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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.'"

83 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Bleh by Canazza · · Score: 3, Funny

    grats for spoiling the ending, someone mod that down :D

    --
    It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
  2. 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 teh+kurisu · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      Would it have been any less of a rip-off if the show and the characters had been given different names? I doubt it. I also doubt that completely rewriting the show to remove any and all allusions to the original series would have made it any better. 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.

    3. 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.

    4. Re:Bede bede bede by teh+kurisu · · Score: 5, Funny

      Obligatory SPOILER ALERT

      No doubt all fiction can be traced right back to a factual account of early humans' journey out of Africa... which by coincidence is exactly where the BSG re-imagined series ends.

      Perhaps it can be traced right back to when the survivors of the 12 colonies landed in Africa, in which case all fiction can be traced to Battlestar Galactica.

    5. Re:Bede bede bede by Canazza · · Score: 2, Insightful

      DS9 actually got interesting when they stopped dicking about on Bajor and had them some wars...

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    6. Re:Bede bede bede by Sebilrazen · · Score: 3, Funny

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

      --
      "There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
    7. Re:Bede bede bede by mrsquid0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >DS9 actually got interesting when they stopped dicking about on Bajor and had them some wars...

      I found that DS9 got tedious when they stopped dealing with the political and social situation on Bajor and turned it into yet another humans vs aliens war story.

      --
      Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Re:Bede bede bede by coaxial · · Score: 3, Funny

      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).

      Yeah, I'm so glad how me made Greedo shoot first, but Han still measures time in distance.

      Now excuse me for yard. I've got a phone call.

    11. Re:Bede bede bede by coolmoose25 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ka is a circle.

      --
      Brawndo: It's what plants crave!
    12. Re:Bede bede bede by MROD · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, and the mice were furious!

      --

      Agrajag: "Oh no, not again!"
    13. 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.
    14. Re:Bede bede bede by ground.zero.612 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ok first of all, Bede bede bede isn't from Battlestar Galactica, it's from Buck Rogers, duh. How anyone could fuck that up so bad and still get +5 Insightful I will may never know.

      Second of all the "rip off" isn't the name, it's the fact that Ronald D. Moore intentionally crippled the Blu-Rays by applying an artificial static fuzz to the entire series. I happily spent my $260 w/tax to purchase "The Complete Series" only to be so severely disappointed as to most likely never watch them on Blu-Ray. I've complained to Universal Home Entertainment that they stole my money with false advertising by intentionally avoiding notifying potential buyers of the discs that they have been intentionally distorted and degraded. Feh.

      --
      "Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
    15. Re:Bede bede bede by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Informative

      He got it. He didn't merely fixate on that one aspect of the original.

      Fortunately, he did seem to really "get it" and tried to focus on the
      character aspects of the original series that were really the heart of
      the success of the original series.

      TOS was all about Kirk+Spock+McCoy. Space and the future human nirvana
      was just the backdrop. Trek starts to reek not when it forgets about
      the cuddly teddy bears but when it forgets it's about people/characters.

      Trek succeeds only when it doesn't deviate too far from being a Forbidden
      Planet knockoff.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    16. 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.

    17. Re:Bede bede bede by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...and oh such luxurious feathered hair.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    18. Re:Bede bede bede by Anastomosis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not a re-imagining. It's a cashing-in on the name value of the original concept.

      I don't get what is inaccurate about any series branding itself a re-imagining. Or I guess, perhaps I can't glean your definition of what you think a "re-imagining" is from your comment. I accept the definition that the production company uses just fine; it is an original series with imaginary settings and characters (i.e. fiction), based on a previous series with imaginary settings and characters. It is re-imagined because the settings, characters, and story have been tweaked/added/removed to the point where some significant actual imagination is required. The Star Wars trilogy thing was not a re-imagining, and no one ever claimed as such, it being a form of (mild) re-make. Same characters, same universe, same story, just a slightly altered storytelling medium.

      You are right that it absolutely is a cashing-in on the name value of the original concept. No one is doubting that. But, they were honest about that up front anyway. They said this is a re-imagining of the original series. Therefore, they are explicitly using whatever power the brand name Battlestar Galactica had to market their product. No need to go into the importance of brand naming; I think we all understand how powerful that is. It is a gamble though. By using the name, you are inviting comparisons to the source material with every review and every viewing by anyone who has seen the original. Since the critical consensus was that the 2004 BSG was quite superior to the 1978 BSG, the gamble paid off quite nicely. For another example of this, see Star Trek (2009) (not saying that was vastly superior, but just that the gamble paid off there as well).

      Part of the gamble is, of course, the "veneers" that tie it to the original work have to be obvious enough to justify using the same name. I can't just make a video of me making a turkey sandwich, upload it to YouTube and call it a re-imagining of Batman. The critical/public consensus here though was that there was enough similarities (a space ship called Galactica lead by a man named Adama guiding/accompanying the last remnants of the human race to a new homeworld while being pursued by a cyborg race called Cylons, among many other themes) to justify the name.

      So you're right about the using the name value. But since that happens all the time every single day in a society with any semblance of a free market, you need to go farther and explain why that is bad. Since tropes are re-used over and over throughout all fiction, just saying "same name!" is not sufficient as a criticism.

    19. 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.

    20. Re:Bede bede bede by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 2, Informative

      Are we talking about the same thing? Battlestar Galactica? I remember being enthralled with the original (1987)

      I don't think we're talking about the same thing, since the first Battlestar Galactica was a 1978 TV series...I was in elementary school when it came out.

      Perhaps you're confusing its timeframe with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which did start its run in 1987?

      I know for some of you young'uns, any date before 1990 is all the same, but some of us were actually around back then and remember watching these shows on their first run.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    21. Re:Bede bede bede by D1gital_Prob3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Measuring the Kessel Run in distance makes perfect sense. From wookiepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run): Han Solo claimed that his Millennium Falcon "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs". A parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Solo was not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. Instead, he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance. He may have indirectly referred to the speed of his ship in this instance because, to be able to go closer to a black hole and still be able to get out of its gravitational pull, it is necessary to go faster. However, parsec relates to time in that a shorter distance equals a shorter time at the same speed. By moving closer to the black holes, Solo managed to cut the distance down to about 11.5 parsecs.

    22. Re:Bede bede bede by mandark1967 · · Score: 5, Funny

      This post sounds better if you read it to yourself using the Comic Book Guy's voice from the Simpsons...

      --
      Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
    23. Re:Bede bede bede by Anastomosis · · Score: 4, Informative

      I find it rare that I ever chime in with someone using all caps in their post... but I couldn't agree more. This is exactly how I felt after seeing the finale.

      Really? All 40 thousand survivors + whatever Cylons there were are just going to give up their understanding about the entire universe and not teach it to their children or leave some sort of octagonal stone/metal records behind? I can understand Lee Adama (a non-scientist soldier who was just fed up with the war and all and blamed the existence of nuclear bombs on the evil SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY) deciding to go all hermit-action. I can even understand a majority of the uneducated masses doing that. But everyone? Really? I mean, after basically insinuating that Doc Cottle was the sole physician in the fleet they pulled a frakking neurosurgeon (John Hodgman you rule) out of their ass in the final season. We have to assume there are quite a few educated others in the fleet that, even if they wouldn't be super excited about building a modern city right away, would at least be able to separate the evils of the application of technology (war and such) from the advantages that come from understanding the world around them. The Adamas can drive all their technology and records and books into the sun, but they can't take away all these people's lifetime education. Even Gaius Baltar is going to start farming... did anyone catch that? That's right, the agricultural revolution actually started 140,000 years before you think it did.

      I mean, where do you draw the line at where "technology" is, anyway? What, are they going to take away the hunting spears from the native humans and say "NO! TECHNOLOGY BAD!" After really liking the whole series for four seasons, like the parent post says, they pull classic hippie / not-thinking-the-concept-through / technology-and-science-is-inferior-to-"nature"-even-though-it's-a-part-of-it crap.

    24. Re:Bede bede bede by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Never mention 1980-anything with respect to Battlestar Galactica again!

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    25. Re:Bede bede bede by Snowgen · · Score: 5, Informative

      DS9 only got good when they hired 1/2 the creative people off of B5

      Which creative people would that be? There were 110 B5 episodes. Of those 92 were written by JMS. All 44 episodes of seasons 3 and 4 were scripted by him.

      because fox said (You guessed it) B5 is cancelled.

      That would be a peculiar thing for Fox to say, as B5 was produced by Warner Brothers and aired in syndication.

      Amazingly they recanted

      not quite... what happened is that TNT agreed to pick up the show.

      which is why the last season of B5 was crap they had lost 1/2 their talent and squeezed the last 2 years of story arc into season 4 to finish the series.

      The only person I recall leaving was Claudia Christian who played Cmdr Ivanova.

      Damn you FOX!!

      Fox had nothing to do with anything.

      Good post. Next time try some facts.

    26. Re:Bede bede bede by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Lame special effects

      I guess you're trolling but I'll bite and ask: Are you frakkin' kidding?!! I remember watching the show every Sunday night and being blown away by the FX. There was nothing on the air like it in 1978:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED89A1rm-Bg

      This stuff was done *on TV*, with MODELS and motion-control cameras. It was unprecedented. I realize every kid today can whip off an episode of Star Track on his Macbook, but that was not the case in 1978.

    27. Re:Bede bede bede by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm guessing the name was necessary to obtain funding for the series.

      "I want to make an gritty and edgy new sci-fi series, loaded with violence and moral conflicts. Oh, and in the first episode, 50,000,000,000 people die."

      "No."

      "Ok. My second proposal: A re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica."

      "GREAT IDEA!"

    28. Re:Bede bede bede by Anastomosis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sure we caught that. And for all we know Baltar made a wonderful little farm with Caprica Six and they had a few babies together, but obviously that didn't start the agricultural revolution.

      Sorry, I was admittedly not totally clear. So I said even Gaius was going to start farming, i.e. as an extreme example (even Gaius, a scientist who abhors the "farming" part of his past, is going to start farming). They wisely didn't tell us how many people were going to begin farming, but uh... what else are they going to do? Assuming these colonists are from a civilization even more advanced than ours, there would be a negligible number that know how to hunt their own food. Most likely, the easiest thing for them to do would be to gather and... plant the seeds from the foods they gather. Probably almost everyone would know how to domesticate plants, and animals that would let them. They come from a different paradigm, one where they KNOW what will happen when they plant something, rather than being forced to discover it due to population pressures.

      Yes, the 'agricultural revolution' does refer to the time when population pressures in an area with relatively easily domesticable plants and/or animals force that population to invent the concept of 'food storage' to survive... and not when randomly scattered people around the world mysteriously began doing it all simultaneously. So I probably should have said "an agricultural revolution" rather than "the agricultural revolution."

      It's easy to just sit back and go... "well, 150,000 years is such a long time... the knowledge would just have... faded away..." But, really, is that what would have happened? Maybe I'm the only one here (though in the company of Slashdot readers, I somehow doubt it), but I simply can't forget my knowledge of the world. Let's stop thinking in broad nebulous concepts, and actually take this step by step, i.e. less in terms of Civilization and more in terms of The Sims. Let's say I was one of the colonists. I'm sick of the war, I'm sick of eating algae, I'm sick of being on a space ship. No doubt the live-with-nature lifestyle would have appealed to me. So, I take a small group and we go off in Africa somewhere to live among pre-verbal humans. I'm sorry, but I can't degenerate to that level though. Not won't, but can't. I have not been physically trained my entire life to be a hunter. I don't have those skills, and neither does my group. I might eschew all technology, but I can't forget the scientific knowledge that I have. I can't forget the language that I can use.

      I, personally, (and among 40,000 people I'm sure there's at least one person who feels the same way) would start applying my knowledge to my survival. Assuming they don't kill me outright, where the natives could teach me, I would learn from them. Where I could teach them, I would do so. If some manner of communication could be established, I would teach them about the sun, the stars, the moon. I would even teach them basic biology and animal husbandry. I would even possibly do some basic Newtonian physics if they could handle that. Why wouldn't I? I have no reason to lie or to make up myths or to adopt theirs, nor do I have any reason to lie to my offspring when I know perfectly well the reason that the sun disappears for about 12 hours every day. And I can't see any reason why they would lie to theirs either, when it really is the only thing that satisfies the ever-present human questions about their world.

      I don't want the whole Cylon mistake to happen again, but so then what do I do about that? Do I just somehow knock my head against a rock until the facts I know about the universe fall out? Maybe the other 39K people would just assimilate and deny the truths they not only have been taught but have experienced. But not me - you can disagree with everything I have said up to now, but at least know this: all I'm saying is what I personally would do. And though I'm not arrogant enough to assume everyone would be the same, I believe that at least a small subset would be of that mindset. I don't expect this to be fully understood on, e.g. a Myspace comment page. But, I do expect this to be understood by Slashdot readers. At least.

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

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

    1. Re:Amazing by nacturation · · Score: 5, Funny

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

      When a movie reminds you of that channel, would you say it's Syfylous?

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    2. Re:Amazing by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. You can't have channels with generic terms like "Discovery" or "History" or "Learning".

  4. Meh... by Annwvyn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Though I did enjoy the series... To be honest, I don't think a movie that takes another shot at what the series did (even if in a different light) will be terribly interesting. I am sure that they will make it look spiffy with spectacular special effects and all... but that does not a good movie make. Like DNS-and-BIND said... come up with a new idea, don't just re-vamp old ones and ruin them.

  5. Thank goodness by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the new movie will not be related to the recently concluded SyFy Network series

    I can only hope. The 1970's show was something I loved as a kid (I remember running to the TV when I heard the theme song come one), and it's something my little kids have enjoyed. 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.)

    There's an audience for this kind of fiction (as I'm sure SciFi's ratings proved), but I'd much rather have something I could take my kids to and just plain enjoy.

    1. Re:Thank goodness by FTWinston · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.)

      That part was pretty much intended to bother everyone, I think. I didn't enjoy the miniseries that much, but the rest of it, especially the start of season 3 and the last season, was especially awesome ... apart from a few inevitable filler episodes here and there.

    2. 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.

    3. Re:Thank goodness by SerpentMage · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I get tired of this... "I watched this as a kid and it was good and this new stuff well..."

      MOVE ON!!!! I watched the original TOS, and original Battlestar Galatica, and want to know something. I prefer the new ones. Even TNG is showing its age now. As we evolve socially certain things are tacky and cliche. Sure it is fun to watch, but you have to jump over those odd moments.

      Take James Bond, which I have never been a fan of. The latest one Quantum Solace I loved! Many Bond folks said, "gag gag..." Just like how I am uncomfortable with the new Star Trek movie. But at the end of the day I say, let's see how these folks did this and maybe I will like... Keep the mind open for change and you just, just maybe, might enjoy it...

      --

      "You can't make a race horse of a pig"
      "No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
    4. 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.

    5. Re:Thank goodness by tenco · · Score: 2, Insightful

      70's Starbuck was male.

    6. Re:Thank goodness by tenco · · Score: 2, Funny

      70's Starbuck was male.

      Err, that was the GP's point.

      Others maybe don't know that.

      70's Starbuck objectified women.

      Which doesn't necessarily imply that he was male. Women can objectify women, too.

      And then thre ws the whole "women flying vipers, we can't do that!" episode which IIRC ended with a patronizing "didn't they do well" and was never mentioned again.

      Now that's a good example for objectification. And i didn't know that one :)

    7. Re:Thank goodness by kheldan · · Score: 2

      You can have your sanitized little entertainments all you like -- so long as you do NOT EVER try to sanitize everything else. This is a world of ADULTS, we don't WANT to live in a childproofed world.

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  6. 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.

    1. Re:They just can't leave well alone by blueZ3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why can't they know when something is "complete"? Because despite all the claims to the contrary, Hollywood (indeed, the entire entertainment industry) is NOT about "art"--it's about money. There are a lot of individuals in the industry who think of themselves as artists, and there are a few (a very few) who actually are artists--or at least craftsmen--but most of the decisions about what gets produced, and how those productions are edited, marketed, and then "slowly milked to death" are made by people who are in it for the money.

      Case in point: at one time there were some companies out there editing DVDs to cut out the "objectionable" parts. Directors sued because the companies in question were "ruining their artistic vision." But you'll notice that in almost every case, the directors were silent when their films were edited for television (almost the same edits that these companies were making) and they got a cut of the action.

      As in most areas of human endeavor, if you're wondering why something happens a useful starting point is to look at who profits (in money, influence, power, etc)

      --
      Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
  7. In other words by Mag7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Larson hated the new series

    1. Re:In other words by pmontra · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I can believe it as it was about the opposite in spirit of what the original one was. Actually I don't know what Larson tough about the new BSG but Dirk Benedict didn't like it. Personally I enjoyed both shows, I hope the movie will be as good as them.

    2. Re:In other words by Megane · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Dirk Benedict may not have liked it, but Richard Hatch actually had a proposal for a sequel to the original series. He has a demo tape with some awesome footage that is everything you would expect from the original series. I got to see it a few years ago when he came to a convention I was at. (And how can you go wrong with a sequel to a show that killed off an '80s pop singer in the first episode?)

      Article

      Youtube

      However, the people with the big money wanted to do Boobiestar Galactica, and denied him the rights. (At least they let him have a part.)

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  8. 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 DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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.

      You say I should go to Pixar films. I say you should watch the Saw movies. People with your tastes have no more claim on the BSG franchise than people with my tastes.

      I was just saying that I wanted my kids to be able to enjoy something that I enjoyed when I was their age. I'm sorry that's hard for you to handle.

    2. 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.

    3. 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
    4. 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?

    5. 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:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by ScentCone · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So you have no problem with your kids watching a dozen planets and billions of people ... but don't nobody go killing babies?

      This is nothing new. Folks pay other people to kill cattle, swine, sheep, goats, rabbits, fish, crustaceans and poultry on their behalf millions of times every day. Most of them would have to be personally starving before they could bring themselves to be that necessarily predatory/brutal up close and personal. To say nothing of using a knife to clean the guts out of a hog before roasting or frying the tasty parts.

      So, people are always in denial about reality. The cylon is being depicted as not being in denial about the billions of people they're about to kill. Being a part of that slaughter, and being committed to it, means that doing a bit of it with your own hands is a measure of your moral certainty (or ambivalence). Enjoy your hamburger at lunch today! Or, your tofu (many earthworms were killed when tilling that soybean field, you evil vegan bastards - and you know who you are!).

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    7. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by Totenglocke · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Fair enough. However, I think far too many movies these days are ruined (or at least not as good as they could / should be) due to being "suitable for kids" and trying to appeal to a broader audience.

      Obviously Star Wars comes to mind with Jar Jar, but you also had similar things in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Mutt getting hit in the crotch, the swinging with the monkeys), and the Transformer movies of course (the twin's being all ghetto, Bumblebee peeing on the guy, etc). These things are completely unnecessary and lower the quality of a movie.

      I think kids should have kids movies, teens should have movies that are better than kids movies but not fully adult, and adults should have their movies. I'm not saying adults can't enjoy kids movies (Madagascar is great) but I really wish that the studios would stop trying to make ever super hero / sci-fi movie a "family friendly" movie. Pick your target audience, then make a film for them. When you try to target everyone, you may make a lot of money (like Star Wars), but people will always remember it as not being a very good movie.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    8. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2, Informative

      And I'm not required to watch the drek the movie'll be.

      But even if every bit of onscreen violence is taken out, the main idea that mankind has almost been obliterated and is now being hunted by remorseless machines is adult and not all that suitable for kids.

      I wasn't proposing having the BSG movie be "Elmo in Space." I'd be perfectly willing to bring my older kids to a movie with space fights, Centurions vs. Colonial warriors shooting each other with side-arms, etc. Even with scenes showing the nuking of their home planet and possibly having to leave some behind.

      What I won't bring my kids to is babies having their necks snapped, or the sex scene where the Cylon skin-job mounted on top of Baltar, with her spine lighting up as she has an orgasm.

      I really don't care whether or not a BSG movie exists with the qualities described in the paragraph immediately above this one. Have a blast. I'm just saying I hope there's a movie in the BSG franchise that has the cool stuff I liked from the 70's series, without the stuff that makes me unwilling to bring my kids to mentioned in the paragraph above. I'm really pretty baffled as to why this is such an inflamatory view.

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

      The death of one is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic.

    10. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The difference between billions of people dying in a nuclear attack (or in thousands dying by destroying the ship they are on), and the one baby dying are twofold: 1. the level of abstractions, and 2. simple human emotion. A billion sudden deaths are abstract. You don't see them. You don't hear them. Even those people still alive that are abandoned on the planet are abstract - they aren't dead or dying NOW and the show barely displayed any sickness or injury on them. Compare that to watching (ok, "hearing") a woman snap a baby's neck and all of a sudden the abstraction is gone. You witness one person killing another person, a "woman" murdering a baby. There's no abstraction to blunt #2 referenced above: human emotion. You get it, full force. Indeed, as you watch the scene, they even display the Cylon who does it having an emotional problem with the act she just committed. Rather than seeing how terrible they are, you actually see one struggling with the knowledge that this small defenseless innocent baby is going to die a horrible fiery death and so decides to save the baby from that fate by killing it quickly herself. If you don't get the concept of abstraction, you are either not a parent or you are an emotionless inhuman idiot (possible to be both).

    11. Re:Why does everything have to be child friendly?? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You say I should go to Pixar films. I say you should watch the Saw movies. People with your tastes have no more claim on the BSG franchise than people with my tastes.

      Claim?

      WTF does "claim" have to do with it?

      They made a BSG series that is not for kids. So... don't show it to your kids. You might as well place some "claim" on Saw and say they should make that kid friendly.

      I was just saying that I wanted my kids to be able to enjoy something that I enjoyed when I was their age. I'm sorry that's hard for you to handle.

      Hey, I have an idea, then -- try showing them the thing that you enjoyed when you were their age! The original series is available both on DVD and on broadcast TV!

      So there are multiple versions of a thing, and some of those versions you don't like because they aren't kid friendly. I don't see why this is a problem.

      By the way, there are multiple versions of the tales of the Brothers Grimm, and some of them are not kid-with-modern-parent friendly! I guess they never should have made the version of Snow White where they force the Witch to put on red-hot iron shoes and dance until she died! OOOOOORRRRRRRR -- you should stick to the Disney version.

      Naw that wouldn't work.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  9. But but but by eclectro · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's a cashing-in on the name value of the original concept.

    If the jumpsuits are skin-tight, would it be all bad?? I, for one, say bring it on.

    --
    Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
  10. Whore that brand by trawg · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Penny Arcade talks about milking brands.

    I loved the new BSG series - one of the things I've enjoyed doing most involving a screen in the last several years. But this just seems like a really shameless attempt to get more money out of me. At least let a couple years pass; I can't even buy all the episodes of BSG on DVD yet.

  11. I bet he'd have liked it if he'd been in it by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just sounds like sour grapes to me. This isn't the 1970s anymore - TV series (well, the upmarket ones) need people who can actually act well, not just stand on their mark looking good. ANd I don't think anyone could accuse Benedict of being the worlds best actor - calling him wooden would be unfair to the pine desk I'm typing this at.

  12. Yeah another paradox by pariahdecss · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let me guess a bizarre time paradox will result in an alternate reality, allowing them to re-imagine the series. Where have I seen that before?

  13. Entertainment is an Industry by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Milking a franchise" for writers/producers/distributors is like re-using bits of code for developers. It worked once, and with only a little bit of tweaking, it will work again. If you can bill twice for something you've already written, you do it. Obviously.

    Entertainment *can* be art, like code *can* be poetry, but mostly it's not. People gotta eat.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. All of this ... by bdraschk · · Score: 5, Funny

    All of this was re-imagined before and it will be re-imagined again.

    1. Re:All of this ... by gparent · · Score: 3, Funny

      There are many copies!

  17. Good thing too by mlush · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't think I could take BSG shakeycam footage on a big screen!

  18. Re:Bleh by itsdapead · · Score: 4, Funny

    grats for spoiling the ending

    You can't spoil the ending: the writers already did that.

    --
    In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
  19. Re:Bleh by tenco · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You may want to watch it again. It's a bit deeper than that. Democracy in precarious situations is a recurring theme, for example.

  20. Ah crap! by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok, when the NEW BSG came out, I was like...is this a continuation, is this a complete do over ...how is it going to work...
    They came up with a sort of nice way to begin the series as say they left then came back...

    Now they are saying they are going back to the drawing board again....why? More importantly, are they going to keep Starbuck?
    She is hot!

  21. Re:Bede bede bede - say what? by Markvs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm with you on the most of your points, but the 70's Battlestar Galactica & the 00's Galactica are the same show exactly the same way the 1974 Three Musketeers and the 1993 Three Musketeers are the same movie. Or compare Mel Gibson's Hamlet to Kenneth Branagh's, or 1984's DUNE to the recent Sci-Fi. Things happen a little differently, but each one is a fair representation of itself.

    To say that re-imagining is crap is to say that any story that is redone is automatically inferior to it's predecessor. Which I don't buy, because (who knows?) some day we might even get a version of Blake's 7 with good production values!

    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...)

    --
    46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
  22. Aim between by Funky+Weasel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm in a seeming minority that enjoyed the old show that, admittedly, I grew up with and BSG 2004.

    The former was a product of the times but suffered the same sort of flaws that would happen in similarly targeted family-friend shows of today - it had it's own Annoying Kid/Jar Jar (Boxy and Muffet the robot-ape-dog-thing), shocking techno-blags, appalling support actors (not to mention somewhat teak-like main actors). But there was always a sense of prevailing optimism, and heroes were heroes as opposed not dysfunctional man-children, an obligatory alcoholic main cast member, or psychotic nymphomaniacs.

    Whilst the latter sometimes degenerated into misery TV - the point often missed in dark series is that against a background of apparent despair hope shines all the more brightly, increasing the poignancy of the moment. There was more of a sense of life aboard a naval vessel than the flying plastic city of the 1970s complete with pastelles.

    My hope is that the new motion picture aims somewhere between the optimistic heroics, campness and suspciously Mormon-like super-aliens of the original; and the grim, dystopic, occasionally rapetastic recent series.

  23. Re:I bet he'd have liked it if he'd been in it-NOT by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Problem is every time I watch any of the Thunderebirds I keep having a song run through my head...

    "america...... America..... America F Yeah! here we come to save the mutherfin day now......"

    Thunderbirds is forever changed now...

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  24. Re:I bet he'd have liked it if he'd been in it-NOT by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, what a cheesy soundtrack. Richard Strauss and Gyorgi Ligetti were just cheap pop icons.

  25. The Hollywood Singularity by hoggoth · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Hollywood Singularity will occur when a movie is remade before the previous remake has finished production. I am glad to see this bold step towards the Hollywood Singularity.

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  26. Re:Caprica by imgod2u · · Score: 2, Funny

    Really? You thought "Cylons started with an emo teen" was a good plot?

  27. ...And they have a plan. by Mercano · · Score: 4, Funny

    The BSG movie was created by man. It was camed. It was torrented. There are many copies...

    --
    #include <signature.h>
  28. DO NOT WANT -- or NEED. by kheldan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The new BSG was great, I thought. Awesome. That being said, and even though I have all the original broadcasts of it on DVD (or waiting to be made into DVDs), I doubt I'll watch it again anytime in the next decade. Why? Because it was so awesome, it held my attention so well that I know I won't forget significant details about it before then. Also because it was such a journey to make watching it, and I've still got the taste of dust from the trail of that journey in my mouth for at least 10 more years. I don't NEED some movie muddying up all my memories of watching BSG. Leave it the fuck alone!

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  29. Does this mean by HBPiper · · Score: 2, Funny

    Starbuck will be a guy again?

    --
    "I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating. And in fourteen days, I had lost exactly two weeks. Joe E. Lewis
  30. 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*.

  31. PS. by MROD · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The last episode did seem to be a re-imagining of the end of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV and (first) Radio series, it's the end of the Book "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe").

    Just think of the parallels:

    A man in a bath steers the last remnants of a dying race to their final destination planet, Earth, in a ship who's name starts with the letter 'B' ("B Ark" vs. "Battlestar Galactica").

    They land in pre-historic times and out-compete the indigenous pre-agricultural humanoids, supplanting them in the ecosystem. These, and not the original inhabitants become the human race as we know them today.

    The episode closes with the playing of a classic music track (Louis Armstrong vs. Jimmy Hendrix). ;-)

    --

    Agrajag: "Oh no, not again!"