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Battlestar Galactica Season 2 This Summer

jangobongo writes "SCI FI Channel announced that the second season of its hit original series Battlestar Galactica will premiere this summer with 20 new episodes, after earlier confirming their commitment to the show. Production will resume in March in Vancouver, B.C., with the entire ensemble cast returning, along with executive producer and writer Ronald D. Moore and executive producer David Eick. Averaging over 3 million viewers per episode, the series has quickly become SCI FI's highest-rated original series. No news on when a UK premeire might occur, but with Battlestar Gallactica ranking number 9 out of the top ten most popular TV program downloads worldwide, I don't think UK fans would have to wait long in any case." They're offering the first episode of the show for viewing in a no-charge commercial free venue on the official site.

592 comments

  1. DVD by jhobbs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But when will season 1 be out on DVD?

    1. Re:DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe after it's done being shown on the first run?

      the US is still not even half way through it yet...

    2. Re:DVD by digidave · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, seriously. I don't have the Sci Fi channel (or Space, as it's called in Canada, which I assume carries the show). I could get it if I wanted to order a package that includes 15 other channels that I don't want.

      I imagine there are tons of people like me who can't watch the show, but would love to be able to.

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    3. Re:DVD by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      According to Amazon UK Season 1, Part 1 will be released March 28. However, it will be region 2 encoding. So for all of you in Europe, Japan, etc. please make sure to set up a BitTorrent so all of us in the US have a chance to get it.

      Thanks in advance.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    4. Re:DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Wrong logo. Battlestar galactica is not Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

      Yeah, thats all fine but did you know for example that Zonksgay.

      Add Zonk the Donk to you list of foes here: Donkey

    5. Re:DVD by angusr · · Score: 2, Informative

      March 28th for the first 13 episodes, at least here in region 2.

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007L6SA 8

    6. Re:DVD by Cosmos_7 · · Score: 0

      a.b.m.scifi

      5 DVD set of first season, using the British Sky One satellite MPEG2 stream... looks beautiful, and is already sitting on my bookshelf.

      Course, I will be buying them when they get release, but that's months away and I just can't wait that long...

    7. Re:DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fucking buy it yourselves, you chavvin' bastards :p

    8. Re:DVD by angusr · · Score: 4, Informative
      You could do what most people who are not in region 1 do, which is get a multiregion DVD. They're not hard to find - in fact, in the UK it's harder to find a DVD which is region locked than one that isn't.

      Region coding is pretty much dead. It's not an excuse for piracy.

    9. Re:DVD by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 1

      It's called a jtag cable. Buy one. That, an iso7816 card reader, and you are set. Well, until nagra2 is rolled out later this year, at which point we're all screwed.

    10. Re:DVD by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      You could always make one yourself.

      --
      I don't get it.
    11. Re:DVD by HeghmoH · · Score: 0, Troll

      Or, if you like to use your computer as a DVD player, grab a copy of VLC instead of using crippled software.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    12. Re:DVD by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1

      The reference to Amazon UK makes me think of one thing. Since the UK has already completed the series, some of the plotlines have been spoiled for those of us on the left side of the pond. I would hope that the producers of the show would try to keep all global viewers on roughly the same episode every week. That would minimize the chance that I would find out that a character is shot five episodes before it actually happens.

    13. Re:DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Yes, seriously. I don't have the Sci Fi channel (or Space, as it's called in Canada, which I assume carries the show). I could get it if I wanted to order a package that includes 15 other channels that I don't want.

      I imagine there are tons of people like me who can't watch the show, but would love to be able to.


      So it's not really a case of you not being able to watch the show, more that you choose not to pay for the package containing the channel. What exactly are you complaining about? Just think of it as your cable company charging you $20 a month for the sci-fi channel. (That might well be how much it could cost for an a la carte channel, given the amount of channels that most people don't want.)

    14. Re:DVD by JWW · · Score: 1

      Yeah, you can, and I have been tempted to. But I find it really hard to get the audio commentary on my copy recorded from TV. ;-)

      I'm a sucker for audio commentaries.

    15. Re:DVD by ArmorFiend · · Score: 1

      I imagine there are tons of people like me who can't watch the show, but would love to be able to.

      They're called "friends". We watch the show freely and legally at our "friends" house, and there's nothing illegal about it.

    16. Re:DVD by Y0tsuya · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hi, I'd like to learn more about this "friends" thing you're talking about.

    17. Re:DVD by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      I know you have been moderated funny, but I also am waiting for the real season 1 dvd's.

      I have them all on DVD from my Replay Tv but they have the damned channel id bug in the corner and are not near the quality that the REAL dvd's would be.

      I just hope they will not charge an Extra premium like they do with the Babylon 5 dvd sets. Damn those are expensive.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    18. Re:DVD by Glsai · · Score: 1

      Nice... and us Americans who have region free DVD players can buy it and cancel our cable subscriptions as the Football season will almost be over and there is nothing else I watch on cable besides Football and Battlestar Galactica. I can still watch Extreme Home Makeover/Survivor/Amazing Race on broadcast TV.

    19. Re:DVD by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Welcome to how it usually works out for everyone not in the US :) What happened with BSG is pretty much unheard of - it airing outside North America first, but I really hope Season 2 is aired in the same way.

    20. Re:DVD by Vectorferret · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately the only program I have been able to get to do TV out is BSPlayer. I've tried with VLC, MediaPlayerClassic and Cyberlink Power DVD. No luck...

    21. Re:DVD by samael · · Score: 1

      This happens _all_ the time, except the other way round. The US is regularly a year or more ahead of the UK on some TV.

    22. Re:DVD by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I realized that after I submitted my post. Just take my word for it, I don't put spoilers in my /. postings. :)

    23. Re:DVD by Moloch666 · · Score: 1

      In Windows you have to adjust the overlay settings. Forget where it is, but somewhere in Display properties. I don't use Windows anymore, but I recall the option. Assuming you have both a monitor and a TV connected you just set which screen will have overlay.

      --
      Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
    24. Re:DVD by FlopEJoe · · Score: 1

      Dag-nabbit! I hate buying piecemeal, broken up seasons! I Hope the region 1 version has a sane marketoid.

    25. Re:DVD by uberdave · · Score: 3, Funny

      The only shows they watch on "Friends" is "Days of Our Lives" and "Baywatch", and the only reason they watch DOOL is because Joey portrays Dr Drake Ramore. They never seem to watch Battlestar Galactica.

    26. Re:DVD by Matt_R · · Score: 1
      Since the UK has already completed the series, some of the plotlines have been spoiled for those of us on the left side of the pond

      What I find really funny is the Americans bitching in the newsgroup about people not warning about spoilers.

      We've had to put up with this for years - as most shows are aired in the US before anywhere else. Now that this has been reversed, all they did was complain.

      All I have to say is - Now you know how it feels!

    27. Re:DVD by Darth23 · · Score: 1
      They're called "friends". We watch the show freely and legally at our "friends" house, and there's nothing illegal about it.

      For now.

      --

      -------- In Soviet Russia, "Soviet Russia" sigs hate Slashdot.

    28. Re:DVD by makotyn · · Score: 1

      What the heck is a jtag cable? Also, what does it do? Along the same lines iso7816 and nagra2???

    29. Re:DVD by zennor · · Score: 1

      Fortunately BSG has just started on free-to-air TV here in Australia (Channel 10). So far just had the opening mini-series and the first normal epsisode. I'm very imrpessed by the dark tone and the interpersonal tensions in the show. Looks promising for the rest of the series. Whilst it obviously borrows thematically from original 70s version it looks like there is a lot more scope for different plot developments here. Also it does not have that annoying robot dog (Moffit, stuffit or whatever its name was)from the original!

    30. Re:DVD by the+real+darkskye · · Score: 1

      With my nVidia card I simply set the display to clone and force MPC to run at 1024x768 so the TV gets the full image

      --
      Music is everybody's possession.
      It's only publishers who think that people own it.
      Fuck Beta
      ~John Lenno
    31. Re:DVD by Badfysh · · Score: 1

      Also you can sometimes unlock DVD players by entering a code on the remote. Google for your make and model of player, and "region hack".

      --

      I was conned by an old man in a cloak. It turns out those *were* the droids I was looking for.

    32. Re:DVD by Snaller · · Score: 1

      Region coding is pretty much dead.

      Except the Eu has decreed that region coding must be respected, and that shops are not allowed or sell DVDs with region coding other than region 2.

      Its possible a ruling on modification of players could be next.

      The evil copyright rules.

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    33. Re:DVD by LabRatty · · Score: 1

      In New Zealand it is almost impossible to buy a player that is not set to multiregion. If they are not then you are given a sheet of paper with the firmware sequence to change it your self with the player. You can go in and change them back if region 4 if you want :)

    34. Re:DVD by NaruVonWilkins · · Score: 1

      Can you tell us more about this?

    35. Re:DVD by jafac · · Score: 1

      I dunno.
      I got an Apex AD-600A, have had it for years. NEVER ONCE used the region-free feature.

      Now, it's got a bad power supply AND transport. I know there are geeks who fix these things, I'm thinking of doing so myself (if only I had the time). But these units, non-progressive-scan, broken, still go for $50-$100 on ebay. (hacked and upgraded, one recently went for $300).

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
    36. Re:DVD by detect · · Score: 1

      Or better yet when will it be out on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? I can't watch DVDs anymore when my free to air TV is higher resolution!

      --
      // The fastest Alt-Tab in the West
    37. Re:DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, except I find Channel 10 so goddamn irritating, that as soon as the miniseries finished I logged on to Amazon hoping I could buy the series on DVD, just so I didn't have to watch Channel 10... I'm consequently deliberately not watching the series - I can wait till it comes out on DVD, when it'll be far less annoying. I figure $50+ of my money is worth not having to sit through that many ads.

    38. Re:DVD by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Well, you'd be paying as much for the DVD set as you would for 1 month of cable, so that argument doesn't really hold up.. However, it's not hard to find the episodes online.

      I pay for cable, so I don't see how it could possibly be illegal for me to download them. I merely timeshifted the shows. From the future, as it turns out, since most of them haven't yet been shown in the states.

    39. Re:DVD by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Why does everybody compare every new show to Friends??

    40. Re:DVD by zennor · · Score: 1

      I agree with you re Channel 10 and particularly the ads!! I too will buy the DVD and just bought the miniseries DVD on special last night. Still, given the dearth of good TV around I will continue to tape it on 10 and fast forward through the ads.

    41. Re:DVD by TeraCo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Time to leap in and point out that the Australian government ruled it was illegal to do region coding. All DVD players's sold in Australia are uncoded now (or at least you get instructions when it's sold to you.)

      --
      Not Meta-modding due to apathy.
    42. Re:DVD by budgenator · · Score: 1

      I've always concidered the hallmark of good SciFi to be the quality of the inter-personal actions of the characters, rather than the science or lack of it. Usualy what I consider good SciFi has the science sparse and in the background rather than dominating the show.

      I'm really enjoying BSG, but you have to actively watch it lots of plot twists, flashbacks, fore-shaddowing, and some of the charecters have multiple instances of themselves; very easy to get lost in it.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    43. Re:DVD by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I knew you were refering to Dallas, and who shot JR.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    44. Re:DVD by 0111+1110 · · Score: 1

      And if they hadn't already heard about it they have now. So who spoiled it for you?

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    45. Re:DVD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Warning!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!

      SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

      To anyone who has not finished this series, either download the rest of the eps and come back or STOP READING THIS SLASHDOT ARTICLE RIGHT NOW!

      There are many very serious SPOILERS in the next few pages. Go ahead and watch the series FIRST! Then read this article if you want.

    46. Re:DVD by Snaller · · Score: 1

      Good for them. What was their reason?

      I've always thought it could be likened to a trade restriction, but most politicians seem to disagree. Though the excuse EU used was that it was to protect its culture...

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  2. original? by QuantumG · · Score: 0, Troll

    Wanna say that word one more time? What's the deal? I mean you are aware this show is a remake right? I still can't believe they made Starbucks a chick.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:original? by deft · · Score: 1

      They mean 'Original' to SciFi.

      --

      There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
    2. Re:original? by Matey-O · · Score: 5, Funny

      I still can't believe you didn't know Starbuck was singular.

      --
      "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
    3. Re:original? by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How about it's BETTER than the original. In almost every way. None of the reusing the same Viper effect 500 times per episode and plots that are thought provoking (like the whole human looking cylon deal). It is the best scifi on TV right now and in some ways better than alot of the scifi from the 1980's.

      --

      Gorkman

    4. Re:original? by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Wanna say that word one more time? What's the deal? I mean you are aware this show is a remake right? I still can't believe they made Starbucks a chick."

      It may be a remake, but it's so dissimilar to the original series I'm not sure it's even worth bitching about Starbuck being a chick. Believe it or not, this is one of those times they did a remake right. Watch it, you're likely to agree.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    5. Re:original? by scharkalvin · · Score: 1

      Wanna say that word one more time? What's the deal? I mean you are aware this show is a remake right? I still can't believe they made Starbucks a chick.
      Starbucks is coffee.

    6. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea otherwise it's a coffee shop...

    7. Re:original? by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The original series was a lame tv rip off of starwars, with plots written on toilet paper, and complete with a cheap cardboard R2D2esqe friendly robot. The new series is far more original.

    8. Re:original? by Troll'N · · Score: 1

      the show title is original. however the show story telling has been much different than the original 70's show (hair cuts are a big improvement). Still havn't seen them stop at a casino yet.. its only been a few episodes though here in the U.S and i'm to lazy to download season 1.

    9. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I dunno. All I know is Zonk fails it.

      Add Zonk the Donk to you list of foes here:

      Donkey

    10. Re:original? by BestNicksRTaken · · Score: 3, Funny

      "...like the whole human looking cylon deal"

      Erm, you do know that is just a way to save money on special effects right?

      --
      #include <sig.h>
    11. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are aware that there is no such thing as originality on TV.

      In the original, Starbuck was the first mate of the Pequod. I still can't believe they made him a viper pilot.

    12. Re:original? by Cosmos_7 · · Score: 0

      I've noticed they seem to like that shot of the viper coming out of Galactica, firing its jets, and make the abrupt right turn.

      Seen that shot more than a few times throughout the first season...

    13. Re:original? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      When I read the list of changes they had made, I was horrified. It seemed as if they intentionally went out of their way to destroy everything that made the original. The trailers seemed to confirm this. I eventually persuaded myself to watch one episode to see quite how badly it sucked. To my utter amazement, I found it to be utterly superb. Other than the names of some of the characters, it has very little in common with the original, but it is far more thought-provoking and well written than even the best of the original. I hope they can keep it up.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    14. Re:original? by MCraigW · · Score: 5, Insightful
      How about it's BETTER than the original.

      I agree. I was skeptical at first -- Starbuck being a girl and all. But now I really enjoy the show, the premise is the same, and many character names are the same, but that's all. The cylons are far more devious and crafty than in the original series. The plot is interesting and there are many interesting subplots. This is not your father's Battlestar Galactica.

      And I think the Starbuck character is attractive, in a tomboyish sort of way.

      Remember the kid with the robo-dog?

    15. Re:original? by losman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      --I still can't believe they made Starbucks a chick--

      I saw a local prodcution of "It's a Wonderful Life" where the angel Clarence was portrayed by a female rather than male. She was the hit of production!

      Your statement really highlights how small minded and obtuse people can be.

      --
      Q: I am short, useless and provide no value. What am I? A: a sig
    16. Re:original? by ThrasherTT · · Score: 1

      That's funny, I thought it was a way to create tension in the show. I mean, they have plenty of CG already, would a few more scenes with some big, metal cylons really be that much more expensive? Besides, they could just dress up actors in shiny suits and save even more on CG costs...

      --

      All Your Memory Are Belong To Java
    17. Re:original? by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1
      've noticed they seem to like that shot of the viper coming out of Galactica, firing its jets, and make the abrupt right turn.

      I saw that shot more than a few times back when Starbuck was a man.

    18. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I still can't believe they made Starbucks a chick.

      Having seen the first 6 episodes + the mini-series, I believe that RDM is trying to use BSG to break into the porn business. So making Starbuck a chick means that when he introduces the Casiopia character he can have a hot lesbo scene.

    19. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I thought it was a way to create tension in the show.

      Yeah, and that is the same reason that Berman chose Jeri Ryan to play the part of Seven of Nine. It created tension. In my pants.

      Cheers to the folks at BSG for using an attractive woman as a cylon!!!

    20. Re:original? by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Yeah, even my dad who is a die-hard battlestar fan (the first one) is coming around to the new show.

      --
      I don't get it.
    21. Re:original? by schemanista · · Score: 1

      I saw that shot more than a few times back when Starbuck was a man.

      You realize that's an instant .sig line, right? So what if no one else gets it: I'm ripping it off.
      --
      I saw that shot more than a few times back when Starbuck was a man. ~ lucabrasi999
    22. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      SOILENT GREEN IS PEEOPLEEE! IT'S PEEEEOOOOPPPPLLLLEEE!!!!

      Yes, it's all in caps. That's because I actually am yelling.

    23. Re:original? by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      When I read the list of changes they had made, I was horrified. It seemed as if they intentionally went out of their way to destroy everything that made the original.

      Being about 15 at the time, I recall thinking how silly, derivative and completely embarrassing the "orignal" series was.

    24. Re:original? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      No, they just rip off newer material including current events.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    25. Re:original? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      The human looking cylons actually have done more harm than good by making far too many obvious plotholes. The first one being: why bother with Baltar to begin with?

      The original had humaniform cylons. ...and whining about the effects is pretty low.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    26. Re:original? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      ...howabout sympathetic characters.

      Sure, the original was 90% cheese but they had characters that gave you some impression that humanity was at least partially worth saving.

      This is what Star Trek, SG-1 & BSG78 all had that BSG04 does not.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    27. Re:original? by Glsai · · Score: 1

      Just a WAG here, and I haven't seen any episodes that haven't been broadcast on SciFi yet, but I'm willing to bet that Baltar is a Cylon himself. That's why he always has the one lady in his head all the time, it's part of the whole Cylon communication system or something. I think he's one of the Cylons that don't realize they are a Cylon.

    28. Re:original? by king-manic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ...howabout sympathetic characters.

      Sure, the original was 90% cheese but they had characters that gave you some impression that humanity was at least partially worth saving.

      This is what Star Trek, SG-1 & BSG78 all had that BSG04 does not.


      Being a inhumanly idealistic does make them sympathetic. Being a real person dealing imperfectly with problems makes someone sympathetic. A sympathetic character isn't some paragon of virtue.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    29. Re:original? by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1

      In that production, did they call the female angel "Clarence"?

    30. Re:original? by X86Daddy · · Score: 1

      It is the best scifi on TV right now

      I would have agreed with you two weeks ago, but I've also been watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Cartoon Network). Now that the story is coming together, it is OMFG-level sci-fi goodness. Still, BSG is quite awesome, and I'm just very very happy to have so much good stuff showing right now, compared to the dearth of stuff that existed back when SG1 was only on Showtime, and we only had Star Trek: Voyager on TV... Blech!

    31. Re:original? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      None of the reusing the same Viper effect 500 times per episode

      Actually, there's an inside joke about that in the first episode, "33." The opening of that episode (what they call the "teaser" in TV-speak) recycles several VFX shots that Zioc did for the pilot. Yes, technically this was to save some money, but it was also a little in-joke among the crew. You'll notice that after the opening credits, all VFX shots in season one are original.

    32. Re:original? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      It seemed as if they intentionally went out of their way to destroy everything that made the original.

      Bingo. There's an old quote, I think it was Michelangelo who said it. He said that you're through with a sculpture when no more marble can be chipped away. The guys who make BSG aren't great artists, of course, but they used the same approach. They knew they were ready to start working on the new show when there was nothing more of the old show that could be chipped away. I love that.

    33. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's what you get for talking out of your ass... again. Dumb ass.

    34. Re:original? by losman · · Score: 1

      --In that production, did they call the female angel "Clarence"?--

      Yes

      --
      Q: I am short, useless and provide no value. What am I? A: a sig
    35. Re:original? by sahonen · · Score: 1

      Not exactly. They reuse the shot of the Vipers launching from the Galactica several times. The camera is moving from right to left and is does a snap zoom in on the point where they're coming out. Can't miss it.

      --
      Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
    36. Re:original? by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1

      lol

    37. Re:original? by Zorbie · · Score: 1

      **Spolier** Nope ;) but good guess. He's just a horn dog that is being manipulated. And wait till you see the final episode, Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2 :)

    38. Re:original? by Angry+Toad · · Score: 1

      I genuinely don't understand the fetish some people have for the first series.

      It was awful, in every possible way. Am I alone in thinking this?

      The new series took the general concept and redid it strikingly well, but I can't imagine why anyone is attached to the old series, beyond general nostalgia.

    39. Re:original? by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      Your statement really highlights how small minded and obtuse people can be.

      Stop berating them. They are allready devastated that the guy they wanted to be when they grew up turned into a chick as it is, there's no need to make them feel worse ;-)

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    40. Re:original? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      I seem to recall that that shot was only re-used in "33." I may, however, be mistaken.

    41. Re:original? by Evil+Pete · · Score: 1

      Almost anything would have been better than the original. It has just started here and so far seems so good I almost don't think it should carry the same name. As for spoilers I don't care ... I get more pissed off when I think of really good plot lines that don't occur in the series.

      Had a bad flash back to the old series when someone mentioned the kid, ewwwww ... remember the 'dagget' ?

      --
      Bitter and proud of it.
    42. Re:original? by blubdog · · Score: 1

      I agree it's a great series, but am I the only one that has a problem with the label "original series"? Sure they made some changes from the original show, but it's still a rehash of an old series. They didn't come up with the idea for the series, so I don't consider it to be "original".

      BTW, I also have a problem with the labeling of "reality series" since the ones I've seen are as far from "reality" as you can get! :-)

    43. Re:original? by labnet · · Score: 1

      I think this story is showing the age of the / crowd. The original series was every 12 yo boys dream come true. (well I lie, I also liked BuckRodgers .. and StarTrek..Blake7..and what was that british one on the moon?).
      Anyway, the one thing I clearly remember from the original was that bl''dy same viper FX shot.. every show... 20 times... Grrrr..
      Glad they now have the technology for no repeat FX

      --
      46137
    44. Re:original? by Badfysh · · Score: 1
      And I think the Starbuck character is attractive, in a tomboyish sort of way.

      Agreed. It's a sure sign that a show is going to be rubbish when all the women look like Barbie dolls.

      --

      I was conned by an old man in a cloak. It turns out those *were* the droids I was looking for.

    45. Re:original? by mink · · Score: 1

      Should have called her Clarice

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    46. Re:original? by sahonen · · Score: 1

      Hmm, I have the whole first season on my computer and watched it all over the course of about a week, so re-occurances of certain shots stuck out for me. While it would take a bit of work to find all the occurrences, I'm pretty sure they use that shot whenever they scramble Vipers. It happens in at least two or three of the episodes in the first season.

      --
      Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
    47. Re:original? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      It's entirely possible you're right. I watched each episode once on Sky, and lately I've been watching them again each Friday on Sci Fi.

    48. Re:original? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      I bet the guy to whom you replied would be pissed to find out that Peter Pan is traditionally played on stage by a girl.

    49. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol. Please mod up.

    50. Re:original? by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

      My problem with the new Starbuck is that she's written so butch, and butch looking, she may as well have been a male. You lose some male bonding dialogue with casting female. I'm inclined to beleive they merely miscast with a weak actress. Or the writers/producers really overdid the Starbuck-as-female concept to the point they couldn't see how it would affect the entertainment quality of the show.

      They're okay with eye-candy. They have the blonde Cylon and Boomer. They could even stick in the black chick more. Grace Park would be too much of a chick to be Starbuck, but you get the idea that
      "you can have an intense job, and still be a chick" could have been better executed.

      And yet the new BSG still rocks. Its smart that you stayed an AC, idiot.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    51. Re:original? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      and what was that british one on the moon?

      Are you thinking of UFO?

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    52. Re:original? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Or no, you probably meant Space: 1999, since this had a Moonbase Alpha.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    53. Re:original? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      You must be thinking of that other Capra movie, It's a Wonderful Lamb. Every time you hear a bell ring, it means Dr. Lecter is eating an angel's kidney.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    54. Re:original? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      What's funny is that I think the Starbuck character in the original series was written to be too effeminate. So maybe it all balances out in the end.

      But seriously, other than the plot point about Starbuck's relationship with Zach Adama, the character could be played by an actor of either gender. (and maybe even including the relationship with Zach. Maybe homosexuality is not frowned upon on Caprica.). Is that your point?

      If so, then the performance by Katee Sackoff is realistic. I've worked in a number of trades that would normally be associated with "high testosterone", and the females that excel are the ones that tend to be able to be "one of the guys" during work. It's not that you forget they're female, it's that that fact just doesn't enter into it much.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    55. Re:original? by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1
      What's funny is that I think the Starbuck character in the original series was written to be too effeminate.

      I'd have to look at the old series again to see it. Dirk Benedict did sorta have a "pretty" boy air to him; not sure if it was DB being swishy for an actor, or that you're correct about the writing.

      But seriously, other than the plot point about Starbuck's relationship with Zach Adama, the character could be played by an actor of either gender. (and maybe even including the relationship with Zach. Maybe homosexuality is not frowned upon on Caprica.). Is that your point?

      Nope, thought didn't occur to me, although now it does, with Zach not appearing particularly passionate with the ladies. (Originally, I just wrote him off as the miscast red-headed bastard Irish child of someone of Spanish descent. And not particularly a good actor either, unless the writers/producers wanted to capture the original Apollo's wooden, dorkish, petulant character.)

      I tend to look at TV/movies like visual art. (And no, I don't claim to have an eye or affinity for museum art.) I watch it, and if I like it, I presume its good. But I'm kinda weird with watching cinema -- while watching something, I can step out of myself, and pick out details and break it down with a clinical eye, still have the viewer/emotional end running in the background, and still enjoy the picture.

      So, a major character is a chick and a lot of minutes is devoted to her. To myself, the definition of sucessful performance is that I like watching the actress act, and that my impression of entertainment quality is that he/she was indispensible to the work.

      From a producer/advertiser/me point of view, her writing/casting was a failure. She didn't give me a chubby, she wasn't easy on the eyes, and I didn't really want to spend lots of minutes watching her. She was the epitome of plot machinery to me. Good to great actors have to stand out. They have to make you give a damn about them. Or, have to execute the requirements of the supporting actor role so incisively (and not necesarily stand out or give a damn) that you can only marvel at the performance.

      Her performance wasn't anything markedly unrealistic. I find it fascinating that the old BSG centered around two characters that really made up the center of the show. Yet in the new BSG, those two characters seem the least relevant to the plot on the show. Still, if I'm less than happy, its a flaw in my book. I don't claim that my opinion should be the standard upon how all cinema should be judged. I'm just describing how I evaluate quality.

      While I agree that women who excel are able to blend in with the guys, I disagree that they always have to be camoflaged to be sucessful. To me, the sucessful ones do not trigger sexual stereotype impressions, but know when to use whatever advantage they can, when they need to.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    56. Re:original? by Humorless+Coward. · · Score: 1

      Starbucks isn't coffee; Starbucks is a brand of coffee (I won't argue whether one can legitimately call it coffee, though some of us will).

      Actually, there's more that's wrong with what was said than just that.

      How about stating it thusly:
      Starbuck is the name of a character in Moby Dick, used also in Battlestar Galactica. In the original BG series, the character was male, and in the revision, the character is female.

      Starbucks* is a trademark name for a company which produces coffee-based beverages for sale at premium prices in bookstores, kiosks, grocery stores and stand-alone coffeeshops across America and around the World, with emphasis on overt reimagining and trademarking of coffee-serving- related terminology (venti frappucino, anyone?).

      * Indicates trademark of someone else. Used for reference and not as any sort of challenge to said trademark. Go figure.

    57. Re:original? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How can you possibly know that unless you happen to know RDM personally.

    58. Re:original? by zero_offset · · Score: 1

      And I think the Starbuck character is attractive, in a tomboyish sort of way.

      I think she's attractive in a "bend her over a chair-ish" way.

      --

      Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005

  3. Sorry, not enough by grasshoppa · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I know this is the new "thing" and all, but sci fi lost me when they cancled farscape.

    And then replaced it with tremors the series.

    Those kind of decisions do not sit well with me.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    1. Re:Sorry, not enough by Skyshadow · · Score: 5, Interesting
      The thing that kills me is I hear this line of "reasoning" a lot from people I talk up Galactica to: "Oh, they cancelled Farscape!". Yeah, look, I liked Farscape too. That's in the past. This argument is right up there with the folks who object "But Starbuck's a woman now!". Yeah, get over it.

      If you're missing out on what is possibly the best Sci Fi series of our lives because you're still mad about the cancellation of a great show that was (and I say this as a huge Farscape fan) past it's prime, that's your problem.

      But let me say: You're missing out big.

      --
      Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
    2. Re:Sorry, not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those kind of decisions do not sit well with me.

      Guess what? They don't care.

    3. Re:Sorry, not enough by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Those kind of decisions do not sit well with me."

      Well, to be fair, Farscape had a huge budget but its audience wasn't growing. It's not that they just decided "welp, that's gone it's course", rather it turned into "we can't spend this much money". Yeah, it sucks and all, but TV is a business.

      As for decisions that don't set well with me, how about Fox pre-empting Futurama and then cancelling it for ratings. Asses.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    4. Re:Sorry, not enough by grasshoppa · · Score: 1

      That's cool, they can feel however they want. However, I will continue to remind people that the same network behind this show is the same one that makes these kind of decisions.

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    5. Re:Sorry, not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "missing out on what is possibly the best Sci Fi series of our lives"

      That could be true, but only if you're under 6 years old.

    6. Re:Sorry, not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Best series of our lives? Then your life must either be short(10 yr old?) or worthless(fan who sits inline to see the first screening of something) since it's as horrible as the original was. Ohhh boo hoo we're on the run and the cylons are after us. Unlike the nonending ending of the original I'd like to see the cylons hunt all the humans down and eradicate them in the finale.

      Don't worry SFC will start budget cutting once the show gets too big(see SG1) try to stick their noses in and dictate how it goes(see TNT with Crusade) and cancel it sometime down the line for some assine reason (see Farscape).

    7. Re:Sorry, not enough by The+Bungi · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't understand these knee-jerk mods. The parent has an opinion. It's not "flamebait". It's not a troll. It's on topic. Maybe it shouldn't be +5, but why slam it like this?

    8. Re:Sorry, not enough by geekoid · · Score: 1

      I haven't watched any sci-fi since they cancelled quark.
      That will show them, those TV bastards!

      heh.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    9. Re:Sorry, not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      after the 2nd season farscape started to suck.

      criton started to suck, overall the writing and plot's stunk to high hell. even the final movie they aired last year sucked big donkey turds compared to the first 2 seasons of farscape.

      that is why it was cancelled. the writers boned it.

    10. Re:Sorry, not enough by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      "Oh, they cancelled Farscape!". Yeah, look, I liked Farscape too. That's in the past.

      People just miss the muppets.
      I miss them too... remember how eveyone felt cheated when Yoda didn't look like a muppet? It's Jim Henson's ghost...
      Maybe Kermit could get a cameo in some alien swamp or something? That might calm them down.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    11. Re:Sorry, not enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Season 3 was *excellent*.
      Half of the episodes of season 4 were *great*.
      None of season 5 was tolerable.

    12. Re:Sorry, not enough by tralfaz2001 · · Score: 1

      I'll hate FOX forever for that. As Roberto would say, "I'd like to stab those FOX execs with my stabbin' knife. Hahaaa, Hahaaa."

    13. Re:Sorry, not enough by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      Screw Farscape. They cancelled MST3K for, IIRC, "Black Scorpion."

      At least farscape was cancelled for something WATCHABLE.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  4. Be worried... by MalaclypseTheYounger · · Score: 3, Funny

    First they are going to release new episodes of Family Guy, and now this.

    Slashdot usage may drop off unexpectedly.

    (Not me, I was never a BSG fan... I was a TNG fan)

    --
    Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
    1. Re:Be worried... by HeghmoH · · Score: 5, Insightful

      (Not me, I was never a BSG fan... I was a TNG fan)

      You should check it out. I'm not real familiar with the "old" BSG, but as far as I can tell, the new one is totally different. It's an excellent show. My tastes have changed since I was a TNG fan, but the first season of BSG is as good as TNG was at its peak, and very consistently good. I personally can't wait for season 2.

      Beg, borrow, steal, or buy the miniseries and give it a spin. Any TV series that begins with the brutal destruction of human civilization can't be all bad.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    2. Re:Be worried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was a TNG fan, too, so I know where you're coming from. But you need to watch this show. It's excellent, easily as good as TNG ever was.

      Get the miniseries first, though. Otherwise, the show won't make as much sense.

    3. Re:Be worried... by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm not real familiar with the "old" BSG, but as far as I can tell, the new one is totally different. It's an excellent show.

      This explanation is both hilarious and completely true : )

      But you forgot to mention that the best thing about the old Galactica has been included in the new galactica: Shiny robots with a red "eye" that goes back and forth! W00T!

      Now I'll go back to pondering the possibility that K.I.T.T. was the illegitimate child of a Cylon and General Lee... carry on.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    4. Re:Be worried... by mordors9 · · Score: 1

      I guess this is a result of the death of broadcast television. We seem to be seeing more and better shows being produced by "cable" channels. It looks like the death of one has brought life to a better era if this is any sign.

    5. Re:Be worried... by HeghmoH · · Score: 1
      I'm not real familiar with the "old" BSG, but as far as I can tell, the new one is totally different. It's an excellent show.
      This explanation is both hilarious and completely true : )

      That's the best out-of-context quoting I've seen today. I didn't mean to make a jab at the old BSG, but if I were, that's exactly how I would have done it! Thanks for playing with my post.
      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    6. Re:Be worried... by Sandman1971 · · Score: 1

      Am I the only one that's noticed that they're using storylines from the original show, but updating them/making them better? I swear that 80% of the episodes this year are revamps of some original episodes (total revamps or borrowing heavilly from them).

      --
      It's better to burn out than to fade away
    7. Re:Be worried... by Dimensio · · Score: 1

      Great, so we can expect to see Starbuck crash-land on an "old-west" town midway through season 2? And she'll have to outgun a Cylon gunslinger?

      No thanks.

    8. Re:Be worried... by Keepiru · · Score: 1

      Actually, that was Apollo.

      Before the new series came out, I got all of the original series on Netflix. It's pretty amazing how bad/good it was. But the behind the scenes revealed a lot, like how frequently the actors didn't get the scripts until 5 minutes before shooting, that explains a lot.

    9. Re:Be worried... by Scrameustache · · Score: 3, Funny
      Great, so we can expect to see Starbuck crash-land on an "old-west" town midway through season 2? And she'll have to outgun a Cylon gunslinger?

      There already was a firefly-class ship in the show; they have established the presence of cowboy planets as far as I'm concerned.
      All good sci-fi universes include some form of space cowboys, they just have to : )

      Fry: "So there is an infinite number of parallel universes?"
      Professor: "No, just the two."
      Fry: "Oh, well, I'm sure that's enough."
      Bender: "I'm sick of parallel Bender lauding his cowboy hat over me!"
      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    10. Re:Be worried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Naah, Slashdotters are tough. They'll just carry on posting using one hand like they always do.

    11. Re:Be worried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      technically it's not the human civilisation ... it's just the one of the twelve tribes... doh!

    12. Re:Be worried... by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sort of. The "Starbuck gets stranded on a desert planet" idea was a good one, so it showed up in the new show, albeit in a totally different context. The idea of a raid on a mining outpost from "The Living Legend" was reused in the episode "The Hand of God." The title "The Hand of God" was used in both the old show and the new show, but I don't think there are any similarities between the episodes at all, really.

      It's weird. It's like Ron Moore and his team sat down and watched the whole run of the old show (it was only 18 episodes or so, something like that) and got familiar with it, then went off and did their own thing. You can see traces of the old show in broad ideas and in itty bitty details (like the fact that Starbuck waggles her wings in "You Can't Go Home Again"), but it's not like they're trying to do a remake.

    13. Re:Be worried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TNG is a lot better than BSG. Here are some reasons:

      More ships
      Commander "Riker"
      Warf and data learning about emotions
      Data surprising everyone with his musical performance
      The time that Stephen Hawking lost at Poker
      That one time where Picard starting turning into a little boy and wanted to go back to the Academy to study Latin
      The two episodes ( in a row ! )where they met Spock

      Battlestar Galactica has some good ideas. I think they need to have Jane Seymore back on it.

      Oh, yeah--what about the time that really nervous guy morphed into the computer and knew everything about everything? Has that happened yet on BSG? (I have missed some episodes).

    14. Re:Be worried... by mink · · Score: 1

      Except the "new" shiny cylons with the red eye look like ass. Way to "improve" the series. They remind me way too much of star wars props now instead of a mechanical menace bent on the destruction of human kind.
      Frankly the old centurion design is still way cool. Even the cylon fighters were a fairly cool design for the 70's.

      YMOV

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    15. Re:Be worried... by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      All good sci-fi universes include some form of space cowboys, they just have to : )

      And all this time I thought the lyrics from The Joker were a reference to sex & drugs...

    16. Re:Be worried... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Except the "new" shiny cylons with the red eye look like ass. Way to "improve" the series. They remind me way too much of star wars props now instead of a mechanical menace bent on the destruction of human kind.
      Frankly the old centurion design is still way cool. Even the cylon fighters were a fairly cool design for the 70's.

      Are you kidding? Where was the "menace" in the old Cylons? The worst those lumbering things could do would be to burn your toast!

      I really like the new ones. OK, they're not quite as shiny, but they're far more deadly. They move with malevolent grace, they have weaponry and evil-looking talons. They are actually things to be feared, and that should count for a lot in a bad guy. I'll take genuine menace over cool chrome any day.

      Plus, I think the "human" Cylons are a really interesting development, which I don't think there was any analog for in the original series. I think it's particularly amusing how the only way to tell a Cylon from a human is that Cylon spines glow when they're, um, happily excited...

      Also, say what you will about CGI, the spaceship battles are billions of times cooler now than they ever were before.

    17. Re:Be worried... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      You think the new cylons look worse than what was obviously guys dressed up in robot suits?

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    18. Re:Be worried... by mink · · Score: 1

      So far outside of the initial mini series (I have missed a few episodes) have we seen the new shiny cylons do anything worthy of your "but they're far more deadly. They move with malevolent grace, they have weaponry and evil-looking talons. They are actually things to be feared, and that should count for a lot in a bad guy. I'll take genuine menace over cool chrome any day." praise?

      Have they genuinely menaced anything?
      Sure the old ones were about as effective as Storm Troopers but they are still cool.

      I still cant understand why the good doctor does not order up a 55 gallon drum of KY and explain that he has the only reliable cylon detection system in his pants and would Adama please bend over. I mean it's a tough job, but I think he is randy enough of a guy to do it. Afterwards he can write a book about it like Wilt Chamberlain did.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    19. Re:Be worried... by mink · · Score: 1

      I don't think they look "worse" I think they don't inspire the some "cool" factor the old ones did.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  5. not trolling by lakerdonald · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm not trolling or trying to start a flamewar, but I was severely dissapointed by the new series. As a fan of the original, I didn't like the feel of this nü-Battlestar Galactica.

    1. Re:not trolling by IANAAC · · Score: 1
      I'm not trolling or trying to start a flamewar, but I was severely dissapointed by the new series. As a fan of the original, I didn't like the feel of this nü-Battlestar Galactica.

      Obviously these things are subjective, but I LOVED the new series. And the season cliffhanger... I knew what was coming, but still flinched!

      Good stuff, in my book.

    2. Re:not trolling by lakerdonald · · Score: 0

      I thought it was a bit dark, but that is a valid point. And things like this are really a matter of opinion.

    3. Re:not trolling by Hork_Monkey · · Score: 1

      And things like this are really a matter of opinion.

      I don't think they are.

    4. Re:not trolling by kiwioddBall · · Score: 1

      Well, theres nothing wrong with that is there... you just happen to be in the minority.

    5. Re:not trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, that's your opinion.

    6. Re:not trolling by lakerdonald · · Score: 0

      How is an opinion about a show not an opinion?

    7. Re:not trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Did you hear the sonic boom a second ago?

      That was the joke flying over your head.

  6. Hmmm by Vampyre_Dark · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Sir, we have about 100 out of work crewmen just now arriving on board, they say they are refugees from something called 'Enterprise.'"

    1. Re:Hmmm by wwest4 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Adama: OK. Send the engineers down to work on the Vipers. Get that limey fellow working with Dr. Baltar on a plan to destroy that Base Star. And send that one to my quarters.

      Chief: Right away, sir.

    2. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't be sending for Scott Bakula ... maybe that vulcan bird, but not Scott Bakula. In the one episode of Enterprise I watched, I kept on expecting Al to pop out, Quantum Leap style.

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

      AAAARRRGGG!!! My eyesssss!!!!!!!!

    4. Re:Hmmm by kevlar · · Score: 1

      Brig. Gen O'Neil: Good news! We have found a planet capable of sustaining life that is a considerable distance from Caprica. We can relocate your people through the Stargate and you will be rid of the Cylons forever.

    5. Re:Hmmm by dynamo · · Score: 1

      That would be pretty cool if Al would pop out in the final episode of Enterprise, give Sam/Jonathan the elusive final hint he needs to save the day, discuss the pros and pros of banging Tupal, and how much he'd like to do it, and then watching as Sam finally Leaps after destroying the Andorian homeworld to stop the Klingon Augments, or whatever resolution is needed there..

      And that, of course, would be the (FINAL) leap Home.

    6. Re:Hmmm by BigAl_nz · · Score: 1

      Brig. Gen O'Neil: Good news! We have found a planet capable of sustaining life that is a considerable distance from Caprica. We can relocate your people through the Stargate and you will be rid of the Cylons forever.

      O'Neill. Two L's.

      --
      --- There isn't any problem that can't be solved by a small, low yield nuclear device, is there??
    7. Re:Hmmm by kevlar · · Score: 1

      Holy shit, you're right. Even correctly quoted him too...

  7. Torrents by FoolishBose · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Sweet, I can soon return to my regular habit of downloading both BSG and 24 on Monday nights. I can't wait for it to start especially after that cliffhanger ending. I only hope that they can continue to make interesting episodes, and didn't blow their creative load all on the first season.

  8. "Original" series??? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Don't make me laugh.

    Nothing's original anymore...

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:"Original" series??? by boohiss · · Score: 1

      I believe a wise man said this thousands of years ago.

    2. Re:"Original" series??? by Scyber · · Score: 2, Informative

      SciFi always makes that distinction b/c their highest rated show (or at least it used to be) is Stargate SG-1. That show was originally aired by another network and the SciFi channel took it over later in its run.

    3. Re:"Original" series??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      certianly not in Hollywierd.

      a remake of War of the worlds...

      good god, we are goingto have ET, Close encounters and the origional star-wars remade in the next 15 years....

      i'm gonna puke.

  9. Sci Fi by IANAL(BIAILS) · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I always find it amazing how many of the top 10 downloads are sci fi shows - BG, the two Stargate's, Enterprise... generally such shows have a hard time getting ratings (and getting renewed), but this shows they are among the most popular. If only TV execs would see the potential market behind this genre and develop it further.

    Or finally take advantage of online distribution and supply high-quality downloads themselves (of course containing commercials so they still have a revenue stream).

    1. Re:Sci Fi by Matey-O · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Geeks download geek stuff first. Everyone else will do it when it's _easy_.

      --
      "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
    2. Re:Sci Fi by Tim+C · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're forgetting an important factor - most people (not all by any means, but the majority) downloading TV shows are either techies, or amongst the most technically savvy of end users. The techier a person is, I've found, the more likely they are to be into sci-fi rather than, say, reality shows.

      The reason why they have a hard time getting ratings is because they're not popular with the general TV-watching public. For futher evidence, just look at the media frenzy over shows like Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, etc...

    3. Re:Sci Fi by HokieGeek · · Score: 1

      Obvious and non-insightful post:

      Probably has a lot to do with the relationship that geekyhood and SF/SciFi enjoy.

      /me bows

      --
      What's a "sig"?
    4. Re:Sci Fi by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Or finally take advantage of online distribution and supply high-quality downloads themselves (of course containing commercials so they still have a revenue stream).

      I don't see why commercials would be required. I would be more than willing to pay for reliable downloads at a decent speed - and buying directly from the studios would enable much better distribution of profits.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    5. Re:Sci Fi by borawjm · · Score: 0

      The reason why they have a hard time getting ratings is because they're not popular with the general TV-watching public. For futher evidence, just look at the media frenzy over shows like Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, etc...

      I was thinking along the same lines. How many lower to middle class citizens have access to a broad band internet connection? And, even if they did, would they be downloading BG, Stargate, Enterprise, etc or would the opt for the type of programs you listed?

    6. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then why do I see regular postings of "Desparate Housewives" on Usenet?

    7. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Enough already!
      They don't get high ratings because you bitches are downloading it instead! Delete Myth, turn on the damn tv and use it what it's for - Star Trek and bad 80s porn!

    8. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Geeks don't pay more for the extra cable channels but do pay more for the extra internet bandwith and since the sci-fi doesn't play on syndicated TV, well... you get the picture.

    9. Re:Sci Fi by Matey-O · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wife of a geek. :P

      --
      "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
    10. Re:Sci Fi by xstonedogx · · Score: 1

      I'm with you.

      There's a (true) saying that time is money. Well, to me, time is also life. It's too valuable to spend watching the same subway ad 30,000 times.

      As far as I'm concerned, commercials are obsolete. With few exceptions, I don't watch them. Exceptions being things like live shows and sports (and even then I usually get up off my ass and do a little housework or something during the commercial).

      Right now I record BSG every friday and watch it later sans commercials. I'd much rather be able to download it. But any online distribution model that wants to make money off of me has to do with with a per-episode or subscription-based fee.

      I wonder how much of the fact that online distribution isn't widespread is due to a Blockbuster type issue. Sure, Blockbuster has an online service now, but they're still tied down to all those physical locations. That hinders them competing with Netflix and delayed their own online business. Netflix basically forced their hand.

      In the same way, Sci-Fi and other channels are tied down to the existing commercial-based network infrastructure. Sure, they could make BSG available for download, but it's popularity means they need to use it the old fashioned way to keep their network on the air.

      I don't know, it might not be the case, but it sounds reasonable to me. Putting it online is a risk. Especially since, geeks aside, most people would probably rebel at the idea of paying to watch it when they already watch for free.

      I think if this type of thing is going to happen, it's not going to happen with sci-fi or existing network (unless maybe it happens with CNN or some other news station), but some upstart network. Once they're successful, the established networks won't have any choice but to follow along. (Just like Netflix did to/for Blockbuster.) And at that point it will be safe(r) for them to do so.

    11. Re:Sci Fi by Ironsides · · Score: 1

      My family has a runnning joke/gag. Everything we like on TV is taken off the air. All our favorite resturaunts go out of business. This has been true more times than I can remember.

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    12. Re:Sci Fi by bgarcia · · Score: 1
      Wife of a geek. :P
      Oh sure, start the rumor again that such a thing exists.

      Face it - you're posting on Slashdot, so YOU'RE the geek!

      --
      I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
    13. Re:Sci Fi by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 2, Funny

      If they based their decisions on download popularity we'd only get 24 hr porn channels.

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    14. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a techie and I can't stand most sci-fi. I never liked Star Trek (except the early ones on a camp level) and lost interest in Star Wars after they dragged out the Ewoks. I can't stand "reality" shows either. I do like Brit comedies so maybe that makes me a Monty Python/Mr Bean/Ab Fab geek.

    15. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 1

      Does this count for websites as well? There goes Slashdot.

    16. Re:Sci Fi by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Funny

      If they based their decisions on download popularity we'd only get 24 hr porn channels.

      You say that like it's a bad thing.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    17. Re:Sci Fi by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1
      Then why do I see regular postings of "Desparate Housewives" on Usenet?

      Because geeks lust after Terry Hatcher.

    18. Re:Sci Fi by pianophile · · Score: 1

      Because geeks lust after Terry Hatcher.

      "They're real, and they're spectacular!"

      --

      'Your brain is God.' -- Dr. Timothy Leary
    19. Re:Sci Fi by Snaller · · Score: 1

      It is - the dialog is awfull!

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    20. Re:Sci Fi by jschottm · · Score: 1

      Or finally take advantage of online distribution and supply high-quality downloads themselves (of course containing commercials so they still have a revenue stream).

      Which [the commercials] would be chopped out by some industrious person and promptly be spread across every P2P network in existance. They could try selling them directly without ads, but the same thing would happen - some people would buy it, but the vast majority would still download it for free. The "geek" community has indicated, as a whole, that they have little to no respect for other peoples' intellectual property (but heaven forbid that anyone trample on their open source license of choice). It makes little economic sense for most film/TV companies to attempt to cater to the geek crowd, as they know that whatever they make will be spread via P2P, TIVOed to skip commercials, copied on burners, etc.

    21. Re:Sci Fi by Kethinov · · Score: 1

      I've said it before and I'll say it again.

      I am a regular seeder of Enterprise and according to the worldwide statistics I've seen, BT Enterprise distribtues no more than tens of thousands of episodes each week out of the millions of fans who watch it on regular TV.

      That is a tiny, tiny percentage of the total viewership, and let's not forget that not every TV viewer has a Nielsen box and are thus not counted in the ratings that TV networks find oh so holy. And let's also not forget that a very large percentage of the Bit Torrent users are people who wouldn't be watching the show anyway because it isn't broadcasted in their country.

      Really, Bit Torrent is having a negligbile effect on SciFi ratings.

      --
      You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
    22. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      If they based their decisions on download popularity we'd only get 24 hr porn channels.

      Or, for the /. crowd, sci-fi porn! Hot Tupal-on-Seven action! D'argo, Starbuck, Aeryn, and Councilor Troi in a hot-tub! Uhuru takes on Kirk, Picard, Archer and Janeway to find out which captain is really the best!

      Man, I could make a fortune...
    23. Re:Sci Fi by Fortun+L'Escrot · · Score: 1

      it is already easy. ive setup a bittorrent client to act like a sort of PVR instead of going thru my cable providers alternative. it was stupidly easy...point and click apart from typing in the show titles that i wanted.

    24. Re:Sci Fi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not that hard.... what they do now is.

      1. Air on SkyOne
      2. Air on SciFi
      3. Air on Syndicates.
      4. Release DVD.

      DUH! After step 1, most of us have already seen the show.

      Try this.

      1. Release DVD.
      2. Collect revenue from Fanbase.
      3. Air on SkyOne/SciFi
      4. Air on Syndicates.

  10. Fantastic by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Possibly the best scifantasy show thats been on TV in a long time, thankyou for giving it a 'full' season run this time round, and kudos to the creators for giving people the ability to download an episode legitimately - lets hope this leads to more!

    1. Re:Fantastic by sgant · · Score: 0, Troll

      Yes, kudos for the creators...yet, it's a double edged sword as the "download" is actually a Realplayer broadcast. I mean, come on...realplayer? WTF uses that anymore? It's so so SO crappy in terms of quality. Just pisses me off.

      But still, kudos to the creators.

      --

      "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
    2. Re:Fantastic by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      Have you looked at the stream? It's very good. It's small, of course, because it's low-bandwidth Web video, but it's very well encoded. I'm just looking at the first few minutes of it now, but it looks very, very clean. Hardly an artifact to be found. (Except during dissolves, of course.)

      I'm glad they decided to show the first episode, too. I've seen the whole first season, and while it's virtually all excellent, I think "33" is the best of them all.

    3. Re:Fantastic by dacoto · · Score: 1

      I agree 100%, BG is the best in a long time. Now if they would do the same thing with some of the other older series. Dr. Who maybe, I thought I heard something about a new show for Dr. Who but I have not seen anything yet.

      --
      Open Source, Open Formats, Open Doors, Open Your Mind "Break On Through to the Other Side" The Doors
    4. Re:Fantastic by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      The new DrWho is being filmed at the moment in the UK, expect to see it mid 2005!

    5. Re:Fantastic by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Possibly the best scifantasy show thats been on TV in a long time

      I know a lot of people who have an opinion about BSG. The vast majority love it, but the few who dislike it are real sci-fi nerds. They dislike the fact that the show doesn't contain enough techno-babble for them, or the fact that there's too much religion, or the fact that the civilians are dress in normal clothes instead of one-piece jumpsuits with no visible zipper.

      It seems, based on my EXTENSIVE SCIENTIFIC POLLING (ahem), that BSG is actually not that good a sci-fi show.

      It is, however, the best damn drama on TV right now, period.

    6. Re:Fantastic by Surazal · · Score: 1

      It seems, based on my EXTENSIVE SCIENTIFIC POLLING (ahem), that BSG is actually not that good a sci-fi show. It is, however, the best damn drama on TV right now, period.

      I am a super-nerd, and I think it is the best damn sci-fi out there. So there! ;^)

      Seriously, though I love Trek very much... but BSG is refreshing. There's very little techno-babble; also it's rarely, if ever, "babble" because they use real terms that exist in real life. I actually saw someone complain that BSG doesn't use phasers (it wasn't "sci-fi" enough). I damn near dropped my jaw onto the floor. One of my favorite scenes from the mini was the goergious shots of Galactica's firing solution. I want to see more of that.

      Phasers. feh.

      --
      --- Journals are boring; Go to my web page instead
  11. Booyah! by chia_monkey · · Score: 1

    For someone who watches roughly one hour of TV a WEEK (what's the average TV viewing for Americans now? Six hours a day?), I'm giddy as hell about this. Awwww yeah!!!!! Damn SciFi channel is going to have me planted in front of the TV again.

    --

    "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
    1. Re:Booyah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For someone who watches roughly one hour of TV a WEEK (what's the average TV viewing for Americans now? Six hours a day?)...

      Well, aren't you a fucking Renaissance Man.

    2. Re:Booyah! by mordors9 · · Score: 1

      What a sad empty life you must lead :)

    3. Re:Booyah! by Ironsides · · Score: 1

      For someone who watches roughly one hour of TV a WEEK (what's the average TV viewing for Americans now? Six hours a day?), I'm giddy as hell about this.

      Let me just say WOW about that 6 hours a day statistic. I can beleive it, but can you provide sources? I know I personally watched about 6 a day when in highschool. In college it dropped to 1 a week at most. And now that I am home it is 4 hours a week. (Plus CSI re-runs)

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  12. Season 2? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 0


    Season 2? Where's the rest of Season 1? They've only broadcast 13 episodes. That's all of Season 1? WTF?

    1. Re:Season 2? by Graemee · · Score: 1

      That's 13 good episodes. No clip shows or mindless fillers to make 20 or 22 episodes.

      Trailer Park Boys only has 6-8 episodes per season.

    2. Re:Season 2? by dorward · · Score: 4, Informative

      > "Where's the rest of Season 1?"

      It is not unheard of for a show to get a half-season when its just starting out. It gives the TV companies a chance to test the waters.

      Then there are cases like Buffy - which replaced a show mid-season and only got a half season as a result (then it got 6 full seasons and a spin off).

      But hey, 20 more episodes ordered. Yippie.

    3. Re:Season 2? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      It was a teaser season - noone knew how well a BSG remake would do as a series, and since Scifi shows tend to be highcost per episode (as high as $1million an ep) they did a half season to test the viewing figures. Note how the second season is only 20 eps long, while most other show seasons tend to be 24 eps?

    4. Re:Season 2? by crow · · Score: 1

      24 episodes? Well, maybe ten years ago. Now most are 22. Way back when, it was 26 episodes, which works out about perfectly to have a rerun of each episode, but that didn't leave room for specials. Of course, the show "24" has 24 episodes. So they are going two episodes shorter than most series are doing now, but it's not a huge shortfall.

    5. Re:Season 2? by nofx_3 · · Score: 1

      But there are also shows like family guy that get a half season, then get bumped around to diff time slots for 2 seasons, then get canceled even though it was clearly a terrific show in all respects. Thank our lucky stars that the DVD was popular and Fox was actually willing to conceed that the made a mistake in killing it.

      -kaplanfx

      --
      Visualize Whirled Peas
    6. Re:Season 2? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Informative

      Generally the first season is shorter, but heres a list of recent shows that had 24 or more episodes per season - I was surprised to see it wasnt as large as I initially thought.

      TV Show - Episodes per season

      Voyager - 26
      Deepspace 9 - 26
      Enterprise - 26
      24 - 24
      West Wing - 24
      Friends - Hovered between 23 and 25
    7. Re:Season 2? by bullsbarry · · Score: 1

      The first season of Battlestar started at during the second half of Sci Fi's lineup (at least in the US). SciFi's other original series like SG1 and Atlantis start during the summer, then break for several months, and then restart for a second half around the beginning of the new year.

    8. Re:Season 2? by Wildfire+Darkstar · · Score: 2, Informative

      By far, the most common arrangement these days seems to be networks purchasing seasons of 13 episodes, with the so-called "back nine" (or some roughly similar number) option: if the show performs well, a further nine episodes are purchased, for a total of 22 episodes per season.

      --
      Sean Daugherty "I have walked in Eternity -- and Eternity weeps."
    9. Re:Season 2? by unclethursday · · Score: 1

      Maybe in the UK they've broadcast all 13 episodes... but in North America we've only had 6 or 7 (Can't remember which it is) broadcast so far. The last one aired was where Number 6 manifested as someone people could see and accused Baltar of treason.

    10. Re:Season 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in canada they've shown them all as well (or at least are several weeks ahead) - the US is lagging behind in showing them - no idea why

    11. Re:Season 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's 13 good episodes.

      Huh? You thought Act of Contrition was good? You thought You Can't Go Home Again was good? You thought Litmus (aka ST:TNG The Drumhead) was good?
      Even Secrets and Lies with its lame attempt at humour? Is there anything they could do that you wouldn't like?

    12. Re:Season 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hope you enjoyed that one. Written by Michael Angeli, directed by Robert Young. It was the best episode short of the season finale. Don't expect the next few episodes to equal that one because you will just be disappointed. The episode after the next one is the worst of the whole series.

    13. Re:Season 2? by Zab+UvWxy · · Score: 1

      Now if Fox would make the same connection over Futurama.....

      --
      "I don't get it." -- ObviousGuy
  13. So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by dorward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Season 1 spoilers in this comment. Look away now!

    So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments for this article?

    • Complaints that Starbuck is now a girl
    • People wishing Starbuck was still a womanizer
    • Complaints about Boomer being a Cylon
    • Complaints about the Cylons being created by man
    • Complaints about people using Bittorrent to download episodes
    • People claiming the old series was better - without being able to say why
    • Someone claiming "first post!"
    • Complaints about the use of religion in the series
    • Complaints about the lack of space battles every five minutes
    1. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by GlassUser · · Score: 5, Funny

      Complaints that Starbuck is now a girl
      People wishing Starbuck was still a womanizer


      I won't complain much about the being a girl part. She's actually pretty cute. But I definately find myself wishing she were still a womanizer.

    2. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Skyshadow · · Score: 1
      # Complaints that Starbuck is now a girl
      # People wishing Starbuck was still a womanizer

      Okay, now *there's* something worth fighting for. Quickly, someone get an online petition set up!

      --
      Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
    3. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      You missed out people saying $OTHER_SERIES is better. ($OTHER_SERIES is often set to Firefly)

    4. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wanna find out if Adama dies from Boomer's gunshots or not.

    5. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 2, Funny

      All the above!

      StarBUCK should be both a man and a womanizer! Boomer should be a black man, and human! Ditto for Colonel Tigh! The Cylons suck, the old series WAS better, it's boring without the space battles, and the religion sux.

      And just because I'm too late to yell "First Post" doesn't mean I didn't think about it.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    6. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least she's not a three-dollar cup of coffee.

    7. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      I don't know about Firefly, but both Stargate shows ARE better!

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    8. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Anthony+Boyd · · Score: 1
      I definately find myself wishing she were still a womanizer.

      It is amazing to me how many people on BSG have lesbians in their professional background. Boomer (Grace Park) played a lesbian on some old TV show -- which wasn't so hot, but then she also played a lesbian strip-club dancer in some Jet Li flick. She was only in the first 5 minutes, I think. But she danced seductively with another woman, tounge-kissed her, even pulled the woman's dress off a little bit. Naughty. Then there is the EXO (EXO? is that right?), who plays the father of a lesbian on The L Word. Then there is Helo, who plays a bartender (I think) on The L Word. I can't remember the fourth person, but someone else on the SciFi forums mentioned more lesbian goodness.

      Go figure. Lesbians are where the money is at, I guess.

    9. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by AsbestosRush · · Score: 1

      I've usually seen it as simply "XO".

      --
      EveryDNS. Use it. It works.
      AC's need not reply
    10. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      I'm among the biggest "Firefly" fans around, but I'd find it hard to compare to BSG. BSG is a hard drama. "Firefly" was pretty light-hearted. They don't really compare at all.

      But if I'd have to pick, I'd say BSG is a better show all around.

      That said, $OTHER_SERIES is virtually always set to "Babylon 5," which will never cease to baffle me.

    11. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about the real complaints:
      The jerky camera action that's supposed to give some goofy psuedo documentary style feel.

      The need to touch on 4 story lines at the same time and see every character in every episode.

      The fact that the religious aspects seem tacked in and stiff with no real strength or conviction.

      The constant barrage of sex. These two, those two, the other two, when will Starbuck and Apollo blah blah blah. Sex is a reality of life yes but if I want to see this much I'll go get some real porn.

      Lack of depth of any of the characters or a sense of history beyond a year or so of the backstory.

      Lack of depth of the mythos - what was the origin of the colonies, how is the religion structured, why did they build the meeting station was it part of a treaty?, and on and on...

    12. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      It's XO. eXecutive Officer. Second in command of a unit or ship.

      Chief of the Boat is the senior enlisted, a Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of all the enlisted folk, on a ship like an Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier thats about 5,500 folks.

      CAG is Commander Air Group, which they pronounce on BSG, but never seemed to explain. In 1938 the first Carrier Air Wing was formed and designated as Air Group. That was also the first time that the embarked aircraft had its own commanding officer. He was called Commander Air Group. Today the Air Group is named Air Wing but the commander is still called Commander Air Group (CAG).

    13. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by HBPiper · · Score: 1

      Of course Starbuck should be a man. The female equivalent has to be Stardoe of course!

      What WERE they thinking? And as for Boomer being a hot chick and a Cylon..... It is all just sooooo wrong.

      My son (He is 10) and I love watching the old show when we see it on SciFi. Neither of us has warmed up to the new show at all yet.

      --
      "I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating. And in fourteen days, I had lost exactly two weeks. Joe E. Lewis
    14. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by slumos · · Score: 1

      Well, it's also just not that good . People are really starved for good science-fiction on TV. Do yourself a favor and catch the reruns of Andromeda and (to a lesser extent) the current season of Andromeda.

    15. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The meeting station *was* part of a treaty, if I recall, it was explicitly stated in the opening parts of the miniseries.

      And please, Andromeda? It was moderately watchable it's first season or so. (Roughly on par with the most mediocre episodes of Hercules.) Since then, the only thing that kept it from being the worst sci-fi show on television is that Mutant X was still on.

      Also...I'd swear in the original series it was implied that humans created the cylons, just that also Count Iblis/Lucifer/Whatever had also influenced it. (Any complaints about the religious elements of the new series must be coming from someone who never saw the original...it was Religerific.)

      And while I'm being a geek about the original show, I'm pretty sure it was *Apollo* who fought the Cylon gunslinger in the old west town. Starbuck befriends a Cylon in the last episode of Galactica 1980.

      The new series isn't perfect by any means, but it has a lot going for it. The muffled sound approach to space scenes is an interesting compromise between dramatic license and realism, for one thing.

    16. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      That said, $OTHER_SERIES is virtually always set to "Babylon 5," which will never cease to baffle me.

      Similar in tone. Both trying to be hard and edgy. Both flawed in many ways. B5 because of the dialogue. BSG because of lack of overall direction.

    17. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by smchris · · Score: 1

      I definately find myself wishing she were still a womanizer.

      I figure about season 4. Lesbos must be lurking somewhere in that whole Greek thing.

    18. Re:So what can we expect in the Slashdot comments by AsbestosRush · · Score: 1

      My understanding is that many under him/her will often refer to the XO as the "Extra Officer".

      --
      EveryDNS. Use it. It works.
      AC's need not reply
  14. Commercial free by stecoop · · Score: 0, Redundant

    That's funny. I bet mail order DVD rentals are doing really well. With Tivo and 2 dvds in the mail a week means I haven't watched a commercial since I started doing this. I wish all TV episodes would come out on rental almost immediately so if it is good and people are talking about it then I will watch it. As for anyone watching commercials save yourself about 25 minutes of time foreach (perl:) hour program and start using some kind of PVR and in combination mail order DVD rentals. One day I am going to cease paying for cable and go over the air only if the DVD thing pans out.

  15. Re:Off Topic: Funny Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shouldn't that be: all your Base Stars are belong to us? Yes, I think it should.

  16. Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by BestNicksRTaken · · Score: 0, Troll

    I think the new Battlestar stinks - especially as it's nothing new (more of a cross between the original series and the books).

    The whole thing with the imaginary nympho Cylon "queen" is crap.

    The dual storyline back on Caprica is pointless.

    Come back Enterprise, all is forgiven!

    --
    #include <sig.h>
    1. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by thundergeek · · Score: 1

      I can't figure out why BG is so popular, it's nothing like the orriginal (Which ROCKED).

      Why can't BG be in danger of being dropped, instead of Enterprise? At least when you watch enteprise, you don't get dizzy from the camera shakes like that in BG.

      What's with the "Reporter" type camera angles anyway? I can understand if it were only used in fight scenes, and outdoor pans, but if you think that it represents "Real world fee" you must be on crack! I don't shake that much! And I'm a sugar freak!

      However, some of the chix on BG are very hot. But I'll take Hoshi, and Tupol anyday.

      Later

    2. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Troll'N · · Score: 2, Funny

      thats kinda what i expected to hear from a Trekie. you probably have a signed poster of rick berman on the wall in your parents basement.

    3. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really. This BG is a big bore. "Lost," now that is a good show.

      Oh, and yes, Enterprise is a heck of alot more fun the Battlestar Galactica.

      Though I do give kudos for the acting on BG.

    4. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "What's with the "Reporter" type camera angles anyway? I can understand if it were only used in fight scenes, and outdoor pans, but if you think that it represents "Real world fee" you must be on crack! I don't shake that much! And I'm a sugar freak!"

      It is there for four main reasons...
      a) to re-create the in combat feel
      b) adding tension and uneasiness (who really is watching?) Aiding the traitors in our midst mentality.
      c) saving money (editing suite time is expensive)
      d) because that's what they had in mind when the show was designed

    5. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by The_Whole_Fn_Show · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The whole thing with the imaginary nympho Cylon "queen" is crap.

      The dual storyline back on Caprica is pointless.

      It's odd that you specifically mention those two points, as those are two of my favorite parts of the story.

      On the first, I particularly liked it (though it looks like they're getting away from it) how Baltar would be in two seperate conversations, one w/ the Cylon chick and one w/ someone else, and he'd respond to both w/ the same statement, which had very different meanings in each conversation. I thought that was rather clever. I'm not sure why she's a nympho, but her being in Baltar's head is part of what makes him so interesting. IMHO, the series would not be as interesting w/o him, though I think they're all great (not enough shows have truly human [flawed] characters).

      On the second part, I've been enthralled w/ what's happening on Caprica. The guy's a rat in a maze, and the Cylon's are just observing him, studying him. I look forward to the 5-10 minutes each episode that they cut to Caprica.

      Just my feelings on the series.

    6. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by spoot · · Score: 1

      I agree. I was excited at first, but the endless bimbo scenes whispering into the dorky ear of that ponderous scientist guy is just getting really, really old. Nothing ever happens on this show. It's just drudgery. I keep waiting for something to happen, but it's the same old dark-dank story-line (no story-line) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....

    7. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by BestNicksRTaken · · Score: 1

      EXACTLY!

      I was watching the other day, and thought to myself "we haven't seen the cylons in 2 episodes".

      There really is nothing REALLY going on - just the hullucinating doctor and these love triangles with "Boomer".

      --
      #include <sig.h>
    8. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      This always bugged me, why was the first one so good? Was it the cheezy acting? The way the characters always seemd to be perfly joined together like puzzle peices? The little kid and that damned robotic whatever-it-was? The completly pointless reason why the cylons attacked humanity? Or was it the way they took THE GENOCIDE OF THE HUMAN RACE so passivly? They all seem like good reasons, what's your favorite?

      --
      I don't get it.
    9. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by ElGuapoGolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I can't figure out why BG is so popular, it's nothing like the orriginal (Which ROCKED).

      I loved the original BSG... when it was first on and I was a kid... and in fact, I think I saw it in reruns.

      But when you look at the original now, you have to just shake you head and think... who wrote this garbage? A lot of the episodes just made no sense (I know, I'll send wave after wave of suicide cylon fighers to attack the Galactica, and when they succeed, I won't follow it up with another attack to finish it. Brilliant!), and others were just blatant ripoffs of standard drama show storylines.

      The only good thing about the original is that it existed and could be reworked into the very good show that's on now.

    10. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 1
      and these love triangles with "Boomer".

      You have a problem with love triangles with Grace Park?

      Her interview is also interesting.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    11. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmmm... suggest you turn in to reruns of "He Man and the Masters of the Universe" or perhaps WWF.

      Leave grownup TV to the grownups.

    12. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      In a close knit military community where there are a large number of close family members involved, you would EXPECT a certain level of tightness.

      At the start of the original series pilot, there were 4 members of the Adama family serving on board the Galactica. Even the Pegasus had that father-daughter thing going.

      If any iteration has a lame justification for the genocide of man it was the new series. The original series was an OBVIOUS cold war analogy. They pretty much hit you over the head with it (like the whole 911 thing in the remake).

      The Cylons didn't want the moralizing humans around to try and liberate their subjects. ...now as far as the "reaction to genocide" thing goes: If anything, it's the humans in the remake that are taking things passively.

      The private security guards on the rising star were also a nice (and realistic) touch missing from the remake. The same goes for Sire Uri.

      Where are the great and near great amongst the survivors, the sorts that would take advantage of the situation? There's far too little political intrigue going on at this point.

      Where's the opposition party? Why aren't they bringing up the subject of a timetable for civilian normalization and elections.

      The new BSG thinks it is something that it's really not when in the end it's the same old space opera with some "lets frown because we're head bangers" window dressing.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    13. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by josh2112 · · Score: 0

      As long as the cast of BSG doesn't start going back in time to late twentieth-century every season then I'll be OK with it.

    14. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by dahlek · · Score: 1

      Maybe it follows the same general premise as the original because it's a REMAKE of sorts? ;)

      But, I doubt you've seen the whole season...

      What Cylon "queen", for example? Her interaction with the male cylon on Caprica would indicate that she's his subordinate.

      The Caprica plot was merged back with the main plot in the last few episodes - I won't mention what happened to avoid spoling it for you, since you obviously haven't seen it and seems to be _key_ to the entire story thus far.

      Far from useless, it's _damn cool_.

    15. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by McSpew · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think the new Battlestar stinks - especially as it's nothing new (more of a cross between the original series and the books).

      Actually, you should forget the original series or the books ever existed. They were used to provide inspiration for this show, and not too much else.

      Ron Moore realized that the thing keeping most science fiction shows from true greatness is an over-reliance on technology to drive stories and solve problems (e.g., "Captain, I redirected the proton flux through the transdynamic warp core shunt and used temporal simulspacing to realign the cosmic strings into a cross-dimensional pan-galactic wormhole and ejected the plasma cascade into it!"). He intentionally reworked the basic premise and the characters to provide the most opportunity for character-based plot development and interesting conflicts.

      In the original show, Baltar was a one-dimensional villain, and a clown at that. Starbuck and Apollo had a safe and non-threatening relationship, and were generally bland (outside of the humor Starbuck's womanizing occasionally generated). Colonel Tigh was a boring second-in-command, and Commander Adama was a Moses figure--beyond reproach and able to command enormous respect without doing anything to really deserve it.

      By contrast, the new Baltar is a seriously flawed human, but not a pure villain. Apollo and Starbuck have a very contentious relationship, which is flavored by their memories of Apollo's dead younger brother, and also the inevitable sexual tension between them. Colonel Tigh is a great officer, but a lousy person, and his interactions with Adama and the crew reflect that. Likewise, Adama's a grizzled veteran and a smart man, but he's not perfect and he's got a lot of emotional baggage.

      I like the new show, and my wife and I can't wait for each new episode to appear. She's a bigger addict than I am. She'll be thrilled when I tell her the news.

    16. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spot on re: queen. No such thing, theres several number 6 models at the end of the pilot, and one of them clearly says "by your command" (gotta love it) to the boomer model.

    17. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Thanks for clearing that up, I *really* didn't feel like watching the show to do the research.

      --
      I don't get it.
    18. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by bigbigbison · · Score: 1

      I like the Caprica stuff, but the Cylon in teh head is too similar in premise to what Farscape did for me to enjoy it too much. We'll see how it plays out though to see if there are enough twists to make it interesting.

      --
      http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
    19. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by FoolishBose · · Score: 1

      They do bring up the subject of elections later as well as the opposition party. Furthermore there is a 'terrorist' figure who does make most of the situation to gain supporters. Methinks you haven't watched it past the initial few episodes.

    20. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Penguinshit · · Score: 1


      I just enjoy coping with my boner every time they show full-body shots of Tricia Helfer.

      That, and my wife is a blonde (who looks quite similar to Ms. Helfer, IMHO). She doesn't watch the show, but is wondering why I've been so much more "amorous" these past few weeks...

    21. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      The guy's a rat in a maze, and the Cylon's are just observing him, studying him.

      No spoilers here, but ... that's not all they're doing.

    22. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by GPLDAN · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think yours is the best post so far. The guy who played the original Baltar seemed to be riffing on Lost in Space's Doctor Smith. He was a sniveling traitor, only seeking power and advancement even though there would be nobody but big toasters to share it with. It wasn't even depicted as a revenge fantasy for him, he was just a weasel with as much depth as a Dukes of Hazzard villian.

      This Baltar is shallow, vain, brilliant and contemptous, but when put in his shoes, you wonder if your own character would be great enough to not act as he does. I know plenty of opportunistic slime in my professional life that I know would do EXACTLY what Baltar is doing. Hot pussy for life, king status, a religious transformation figure, all play to the massive ego that drives a lot of people. Many people I know are sociopaths underneath, they don't care about humanity, they care about themselves and their family and pretty much see everyone else as expendable. Those people would gladly remake humanity in their own image, as this Baltar has been given a chance to. To become Adam, to undo all the problems of society and start over and "get it right".

      I think it's a pretty telling indictment of the old show that the worst, most wooden and unbelieveable actor in the new series is Richard Hatch. I mean, he sucks. It's hard to see how such an uncharismatic guy could be a revolutionary leader. This guy makes Lenin look like Robin Williams.

      Making Tigh a srunk and his wife a social ladder climbing slut was great tv. As for the Boomer on Caprica subplot, it's meant to show how cylon AI comes apart at the seams once ideas like love and humanity become too embedded into the programming. She's so messed up, she thinks she really is in love, and once she gets preggers, she snaps. And the BSG Boomer actually is a sleeper agent and resists her programming and unsuccessfully attempts suicide, and requires a reboot at the cyclon base ship to get her assassination program back on track.

      The only weakness is Adama. Everyone seems to love Edward James Olmos whispered delivery. I hate it. I've met a few U.S. Naval commanders and one admiral. None of them acted like that. They had command presence. Olmos does not. Olmos seems weird, and his reactions to things seem sometimes random. At times he's always prudent and avoids risk, until mid season when he gambles everything to take on the Cylons in a sneak attack. He gets pissed at Starbuck for telling him that she passed his son through basic and got him killed because she loved him instead of comforting her. But then, he comes to her rescue. I guess he's supposed to be conflicted, but instead he just seems bipolar. He's happy when he shouldn't be, mad when he shouldn't be - compared to Lorne Greene who was, in the perspective of time passed, a really 3rd rate actor, he's okay. But he's not walking around with the kind of presence even Patrick Stewart had as Picard. It's hard to see how he would have made his rank.

      I agree with your observation that tech is used to drive plot in sci-fci, when it should be incidental to it. Tech should never save your ass at the last minute because only when faced with death did you figure out how to reconfigure the gizmo to save the day. That's not real life, and it never has been. In real life, under extreme duress, people fall back on only those things that have been drilled in.

    23. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I like the Caprica storyline too. Subconsciously, I can't wait for the next asian sex scene!!! twinky time!

    24. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by BestNicksRTaken · · Score: 1

      weird, cos i'm not a trekkie (or trekker)

      --
      #include <sig.h>
    25. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cor you guys are easily pleased - all i saw was a bit of boomer's back, or did i miss something?

      now the cyclon blonde - we've actually seen her tits (from the side)

    26. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1
      Apollo and Starbuck have a very contentious relationship, which is flavored by their memories of Apollo's dead younger brother, and also the inevitable sexual tension between them.

      Oh, there was sexual tension between Apollo and Starbuck on the original series. You just needed to know what to look for. And then there was the banned lost episode where they got stuck on a desert world and decided to explore their sexuality. But I've said too much... ;-)

      But seriously... this new show has people I know who generally don't like SF tuning in. It makes me want to slap around the whining fanboys of the original and put dirt in their hair. Yes, television *can* cause violence! :-)

      Anyway, you should send your anlaysis here to Ron Moore and see if he'll post it on his blog. It's an excellent compare and contrast.

    27. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by robertjw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The only weakness is Adama...

      I mostly agree with your comments - but have to disagree with your analysis of Edward James Olmos. I think the character's tension with the president, closing of the tribunals, invasion of Colonial 1, etc.. has been fantastic. I think the idea fits well with the character. He was slated to retire - this was his last command. I see him as someone that was had a fantastic career, but has become obsolete. Between losing his son, new technology reducing his usefulness (this is addressed in early episodes) and the decomissioning of his ship he has become a little unstable and strange. Deep down he's a great man and everyone respects him because of his history, but he's not really the best person to be leading the remnant of humanity on their quest for a new home. I think Olmos lends an incredible humanity to the character.

    28. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow - that's just great.

      Now even /. has been invaded by anti-intellectuals.

      Hey spoot-boy - you're on a GEEK site. If you really hate the "scientist guy" that much, maybe you're better off wathcing American Idol?

    29. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      By contrast, the new Baltar is a seriously flawed human, but not a pure villain.

      My absolute favorite Baltar moment of all time comes from the pilot. Six has just told him everything, that she's a cylon, that she put a back door in his avionics program, the whole thing. He doesn't believe her at first, but then she convinces him. He jumps up from his chair, and the very first thing out of his mouth is, "I've gotta call my lawyer."

      That's great writing, right there. The old cliché is, "Show, don't tell." That's the perfect way to show the audience that Baltar is a malignant narcissist: when informed that the world is literally coming to an end, have him ask for his lawyer. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

      And of course you get the sweet, juicy irony of Six, the inhuman "machine," having to explain to him that he doesn't need a lawyer because by sundown, there's not going to be anybody left to charge him with a crime.

    30. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by jafac · · Score: 2, Interesting

      she's a nympho, because it's the best way to manipulate men. The cylon has successfully "hacked" Baltar, and tried and failed to hack Adama (maybe it was that prostate surgery a few years ago?).

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
    31. Re:Are they still going to rip-off old storylines? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      weird, cos i'm not a trekkie (or trekker)

      Your very denial proves it. That's pretty funny. Only a trekkie would try to make that distinction.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  17. BSG Blog by vossman77 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The writer maintains a blog where he answers questions from viewers, such as why 33 minutes?

    I found it very interesting.

    1. Re:BSG Blog by mpupu · · Score: 0

      For those of you who don't know it, Ron Moore wrote and produced many TNG and DS9 episodes, including All Good Things, TNG's finale.

    2. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for that! That was a really interesting read. I especially liked the coincidence with the real-life Helo.

    3. Re:BSG Blog by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Informative
      "was this the first show to ever show a Bathroom on a space ship?"

      It's ground-breaking TV, baby. Talk about reinventing the genre.

      The first episode of Voyager showed Nelix in a bath. One episode of Babylon 5 had two senior officers holding a conversation while using urinals. Not quite new...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    4. Re:BSG Blog by Darren+Winsper · · Score: 1

      Wake up and smell the sarcasm

    5. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting...

      Far from causing the TV company problems... the downloading of the show and the buzz generated from the UK has resulted in a huge amount of hype and MORE viewers.

    6. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find it interesting that he considers the characters onboard the BG to be "heroes". Personally, I consider everyone of them to be arseholes, to put it bluntly. Why anyone would consider a unelected president who rules by military force and dictat to be a hero, I can't imagine. Why someone would condone torture and summary execution to be heroic is again beyond, my comprehension.

      [SPOILER]
      I was also a little disturbed that during a genuine moment of democracy, the unelected President and the military leadership shun someone who was elected by the population of the fleet. All this demonstrates is a belief that totalitarian rule is a superior form of government.
      [/SPOILER]

      It doesn't really matter however, its still a wonderfull piece of science-fiction but I find it interesting that Moore considers military dicatators to be heroes.

    7. Re:BSG Blog by anethema · · Score: 3, Insightful

      From moore when someone complains about the sex..

      I'd also point out, as I have many times before, the strange standards of American audiences, who can become red-faced with indignation over nudity, but find no problem with slasher films or chains-saw massacres. I mean, Galactica's premised on a massive genocide, and the pilot deals with violent, shocking deaths over and over again, but people get upset about the sex? Weird....

      I find this 100% true, what is the deal wiht that. Why do so many americans and canadians let their children watch terminator movies and other very violent action shows but the hint of a naked body sends parents into a frenzy. What kind of insane values were these parents brought up with..

      I can imagine their parents..
      "Killing is okay..BUT DONT EVER LET ANYONE SEE YOU NAKED OR EVER HAVE SEX!!!"

      I can certainly tell you which i find more natural.

      --


      It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
    8. Re:BSG Blog by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      WTF? Is this some kind of stupid troll?

      The terrorist guy was only elected by a group of prisoners. That hardly qualifies for democracy. In every democracy I've ever heard of, prisoners lose the right of election, along with most of their other rights. That's what happens when you break the law.

      The President wasn't "unelected". The real President was killed in the attack, along with most of the government. They explained this fully in the 3rd episode. She was simply the next-in-line after the 40-something other people who were dead. Obviously, you're either a troll or stupid, because we have the exact same thing here in the US. If the President dies, the VP becomes President. If he dies too, the Speaker of the House becomes President. So if Bush and Cheney had fatal heart attacks on the same day, would you be out in the street protesting our new "unelected President"? You think a society is going to magically have a new election the instant a large number of its leaders die, so that there's no time when any person is in power who was not directly elected? You're a fool (and a coward).

    9. Re:BSG Blog by jafac · · Score: 1

      I think BSG is *great* just for exploring the issue.

      The issue isn't whether totalitarianism is a superior form of government. It's a deep exploration of Ye Olde "Security for Liberty" trade-off, and mitigating circumstances, like: Is it okay to violate someone's rights if you're fighting for survival. Or survival of the entire species.

      The statement I'm getting is: No matter HOW desperately you're fighting for survival, it's still important for human beings to respect that which defines them as human beings - ie. civilized behavior, rule of law, rights, etc.

      As a citizen of the US, engaged in the current national debate over whether the threat of terrorism is, indeed, serious enough of a threat to have to "take off the gloves" - I find that the themes they're exploring on BSG right now, to make it THE MOST relevant piece of entertainment or literature of our time. At least for Americans.

      At the very least, it's much more thought-provoking on the matter than shows such as "24" - much much more popular, much wider fanbase, where the "Hero" engages in torture in EVERY EPISODE.

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
    10. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "WTF? Is this some kind of stupid troll?"

      You've obviously not seen the entire series yet. The "terrorist guy" is elected to be a representative of his colony by the people of his colony. For the unelected military to dismiss him as a "terrorist" (I don't know he's a terrorist, I only have the word of the unelected military) is an exemplification of totalitarian rule.

      Presumably you're happy with this. In which case I say, keep on voting Republican. Your dream of white rule will be fulfilled before long.

    11. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree, BSG is great for exploring the issue. It's a perfect example of how SF is an excellent vehicle for discussing contempary issues. For the confused (like Grishnakh, your sibling poster), my post was simply a reaction to Moore's description of the main protagonists as heroes. They are anything but IMO. As a supporter of democracy, I simply cannot sympathise with unilateralism.
      That these same people then ridicule a democratic decision is all the evidence we need to dismiss them as dictators.

      "The issue isn't whether totalitarianism is a superior form of government. It's a deep exploration of Ye Olde "Security for Liberty" trade-off, and mitigating circumstances, like: Is it okay to violate someone's rights if you're fighting for survival. Or survival of the entire species."

      The trade-off of "security for liberty" is a very much an issue of totalitarianism. Once any amount of liberty is sacrificed for the illusion of security then totalitarianism is just around the corner. There's a famous Jefferson quote that I shan't bother repeating, that states this.

      It is quite obvious by the end of the series that the Cylons are the good guys -- an ostracised people who have evolved beyond their creators who are attempting to reconcile themselves with their creators in order to bring about an improved race. I don't wish to spoil it for anyone but the Cylons are at least being constructive whereas the "humans" are destructive almost by nature.

      TBH, I thought this was an obvious conclusion but Moore's responses to those questions on his blog make me wonder about his political leanings.

    12. Re:BSG Blog by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Ohhh! Ohhh! I know this one! Pick me! Pick me!

      It's because our country was established by Puritans. This puritanical streak has been with us from the beginning. This isn't the only visible aspect of it, however. Another might be the notion that the wealthy are closer to God.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    13. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You, sir, are a phenomenal retard.

    14. Re:BSG Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Puritans who like to shoot anything that moves...

    15. Re:BSG Blog by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      The terrorist guy wasnt elected 'only by a group of prisoners' - each colony elected a representative, and his home colony chose him. Same goes for Baltar and the rest of the council.

    16. Re:BSG Blog by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Ok, I guess it's time to hit the torrents, since I thought the former comment was just based on episode 3 (the one about the jail break).

  18. BT! by JackJudge · · Score: 1

    That's where BitTorrent comes into play, a lot of the yankistanis where downloading BG within hours of it airing in the UK and the reverse applies, we're able to keep up with shows like Lost, Alias and Medium months before they air on the PPV channels over here.

  19. Jumping the shark by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0

    The original series jumped the shark (IMHO) when they went back to 20th century Earth...between the children with super-strength, leaping about like deranged gibbons, and Apollo's and Starbuck's flying motorcycles, it pretty much killed it for me.

    Anyway, the reason I post this is because I have avoided watching the new series (on general principles), and I was wondering if anything they've done in the new series is anything near shark-jumpy yet (the human-looking 'cylons' I've seen in the relentless commercials certainly looks to qualify...)

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Jumping the shark by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you spent 1/10th of the time watching the show as you spend worrying about whether it will disrupt your entire view of reality, you would have finished them by now. It's not real, it's just a tv show. Repeat after me....It's not real, it's just a tv show...

    2. Re:Jumping the shark by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0

      If you spent 1/10th of the time watching the show as you spend worrying about whether it will disrupt your entire view of reality, you would have finished them by now.

      Not really...what's 1/10 of zero, genius?

      --
      ____

      ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    3. Re:Jumping the shark by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      UNDEF

    4. Re:Jumping the shark by NMUGrad · · Score: 1

      You're referring to the much-hated "Battlestar: 1980" spin-off series. That was different from the Original Series by many degrees.

  20. Starbuck's hot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    in the new one..of course..ahem

    In other news, Add Zonk the Donk to you list of foes here: Donkey

    What a donk he is!!

    1. Re:Starbuck's hot by uberdave · · Score: 1

      Now us guys get to drool over Starbuck the way the ladies did back in the 80's.

  21. Speak Up, People! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It can be hard to understand a word they're saying sometimes.

    The scientist, the Commander and the President are always whispering their lines. That's a cheap way to try to carry drama - look how well it did for Captain Janeway.

    Oh, and, cripes, get a steadycam for the handheld shots. Again, let the writing and acting carry the drama, not cheap tricks with cameras and microphones.

    OK, one more, turn down the mix on the "Cylon in my head" theme. I get it.

    So far, so good though. They do have me wondering how Starbuck can interface with the ship and what they'll do with a Cylon who doesn't know she's a Cylon. And based on the microscope scene there's a real possibility to do a human-cylon hybrid story arc.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    1. Re:Speak Up, People! by VoiceOfRaisin · · Score: 1

      the plotholes ive noticed, that no one else seems to talk about is:
      in the pilot, the doctor said he created a test to find out who are cylons from hair samples and caught the tour guide guy and put him in jail. so as far as everyone knew he had a working cylon detector. an episode or two in they get him to... make a cylon detector.. what happened to the working one earlier? did everyone forget about it?
      second plothole also concerning this is when he did create a new detector, whats her name that is a cylon volunteered to test it and was sitting down waiting for the results, and asked how long it would take. the results popped up on the computer within MINUTES. then on later episodes that same test supposedly took 11 hours i think it was for results to come back. HELLO? can we get a little bit of continuity with the story please?

    2. Re:Speak Up, People! by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Honesty, the shakiness of the camera is hardly noticable after a while. Or maybe I should stop watching it while drunk.

      --
      I don't get it.
    3. Re:Speak Up, People! by Altus · · Score: 1



      there never was a cylon detector in the pilot. Baltar is almost always lying when talking about the cylon detector.

      at least in the episodes that have aired in the states.

      I did find it a little weird that people took his word that he needed more time to get one working after he supposedly had a test before... but frankly... whos going to question him. especially when they now know he was right the first time.

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    4. Re:Speak Up, People! by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 1

      "what happened to the working one earlier? did everyone forget about it?"

      Perhaps Chuck Cunningham stole it right before everyone forgot about him :)

    5. Re:Speak Up, People! by Mecha[drone] · · Score: 1

      As for the not using a steadycam thing, I think they are riffing off of Firefly... They did really jerky effects to great success, so maybe they figured they wanted some of that Fanbase mojo or something..

      All I know is that I saw a trailer for Serenity at Wonder Con last weekend, and OMG did it look amazing... I now see the difference between the movie and show, even though I thought the show looked great... Seriously, OMFG, good.

    6. Re:Speak Up, People! by Crispin+Glover · · Score: 1

      I guess you missed the whole conversation with Six where he admitted there never was a Cylon detector the first time.

      Though the time to use the real one DID bother me. Why did it only take a few minutes to test Boomer, but everyone else takes 11 hours? That's not something he lied about.

    7. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The original "cylon detector" never existed. Baltar lied and pretended to have one.

      As for why everyone believed him when he claimed he needed more time to build one, when he had already lied and claimed he had one, this was addressed in one episode where he said that his original technique couldn't scale. That is, he was claiming the hair sample technique "worked" when he did it on the bridge crew, but he couldn't do it for the whole fleet.

      As for the time it takes for the (real) cylon detector to process the results, that might be a real continuity flaw; I'll have to review the episodes.

    8. Re:Speak Up, People! by X · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I never noticed the whispering. Maybe you need to turn up the volume on your TV. A lot of shows (like a lot of pop music) and ads tend to keep their volume high the whole way, but good shows (like good music) tend to use an extended range of volumes. Perhaps you've got your TV's volume tuned for the "always loud" shows.

      The jerky camera style is deliberate, and I think very effective. I know it annoys some people and I sympathise with them, but I would hate it if it changed.

      The "Cylon in my head" theme isn't about you "getting it". It's a plot device that allows for a very interesting dramatic exploration.

      --
      sigs are a waste of space
    9. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      in the pilot, the doctor said he created a test to find out who are cylons from hair samples

      That's one of the great things about this show. There's very little technobabble. When they vaporized samples of Leoben's body they detected certain trace elements that identified him as a cylon. That's a technique we use now to identify the chemical composition of things. What Baltar was instructed to do was to take hours and hours of lab work and turn it into something practical that could be used to test nearly 50,000 people.

      caught the tour guide guy and put him in jail

      That was one of the best parts of the pilot, man! I'm sorry to hear you missed it. See, Baltar's imaginary Six told him to single out Doral. When the Marines were putting him aboard the anchorage he screamed out "I'm not a cylon!" As they were closing the doors, Tigh yelled back, "Maybe, but we just can't take that chance."

      The fact that Doral just happened to be a cylon was purely luck ... or a part of the cylon plan. Or the hand of God. Who knows.

    10. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      I don't think it's so much riffing off of Firefly as it is riffing off of every documentary that's ever been filmed. Shooting everything handheld in available light (notice the lighting sometime; it's brilliant) adds a sense of realism that you don't get with steadicam photography.

      The do use steadicams and crane shots when it suits the story, though. We see this to great effect in the finale.

    11. Re:Speak Up, People! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I never noticed the whispering. Maybe you need to turn up the volume on your TV.

      I'm trying to find the hidden meaning here, but all I can come up with is, "you're too dumb to notice the difference between a whisper and the volume knob being down on the boob tube." Sorry, please play again.

      The "Cylon in my head" theme isn't about you "getting it". It's a plot device that allows for a very interesting dramatic exploration.

      You're using the wrong definition of 'theme' - not 'central meaning or dominant idea' but 'melodic subject of a musical composition'. For example, one of the better aspects of the Star Wars prequels is the evolution of saccharine "Anakin's Theme" in TPE to "The Imperial March" in Star Wars. Same theme, varying renditions.

      I didn't mention the plot device at all, so I'm not sure where that came from - I mentioned turning down the mix. That means 'volume for that particular track or set of tracks in the soundtrack'. I thought that the proper meaning for 'theme' could be derived from the audio engineering context, but I was perhaps assuming too much. Anyway, the volume of the 'Cylon In My Head' theme is frequently almost as loud as the actors' voices and can be distracting. It would be more effective if it were subtle but they bang you over the head with it. In the pilot it was reminiscent of György Ligeti's piano piece for "Eyes Wide Shut" but some things don't scale from a couple hours to 40+ hours effectively.

      I'm not sure how you manage to turn a critique on audio engineering into me being too dumb to understand forms of speech and literature, but, hey, this is Slashdot.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    12. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 1

      As for the not using a steadycam thing, I think they are riffing off of Firefly

      I thought Law and Order was the first show to really use that kind of filming. Firefly would probably be the first science fiction series, but I can recall seeing something about how it had something to do with the success of Law and Order, not just because it added a particular aesthetic style, but also because it really cut costs on filming.

    13. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay, Mr. Angry (or should that be Grumpy... do you see where I'm heading with this?)

      The OP was suggesting a basic test - nothing for you to go apeshit about. If you have ever done customer support, you would know that you have to get the simple things out of the way first - because they are the most common problems.

      MY view would be that you probably are either middle-aged, with aged-related hearing loss; or you have hearing loss due to constant loud volumes... been to many rock concerts lately? Maybe you listen to music through headphones at a very high level?

      The complaints you have are consistent with someone who has suffered hearing loss. Now, contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that everything sounds too quiet. Just in case you were going to point out that you think some parts are too loud and some parts too low, I should let you know that this is indeed consistent with hearing loss.

      Minor hearing loss destroys a person's ability to deal with multiple sources of sound, and the ability to determine voices amongst ambient background noise - this is pretty much the same as your complaint.

      One other option is that you grew up in a very noisy environment - studies have shown that growing up in noisy surroundings (such as near an airport), can impair the brain's ability to learn to distinguish and interpret multiple simultaneous sounds.

      As your complaint seems to be part of a very small minority regarding this show, the above possibilities seem most likely. You may want to get your hearing checked.

      Alternatively, if you feel you are technologically savvy, you might want to look at your home entertainment setup - it could be that it requires some calibration.

      All the best :)

    14. Re:Speak Up, People! by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      cripes, get a steadycam for the handheld shots.

      That's a trick to lure in people looking for a reality show: "zap, zap ,zap, wobbly cam... must be reality tv... hmmm... pretty people... space robots? What? Hmmm... pretty people".

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    15. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      How many people do you think are going to get that?

      I'm old and I barely caught it.

    16. Re:Speak Up, People! by VoiceOfRaisin · · Score: 1

      i KNOW there wasnt a real cylon detector. thats not my point!
      the crew thought there was one! and they all forgot about it?

    17. Re:Speak Up, People! by mbaciarello · · Score: 1

      I distincly remember seeing that kind of shooting in the first series of "NYPD Blue", in which I really liked it, as it added a lot of mood and "violence" to the show.

      Another reader mentioned "Law and Order" which is 3 years older than NYPD, but I actually can't remember that technique in the early series.

    18. Re:Speak Up, People! by compass46 · · Score: 1

      Everybody at work looked at me after I started laughing at at.

      Maybe in a later season the second Chuck Cunningham will return it when he comes home from college for vacation.

    19. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll have to second what was said above, either your sound system is crap or you're just going deaf, or yes the volume is too low. It has nothing to do with you being stupid, although that highly defensive post doesn't exactly do wonders for the opposition to that point.

    20. Re:Speak Up, People! by dorsey · · Score: 1

      RE the first point, in the scene where Baltar asks Adama for the nuke, Adama says something along the lines of "You told us you had a working detector. Where is it?" And Baltar pulls someexcuse out of his ass.

      As for the second point, I haven't seen that episode in a while, but I'm fairly sure there was a time cut between the beginning and the end of the test. Her test had been processing for hours and we just saw the final few minutes.

      --
      hinderfreude ('hin-dur-"froi-d&), n. The feeling of joy derived from being in the way.
    21. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or maybe his imaginary (do we know it's not actually implanted?) Six knew it? ;o

    22. Re:Speak Up, People! by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      See, Baltar's imaginary Six told him to single out Doral.

      I just watched the miniseries again for the third time, and that's not the way I remember it. Baltar was talking to imaginary-Six and decided, on his own, that he needed to create a scapegoat in order to hide how he knew the Cylon surveillance device was actually Cylon. He noticed that Doral was always hanging around, and had access to the CIC, so he picked him. Six even said, "I don't remember him at any Cylon parties".

      That Baltar picked a real Cylon may have been pure luck, but it seems pretty likely because Doral really was hanging around a lot in the CIC, when he really had no reason to be as a civilian.

    23. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >and what they'll do with a Cylon who doesn't know she's a Cylon

      a even more interesting, what to do with the Caprician Valerii, herself being a cylon but carring a human being in her. That opens a real moral problem for whoever is in charge when they get to the Galactic.

    24. Re:Speak Up, People! by X · · Score: 1

      I'm trying to find the hidden meaning here, but all I can come up with is, "you're too dumb to notice the difference between a whisper and volume knob being down on the boob tube."

      That was not my intent, and I apologise if that's how it came across. I just meant that I've always been able to hear the whispering just fine, and that maybe your volume was turned down too low.

      Now I grok the "Cylon in my head" comment. Yeah, that can get annoying. I wish they'd start using variations on it.

      --
      sigs are a waste of space
    25. Re:Speak Up, People! by zonker · · Score: 0

      look how well it did for Captain Janeway.

      not sure what you mean by that. i watched the first two seasons but i quit watching after it didn't seem to go anywhere past being trek-lite with a lost in space theme. something worked though as it lasted for seven seasons...

      btw, take a look at this pic: http://www.startrek.com/imageuploads/200502/new-05 0210-fans-five-sign/320x240.jpg

      having the women's knitting league and your basement dwelling son holding your banner isn't the best way to get your message across. i think they'll need to rethink their campaign if we hope to save enterprise...

    26. Re:Speak Up, People! by mink · · Score: 1

      Most documentary I have seen has not had the blair witch effect going on. This is some new found fad.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    27. Re:Speak Up, People! by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 1
      The scientist, the Commander and the President are always whispering their lines.
      One is so old that he was ready to retire, the other is dying of cancer. Speaking up is the least of their problems.
      --
      [o]_O
    28. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but you're wrong. Shooting handheld is a very old technique, not a "new found fad," Mr. Needs To Learn About Hyphens.

      Back in the old days, motion-picture cameras were big and heavy. They had to be mounted on tripods because they were too heavy to be carried. Not long later, though, the cameras evolved to the point where they were small and light enough to carry on your shoulder. (The first ones were tethered to an electrical outlet or generator; later ones had batteries.)

      This was YEARS before the invention of the Steadicam.

      Not a fad. You're just not very educated about the history of filmmaking, that's all.

    29. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      "Law and Order" uses handheld photography a lot, but in that case it's as much practical as it is stylistic. "Law and Order" shoots extensively on location in New York, and when you're trying to shoot FAST on location, doing elaborate camera setups is impractical. It's far better to just give a good cameraman a camera and let him shoot the action as it happens.

      Because BSG is shot on sets (mostly) and on high-definition instead of film, they don't really have the practical concerns of a show that does a ton of location shooting. On BSG, it's purely a style choice.

    30. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      Damn straight. If you had just lived through the apocalypse, you'd be pretty tired, too.

      What Mr. Unhappy called "whispering" goes by another, more appropriate name: It's called acting.

    31. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      You haven't seen much documentary. I don't think that wildebeests fucking on Animal Planet counts.

      As the guy in the post above said, motion picture cameras were very bulky and heavy (and still can be). In the 1950s, André Coutant invented the Eclair camerette, a small 16 mm camera that was possible to use hand held for extended periods. This gave birth to what is known as Cinema Verité by the late 50s.

      My favorite practitioners of this style is the Maysles Brothers, Albert and David. It would certainly be worth your while to try and find some examples of their work, such as Primary which was lensed by Albert.

      Since that time, mainstream filmmakers have adapted various aspects of this style into their film vocabulary. Eventually it's made it's way into TV. NYPD Blue was the first prime time show to incorporate hand held in a major way (IIRC) and at the time there were complaints that it was distracting.

      Now, more than 10 years after NYPD Blue's first use of an already 40 year old style, I think most knowledgeable people would agree that it's an accepted part of film vocabulary.

      The shaky camera in BWP is only "documentary style" or cinema verité in the loosest sense. The shaky camera would more correctly be called "First Year Film Student Style", as the whole purpose of that trope was to convince you that you were watching raw footage shot by students. (I hope I'm not spoiling this for anyone. Oh, yeah, in The Crying Game, the chick is really a guy. Ooops!)

      If you physically have problems with the shooting style in Battlestar Galactica, I suggest you take some dramamine before watching. Seriously.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    32. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Are they really shooting in HD and not film? If this is the case, my hats are really off to the DP and the gaffer. The "available light" style takes considerable artistry (not to mention equipment) to work well shooting 35. With HD, the challenge is even greater. Poorly lit HD looks like ass.

      Is it being broadcast in HD? I didn't think sci fi channel had any HD programming, but I could be wrong. Is Sky One HD? If you've been able to see the show in full HD, I hate you deeply, Mr. McGarry. =)

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    33. Re:Speak Up, People! by Surazal · · Score: 1

      i KNOW there wasnt a real cylon detector. thats not my point!
      the crew thought there was one! and they all forgot about it?


      No they didn't. Adama made a point of mentioning it in private, and Baltar pretty much admitted to not having one in the first place. Nothing to see here, please move along.

      --
      --- Journals are boring; Go to my web page instead
    34. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Now that's sig material. I more or less know your position on property, intellectual or otherwise, so where do I send my dollar?

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    35. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      Yes, "Galactica" is shot and posted entirely in 1080/24p. It's finished on an Avid DS at Modern. That's one of the reasons they can do a show that looks that good for as little as mumble-mumble-million an episode. The pilot was shot on 35; if you know what to look for, you can see the difference.

      And yes, "Galactica" is being broadcast on whatever NBC Universal is calling their HD cable channel these days. It used to be called Bravo HD, but it didn't have anything to do with Bravo, so they changed it to something else. I forget the new name. When NBC ran the pilot in January, they broadcast it in HD (an HD transfer of the 35 master, naturally). And when season one runs on NBC's summer schedule, they're going to be broadcasting the regular episodes in HD.

      It's an HD world, man. ;-)

      Surprisingly, though, a lot of series TV is staying away from HD production in favor of that new Super 16 stock from Kodak. (I think it's 7218, but don't quote me on that.) Believe it or not, "The West Wing" went from 35 to Super 16 this season. It's neither as cheap or as fast as 24p, but it's cheaper than 35, and it's easier to find somebody who can light it.

    36. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      In lieu of payment, feel free to go buy a song on iTunes.

    37. Re:Speak Up, People! by maladroit · · Score: 1
      NYPD Blue was the first prime time show to incorporate hand held in a major way (IIRC).

      Nope. Hill Street Blues usually gets that title. Of course, it's still Steven Bochco, just twelve years earlier.

      Per IMDB, the original plan was to do the entire thing in hand-held (and black-and-white). I imagine Bochco lost a few rounds with the network, and thus we got the partially hand-held, completely color version. By the time he did NYPD Blue, he had so much clout he could've had it done in pig latin ...

    38. Re:Speak Up, People! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ouch! Has that played in America yet?

    39. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected.

      However, I think you are overestimating Bochco's clout at that point in time. Sure he had hit series Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law under his belt. But he also was responsible for Cop Rock.( I'm sorry if you have intentionally tried to forget this series, and I maladroitly have refreshed your memory. I never saw it, as during it's very short time on TV, I had no TV set.)

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    40. Re:Speak Up, People! by Jason+Pollock · · Score: 1

      I've found that the show leaves holes on purpose. It lets you come up with reasons for people's behaviours. They aren't as inconsistant as you would believe.

      1) The original cylon test...

      This was Baltar attempting to gain some power and direct attention away from himself. Think about it. The guy who controls the cylon detector becomes very powerfull "Witch! She's a witch!"

      In the pilot, he never had a working detector, he just needed a patsy and went with the person that the cylon in his head pointed out. He needed a cylon, and it didn't matter who it was. :)

      After that, he kept getting more and more pressure to actually come up with a more workable solution. He didn't have one, didn't know how to create one, so he stalled, eventually even asking for (expecting to be turned down) and getting a nuke!
      Remember, it was her idea to get the nuke. He didn't need it, she did.

      2) Boomer's test. Baltar realised that if she tested positive, she would kill him. Since he is a completely craven coward, he ensured from that point forward, that two things would happen:

      a) no one would test positive to being a cylon.
      b) each test would take as long as possible.

      The first would keep him safe, and the second would keep him important, and give him a reason to not help anyone. It also meant that it wouldn't be likely for the testee to be alone with Baltar when the results came in - the Doctor calls you with the results when he's done.

      No one second guesses Baltar on technology. He works alone, and unsupervised.

      Anyways, just some things to think about. :)

      Jason

    41. Re:Speak Up, People! by mink · · Score: 1

      Wow you are amazing! Able to know my entire educational history from a simple /. posting. You seem to ignore whole eras of film making in your "history that it took so much energy to explain to me" (this comment is in response to your lament in another post).

      I think the problem is how we view documentary films. I am used to documentary films being shot like what I grew up watching (My parents encouraged a lot of PBS viewing when I was a child). You aparently only watch documentary films from the era of electric film cameras.
      You forgot to mention all the film tech previous to that, where hand cranked film was used, so you could film anywhere without electricity.

      I never said that no documentary film looks like the average episode of Cops (I think it probably counts as a documentary) or NYPD blue, I said most did not. This is going by my obviously biased and imperfect sampling of documentary films. Note I have not watched any Micheal More or other recent contraversial documentary films, so I cant say how they film.

      My criticism about it being a fad is that I believe that BSG would not being doing the drunken cameraman act if the following 3 shows had not:
      Firefly
      NYPD Blue
      One of the Law and Order spinoff shows whose name escapes me
      To me the way people are using it now is a fad, using it simply to use it because it supposedly adds a layer of "reality" (more like nausia), not because it's the apropriate way to film that scene. Would you buy porn show that badly?

      Last I would like to say that these shows exagerate the effect of "documentary filming" to the point of sillyness. Just because it's not steadycam does not mean you cant quickly focus in on something without overfocusing badly, or you have to film people walking up the street at a 45 degree angle. I agree with other posters in other threads that the style works well for space battles and exterior stuff. I think it works less well for interior and dramatic shots. I am not a great cameraman but I can hold a camera steady and in focus better then these guys can. So either they are doing it intentionally as directed or they suck.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    42. Re:Speak Up, People! by mink · · Score: 1

      I clearly have offended some pretentious film types (or people who play them on slashdot) so I would like to say I used BWP as an extreme example of intentional bad camera work.

      I guess my response to Leo says most of what I want to say, so no sense repeating it. If you want, read it and maybe that clears up some things.

      I would like to apologize for any spelling mistakes in the response to Leo as I forgot to use this new spell check plugin on it. What I get for not clicking on Preview.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    43. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Surprisingly, though, a lot of series TV is staying away from HD production in favor of that new Super 16 stock from Kodak. (I think it's 7218, but don't quote me on that.) Believe it or not, "The West Wing" went from 35 to Super 16 this season. It's neither as cheap or as fast as 24p, but it's cheaper than 35, and it's easier to find somebody who can light it.

      I don't find it all that surprising. There are a lot of older DPs out there (with and without fake British accents*) that are slow to adapt and there are still a few good arguments for originating on film. (I'm not saying that the arguments will hold water for much longer, but one can still use them to confuse your typical non tech savvy and insecure producer.)

      I'm not really up on film stocks (honestly, I never have been other than to know what ASA (I mean ISO, I'm showing my age/country of origin) the film in the mag is being rated at. I leave the art and intricacies of film stocks to my social betters. =)

      I think I have heard of 7218, though. It's part of Kodak's Vision 2 line, which is designed or marketed (or both) as being especially good for transfer to digital while also being great for regular film usage.

      And if the new stock is as sharp as they say, it's not at all surprising that it's being used with super16. With the film stocks of 20 years ago, people were shooting stuff on Panavision Elaines with a super 16 gate that came pretty damn close to 35.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    44. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I forgot my footnote!

      *I'm in Los Angeles, where old UK DPs go to die.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    45. Re:Speak Up, People! by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      I don't find it all that surprising.

      I didn't mean to say that it was surprising that shows are sticking with film. I meant to say that it's surprising that shows are going from 35 to Super 16. The 16mm format has come a long way in just the past couple of years. I remember when the pilot to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was shot in 16. It looked like chiseled spam, and not because the crew didn't know how to shoot 16. It was just a limitation of the format. Now you've got top-shelf shows voluntarily stepping down from 35 to 16, which I find frankly amazing.

    46. Re:Speak Up, People! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Was Buffy shot in 16 or super16? There's a big difference from the slight adjustment to width of the aspect ratio. This is basically why super16 does an admirable job when blown up to 35mm. Less cropping, less magnification of grain. It's that simple. Forgive me if you know all this already.

      Now you've got top-shelf shows voluntarily stepping down from 35 to 16, which I find frankly amazing.

      It's a combination of Kodak's ingenuity and producers' penny pinching. Kodak is really doing an amazing job of wringing the last drop out of film. I wish I knew and understood more. A talented person could make a pretty good living with all I don't know about cameras and film. =)

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  22. Save Galactica by Red+Moose · · Score: 2, Funny

    Should we wait to start the petition-to-save-galactica now or wait another season?

    --

    Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better

    1. Re:Save Galactica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is Richard Hatch, we never stopped! Welcome aboard, buddy!

    2. Re:Save Galactica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is Richard Hatch, we never stopped! Welcome aboard, buddy!

      that Survivor guy?

    3. Re:Save Galactica by Grishnakh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There's no petition necessary, because it's actually a good show, which makes many people want to watch it, and this will generate interest by the networks in funding its further development. Enterprise was not a good show (thanks to Berman), so only overly-devoted people wanted it to continue. The rest of us didn't care.

    4. Re:Save Galactica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm starting a PAC. Our platform? No cancelling any Sci-Fi shows, ever.

  23. Good news also has bad news by Space_Soldier · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is very good news. The only problem is that SciFi couples it with Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis on Friday nights. So, when one should be out partying with an actual human girl, he is staying at home addicted to 3 hours of very good television. Last Sunday, I downloaded and watched the last 6 episodes of Battlestar Galactica. Last night, I saw the last episode of season 8 of Stargate SG-1. I am addicted to these 3 shows. I love every minute of them, and Battlestar Galactica is probably the best Sci Fi show since Babylon 5, maybe even better.

    1. Re:Good news also has bad news by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 1

      I don't think being forced to stay home on Friday is a top concern here. :) Get a Tivo if you're worried about missing it! Plus there's 0 work involved with downloading it.

    2. Re:Good news also has bad news by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Yeah, downloading's better. But for all those poor suckers on dialup, just use a vcr, and if you don't know what that is, get a DVD recorder or a TV tuner card. women>scifi Whoa, did I actually say that?

      --
      I don't get it.
    3. Re:Good news also has bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "women > sci-fi?"

      Are they greater than anime? I'm having a tough time deciding.

      My girlfriend lives in a different city, and we usually see each other once every few weeks. Somehow I've seen her every weekend the past five or six weeks, which means I've been missing my Saturday night anime to have sex. It's always seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm so far behind I'm not sure I should start watching again. I think she might have planned it . . . .

      I'm looking forward to when they start showing new series, though.

    4. Re:Good news also has bad news by Space_Soldier · · Score: 2, Funny

      A lesson in economics about marginal benefit, marginal cost, total utility, marginal utility, and opportunity cost.

      Opportunity cost is what you give while doing an activity. The opportunity cost of watching anime is sex. The opportunity cost of sex is watching anime. Marginal benefit is the benefit you get of an additional unit of sex or one additional unit of anime. The marginal cost is the opportunity cost of that additional unit.

      If the marginal benefit is greater than the marginal cost, do it. If the marginal cost is greater than the marginal benefit, do not do it.

      Utility is the feeling good points you give to an activity.

      The first time you had sex with your girlfriend the marginal utility was 500. The second time, it was 450. The third time 400, and so on. As you can see, there are diminishing returns. The second time is not as good as the first. The third time is not as good as the second, etc. At this point. Your total utility of sex is 500+450+400 = 1350. If that marginal utility gets close to 0, go back to watching anime. You don't want it to get into negative. You know, sex gets boring with the same person after a while.

      There is a little bit more to the microeconomic terms I gave you; look them up if you want a deeper insight. I would have told you more, but I got to go home.

    5. Re:Good news also has bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you dont own a tivo or replay tv then you're a loser that no human girl would want to even get near.

      get a clue kid.

    6. Re:Good news also has bad news by drsquare · · Score: 1

      Solution: Get a girlfriend you see during the week instead. Problem solved. Also neither sex nor anime take up the whole of the weekend.

    7. Re:Good news also has bad news by Darthmalt · · Score: 1

      I had this very problem. My Solution was to use my TV wonder card and record those three glorius hours. Plus wed. nights with West Wing

    8. Re:Good news also has bad news by Obfuscant · · Score: 1
      he is staying at home addicted to 3 hours of very good television.

      If only. You'v forgotten Andromeda, Enterprise, Monk, and American HotRod. (How fortunate for the Friday viewer that Andromeda and Enterprise are getting so bad they aren't really worth watching.)

    9. Re:Good news also has bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (I am the anonymous coward that posted the comment. No, really . . .)

      In case you're wondering, the emotional bond is a bit deeper than girlfriend, we're actually engaged. It didn't seem an important detail in what I'd hoped would be a funny story.

      As far as neither taking up the whole weekend . . . yeah. But without a VCR, TiVO, or computer TV tuner card to record, anime is constrained to happening at the time it is broadcasted.

      Since I'm also still living with my parents, Saturday evenings when anime is available is also the best time to get intimate without finding ourselves in an emberassing situation. I don't think my fiance has a pause button, either.

      And as far as economic costs (from another post) . . . . depending on what comes up, it can difficult being objective.

    10. Re:Good news also has bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      if you dont own a tivo or replay tv then you're a loser that no human girl would want to even get near.

      Is that the problem? All these years I thought it was because I was a fat geek with no social skills.

    11. Re:Good news also has bad news by gunix · · Score: 1

      A human girl?
      If you can't get a girl that would like to stay home and watch the shows, whats the point of meeting girls?

      I would make an exception for Starbuck though.

      --
      Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
    12. Re:Good news also has bad news by mink · · Score: 1

      Yah, Monk is frankly a better show then anyting else, even this new BSG. I'f only I didnt have to see commercials for that shit wast of time 24. IT makes my brain hurt the plot the acting...

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  24. Buy a tripod by Matt+Perry · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I hope this means they can buy tripods for the cameras now. I found the constant shakey-cam, refocusing, and zooming in and out very distracting.

    --
    Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
    1. Re:Buy a tripod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How exactly is this redundant?

    2. Re:Buy a tripod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i'm logging in right now.

      if there is a god, i'll have mod points and rectify the situation.

      3 2 1....

  25. Interesting... by diggory · · Score: 5, Interesting
    "Production will resume in March in Vancouver, B.C., with the entire ensemble cast returning..."
    Hmmm.... The entire cast you say? That's interesting...
    1. Re:Interesting... by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I saw that too. Kind of a spoiler.

    2. Re:Interesting... by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Yeah, kinda gives something away, especially if you've seen all the episodes.

      --
      I don't get it.
    3. Re:Interesting... by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 1
      Yeah, kinda gives something away, especially if you've seen all the episodes.

      When I made my reply, I was referring to the status of one character (the President, actually). I didn't realize that the UK folks were referring to another character.

    4. Re:Interesting... by mapmaker · · Score: 1
      SPOILER WARNING!! SPOILER WARNING!! SPOILER WARNING!!

      Yeah, kinda gives something away, especially if you've seen all the episodes.

      How so? You gotta figure there will at the very minimum be a couple episodes where Adama's in the hospital, morgue, etc. And then there will of course be the standard flashback/reminiscing scenes that they'll need him for.

      Just because the full cast is returning doesn't mean they'll all be there for the whole season. We don't really have any idea what happens to who next season.

      On a related note, the most secure cast position to have is to play a Cylon. Those characters can practically never be killed off. :)

    5. Re:Interesting... by MBraynard · · Score: 1
      Why would Adama be dead? Also, I suspect the mystics will keep the prez alive. She is my least favorite character and that whole political thing is the worse part of the show. It suspends the reality of the programming.

      AFAIK, no one is in immenent danger of dying and I've seen the entirety of season one.

    6. Re:Interesting... by nlinecomputers · · Score: 1

      SPOLIER

      Adama is shot, twice, by Boomer in the last scene of the last episode. The gun shots could be fatal. Adama could also be a cylon as they never did test him because they stopped to test Mrs. Tye. Not that Baltar would tell anyone about it.....

      Is Adama dead or is he a dead cylon? Or is he alive? The way this show works we may never know.

      --
      Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
    7. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      SPOILER!!!!

      The asian cylon chick shoots Adama twice in the stomach at the end of the last episode (13, Kobol's Last Gleaming part 2). There's a lot of blood. They must have a good surgeon.

    8. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adama is a Cylon. There are many copies.

    9. Re:Interesting... by MBraynard · · Score: 1

      Ah - I forgot. I suppose he will come back. He's the star of the show.

    10. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      They must have a good surgeon.

      The Chain Smoking Docter must save the day!

    11. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      What, you didn't think they would actually kill off his character, did you? No Adama, BSG! Adama is the best character they've got!

    12. Re:Interesting... by NaruVonWilkins · · Score: 1

      If Adama were a cylon, Boomer would probably not be subconsciously programmed to shoot him.

    13. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless it's all part of a fiendish cylon plot.

    14. Re:Interesting... by mink · · Score: 1

      Don't any of you realize that EVERYONE IS A CYLON!!!!1

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    15. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many times are you guys going to post that? Are you doing it to teach the non-downloaders the perils of their ways? You may not like Americans, but I hope you realize that many of us know how to use Bittorrent.

  26. Regurgitation by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "...the second season of its hit original series ..."
    Can we please not repeat hype buzzwords like "hit original series"? Makes you look like a brainless dweeb.
    1. Re:Regurgitation by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Can we please stop with the kneejerk hatred of buzzwords? Makes you look like a brainless dweeb.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:Regurgitation by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Let's stop using the word "original" while we're at it. I think we're all aware that there was a Battlestar in the 70s and 80s as well...

      --
      I don't get it.
    3. Re:Regurgitation by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

      "Original," in this context, means "first-run," as opposed to syndicated after a network run.

    4. Re:Regurgitation by Snaller · · Score: 1

      Can we please not repeat hype buzzwords like "hit original series"? Makes you look like a brainless dweeb.

      Yeah, the fact it had ratings which no scifi series has topped since then, and it ranked number 6 for the entire season of shows only shows it to be a totally unhitty series.

      (Why only one season? It was totally expensive and ABC hadn't really heard of the word merchandise and Universal got most of the loot)

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  27. really have nothing to say... by rogabean · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that's insightful, funny, informative or even trollish... but I will go on record as saying this about battlestar galactica going into a second 20 ep. season this summer...

    HELL YEAH!

    --
    "why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
    1. Re:really have nothing to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK I cant find link to watching the first episode anywhere on the scifi site.

      also another good site is

      spacecast.com/BSG

  28. FRACKIN Awesome by g4bookemdanno · · Score: 1

    Yeah space dawghs. this show is the shit. goes places where STNG used to go with a ST DSN Twist. Really good sci-fi and story telling at its finest

  29. Re:New Galactia SUCKS! by chiph · · Score: 3, Funny

    Balter is a fag

    Dude, have you seen the chick he's seeing?

    Chip H.

  30. Adama by CptnQuixar · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "The entire ensemble cast returns."

    I guess that clears up the season cliffhanger. I didn't think it was likely that they would kill off any of the major cast members. (I won't say who it was because I'm too lazy to put up spoiler warnings)

    1. Re:Adama by Eccles · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I guess that clears up the season cliffhanger. I didn't think it was likely that they would kill off any of the major cast members.

      In a Sci-Fi show, death isn't that big an obstacle to coming back. Heck, Jimmy Smits returned to NYPD Blue.

      "Look, Rimmer, death isn't the handicap it used to be."

      --
      Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
    2. Re:Adama by zoomba · · Score: 1

      Except you name a character in your subject line :P

      That's like saying "Bugs Bunny............. A character escapes from Elmer Fudd's grasp, but I won't say who"

    3. Re:Adama by earthman · · Score: 1

      Or maybe they will find his long lost twin brother on the surface of Kobol?

    4. Re:Adama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh but they don't say for how long they're back in the second season. Remember that you still need an actor to make a convincing corpse before it's dragged off to whatever corner of nothingness they can find for it.

    5. Re:Adama by STrinity · · Score: 1

      Man, I wish I had mod points right now so I could get you for posting spoilers like that.

      --
      Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
    6. Re:Adama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are such a prick. God, you deserve to get modded down to like -5 for that. How would you like it to read a spoiler like that. This is not on my account. I downloaded every ep the day it was broadcast on sky one. Don't you give a frack about anyone else but yourself?

  31. Starbuck is more likeStarbuck than you think by hellfire · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The greatest thing about this new series is how subtle the entire show is. The most subtle thing about this is that the only big difference between the old and the new Starbuck is anatomical.

    *Spoiler warning to plot points ahead*

    If you notice, the original Starbuck was brash, vulgar (well at least for 1979 TV standards), and even hedonistic. The original Starbuck was a ladies man, but this new one had this fling with Apollo's brother before the war which was passionate and even a bit unwise. They are making it a bit more of a plot point than a character trait but there are ties. Starbuck in both series doesn't give a rats ass about the chain of command except when it really counts. Both are excellent pilots, and both take wild and crazy chances.

    I also noticed in the pilot episode, when starbuck is saving apollo in that really crazy manner, Apollo asks her "Are you sure this is going to work?" She replies something along the lines of "Ummm I dunno! I hope!" I don't remember the words but I remember her face. It reminded me so much of same kind of face the original Starbuck would make when ever he had a crazy idea that someone asked him about, it was uncanny.

    Okay and I did lie, there is one other important difference. The original series, despite trying to be serious, was still camp. It was network TV after all. This new series is grittier and darker and is less about the quest than it is the individual relationships and the personal journies everyone is taking in trying to survive. It's easy to lose site of the similarities between characters when the over all theme of the show is radically different.

    --

    "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

    1. Re:Starbuck is more likeStarbuck than you think by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      I agree that Stardoe has a lot of similarity to Starbuck. While I bring the sex change up when I gripe about this show, it's not my main objection. My main gripe is in your last paragraph. This series IS grittier & darker - too gritty & dark for my taste. The old series had limitations - it WAS 1978 television after all, but I liked its style much better than the overly complicated dramatic stuff going on in the current series.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    2. Re:Starbuck is more likeStarbuck than you think by hellfire · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not something really one can argue with. It is personal taste after all. I do like the show because I like the darkness and grittiness of it. The plot revolves around a disasterous attack that's nearly wiped out a people. To me that should be dark and gritty. The original felt way to happy, but considering it was late 1970s TV I'm willing to forgive that given the time frame. However, if they remade it just like that, it would have no place amongst today's TV shows.

      --

      "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

    3. Re:Starbuck is more likeStarbuck than you think by mink · · Score: 1

      " The greatest thing about this new series is how subtle the entire show is."

      So far IMO the show is anything but subtle, or maybe you mean something different from what I think you mean.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    4. Re:Starbuck is more likeStarbuck than you think by slashdot_commentator · · Score: 1

      *Warning* Subtle spoilers... Stop reading if you can't handle them.

      =====

      Can't speak for the original poster, but I'm totally siding on the subtle descriptive.

      They make Cylons manufactured humans, which in itself not a subtle change, but now the crew has to constantly worry about saboteurs is a nuanced change from the original series.

      The Cylons believing in a supernatural deity may seem like a useless or unsubtle change, but it fixes so many problems with the original BSG. Why the frack would you setup a human to run one of your own battle fleets? Why the frack would a human agree to hunt down his own kind?

      Already you're wondering what the frack is the Cylons' objectives. My hunch is that they don't even want to destroy the human race, only assimilate them into their culture. Could that be the set of metaphors the writers/producers want to juxtapose with today's world? Or perhaps the Blonde Cylon is merely a renegade, and the machines want to exterminate the human race?

      Baltar becomes a much more believable villian, though I'm a little disappointed the Cylons steered him towards politics rather than an antichrist.

      The "conflict" in the old BSG was between Starbuck and Apollo, although it was quite hackneyed and lame. With the new BSG, there is a wonderful father/son conflict with Adama & Apollo. I would describe it as subtle, though unsubtle in its effects.

      Where in the original BSG did you get to see inner angst like what confronts Boomer? (Or any show, for that matter.)

      I hate to plaster my worldview on EVERYTHING, but I get the sneaking feeling that the President/Admiral conflict is more like a metaphor on old school American civics and modern neoconservatism.

      Here's subtle. In the old show, the special effects/dogfights were the most important part of the show. In the new show, the special effects/dogfights are incredibly unsatisfying and certainly irrelevant to the quality of each episode. Even though the technical quality of the SE/D must be better...

      I really hope they can keep the Boomer character in the show, and not write her off as a robot. Its going to be sheer genius on the writers' part if they can accomplish it.

      If you want to insist the new BSG is unsubtle, but with many depths of interpretation, fine. But its not the crappy cartoon-orama of the late 70's that made Star Trek look like high drama.

      --
      There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
    5. Re:Starbuck is more likeStarbuck than you think by mink · · Score: 1

      I think I see what you are getting at, in comparrison to the the original series.
      Personally I have found the new show to beat you over the head with things a bit much, I notice what I think is unsubtle isn't anything you talk about above.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  32. Original Miniseries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone know whether SCIFI will rebroadcast the original BG miniseries (by original, I mean the one that kicked off the current series)? My cable company only offered SCIFI with the higher-priced packages, and it was too expensive for only one channel worth watching (unlike my brother-in-law, I don't enjoy having 16 different ESPN stations). I've since switched to satellite, and now I get SCIFI, but I missed the original miniseries.

    1. Re:Original Miniseries by boohiss · · Score: 1

      They do show them, every now and then. Usually when I'm at work, and usually in a big marathon block.

    2. Re:Original Miniseries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just download it from BitTorrent.

  33. Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by MagikSlinger · · Score: 4, Funny

    I could swear that was the building where I bought my morning coffee! :-)

    It's really weird for me watching the Occupied Caprica scenes. They keep showing shots of downtown Vancouver and I keep going "But that's not an alien world! Hey, that's the building I work in!!"

    The worst cog-diss was in the pilot at the Market scene. That was the AQ of my alma mater, Simon Fraser University. Nothing ruins the mood of an alien world than locating the benches you used to take naps on between classes. :-)

    Do you guys in NY and LA have the same cognitive dissonance when watching your towns subbing for other parts of the world?

    --
    The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by smooth+wombat · · Score: 1

      I'm not from either of the two cities you mentioned but there is (was?) a daytime soap show which used images of some bridges over a river which is where I happen to live (well, I'm 10 minutes away and work in said city).

      When I first heard about this new opening footage I taped the first part of the show to see what it looked like. My reaction was one of "Er, that's not how they look." The shots were from the air and while I have seen similar images these just didn't look the same.

      Also, part of the movie 'Girl Interrupted' was filmed at a psych hospital five minutes from where I work. I never saw the movie but I did get to see some scenes which were filmed inside and around the hospital. Things certainly looked different than what I remember seeing.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    2. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Alan · · Score: 1

      But isn't it nice to know that alien worlds look so much like home? :)

    3. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by twilight30 · · Score: 1
      Actually me and my friends (we're all refugees from Vancouver/White Rock) all think that this might be saying something -- I'd say 'significant', but that would be extraordinarily pretentious ;) -- about the visions of the future that Vancouver might represent.

      Think about it: on account of its rainy climate and unique location in a basin surrounded by mountains, the city has a wealth of incredible places to show alt.takes on reality. I mean, which shows were/are filmed there? X-Files, Smallville, MacGyver ... and now BSG. And that is not to mention all the commercials. I heard sometime ago that a good 70-80% of all ads in N. America are filmed there. And there is a Peugeot ad playing now here in London where they feature the Harbour Centre quite prominently.

      Then again, I've felt for a long time that the best film to show off Vancouver was Cousins, so what do I know, eh? My favourite telly shot was a shot in the first season of the X-Files where Mulder and Scully are supposedly going into the CIA. The building is the Burnaby Public Library ... I think I had to love the show even with all the wooden acting, just on that basis ...

      Oh, sod it, I do sound pretentious! Love that BSG, though; best sci-fi I've seen in years!

      --
      ========================================
      Death will come, and will have your eyes
      -- Pavese
    4. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by vjmurphy · · Score: 1

      That's the one thing that really annoys me about the two Stargate series: every damn planet looks like Canada. It's become a joke at home: "This week, on Stargate SG-1: The team investigates an alien planet that looks just like Canada."

      In fact, there was a Stargate: Atlantis episode that looked like it was filmed in a desert area and I immediately thought that Vancouver had outsourced their scenery to Mexico.

      --
      Vincent J. Murphy
      Spandex Justice
    5. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by sielwolf · · Score: 1

      Do you guys in NY... have the same cognitive dissonance when watching your towns subbing for other parts of the world?

      A buddy of mine from Toronto would come out of movies saying "Damn, I didn't realize I lived in New York this entire time and no one told me!"

      --
      What is music when you despise all sound?
    6. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by JoshWurzel · · Score: 1

      No, what drives me nuts (former resident of LA) is when they do a car chase scene and you can tell that each shot was taken in a completely different area of the city.

      I don't recall a film shot in LA that was supposed to take place somewhere else though.

    7. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by schemanista · · Score: 1

      I love the blooper moment in Blown Away : a long tracking helicopter shot over a gov't building in Boston flying a honking big Canadian flag. Hello Ottawa!

      --
      I saw that shot more than a few times back when Starbuck was a man. ~ lucabrasi999
    8. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Have+Blue · · Score: 1

      The problem is the opposite of what you think it is- NY and LA don't appear in films and TV shows set in them all that often, because it's so expensive to shoot there. They are only really visible in establishing shots that may as well be (and probably are) stock footage, followed by locations and buildings that aren't actually in the city.

    9. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Count your blessings. You could have matriculated from Brendan Fraser University.

    10. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Deliveranc3 · · Score: 1

      Shooting utopia scenes in canada should be manditory... damn tree huggers.

    11. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Angry+Toad · · Score: 1

      Somewhere early on in the series there's a "Cylon-Occupied Caprica" super over a shot of downtown Vancouver, and the Scotiabank logo on one of the towers is clearly visible. That made me giggle a bit - they do get around I guess.

    12. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by phlack · · Score: 1
      This doesn't explain the bridges. But sometimes when filming a movie, they'll do some (sometimes temporary) changes.

      My father was a dentist (retired now). But one time recently, his dental office was used in an independent film about a dentist. Closed the whole building for about a week. During that time, they actually made changes, that honestly, he didn't think were good (but it wasn't his movie)...such as taking a slightly curved wall and putting a square covering on it, thus making it look straight. They put everything back the way it was before they left (so he actually got some minor repairs done in addition to the compensation for having his office shut down for a week...pretty good deal). When he finally saw the movie, he couldn't recognize that the office was actually his (and he's been in it for almost 30 years!).

      So it is possible they made some minor cosmetic changes to the hospital to fit their vision for the show.

    13. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Producers shoot in B.C. because it is cheap. Period. The actors hate it, in fact that is one reason that the X-Files actors quit.

    14. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by twilight30 · · Score: 1

      Yes, that is a good point.

      About the X-Files, though: Gillian Anderson married and later divorced a crew member from the area, and still has a house in Vancouver last I heard. It might be because she doesn't want to disrupt her daughter's schooling by moving about so much, but I always had the impression it was Duchovny being a self-important prick as opposed to both the leads disliking the place.

      --
      ========================================
      Death will come, and will have your eyes
      -- Pavese
    15. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation. It therefore occurs when there is a need to accommodate new ideas, and it may be necessary for it to develop so that we become "open" to them.

      So, you're saying that you need to get it into your head that Vancouver is actually an alien city?

      "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." -- Inigo Montoya, "The Princess Bride"

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    16. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Blackwulf · · Score: 1

      Actually, the movie Road Trip was filmed on my college campus and actually interfered with my classes while they were filming.

      So we went to the midnight showing at the student center theater and made fun of all of the things they did that were wrong. Like driving the wrong way on what we knew was a one way street.

      The movie sucked, but it was surreal to watch. Especially when they didn't bother taking our college logo off of the football field and they wanted you to think it was some college in New York...

    17. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Jonavin · · Score: 1

      I don't even live in Vancouver but recognize the library used in the show from my last trip there. It kind of takes away from the mystery and awe of it all when you know that you have been at a place that's supposed to be Cylon occupied Caprica.

    18. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by smithmc · · Score: 1

      Do you guys in NY and LA have the same cognitive dissonance when watching your towns subbing for other parts of the world?

      I don't think anyone would use NYC to stand in for some other town - it's too recognizable.

      --
      Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
    19. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by dlelash · · Score: 1

      NY and LA don't generally serve in that role. If you go to the trouble and expense of filming in NYC, you want everyone watching to KNOW it's NYC (Ghostbusters, MIB, etc.). More often, exterior urban filming done in places like Toronto made to look like Chicago, or just in a back lot somewhere.

    20. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by justinkim · · Score: 1

      Here in New York, it's usually other cities subbing for NYC.

      More and more film and TV are being filmed on location here now, though.

    21. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Stevix · · Score: 1

      Im not sure how often toronto city hall (dual concave towers enclosing a smaller dome structure) fills in for futuristic corporate buildings... although there was nothing like watching downtown toronto getting nuked in resident evil 2. My Friend going to UoT lived in a hotel-residence on chestnut strt. right next door, and he had to admit the sight of attack helicopters outside his window during filming was pretty alarming.

    22. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by NetCynicism · · Score: 1
      My cognitive dissonance went the other way... in teh X-Files movie when scenes that were supposed to be in Dallas had desert with mountains in the background.

      Dallas is in the middle of a grassy plain - no deserts within 300 miles and no mountains within 600. Obviously those scenes were shot in L.A.

    23. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by NaruVonWilkins · · Score: 1

      Yes, you need to create suspension of disbelief to immerse yourself in the work you're viewing.

    24. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by UnrealAnalysis · · Score: 1

      As a student and resident at Simon Fraser University, I must say that my most surreal experience watching BSG was in the season finale where some generic concrete rubble is strewn about on stairs, I realized that I had walked through the area being shot back in July when they were doing filming, and had been very tempted to grab some styrofoam rubble on my way through.

    25. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by a1englishman · · Score: 1

      I work in downtown LA, and I tell you man, there is some film crew here every other week filming New York City. There's a bunch of New York City yellow cabs parked outside the central library right now.

    26. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      The episode of Family Guy where Peter goes to the Barrington Country Club and gets killed actually showed the country club from my hometown of Barrington, IL. Its a rich snobby suburb and the reason the joke about a black person there was so funny is because when Mr. Wamburg (one of the richest men in the area) brought his friend Michael Jordan, they refused Jordan entrance. Yeah. That's right, they shut down MJ.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    27. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by KefabiMe · · Score: 1
      Do you guys in NY and LA have the same cognitive dissonance when watching your towns subbing for other parts of the world?

      Okay, I live in Valencia, California. North part of Los Angeles County, and the nice area means a lot of filming goes on here. (Girl Next Door, Pleasantville, a lot of Power Rangers stuff, many shots of streets of modern suberbia are taken here. Also, the Microsoft Call Center I work at is here too...)

      Anyway, when that Vin Diesel movie, "A Man Apart", was released, I was watching it at the local movie theater at the local mall in Valencia, California. Apparently, Vin Deisel converted from Drug Dealer to Law Enforcement, and is meeting with an upscale drug dealer at his nice suburbian house.

      As Vin Deisel drives up to the house, the subtitles say: Valencia, California, USA

      Everyone in the theater starts to break out in laughter.

    28. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by JosefK · · Score: 1

      I remember a few Seinfeld episodes with exterior shots meant to be New York, but were clearly shot in downtown LA (and no, not the episodes where they go to LA).

    29. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      Suspension of disbelief is a totally different concept from cognitive dissonance.

      "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." -- Inigo Montoya, "The Princess Bride"

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    30. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by Angry+Toad · · Score: 1

      The opposite can be pretty funny - check out the Jackie Chan film "Rumble in the Bronx" some time. It's supposed to take place in New York but they made **no** effort at all to disguise the fact that it's Vancouver. The skyline and the surrounding mountains are all clearly visible. Major cognitive dissonance.

    31. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... by NaruVonWilkins · · Score: 1

      Yes... and one prevents the other.

  34. Episode 1 by nuclear305 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since the story didn't even bother linking to the online episode and there are no obvious links anywhere that I could find...

    http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/33_full_episode/

    1. Re:Episode 1 by handelaar · · Score: 1

      Argh. Bastard embedded plugin page, and the source file won't play on RealPlayer for Linux.

    2. Re:Episode 1 by bgarcia · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here's a link directly to the .ram file for the first episode of Battlestar Galactica: "33"

      --
      I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
    3. Re:Episode 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      embedded in the .ram file from the html is the following URL:

      rtsp://rx-lvl3-wa07.rbn.com/farm/*/usanet/usanet /g 2demand/scifi/battlestar/33/33.rm

      As I don't have the Real player, anyone have any luck?

    4. Re:Episode 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Realplayer is bollocks, they may as well have not bothered.

    5. Re:Episode 1 by lexiconographolologi · · Score: 0

      http://play.rbn.com/?url=usanet/usanet/g2demand/sc ifi/battlestar/33/33.rm&proto=rtsp rtsp://rx-wes-sea75.rbn.com/farm/*/usanet/usanet/g 2demand/scifi/battlestar/33/33.rm

  35. HOTT Cylon Girlfriend bonus disk? by dotmax · · Score: 1

    It's a great show and all, but i want a disk with just the hott blonde cylon chick in balthazar's head. .max p.s. she's hot.

  36. Edward James Olmos is back by pcraven · · Score: 0

    Nice to see Edward James Olmos is part of the cast. After the last episode, I was worried he would not return.

  37. Timed release. by SlayerofGods · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe this time they'll be smart and release the show at the same time around the world.
    I know I personally had already finished watching the whole of session 1 when it was barely even starting on Sci Fi.
    I wonder how many viewers this cost Sci Fi.

    --

    Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
    1. Re:Timed release. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I started watching half way here in the us. i have been itching for weeks to find a bsg(new) fan to spoil. it would just be so sweet to see their look on their face.

    2. Re:Timed release. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      As long as you're not a Nielsen family, it doesn't matter if you watch or not. Heck, going to their website and watching the deleted scenes will probably help the show more, because the Sci-Fi channel can then point to their website statistics to show how popular the show is.

  38. No TiVo yet by chia_monkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Well, aren't you a fucking Renaissance Man."

    Nah, I just don't have TiVo yet.

    --

    "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
  39. fanmusic by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 1

    For those of you who like MOD music, here's an interesting link:

    http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/AP/ D/djr_bsgt.zip

    It's a remix entitled "*BattleStar Galactica-(attention2)".

  40. SkyOne started broadcasting the first season by NeuroManson · · Score: 1

    Last year in September or so, if that's any indication, then fire up your bittorrent app of choice in about 6 months. Not that long a wait between seasons, really, if you've just started watching it.

    --
    Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  41. maybe if people stopped stealing.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the sci fi shows are watched by rich brats who steal things

  42. Re:New Galactia SUCKS! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Cylons are wimpy.

    Really? They seemed to take a lot more killing than the originals. One shot with a laser pistol and one of the old ones was dead. The new ones can take several hits and keep coming.

    No Imperious leader.

    Yes, a guy made of paper mache was really intimidating.

    No Lucifer.

    Oh yes, flashing lightbulb head really made the Cylons seem scary...

    Balter is a fag.

    I think many of the women (and at least one female Cylon) in the series would disagree with this assessment...

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  43. I will be looking forward to a second season by xystren · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Having grown up with the original, and seeing the new, it has only changed with the times. An all male hot-dogging pilots just doesn't fly (pardon the pun) in todays world of equal rights and excessive political correctness. So having a female Starbuck really isn't that surprising in this day and age.

    The concepts of the Cylons now having evolved beyond the silver armored, red side2side eye, robots is a needed differenation between the old and new. Now that they can look and act human (similar to what we saw in Terminator), opens up the "trust no one". Again similar to the times now, as the so called "war on terror", one doesn't really know who the enemy is.

    It's refreshing to see something new in the SciFi arena. BSG hasn't hooked me to the extent that B5 did (with out a doubt my favorate TV sci-fi series.) I'm still enjoying it, and try not to miss an episode.

    I personally welcome a second sesason.

    Cheers,
    Xyst

    1. Re:I will be looking forward to a second season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The concepts of the Cylons now having evolved beyond the silver armored, red side2side eye, robots is a needed differenation between the old and new. Now that they can look and act human (similar to what we saw in Terminator), opens up the "trust no one". Again similar to the times now, as the so called "war on terror", one doesn't really know who the enemy is.

      It also opens up "Cheaper Costume Prices"

    2. Re:I will be looking forward to a second season by SetiAlphaOne · · Score: 1

      Just an FYI: There were cylons who looked/acted as humans in an episode of BSG:1980 -- The Night the Cylons Landed.

      Granted, the story moves about only 1 accompanied by a Centurion, but there were at least 2 seen in the episode.

    3. Re:I will be looking forward to a second season by xystren · · Score: 1

      Point Taken - I completely forgot about that.

      Cheers,
      Xyst

    4. Re:I will be looking forward to a second season by xystren · · Score: 1

      I suppose that is true, unless the Cylons are going to start getting fasion conscious and start wearing Versace or Gucci at 20 or 30 grand a pop.

    5. Re:I will be looking forward to a second season by codeguy007 · · Score: 1

      similar to what we saw in Terminator

      Ah but they are completely different that what we saw in terminator. Look at how hard Baltar needs to work to differentiate them. They aren't machines with psuedo skin. They are generically modified human clones or copies.

  44. Excellent by NardofDoom · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I saw my first episode of BG on Monday night and I was instantly hooked. It's everything I wanted Enterprise to be and more. Dirty, sexy, raw, emotive... just excellent.

    Sci Fi is turning into quite the network.

    --
    You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    1. Re:Excellent by MacDude1 · · Score: 1

      I do like BSG. There are some gaping plot holes, but that is the case in most TV.

      I have to disagree about Enterprise. The last 2 seasons have been as good as SciFi gets on TV. I like their story lines much better than anything on the other recent Trek series (other than later seasons of TNG).

      --
      -- Those of you who think you know it all are very annoying to those of us who do.
  45. Some bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a some really bad news about this...

    Apparently, Scott Bakula will be taking the helm this season. The producers felt they needed a "name" for the show.

  46. More Nekkid Boomers Please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you've seen the final episode of season 1, you'll understand.

  47. pah! by BigChigger · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Making Starbuck a female character ruined it. I would welcome female pilots et al, but revisionism for the sake of political correctness blows.

    BC

    1. Re:pah! by NaruVonWilkins · · Score: 1

      If you haven't noticed, this isn't the same show, so I'm not sure how it's revisionist.

    2. Re:pah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup not revisionist at all. Lets see, Starbuck and a cylon ship both crash into the same desolate planet. Boomer begs Adama to send a rescue party, Adama says no the fleet can't stop or turn back for anyone. Starbuck pieces together an ship to escape with, built using parts from his ship and the Cylons' ship.

      They couldn't possibly revise that episode at all.

  48. why farscape was cancelled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    farscape was not 'past its prime'. it was getting huge ratings. they were in the middle of production on a new season. it was cancelled partway through. this was a horrible business decision, not only a horrible artistic decision.

    it was cancelled because the new boss at sci fi 'didnt like space shows'.

    look it up, its all there on the internet.

  49. SciFi Fridays by ParadoxicalPostulate · · Score: 1

    Yeah, SciFi fridays make up the bulk of my TV viewing time per week.

    I'm glued to the TV from 11 PM to 2 AM (EST) watching Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica.

    Other than that, only times I watch TV are if I manage to catch The Daily Show during the weekdays, or if there's something interesting on C-SPAN on Sundays (I'm a history/political science major, go figure).

  50. differences between US and UK versions? by Karma+Sucks · · Score: 1

    Are there any differences between the US and UK showings? I was told the themes were different and some of the shots. True? Why?

    Why does this show air in the UK before the US if it's made in America?

    --
    (Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
    1. Re:differences between US and UK versions? by Democratus · · Score: 1

      1) Not filmed in America (US). It was filmed in Canada.

      2) SkyOne (a station in the UK) put up a huge chunk of money to co-fund the series. Looks like part of the deal was first airing rights.

  51. Common practice by lxt · · Score: 1

    It's standard practice in the US to order reduced 1st Season runs of shows, purely because if the show bombs, you havn't lost as much money pulling it as you would if you had commissioned a full 20+ episode run. 13 episodes is around the standard for a first season - obviously there are a few exceptions, where you can safely assume the premise will be a hit or have the capital to risk. Interestingly, here in the UK most seasons are actually limited to 6, with only the really major dramas getting longer runs (typically 13). I guess that could be because the soap operas in the UK are far more popular than high budget dramas.

  52. OT -- FRACKIN Awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Yeah space dawghs. this show is the shit. goes places where STNG used to go with a ST DSN Twist. Really good sci-fi and story telling at its finest

    Ugh. I hate being the grammar police, but in this case, I can't help it. That post has so many things wrong in regards to spelling, puncutation and grammar, that I have no idea where to start. While no one can be perfect, you could at least TRY to use something that resembles fucking english.

    1. Re:OT -- FRACKIN Awesome by g4bookemdanno · · Score: 1

      Get a grip loser. levity is next to brevity

  53. BSG Theme song differences by EvilXenu · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apparently the intro to the US version is different from the UK version:

    http://www.mediablvd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t= 22 471

    The vocals in the UK theme are the Hindu Gayatri Mantra.

    AUM BHOOR BHUWAH SWAHA,
    TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
    BHARGO DEVASAYA DHEEMAHI
    DHIYO YO NAHA PRACHODAYAT

    Translation:

    Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life, Remover of pain and sorrow, The Bestower of happiness, Oh! Creator of the Universe, May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light, May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

    1. Re:BSG Theme song differences by EvilXenu · · Score: 1

      Bah! I should have gotten that link right. Here it is: UK vs US theme thread

  54. doctor who by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the return is coming to a tv station near you ..":

  55. Yeah,but it gets blown up by EvilStein · · Score: 1

    I'm near San Francisco. How many times have we seen it get obliterated in movies? "The Core" was one, and "10.5" was another one that comes to mind.

    And why don't any *good* movies blow up San Francisco? God, 10.5 was awful... at least "The Core" was reasonably entertaining on some level...

    1. Re:Yeah,but it gets blown up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen "The Rock"?

      Granted, SF doesn't blow up, but you do see a missile blow up part of Alcatraz. Plus the car chase is awesome.

    2. Re:Yeah,but it gets blown up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reasonably entertaining? "The Core"?? Reasonably?!

      I was in physical pain watching that turd, and I rented it thinking it'd be one of those movies that are fun to laugh at. I think my scientific mind suffered brain damage.

      Unobtaium indeed.

  56. Allow me to say by 604badder · · Score: 1

    It's about frackin time!

  57. Here is a clue: by geekoid · · Score: 1

    record them, watch them on monday.

    Of course, then you would have no excuse for not having a date.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  58. Free first episode by David+Horn · · Score: 1

    I really like the fact that the first episode is freely available on their website so UK viewers can get a taste of the series.

    This is a bit off topic, but it would be nice if the last episode of Enterprise could do something similar. I understand the "Save Enterprise" project has raised about $18,000. It'll never get Enterprise saved, but it would be fantastic if the money raised was given to Paramount who would then legally Bittorrent an HDTV copy of the last episode.

    --
    PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
    1. Re:Free first episode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Paramount would be dissing half their audience if they did that. Only rich kids have broadband anyway, so what would it gain them?

    2. Re:Free first episode by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Dunno if you know this, but the UK has already had the ENTIRE first season aired - it finished 3 or 4 weeks ago over here (wanna know the cliffhanger? :). Chances are we will also get the second season before North America also.

    3. Re:Free first episode by codeguy007 · · Score: 1

      Why would you? Even if they start shooting in March the North American First Session would be complete before they finish post production on the session premier so they really won't have any reason to air staggered since it costs them some "counted viewers" do to downloading.

    4. Re:Free first episode by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      For the same reason we got the first season before North America - Sky funded half of it with the agreement that they got to screen it first. Nothing has changed for the second season with regard to that agreement.

  59. No aliens by mpupu · · Score: 1

    I was a bit surprised that even though the Cylons are the "aliens" (they're actually robots) in the show, almost all the characters look exactly like humans. Not even wrinkled forehead or spotty skin in here.

    1. Re:No aliens by briareus · · Score: 1

      1. The Cylons were made by man.
      2. I seem to recall reading that the creators wanted to avoid the alien with the odd nose/forehead-of-the-week that Trek was so big on.

    2. Re:No aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it means that they can cast all the crappy actors as 'robots' and get away with it.

  60. Picking up habits... by ParadoxicalPostulate · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Looks like I'm already picking up language habits from the show.

    I recently started using the term "frack(ing)" as a substitute for the notorious four letter phenomenon. I really had no clue where I picked it up and assumed it was a popular term.

    Anyway, I was reading the blog and to my utmost amazement, here's what I found:

    Why "frack"? Where did the idea come from to make this the new F-word? Not that I don't like it, I find it amusing."

    It's straight out of the original series. I dropped many other terms from the old show like "centon" (a unit of measurement) and "yahren" (year) because I felt they distracted from the mood I was trying to create and they sounded a bit silly to my ear. There was something elegantly lovely about "frak," however. There's nothing like being able to say my favorite four letter word on TV over and over again and I salute Glen Larson for giving the joys of frakking up, frakking off, not giving a frak, and frakking-A to the masses.


    Well, now I know where I picked it up, and now I know not to say it too much in public :)

    That makes it my #2 favorite SciFi word (after grok).

    1. Re:Picking up habits... by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      I've also used "feldercarb", which is also from the original series. Though I haven't heard it yet on this version. What the Frack?

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    2. Re:Picking up habits... by rizzo5 · · Score: 1

      nowadays they can just say 'crap', so they don't need feldercarb anymore.

    3. Re:Picking up habits... by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Personally, I liked feldercarb. I also liked "centons" and "yarns". Why the frack SHOULD an alien culture talk exactly like us?

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  61. Re:gaping plot holes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, like why is it so hard to detect a Cylon? Every time a female Cylon has sex, her spine glows like the face plate of my Kenwood car stereo.

    I think the answer to building a Cylon detector is obvious.

  62. Not Original by NeuroAcid · · Score: 1

    "SCI FI Channel announced that the second season of its hit original series Battlestar Galactica will premiere this summer..." Last I checked the word original meant something new, something not done before, something creative. Am I the only one who remembers the older, better series.

    --
    "I don't need drugs to enjoy this, just to enhance it" - Otto
    1. Re:Not Original by STrinity · · Score: 3, Funny

      Am I the only one who remembers the older, better series.

      Yes. The rest of us remember the older, crappier series.

      --
      Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
    2. Re:Not Original by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Yes, you are.

    3. Re:Not Original by NeuroAcid · · Score: 1

      Crappier graphics, yes. But at least it was original. How many machine vs. human stories were there before the original series? And although I enjoy watching the new one, it is purely for the graphics and the chance to see a good battle scene. In the words of Comic Book Guy, Worst Plot Ever! I mean, come on. A machine that can look exactly like a human to infiltrate their ranks(yeah that has never been done before), a babbling scientist that reminds me of that really bad character from StarWars I, hot women thrown in to attarct the teen male crowd, and a story line that always leaves me saying, "that doesn't make any sense."

      --
      "I don't need drugs to enjoy this, just to enhance it" - Otto
    4. Re:Not Original by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How old are you? Just curious. The fact that you called Star Wars "Star Wars I" kind of give you away I guess.

  63. Dude by geekoid · · Score: 1

    you can be a fan of both. Not that you have to, but this I like this, so I don't like that crap on /. is getting old.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  64. just a nitpick by twilight30 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not physically being in the US I couldn't comment on the themes being different, or some of the shots. But:

    It's made in Vancouver ... We're still not part of the States just yet! :) .

    Sky One funded half the first season's episodes. One of their conditions for doing so was the right of first showing in the UK.

    Actually this fact is quite important to mention, because there have been delays in broadcast and contract negotiations in the past over here, even when dealing with parts of the same network.

    Case in point: one year Sky One couldn't show the latest season's episodes of Voyager on time when it turned out Paramount couldn't agree a suitable price with Sky One's media buyers. Totally embarrassing for the latter network, especially as they had already hyped it up in their promotional advertising and had viewers frothing at the mouth for the opener. They had to explain it on air at the last minute, and IIRC it fucked them up for two or three weeks.

    --
    ========================================
    Death will come, and will have your eyes
    -- Pavese
  65. EEEEEwwwww !!! by hummassa · · Score: 1

    Don't do this to me. Is Commander Adama gay? Or were you referring to President Laura Roslin?

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  66. Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis forgotten?? by mustangdavis · · Score: 1
    ... the series has quickly become SCI FI's highest-rated original series. No news on when a UK premeire might occur, but with Battlestar Gallactica ranking number 9 out of the top ten most popular TV program downloads worldwide ...


    I'm not sure how the portion of this comment that states that BSG has become SCI FI's highest-rated original series can be true ...

    Stargate Atlantis - #2 most downloaded show on the net

    Stargate SG-1 - #5 most downloaded show on the net ...

    Aren't both of these original series be SCI-FI? SCI-FI claims they are .... and they seem to be just a bit higher on the list :)


    Not trolling - just questioning the poster's facts ....


    1. Re:Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis forgotten?? by Democratus · · Score: 1

      Two possible answers:
      1)
      The ratings system doesn't use illegal downloads for its measurments.

      The ratings are determined by a system most often referred to as the 'Nelson System' (sp?). This sampling system gives a rough estimate of the number of people watching a show at any given time.

      Battlestar Galactica has consistently had over 3 million viewers for each episode.

      2)
      Stargate (and spinoffs) aren't SciFi original series since Stargate was a Showtime series first.

    2. Re:Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis forgotten?? by Da+Masta · · Score: 1

      You should read it a bit more carefully. BSG can still be the highest rated (broadcast ratings) show on sci-fi, even if SG is more downloaded (which has nothing to do with broadcast ratings).

  67. NERD!!!!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's time to unplug the coaxial cable from the jack in the back of your neck.

  68. New crossover character this season by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I heard from a very reliable source that Dr. Theopolis will make a guest appearance.

  69. Not really ... by hummassa · · Score: 1

    In one of the best Brazilian Trek sites (Trek Brasilis) many people often mention "why don't ... ever use the bathroom?".

    And I think it's a stupid question, it would be dead time and must be done only if it has a good conection to the rythm of the scene. And it's false. The bathrooms in the Enterprise-D (TNG) quarters are shown often (normally with Berverly or Deanna coming out of it and brushing their hair), in ENT the artificial gravity fails while Archer is taking a shower, Hoshi is shown doing the 22th century equivalent of brushing her teeth in the "catwalk", besides the other examples already mentioned.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
    1. Re:Not really ... by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And I think it's a stupid question, it would be dead time and must be done only if it has a good conection to the rythm of the scene.

      Well, that's the thing, you see. It doesn't have to be dead time. "Six Degrees of Separation" (the BSG episode, not the movie of the same name) included a whole, lengthy scene with two characters having a conversation between urinal stalls. And it was great, because the director had the balls to shoot it all from outside the stalls, just letting the actors play it with their voice performances, and, believe it or not, their feet. It's a great scene.

  70. BSG that was SO last year in the UK by rufu · · Score: 0

    The 1st series has already been shown in the UK on Sky One. We had even watched the complete series before the 1st episode aired in the US.

    This because Sky did a deal with Sci Fi, to part fund production.

    (And BTW if you want to watch any "geek" show in the UK Sky is really the only option, IMHO)

    1. Re:BSG that was SO last year in the UK by NaruVonWilkins · · Score: 1

      Actually, "33" and "Water" had aired in the US before you got "Kobol's Last Gleaming" part 2.

  71. "rip-off old story lines"? by JudgeFurious · · Score: 2, Insightful


    That's rich coming from someone who's asking for any version of Star Trek to come back, particularly Enterprise. Hasn't Trek set some kind of all time television record for number of old storylines ripped-off? Even when it's good it's maybe the most predictable stuff you can find on television.

    Aside from that feel free to think it stinks. I happen to think it's some good stuff but then I also enjoyed this season of Enterprise which has been cancelled just when it was starting to get good. Pity I can't have more of both.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
    1. Re:"rip-off old story lines"? by maynard · · Score: 1

      Hasn't Trek set some kind of all time television record for number of old storylines ripped-off?

      Naaaa, you're just confused about the timeline. All Trek stories are completely original once placed in proper temporal-multiverse order. *cough!* --M

  72. Get rid of the Doctor and Cylon Succubus dialogue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that single handedly is almost running the show!!!!

    enough already. it sucks, it is stupid, lame, it blows monkey nutz.

    she is hot yes, maybe she is banging the director but find another role for her on the show.

    -jg.

  73. Re:New Galactia SUCKS! by geekoid · · Score: 1

    Dudem have you seen the penis she has?

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  74. Re:New Galactia SUCKS! by myth_of_sisyphus · · Score: 3, Funny

    He's not gay, he's just British.

  75. still can't make money by hellfire · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The bottom line is that sci-fi can't make money like other shows can. That's why they are relgated to channels like sci-fi who are dedicated to sci-fi only... the definition of their channel is the only reason why they take the risk.

    First of all, just because they are highly downloaded doesn't mean you are making money. networks make money off of commercials that you have to view. Everything computer geeks try to do often guarentees they don't make money in the current TV model. I'm not saying it's "wrong" or "illegal" to download or record BSG, but when you do that you render the nielson ratings useless because you aren't watching them the normal way. Since all the networks seem to care about is the nielson ratings, these shows die because you aren't being counted as a watcher of the show.

    Again NO, I'm not saying go out and watch the commercials to keep BSG alive. Put your flamethrower away. I'm just saying...

    Second, sci-fi costs more than reality TV shows, sit-coms, and police/courtroom dramas. There are no special effects, no special sets, and often no need for imagination. Every show is either been done before or is "ripped from the headlines" as Law and Order does waaaay too often now. This cuts into costs. You could do a cheezy show on friday which only gets you half the income (before cost) of enterprise, but if you only have to pay one tenth of the production cost of enterprise to get it on the air, your instantly making more profit.

    --

    "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

    1. Re:still can't make money by rsmith-mac · · Score: 1
      I'm not saying it's "wrong" or "illegal" to download or record BSG, but when you do that you render the Nielson ratings useless because you aren't watching them the normal way. Since all the networks seem to care about is the Nielson ratings, these shows die because you aren't being counted as a watcher of the show.

      This can be a valid point, but is it really one for the /. crowd? If networks only care about the Nielson ratings, then the converse of that would be that if you don't have a Nielson box, then you don't count since there is no way to track you, so these downloads wouldn't be affecting the Nielson ratings to any large degree. How large though? We'll, I've never known of anyone who was a Nielson subject, let alone a geek. In fact, I just found out the other day that Nielson has a pretty poor system for counting viewers, seeing as how they don't even survey college students, a large part of the population. I get the impression that the whole system is unfairly weighted towards family households, and not necessarily a good cross-section of the population, a bad thing for something that's niché like sci-fi.

      Overall, it's a very crappy system, and that's what makes this so painful. Other than becoming a Nielson household or shooting Nielson geeks who are downloading instead of watching, we're helpless to help sci-fi shows.

    2. Re:still can't make money by Kaboom13 · · Score: 1

      You would have to be a Nielson household to actually affect the Nielson ratings. You can see how Nielson ratings are collected at http://www.nielsenmedia.com/, but according to their site the put a little box in 5,100 randomly selected homes. So unless you have that box, nothing you can do can affect a shows ratings, and thus ad revenue.

    3. Re:still can't make money by WormholeFiend · · Score: 2, Funny

      Since all the networks seem to care about is the nielson ratings, these shows die because you aren't being counted as a watcher of the show

      So basically, all we have to do is hac^H^H find a technical solution that will boost the Nielson ratings of our favourite shows!

  76. So.... by Whispers_in_the_dark · · Score: 1

    I couldn't find anything about what country order they're releasing it in. Will the US get it first round this time or will we have to wait for it? What possible reason do they have at this point (considering its success stateside) for delaying?

  77. Frak by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 1

    And of course there is this game from 1985 (BBC version is original, by Orlando M. Pilchard a.k.a. Nick Pelling).

  78. Handheld Cameras on BSG by cdkf92 · · Score: 1

    Personally, I like the handheld camera approach to BSG. It makes the whole show feel more candid and immediate. Also, their decision to do "handheld" CGI space battles is a stroke of genius. It makes all of the CGI feel a lot more realistic than it deserves and it cuts better with the rest of the show. I'm definitely excited about a second season of this innovative series.

    1. Re:Handheld Cameras on BSG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Buy the Firefly DVD set, they were doing zoom-and-pan CGI camera effects two years ago. ZOIC, the visual effects studio, works/ed on both shows.

  79. Bah! by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 1

    Bring back Erin Gray in her youth on Buck Rodgers (VERY tight gray spandex body suit...oh baby) and MAYBE I'll watch that "I'm an alien 'cause I have something glued to my forehead" channel.

    --
    It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    1. Re:Bah! by magarity · · Score: 1

      MAYBE I'll watch that "I'm an alien 'cause I have something glued to my forehead" channel.

      Galactica has no aliens, mutant foreheads or otherwise; just humans and cylons.

  80. Re:gaping plot holes by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

    The glowing-spine thing is just a visual plot device. It's not real. It's just TV magic.

    At least according to a source I have inside the production. He might be pulling my leg. I pass this information on solely for amusement.

  81. Had this happen to me once by JudgeFurious · · Score: 1


    There was really lousy cop show that came out a few years back called "Houston Nights" or something along those lines. I don't watch cop drama but like a lot of people in Houston Texas I watched it when it first came on just because it was filmed here. The experience was actually pretty funny.

    Houston's not like a lot of the older big cities in the US. Sure there's a downtown but compared to the inner city in most other towns this size it's tiny. The majority of Houston is spread over a huge flat coastal plain (it's been remarked that you could stand on a beer can and see for miles) and nothing is close to anything else. It's urban sprawl at it's worst. The only night I ever watched Houston Nights they got in their car (downtown) and started driving. On their way from the police station to wherever it was they were going they passed several landmarks that are a good twenty miles apart from one another. They were in the car having a conversation and one second they were driving by the Astrodome, two sentences later they were down by the Johnson Space Center, seconds after that they were driving through the museum district and the Galleria.

    If I had their car with it's amazing powers I'd never fear rush hour again!

    I thought this must be a little taste of what people in LA, New York, and Chicago get when they watch movies filmed in their towns.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
  82. My Prediction by FullCircle · · Score: 1

    BSG will be one of the biggest series this year in the UK.

    BSG will be cancelled in the US due to low ratings.

    Why low ratings in the US? Because everyone who is interested has already downloaded the UK versions 3-4 months before they air in the US.

    Why can't the networks think globally?

    --
    If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
    1. Re:My Prediction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your prediction about low ratings will only matter if the people with cable, or with neilsen boxes download the shows and don't watch.

      It doesn't make one bit of difference what the majority of people do - ratings come only from families with Nielsen boxes, and/or cable (possibly tivo now as well?).

      If you aren't in those groups, do what you like. It won't affect ratings one bit :)

  83. Peet's Zealot sadly shakes his head by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    If you call can that coffee.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  84. Viewership attributed to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmm, an average of 3 million viewers per episode eh? Surely it can't be from the witty script or awesome acting (or actually lack thereof). Maybe everybody's just really into seeing cylon boobies every five minutes of every episode. I'm sorry, but that entire subplot is boring the living hell out of me.

    1. Re:Viewership attributed to by Hassman · · Score: 1

      It is a good thing no one cares about your opinion.

      --
      -Mark
      Dovie'andi se tovya sagain.
    2. Re:Viewership attributed to by mink · · Score: 1

      He does have apoint about viewer levels IMO.
      Enterprise, on a network that isnt even carried in all markets (someone said about 60% of all non cable markets get UPN) and is often bumped or ditched for sports manages t get nearly as many viewers as BSG, and BSG in on all cable/satilite networks, many as a basic chanel.
      I would have thouhgt it would be doing twice as good.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  85. Commander Adama Dies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Commander Adama Dies <-- spoiler warning too late?

  86. Charlotte by Quila · · Score: 1

    A lot of movies are filmed in Charlotte, NC, but always portrayed as some other city, or just a nameless city.

  87. 3 Million = Highest Rated? by StarWreck · · Score: 1

    The SciFi Channel is excited about Battlestar Galatica being their highest rated show with 3 million viewers?

    Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled because it had only 2 million viewers.

    Please save Enterprise, SciFi Channel, I beg of you!

    Curently, my Friday night consists of watching: Enterprise, SG-Atlantis, Battlestar Galatica, and SG-1. Back-To-Back, 4 hours of non-stop SciFi! I will be very upset to only have 3 hours of non-stop SciFi!

    --
    ... and in the DRM, bind them.
    1. Re:3 Million = Highest Rated? by sadler121 · · Score: 1

      Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled because it had only 2 million viewers.

      Enterprise is on UPN which is available on 'Free' over-the-air TV. Battlestar Galactica is availble on Sci Fi, which is only available on pay-only cable. That is the reason for the discontinity between the two shows.

      Now if only Sci Fi could get the rights to Star Trek, and then put it on their Friday night Stargate , Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica lineup.

      Too bad Paramount will NEVER let go of Star Trek...

  88. XO by Quila · · Score: 1

    Executive Officer, second in command.

  89. Another great continuation by Quila · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They haven't given into PC -- people still smoke, and Starbuck, although now a girl, still smokes a fat cigar. Wow, wanna talk about your phallic symbols...

  90. Re:New Galactia SUCKS! by TrentC · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dude, have you seen the chick he's seeing?

    I dunno -- he keeps saying he's dating some hot chick, but I have yet to meet her; I think it's all in his head.

    Jay (=

  91. TV sho popularity barometer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "No news on when a UK premiere might occur, but with Battlestar Galactica ranking number 9 out of the top ten most popular TV program downloads worldwide, I don't think UK fans would have to wait long in any case"

    Lucky for the TV Networks they have this easy to read way of measuring comparatively how popular a TV show is, isn't it? :)

  92. First Episode replay options by jmcnamera · · Score: 1

    I wish they had provided more than one format for watching the first episode from their website. It only has Real Player format and I no longer load that one after the many problems I've had in the past.

    Of course, they know that everyone doesn't use Real, they just want to force us into the collective of monopolistic media players. There must be a cylon/borg/ms cheap shot in here somewhere.

    Sigh.

    --
    this is not a sig
    1. Re:First Episode replay options by jratcliffe · · Score: 1

      For all practical purposes, everyone _does_ use Real. I'd be willing to bet that 95%+ of visitors to the SciFi site have RealPlayer installed. Essentially every Windows machine ships with it...

  93. Wing Commander Galactica? by Mulletproof · · Score: 1

    What bothers me about this series the most is not the actors or the overall plot, just the way it was employed. What do i mean by this? Everything about this series is so close to reality, it barely warrents the term scifi. First, we have the plot device of the week, whose still beating bloddy heart was ripped from last weeks headlines. Witness: Heroic Woman has Breast Cancer and Copes! See: The Justified moral Terrorist! I mean can't we be a little more subtle than THIS?

    Moving on from the weak plot, we have a series that is, for all intents and purposes the movie Wing Commander. Go on. Rent it sometime. The similarities are uncanny, and that's not a good thing IMHO. Add on to the fact that the technology is BARELY removed from todays capabilities, asidefrom the hyperdrive element. Fighters with reactionary manuuvering systems? The aircraft carrier in space? I mean hell, it's like a real life aricraft carrier (and i've worked on one). There is just NO suspension of disbelief here and there this series is TOTALLY divorsed from the orighinal Galactica. If they had named this show Wing Commander: the series, it'd be more acceptable, given the heritage, the name is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt at using a franchise name to get viewers.

    Now I will give credit to the characters and the mood the writers created. They do a good job in their roles, and the writers have the dark, oppressive atmosphere nailed down perfectly. Again, if this were Wing Commander, it'd be just about perfect. Sadly, this highlight in an otherwise mismatched series goes to waste.

    Frankly, I can't stand it, but then, I couldn't stand Stargate when it first began and absolutely love it today.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
    1. Re:Wing Commander Galactica? by Winterblink · · Score: 1

      Call me strange, but is this really that bad? I mean if I were a diehard purist fan of the original series I might be overly concerned that the new series is missing all the campy silly stuff it has in it. But I'm not missing it. I appreciate the new story's realistic spin. And as a fan of the Wing Commander games (and flame me if you will, the movie too) I really enjoy the similarities between them. But that's just my two cubits. :)

      --
      "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
      -Hoban Washburn
    2. Re:Wing Commander Galactica? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      reminds me of enterprise, i still think that show is like dawsons creek in space with aliens instead of whoever is in dawsons creek... its all too... prime time drama series no sci fi anymore. throw some space ships and an alien in it and sudden its sci fi i guess.

  94. Great....more Cylons that look like humans... by FrankieBoy · · Score: 1

    If they wanted to save even more money they could make the Cylons invisible! Then they wouldn't even have to pay the actors. Why not make all the actors invisible! Then we could stare at a blank screen for an hour while imagining all the cool stuff that's happening that we can't see. It would have to be better than the screenplays that they use for the current show. Talk about predictable and lame. Let's beat a dead horse to...err, uhhhh...death...

  95. Maybe I'm weird... by e.m.rainey · · Score: 1

    But I don't dig this show that much. Some of the characters are neat but the main plot line of a new breed of "religious" robots just never made sense, though I suppose that's part of the point. Furthermore the implanted cyclone spies generate no sympathy. They should have *never* told you who they were. Now that you know, it's just impossible to feel anything for them or the people surrounding them. In fact, their lack of knowledge of what they are is infuriating and the protectiveness of the real humans they know is too drummed up.

    Generally it's just a big soap opera just in space. I'm not sure how to fix it but I know that I like Sci-Fi that tried to underscore philosophical issues, conflicts and approached itself with a prinicpled core. This is just situational surviving, which rarely is principle centered but is often when you need it the most. Apollo is the only one who appears to follow that.

    --
    The next remark is false. The previous remark is true.
  96. More in-depth info here by GonerDoug · · Score: 1

    http://www.tvtome.com/BattlestarGalactica_2004/

    Lots more info there along with episode list and synopsis of the entire first season...

  97. Re:Actually there is a relationship... by xRelisH · · Score: 1

    Glen A. Larson had some part in the original Knight Rider series and the original BSG series and might explain the scanning red beam-eyes.

  98. Dumbass Trek fanboy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll just bet you think the old Battlestar was great, and you have a Busk Rogers poster featuring Twiki.

  99. Kids These Days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BSG:TOS (ahem) substantially predates Wing Commander. You've got it backwards: Wing Commander is a knockoff of Galactica.

  100. DAMN annoying camera effects in space! by spoco2 · · Score: 1

    I have been enjoying this show too (it's just started in Australia), but MAN I am VERY, VERY tired of the fake handheld pan and zoom effect in the CG space scenes... Used once or twice (like, once or twice a Season) it can be effective... but EVERY SINGLE shot in space has the damn "whip zoom, jiggle, centre" type shots in it, and it's gets VERY annoying... it basically smacks of complete lack of creativity in the direction of these scenes... there is a time and a place for all things, and there can be a lot of nice, steady shots done people... it CAN work... watch some good Sci Fi movies, or even some good war movies to see how to do it... and STOP the damn effect.

    1. Re:DAMN annoying camera effects in space! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually if you read ron's blog, you will see that it is not being lazy.

      The premis is that, they wanted each shot to be somewhat plausable. As if their was a guy out their in a space suite with a little handycam filming the action. So don't count on any large sweeping space scenes like Star Trek or Star Wars

    2. Re:DAMN annoying camera effects in space! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      If you can attribute an expression to pan/center/zoom move, it's something like, "whoa! this caught me by surprise!". Which is really neat occasionally. But if you're floating in space with a spacesuit (I'm allowing it for the sake of argument) you're going to have a pretty good view of the action and not be caught by surprise every time. It would be like covering a football game with a camcorder.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  101. bsg75 by smakx · · Score: 1

    I am a big sci fi fan like most of you and have followed several series through the years. I gotta say I think bsg75 is one of the best. For those who can't or don't get 'sci-fi channel' (like me) - I can tell you that the first season was available several months before it was out in the us. I believe it was aired on a (british?) satellite network called 'skyone'. A friend of mine finds torrents for these episodes and brings them over. For those who said the first season was short, keep in mind that the first 3 episodes appeared seperately in the form of a 'mini-series'. One curious note - I don't believe that the us version of the show goes to the 'BSG 75' emblem on the way in and out of commercial breaks. I am not sure what BSG 75 refers to, anyone know? Also, the 'chorus vocals' that are in the tribal drumming part of the intro song (on the skyone episodes) is missing in the us theme - kind of weird. That's all I have - check the show out, its great.

    1. Re:bsg75 by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 1

      Just guessing, "BattleStar Group 75"

  102. S:AAB by andyrock · · Score: 1

    A S:AAB remake would be better IMO.

    But that's just me... Does anyone else remember Space: Above and Beyond?

    1. Re:S:AAB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Brilliant show, that was cancelled before its time.

      Unfortunately, most shows I enjoyed have been cancelled before they get a chance to finish properly - Millennium, American Gothic, Farscape, Firefly... heck, even Earth 2, Due South, Pretender.

      American TV Execs suck.

    2. Re:S:AAB by arwel · · Score: 1

      Yes, but for a moment there I thought you wanted to remake a Swedish car!

  103. Original series? by Roadside+Couch · · Score: 0

    SCI FI Channel announced that the second season of its hit original series Battlestar Galactica No that would be a remake of an original series, even though they FUBARed the remake in my opinion.

  104. Re:New Galactia SUCKS! by robertjw · · Score: 1

    You mean the cool one that lets him bang all the other chicks??

  105. Watching every episode by wytcld · · Score: 1

    But ... this is space opera. I like to read a few good space operas every year. But it's largely 1940's or earlier type stuff. Not even up to the best of Golden Age SciFi. A top-notch presentation of space opera, for sure. But space opera is not the top of the SciFi universe. The plot and characterization here doesn't come close to Heinlein, Zelazny, Dick, Robinson, Wolf, Gibson....

    In many respects the sets give the feel of being in a World War II movie. Again, this is stuff I'll watch, gladly. But when will we finally have a SciFi series as brilliant as the best of the genre, and less wedded to the conventions of a military command structure somewhere, or even the conventions of those fleeing/fighting a military command structure somewhere? Like, wow, here we get both!?

    --
    "with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
  106. Re:gaping plot holes by mink · · Score: 1

    So this is some more the that un-technobabble they supposedly are not using so they dont have to explain all the gaping plot holes.

    --
    Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  107. Re:gaping plot holes by Leo+McGarry · · Score: 1

    Um. What's the deal, are you just a troll? I looked at your posting history. You haven't posted a single interesting, or even meaningful, comment in this thread.

    I think you're just a troll. I wish I'd known that before I wasted my time explaining the history of motion-picture cameras to you.

  108. BSG vs. Enterprise initial reactions by istewart · · Score: 1

    What I find interesting is the number of people in this thread defending BSG as a really good show. When Enterprise began, the reaction was really lukewarm, but I don't remember there being as many people trying to defend it. There weren't even that many ENT apologists in the "Enterprise is canceled" threads. Go to someplace like TrekBBS, of course, and the collective opinion will be radically different. But threads like this, I think, give a much better indication of whether or not the general sci-fi audience likes a specific show.

  109. Galactica's technology level by Aexia · · Score: 1

    Add on to the fact that the technology is BARELY removed from todays capabilities, asidefrom the hyperdrive element. Fighters with reactionary manuuvering systems? The aircraft carrier in space? I mean hell, it's like a real life aricraft carrier (and i've worked on one).

    Galactica was intentionally built to be low-tech. They explained why in the mini-series.

    Galactica was built to defend against an enemy that could override computer systems and disrupt electrical systems. That's the reason it survived the initial Cylon assault and nearly every other human ship did not. All the modern ships (like the Vipers in the mini-series) had their systems taken over and shutdown.

  110. Adama as a commander by Aexia · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's not forget where he was assigned - to an out-of-date Battlestar that was being commissioned. He was never supposed to be a great commander or even a good one. If he were, he wouldn't have been where he was.

    Galactica is the Siberia that the cruft of the military were assigned to. Thus the alcoholic XO, their best pilot can't respect authority, crew members sleeping with subourdinates, etc.

    1. Re:Adama as a commander by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I don't know if it's so much that he wasn't a good commander - just that he was really out of step with the orthodoxy of the time.

      The rest of the power structure has decided that the Cylons are no longer a threat. Now they can re-develop AI, network the computers together, use wi-fi, etc. Adama doesn't agree, and doesn't play along, and thus gets marginalized.

      This is the reality of the peacetime military. In wartime, results are easy to measure, and real leaders stand out (eventually). In peacetime, disagreeing with your superiors is punished, even when it's the best choice.

      One of the best movie illustrations of this was Preminger's In Harm's Way. Ron Moore has already listed this as an influence.

      My theory (based on half a season) - Adama knows where Earth is, or at least where it might be. He was in the clique that thought the Cylons were coming back. One of the other members discovered some evidence for Earth's location, but kept the info within the group.

  111. Yes by EvilMagnus · · Score: 1

    Some editing changes were made to the UK version. The obvious one that sprang to mind was in '33' in the Ready Room where Starbuck is addressing the pilots with Boxy as straightman - the UK version had Starbuck's masturbation references removed.

    --
    -EvilMagnus
  112. Thank you Battlestar Gallactica Fans! by ShagratTheTitleless · · Score: 0

    I finally gave in to the pressure from fans telling me how much better than Star Trek the BSG was so I tuned in. At the wrong time. And started watching Stargate: Atlantis. It realy is an enjoyable show so far but unfortunately I was unimpressed by Battlestar itself. Cylons are Asian women who scowl now? I liked the chromed robots better. But for the sake of those who enjoy it I hope it has a long run!

    --
    Sometimes at night I imagine the darkness is filled with horrible things with too many teeth, like Julia Roberts.
  113. Can anyone recommend any good torrent sites for BG by pappy97 · · Score: 1

    I keep trying to find BG torrents but I can only find ones for the last eps of Season 1. Seems like nobody captures the eps from the Sci-Fi channel and I need to see eps 4-13.

    Any recommendations on how to get those episodes? btefnet definitely is not a good source for BG eps, and neither is the Torrent Reactor site.

    Thanks.

  114. your sig by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    -------- In Soviet Russia, we have only one political party.

    In America, it's the reverse.


    In America the political party has you?

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  115. It's good??? by Kadmos · · Score: 1

    OK I am giving up mod points to ask this, what does everybody see in BattleStar Galactica?

    The mini-series was on in OZ a couple of weeks back and I wasn't entirely convinced. For the first night I was wondering why nobody had noticed that the Cylons had destroyed that Human Cylon meeting place/station. Shouldn't they have detected them on radar? Alerted the fleet? Or ar we to believe that that single ambassador was the *only* person on the entire station? If the station had no importance, they why include it? Just to let the viewers know that a Cylon attack was coming? We already knew that!

    The second night ended unexpectadly for me, it seemed it was building up to a climax that never happened. Was the climax the destruction of a ship with ~1300 people, where the only connection we had with that ship, that loss, was one little girl who we saw for 30 seconds? Or was the climax the reporter who was left on the ammo dump who turned out to be a Cylon?

    A couple of nights ago I saw the first episode, and from what I had heard the series is better than the mini-series. I didn't think so. I was left wanting to like the show but not seeing much that grabs my attention. To me the acting seems a little wooden, but I can overlook that, the actors are after all still settleing in to a new role/show. Likewise I can accept that the story has a burdon of setting up the setting for the rest of the season. But at the moment I haven't found any attachment to the characters. the ship or anything.

    I am surprised though that they managed to resist inserting some half-assed excuse for Starbuck to be stripped half naked (aka T'Pol and almost every episode of Enterprise). I have watched a fair amount of sci-fi in my time and found things to like in most (if not all) but I just can see what the appeal is in Battlestar Galactica.

    Please tell me I missed something, please tell me it gets better...

    1. Re:It's good??? by ZoomieDood · · Score: 0

      I dunno...

      I used the scene of the ambassador looking at the picture of his family, then having some hot chick come through the doors, strut up to him, ask him if he was alive, and then kiss him as an intro to a church lesson on what WE live for - carnal, sensual activities or something of a more eternal nature.

      I...uh...conveniently left out the part that the ambassador and chick died.

      Or did I? No...maybe yes...

      Yup. Definitely I did. It helped ram home the idea that he sinned and paid for it in spades. :-)

    2. Re:It's good??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and from what I had heard the series is better than the mini-series.

      Where did you hear that? Only episode 7 and the season finale are anywhere near the quality of the pilot (aka mini). If you didn't like the pilot you definitely won't like the rest unless you have excruciatingly bad taste.

      [Posting AC because I am not as brave as you. I have never written a negative post about a scifi series on slashdot and not been modded down.]

  116. All-new Andromeda episodes make it 4 full hours... by mosel-saar-ruwer · · Score: 1

    The only problem is that SciFi couples it with Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis on Friday nights. So, when one should be out partying with an actual human girl, he is staying at home addicted to 3 hours of very good television.

    Don't forget the all-new episodes of Andromeda - that makes a total of 4 consecutive hours of SciFi every Friday night.

    And there are some very hot chicks on that show.

  117. Re:Can anyone recommend any good torrent sites for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they have a torrent of bsg season one including the mini series on torrent spy as one download. however it is pretty slow

  118. confused by Cylon's by SecretSqrl · · Score: 0

    I admit I have only watched a couple of the episodes, but I am confused by the Cylon's and why they seem to be toying with the humans so much. The human on Caprica is being toyed with by the asian chick cylong and the Baltair (sp?) is mentally dominated by the blonde chick cylon. Why don't they just kill the humans?

  119. Eps for season by NMUGrad · · Score: 1

    I have to correct you that West Wing has regularly had 22 episodes per season since it's start back in Sept of 1999. The only deviations have been "Specialty" episodes (like interview show with actual former WW staff & inhabitants). And 22 was the magical number in my other obsessive TV show, Babylon 5.

  120. OMG! Extreme Closeup!!! Shake that camera!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hopefully in the next season they'll have sacked whoever pushed for the extreme closeup/camera shake action - makes me want to punch something.

  121. Awful timing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great, just great.

    We lose Enterprise just when a Battlestar is headed this way...

  122. Re:Can anyone recommend any good torrent sites for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Torrents never last long. Don't you know that? Try Emule/Edonkey. Yes it's slow, but it's better than nothing.

  123. Spoiler Warning !!! by serutan · · Score: 1

    Changes for Season 2:
    - Starbuck and Boomer are re-cast as male characters, but stay in touch with their feminine side.
    - The Cylons turn out to be a race of sophisticated robots who were only pretending to be clones. To intimidate the humans they develop chromium armor and start speaking in metallic voices.

  124. Re:Can anyone recommend any good torrent sites for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  125. Have you ever heard of by wiredog · · Score: 1

    Tivo. Or even the good old VCR?

  126. Re:gaping plot holes by mink · · Score: 1

    To your "explanation of camera history" (it's kinda sparse so you did not use that much time). Please see my response.

    The reason I replied to your post was about the whole post. How can it be a visual plot device (meaning it's essential to the plot) but be "not real, TV magic" Maybe I don't get what you mean but it seems a lot like the "I don't have to explain 33 because that would be technobabble thing. I view it as an anti-technobabble technobabble that does IN MY VIEW leave some holes that you need explained (more then just the why 33 issue, I agree with other posters about cylons drinking too much rolling rock). Your Mileage Obviously Varied. To me it looks like they are shying away from any technical explanation or science in things and calling attempts at such "technobabble". It's only technobabble when it does not mean anything or explain anything in a meaningful way.

    As for the troll bit, I am a fan of both BSG shows, I am more critical of this new one, because frankly the old one is a dead horse and back in the 80's everyone got in about every useful or useless criticism I can think of. Another reason I tend to be a bit sarcastic is I am also a fan of enterprise, and I got a bit pissed off by morons who couldn't keep the BSG fanboyism out of the last few months of Enterprise stories. I'm not saying BSG should not be mentioned in discussion, but most people simply were in there to bash Enterprise and only say BSG is bestest ebber.

    --
    Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  127. Ripoff? by koko775 · · Score: 1

    Didn't *Star Wars* derive inspiration *from* Battlestar Galactica?

    1. Re:Ripoff? by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 1

      um yea, George Lucas and his time machine: starwars 1977, galactica 1978.

  128. Re:Surreal watching Caprica downtown... **spoiler by lilazncanadian · · Score: 1

    I think even worse was the location where they filmed Episode 11.

    The UBC Rose Garden and Chan Centre are prominently featured in this episode. With a majority of scenes at the Chan Centre both inside and in the hallway outside the main auditorium.

    They also showed the grass divider down main mall. Canada flag missing from the flag pole.

    The worse was when they suddenly "switched" back to Cylon-Occupied Caprica and they were showing Koerner library. One of my co-workers made a comment that I agree with and that was that it's not a military base it's the library with a heavy blue lens filter.

    Nope, not pleasant when you walk by the library on your way to class and you're like: "That's where Helo killed a Boomer clone".

    aiya ^^

    Despite it all, I'm still in love with the show.