Today is the 19th anniversary of the premiere of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries on the SciFi Channel (later renamed SyFy). I think it's time for me to break out the bluray discs and watch this fantastic series yet again.

It might be time for a sequel!

LOL!!

Ageing stinks but the alternative is much worse!

Mark I Viper or I ain't watching.

I hate most changes to classic original spacecraft except the aesthetic improvements to the NCC-1701A retrofit (admittedly helped by seeing the Enterprise for the first time on a big theater screen).

Feminizing Starbuck is one thing, but feminizing the Viper went too far.

OT EDIT: And that new Countach coming out...just no.

The reimagined BSG has plenty of the MK I Viper. If you ever watch the miniseries you’ll know why!

While I don't think it was a particularly cool looking ship, the more industrial look to the BSG in the re-imagined show has its appeal, because it just seems more functional somehow. The older Vipers in the show weren't great, but the Mk VIIs, as I think the newer ones were called, looked really bad, in my opinion. I thought they looked like what a 14-year-old would draw if someone showed them the Viper for the original show and said, "Now make it look more futuristic."

I still think the original design looks better than anything in the new show, though. The Raiders from the new show were kind of cool, and the updated version of the original series version they made for Blood and Chrome looked good, in my opinion.

I loved the original series when I was 12, but the new series was a lot less campy than the original, so I find myself liking that better. I hated female Starbuck at first, but she really grew on me, as she was portrayed every bit as brash and rebellious as Dirk Benedict's interpretation. If anything, Apollo was more feminized that Starbuck.
Some things just made more sense in the new version too - like the idea that raiders were entities unto themselves rather than piloted ships. Smart drones, if you will. And the twist that the skinjob Cylons created was interesting as well. All in all, it was a great re-telling, though the ending left a little something to be desired.

Good post JohnnyChemo and I would also like to add that Admiral Cain being made a woman also worked out fantastic in the end in my opinion. Michelle Forbes absolutely NAILED that role.

And quite naturally the original BSG had a lot of cheese/camp. It came out in the 70's and the intended audience for the show was mostly kids and teenagers. I actually re-watched the 2 hour pilot episode of the original BSG about 10 years ago and while certain aspects held up pretty well, most of it was just too campy for me as an adult viewer.

Thanks, PM! I agree about Admiral Cain - Forbes really made that character a big contributor to the show.




Agreed. It debuted right after Star Wars and was meant to try and capitalize off its success. Of course, so much 70's TV was campy (or maybe just the stuff I watched at that age) it was probably inevitable. Though there were some pretty solid episodes IIRC, they were exceptions rather than rules.

+1 JC/PM

Eh...no. I like 60's - 80's camp.

Star Trek: TOS does indeed have a lot of campy acting but many of the scripts for the episodes were really fantastic and ahead of their time.

And there are only two things for me that make Flash Gordon (1980) watchable: Queen's brilliant soundtrack and Max von Sydow's performance.

And this is still the ultimate looking space-fighter, IMO...



Disco, hot chicks, horny robots, show had it all...

Erin Gray (Wilma Deering) Bending in Tight Shiny 70's Spandex 1080P BD ENHANCED


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_512X0JcVk

I was about 7 years old when I discovered Erin Gray. Sigh.

Another series I really enjoyed at that age. But Erin Gray makes me want to watch it again!

Who can forget the utterly forgettable "Galactica 1980?"

Ah yes, lots of interesting history behind that where the network essentially said that the show could be brought back but only for about half the budget so hence they made Galactica 1980! And what happened? It lasted one season just like the original BSG did. LOL

This whole thread is great. Was a huuuuge fan of the original BSG, and the re-imagined series.

Max von Sydow elevated everything he was in.

I never saw Galactica 1980.

I became a teenager in 1980 and my interests were quickly changing to things other than sci-fi, including my 4-channel B&W TV collecting dust in favor of my 'new' stereo (other than The Dukes of Hazzard, IIRC).

I still need to get this on DVD if just for the first season...

As I recall, the original series did pretty well ratings wise, but it was constantly running behind production wise and over budget, so the network canned it.

Galactica 1980 was mercifully cancelled after 10 episodes.

I had the plastic toy of that lunar lander when I was like 4 years old. I never watched the show though but I know Martin Landau was one of the stars.

I recall Space 1999 coming on PBS rather than a major network (ABC, NBC, CBS).

I can honestly say that I recognize this...



...as much as I recognize this (missing smaller hand phaser)...

Space: 1999 was on PBS for me, too, and it was difficult to figure out when it would be on, so I only saw a few episodes. I was 12 when it first came on and I remember thinking two things when I first watched the show: First, the Eagles were cool, and looked like something that might actually be built for working on the moon, and second, how did the Moon travel interstellar distances? Even at that age, I didn't quite get the physics of that, although I thought that, having missed several episodes, maybe they explained it somehow. I never really got into it, but had a model of the Eagle, just because I thought it looked so cool.

Side note - a friend of mine was really into it, and he found out that there was going to be a Space:1999 "convention" in Los Angeles, so we drove up to see it, I'd say there were maybe 50 people there at most, in a small conference room at a hotel (not a convention center or even a ballroom), and Barbara Bain came in to make a quick speech. She was nice, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was a little disappointed at the turnout.

I also recently re-watched the beginning of the TOS BSG pilot, and yeah, it was cheesy, but what bothered me most, and one of the reasons I think it was less successful, was that they re-used efx shots over and over even in the pilot, and it was obvious. Just really took away the suspension of disbelief to see the same shot four or five times in quick succession. And they carried that out throughout the show.

I realize that Space 1999 is very much a cult tv show but I'm still surprised by that very low turnout considering that this convention was in LA! Do you remember which year that convention was?

It was in the early '90s, and maybe I'm not remembering the size of the crowd correctly, but it was in a room that just had tables chairs lined up, sort of classroom style, so no big open floor, no vendors or anything like that. I think there were two rows of chairs, maybe four in a row on each side of the room, and an aisle down the middle. and a podium at the front. I don't think there could have been more than 100, as we were near the back and still had a clear view. After 30 years, the memories fade a bit, but that's the best of my recollection right now. I'll ask my friend what he remembers.

Edit: I checked with my friend and he confirmed the number was about 50.

Was it this one?
https://catacombs.space1999.net/main/w2con92a.html

Space 1999 was pretty good, as most of Gerry Anderson's stuff is. You need to gloss over the science a bit though.

That looks about right, and maybe we only went to one day of it, so maybe that's why it looked small and I didn't see Martin Landau. I thought Nick Tate was there, but couldn't remember for certain, so I didn't want to say that and be wrong. My friend was really into it, so I am surprised that he didn't arrange to be there when Landau was.

I actually know more now about Space: 1999 now than I did then, so there were probably people there and other things that I didn't fully appreciate at the time.

Yes it is! And thanks, PM. I hope you don't mind the parallel path the thread has taken.

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And...AND... (at least, if she's your type)

I have a question. BSG was one of the few movies I saw as a kid in a theater (along with Start Trek I, The Empire Strikes Back and Disney's The Black Hole).

My DVD in the pic above (page 1) is the movie I saw in theaters. Is that the same as the pilot?

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Reading mikew's link is fascinating. Would loved to have been there with Arthonon.

I remember buying Space 1999 trading cards with stick of gum at my local grocery store. I wish I had been a hoarder back then.

Wonderful movie. The critics took it far too seriously.

...and RIP Mike Hodges who died last week

I'm thinking the actress who played Ming's chief of security rather liked that whipping scene.

I also saw the original BSG pilot in the movie theater and I think there were a couple of scenes that were shortened or cut out to make room for commercials for the TV broadcast version.

I think we all did, including the recipient...


(I should have linked the gif in other post).

==========
Klytus: Princess Aura, under our persuasion, has implicated you on a charge of high treason. You're under arrest! A prison ship will be here shortly to take you away.

Prince Barin: You tortured Aura.

Klytus: lnteresting girl. l think she found it rather enjoyable.
==========

Makes sense. Thanks for the info.

No problem! On a related note I also saw the Buck Rogers 2 hour pilot in the movie theater and I still cringe to this day whenever I think of that disco dance scene.

I need to revisit this. Every time I see the WH Press Secretary I think of Twiki (couldn't find a Peter Griffin Twiki soundbite, "beedee beedee beedee").

EDIT: I'm still laughing at the clip on page 1. Twiki admiring a bent over Erin Gray in tight spandex..."Where do I put this, babe?"

I heard they cut some scenes from the movie that they felt were too violent for TV, one of which showed crew being blown across the bridge of one of the battlestars, but they were largely the same.

And I echo the comments on the Buck Rogers movie, and I had the biggest crush on Erin Gray.

Battlestar Galactica - Original Show Intro | NBC Classics


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtUxDbWcVTc


But another problem I have with the new series...

'Echos of ancient civilizations...' and this one doesn't have those cool Egyptian Viper helmets!





They really should have kept this, IMO.

New mystery...

How many Battlestar Galactica intro monologues[?] are there? The one above doesn't match the one I have on MP3, and the above is also missing "...the Great Pyramids...":

"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."

Also, from the YT comments this show was apparently on ABC not NBC (that I don't remember, other than having only 4 VHF/UHF stations that went off-air at midnight: ABC [2], CBS [9], NBC [33] & PBS/LPB [27]).

In any case, this thread has me going back to my Cold War & Space playlist (posted on another thread) which includes a hi-quality version of the theme song without any intros (and what a great theme)!

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EDIT: This is the intro I have on MP3:

"In the seventh millennium of time, a tribe of humanoids engaged in a terrifying conflict against a race of machines. The humans lost. Now, led by their last surviving warship, the mighty Battlestar Galactica, a handful of survivors move slowly across the heavens in search of their ancestral brothers. A tribe of humans, known through ancient records to be located somewhere on a distant shining planet. A planet called Earth."

*** Classic vs. 'New' ***

This one I really like (theme only)...

Battlestar Galactica (1978) Theme


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzyHxYxc-Mo

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The new one is way too New Age for me...

Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Title intro


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPBzHa2PcS8

More vintage sci-fi...

Man, these prices just don't work for me...

Ark II: The Complete Series ($134.53)
Quark - The Complete Series [DVD] ($89.99)

I think Ruth was my first Asian crush...

ARKII Intro


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyv9zxtgCCc

I wonder whatever happened to the jet pack (gotta watch The Rocketeer again someday soon)?

Season 1 of the new BSG had different intro music from the rest of the seasons. Check out the intro credit sequence for seasons 2 through 4.

PM, I don't get it...

Battlestar Galactica: Intro season 2


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXWOgB-BZq8

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I like the new Raider even less than I like the new Viper (I know it's not new as you pointed out on first post, but this is the first time I've really seen any of it).

I still love watching sci-fi though, even if my cutoff is the 1980's.

Isn't there yet another BSG reboot series or movie in the making?
https://screenrant.com/battlestar-galactica-reboot-trouble-metropolis-esmail-problem/

You just know that whatever comes out today is going to be woke as all hell! And I still like models over CGI.

That one died in development hell. It became DOA a long time ago. It wasn't a reboot because it was going to continue the same BSG universe that was created by Ron Moore.

Great thread!

The BSG reboot was the best show I've seen on tv since the x-files.

ps: honorable mention to Space Above and Beyond

Holy smokes! I haven't seen a post from you on SimHQ for a very long time. Welcome back!


Oh, and concerning Space Above & Beyond, it's definitely one of those short lived sci-fi shows (one season exactly) which should have been given more time to find an audience.

If we're bringing up other old scifi shows, Babylon 5 has to get mentioned - great writing, and I think it would have been better if there hadn't been the expectation of being canceled at the end of season 4, and changes made to accommodate that. I keep hearing about a reboot from JMS, but things keep changing in the TV world and it keeps getting delayed or changed or something. It's just sad that so many of the original cast have been lost over the years.

Crusade had possibilities, I think, with Gary Cole as the lead, but it just didn't catch on.

Crusade had tons of potential but the suits at TNT decided to cancel it before the first episode even aired.

Everything about Babylon 5 was great...except Legend of the Rangers. I do agree that some of the changes made due to the early cancellation, then the cancellation getting canceled muddled things up a bit. Particularly after they ended it at season 4 and kept going adding in new plot lines that ended up going nowhere when it ended after season 5.


Space Above and Beyond was a great idea, but it had a bit of a rough start, budget problems, and some of the acting early on was bad, even by 90's TV standards. It did seem to get better and better as it went on though.

This is the key point for me right here. Yes, you can definitely see how the show was trying to find its footing in the first few episodes but you could also see the very noticeable improvement with the later episodes as you mentioned. Even the first season of Babylon 5 had its share of dreadful acting and some silly plots in the "stand alone" episodes.

How did I not know this???

When you posted the below I meant to reply "It's right there"

And you should have!

All this time and I'm just now discovering that the regular phaser is really a hand phaser clipped on to a pistol grip (which provides more power, or so I've read).

Mind. Blown.

Looking back at my first pic it's now clear as day, but I didn't didn't pick up on it (too busy trying to find a pic without a Tricorder, since there's no Space 1999 equivalent). Gives me an excuse to binge-watch my blurays again to see if I missed it, although the only episode I remember off the top of my head with hand phasers is the one with the falling/flying jellyfish/stingray-looking creatures.

But what a cool idea that is.

This phaser stuff is fascinating! Did you know that the detachable hand phaser is also a razor?

Set phasers to shave!

ST: TOS was made on a shoestring budget for its entire TV run. There have been interviews with people who worked for the props department and they confirmed that they would go "dumpster diving" at the studio lots to find stuff.

That's also why they had so many time travel episodes, plus that gangster planet one. It's because the studio just got done filming some other movie and they swiped all the left over props and costumes.

Obvious budget saving episodes:

Patterns of Force - Nazi planet
Bread and Circuses - Roman planet
A Piece of the Action - 1930's gangster planet
City on the Edge of Forever - 1930's Chicago
Assignment: Earth - 1960's NYC

and quite a few others!

This is freaking awesome! I think that's what made it so good, the ingenuity and sparking of ideas when working with what you have.

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One reason I love the era of models vs. CGI (besides models being so cool, like the ones on the RC & Scale Modeling board), is that CGI is too easily overused and abused. Half of the movie or show becomes a massive fast-paced CGI action scene which for me is too much.

I had a friend (Chad H.) who was the only neighborhood kid who saw Firefox at the theater (1982) and was disappointed that the aircraft action scenes were sparse and at the end of the movie (as he put it). I disagreed after seeing it on TV. I thought the story and balance of acting to special effects were perfect. Same with the first 3 released Star Wars movies, and the early Star Trek movies. CGI is ok in moderation, but models (with their limitations) rule!

The point of TOS was the stories/plots/characters and not the special effects. Although some of the visuals were pretty spectacular for the day, especially for a TV show rather than a big budget movie.

Many modern shows would do well to remember that.

TOS Star Trek used to be on TV all the time, then Paramount limited it and I hadn't been able to see any episodes for a number of years, but had watched the other versions (TNG, Voyager, etc.), and then was able to watch some when a network aired them for a while, and I was really struck by how much better the writing seemed to be over the new stuff. Stories with characters I really cared about, etc.

As for CGI, it *can* be done well, it's just that many don't. I thought Rogue One did a great job, and the final dogfight in Top Gun: Maverick was a great example of CGI done right - looked real and was not overdone.