New Battlestar Galactica Or Old Battlestar Galactica

[SainthoodDenied]

Plus the original had the coolest gunbelts and blasters in space

[Meule]

I like 'em both, they both have good and bad qualities. But if I really have to choose, I'll go classic.

BTW, watching the new BSG right now

[Mikey]

Not to be a party pooper, but I don't care for neither

To me, they're both BORING

[grayhank]

> The new one had a lot of that problem for me; which was a big reason why I didn't like it. The unifroms are VERY reminiscent of modern military outfits; and indeed the interiors of the ships look like modern warships. (Or cruise ships...) When I first saw it I thought the producers had WANTED to do the next Tom Clancy movie but got stuck with this, so they decided to make the next Tom Clancy movie ANYWAY. They seemed to follow the "make it 'realistic" principle of sci-fi tv. You know, where you make it as close as possible to the contemporary world so the viewers won't be freaked out by weird terminology or imagry. Which causes OTHER problems. (If they're supposed to be our ancestors wouldn't their stuff look more like our antiquated stuff, or did they have an amazingly similar amount of parallel development?)

I understand where your coming from on this point, because seeing things like neckties, phones and people smoking cigarettes etc kind of makes you wonder how they would be having or doing those things like here in the "real world". I don't think that "we - as people on earth" are meant to be viewed as their descendants however. "We" are related in origin to them but it has not been established where in the timeline we exist in their world. For all we know (as viewers) they could find Earth and it could be during the Roman Empire for example or perhaps the "Industrial Revolution". When you look at it like that, perhaps they introduced those things into our culture. Much like the original BSG found earth in the 1980 timeline when the people had not progressed like they had.

When you think of it in terms like that, remembering that no matter what beliefs you have as to our origin...nobody knows for sure how we actually got here. I don't mean to turn this into a theological debate because everybody has their own "belief" and nobody's idea is wrong, but it all really comes down to speculation.

[ctc]

>"We" are related in origin to them but it has not been established where in the timeline we exist in their world.

True; and that was a pitfall I thought the original got around fairly well. (Even if they didn't PLAN it this way...) They had a mishmosh of stuff we'd recognize from our history: names, pyramids, some vague imagry. (Such as the helmets that sorta looked like ancient Egyptian headresses.) Their outfits were good too; while not identifiable with any historical uniform they were different from what we'd recognize as a combat outfit. So you didn't have any direct parallels; like ties and distinctly Garrison looking combats. But you DID have just enough of a connection to make the whole "lost colony" thing seem plausable.

'Course I suspect NONE of this was planned. The original crew probably said "do something weird and science-fictiony!" But the effect worked 'cos it set the show up in it's own continuity. The new one draws too much from the current day for it's imagry; which leads to the problems I mentioned before.

Don C.

[4NDR01D]

watching the old one brings back lots of childhood memories, even if the episodes are "fluff". The new one is just too boring, I watched the first season and part of season 2 but just stopped watching, maybe cuz there was no aliens? space shows need aliens. period.

[fallensaviour]

Keep in mind new BSG season's are 13 episodes where as the original was 26 plus the movie plus a whole bunch of extras. I also got my original series for about $45 on clearance.

Keep in mind that the original made its money some 30 years ago.And we all know the cost to make a DVD is next to nothing.Trying to gouge me at the till will not make me interested in your new product is all I'm saying.I just can't get into the new series.
What made the show cool for me was the look of the 70's cylons.The new version human cylons just didn't work for me.I became disinterested quickly
;I've seen that before it was called the Terminator....

I wanted to like it I just can't.Maybe in the future who knows.

[grayhank]

What made the show cool for me was the look of the 70's cylons.The new version human cylons just didn't work for me.I became disinterested quickly

"Those older models still exist...they serve their purpose" - Caprica 6 (aka blonde chick in Baltar's head)

[Seeker]

While I do like the reimagined show the one thing that does disappoints me is the lack of cylon backstory.

What happened to the old series cylons? What lead them to their religion and quest to make the human cylons?

I liked the use of the original cylons and fighters in the Razor storyline. I just think it would be great to see some more.

Maybe in the last season?


I too am interested to see what state earth will be in when and if The fleet finally makes planetfall.

[Seeker]

Intersting problem. I wonder if any of you have a theory......

From the new series. The cylons diappeared after the end of the fist war for about 40 years.

Adama found the experimental/Hybrid lab just at the end of the war.

Tighs military career goes long beyond that. How could he be a cylon agent? They would have to of started experimenting early in the first war OR (And the show never alludes to this) been an actual person who had been "Replaced"

I just saw the episode yeaterday where the 5 Galactica crew members realized they were cylons makes you wonder. He said he had a 40 year career in the military and fought in both wars

[johnmiic]

Let me drop some venom on GINO, ( GINO = Galactica In Name Only), in this thread if I may.

The reasons Werewolf cited are mainly why Classic Galactica fans hate the new show. It is also Ron Moore's and David Eik's unbridled arrogance which fans also object to. Has anyone listened to the commentary on the DVD's? It is an orgy of self-congratulation and an endless stream of the F-Word. Ron Moore and David Eik are sooooooooooooo full of themselves and have been parading around with the new show like the proverbial Emperor's New Clothes. Moore cited he was a "fan" of the old show and wanted to update it. This is an out and out lie to the public and to the fans. We can see right thru this statement. The argument has been put forth that if you really are a "fan" why would you change it so much? The Galactica itself bears a only passing resemblance to the original ship.

From what people told me the show is not about the search for Earth anymore. (I have only seen the 1st season myself ). The driving force behind the concept has been forgotten. I have heard many complaints that this show Jumped the Shark in Season 2. The show is more concerned with paranoia, politics and re-dressing current events as fiction. As if Ron Moore was going to teach us some valuable lesson and make us better people. The new show lifts many minor details from the old show but on the whole is not really faithful. This show is adult drama and suspense; the old show was adventure and family entertainment.

Edward James Olmos, while a talented actor, said in an interview that if they ever do an episode where they meet 3-eyed aliens he's outta there. This is an example of the tremendous self-loathing behind the scenes on this show; for SF and for the source material it is drawn from. The show opens with this big guilt trip where it is explained humans created the Cylons. They were our slaves and they rebelled starting the war, (a perversion of Issac Asimov's concepts maybe?). In the original show it was revealed that the Cylons were aliens whose robots rebelled and killed their creators and made war on other living beings, ( The Frankenstien plot perhaps?). The Colonies became involved when they intervened, preventing the Cylons from harming another race. The show's underlying catalyst has been switched from noblility to guilt. So what the heck does Ron Moore feel so guilty about that he has to pump it into Galactica?

Also many characters have been "whited" out. In classic Galactica Col. Tigh and Boomer were african american. In the new Galactica Tigh is white and Boomer is an Asian female. there are hardly any black supporting characters on the show. Offhand I can only think of Petty Officer Dualla and she has a small role compared to most other people.

It seems Ron Moore was just looking for a "vehicle" or "property" ( Hollywood terms), which had some brand recognition and embellish it his way to make money, and further his career. I am not so naive to think no-one in Hollywood is out to make money but lets compare with Star Trek -The Next Generation. Yes, it was a money-making venture for everyone but there was the intent to try and do something better than original Trek and push the envelope of relevant television.

I have seen the first season and will admit there are stories in the new Galactica that are damn good stories. In fact they are so obvious I have to wonder why the writers didn't think of it on the original show in 1977:

33 -Following the destruction of the Colonies, the refugee fleet led by Galactica has been relentlessly chased by the Cylons who pop up every 33 minutes to attack again, and have been doing so for five days straight.

Water - A series of explosions leads to the loss of 60% of the water reserves and Commander Adama is compelled to introduce rationing and begin a search of nearby planetary systems for any H20 deposits.

You Can't Go Home Again - Starbuck has been shot down over a barren moon, and must be rescued before she runs out of oxygen. Adama become obsessed with trying to save her even when all hope seems lost, putting the Fleet at risk. Meanwhile, Starbuck finds the Cylon Raider she shot down, and tries to learn how to fly it so she can escape.

Act of Contrition - There's a party on Galactica's flight deck. Something goes terribly wrong when a drone accidentally goes off and explodes killing 13 pilots. When Adama orders Starbuk to start training new pilots, Starbuk starts thinking about Zak Adama. The favor done for Zak by letting him pass basic flight seems to bother Starbuk more and more. Angrily Starbuk stops training pilots after just one day.

Still Galactica has ripped off many better SF concepts integrating them weekly:

Cylons look like us, are more powerful than us and are out to get us - The Terminator

Poeple know Cylons look human and this creates an air of paranoia - X-Files

The Cylons can jump from body to body-never really dying. A renewable enemy - The Borg, various Star Trek episodes.

The look of the show: Space: Above and Beyond meets Wing Commander.

And so the scam continues. As I was researching on the IMDB for this post I came accross this Galactica Series Spin-Off coming out next year. I guess they better bone-up on their Asimov so they have some source material they can steal and take credit for:

Caprica, Release Date 2009

Two families, the Graystones and the Adamas, live together on a peaceful planet known as Caprica, where a startling breakthrough in artificial intelligence brings about unforeseen consequences. A spin-off of the Sci Fi Channel series "Battlestar Galactica" set 50 years prior to the events of that show.

Was originally pitched to NBC/Universal by Remi Aubuchon as an independent series with no connection to the Battlestar Galactica franchise. NBC/Universal read the pilot (an allegorical story about slavery with robots) and suggested Aubuchon meet with Ronald D. Moore and David Eick (who were considering a Battlestar Galactica spin-off series at the time). Aubuchon, Moore and Eick met and within a couple of months the "Caprica" series was born.
_______________

Interesting side note - Issac Asimov was suppossed to come aboard the writing staff in 1979 for season 2 of Battlestar Galactica if it had been renewed. This never happened but strangely enough Asmiov did write a novel in his Foundation Series, Foundation and Earth. The main characters search for Earth in the distant future where much of the galaxy has been colonized by humans and Earth is regarded as a myth. Perhaps this is based on the concepts he was drafting for BSG in 1979?

[grayhank]

From what people told me the show is not about the search for Earth anymore. (I have only seen the 1st season myself ). The driving force behind the concept has been forgotten. I have heard many complaints that this show Jumped the Shark in Season 2. The show is more concerned with paranoia, politics and re-dressing current events as fiction. As if Ron Moore was going to teach us some valuable lesson and make us better people. The new show lifts many minor details from the old show but on the whole is not really faithful. This show is adult drama and suspense; the old show was adventure and family entertainment.

I don't think the "new" version has ever been about the search for Earth. I think it's more about the survival of mankind after it has been attacked and brought to near extinction. The concept of searching for Earth was borrowed from the original as an underlying plot device. Adama states in the mini series that he doesn't believe that Earth even exists but uses that goal to give the survivors "Hope".

I also don't think that BSG is supposed to be "Star Trek" where the mission is to seek out new lifes and civilizations. It's about survival period. There shouldn't be episodes about meeting 3-eyed aliens. The Galactica is a battleship which indicates "war".

The only comment that really strikes a cord with me from JohnM is the last line. I'm not sure if that is a complaint and I'm not trying to put words in your mouth but are you saying that shows need to be catered towards those with families and children? If that's the case, what about the rest of us who don't have families and children. The majority of networks do provide family entertainment which is great. But I don't think the Scifi Channel is targeted towards children from what I've seen. And speaking as an adult, perhaps sometimes we want something a little more adult oriented on TV that doesn't cross the line into "adult entertainment". I only bring this up because you are clearly pro classic BSG and you site "family entertainment" as one of your reasons.

In regards to the Angry character comments:

If you were on a military vessel (say a submarine out at sea) and the entire US continent was wiped out unexpectently...wouldn't you perhaps be a little angry? Your home is destroyed. Your family is destroyed. Your people are destroyed. Now apply that scenario to the next level. You are on a military vessel in space and earth is destroyed. That's what the "new" BSG is about. It's not really a happy concept and it shouldn't be after something so horrible has just happened. Just look at the aftermath of 9-11 and the side effects of what happened with that. Would any of us want to see a show about that where the characters were not perhaps a little angry? "I'm sorry you lost your entire family kid but here's a little robotic dog for you to play with". I seem to recall Americans being very upset over that tragedy, so the anger portrayed on the current BSG is very much the proper reaction.

The classic show is great because it was made in a different time when things were not as ugly in the world. The new show is just as great because it is geared towards today's audience.

[palitoy]

Still Galactica has ripped off many better SF concepts integrating them weekly:

You can't possibly be serious that NEW Galactica is the only one guilty of pulling a rip off right?

[grayhank]

Also, the use of human looking cyborgs/robots has been around a lot longer than the Terminator. My earliest recollection is the movie "Westworld". And I'm not sure when "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" was written but that book became another Scifi classic called "Blade Runner". So one can't really say that the current BSG ripped off the Terminator.

[johnmiic]

Grayhank, my comment is an observation:

" This show is adult drama and suspense, ( New Galactica) ; the old show was adventure and family entertainment."

I'm not saying sci-fi should cater to a childrens audience. I think this is the starkest comparison between the 2 shows; especially since the new show has so many sexual overtones and violence.

Brian,

"You can't possibly be serious that NEW Galactica is the only one guilty of pulling a rip off right? "

There are many rip-off's in sci-fi and there are many homages but it's insulting to marry popular concepts from other shows to make a new Galactica series. There was no such thing as Human-like Cylons BSG like The Terminator, ( I realize there was a human-like Cylon in a 2-part Gal 1980 ep but the portrayal was different). There were no re-newable Cylons like the Borg. There was no paranoia theme like X-Files. These shows are still so recent and fresh in the public conscience how could Ron Moore stick these into Galactica and think fans would not notice? Certainly there are other shows with killer robots but you can't make the comparison that the Human-like Cylons are like Westworld. In New Galactica the portrayal of human-like Cylons can be traced to The Terminator; a near unstoppable, unreasoning force determined to exterminate humans as it's goal. In Westworld you have technology gone awry but not developing A.I. and deciding to kill humans as a revenge motif. You could however compare Westworld with Jurassic Park. These elements are out of place. Really Ron Moore doesn't care, he's just using Galactica to make his career. The show's best chance for sucess is to grab at the most sucessful elements that work for other shows and use them for yourself. That's why the fans were shut out. That's why the show is so different.

In the best scenarios something that comes before inspires you and you make something new. Kolchak was a major influence on the X-Files. Chris Carter really enjoyed that show but he didn't just copy it he made something new and very enjoyable. The X-Files in not completely original but it's not a rip-off. Star Trek The Next Generation is a continuation of Star Trek. It was not a fantastic concept, certainly not original, but as you look at how it was put together you get the sense there was a honest attempt to do something better and expand on it.