of rehash the same plot, one in which they need to locate water, and another in which they need fuel. Although I guess without those shows people would complain about the implausibility of not never having to get these items.
Galactica was a 'light' series, and that's why it was entertaining. Starbuck was a great character, with a sense of humour, adventurus, womanizer, like Indiana Jones or Han Solo. A female character can not be like that (no, Lara Croft is not at all like Indiana Jones).
Back then, Galactica was simply space-related entertainment...pure fun. It was an hour to relax and not think too much. Why should the Galactica of today be any different? we don't want another dark series, we don't want more political issues or moral dillemas. We want space adventurers and space opera.
By the way, why there has never been a soap opera in space, with real actors, like Star Blazers? the war/drama film with a mix of a love story is a guarranteed hit. Throw in some modern day icon ships (the Yamato, or the Arizona) and you've got an instant hit (and GB, you can make Earthlings fight for God, I don't care, I just want entertaining television).
Has anyone else wondered how long this series will run before the Sci-Fi channel makes yet another bone-headed executive decison? (Think Farscape, Firefly..etc.) The new show has a lot of potential..but I seriously wonder if I should watch..only to have Sci-fi massivly screw it up or cut it off? L2
"That's no moon"... Obi-Wan Kenobi
Michael, you're an idiot. I can't believe that the post you chose to publish is one that contains spoilers. I really didn't want to know anything about this episode until I saw it tonight, but you've ruined that for me.
"While Troy and Dillon try to stop the renegade Xavier from altering Earth's history, The Galactica children find themselves at a baseball camp for underprivileged children."
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Mod me down, but the original B. Galactica was much better IMHO. I watched the new (per)version on NBC and thought it dragged, the characters were shallow (even more than the original ones) and uninteresting.
The original one was, well, more original.
not '33', but rather is '69'.
I've wondered if SciFi could release episodes via bittorrent, and have an honor system for payment: maybe $15/series season. I doubt they'd lose audience, as people can already get the shows via P2P. And if they kept the quality at around 350MB/episode, they won't impact the DVD market.
It only killed the show for the casual viewer. Plot twists & cast changes made the show dynamic, not moribund in its storyline. Nothing stops a viewer from buying DVD sets now (or whatever) and catching up.
The problem with SG-1 (besides being moribund) is that the charm of the show was the character dialog and chemistry, and that is falling apart with Hammond, Dr. Frazier, and especially O'Neill leaving. (It would be dead without Jackson, but he's back.) I'm not against semi-radical change, but change itself won't keep a show alive. I feel inner conflict generates the best entertainment, but there definitely is less of that now. And I think making Carter the SG-1 leader really screws up the role she used to do, and she's not going to fill O'Neill's boots with his role.
What's really gives me a bad feeling is grafting on Ben Browder and Claudia Black (from Farscape) onto SG-1. Don't get me wrong, I luuurve them as actors. But you can have great actors and still produce crap. And recycling characters personalities you love threatens stagnation.
My feeling is that they should have made a cleaner slate and threw the Farscape refugees onto Atlantis. Even if you think the SG-1 theme hasn't been played out (and I don't), the character development definitely has. They should have had a cleaner break, retired SG-1, and reattempted a new SG-1 with different themes and actors. They are sort of doing that now, but no clean break is going to compound the problem. They're looking to use the soap opera formula to maintain the show. Soap operas have a tendency to produce crap. Its a Berman-like move.
Enterprise sucks. It is not remotely good. A galactic war will not save it. And there was plenty in the Trek cannon for wars. (Hellooo, Romulans.) Enterprise is the corporate rape of a great sci-fi TV show. Or look at Enterprise as wasp larva and Trek as the unfortunate silkworm.
Atlantis? eh. It suffers from the sequel syndrome for mediocrity. And I don't like how they are writing Dr. McKay. He has to be a central character (given the sci-fi nature of the show and that he's the only non-vanilla personality). You can't make him an incompetent, craven clown in one episode, and a noble goto guy in another episode.
With Atlantis, they try to keep the SG-1 accoutrements, and then do a Voyager. I think they're better off doing a DS9. They'd really be better if they just did something new.There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Enterprise is so far off course its going to exit the galaxy. Its good but its not trek, and its pulling concepts out of the trek archive that only the hardcore trekkies can follow to try to survive...not a good plan. What they need is a good hardcore war, but its not really in the cards because of Trek Cannon for the time period.
Hello? Romulan War anyone? (In fact, if you saw the end of the Vulcan story arc...they may be going in exactly this direction).
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Although the pilot was great- the series has progressively been getting worse and worse. The total time on screen of metallic cylons is about 60 seconds for the whole series. It's all 'human' cylons who as it turns out dvelop human feelings so are nigh on human anyway. The series specialises in turning clichés into 1 hour (with ads) episodes. The characters are in the main unlikeable and unrealistic... I enjoyed the original series at the time (but I'll keep my memories- I'm sure if I watched it today it wouldnt be very impressive) but this one is dire. A soap opera in space yes- but this aint no B5... this is more of a Dysentry in space....
kin242.net
I see a lot of people raving about this show saying "It's so great, the original series sucked" etc... I have seen some the original campy series and for a 70s/80's scifi tv show fits the standard Buck Rogers theme.
But now this new series is supposed to be serious - not just realistic (I use that term very loosly) like Stargate or Enterprise but they try to make it feel like a Drama ala CSI or Law&Order. This bugs me to know end.
I can NOT take anyone serious when they talk about Cylons (sp?) in such a overly acted way. Such lines as "The cyons never asked us what we wanted" and "I never wanted this much pressue" and "I'm the best shot in or out of the cockpit" are not good lines, there super cheesy and painful to the ears - the only thing that makes them sound better is the pitiful strong yet weekend voice of a female Starbuck and an old gruffy stern voiced General.
I didn't care for the original series, I didn't like the movie, I didn't like the pilot mini series, and I am going to pass on this new series.
I'll stick to Stargate and Atlantis.
Ave Molech Setting
You can actually see a Firefly class ship in the original miniseries. It's outside the window when Secretary (now President) Roslyn is at the doctor's office.
Less the fact that the original war only needed something like 75 capitol ships to end it. Would make for a good scene, like Star Wars though would probably be left for the movies.
Maybe we'll see a Star Trek crossover instead, Captain Catherine Janeway-MacGuyver will come in using a toothpick, some bubble gum, and a mickey of romulan ale to not only save the refugees, but also manage to destroy another borg queen almost accidentally.
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Especially since Paramount trashed the movie concept based on the bad box office from Nemesis. You can almost bet it's going to show up as a story arc in Enterprise.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
hmmm...33....hmmm....3+3...ah HA! It's that bitch number 6! wait a minute.....maybe there are two number three's...could be...but wait...the hot cylon blonde could be a 6 and the boomer cylon could be a 3! So it's a rogue program in cylon space telling us to watch out for 6 and 3 by timing the intercepts every 33 minutes so as to not alert the evil cylons to its presence. Ha, solved that one. back to picking navel lint.
So that explains why Scifi was playing Galactica 1980 all day long. After a marathon of that frack anything else is fantastic in comparison! Sort of like carpet bombing before sending in the troops - that'll soften them up a bit.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
Is the new one written by a mormon too?
Read my short stories - You won't regret it.
FYI.. Season 4 starts on Star Trek Enterprise tonite too. .......anyone care? *crickets*
-- Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventualy invent UNIX.
Don't forget the extra production required to translate a show for foreign audiences. I am surprised that it only took a few weeks to translate from english into english. If you've ever seen Snatch or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels you know how difficult it can be to understand untranslated english.
.. Come on guys, it was pretty obvious. It's only 9 less than 42!
Unless you are a Nielson family, whether or not you watch or not doesn't matter.
The cake is a pie
--- SPOILER ALERT ---
-- DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO --
Also, Richard Hatch, who played Apollo in the original Battlestar, plays Tom Zarek in the new Battlestar. Zarek is actively trying to unseat the President, through force if necessary. In one episode he stages a prison riot (he has been imprisoned because he blew up some government buildings before the Colonies fell), takes several people hostage, and demands that the President abdicate her position and a new election be held immediately.
That doesn't happen, but in a later episode he hires people to assassinate the President while he runs for the position of Vice President, so that he'll be President by default.
With Atlantis, they try to keep the SG-1 accoutrements, and then do a Voyager.
Yeah, and I think there's a gaping plot hole: wouldn't earth attempt to contact Atlantis in the event of not hearing from them for a certain amount of time? Or was that explained (one-use null generator, maybe) that I didn't catch?
Anyway, my Tivo hasn't picked up a new episode in awhile, so I fear the worst.
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Merry Pop'ns, the adult film.
I thought Sci-Fi was showing new episodes. I didn't realize that these were the ones that I already saw. I use the internet as my own personal TIVO, and don't pay attention to schedules.
My friend did receive a cease and desist order for downloading the episodes, and he has Charter.
.... and not just with movies, but with television shows as well.
A guy I used to work with was a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, apparently, the DVDs for Buffy got released in the UK before they were available here. Since WB or UPN or whoever wound up owning Buffy wouldn't sell him the DVDs legitimately, he bought the UK versions from some grey-market website. Then he hooked up with a guy who had a DVD-ROM set to the UK's region, and got them re-encoded from PAL into NTSC VCDs so he could watch them on his own television. Major pain in the ass, if you ask me.
And just to spite hollywood for making him go through so much hassle to PAY to see his favorite show, guess what he did? That's right... those VCDs became available to all takers on IRC and Gnutella and Kazaa and probably quite a few other places as well (this predates bittorrent).
cya,
john
Imagine all the people...
For whatever reason, the Atlantis mission was a one-way longshot (more like an existential suicide mission). It depended on the presumption they would find a working ZPM on the other side. SG-1 is now working a cobbled subplot that Earth now has the kind of ships that can go to Atlantis's galaxy in 6 months. Perhaps the original Atlantis plot wasn't as ridiculously unrealistic as I thought.
Yes, you should. Your TiVo is busted.
*joking* I'm going through a few episodes of the the second leg of the first season. I guess skyone or Canadians gets them before the US of A.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
I'm not sure what sorts of flames I was inviting with my parent post, but I'll apologize anyhow. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, I promise.
Yes, you should. Your TiVo is busted.
Ah! Ahhhh! Ah. Don't say that. Not funny. At least, not until the miniMac has been proven as a capable MythTV unit.
--
$tar -xvf
Why not 23?
Thank you!
I don't know how many times I have seen comments like the OP's , where they believe there is some sort of magical ratings system where every television is monitored.
As always, ratings are decided only by a small number of families in the Nielsen etc. groups.
What the OP should have said was "if you know anyone who has a Nielsen box, get very friendly with them, and go over to their house to make sure this program is on the television!"
Any good war has too much for a single movie. 2 hours of film vs. 20 hours of TV in a single season alone. The Dominion War in Deep Space Nine ran three or four seasons, too. So the Romulan War belongs on Enterprise, not in a movie.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I've only seen the mini-series. But the Cylons fought there way out of slavery 40+ years ago and now they are on a Hitler like idea to wipe every human out of existence? To what end. Are they that pissed off? Can robots get pissed off? The series sounds interesting but they are going to have to address that question to hold my interest in the show.
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
I think the mod bots just automatically give you -1 flamebait for including "-- DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO --" only thing I can think of. What? You mean the mods are real people? Suuuure.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
I think this may have been their best plotline, but the stuff afterward marked the jumping of the shark. The prophecies, and Count Iblis (the Dark One), that was way cool.
Still they should have some excellent hackers on the Galactica that can root the Cylons with their 3l33t skillz.
"sweet dreams are made of this..."
A battlestar, capable of holding 10,000 people or more, and not a single computer on it?
Try coming up with a less transparent and utterly stupid reason to bring out the "oldskool" galactica.
Can they seriously expect us to be so dumb as to think that a horribly out-of-date ship can continuously outrun a race of robots that can create near-undetectable human looking units?
This entire remake has stupid written all over it.
I watched the first episode waiting for them to do something that wasn't stupid or contrived to try to "bring in the old series fans".
Farscape got a bit repetitive, but at least they tried to make intelligent and vaguely plausible scenarios.
This one doesn't even try for plausible.
in our homes. Anyone who does, of course, would serve the show well by tuning in at the appointed hour. But otherwise the show cares not whether we download it or watch it at broadcast-time.
+++ATH0
...perhaps 33 minutes is the charge time for the Cylons FTL drives. Some of the colonial ships are having trouble keeping up for that same reason, and the two do not appear to have vastly dissimilar technology. I'm guessing that the Cylons are tracking the fleet through the spyware programmed into Balthazar's navigation program, specifically through the Olympic Carrier.
Having seen the new series *at a friends house*, I once again have come to the conclusion that if they had a good story to tell they wouldn't resort to using women to slink around in a catsuit to get ratings. Oh wait, I was thinking of Voyager. But basically the same principle on Galactica 2k5. "reimagined"... yeah, ok. A turd is still a turd. Make sure you look for the dry erase board. Yes, for some reason they actually have a dry erase whiteboard. That's some mighty fine reimagining there Mr. Moore.
What about Galactica 1980? Did they forget this series, or ignoring it?
;)
In 1980, they finally found earth, and the cylons started blasting all the gas guzzling 1970's cars to bits. So, the colonials had to leave to save earth.
At least, that's how I remember it.... I was nine at the time.
#6495ED - cornflower blue
in the series.
... every 33 minutes. When we join the crew this has been going on for five days."
"The humans are still on the run, but each time they come out of hyperspace, the Cylon armada catches up 33 minutes later
Humans obviously aren't as smart as Cylons...
If you haven't made a smart move in five days worth of 33 minute segments, you are gonna lose...
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
To be honest I got a bit sick of what I would like to call the "Wayne, Check It Out: Extreme close up..! Whoaaa" shots... and the steadycam as well.
Sure the zoom was nice a few times but they overused it and they also started using it in the standard shots as well which was cheezy.
I liked pretty much everything else about the show though. Should make for a great series provided the director can get his hands off of the zoom controls.
All the old characters are there: Adama, Starbuck, Boomer, etc. And yet, there's this reference to the Cylon Wars 40 years previous, where everything looked BSG "classic". (Did BSG TOS have the Cylon Wars in its past?) If all the characters weren't the same (mostly, except for some gender-swapping here and there) as the original series, I'd say that this series was NG, picking up some-odd decades after TOS. It's almost as if the directors planned an NG series, then switched gears to re-do TOS.
So... this gives me an idea. Somebody needs to do a re-do of the original Star Trek series. Not an NG. Not a prequel. Go find a new Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the whole lot, and spin out a new series. I think it will eventually happen, but it may be years from now.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Non-SteadyCam freehand camera work around the actors, the same simulated in the space scenes. Lots of zoom.
I like it, more an ode to Firefly while I wait for september.
I was lucky enough to get a preview at the Science Fiction Museum last Sunday. (I watched the original show religiously as a young'un.)
I had my doubts. Female Starbuck? Female Asian Boomer? What's this 33 minute crap?
It's good. Not the same as the original, but solid. I almost wish to have the SciFi channel, just for Friday nights.
I've been downloading and watching this for months, over bittorrent, and telling people how cool it was. Funny, that it wasn't available on TV here the whole time :-)
...more interestingly from a plot/story perspective, maybe that *is* all they can get out of the FTL drive, and maybe all that's being used is conventional radio transmission, not some magical "subspace" thingy.
That would go a long way toward explaining why they seem so apprehensive about using the FTL so much, as if it's either a fairly new technology to them or that there are huge risks or energy budget considerations involved. It reminds me of, oh, I don't know, maybe the way that we treat the comparatively trivial process of even getting into orbit presently.
I hope that's the case. It would be a welcome departure from the "let's just fire up the warp drive and take an afternoon stroll out to the far reaches of the galaxy" paradigm of Star Trek and its ilk.
In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris will still kick your ass.
The Battlestar Galactica 2-part pilot aired in the UK in mid-2004 if I remember correctly (I never saw it because they stupidly put it exclusively on a premium movie subscription channel [Sky Movies] here in the UK and I don't subscribe to that).
However, Sky conveniently remembered to show the 2-part pilot on Sky One (still a pay channel on UK satellite and cable, but one that a lot more people can see) at 9.00pm on Thursday 14th October 2004 and 9.00pm Friday 15th October 2004.
The new series proper aired on at 8.00pm Monday 18th October 2004 on Sky One and may well have been a world premiere (definitely a UK premiere of course). The first 9 episodes then aired on consecutive Mondays until and including Monday 13th December 2004. Inexplicably, Sky One then replaced BG with some dross called "Prince Charming" (one-off comedy drama about kissing a computer-generated frog, for goodness' sake!) on Monday 20th December 2004.
BG also skipped Monday 27th December 2004 (but I don't have a record of what was on Sky One at that time, but I bet it was rubbish since I didn't record whatever it was) and returned at 8.00pm on Monday 3rd January 2005 for consecutive weekly episodes, making next Monday 17th January 2005's episode #12 if you've been keeping count, which makes the UK about 11 weeks ahead. I think Sky pumped some money into this project in return for what may be world premiere viewing rights. It's *definitely* not the norm for most US sci-fi series aired in the UK, that's for sure.
Oh, my opinion of the show? Definitely worth a watch - mostly pretty good storylines and certainly far better than anything the frankly awful "Enterprise" has ever managed come up with. And, yes, I've seen the original BG and this new one is far superior - in fact, just forget about the old one, they're chalk and cheese really.
If you try at all, you can find a previous use of almost any plot. Including 'groundhog day' and it's cousins.
I don't so much judge anymore on an original plot or even story, but rather on an original telling.
One of the best sf authors of all time(imho), Heinlein, said the difference between a good story teller and a great one is how well they file off the serial numbers.
Find an original story or plot, and odds are you've eigther found A) the older know version, or b) someone will know of an older use of the same plot/story.
Mycroft
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The Cylon machines you see are just shells for their AI, and they are in a crusade to slay their 'unjust' creators who enslaved them, then sought to exterminate them when they revolted.
Well, the ship seemed to just get worse and worse during the Xindi story arc of last season. They also just installed phase cannons last season, and had to use torpedos until then. And the transporter is a massively untrusted device, and they normally use the shuttlecraft to get from place to place.
Other than that, you're completely right.
I'll ignore the condescension and simply make this point: Are you at all entertained when you watch a science fiction movie from the 50's? When a writer tries to sell you on the notion of a jetplane flying in space, and aliens who walk around with exposed brains sticking out of the top of their head, don't you think it loses something?
The first part of science fiction is 'science'. Good science fiction uses technology as a backdrop to the larger story, but it does not ignore it. It doesn't matter how well developed characters are, or how evolved the story line gets, at some point when technology is involved, it becomes the weak point to the story if the writers do not pay close attention to science fact. And that is why these questions come up among the fans, because shows like BG attract a more scientifically oriented audience, and because that audience is more attuned to the minutae Willfully avoiding such details as "why 33 minutes" may be convenient in a drama, but Battlestar Galactica is a science fiction program, and the writers do need to pay attention to details like that. That is good storytelling you arrogant ass.
It only killed the show for the casual viewer. Plot twists & cast changes made the show dynamic, not moribund in its storyline. Nothing stops a viewer from buying DVD sets now (or whatever) and catching up.
DVD Sets don't count towards ratings, and Obviously given that its now off the air, will not keep the show in production mode...
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
The problem with the romulan war is its still several years off from the current timeline of Enterprise, so untill they decided to skip a few years to get there...the show would need to last through several seasons to even get to the correct time period.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
I'd agree- but apparently UPN doesn't....sad to say. But of course, it's their own stupidity for putting it on opposite SG1
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Internal corporate politics. There are people at UPN who don't want Enterprise on the air. They don't have enough pull to cancel it, but they do have enough pull to reschedule it to a Friday night death slot opposite SG-1.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Well, it will serve them right- that show is the last and only reason to watch their crappy network, and it's not a very good reason at that. At least it will enable me to tape Joan of Arcadia and watch Stargate instead (currently taping Enterprise, Watching Joan, and catching the reruns on Sci-Fi channel at midnight....)
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
just watched season finale , i hate cliff hangers
, what a shock , i can't wait for season 2
I was a fan of the original series but the new Galactica has much better acting and much better writing. Lorne Green was a great Adama, but Edward Olmos is -better-. And the new Col Tigh is just as good as old one.
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