Slashdot Mirror
Battlestar Galactica Creator Glen A. Larson Dead At 77
schwit1 writes Glen A. Larson, the wildly successful television writer-producer whose enviable track record includes 'Six Million Dollar Man', Quincy M.E., Magnum, P.I., Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider and The Fall Guy, has died. He was 77.
From the article: Battlestar Galactica lasted just one season on ABC from 1978-79, yet the show had an astronomical impact. Starring Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch as leaders of a homeless fleet wandering through space, featuring special effects supervised by Star Wars’ John Dykstra and influenced by Larson’s Mormon beliefs, Battlestar premiered as a top 10 show and finished the year in the top 25. But it was axed after 24 episodes because, Larson said, each episode cost “well over” $1 million.
No - the original Battlestar Galactica was real crap. Cheesy as all heck. Soooo bad that when a friend of mine tried to introduce me to the new Battlestar Galactica I was beyond skeptical.
The original Star Trek, on the other hand, has aged well considering the low budgets, etc.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Just keep that famous saying in mind, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a cheesy special effect." This even happens with nature - ever seen an aurora or a video of one? It looks like really shitty CGI, but it's real. *shrug*
Seriously, a basic typo on the title of a news make it to the front page ? I'm all for giving /. a chance wrt. the poor quality of article and the associated criticizes, but this is pushing it a bit far...
The best decade of timothy's life was second grade.
And it's been all downhill from there.
Don't be mean to him.
in science fiction, as well as video games, graphics get dated very very quickly. what makes a timeless piece are things like plot, character, and storyline. Star Wars has a timeless plot. The original star treks do as well, even if they are not quite as epic. The overacting has its own appeal, as does the now very retro paper mache monster heads and costumes
Like yahren. And felgercarb,
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...
No - the original Battlestar Galactica was real crap. Cheesy as all heck
I think you're really looking at the show unfairly. When it came on the air (over 36 years ago) there was nothing else like it on television. Nothing. Sure it was riding the Star Wars wave, and it recycled FX shots, but at the time it was groundbreaking. Think about what else was on then - The Incredible Hulk, Vegas, Dallas.
I still remember the first time the trailer aired: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
And hopefully, there will never be anything like it again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Pillor me if you want, but every show this man touched eventually got cancelled or became garbage. Long live Glen Larson!!!
Isn't that every show that isn't still on the air?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
this is seriously sad news. I grew up on Glen A. Larson shows. Particularly BSG (two words: Laurette Spang. With her almost entirely off-the-shoulder wardrobe) and Knight Rider (it was the car. And the hot, hot Bonnie and April).
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Dice's finances are currently taking a hit, so they've asked Slashdot editors to conserve "R"s.
#DeleteChrome
The sad part is the submission had it spelled correctly. "Creato" was all timothy.
And hopefully, there will never be anything like it again.
But Jane Seymour!
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
way beyond the Red Line into uncharted space. His work will not be forgotten.
SO SAY WE ALL!
Star Trek TOS holds up incredibly well. Probably because it had excellent writing and a thoughtful take on the material.
I heard something about too much Rs breaking the internet.
You've got that backwards. It started on TV, then they wanted to capitalize on it popularity and made a movie version of it and put it in theaters.
Personally, I am repelled by Mormonism. I will leave it at that because my intent is not to discuss a religious cult. Feel free to plug-in any other belief system and any other TV or movie show title to suit your own bigotries/preferences/tastes/beliefs.
I enjoyed the original BSG back when it originally aired. It was, at that time, the best special effects to ever hit TV and with a network and budget that provided a large cast, bit sets, and famous actors. Yeah, the writing was hit-and-miss as was some of the acting, but compared toeverything else on TV??? not really so bad. Some characters were good, others not, some actors did better than others with the material they were given. Same thing with UFO, Space 1999, and Trek. Let's face it: in Trek there were better episodes (city on the edge of forever) while others stank (space hippies, anyone?). If you enjoy science fiction then you have to live with two basic facts: [1] the entertainment industry is NOT populated with SciFi people and does not "get it", so they will ruin everything to some degree saving money by dropping plot elements, trying to broaden demographics with wunderkind characters (wesley? boxee? will robinson?) and babes (wilma deering, maya, athena, etc), and [2] few episodes will be written by serious scifi authors. If you like the scifi genre and you want to get it from pop culture, you're gonna have to accept it watered-down and very flawed so you're either gonna get angry and frustrated or learn to take it for what it is.
The thing I find truly dissapointing is NOT the flaws in Hollywood's presentation of scifi, but rather the more-recent development that so many people seem to want to hate any piece or art or literature becuase they disagree with some aspect of the beliefs of the creator of the work. I would find Hemingway to be a drunken lout, but I can enjoy his books. I would not embrace picasso's world view, but I can enjoy his art. As I indicated earlier, I reject Mormonism, but could enjoy BSG. I found many of Rodeberry's views to be ignorant and foolish, but I can enjoy Trek. I simply do not comprehend the warped idea that if you disagree with Larson you must dislike BSG, or if you think Rodenberry was a troll, you must reject Trek, or if you disagree with Orson Scott Card you must boycott Enders Game, etc. Whatever became of of all that "open-mindedness" and "tolerance for other viewpoints" people used to insist on? EVERY creator of a work has personal views and NONE completelty avoid letting those views seep into their work; this is human and unavoidable. If creators of works all stripped their particular beliefs and world views from their works, those works would be bland and would never inspire thought/debate/conversation/re-examination/introspection. Literature and Art USED to be the very forums where humanity went to examine life and existence from many perspectives particularly those perspectives foreign to them. We used to call this being "educated" and "elightened".
"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature." - Voltaire
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
When it came on the air (over 36 years ago) there was nothing else like it on television. Nothing.
Space:1999 had gone off the air a couple of years before. Not the best writing ever (especially the second season), and there were some interesting issues with the science on the show, but the effects were quite good for the time.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Probably because it had excellent writing and a thoughtful take on the material.
That, and William Ware Theiss's awesome costumes for the female guest stars.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Don't forget these were the "family friendly" seventies. It really limited just how "edgy" a show could be in it's writing, and technology *seriously* limited the effectiveness of F/X.
But you know what? I enjoyed what "SciFi" there was at the time. It sure beat the heck out of crap like "Dallas" or "Hee-Haw". :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
That's because until the new Battlestar Galactica, everyone who had seen the original had done their best to forget it. One of the worst sci-fi series ever, I suspect that Lorne Greene agreed to do it only because, years after the cancellation of Bonanza, he had run out of horses to grind up and sell as Alpo.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Worst Sci Fi series ever? I can name several candidates for that, including "Logan's Run" (the TV series) or some of the really awful stuff pushed onto Saturday morning kids programming (is Scooby Doo considered SF?) Ever hear of "Land of the Lost"? Heck, what about Doctor Who from the 1970's?
At the time it was made, there was little you could point to as episodic series that were any better. If you can name more than five shows that were of superior quality.... far superior quality that almost anybody would agree with you... please feel free to name them. They must have been made before 1980 though. I don't think you can. After 1980 there have been many shows that were better, but you are looking at it from the wrong perspective if you make that comparison.
Jabba is also really small, but this is rationalised away as "he's an alien, we don't know how quickly he would grow." And then they proceeded to insert not one but two original-Jabba-sized Hutts in ep 1, and no New Hope Jabba-sized ones.
And Solo isn't an "avatar", there's no digital trickery in the actual character -- he's just space-shifted up the frame. It's clumsy and horrendous to watch.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
5 great sci-fi episodic series before 1980? The Outer Limits (1963-65), The Twilight Zone (1959-64) , the original Star Trek (1966-69), Space:1999 (1975-77), The Prisoner (1967-68), and for a bonus (#6) (because of the setting - NASA, the characters - astronauts, the bending of the laws of physics, the humor, etc.) I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70).
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.