Battlestar Galactica
Dec. 10th, 2003 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonebender remake of Battlestar Galactica. My history with this series starts in my first attempt at college at SIU in Carbondale IL, where I met my live-in partner, Carol. We were both part of the Science-Fiction Society (an SF Fan club that met every Monday, 7:00 PM at the student union). Very little science-fiction was on television in the early '80s. So, we as a club, felt compelled to support it. Except for Tom (a club member who admitted his favorite television science-fiction show was Lost in Space) most of us hated the show, but we would dutifully meet every Sunday at the student union's second floor TV lounge to watch it, followed by a soda and pizza gripe session at Paglia's Pizza.
Hadn't planned on watching the remake, but there was absolutely nothing else on television. So I took a look. I suppose those of you who dearly loved the original show will just hate this version. I think that every change made in the show spoke to issues I had with the original. No chrome plated Cylons this time. Some of them look human, others remind us of their chrome plated brethren but with the much cheaper special effects the producers were able to show us real live practical looking robots.
The casting director made excellent choices. Starbuck and Boomer are now women. I especially enjoy Katee Sackhoff who played Starbuck. Unlike the original Starbuck who was in my opinion a self aggrandizing con artist. This Starbuck is very calculated and smart. Yes, she gets into trouble, but it's because she won't play political games. She backs those she respects with her life and has no time to play with those she doesn't.
I could go through all the characters, but I would probably never get this finished. So let me say that all of the characters are much more layered and complex. There's lots of room for interesting story lines. I like that Apollo (which is his call sign, not his name) doesn't like being called Apollo. Lee (Apollo) Adama lost his brother, who died as a fighter pilot. He blames his father (Commander Adama, played by Edward James Olmos) because he doesn't believe his brother should ever have been a fighter pilot and his brother only became one to please their father. Starbuck was in love with Apollo's brother and was the one to pass him on his fighter pilot exam. She very much feels responsible for his death, because she passed him when he wasn’t good enough. See what I mean?
Along with the external change in the Cylons, their motives and abilities are much more mysterious than before. They can appear like us. At least some of them appear to have a very strong sex drive. One of them Number 6 "haunts" Dr. Gaius Baltar through some kind of cybernetic link or maybe Number 6 is a "personification" of his own internal guilt for being the tool Cylons used to destroy the 12 colonies.
I like the explanation for why Galactica's technology seems more primitive than our own in some ways. I like the little bows to the original series. The museum display of a chrome plated Cylon, the "by your command” toward the end of the second episode. I also like the visual changes. The new Cylon ships remind me of the old orange wedge ships but better. The Galactica isn't gleaming white anymore. It looks much more like an old working ship. The use of old fighter's was right as well.
I almost forgot to mention that Mary McDonnell does a great job playing a minor government official thrust into the office of president of the 12 colonies. Methodically getting through very difficult decisions while obviously struggling with the overwhelming responsibility she now has.
This version of the show is a vast improvement over its predecessor. However there are some problems with the show. Most of them are minor but would have been easy to fix if they had been thought through properly. I'm not comfortable that there seems to be only one religion that everyone follows. Speaking of religion I am very interested in how Number 6 talks about religion and speaking to God.
Apparently, Cylons only come in a limited number of models. I have no idea why this is true, but it seems like a silly limitation. If they can make 12 models, why can't they make 15, 20, 1000?
The one time that we see several Cylon models at the same time each model is dressed exactly the same. I don't understand why this would be true. Even if the cut of the clothes were exactly the same, why not change the color. Making the models look different would seem like a simple task. Despite this I had a really good time watching this show.
Hadn't planned on watching the remake, but there was absolutely nothing else on television. So I took a look. I suppose those of you who dearly loved the original show will just hate this version. I think that every change made in the show spoke to issues I had with the original. No chrome plated Cylons this time. Some of them look human, others remind us of their chrome plated brethren but with the much cheaper special effects the producers were able to show us real live practical looking robots.
The casting director made excellent choices. Starbuck and Boomer are now women. I especially enjoy Katee Sackhoff who played Starbuck. Unlike the original Starbuck who was in my opinion a self aggrandizing con artist. This Starbuck is very calculated and smart. Yes, she gets into trouble, but it's because she won't play political games. She backs those she respects with her life and has no time to play with those she doesn't.
I could go through all the characters, but I would probably never get this finished. So let me say that all of the characters are much more layered and complex. There's lots of room for interesting story lines. I like that Apollo (which is his call sign, not his name) doesn't like being called Apollo. Lee (Apollo) Adama lost his brother, who died as a fighter pilot. He blames his father (Commander Adama, played by Edward James Olmos) because he doesn't believe his brother should ever have been a fighter pilot and his brother only became one to please their father. Starbuck was in love with Apollo's brother and was the one to pass him on his fighter pilot exam. She very much feels responsible for his death, because she passed him when he wasn’t good enough. See what I mean?
Along with the external change in the Cylons, their motives and abilities are much more mysterious than before. They can appear like us. At least some of them appear to have a very strong sex drive. One of them Number 6 "haunts" Dr. Gaius Baltar through some kind of cybernetic link or maybe Number 6 is a "personification" of his own internal guilt for being the tool Cylons used to destroy the 12 colonies.
I like the explanation for why Galactica's technology seems more primitive than our own in some ways. I like the little bows to the original series. The museum display of a chrome plated Cylon, the "by your command” toward the end of the second episode. I also like the visual changes. The new Cylon ships remind me of the old orange wedge ships but better. The Galactica isn't gleaming white anymore. It looks much more like an old working ship. The use of old fighter's was right as well.
I almost forgot to mention that Mary McDonnell does a great job playing a minor government official thrust into the office of president of the 12 colonies. Methodically getting through very difficult decisions while obviously struggling with the overwhelming responsibility she now has.
This version of the show is a vast improvement over its predecessor. However there are some problems with the show. Most of them are minor but would have been easy to fix if they had been thought through properly. I'm not comfortable that there seems to be only one religion that everyone follows. Speaking of religion I am very interested in how Number 6 talks about religion and speaking to God.
Apparently, Cylons only come in a limited number of models. I have no idea why this is true, but it seems like a silly limitation. If they can make 12 models, why can't they make 15, 20, 1000?
The one time that we see several Cylon models at the same time each model is dressed exactly the same. I don't understand why this would be true. Even if the cut of the clothes were exactly the same, why not change the color. Making the models look different would seem like a simple task. Despite this I had a really good time watching this show.
