BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Should I watch?

POSTED BY: reginaroadie
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 1, 2005 04:33
VIEWED: 10672
PAGE 2 of 4

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 NEXT PAGE

AURAPTOR

Friday, January 14, 2005 1:54 AM

I'm not sure why they felt the need to make the changes that they did. Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo? Don't get me wrong, I think the new character of Starbuck is played great. The actress does one hell of a job. Very interesting and all that, but .....why?

It's been so long since I watched the original, I guess I never really paid much attention to the story line. It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'. It hurts the brain to have to think this much.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

PBI

Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:27 AM

I'm a fan of the old BSG and I say the new version blows the original out of the water.

The mini-series was shown here in Canada last year on Space and we get to see the first season of the show beginning the 15th of January.

What makes this version better? Realism. Okay, so they caved to the 'sound in space' advocates, unlike Joss with Firefly, but that's a small nit :) When I watched the original, I felt as though as I was watching a typical Hollywood version of a military/political event; hopelessly contrived. Not so with BSG. The show comes across almost as a documentary; I've served with, commanded, and been commanded by people who acted like some of the characters in the new show. Awesome.

The new version is also a lot darker, almost heartbreakingly so in places, and the producers seem to be assuming that their viewers have a few brain cells to rub together, which is refreshing. I was quite pleased with how they tweaked the backstory; basically, the final battle/ambush from the old version never hapened, or the Colonials managed to escape from it and battle the Cylons to a stalemate, the Cylons went away, and, some 40+ years later, we pick up our narative. I was particularly pleased how they worked in our more modern understanding of cybernetics and the penetration of computers into all aspects of society.

As for Starbuck being a woman now, who cares? It was a bit jarring at first, but Katee Sackhoff is a terrific actress (as any who saw her in The Education of Max Bickford know) and the change in the character of Starbuck helps instantly snuff out any lingering assumptions us old fans might have mistakenly made about how or why things were happening; even though I knew the basic story going in, after about the first hour, I was no longer sure the new version would stay with the sacred cows of the older version. Awesome.

The casting on this show was and is absolutely brilliant. Now, if the writing on the series stays true to the mega-pilot, this show has the potential to be another Firefly, though hopefully it will last a bit longer :)

If you can survive death, you can probably survive almost anything.

GREENFAERIE

Saturday, January 15, 2005 6:36 AM

Should you watch?

Simple answer:

Abso-Frakkin'-lutely!

WILDBILL

Saturday, January 15, 2005 2:18 PM

My hopes weren't very high for this series but "33" had me on the edge of my seat. Oh, and Starbuck is hot.

NERVOUSPETE

Saturday, January 15, 2005 2:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo??

It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'.

Starbuck isn't actually a lesbian. Yes, I know, the hot blooded male demographic dreams of Boomer and Starbuck together, but it isn't going to happen. I realise that there are BSG 2005 virgins here so I won't reveal what I have learned watching it in the UK, but Starbuck is DEFINITELY not a lesbian. And Apollo does become more manly, indeed sometimes even savage, as the series continues.

Each character has an arc, they are not quite the same people ten episodes from now. Expect changes to happen.

The new vipers were disabled by the special EMP/hacking weapon the cylons deployed. The old ones although not as up-to-date are invulnerable to this method. That's why Galactica and her old Vipers, essentially a floating museum, survive the attack.

The cylons fought humanity to a stalemate. The cylons then left for about forty years. The human fleet grew huge again and the cylons couldn't attack with any confidence of victory - until they found their secret weapon to disable the new ships of the human fleet.

Oh, and the Sci-Fi channel edited about half an hour or forty minutes from the full NBC version (or was that vice versa?) so you miss a bit of handy exposition and lots more Adama. Gagh.

Pete

P.S: The show is very good, Baltar is incredibly funny and it is the best sci-fi since Firefly, though not AS great as Firefly, natch.

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

NERVOUSPETE

Saturday, January 15, 2005 2:26 PM

And I am in love with Cally, the flight deck girl.

Pete

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

PURPLEBELLY

Saturday, January 15, 2005 2:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:
And I am in love with Cally, the flight deck girl.

I realise that love is blind, but there is a queue. And that's Crewman Specialist to you, Mister.

AURAPTOR

Saturday, January 15, 2005 2:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Starbuck is now a confused butch lesbian who has feelings for the effeminte Apollo??

It's kinda confusing to have the old Vipers on display when we last saw them fighting the old Cylon ships, but now that's suppose to all happened in the past, before the Cyclons tried to wipe mankind out.....but that's what they're trying to do now..in the 'present'.

Starbuck isn't actually a lesbian. Yes, I know, the hot blooded male demographic dreams of Boomer and Starbuck together, but it isn't going to happen. I realise that there are BSG 2005 virgins here so I won't reveal what I have learned watching it in the UK, but Starbuck is DEFINITELY not a lesbian. And Apollo does become more manly, indeed sometimes even savage, as the series continues.

Oh, I know Starbuck isn't SUPPOSE to be a lesbian. She seemingly had the hots for Apollo and all, but she definatly displays some of the Xena " My character isn't gay, but we can still play along with some stereo typical gay themes" things about her. Like I said, I think she does an amazing job w/ the character. Certainly enjoyable to watch.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

CYBERSNARK

Saturday, January 15, 2005 3:33 PM

So, any woman who is confident, aggressive, and has a sense of fun/adventure is based on lesbian themes?

Wow, that's like, half the female characters I write. . .

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

FORRESTWOLF

Saturday, January 15, 2005 4:14 PM

Well, I'm sure the other threads are discussing this stuff, but regarding the Zoic-produced space scenes:
If for nothing else, watching it to see Firefly-style space shots is incredible. Quite a trip down Firefly memory lane, to see all the zoom effects that are very familiar. Big wideangle view of capital ship, followed by HUGE zoom down to the wee little viper. Really captures space being fracking (or is it gorram?) big.

As for sound, Purplebelly, I agree that it IS there (lasers are loud and such), but it's pleasantly understated. There's a lot of shots with very little sound, and the physics appears Newtonian, like Firefly often is. When vipers get to where they want to be, they pivot and fire, while coasting. And the concept of thrusting, then shutting down and coasting to hide, is used.

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 NEXT PAGE