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Battlestar Galactica Feature Film Confirmed

Dave Knott writes "Entertainment Weekly reports that Universal Pictures has confirmed rumours of a Battlestar Galactica feature film. Directed by Bryan Singer, and co-produced by original series creator Glen Larson, the new movie will not be related to the recently concluded SyFy Network series. Rather, it will be a 'complete re-imagining of the sci-fi lore that was invented by Larson back in the '70s.'"

21 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. Bede bede bede by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I never bought into any of this re-imagining crap. It's not like how Lucas was able to squeeze more story out of the Star Wars trilogy by adding in effects that brought it up to modern-day standards (and fixed the story in parts that didn't make sense). The re-imagining of BSG was almost a totally different show with only the thinnest of veneers tying it to the original series.

    I liked the show, though it was definitely too dark (lighting-wise) and the overuse of 'frak' was annoying, but I felt that it could probably stand on its own as a series.

    I went back and watched several Star Trek TOS episodes and found them to be clever, campy, and very forward thinking. If I were to watch TOS and DS9 back to back, I think I'd have the same reaction as I did to BSG. The difference, of course, is that there was the excellent TNG series which bridged the gap between TOS and DS9. Any re-imagining of a series that changes the fundamental aspects of the base concept is going to run into this problem.

    It's not a re-imagining. It's a cashing-in on the name value of the original concept. I think it is nothing short of a rip off for those who loved the original series. It's also a rip off for those who like the new series itself but are forced to associate it with the original series.

    1. Re:Bede bede bede by FTWinston · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The best thing 2004 BSG could have done for itself that it didn't do, would have been to use a different name.

      That aside, I still consider it awesome.

    2. Re:Bede bede bede by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I keep hearing on this site how no media content is completely novel, and the best content is that which builds on pre-existing ideas. The BSG re-imagining is an excellent practical example of this.

      AbsoFragginglutely damn it the original BSG was a re-imagining of Wagon Train which in turn was inspired by any number of Westerns. I suspect we could probably trace it all the way back to Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales but then who did he nick the idea off?

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    3. Re:Bede bede bede by mrsquid0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >Humans vs Aliens? You mean what Star Trek is all about?
      >(Granted, it's actually Aliens vs Humans with the help of Aliens).

      Star Trek was never about aliens vs humans. It was a hopeful (and a bit naive) programme about the expansion of humanity into the Galaxy. For the most part the conflict was driven by human conflict, not wars with aliens.

      --
      Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
    4. Re:Bede bede bede by itsdapead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      DS9... was that the Star Trek about the Gas Station on the interstate?

      No, it was Ron Moore's big-budget "re-imagining" of the campy Sci Fi classic "Babylon 5".

      (ducks)

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
    5. Re:Bede bede bede by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seeing how vastly superior the new series was compared to the original, I would rather the original be stripped of the name.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    6. Re:Bede bede bede by imgod2u · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except that wasn't the point. Star Trek wasn't about inter-species conflict. The Klingons weren't just ridged headed aliens (and originally, they weren't). Star Trek was political allegory. The Klingons were the Soviets; the Federation was the U.S. The point of the whole "we won't fight directly but we'll both bully smaller planets to join our side to fight against their side" was the common theme. The result was that a higher being (the Organians) came in, bitchslapped their stupid asses and said "behave".

      Almost every story and every alien world (save for filler episodes) were an allegory for modern-day problems. Everything form how we treat veterans to racism to ruthless imperialism (Cardassian occupation of Bajor) and the moral ambiguities of those situations.

    7. Re:Bede bede bede by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And a whole 'nother ending, to boot. The show's ending was awful, not just for reasons of plausibility and deus ex machina storytelling but because it ended on a very idiotic "moral" that should rightly offend any technology-loving slashdot nerd. The show managed to go along the entire time without really being preachy and muddying the waters on social issues... then BAM! It hits you with "OK THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS THE BEST KIND OF LIFE IS LIVING A SHORT, BRUTAL, DISEASE-FILLED EXISTENCE, LETS GET RID OF ALL OUR TECHNOLOGY!" and everyone agrees (despite nobody agreeing on anything else in the course of the show) and everyone goes their separate ways to die their eventual brutal deaths. Also, WATCH OUT YOUR ROOMBA WILL GET YOU.

  2. Amazing by Misanthrope · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Brought to you by the same minds that thought Syfy was a good name change......

  3. They just can't leave well alone by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a series BG is perfect , one of the best Sci Fi series in a generation. But no, they've got to milk the franchise until it goes moo and dies. Isn't the new Caprica series enough? Why can't hollywood producers know when something is complete and just leave it as is to be savoured , not slowly milked to death because i'll bet you this film won't be the last.

  4. In other words by Mag7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Larson hated the new series

  5. Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are we not allowed to have adult sci-fi now? If you want to let your kids watch sci-fi theres plenty of sacharrine shit from Pixar and the like available.

    "The SciFi remake even bothered me as an adult (the part where at the beginning of the series, the Cylon chick snaps a human baby's neck.)"

    You're coming across as just a teensy bit wet my friend.

    1. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by teh+kurisu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So get the original series on DVD and show them that.

    2. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by Totenglocke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except that the new BSG ISN'T the show you enjoyed as a kid. If you want your kids to enjoy the BSG you liked when you were young, go buy the original BSG series on dvd for them.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    3. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by MartinSchou · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So you have no problem with your kids watching a dozen planets and billions of people being annihilated in a nuclear holocaust, people being left behind to die of radiation sickness, starvation and the like, people being executed, committing suicide - but don't nobody go killing babies?

      The baby killing scene builds tension the best way possible - showing us that the Cylons had no issue with killing off the weak and innocent. She's even musing about the baby's weakness as she does it. That's why it is so effective - it tells us that there is no negotiating with them, tells us that they have no compassion and that we'd be better off hoping that the group of hungry lions don't eat the baby gazelle.

      But back to my original point - why is it that you feel your kids can enjoy watching billions of people being killed, but you can't allow them to watch a single one being killed? Why is it that you feel that your kids can enjoy watching an episode like 33, where humans themselves kill a ship with a significant amount of the survivors of the attacks (I think 1,300 vs 45,000), but the sound effect of a baby's neck snapping and a mother crying out in anguish is too much?

    4. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by Killjoy_NL · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Personally I thought that the cylon killing the baby was more of a mercy killing so the baby wouldn't suffer when the nukes fell.
      Showing the audience that the cylon had some human qualities.

      --
      This is the sig that says NI (again)
  6. Re:Thank goodness by discord5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the part where at the beginning of the series, the Cylon chick snaps a human baby's neck

    *gasp* Not a baby!! Considering the fact that they nuke everything and anything they can see about half an hour later, the baby was lucky. Lateron in the show have breeding farms with humans, and they steal Starbucks ovary, and much later they subjugate all of humanity under the guise of "co-existence" and torture their prisoners. They steal Sauls eyeball (again with the bodypart snatching, what's up with that?). Oh, and then there were suicide terrorists. But oh dear gods, they snapped a babies neck, that really makes this show inappropriate for kids as opposed to ... all the other things.

    I'd much rather have something I could take my kids to and just plain enjoy.

    Feed'm Disney, or Pixar, or whatever is popular these days. Hell, I was entertained for hours with Tom & Jerry and Roadrunner back in the day. (Beware though, in some cartoons featuring Roadrunner, Wiley Coyete is violently smashed against big boulders most often followed by an explosion. This may offend you.) Most of my friends with kids have an entire shelf full of that stuff, and they tend to watch shows like BSG when their kids have gone to sleep.

    Just saying, not everything needs to be suitable for kids. There's plenty of stuff that's ready made for them and is still enjoyable to parents.

  7. You have no idea what my tastes are by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And I don't see why a sci fi series dealing with adult themes should be made child friendly. Kids have enough TV of their own. Its bad enough with most films being downgraded to 12 certificates without infliciting the same on TV shows. Clearly you think the original series is rubbish or you would have shown your kids that instead.

  8. Re:I bet he'd have liked it if he'd been in it-NOT by Meditato · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm a child of the late 80s and 90s, and I grew up watching Star Trek DS9 and later spending my teenage years watching the newer BSG series. So out of curiosity, I went back and watched the old BSG... There's a reason they did a rebooted series and not something based off the old one. Because the old one is a piece of crap. It was morally simplistic, hokey, ripping too much off Star Wars, too Mormon (Larson is a Mormon), and requiring too great a suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy.

  9. Re:Thank goodness by MistrX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I remember Tom swallowing dynamite and bowlingballs. Do I love the classical cartoons that are funny and not pouring with political correct utopian ideas. I loved them as a kid and I'm still not a mass murderer. It must be magic.

  10. Re:Bede bede bede - say what? by SilverJets · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did the new BSG go into territory the original didn't? Well yes, some. But *everything* that happened in the original series happened in the new one, which I give Sci-Fi kudos for. (Ok, excepting for the daggits or flying motorcycles...)

    Or Apollo raising Boxey. Or landing on a casino planet with insect people that start sticking the crew into hive compartments. Or Baltar becoming the leader of the Cylons. Or Starbuck being stranded on a prison planet where the inmates are the descendants of the original inmates. Or Apollo being stranded on a frontier planet and having an old-west shoot out with Red-Eye. Or encountering Count Iblis. And there are probably more that I just can't think of right now.

    I guess it depends on your definition of *everything*.