Battlestar Galactica

[RickR]

Starting a thread here after a discussion started in a "Hello!" post....

 

I'm assuming we have a ton of fans here of the show.  Question is....old version, new...or both?

 

I fall in the "Both" camp.

 

The original was great...but you can just feel the interference of the network -- kind of souring the experience.  "Add a kid!", "not too bloody", etc.  And the budget always seemed to be in question.  Re-used shots for example.  Hokey effects, another.  And finally, the almost complete reboot for season 2.  Give me a break!  Still, absolutely loved it at the time, and I think it's very watchable still. 

 

The reboot is awesome.  You can tell they had a vision and had no compromises.  I LOVE the quiet space effects.  Great effects, great writing, great acting all around.  This show is spectacular.

 

What do you all think?

 

 

[Rowsdower70]

Old. 

To be fair, I haven't watched much of the new, but it didn't grab me.   

[Justin]

I was a HUGE fan of the original Battlestar Galactica before the new one came out. It felt like they were trying to do a Star Wars television show, and did a great job with it. I thought BSG complimented Star Trek and Star Wars quite well.

[RickR]

If you ever get some time, give the new a chance.  It didn't grab me at first either.  But after a while, it really did.  To the point of eagerly waiting for and watching every episode that came out.  The end does not disappoint either.

 

The new does have a "Star Trek" connection.  The "feel" of TNG is evident. 

Edited October 29, 2016 by RickR

[RickR]

I was a HUGE fan of the original Battlestar Galactica before the new one came out. It felt like they were trying to do a Star Wars television show, and did a great job with it. I thought BSG complimented Star Trek and Star Wars quite well.

Agree completely.  It was of of the few great sci-fi series to come after Star Trek.  But there are so many lost opportunities on this one.  If only they'd had more support from ABC. 

[Rowsdower70]

If you ever get some time, give the new a chance.  It didn't grab me at first either.  But after a while, it really did.  To the point of eagerly waiting for and watching every episode that came out.  The end does not disappoint either.

 

The new does have a "Star Trek" connection.  The "feel" of TNG is evident. 

I guess the campiness is what was missing for me.  The characters weren't nearly as fun as the original.   I saw a little and just didn't get into it, but I could recognize that it was quite well made.   If they would have just called it something different, I might have been on board.

[Ballblaɀer]

Being a big fan of Star Wars / Star Trek / Mass Effect / similar franchises in that same genre, the new BSG was largely very enjoyable for me.  Not having the background of having seen the original series might have been beneficial, though -- I had nothing to compare it to.  I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and try to watch the original yet, but I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot at some point.

 

Anyway, like the vast majority of TV series the new BSG is not without its flaws, but I'd absolutely re-watch it even though I felt the ending (well, the last half of the last season to be honest) was... well... lousy.  Really lousy.  At least it wasn't straight-up insulting, like the end to LOST... 

[AlamoAtari]

I like them both, but wish they would have changed names of the characters in addition to the gender swap. Leave the old alone, just thought it was okay. The thing that really annoyed me was the stupid use of the Jimmy Hendrix song. Dumbest plot device ever. I wish caprica was finished. That was a neat idea there.

[RickR]

I guess the campiness is what was missing for me.  The characters weren't nearly as fun as the original.   I saw a little and just didn't get into it, but I could recognize that it was quite well made.   If they would have just called it something different, I might have been on board.

There is NO campiness, that's true.  But there is a lot of homage.  And tons of characters you will love or hate.  And a whole lot of surprises you won't see coming. 

[Atari Adventure Square]

We were starved for sci-fi universes in the immediate post-Star Wars period, so BSG was a welcome addition to that headspace.

Saw the pilot movie on the big screen, during its theatrical release. This was both a good and bad thing.

 

Good to see a TV pilot on the biggest screen possible, as it promised to bring home this new story with a sense of epic proportions.

Bad in that it was a TV pilot shot with network budget, and unlikely to shine a fraction as much as Lucas' brightest star in this new realm of cinematic display.

 

So, my feelings for the original is marshalled by that sense of disappointment in the comparative nature of the movie outing (to be fair, we did have a good time and did not mock the flick) and the let-down by the lack of zesty writing in the full series, as well as its repetitive storytelling (how many times can a star pilot get lost on a planet? Apparently lots and lots).

But all in all, having recently rewatched the '78 BSG blu-ray collection this summer and surfed on that nostalgia wave, the memories warmed up on it.

The actors are charming, the stories are Saturday-morning family fare, the effects are still nifty and shiny (very much so on those cylon armors).

 

Still, I can't bring myself to cross into Galactica 80.

 

As for the reboot - when it came out, those first few eps blew our collective minds (me and some movie pals).

As you mention Rick, everything about it is top-notch: silent space flght and realistic zoom cam, smart writing and intensely good actors.

Some things made less sense (like the doc and his imaginary girlfriend), but we figured it would pan out as the series went on.

I'm sad to say, though, it lost us shortly after.

Maybe it was the feeling it had to go metaphysical when the gritty materialistic aspects of post-war survival was more attractive as prospective storylines.

Maybe the sense it had to shock and twist to live out the duration of its run got to be a bit much (although, this is almost essential for lots of TV shows, so can't fault it for that).

Maybe after pausing for a while and reading how outlandish it seemed to have become did not make coming back to it a necessity.

 

I dunno, I feel I could try it out again, but I recall watching it a second time from the start on dvd and feeling wary and drifting away during mid-second season (I think). or maybe it was the third.

 

It's definitely the kind of show I wanna like.

And I hate the idea of bringing negative vibes to an appreciation of it.

 

But since the question was posed here, thought I'd give good praise and affection to the inoffensive original series, and a general thumb-up-but-not-for-me to the reboot.

 

Someday I'd like to finish it, though.

[Atari Adventure Square]

Thanks LD

Yeah, I'm never quite sure how to approach negative opinions on my part, although that is indeed part of the Ying/Yang of any topic.

As long as good or bad opinions are fleshed out, they are a forward offering to any discussion.

 

Yeah, I really want to finish the new BSG at some point, given how much development went into it (with post-series movies and...a separate prequel show was it?).

Those writers strikes, yeah. I'm all for fairness and ensured pay equity goes above any sad feels for lost show opportunities, but...still makes me sad as a viewer.

You'd think they'd pause production while resolving differences (though I get why they don't).

 

TV shows today are touch-and-go in terms of completion.

So you get serialized narratives that are truly compelling but go nowhere, more often than not, because of production or ratings kerfluffles.

 

That's why full season drops on Netflix or these other streaming services are more reliable.

Lemme know if that show I wanna watch holds up, someone!

Then I'll switch on.

 

All this to say - BSG is still an unfinished book in my mind, an itch to scratch.

I appreciate hearing positive appreciation of it so it can enliven a full rewatch.

[Starbuck66]

If you couldn't tell from my name, HUGE BSG fan, and I'm in the both camp.

 

To be honest, I wasn't pleased when I heard some of the characters were going to be gender swapped in the new one (especially Starbuck), but the pilot looked so good, I had to watch it. After seeing Starbuck punch out Colonel Tigh, I loved new Starbuck just as much as old Starbuck.

 

I still watch the old show from time to time. It's campy as hell at some points, and I still chuckle when I see the same reused space battle shots over and over, but it's definitely more family friendly than the new one which is a big plus for me.

[Sabertooth]

I like the campiness of the original series and enjoyed the reboot and related output: Razor, The Plan, Caprica and, to a lesser extent, Blood & Chrome.

 

The metaphysical elements of the reboot were an interesting twist that could be off putting at times. At some point the Cylon motivation to chase BSG was lost on me. That said, they generally nailed individual character arcs, space combat and atmosphere.

 

In my view, Caprica had a ton of promise and SyFy (really?) pulled the plug much too early. It was a transitional time for the network and I don't think the aliens in charge knew what they had. It's a trend that continues with shows like Defiance and Dominion.

[RickR]

I just learned that original BSG is on Netflix. 

[TrekMD]

Very sad news. 

[TrekMD]

One can only hope. 

[Starbuck66]

Has anyone else played the board game? I don't have any of the expansions yet, but the stock BSG game is a hell of a lot of fun. It's a long session and the rules take some learning, but once everyone "gets" it the game is an absolute blast.

 

 

 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37111/battlestar-galactica