Battlestar Galactica

The western theme is a bit strange, but I got used to it pretty quick (I guess Joss Whedon took the term 'space western' literally ). The interactions between the main characters are absolutely hilarious. It's definitely not hard science fiction by any stretch of the imagination, but it is fun.

Continuing off-topic, someday I'd love to see someone make a movie/series/whatevah involving fairly realistic space combat. Basically, submarine stealth-warfare at extreme ranges, using very smart weapons.

I seem to remember hearing a rumour (though that's all it was) that someone was making a movie out of David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series, which might be an interesting view on space combat.

I agree but its not a viable option in this fast pased movie/series/whatevah market... However I always thought a well done "Starblazer's" movie would be fantastic. LOL

"A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he's married." - H.L. Mencken

I did say "self respecting museum".

Anyway, I've just sat through the first hour of tonight's show. Unlike the pilot, they do seem to get much closer to the ships, and they look pretty detailed.

SPOILER:

About 15 minutes into the 2nd hour, there is a pretty nice shot of Galactica venting water from ruptured tanks. In my unprofessional, not in the biz opinion, it looks pretty detailed.

Edited to correct a typo.

Okay, so after all my previous complaining about the mini series, I sat down and watched the show tonight. I tried my hardest to forget about what I thought the story should be in relation to the original, and just watch. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the program.

I'm not too big to admit when I'm wrong. Although I still (and likely always will) have problems thinking of this new show as BSG, I can't deny that it's really growing on me. I might even go so far as to call myself a fan. Lords of Cobal forgive me.

I think it's more of a frontier theme than a western one, and I think it makes a great deal of sense. In shows like Star Trek, we are given a glimpse of the higher classes of people. In general, we never see the criminals or working poor of the universe. Everything has a chrome and spandex feel to it. This is simply not realistic. In the real world, people suffer. No matter how technologically and socially advanced the population gets, there will always be people on the fringe who toil endlessly. People whose lives aren't filled with synthehol and holodecks. In Firefly, we see that the society has become heavily stratified as colonists are pushed to the very edge of known space by the affluent core-worlders. It just seems infinitely more realistic than the glossy world depicted in Star Trek and similar series.

If anyone has not seen the series, I suggest taking a look at it. Though no more episodes are being made (because Fox hates good shows and only wants to produce dross), there is a movie in the works that should be released in May.

After I watched it last night I still have to say that I generally love the effects work, but there is one effect that annoys me every time I see it... the vipers landing in the bay. It makes no sense. If those kind of high speed landings are common in combat then it would stand to reason that the ships would have been designed to accomodate. They kept showing this shot in all the promos of a ship coming in at a bit of an angle, hitting the floor, and bouncing. The bounce just seemed all wrong to me. A minor gripe though. I generally really love the look of the show and it defitely maintained the high standards set by the miniseries. My only other complaint was that they give too much away in the promos. Right before the one hour commercial break they showed the water tanks rupturing and the missing detonators. Gah! Thanks for taking away the suspense. I hate it when shows do that.

Oh, and the shots of the robot cylons running in the rain on caprica were absolutely gorgeous!

As for the cylon ships not having pilots... YAY!!!! I always thought that was incredibly stupid in the original series. If they're an AI race, they would build AI ships.

Did you see the previews of next weeks episode. It looked like it had Richard Hatch, the original Apollo, on it.


P.S. For some reason I put in the above last night, but it didn't show up this morning. And yes I did click on "Submit Reply"

I also watched it last night. Did you happen to notice that the "landing bay" shot was stock footage from the pilot? I did. I still laugh at the bounce. lol I was quite happy to see the cylon's running around on Caprica not only because I like seeing actual cylon's but also because they showed the planet which they never did in the original series once the galactica left. This means we may have something unique; survivor stories!!!

And the cylon's certinly do know an awful lot about tactics, human psycology, and manipulation for being a relativly new "species" (AI). Good touch...

However I am totally disapointed in the cylon's believing in God! When I heard this from Casiopia, I nearly fell out of my chair. Why? The cylon's are trying to BECOME what they want to destroy and BECOME human. That is so out of character it slaps one in the face; perhaps thats the point. It makes good drama, and puts a human face to the enemy, but the botom line is (for me) the Cylon's are NOT human and should not want to be human. What, are the cylon's just a bunch of "data's" walking around? I would hope not...

The show has extream potential for drama (surprisingly so) and has the potential to show us the 'evolution" of AI. However I do think this is way too soon in the series to be pursuing this form of storyline. Religion in a show is good sometimes cause it can make for great drama, but not in the very first episode... Later yes, like in season 2, or even better, season 3. Then you could turn it so that the "human" cylon's try to take over and a civil-war of sorts starts... Now that would be cool to see; cylon's vs cylon's...

Oh an has anyone else noticed the "naval' feel of the show, especially on the bridge of the Galactica? I have big time... The bridge has a feel of a submerine in a way; not sure why as I have never been on a sub. My father was in WWII and he used to tell me stories, perhaps thats why. In either case I like it a lot, especially for a time of war...

The Sci-fi channel is going to have good ratings on fridays now thats for sure. I suspect though that if BSG keeps having good drama shows like it has, it could over shadow the stargate shows big time (and this comes from a big stargate fan lol). I love stargate (both shows) but right now I want to see BSG more and thats a good thing...

Time will tell.........


"Men differ from woman. You never see young men sitting around talking about their dream weddings." - Charles Cosart

I don't agree that it couldn't be viable... but it wouldn't be a fast-paced, action-based show. It'd probably play out a lot more like The Hunt For Red October, with suspense and tension and the occasional burst of dangerous exciting stuff.

Haha! Starblazers! What didn't they blow up with that damn Wave Motion Gun?

Yes, that is, in fact, Richard Hatch (not to be confused with the annoying Survivor Richard Hatch). I guess they threw him a bone after his efforts to revive the series with the original cast failed.

Wow. Ep 101 was very cool. Battlestar Galactica is off to a great start. I have to say that I've never seen a sci-fi series that looks so good and has *substance*. Looking forward to next week.

Anyone else have an opinion?

I loved it. They've created some really interesting and complex characters and I'm really looking forward to how the storyline develops. It's great to see a truly character driven sci-fi show for a change. The writing and acting are both stellar. I haven't been this eager for the next episode of any show since farscape bit the dust.

I've not seen this new BSG series, but I did enjoy the "original". I also liked the Futurama digs at it, including a particular "Cylon & Garfunkel" bit which really had me laughing.

I think her reference to God could be a computer called G.O.D.

I was under the impression that all the talk of religion was just another episode of Baltar's guilt manifesting itself as Number Six again. Why would the Cylons even have any concept of religion in the first place? Their creators are no mystery to them, and they neither fear or revere said creators.

Cross Lament - Red October!!! Man what a fantastic film that was even though the book was far better. Ohhh and "What didn't they blow up with that damn Wave Motion Gun?" Thats easy; themselves!!!! Now that is one weapon I would LOVE to see sometime in a movie...

Torley Torgeson - You have GOT to check the show out... Quick run to your tv and turn it on... They are suppost to play the pilot & first episode again today/tonight (where I am). Catch it if ya can... You won't be disapointed......

Edav Roark - Ya know my wife and I talked about this a bit last night. She also came up with the idea that perhaps the cylon's GOD is just the "super-computer" of the cylon's... If this is the case then it's a brilliant idea story wise. Time will tell...

Teeny Leviathan - Baltar is more and more reminding me of a "Dr.Smith" type of character with each episode. A trator; paranoid; corrupt; only thinks of himself; a Dr.; WITH the crew in the show as opposed to WITH the cylon's; the list goes on and on. If Baltar ever "bonds" with the kid Boxy that will sinch it for me... I hope Muffit bites Baltar in the ass if he tries... LOL

I just had a thought here. The cylon's have proven there power. I think they can kill the Galactica & the rest of the survivors any time they want. war is generally a battle of nutrition; whoever has the most and can use it better wins. The cylon's CAN outlast the Galactica. They can just keep attacking every 33 miniutes till the cows come home. They can just keep pumping out cylon's; humanity can't...

One question keeps popping in my head. Why don't the cylon's just TP to the galactica with 10 basestars, not just 2? They CAN outlast the Galactica. Why don't they? Why do they still want human's alive and well (as was proven in the Casiopia scyne in the first episode)? It may be because the cylon's want to find this 13th colony; Earth... Its the only reason I can come up with... That and of course it would make for a VERY short series LOLOL....

Any ideas folks?


"The computer is down. I hope it's something serious." - Stanton Delaplane

I'm sure the cylon's agree.........

*snip* ....had to save that one.

I'm thinking that maybe the Cylons want to find Earth just as much as Galactica does. Maybe their original creators were Earthlings and they've evolved their own kind of creation myth that centers around Earth so they're more interested in following to see where they go than outright destroying them. Dunno. I really like the writing so it'll be interesting to see where the story goes.

I miss LEXX


Star Trek: The Next Generation was by far the best of the bunch.


Farscape is good, but I don't catch it often enough to figure out what the hell is going on half the time.

I think you mean "attrition."

I watched the SciFi channel marathon yesterday and was surprised at how much I liked it. I have fond memories of the original show, like Chosen, but I decided to give it a chance and watch it.

The cylons-as-humans thing bothers me, simply because we called those movies "Terminator".

I'm enjoying the more-realistic starfighter combat, and the storyline is quite good as well. They did a good job making you feel bad for the people left behind.

I'll be watching this regularly.

OK folks, this is going to be a hard post to write, so forgive me if I don't write well. I just watched the penultimate episode, and I want to avoid spoiling the storyline for you.

Anyway, if you thought the mini-series was good, you'll love this. In my mind, Baltar's a weak character, but he seems pretty central so we won't worry. On the other hand, Adama is every bit as good as Lorne Greene's version.

Someone mentioned about the Cylons being able to attack the Colonists at will. I don't remember if it came out in the mini series, but it seems they can't track through hyperspace, which is the reason for the 'chase'.

The characters of Starbuck and Boomer being female works quite well. I think in Boomer's case it doesn't matter, but Starbuck is improved from being a clown into a real person who you can believe in, especially in later episodes. As to relationships, well, I won't go into that, it's side story anyway.

Well, the series is good, and the finale looks like being unmissable next week. Even if you don't like it, give it a chance. All the good things you've been hoping for are at least touched on, and in some cases explored, and very few of the bad things. This is a great series.

I hope I've not given away too much.

I'll be the first to admit I watched the mini-series out of curiosity. I grew up watching the orginal series and wanted to see what they'd done to update it.

At the end of the mini-series I was excited at the prospects of getting to see a decent sci-fi show (and I felt the mini-series was definetely a fishing expidition for full show funding,) but was hoping to see the show advance.

Having now seen the first two episodes in the "show," I've got the following opinions:

1. The character of Baltar and his conversations need to go and quick. After 2 hours I was already sick of them. Yes, I understand they are an internal dialog allowing us insight in the Cylon mind, but I think, especially in the first episode, 33 they relied on them too much and it really detracted from the show.

2. The depth of the show is only starting to be scratched. So far the writing has been well done in not only creating a story line on a single show basis, but also for the longer story arc. This bodes really well as long as wel don't get stuck in a rut, which, I felt shows like Voyager, Sliders and others did. Ultimately, there's only so long Jefferson Starship can play "Find Your Way Back" before you get sick of the song and chuck the CD/vinyl/tape out the window. With this show they've got enough depth to keep people chatting on forums and arguing at parties about the possibilities for days on end.

3. Starbuck as a female. Good for them. Yes, I understand the '70's were all about the heroic male character and "no females in the military" but we go over that and so should viewers. The original Starbuck was a pretty face and didn't add a lot to the series. This Starbuck not only has a real personality, some depth of character and actually integrates into the whole story arc. (Ok granted, in the 70's a show was considered complex if one character had a "mysterious past" or some tie to another character, but the enhancements of the character more than make up for any silly prejudice that someone may have in championing the original series.

4. Effects wise, the show is setting a nice scene. I'm never one for demanding state of the art when the visuals overwhelm the story. The visuals in the series so far have been really good in setting the tone of the show. I also really appreciate the sound effects on tyhe space battles which usually sound as if what you might experience in the cockpit (no large exploding "booms", the thrum of the weapons sounds more like a vibration of a weapon as transmitted through the frame of the ship to the cockpit.

5. I have no idea why the UK got the show before us, but good for you! I've got a friend in Singapore still watching "first run" episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Granted the Beeb tends to put out better TV than the US a lot of the time, but for a US produced show (to the best of my knowledge) to goto the UK first is great............As long as you don't spoil the show for the rest of us. And that includes planting flase spoilers like telling us the spirit of Lorne Green can be seen projected in every space explosion and Dirk Benedict makes a cameo as Startbuck's dad.

I promise no spoilers from me, only opinion. And who knows, you may get season 2 first, and I'd hate to have you all spoil it for me.

I can see Baltar getting old fast, but the one thing that keeps me from minding his conversations is that number six is so damn hot! hehe There's good potential for his character as long as he develops some real relationships with other people. His character is the least well fleshed out at this point. He needs to turn into a real person that I can empathize with, rather than just envy him for the quality of his daydreams .