Scifi's Battlestar Galactica

[walbourn]

It seems like the majority of 'old-school' fans hate the new show, which is sad because it is the one actually being made. I was a huge fan of the original show, but I was 8 years old. I remember how terribly disappointed I felt when they turned BSG into Chips meets a kids adventure show with BSG 1980.

I know that people have been carrying a torch for this thing for 20 years. I know that there were dozens of stops and starts, that Richard Hatch tried to make something happen with an 'original' continuation, that Glen Larson has hemmed and hawed and kept poking at it, but perhaps not seriously enough. I understand people are disappointed, but perhaps the truth is it is not possible to make people happy who want something that has long since passed.

So, are we as fans to be unhappy with anything less than our vision of the show? Are we going to collectively nit-pick every single aspect of a production to death? Of course, we're fans. That's what fans do. But when it is all said and done, BSG 2003 will either be made into a series or it won't, and if it is it is going to be based with this premise, this crew, this storyline. If we want to use what little influence we really have to destroy that effort in a 'scorched Earth' policy of better dead than different, that is each person's choice. It just seems a sad waste of energy.

There was nothing in this production that I felt was less interesting, more poorly done, or crappier than the Babylon 5 pilot, and I loved every damn eps of that show. Was it the original 'wagon-train in space' meets 'space cowboys' show? Of course not. How could it be? We aren't 8 anymore, the world is a hell of a lot different since 1978, and things change. The original series was a brilliant idea, with horrible writing and scripts made up at the last minute, and a special effects cuts set that totaled maybe 45 seconds of original shots. The original show 'plagiarized' the Book of Mormon and other scifi shows for half the plot. The original crew were a part of their own time and part of a generation that is now in their late 50s.

Were there issues with the Scifi version? Of course. Personally I felt like it was a good setup for a series. Many things were purposely not explained for future exploration. I liked that they took their time to develop the story, I felt emotion and tension, I empathized with the characters and respected their back stories. But then again, I don't really have an agenda beyond liking to see money put into properties for geeks and not yet another reality show.

Just my two cubits.



Update: High Ratings - http://scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003-12/11/12.00.sfc

Despite this, rumor has it that it will not be picked up as a series by Sci-Fi Channel because, as usual, they can't really pay for good productions on an on-going basis--which is why they killed Farscape despite great ratings and fan support... Sigh.