Fleeing from the Cylon Tyranny...
Jun. 9th, 2003 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherus"There are those who believe that life here began out there. Far across the universe. With tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians or the Toltecs or the Mayans. That they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man, who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens"
For years, possibly decades, I've heard rumours at various science fiction conventions and online forums about various attempts to bring back Battlestar Galactica. Looks like someone finally did it.
Sure, the show had its flaws. They were heavily dependent on stock footage. ("Here come the Cylons. Launch all the Vipers several times, so we can see the launch effect from multiple angles!" "Starbuck shoots the one on the right, then Apollo shoots the one on the left, then we see the middle one explode from Apollo's POV as Starbuck shoots it three times.") The writing was sometimes horrific, and they certainly overused the whole concept of crash-landing on a planet with a plot straight out of an old movie ("Guns on Ice Planet Zero", anyone?) And the Tektronix oscilloscopes exploding on the bridge every time the Galactica got hit. And, yeah, the science behind it was a little less than stellar (no pun intended), with ships that can't break light speed visiting new star systems every week. And some of the writers didn't know a galaxy from a constellation. At its worse, the show could be trite, unimaginative, and down-right groan-worth (and not in a good way).
But at its best...at its best, it could be downright Epic. Humans, struggling to survive, pulling together after great tragedy, limping along with limited resources, hunted by an overwhelmingly powerful foe. Humans without a homeland who are, as far as they know, the only ones left of their kind. But even then, there's hope. The human spirit endures. Some fun characters, the interplay between Apollo and Starbuck was sometimes right up on a level with Kirk/Spock/McCoy. And for all the high-tech gadgetry, it was always the human element that drove the show. And the greatest tragedies came not from the Cylons, but through human error. It was a human councilman whose cause was just, working hard for the good of all, who opened the way to the near-destruction of all mankind. Betrayed not so much by the traitor Baltar, but by his own good intentions. And besides, who can forget Apollo and Starbuck herding a Cylon basestar into the side of a planet with help from the fictional Purple and Pink squadrons?
Yeah, I liked the show. It only lasted for one season, and they never did find Earth. But I watched it every week as it was coming out, and it's remained one of my favorites in re-runs.
And now they're re-making it. Coming out this December as a miniseries (same format the original was in: 4 two-hour movies. They only spliced them up and filmed new episodes to make it into a series later).
http://www.scifi.com/Battlestar/intro/
The new producer, Ron Moore, does seem to understand what was best about the series. He also seems very proud of his vision, believing that what he's doing is groundbreaking, innovative, and nothing less than Art. Arrogant and presumptuous.
I like that.
"Fleeing from the Cylon Tyranny, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest. A shining planet, known as Earth"
For years, possibly decades, I've heard rumours at various science fiction conventions and online forums about various attempts to bring back Battlestar Galactica. Looks like someone finally did it.
Sure, the show had its flaws. They were heavily dependent on stock footage. ("Here come the Cylons. Launch all the Vipers several times, so we can see the launch effect from multiple angles!" "Starbuck shoots the one on the right, then Apollo shoots the one on the left, then we see the middle one explode from Apollo's POV as Starbuck shoots it three times.") The writing was sometimes horrific, and they certainly overused the whole concept of crash-landing on a planet with a plot straight out of an old movie ("Guns on Ice Planet Zero", anyone?) And the Tektronix oscilloscopes exploding on the bridge every time the Galactica got hit. And, yeah, the science behind it was a little less than stellar (no pun intended), with ships that can't break light speed visiting new star systems every week. And some of the writers didn't know a galaxy from a constellation. At its worse, the show could be trite, unimaginative, and down-right groan-worth (and not in a good way).
But at its best...at its best, it could be downright Epic. Humans, struggling to survive, pulling together after great tragedy, limping along with limited resources, hunted by an overwhelmingly powerful foe. Humans without a homeland who are, as far as they know, the only ones left of their kind. But even then, there's hope. The human spirit endures. Some fun characters, the interplay between Apollo and Starbuck was sometimes right up on a level with Kirk/Spock/McCoy. And for all the high-tech gadgetry, it was always the human element that drove the show. And the greatest tragedies came not from the Cylons, but through human error. It was a human councilman whose cause was just, working hard for the good of all, who opened the way to the near-destruction of all mankind. Betrayed not so much by the traitor Baltar, but by his own good intentions. And besides, who can forget Apollo and Starbuck herding a Cylon basestar into the side of a planet with help from the fictional Purple and Pink squadrons?
Yeah, I liked the show. It only lasted for one season, and they never did find Earth. But I watched it every week as it was coming out, and it's remained one of my favorites in re-runs.
And now they're re-making it. Coming out this December as a miniseries (same format the original was in: 4 two-hour movies. They only spliced them up and filmed new episodes to make it into a series later).
http://www.scifi.com/Battlestar/intro/
The new producer, Ron Moore, does seem to understand what was best about the series. He also seems very proud of his vision, believing that what he's doing is groundbreaking, innovative, and nothing less than Art. Arrogant and presumptuous.
I like that.
"Fleeing from the Cylon Tyranny, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest. A shining planet, known as Earth"
