Battlestar Craptacular

[Montarvillois]

I just went through the 2 episodes and I absolutely loved it. I am amazed at the space fights and that for once they are not using lasers or light beams and all the other crap like every other freakin scifi movies, the vipers seemed to use ballistic ammo. Also, I liked the fact that they finaly realised contrary to other scifi movies that in space, you don't need to have your thrusters burning all the time to maintain speed, and that inertia and not drag drive the principles of movement of the spaceships and fighters.

Man I hope they go on with this series and of course, make viper toys or models !!!

[gnollman]

Hopefully of Mark II and Mark VII Vipers... and maybe a Raptor....

And of course, the Cylon Raiders....

[Dobber]

I just read on Cinescape.com that it did pretty darn good and that it is probably getting put on the fast track for a regular series!

[Mercurial Morpheus]

[quote=EXAMPLE:

ID4 - INDEPENDENCE DAY:

1. Great actors.

2. Good Storyline.

3. Good Writer and Director.

I rest my case.

ID4 I consider a terrible movie. I was going to see it in theaters but waited for video as soon as I saw Fox's special, it looked that bad. I hate crap that exists purely to blow up monuments and show idiots screaming. I remember a guy writing to Cinescape back when I read it saying he saw no rip-offs and that it delivered "the same magic of Star Wars". Proof that most magazine letters are good for a laugh.The plot is War of the Worlds almost exactly. Aliens out of resources, humans defenceless, the bomb doesn't work, even the virus that saves mankind was lifted. There are plotholes the Macross could fly through. The only film I liked by the makers was Stargate and some of The Patriot. Sci-fi at its best sucks. I want Science Fiction. Other then that, I do agree that stoy is important overall, as well as good characters.

[Vespaeda]

For this level of production quality, SFX, cohesive acting & likable characters.....

Gimmme back SAAB!!!!!

Waaaaaa!

[Phyrox]

EXAMPLE:

ID4 - INDEPENDENCE DAY:

1. Great actors.

2. Good Storyline.

3. Good Writer and Director.

I rest my case.

hahaha,

you're joking right? you pick this to make your case?

no accounting for good taste I guess.

As far as the new BSG goes...I never liked the original (at all), so I went into this with an open mind. It wasn't great, but I was expecting a lot worse from the sci-fi network. It had its cheezy elements to be sure, but on the whole I would say it was more entertaining than most of the other stuff on TV at the time (which is really the only reason I saw it...flipping through the channels).

[uminoken]

The Serenity was in it? Man, that was another show that got pulled as I was getting into it along with John Doe. Another reason I don't watch much network TV.

Not to bash any "Firefly" fans but like I said in the past, it's an Outlaw Star/Crusher Joe rip-off but that's just me.

~G25

Actually (and I'm amazed I've heard almost no one say this) Firefly seemed much more like Cowboy Bebop than Outlaw Star/Crusher Joe. You've got the whole feeling of a "family" crew of sorts, each ep is standalone, but occasionally has ties of a bigger arc, and of course the whole setting/music. But it still had more than enough differences to make it a really great and different show (and my dvds are comin in next Wed )

[Isamu Atreides 86]

[quote name=EXAMPLE:

ID4 - INDEPENDENCE DAY:

1. Great actors.

2. Good Storyline.

3. Good Writer and Director.

I rest my case.

ID4 I consider a terrible movie. I was going to see it in theaters but waited for video as soon as I saw Fox's special' date=' it looked that bad. I hate crap that exists purely to blow up monuments and show idiots screaming. I remember a guy writing to Cinescape back when I read it saying he saw no rip-offs and that it delivered "the same magic of Star Wars". Proof that most magazine letters are good for a laugh.The plot is War of the Worlds almost exactly. Aliens out of resources, humans defenceless, the bomb doesn't work, even the virus that saves mankind was lifted. There are plotholes the Macross could fly through. The only film I liked by the makers was Stargate and some of The Patriot. Sci-fi at its best sucks. I want Science Fiction. Other then that, I do agree that stoy is important overall, as well as good characters. [/quote]

had i heard bill pullman's speech, i would have immediately defected to the other side...

it was a pretty bad movie.

[seventh-moon]

I havent seen Battle star Galactica sence(sp?) that marathonm on christmass eve back in 2000. but this remake is pretty good. i thought that the effects and music was pretty good. i hated the female starbuck but the girl boomer was hot it was better than i thought it was going to be. im going to buy the original series on dvd after christmass.

[CoryHolmes]

For this level of production quality, SFX, cohesive acting & likable characters.....

Gimmme back SAAB!!!!!

Waaaaaa!

Indeed.

SAAB was one of those shows that really deserved another season or two.

[Star Dragon]

I read this whole thread before posting... you guys sure quote a lot...

Anyway the biggest mistake is underestimating how much the FANS of BSG would be upset at a "remake" or "re-imagined" storyline as we have and will ALWAYS want a Continuation of the original, but up to date (BSG the econd comming) so we can see 20 years of changes and Commander Apolo leading teh Galactica to Earth (Finally)! Plus we can see how much tougher teh Galactica becomes from a warship to a dreadnaught! Plus the new Scarlet Vipers are to die for! At least IMHO...

I knew this was a bad idea to start (it would have been much better to make a totaly new sotry with new characters, no BSG name ect..) BUt this is Ron Moores personal fantasy HE is the writer it's mainly HIS fault.

Now don't get me wrong! I sat down last night and watched both episodes back to back cuase I didn't have to work I pretended I never heard of BSG before and this was the outcome... I LIKED IT! It had good effects, I respected teh newtonian physics, though personally I don't give a frack about flying realism since I am an arcade joystick guy for combat.. The cylon evolution and tech evolution of colonial gear was cool, the chicks were hot! Boomer is a freak and I love it! Strar Buck works, dick head Apollo works, Adama is awesome, the drunk XO works... overall I give it 7-8 outta 10! it IS worth seeing!

Now the bad:

Constant little throw-ins from the original series that distracts from enjoying the new one on it's own. Look if they just said teh cylons looked like the new CGI ones it would have been better, and then today 40 years later are human, but they go and show you the original cylon inpapers and museum , bakas!.. Then the music (you can BARELY hear like 5 secs of it) for the decommissioning ceremony is teh original score, like did you HAVE to remind us? USE NEW MUSIC for christ sake! While the story isn't over sexed, it sure takes a precedence over teh combat or tech of teh show. In fact I think Ron Moore is going for the chick audience more cause he is really pushing the soap opera emphasis of the human experience more than normal formula sci-fi.

The battles are good BUT there are so few and of short duration. It's over before you can really enjoy them.

As mush as he butchered teh original story (like Boxey being an orphan adopted by Boomers character)? It works but JESUS! change his name! Did it have to be Boxey ?( The SON of Appollo and SERENA HIS WIFE! YOU remember the wife who just after they finally got married is killed by cylons on an away mision?)

Plus there were no cylon power play! Lucier and Specter were constantly at each others throats trying to outdo the other to keep Baltars favor (not as overtly as humans, but for cylons it was ruthless! and I loved the hate!). It wsa great Baltar went from pathetic parnet to prisoner to co-ruler of the cylon Empire! "By your command"...

The new baltar is such a sissy, the only thing I do respect is that he says "I'm on MY side!" so that does pay tribute to when Baltar helped teh colonials when he was a prisoner for release... He does what he needs to survive.

I am curious if they do continue the series later on what tehy have in mind? a multi-part journey that concludes with finding Earth? They NEVER find it and die isolated? Do we even care enough to want to know?... Sure Why not...

I hated how they bastardized teh original with galactica 80 and wolfman jack and the human cylons becuase the original cylons would KILL them! Hell teh original cylons would kill the new cylons in a heartbeat cause they are practically HUMAN! "they are the same as us down to our blood" - Adama...

All in all I prefer to think as teh mini-series as an Alternate Univers. Basicly I think they did this to prevent a continuation of the old one. Hell look how hard it's been for us fans trying to convince the PTB (powers that be) what WE want! They've been petitioned for over 20 years! Money talks and bullshit walks, you wait two generations and release anything and teh unsuspecting public will buy it.

No doubt they are enough new sci-fi fans out there that maybe never saw the original, or because they didn't grow up with it and became loyal fans they don't understand the nuances adn quirks that made it a cheesy, yet enjoyable show that had some thought provoking ideas for it's time and an interesting story no one else had...

I think there are as many people out there who hate teh original as there are peole who hate the new one. I say this, why can't we as sci-fi fans all get along? I am teh biggest otaku/fanboy I know yet I was able to contain myself and give teh new one an honest try. So you out there should like wise give the original piot movie and series (only the first season!) an honest try and then you'd totally understand where we were comming form!

Oh as for lack of women incombat role? Bullshit! Remember that one episode where 90% of the pilots got poisoned so to fill the slots WOMEN became pilots! Of course you had Serana and Sheba and some other women that were ALREADY fighter pilots (so you see no new ground broke there or lack of women in combat!) BUT now you had women from NON-combat roles like shuttle pilots, transports, hell even maintenance getting crash courses in basic flight, and combat theory from teh veterans. It was a kickass episode! So a lot of these arguments of "they didn't have this , or this is revolutionary" when they talk about the new one don't hold up, cause they already did! Thehy just never watched the original so they don't know what they are talking about!

My last and (totally valid gripe):

Ron Moore... This individual has ripped off blatant plot devices from other shows for HIS "re-imagination".

Gee like he re-imagined the chip in the head phantom, like Farscape didn't pioneer that first! (I loved Scorpious in Crithos head!). Or the constant references to ID4... I thought this was supposed to be an ORIGINAL piece of work? I saw some other examples posted but after 8 pages I forgot

Anyway look at all this in perspective and I think you will agree he had a good idea but just really did a bad job trying to bring it across, and his attitude toward hard core sci-fi fans during his interview on "BSG teh lowdown" was totally inappropriate"... Basicly I don't care this is my vision. Good statement, wrong way of saying it so coldly. He could have said, "I understand the history runs deep and this may disturb core BSG fans, but if you give it a chance and when you watch it from the viewpoint of this is how it started, I think you will enjoy it." Plus if he mentioned htat he woundn't mind seeing a contiuationof the original it would have gained him major points with the fans!

nuff said.. BTW someone mentioned BSG versus robotech. Well I had 50 vipers go against 50 asorted rt fighters and we only lost a handful, our lon snage missiles really slaughtered the vipers! then we just sat back and watched the sdf-1 blow away teh battlestar 2 or 3 at a time with the macross cannon, BTW they barely scrathed teh sdf-1 (like 2% damage at end of battle) heeh sorry but it was an experiment. No disrespect to BSg or Macross/Rt people! enjoy!

http://photo.starblvd.net/Star_Dragon/4-5-...&pg=3&ro=4&co=4

[B-52 GUNNER]

Well said Star Dragon,

I feel the same way. I have been a fan a BSG since it came out in the 70's.

I was hyping myself up for disappointment because of the redesign of the Viper, Helmets, and the Galactica it's self and as I sat down to watch it, I liked it.

You see more of the civilian side of Galactica.

The references to the old didn't bother me and it left the door open for the possibility of seeing the Old Cylons in their current role.

The old Vipers in the show were Mark II Vipers so they may show a Mark I later if the movie is turned into a show.

All in all I like both the old and new BSG Just like I like Robotech and Macross.

One I grew up with and the other I found later.

All that is needed here is for everyone to have an open mind and to wait and see.

Scot

[CoryHolmes]

All that is needed here is for everyone to have an open mind and to wait and see.

That's practically impossible on these boards

[Isamu Atreides 86]

For this level of production quality, SFX,  cohesive acting & likable characters.....

Gimmme back SAAB!!!!!

Waaaaaa!

   

Indeed.

SAAB was one of those shows that really deserved another season or two.

yep. that show rocked.

That's practically impossible on these boards

gonna have to disagree here, buddy.

[Star Dragon]

Actually to tell you the truth if you watched all 24 episodes the story ended well. The chigs look like they got thier butt handed to them in the final battle, I don't want to ruin the plot for new people but a major mission objective is completed adn some shocking events happen in quick succession. So yeah it leaves you in an emotional lurch. BUT at least I could live with it.. A success... Rather short but a good solid series worth tracking down if none of you have heard of it before or seen it all...

BTW: Chig on your 6! Jink JinK Jink! (Easy as pancakes)

Edited December 18, 2003 by Star Dragon

[Vostok 7]

Actually to tell you the truth if you watched all 24 episodes the story ended well. The chigs look like they got thier butt handed to them in the final battle, I don't want to ruin the plot for new people but a major mission objective is completed adn some shocking events happen in quick succession. So yeah it leaves you in an emotional lurch. BUT at least I could live with it.. A success... Rather short but a good solid series worth tracking down if none of you have heard of it before or seen it all...

BTW: Chig on your 6! Jink JinK Jink! (Easy as pancakes)

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I want that mod!!!

I loved SAAB. Always wanted toys. The designs of everything had a nice realistic feel to them.

Vostok 7

[David Hingtgen]

Despite being an avid fan of SAAB when it was on, I never saw the last few eps. I swear some stations stopped showing it before it was "officially" canceled.

[CoryHolmes]

I enjoyed SAAB because the technology, for the the most part, was believable. The bridge was cramped and tight for space, as was the whole ship. The "flight deck" was suitably cramped as well, with all room being given to hoses, cables, mechanical parts, and some extra room squeezed in for the humans to work in.

As well, the characters and plots were well written and well realized. And as a show, it wasn't afraid to pull its punches and go for the hard drama, as opposed to the sappy cop-outs that abound in SF today.

It really did need a few more seasons for it to realize its full potential.

Also, it was nice to see a space-based SF show from the grunts POVs, instead of the command staff

[Gaijin]

Not to bash any "Firefly" fans but like I said in the past, it's an Outlaw Star/Crusher Joe rip-off but that's just me. 

~G25

As if "westerns in space" is something unique to anime? The concept is as old as science fiction itself.

Yep, Firefly was no ripoff...Joss took a genre and made a good show...you don't see people whining about sitcoms being ripoffs of every other sitcom that has aired on TV before...

[gerwalk25]

[quote=EXAMPLE:

ID4 - INDEPENDENCE DAY:

1. Great actors.

2. Good Storyline.

3. Good Writer and Director.

I rest my case.

An excellent example of B movie crapulence! I cringe when I see it or mention it. <_<

~G25

[gerwalk25]

For this level of production quality, SFX,  cohesive acting & likable characters.....

Gimmme back SAAB!!!!!

Waaaaaa!

   

Hell yeah! SAAB is the kind of Sci-Fi we need more of.

Fave characters:

West

Wang

Vansen

Hawkes

Mcqueen

~G25

Edited December 18, 2003 by gerwalk25

[Vostok 7]

Why was SAAB cancelled? Does anyone know? I used to watch it as much as possible and I loved every minuite.

The Hammerheads were such cool craft, and the chigs were cool looking!

Vostok 7

[Graham]

I could never really get into SAAB. The whole thing with using starfighter pilots as infantry seemed pretty silly to me.

Graham

[Cyclone]

I still find it amusing that they kicked the F-111's off the flight line at the RAAF base near my house for the fake Hammerhead mock-ups in the SAAB pilot

Cyc

Edited December 18, 2003 by Cyclone

[Mechwolf]

As a Battlestar Galactica mini-series, it sucked. As an (un)original sci-fi story it was OK. The SFX were good. But the story & characters were not interesting at all. I still prefer the original over this "re-imagining", cheesy acting, flaws & all. Also, someone at a different message board pointed out the similarities between the 'Mini' & "In Harms Way".

[Isamu Atreides 86]

Why was SAAB cancelled? Does anyone know? I used to watch it as much as possible and I loved every minuite.

The Hammerheads were such cool craft, and the chigs were cool looking!

Vostok 7

those psycho androids looked pretty cool. like they hadn't seen any maintenance in years. how they tied into Vansen's past was pretty cool too.

[B-52 GUNNER]

As a Battlestar Galactica mini-series, it sucked. As an (un)original sci-fi story it was OK. The SFX were good. But the story & characters were not interesting at all. I still prefer the original over this "re-imagining", cheesy acting, flaws & all.

Changed to reflect the Star Trek the Next Generation Pilot

As a Star Trek mini-series, it sucked. As an (un)original sci-fi story it was OK. The SFX were good. But the story & characters were not interesting at all. I still prefer the original over this "re-imagining", cheesy acting, flaws & all.

If they make this Mini Series into a weekly show I feel that it will mature with time and the characters will grow stronger just like the Next Generation did when it first was released.

Give it time and it will get better.

[Radd]

There's no way to take the overused cliche they replaced the Cylon backstory with and turn it into something interesting. That's probably the worst mistake they made with the series.

[Golden Arms]

So evil Machines wiping out humanity hasn't been overdone???? I thought making the cylcons more human was a good idea, considering all the advances we've made in cloning and genetics. It has more of a 21st century feel than the overdone evil machines killing humans.

[Hurricane29]

SAAB, now that was a show, who ever cancelled it should die.

[JELEINEN]

So evil Machines wiping out humanity hasn't been overdone???? I thought making the cylcons more human was a good idea, considering all the advances we've made in cloning and genetics. It has more of a 21st century feel than the overdone evil machines killing humans.

Alien Von Neuman machines are cool and pretty rare in skiffy (much less so in real SF). Stories using the Frankenstein theme are a dime a dozen.

[Golden Arms]

Damn near every Sci Fi story told is some spin on the Frankenstein Theme. Just like nearly all dramas have some elements of Shakespearean storytelling. I think making them more human ie organic would given them a better rationale or reason to eliminate the humans. There are more motives that way ( Which we still don't know yet). Resources, food, not enough habitable pplanets, etc. On a side rant I'm getting tired of all the Science is evil/ bad that seems to be prevalent in todays sci Fi films and series. Advances in science are all to often being depicted as the fall or bane of humanity, and it gets quite sickening to see all the time.

[JELEINEN]

Damn near every Sci Fi story told is some spin on the Frankenstein Theme. Just like nearly all dramas have some elements of Shakespearean storytelling. I think making them more human ie organic would given them a better rationale or reason to eliminate the humans. There are more motives that way ( Which we still don't know yet). Resources, food, not enough habitable pplanets, etc. On a side rant I'm getting tired of all the Science is evil/ bad that seems to be prevalent in todays sci Fi films and series. Advances in science are all to often being depicted as the fall or bane of humanity, and it gets quite sickening to see all the time.

That's why I differentiated between literary science fiction (SF) and media science fiction (skiffy). While the Frankenstein theme does show up in SF from time to time, it's not predominate in any way. On the other hand, you're absolutely right that Hollywood has a very strong luddite streak, but it's nothing new. How many fifties movies had the "don't mess with things man was not meant to know" message?

[CoryHolmes]

How many fifties movies had the "don't mess with things man was not meant to know" message?

I think that was mainly due to the fact that the atomic bomb was realized for what it was. The people of the time saw the results of its use in WWII and suddenly realized just how dangerous science could be.

It makes sense that the movies of the time would reflect that public mentality, the "putting the genie back into the bottle" theme.

[JELEINEN]

I think that was mainly due to the fact that the atomic bomb was realized for what it was. The people of the time saw the results of its use in WWII and suddenly realized just how dangerous science could be.

It makes sense that the movies of the time would reflect that public mentality, the "putting the genie back into the bottle" theme.

But the theme hasn't left. Movies are as luddite as they ever were. Hiroshima may be a convenient excuse for films of the fifties, but why does the frankenstein theme persist? I'm lead to believe that it's a deeply rooted ideology in the film community, but I have no clue as to why. I do find it ironic considering the industry's dependence on technology for it's very existence.