Battlestar Craptacular

[Effect]

I haven't read them yet. Some people complain they aren't as good as Frank Herbert's books but his son isn't him. The styles are naturally going to be different. Still I woud like to see them made into a mini-series as well. I still need to pick them up.

[Duke Togo]

As if anyone should be surprised that they botched this.....

How soon we all forget that piece of crap they passed off as DUNE.

Excuse me?

How is the new Sci-Fi version of Dune a POS when it's 100x closer to the book than that 80's movie called "dune" and didn't even have Sting in it to boot?

Explain, please.

Vostok 7

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

[Vostok 7]

I haven't read them yet. Some people complain they aren't as good as Frank Herbert's books but his son isn't him. The styles are naturally going to be different. Still I woud like to see them made into a mini-series as well. I still need to pick them up.

Yeah, they're good if you can swallow that they're not Frank... and the fact that Kevin J. Anderson co-wrote (I think it was him).

The only thing I didn't like was that the end was kinda left hanging... It didn't even tie in to Dune! It's like they somehow left opening for yet another prequel somehow. I didn't like that part.

But otherwise, they were good books.

Vostok 7

[treatment]

Boomer aka Grace Park interview.

http://scifi.about.com/library/weekly/aa120603.htm

w00t! more Grace Park pics!

http://battlestar.ugo.com/girls/grace_park.php

she's damn friggin hot for a korean chick.

add:

oh, the Girls of Galactica. Original and New. Do the compare...

http://battlestar.ugo.com/girls/

Edited December 10, 2003 by treatment

[Veifwan Es]

I for one thought this miniseries was spectacular. I watched the original when I was a child, and I actually like this one much much more. I thought the acting was fine, most of the character choices were good (Starbuck being a woman is fine, but please ditch that actor), and the plot was top notch. For a TV program the production values were through the roof. I honestly can't understand why this show is getting such negative comments. I count it as a blessing that top-tier science fiction shows still come out every once in a while. Thank you Sci Fi Channel, I thoroughly enjoyed that programming! Keep 'em rolling!

I'm also pretty suprised about the Dune comment....did you read the books?!! That series was a very good interpretation of them, and I don't see many people being able to handle the content of those books much better. I'm crossing my fingers that they give us at least one more round of the Dune series. God Emporor Leto would be sweet to see on the small screen.

[Vostok 7]

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

Oh yeah, that's good enough reasons.

Vostok 7

[Uxi]

As if anyone should be surprised that they botched this.....

How soon we all forget that piece of crap they passed off as DUNE.

Excuse me?

How is the new Sci-Fi version of Dune a POS when it's 100x closer to the book than that 80's movie called "dune" and didn't even have Sting in it to boot?

Explain, please.

Vostok 7

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

Um.... no.

Sound guns. Kyle Mclaughlin? Frank who?

I thought Sting did pretty good and the movie's Baron was better. And the production size/budget was obviously bigger with all the extras and what not. But everything else in teh Sci-Fi series was better.

Which one was Frank Herberts name on it? It was specifically removed from the movie IIRC.

[Isamu Atreides 86]

I haven't read them yet. Some people complain they aren't as good as Frank Herbert's books but his son isn't him. The styles are naturally going to be different. Still I woud like to see them made into a mini-series as well. I still need to pick them up.

Yeah, they're good if you can swallow that they're not Frank... and the fact that Kevin J. Anderson co-wrote (I think it was him).

The only thing I didn't like was that the end was kinda left hanging... It didn't even tie in to Dune! It's like they somehow left opening for yet another prequel somehow. I didn't like that part.

But otherwise, they were good books.

Vostok 7

I Agree. the "House" Books weren't that great, and left a lot to be desired. i do like the new Butlerian Jihad books they are putting out now, better than the house books, though no where near the original.

as far as the Dune mini-series is concerned, those kicked ass. they could take time and tell the story and made it pretty close to the book. you just can't replicate everything that Herbert put in there, it would be way too much. the actors were no names, but they were better than Kyle Mclachlan. Children of dune was great too. since Dune Messiah didn't add too much, i was glad to see it was condensed, and that more attention was given to Children of Dune.

i hope they make more. i want God Emperor, Heretics and Chapterhouse.

[Isamu Atreides 86]

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

Oh yeah, that's good enough reasons.

Vostok 7

yeah, but Frank's dead. i bet if he were alive, He'd praise the mini-series. the movie was straight up David Lynch non-sense.

[zeus the zentran]

to be truthfull i felt the show was not so bad.i felt the cinematographgy and the production design was well done.ed olmos was excellent.the pacing of the story had some power especially of the destruction of the botany ship with the little girl.costume design wasn't so hot to me.i agree that that should've kept the original costumes like the helmets that looked like egyptian headdresses and such.i felt most of the people looked too much the same.i'm glad they still kept the biblical elemnents especially with the baltar segments where the cylon lady is in love with a man she considers god.baltar himself i felt was well written.as for apollo and starbuck and boomer i find them lacking anything myself.they were just typical navy jock type characters.apollo yup he was an a-hole.i think he's got the same sexual identity crisis as starbuck. as for starbucj i think she's pretty cute but kind of annoying i found her screaming while flying pretty damn annoying.i think if they write her a little better she could be something good on the show.apollo well they should kill the little punk ass.

[zeus the zentran]

and c'mon this show's better than that overatted piece of walrus crap Taken.

[Duke Togo]

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

Oh yeah, that's good enough reasons.

Vostok 7

yeah, but Frank's dead. i bet if he were alive, He'd praise the mini-series. the movie was straight up David Lynch non-sense.

Herbert said he liked what Lynch did with the movie. He wrote the books, I'd say his opinion mattered more than yours.

[BankofKev.]

Richard Hatch said to watch with a open mind.

At the BG25 con I saw Ron Moore Present a reel.

I thought it looked like a cheesy Farscape.

Well having watched the who series I can say now its not that! Its a Cheesy Space Above and Beyond.

Dont get me wrong i liked SAAB but it also had flaws. Here Ron Moore took the flaws of SAAB and made more pronouced. I can hear him thinknig that SAAB failed cause it did not have enough sex and beatiful people,catfights,backstabing,bickering and cheesy sets....

Sadly though the SAAB 2 hour pilot is far more enterinaing than this drek.

One thing that stunned me was how sllllooooooooowwwwwwww the pacing was on the show. At least the orginal had great paicing.

Another: The lack of battle sequences i mean most of the action occurs OFFscreen (saving $$$$$$). In the orginal you saw the fleet get destoryed you saw the glactica fights try to fight off the cylons. you saw the cylons lauch attacks on Caprica, you saw other battle stars get blown up. You saw people die on camera.

Here thats all sanitized. or done off screen. What you do see is alot of people sitting around talking and talk they do...when they stop thet talk some more....

BORING!

AREASEVEN: You asked if the cylons stilll have the mlving light for the eye. Yes they do. But they are RARELY seen! We see plenty of human cylons (a trick done in (Galacitca 1980) which is done to save money....

And they say the 1978 version is cheesy....

Bankofkev

[bsu legato]

I have to wonder...would people be so hard on it if they hadn't called it "Galactica?" In fact, I think that might have been a better idea since they made so many fundamental changes to nearly every aspect of the show. But of course, Sci Fi had to cash in on the name instead of having the balls to make something truly original.

[Mechwarrior]

Not gonna get into details, but after the second part, I just have to say I like the new BS and look forward to more episodes.

[Duke Togo]

Not gonna get into details, but after the second part, I just have to say I like the new BS and look forward to more episodes.

I agree. Part 2 was much better than Part 1, and really changed my mind about the mini-series.

[vuster]

YES I thought It was kool! One of the best scifi mini series to date! Im just hoping that some one would start making models out of the Vipers! That be truly awesome. Has any one played the game yet?

[gnollman]

I'd like to see the new prequel trilogy turned into a mini-series.

Vostok 7

No.... just... no.

I'm a huge Herbert fan, and have read all sorts of his books other than just the Dune trilogy (try White Plague, way ahead of his time), but I have to say, the new prequels just suck.... bad.

I read House Atreides, and thought it was bad. Decided to give House Harkonnen a second chance, and couldn't even finish it, I thought it was so bad. The writing just isn't Dune-quality... it's not even close. And that's not even commenting on the subtle rewriting of things...

Forget it. I'm not reading anything Dune not written by Frank Herbert again....

[Vostok 7]

No.... just... no.

I'm a huge Herbert fan, and have read all sorts of his books other than just the Dune trilogy (try White Plague, way ahead of his time), but I have to say, the new prequels just suck.... bad.

I read House Atreides, and thought it was bad. Decided to give House Harkonnen a second chance, and couldn't even finish it, I thought it was so bad. The writing just isn't Dune-quality... it's not even close. And that's not even commenting on the subtle rewriting of things...

Forget it. I'm not reading anything Dune not written by Frank Herbert again....

Hey I hear you.

The Prequels are more of a modern sci-fi writing and have a way different feel than the Dune books... It's like reading a Battletech novel compared to Homer's Odyssey. That said, the story is still good IMO, since (supposedly) they were based on Frank's writings on the backgrounds of the characters and events and the like.

Vostok 7

[Noriko Takaya]

Kinda like Reese Witherspoon always plays the same character. If someone played a role that was hers, it just wouldn't be right.

Have you seen that movie of hers called Freeway? She gave poor white trash a new name with that movie.

[muswp1]

I liked Part 2 better than Part 1. That president charactor can take a long walk out an airlock and, like BankofKev, I really didn't care for most of the important plot events taking place off camera. With all the stuff that gets blown up in other Sci-Fi shows like Stargate SG-1, why were they so reluctant to show anything happening in the first part of this show???

[Isamu Atreides 86]

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

Oh yeah, that's good enough reasons.

Vostok 7

yeah, but Frank's dead. i bet if he were alive, He'd praise the mini-series. the movie was straight up David Lynch non-sense.

Herbert said he liked what Lynch did with the movie. He wrote the books, I'd say his opinion mattered more than yours.

obviously, but what i'm saying is Lynch's version was all he had seen at that pointi think had he lived to see the SciFi series, he would have loved them even more than lynch's version.

[Graham]

Because the movie was clearly superior. Frank Herbert even praised it.

Oh yeah, that's good enough reasons.

Vostok 7

yeah, but Frank's dead. i bet if he were alive, He'd praise the mini-series. the movie was straight up David Lynch non-sense.

Herbert said he liked what Lynch did with the movie. He wrote the books, I'd say his opinion mattered more than yours.

obviously, but what i'm saying is Lynch's version was all he had seen at that pointi think had he lived to see the SciFi series, he would have loved them even more than lynch's version.

Personally, I hated the mini-series. I thought all the actors were horribly miscast and looked nothing at all like how they are described in the books. Also, a lot of the acting in the mini-series was extremely wooden.

IMO, Lynch did a much better job with his casting choices and the characters actually looked fairly close to how they are described and how I imagined them.

Of course, both the movie and the mini-series took a lot of liberties with the story, the movie more so than the series.

Out of the two, I far prefer the movie for it's superior acting and visuals.

Graham

[VF-1S Alpha]

YES I thought It was kool! One of the best scifi mini series to date! Im just hoping that some one would start making models out of the Vipers! That be truly awesome. Has any one played the game yet?

Awfully hard to play, each time you play it seems depends more on luck than AI. It seems the AI varies alot each time you play. Well, that's my opinion.

Graphic wise, I like it....it has a feel of WING COMMANDER, and a mixture of Macross into it. But I like "flying" the VIPER around, and listening to the special effects, maybe just a nostalgia of the old times in the 80s.

So if you got your Viper Helmet, put it on, and play the game!!!

[Graham]

In the PS2 BSG game, does your Viper have missiles or only Turbo Lasers?

Graham

[waylandcool]

Richard Hatch said to watch with a open mind.

At the BG25 con I saw Ron Moore Present a reel.

I thought it looked like a cheesy Farscape.

Well having watched the who series I can say now its not that! Its a Cheesy Space Above and Beyond.

Dont get me wrong i liked SAAB but it also had flaws. Here Ron Moore took the flaws of SAAB and made more pronouced. I can hear him thinknig that SAAB failed cause it did not have enough sex and beatiful people,catfights,backstabing,bickering and cheesy sets....

Sadly though the SAAB 2 hour pilot is far more enterinaing than this drek.

You know Galatica does remind me of SAAB alot. Especially the camera angles and shot choices. SAAB failed because it was a dark, real show that didn't fly back in 1995 because the world wasn't ready for a show that style. Now it probably does take off for the same reasons.

Overall, while I wasn't impressed by Galatica, it didn't aggrevate me either. Most of my complaints have been ably voiced by others but they include:

the XO can't act

The off-screen action pissed me off

Mary McDonald's character was such a melodramatic wuss it isn't funny

Baltar was a shade too brooding

Not one clear shot of a Basestar

Starbuck was a little too butch

[uminoken]

Well guess I'll use one of my old tapes to record this (purely for the space battles, and Serenity flying again)

But I'm not holding much hope (didn't much care for the old one either)

[Mercurial Morpheus]

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.

[CaptRico]

Hey, how are the new Cylons? Do they still have red lights flashing left to right on their eyes?

They look like this:

http://www.galactica2003.net/cgi-bin/view....cgcenturion.jpg

As for my intake on Galactica 2003, the story SUCKS!><

I'm telling ya, they screw up another good sci-fi show! I was hoping for this:

The begining would start with what happend 40 yrs ago during the war. Then, after a few mintues on the epic last battle, we move on to the present.

2. The ending should have been showing the Galactica and Co. heading out into space and head straight for Earth.

3. They should have not reveal Boomer to be another Cylon. That's NOT FAIR! Boomer's a hot chick! She's suppost to be the hero, not a cylon in disguise like #6 and those toher weirdos.

4. They should have added more sound and attack to the battles, like the original.

I've been disappointed with movies before, but this? Man, someone please fire those jerks at Sci-Fi who remade this series. If it were me, I write and do the story RIGHT.

But it seems like writers and producers just don't care anymore -- all they care about now is special effects and action, because it sells.

SCI-FI - storys sell, you idoits!

A movie with good special effects with a BAD storyline WILL NOT SELL.

There is one thing I've learned about good movie -- and that's the story. IF THE STORY IS GOOD THEN IT SELLS.

One thing my Dad told is that a reall magic that makes a movie good are the actors AND ESPECIALLY the WRITERS and DIRECTORS. Those are the 3 main keys to making an EXCELLENT MOVIE.

EXAMPLE:

ID4 - INDEPENDENCE DAY:

1. Great actors.

2. Good Storyline.

3. Good Writer and Director.

I rest my case.

[Dobber]

I can't let this topic be finished with someone saying ID4 was a good example of a great movie. To me that movie personified what is wrong with most Sci-fi.....(too light hearted) Next, I believe Mary Mcdonal (spelling) was in ID4. since you say it had great actors.

Personally I loved the New Battlestar, I loved the old one too. Too many people are caught up in the old that they can't look at this one objectively. I read somewhere else in this post that someone said that the new show had every Sci-Fi cliche'......Huh.....I thought it was lacking most of the cliche's...( FORCED comedy that most sci-fi seems to have, Too much techno babble, and too much emphasis on effects instead of story. Look what happened to Star Wars)

Don't get me wrong the show too me still had some flaws, i.e. Colonal Ty wasnt that great and the President's character was a little annoying, but I think she was supposed to be

In my opinion I thought the show was great, and dare I say it....I liked the new Starbuck

P.S. I'd agree that it was similar to SAAB but too me the one thing I didn't like about SAAB was that they were trying too hard with all the Military stuff and yet they didn't require Haircutts untill much later in the show!!

Chris

[Duke Togo]

EXAMPLE:

ID4 - INDEPENDENCE DAY:

1. Great actors.

2. Good Storyline.

3. Good Writer and Director.

I rest my case.

Now that's funny.

1. Who would that be? Judd Hirsch and Will Smith are the only two actors in there of any significance. And will Smith has mostly wasted his talent on lame action movies (like Independence Day).

2. Matter of opinion. I thought it was rather lame, especially the ending.

3. Written and directed by the immortal Roland Emmerich, the man behind Universal Soldier, Stargate, and Godzilla. HAHAHAHAHA!

Ya, you rest your case... about 6 feet under.

[Guvava]

Just saw one of the old BSG episodes. Everytime they click the "Turbo" button on the joystick to leave a launch tube or create some afterburn, really cracks me up. Some of the stuff was pretty silly.

Edit-

I use to think that was so cool when I was a kid.

Edited December 11, 2003 by Guvava

[gerwalk25]

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

[Uxi]

FORCED comedy that most sci-fi seems to have, Too much techno babble, and too much emphasis on effects instead of story. Look what happened to Star Wars

SW was always that way.

SAAB was cheeseball. Everwhere from the pseudo-military "discipline" to using pilots for grunt-work.

[JELEINEN]

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.