The new Battlestar Galactica

[Stingray]

Just wondering how many people here are into it. I saw Chad rip on it in another thread (no suprises really), but I was wondering what the opinions are of the sci-fi fans on this board who don't generally hate everything out of principal. I think it's the best sci-fi that's been on TV in ages. Excellent writing, acting, character development, effects, there really isn't anything I don't like about it.

That cliffhanger ending has me about to go out of my mind waiting for the new episodes in January.

-S

[markrvp]

I watched the first few episodes and just couldn't get into it.  I loved the original, so I guess I couldn't get over the fact that Starbuck is a girl.

[JoyMonkey]

I shouted at the TV at the cliffhanger.

My wife and I are hooked on BSG. I think it's easily the best sci-far show ever created, mostly because of the strong character relationships and how the cylons and war-fare are handled.

Incidentally, I found a website recently about a BSG remake that never made it to production from 2000. It was pretty interesting, but had a lot of designs that were probably deemed too similar to the original series to warrant a remake. Can't remember what the site was...

Edit: Here it is

[Zakk]

Yeah, my complaint is that it kind of seems like a crazy lesbian group got enough money together to butcher a sci-fi classic.

[Grasshopper]

Lesbians as well! It gets better and better. I've got to check this series out.

[JoyMonkey]

Lesbians as well! It gets better and better. I've got to check this series out.

No, there's no lesbians. Zakk's just a woman hater.

Oh, and only half of the human cylons that have been revealed are women.

[Zakk]

Oh I don't think I'm wrong on this one...I mean your wife likes a sci-fi show??  That doesn't set off little warning bells?  You just don't want to admit it because the show has started it's brainwashing job on you!    Come back!  Come back to the good side!  Where Starbuck got to boink Cassiopia AND Adama's daughter...all in one show, and Sulu was macho and not gay!!   

[Stingray]

I loved the original too, but lets face it, looking back it was pretty cheesy. I tried to watch a few eps on Sci-Fi a while back, just couldn't do it. I remember it being so great, but I was all of about 7 or 8 at the time. The new show is aimed at an adult audience and it really, really works. There was more plot development in the four hour mini series that preceded the series than there was in the entire run of the original.

And I love the Viper Mk II and the new Cylon Raiders. Their designers have some serious skills.

-S

[JoyMonkey]

Oh I don't think I'm wrong on this one...I mean your wife likes a sci-fi show??  That doesn't set off little warning bells?  You just don't want to admit it because the show has started it's brainwashing job on you!    Come back!  Come back to the good side!  Where Starbuck got to boink Cassiopia AND Adama's daughter...all in one show, and Sulu was macho and not gay!!   

Actually my wife has always been a bigger sci-fi geek than me. She has an embarassingly vast sci-fi DVD collection, two Princess Leia costumes and a vintage Trek costume. Neither of us have ever been dork enough to go to a sci-fi convention though.

[Zakk]

Oh I don't think I'm wrong on this one...I mean your wife likes a sci-fi show??

[Stingray]

I mean the enemies are -perfect- women, the best fighters are women,

Some of the enemies are perfect women (I have no problem with perfect women in sci-fi) some of them are men. They're all sinister and badass. The new Cylons are very, very good villains IMO.

the president of 'all that is left' is a woman,

A woman who is dying and is not at all confident in her leadership abilities.

 

and all of the men are kind of bumbling buffons.  Oh, good to see the character that sold out mankind to the cylons remained a man 

I love the new Dr. Baltar. He's not the cartoonish moustache-twirling bad guy that the original was. There's depth there that we see, but no one on th eshow does. You see the reasons why he behaves the way he does.

Adama and Apollo are both confident and compitent leaders. Tigh is a drunken moron, no doubt, but still tough as nails. Chief Tyrol is a great character, he builds stuff, he fixes stuff, he's a real BYO kind of guy. Okay, he's got some issues after discovering that he'd been boinking a toaster, but I still think he's very cool.

The female characters are not without their flaws. Starbuck is tough, but she also has real problems with authority and has that whole guilt thing going on because of the thing with Apollo's brother.

-S

[JoyMonkey]

Hmmm...TWO princess leia costumes??  Kinda like she would want another woman to wear it at the same time?  I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you should check and see if she has a large collection of kd lang cd's.

(however, if she does get another woman to wear the outfit at the same time, ummm, be sure to upload the pictures to stingray's photo depository) 

_{Just kidding about your wife being a closet lesbian...}

*Gasp!* I'm going home to check her CD collection right now!

[AC.]

I miss the swashbuckling male chauvinists of the original. I have watched many of the new season but it just has not stuck.  Starbuck a girl?! Plus the cylons in the original were so cool - it was something unique to see on tv.  Now, to save money on costumes, they just make the Cylons regular actors.

For some reason, the shaky - zooming - handycam,  in the new series reminds me of the PC game Homeworld.

[Zakk]

Starbuck is not a girl silly, that's Macaulay Culkin!

[JoyMonkey]

Plus the cylons in the original were so cool - it was something unique to see on tv.  Now, to save money on costumes, they just make the Cylons regular actors.

You're joking right? The Cylon Centurions are fully CG and a hell of a lot of time and money goes into their work. Putting people into consumes would be a cheap way out, the new Centurions are total bad-ass killing machines (they still have bad aim though).

[Grasshopper]

The thing that most annoyed me about the original Battlestar Galactica was the shameless way they kept on reusing the same stock footage. It was a very good series for the time but I suppose anything would look good when the only competition is Buck Rogers. 

Incidentally have they ditched the annoying robotic dog they had in the original series?

[Zakk]

The thing that most annoyed me about the original Battlestar Galactica was the shameless way they kept on reusing the same stock footage. It was a very good series for the time but I suppose anything would look good when the only competition is Buck Rogers.

[RayB]

It's a pretty good show. Took a little time for me to get over some things such as:

 - Overly-serious tone and storyline with the "president"

 - The religious angle (but i guess it's too integral to the story to do away with)

 - substituting "frak" for you know what word.

 - The cylon robots. They look 3D-rendered and poorly animated.

 - That everyone puts so much trust and responsibilty into someone who is so obviously acting neurotic (that "genius" guy)


Things that used to bug me:

I thought the "genius" was hallucinating and it really annoyed me, until a friend filled me in on some gaps in the story I missed early in the show. (He's not hallucinating, he has a cylon implant in his head, or something like that).

I also thought the technology on the ship was kind of dumb (they still use corded phones and linefeed printers?) But a friend explained that one to me too...


PS: I find this whole "lesbians" joke pretty stupid. Cuz what you're really saying is that shows where it's all men in power are actually produced by gay men?

[Havok]

The series is really completely different from the original. If you are judging it based on the original, I can see why a lot of people don't like the new one. It is much grittier than the original, and there is a lot more depth to it. I don't have a problem with the higher number of female "leads" and I enjoy the show.

One gripe I do have about the show is the "reality" camera angles, and the fact that they don't appear to use a stable mount for the cameras, ever.

There are two male cylons in the show - the one guy they locked away and abandoned, and another guy that got caught earlier in the show. Plus Boomer informed them that there are seven more cylons planted in the group - I'm sure some will be males.

This just isn't a cheesy remake, it's basically a new show with just the same basic premise.

[AC.]

About a year ago I rewatched all the original series from the DVD releases. 
That dog was stupid as ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.
They did use too much stock footage.

but the original had a sence of HUMOR. 
The new one is just a dark, opression-fest.

[quarterback]

I'm a big fan of the original series because of its cheeziness.

I'm also a big fan of the new series, but for totally different reasons.  I don't even think about it as the same show in really any way.

There were a couple episodes where the blonde in Baltar's head got annoying to me.  Too much is just too much sometimes.   The show occasionally goes little over the top, IMO.


But the real question is:  Is the show pro-Christianity (pro-monotheism) or anti-Christianity (pro polytheism)   

That's what the show is really about.  It's about the stuggle between the cylon belief of a single God who is 'love' and the humans who believe in many gods.   So, since the "bad guys" are 'Christians' and slaughter people who don't share their beliefs, you could say that the show is an indictment of Christianity.  OTOH, there have been times in the show where the polytheistic views of the humans have been blamed for their downfall and appeared to be simplistic mythological beliefs, which might lead one to believe it's mocking polytheism.

It's much more about religion than it is about lesbians or gender roles.

[JoyMonkey]

About a year ago I rewatched all the original series from the DVD releases. 
That dog was stupid as ---Cleveland steamer---.
They did use too much stock footage.

but the original had a sence of HUMOR. 
The new one is just a dark, opression-fest.

The new version is less camp, but not devoid of humour. Much of Baltars role is to provide comic relief (like when he's caught pleasuring himself) and the smart-ass surgeon always has some great one-liners.

PS: I find this whole "lesbians" joke pretty stupid. Cuz what you're really saying is that shows where it's all men in power are actually produced by gay men?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[RayB]

But the real question is:

[Stingray]

It's been pretty firmly established through Model Six (the blonde Cylon that Baltar sees in his head) that the monotheism of the Cylons vs. the polythesism of the colonials was a major factor in the Cylon war. Now what has not been firmly established is whether Number Six is really talking to Baltar, or if she's just a figment of his imagination. Either way he's nuts, but he's a great evil genius.

-S

[quarterback]

That's what the show is really about.  It's about the stuggle between the cylon belief of a single God who is 'love' and the humans who believe in many gods. 

Has that been established in the show as the motive behind the Cylon attacks? If not, I think you're reading way too much into this.

The original series (obviously) had allusions to religions (the 12 tribes etc etc etc) but never took it beyond that.  This series introduces religion into a number of the episodes, including a lot of talk about "the ONE God" about how Baltar must accept the ONE God as his own.  How the president becomes the chosen one to lead them etc etc etc.  Watch the episodes again and I think you'll find the religous themes to be fairly obvious.   More so in some episodes than others, but clearly there nonetheless.

I can't remember if it was "established in the show as the motive behind the Cylon attacks".  Honestly, as I ponder your question, I can't even remember exactly why the Cylons did decide to attack.   That being said, the religious belief battle is clearly part of the issue between the Cylons and Humans.  Watch the shows again and see what you think.

[saint]

Best. Show. Ever. (one of at any rate). I'm a big fan of the new series. Got my picture taken with Six at DragonCon

[Stingray]

Best. Show. Ever.

Saint speaks. So let it be written.

-S

[Sephroth57]

Oh I don't think I'm wrong on this one...I mean your wife likes a sci-fi show??

[Zakk]

PS: I find this whole "lesbians" joke pretty stupid. Cuz what you're really saying is that shows where it's all men in power are actually produced by gay men?

Well I'd hate to bother you or anything Ray.

[Zakk]

Best. Show. Ever. (one of at any rate). I'm a big fan of the new series. Got my picture taken with Six at DragonCon

Oh no!  The lesbians got to saint too! 


(ummm...can we see the pic though?) 

Oh, wait...the Rayb version:  Oh no!  The --smurfs-- got to saint too!

[Harry Potter]

Best. Show. Ever. (one of at any rate). I'm a big fan of the new series. Got my picture taken with Six at DragonCon

Oh no!  The lesbians got to saint too! 


(ummm...can we see the pic though?) 

Oh, wait...the Rayb version:  Oh no!  The --smurfs-- got to saint too!

I LOOOOOVE LEZZOS. gimmeee gimmmee gimmmeee

[Zakk]

It's been pretty firmly established through Model Six (the blonde Cylon that Baltar sees in his head) that the monotheism of the Cylons vs. the polythesism of the colonials was a major factor in the Cylon war.

Sweet jesus man!

[Havok]

Best. Show. Ever. (one of at any rate). I'm a big fan of the new series. Got my picture taken with Six at DragonCon

Sweet! Post the pic!!!

[Stingray]

dude you know what this means, we need princess leia costume cheesecake!

Wow, how did I miss this angle? Seph is correct of course, and gets bonus points for suggesting it!

-S

[Harry Potter]

Best. Show. Ever. (one of at any rate). I'm a big fan of the new series. Got my picture taken with Six at DragonCon

Sweet! Post the pic!!!

as long as it's a friend with benefitd and iscing on the boooobies.

[J.P. Patches]

The original show was based on Mormanisim. 

The new show has a lot of the same ideas.  Blame Glen Larson.   

I did a lot of research on BG about ten years ago when they were first starting the comeback wave.  I even designed a real time strategy game based around it, but it never went into development.

[AC.]

Yes, the two shows should not be compared since they are quite different.  I guess after a real-life day of intrigue, politics, and drama, I don't want to go home to watch it on TV.  I need to see humans and robots and lasers and carnage.

Or how about a story about a crime-fighting robot that travels back in time for no reason?

[AtomSmasher]

Or how about a story about a crime-fighting robot that travels back in time for no reason?

nice, theres a quote I haven't heard in a while

[Stormy151]

There are THREE male Cylon models so far.

The crazy guy from Ragnar Anchorage.

The guy they abandon there.

The doctor Starbuck kills at the "farm".

But who's counting? 

[jbox]

The writer for BSG is actually very switched on. In his blog he has either pointed out reasonable counter arguments or actually admited they screwed up when people ask questions about the script.

The new BSG series is on a knife-edge for me right now as to whether it knocks B5 off the perch as my favourite sci-fi, or goes on the list of 'could have beens' like Nowhere Man and Lost.

I know the cylons have a plan. I remain unconvinced that the writer really has one though. The problem with an unplanned story is that there is no point obsessively re-watching episodes over and over again looking for hidden clues, because those clues aren't going to project more than half a season in advance. BSG has made a really good start at seeding clues, subtleties like most likely the war started because some twit accidentily or deliberately added the bible to their latest BIOS update. That this bible promises salvation only for the human race, so the cylon's never wanted to actually wipe them all out, but needed to find a way to 'convert' the human race into their religion (ie. make them lost, desperate, etc...) while also breeding their line into it so they can go to heaven too.

But it's about time for the cylons to screw up. If this series just keeps on going with this model of them being able to perfectly manipulate all human activity (eg "our baby will be born here") than the series will go stale. We need to see some notion of human spontaneity actually obviously thwart the cylon master plan, even if they recover and regain the upper hand. I don't care who's winning, but if one of them isn't even getting to play at all it's too boring for me.

Plus, desperation or not, there is no way I'm letting some guy who keeps talking to himself walk around unobserved on our only remaining battleship. I want to see Adama watching some of these security tapes right at the start of a scene before someone knocks on his door or something.