Battlestar Galactica........

[JRMacumber]

Cylons are still robots..

Ah, okay. Didn't get this impression from the website/trailer. Do they still have the cool Night Rider style eyes?

-weresheep

Edit: Oooh, oooh. Do they still say "By your command!" all the time?

Do they still have the eyes? Well, I haven't seen them used on the robots, but I only saw those once so far. But, the space fighters have them, and it looks rather cool. At least *I* think so. As for the "By your command," I haven't heard it yet, but like I said, you don't see much of them yet. They do mention though that some of the older style Centurions are still around, so you might see those from time to time.

[weresheep]

Cool. Still not comfortable with the whole Starbuck thing but at least initial horror of Cylons all looking like people has turned out to be (mainly) untrue. I am sort of looking forward to this now. Pity it'll be 2245 before UK terrestrial TV shows it. Mind you, by then maybe there'll be REAL Cylons?!?!

-weresheep

[JRMacumber]

Just finished the second part. Overall, good stuff. I love the F/X. Space combat was pretty hectic, but hopefully if the show goes forward it will tone down to smaller engagements.

Oh, and the robot Cylons do have the red sweeping eye light. And at the end one does say, "By your command."

[kazurm]

Oh, and a little spoiler:

there are supposed to be 12 different humanoid versions of the Cylons...

And from what I understood, the series will start this Sunday.

[MartyG]

I've watched the first ep and I found it ok - certainly not to the standards of the dropped, and fantastic, Farscape.

One thing I found puzzling - JRM seems to suggest this is based previously to the original series. This can't actually be the case. In the first episode it is mentioned that Apollo's brother is dead. As this happened in the first ever ep of BSG, this series can't be set in the past. This leads to a few other anomolies in the storyline - but it's not really that much of an issue.

The Starbuck character as a female works fine, it was nice to see the gambling reference in the first ep.

As a sci-fi series I give it a meh - I really can't see why this was commisioned and Farscape, a far superior programme, dropped.

Regards
Marty

[Square]

Are Sci-Fi Channel UK showing this, then? I can't find any details on their schedules.

I shall be most annoyed if it's dire in comparison to the dropped Farscape.

I've watched the first ep and I found it ok - certainly not to the standards of the dropped, and fantastic, Farscape.

I really can't see why this was commisioned and Farscape, a far superior programme, dropped.

Give it up, Marty, Farscape aint coming back

[JRMacumber]

One thing I found puzzling - JRM seems to suggest this is based previously to the original series.

If that was the impression you got, I apologize, but it isn't what I intended. As far as I'm concerned, it is just a reimagining of the original show. Not a prequel, not a sequel, just a new version of it.

[MartyG]

"Are Sci-Fi Channel UK showing this, then? I can't find any details on their schedules"

Not currently - I downloaded the first episode. It's worth a look, but it's not really anything outstanding.

/me mutters something about Farscape

Regards
Marty

[Vaipon]

I've seen the 2 episodes done so far. It's not as bad as I expected, but nothing that special either. The best thing about it is the CGI in the space battle scenes. Some of the best I've ever seen, and the fighting in the second episode looks incredibly good with a great camera shake adding to the realism. The fact that the cylons now look exactly like humans is a total cop-out though.

JRM: If you were a fan of the original, I doubt you'd be singing this new series' praises.

MartyG: I agree. It's definitely not as good as Farscape. Curse sci-fi for cancelling. That still remains my favorite sci-fi series ever.

I posted this in another forum, highlighting the pros and cons:

I just finished watching the first feature-length episode of the new BG series, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting thank god. Definitely worthy of a viewing, and it's nice how they have managed to incorporate many of teh original designs into the proceedings. The viper mk2 is in there, looking exactly like it does in the old series. Here is a brief pros/cons summary:

Pros:
- The VFX. Superb battle scenes, and great tracked CGI backgrounds create a believable future society and starscape.

- Edward James Olmos (who plays Adama). Puts in a superbly cool performance, depicting a man totally in control under pressure. Not sure if his understated acting is intentional, or merely how he is naturally, but it's perfect for the role.

- Dark story. A lot more gritty and serious than the original series. Not afraid to tackle the humanity of the war from an "in the trenches" perspective. Fairly well acted.

- Faithful to the original as far as ship designs go. Although the characters are significantly different from the original cast, the actual technology and spacecrafts still retain much of their original appearance. I'm sure they will introduce plenty of new stuff, but it's good to see the vipers intact.


Cons:
- Starbuck. It was an impossible task to fill Dirk Benedict's shoes for the role of starbuck, and the actress just doesn't cut it. They've stuck a few token nods towards the original character, like the big grins and the cigar smoking, but ultimately there is not enough presence. Nowhere near as naturally cool as original Starbuck.

- Too much military dialogue. We're not bothered about endless acronyms, and watching CGA graphics standard radar screens over and over. This series is worse than the original for bombarding us with pointless radio chatter and so-called "tense" scenes on the bridge.

- Not enough Cylons. We see a couple of new centurions in the first 5 minutes (and they look great), then..... that's it. Where are they? The remainder seems happy to just give us some nice shots of their spacecrafts. Hopefully they feature more prominantly in later episodes.

- Not enough bravado and comradery amongst the pilots. The original was great for emphasising the bonding between the pilots and was full of witty banter. This series seems more content on keeping the dialogue between Apollo, Starbuck and co to a very serious mood. Only essential information seems to be conversed, and the original show's cadavering dogfight chatter seems to have been lost.


Overall, not too bad. Have to watch another one before it gets the full thumbs-up, but worth checking out whether you are a fan of the original or not.

After watching the second episode, I don't think we will be seeing many of the classic robot centurions which is a real shame. I want more robots damnnit.

There are only 12 cylon models though, meaning they are easy enough to identify even though they look human. There are also a couple of robotic centurions at the very end of the second episode.

I'll also add that Baltar is a far more complex character than he was in the original series, with sets of conflicting motives. He's definitely not totally good or evil, but a bit of both.

[JRMacumber]

JRM: If you were a fan of the original, I doubt you'd be singing this new series' praises.

Well, like I said, I wasn't a big fan. I liked it well enough, but it never took me in the way other sci-fi franchises did. As such, my mind wasn't closed off like others will be.

[taurusnipple]

You know I watched this last night and its not half as bad as its been made out to be. I grew up on the original series so I was expecting the worse going into it, however, it comes across to me as some sort of Space Above & Beyond/Homeworld on the PC clone. Certainly watchable, and kinda graphic really, parts where you see a kid playing with a doll in a ship blown to pieces. Give it a try...

[Baroque]

The fact that the cylons now look exactly like humans is a total cop-out though.

Not all the cylons look exactly like humans, without too much spoilage it's easy to see that the cylons are not just the humanoid models. The Cylon raiders have no cockpits and therefore no pilots, those were considered Cylons as were the centurions. It's very possible that the BaseStars could also be sentient individual systems which would also make them Cylons.

MartyG: I agree. It's definitely not as good as Farscape. Curse sci-fi for cancelling. That still remains my favorite sci-fi series ever.

Farscape is over and done with, it isn't fair to compare two very different shows and you're comparing a pilot episode against a whole body of work. It's not like BG is a Farscape knockoff or something.

Cons:
- Starbuck. It was an impossible task to fill Dirk Benedict's shoes for the role of starbuck, and the actress just doesn't cut it. They've stuck a few token nods towards the original character, like the big grins and the cigar smoking, but ultimately there is not enough presence. Nowhere near as naturally cool as original Starbuck.

Which is exactly why they cast a woman who plays a different role, there will only ever be one Dirk Benedict. He has nothing to do with this nor would he have a place on this show. This isn't Glen A. Larson's "Disco SciFi" it's a darker series which requires a rawness not present in the original.

- Too much military dialogue. We're not bothered about endless acronyms, and watching CGA graphics standard radar screens over and over. This series is worse than the original for bombarding us with pointless radio chatter and so-called "tense" scenes on the bridge.

Can't be helped, it's essentially a submarine show in space. That's why combat is fought with missiles and projectiles, not direct energy weapons.

- Not enough Cylons. We see a couple of new centurions in the first 5 minutes (and they look great), then..... that's it. Where are they? The remainder seems happy to just give us some nice shots of their spacecrafts. Hopefully they feature more prominantly in later episodes.

We ain't got the budget Captain!
And that's it in a nutshell. CGI is the easiest way to do a Centurion as you'd require master craftspeople to build those as animatronics and run them. Unfortunately CGI still costs money and since the pilot is based around space combat why and where exactly should they have put the shots of the Centurions? The Raiders fly themselves, you need combat troops because? They should have taken that money away from set building or other CGI shots because?

- Not enough bravado and comradery amongst the pilots. The original was great for emphasising the bonding between the pilots and was full of witty banter. This series seems more content on keeping the dialogue between Apollo, Starbuck and co to a very serious mood. Only essential information seems to be conversed, and the original show's cadavering dogfight chatter seems to have been lost.

Sneak attack, billions dead, people who never signed up to fight a war and have never worked together find themselves under terrible pressure. The comedy comes in where exactly? Maybe you could introduce that banter later on in the show when people have adjusted to the fact that their homes and loved ones are gone, but it's not for the pilot.

After watching the second episode, I don't think we will be seeing many of the classic robot centurions which is a real shame. I want more robots damnnit.

No it's not, they were awful. You'll get more robots later on in the series I'm sure, as we might have seen only four of the twelve classes of cylons to date and the skirt wearing chrome heads are mentioned as being one of those twelve and still around.

I'll also add that Baltar is a far more complex character than he was in the original series, with sets of conflicting motives. He's definitely not totally good or evil, but a bit of both.

I agree, and I think he's brilliant.
All in all I'm somewhat impressed with the show. It takes at least a full season for a show to find it's feet so I'm willing to tune in for the 20-odd episodes required to do that in order to find it's feet. Assuming they don't keep it too depressing, but do keep it dark and morally grotty it could be worth watching.

[Vaipon]

Fair comments, and maybe I'm being a bit harsh. Like you say Baroque, it will no doubt develop quite well if it is continued as a full series. I've watched both episodes again with a mate of mine, and we agreed that what could of been a total disaster is actually a fairly solid new show.

Most of my critisisms I would probably retract, except for the starbuck one. Regardless of whether DB would have a place in this show, or how his character differs from the new one, I just don't think the re-imagined Starbuck is really that well written/acted compared to the other roles such as Baltar and Adama. Hopefully they'll beef the role up in terms of inter-caracter dialogue somewhat, instead of relying on over-the-top maneuvers to sell her to us. Maybe I'm biased, but I still think they could of done a little better in this one area.

Anyway, looking forward to future episodes (as long as it gets the green-light).

[Baroque]

Anyway, looking forward to future episodes (as long as it gets the green-light).

Allegedly the option for the series was picked up on the 18th of this month so all the principals are now committed to at least 13 new episodes perhaps even a full season run without the need for renewal after the first six.

Production is supposed to start in Feb 04 for a Summer introduction.

Allegedly.

[JRMacumber]

Baroque, I'm glad to see you liking it so well. I've watched it twice now, and I liked it even more the second time around.

And yes, it'll be a weekly show sometime soon. The mini-series did better than they ever thought it would, so it getting picked up was pretty much a done deal. As for whether or not it'll ever be as good as a Babylon 5 or Farscape, only time will tell. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do with it.