posted
Hey, don't read this thread if you don't want to know what happens.
I'd heard this miniseries was gonna suck balls. But then it didn't, did it? I mean there was plenty of bad stuff, but there was a startling amount of really good stuff. I find myself actually very much anticipating the second half tomorrow.
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
So far I've found it a big yawn. It was so low key I was ready to doze off.
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
It does start a little slow, but I thought it picked up once the action started. My lists:
bad stuff: I have a strong objection to the terminology wherein Adama is so suspicious about 'networking' computer systems. Like a ship on the scale of Galactica could function without it's admittedly older computer systems talking to one another.
Character chemistry was frequently shaky. I suspect this could have been easily remedied with some rehersal time. But as it was you get the impression this is the first time many of these people have been in the same room. Apollo comes across as kind of a pussy.
Cylons emulating humans SO perfectly. How did they go from the big chrome mohawks to Terminator-13billion in forty years? Maybe this will be explained later, but it stretches credulity.
good stuff: Neato new vipers!! Why so shiny? Because they are museum pieces. Take that spoiler-sucking weathering junkies! I liked a lot of the CG ships. Could scarcely see the Battlestar, but it didn't just look like a pregnant gerbil.
Electronic warefare! Hey neato!
We like Mary McDonnell even though her boob is going to rot off.
This may sound weird coming from a straight guy, but I find that dude playing Starbuck kind of sexy. Well pretty much everyone is sexy. Mmmm, cylon girl. Come, let me betray my military secrets.
Akwardly technical dialogue earns big points (though my friends made fun of the fact they used 'gimbal' 7 or 8 times in one scene). No, but it makes it feel like they spent a little time researching A) military protocol, B) the science behind this fiction. Which definately lends a flavor.
Baltar didn't stick it to the old lady. Nice curveball. I like that the other guy gives up his seat too. That was even cooler.
Everyone gets blowed up. This is super cool. I love it when the world ends. Would have liked to have seen some of the instruments of their destruction, but I did think it was super cool.
questions:Is the baby in cylon-girl's lunch box? The show is cooler if she didn't eat the baby.
What did the rest of you think?
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I've seen a few episodes of the original "Galactica," but not all. I've always thought that the original concept was very interesting, but never properly realized because of budgets and campy-ness. But the mood of this show, with the sense of impending doom, not to mention the awesome special effects (and the believable use of nukes rather than silly strafing fighters) just scared the heck out of me.
The special effects in this show are nothing short of awesome. I was really excited back when I first read the pitch/introduction from Ron Moore about what he wanted to achieve with a "Galactica" remake -- including stuff about redefining the effects. I think they've done an incredible job -- even though they're not really revolutionary at all in terms of the method, it's the style that really caught my eye.
Of course, a lot of that is mainly because CGI can allow for lots of debris and other cool stuff that couldn't really be done with older methods. But regardless, all the exploding and drifting wreckage, the bodies, and the wavering points of view really created some excellent effects.
Okay, so I've got a few problems with the story:
What was the purpose of Number Six boarding the Armistice Station and scaring the heck out of that bureaucrat? I know that the "new" Cylons are supposed to be able to download their consciousnesses when their body is destroyed... but why go to the extra trouble of boarding the station in the first place?
As Balaam said, Apollo is a pussy. I don't understand how he could make it through the military with such a chip on his shoulder and such misplaced anger?
The use of the Galactica's FTL drive at the end of the first part strongly implies that all of the twelve colonies are supposed to be in one solar system. But twelve habitable planets (or maybe with a few habitable moons circling gas giants) in one system? Somehow that stretches credibility for me -- though I suppose it's possible.
Despite the fact that I miss the presence of a villain that you can really love to hate (like the campy but imposing original Baltar), this new Baltar seems like an interesting character.
quote:This may sound weird coming from a straight guy, but I find that dude playing Starbuck kind of sexy.
Um... Starbuck was a girl in this movie. Didn't you get that memo? People have been complaining about that for months now.
Other points:
-- I disagree with Balaam about the not-networking-computers bit. Considering that the Cylons seem to be much more intelligent warriors in this film, employing electronics and computerized warfare (which would be natural for them anyway), they need to limit the potential spread of any form of virus or other attack. Yeah, it's inconvenient -- which is exactly why the more recent generations got lax in their electronic defenses and used many more networked computers.
-- The baby. Um, I'm pretty sure that Cylon Girl actually snapped the baby's neck. Didn't you hear that sick cracking sound?
-- We actually DID see a few Cylon base-stars way in the distance in one of those long shots of wreckage surrounding Caprica. I think it was a shot when Boomer's ship was drifting in unpowered for the final approach to the planet.
-- Something that could/should have been explained better is how/why the Galactica was able to survive a direct hit from a nuke. For the technical minded, it's obvious that (1) it was a lower-yield nuke for ship-to-ship combat, and (2) a great deal of the damage from a nuke inside an atmosphere is from the pressure wave, and so a ship in vacuum "only" absorbs the energy directly. That could have been made a bit clearer, though -- IMO.
-- I absolutely loved the way they managed a few subtle tips of the hat to the original show -- like the original Cylon centurion as a museum piece, or the original theme tune playing over the decommissioning ceremony's flyby.
-- Considering the Cylon's attack on the President's ship (not to mention the endemic ship failures throughout the Colonial fleet) in the first part, I think it's obvious that the Cylons are hacked into the human comm traffic. So why the frack are they broadcasting their shuttle's identity as "Colonial One"? (Of course they're not dead; Apollo did something with those electronic whatzamajiggers to simulate a nuke detonation and get them off the trail.)
Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to Part Two!
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I'm in the same boat as MM, having seen only a handful of the original series. But I very much liked what I saw last night. It definitely portrays a feeling of loss that was missing in the series.
I liked the new Vipers, but what I liked even better was the fact that they ended up being expensive cannon fodder! Looks like they're stuck with the old Mark II.
The President's swearing in ceremony looked a lot like swearing in LBJ after JFK's assassination, with everyone cramped in together. They did this on B5 too, but it still works here.
The baby killing really disturbed me, mainly because I have a 3 year old of my own and another on the way.
Anyone else notice the Star Trek references? They could have been a coincidence, but with Ron Moore there, I doubt it. They woman's lottery number was 47, and one of the other civilian ships was numbered 1701.
I think this miniseries works really well. They even cover over a lot of the technical holes from the original series, like why they use antiquated technology. So, given the pacing so far, does anybody else smell regular series?
posted
Something else I remembered mentioning to my wife when I first heard it - The sound of the Cylon fighters reminded me of K.I.T.T.'s "driving" sound from Knight Rider. This would not suprise me if they did this intentionally since Glen Larson created both. (Of course, they both have the red "eyeball" too, but so did the original Cylons.)
Also, did the Cylons use missiles exclusively, or did I miss something? The Colonials seemed to use guns exclusively.
posted
Initial impressions: I really liked the visual effects in places- Caprica from orbit after the nuking was extremely well done and the new Galactica was acutally very well shot to look good (and I hate the design!). Considering taht the Galactica is aincent and about to be decommisoned, I was suprisd to see the wreck of the same CGI model in Caprica's orbit when Boomer is "gliding" toward it in the raptor.
The cylon woman is just pointless: she's not a good actress, and the glowing spine thing is just ridiculous: what a terrible feature for an undercover agent! Am I the only one that thinks the Cylon woman looks like a (slightly) cleaned up Courtney Love? This just reenforces my theory that the Cylons killed Kurt Cobain.
Still, I didint hate it and I thought I would but despite a good acting job from both Olmos and his "XO" but I really didint feel any "like" either between the characters for for them personally and watching the original version I noticed the freindship between characters immeadeately while the new version is just about everyone screwing each other or having a giant chip on their shoulder.
The sacrifice of Boomer's partner was VERY lame: He just gives up his seat (and thus his life) with no internal satruggle? It's like the guy was just waiting to give up his life. "Hmmmm who in the crowd is worth dying for....hey, Baltar!" Ug.
After watching last night's episode, I watched the original TV movie and I noticed a lot of things there that would have made the current series much better: Firstly, part of the appeal of the original BSG was that the twelve colonies were more advanced both morally (in general) and technologically than we are. Last night's premiere showed what we'll be like within 100 years at best: in many ways, none of the characters is remotely likable (except mabye Baltar). The 70's show had a kind of psydo-mystical mythology to it that made learning their terms and history intresting but that's all been thrown out the airlock now: the newcharacters even use current era terminologies, inflections and curses- those were all creativly subbed in with terms like "feldercarb" instead of "bullshit". THe only visually disapointing thing about the premiere was that in the 70's version, the cylons send a whole armada to wipe out the colonies, but last night, the Cylons only sent what? Six fighters that we saw? It seemed too easy for them to defeat all of humanity and 120 battlestars, all their fighters and whatever system defenses there might have been. Even Wolf 359 seemed like more of a struggle.
So far, it's pretty but about the same quality of stort as "Wing Commander" was. Still, I'll watch tonight's episode and judge the two parter as a whole. I'm hopful we'll see some kind of directed attack instead of a few fighters attacking in sets of two in tonight's episode: an Imperious Leader issuing directives would be nice. I cant believe all the cylons are just acting independantly after making an attack plan.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: -- I disagree with Balaam about the not-networking-computers bit.
Perhaps I should have explained more fully. My objection was to the idea that Adama shuns networked computers entirely and absolutely. Which maybe he's referring to NetWork� brand computers, but it's kind of unclear and I found it highly discordant in a program which has obviously explored the technical aspects of their show. Because without lowercase, conceptual networks Adama wouldn't really have a bridge anymore would he? I can understand the cylons hacking the Baltar-designed network defense protocol, maybe some incredibly advanced and ubiquitous 802.11x/UltraVioletTooth wireless or something. But then hard-wired networks isolated and ignorant of that protocol ought ought to be mostly alright. I just have a problem with the idea that you could realistically run a vessel of that size without using any networked systems. Because that would be more or less impossible, you see?
Given the writer's attention to detail with regards to so many other aspects of the show, I'm guessing this was more an imposed dumbing-down from some other quarter that thought the public would find all this too confusing.
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I have a problem with their printers using old 1970's form feed paper.
Oh, that's right! Cylons could hack a laserjet!
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Just to warn you all. I've never seen the original Battlestar Galactica, in fact my only contact with anything of the kind was an old shoot-them up shareware game.
That said, although I did hear about all the doom and gloom about the show, it really seemed not that bad. Although to quote Philip J. Fry, some parts are aptly described as "that seemed unnecessary" i.e. most scenes with that Cylon woman or that gimball conversation
Man there are a lot of familar faces here from the genre. That agent guy from Psi Factor, Kurdy's dead girlfriend from Jeremiah, that Valhalla Sector Milhaven boss, and that woman from Donnie Darko.
Having only seen the first part, so whats the deal with these 12 colonies and Earth? Is this some parallel evolution thing? Long lost colony?
I rather liked the old technology...at least on the BG. Not knowing what the deal is between them and Earth, it does look dramatically different from the overly glossy look of Enterprise or the art-deco gone haywire Andromeda. And it certainly doesn't look as out-of-place as the ST Insurrection joystick or the Delta flyer. When the look is consistently retro, I can accept it and move on. Just as we accept the lack of safety handrails in SW
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
What's the deal with the Twelve Colonies and Earth? Well, the miniseries unfortunately removed the grand introductory voiceover that really set the tone for the series. (Of course, it also was kinda over-the-top in a few places, too...)
"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... far, far away amongst the stars..." -- read by Patrick Macnee
Does that help?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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Kinda. So this is kind of a spin on the Stargate idea? Instead of humans being abducted by aliens to other planets, and us being inspired/slaved to build ancient monuments. BG has humans coming here, building ancient monuments and leaving a few of them/us stranded, and devolving technologically to our past and current state?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Missed the first part yesterday, but I caught it tonight... along with the second part. I now remember why the hell I never sit through marathons anymore. And, good lord, what's the deal with those bumpers Sci-Fi has going on? That fly-boy really creeps me out. Anyway, on to the show:
I watched many of the original Battlestar Galactica episodes when they aired on Sci-Fi about two or three years ago as a marathon. I liked it overall, but I thought it was a bit campy. That said, yeah, I really liked this remake. I liked how dark and depressing it was at times. The little girl on the botanical ship waiting for her parents? When the Cylons attack and the screen just fades to white on her? That got me. So did Adama's reaction on the supposed destruction of Colonial One (and Apollo) and when Boomer takes off in the ship by herself and those civilian survivors from Caprica.
I really liked a lot of the tension between the characters. The crew chief vs. Tigh, Starbuck vs. Tigh, Apollo vs. Adama, Adama vs. the President, etc. I thought were pretty well played. Well I think the release of tension from Apollo and Adama's relationship was paced pretty well, I think it would have been better to have Starbuck confess her sins much later (like, say, in the series if it were to get picked up).
Starbuck's a bitch, essentially. I like her, but she's a bitch. She also reminds A LOT of Beka Valentine from Andromeda. I kinda hoped that Tigh would backhand her after that final confrontation, but she's a fun character. I also like Boomer, and I like that it seems she going to be the foster mother to Boxey. And, speaking of Boxey, not much screen time for the lad, huh? At least he didn't come across as annoying as he did in the original series.
I really like what the remake did to Baltar. Instead of intentionally betraying humanity and becoming the evil villian (and campiest of them all), he's a complicated and arrogant man who unwittingly helped aid that destruction of humanity. If this were to go to series, I would really like to see how that burden would affect him (not to mention the impending insanity from 6 of 12 living in his head). I also liked how Adama fared. Not the super goody-two-shoes I remember from the original series. A very military man he is; I think it fit into his character well how he eventually decided to help the convoy escape and how he seems to be the President's adversary.
Overall, I liked the miniseries. I liked the characters, and I thought they came across pretty well. It felt like to me that they had chemistry with each other (although Starbuck and Apollo seemed like they needed work). I liked the Cylons, and I like this origin story better than the original (which I'm still pretty confused about). The special effects were cool, and I found it neat how the sound effects for the space scenes seemed to be muted. There was still sound, but not so heavy. And the operatic parts of the music score I really liked.
Here are my main problems: I hate that Boomer is going to be the double agent. I like her, damn it! Even though it could set up a cool future story where her betrayal is made known (and the effect on the crew chief and Boxey), I still like her and want her to be good! Damn it! I'm also disappointed that it turned out the photographer was a Cylon agent. I was so hoping that Baltar was lying and that an innocent person was going to bite the big one for his covering up his sins. Instead, we see the committee of Cylon-Humanoids and learn the identity of the sleeper on Galactica.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The Photographer turning out to be a cylon was a total cop-out. Baltar didint know anything and he just miracleously picked the right guy?
It was an easy way to say they didint sentence an innocent man to death.
[ December 10, 2003, 12:15 AM: Message edited by: Jason Abbadon ]
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
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posted
But they don't know that yet.
I also hadn't seen a thing of the original series, and have to say that I thought the miniseries was overall pretty decent.
I'd love to see more - the hook is there. Perhaps another real miniseries. Two eppies does not a miniseries make.
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