Battlestar Galactica

Cylontymany

Super Member
I love the original series-its too bad richard hatch couldnt get the ole series revived again and pick up where they left off! what do ya think?
 
The modern RDM series blows it away in every possible respect.

Well kinda. The special effects are up to date and all, but the entire mythology is all from the original series. I love the new BSG, but I will always favor the original series. Forget about the bad acting or cheesy sets, the stories were light years ahead of their time ( well, most of them). And they Cylons....well, they were the baddest MOFO's out there at the time. Funny, you can watch the original series on Hulu and laugh so hard at them now. But still, those original Cylons were, in most anyone's mind, much more bad ass than the newer ones.

So yes, the original shows were as bad as you can remember them. But they did lay the foundation for the newer series which have become one of TV's best Sci-Fi shows EVER!
 
Jeez.....I HATED the original series!!
Bad acting, cheesy sets, but the Cylons were the worst!?
As adversaries, they were truly pathetic.
Gimme them (Arnold: "You are one ugly mother f*cker ") Predators or Aliens, over those walking garbage disposals, any day of the week!


Steve
 
Pathetic? No way. The Centurions were way cool with those voices and the bayonettes on their rifles. And the commanders like Lucifer (Dr Smith from Lost in Space doing his voice) were a scream. And I prefer the original basestars to the newer ones.

The guest stars were great- Fred Astaire, Ray Bolger, Patrick Macnee, etc. And they had some hottees although the new one obviously has that covered.
 
You know, you can't really compare the badguys of the 70's to the bad guys of the 2000's - too much has changed. Of course they were ALL cheesy, corny, and campy. But, for most fans, those original Cylons were definetly the ingredient for a truely evil monster. That was never more realized than with the new series. And I'm not talking about the "newer" lame Cylons, but the flashbacks of the old Centurion models - dumb, aggressive, and without remorse. Plus, they looked sooooooo badass. Have you seen Caprica? The first Cylon U-87? That is one scary piece of machine - way more so than the T-1000, Robby, or anything else I can think of ( except for maybe the original Gort ). Just being in the same room with that shifting red eye, skull type helmet, and steel limbs and hoses! Damn, way too cool. All this thanks to the original walking toasters. I can't wait to see how Caprica will realize them after they are mass produced and take up arms and revolt. That will be so awesome. Will they keep the sheethed swords? Will they keep bayonettes on their rifles? It'll be cool to speculate.

Jimmy - resurrected Cylon
 
Last edited:
By the way to the original poster, I have seen the promo video short that Richard Hatch made for the studios - it's on YouTube. I'm glad Hatch persued this project as much as he did because it was the ONLY thing that really won the new producers over. I'm also glad it was Moore that did the series and not Hatch. Moore made the show "real", Hatch may have gone off somewhere else. But again, I'm also glad they gave him his "standing opus" by including him in the cast.

.......now if they could only start production on Arthur C. Clarck's Rendezvous with Rama! C'mon Morgan!
 
The modern RDM series blows it away in every possible respect.

With all due respect, I beg to differ. Yes, the effects are better (as with everything made today) and in some ways the production is more "sophisticated". I still enjoyed it. (Disclaimer: I have not seen anything from the most recent BG season; only the first 1 or 2 seasons; they are shown delayed here.)

Frankly, though, I get/got a little bit tired of they psycho-religio-babble stuff that in reasonable doses is okay, but sometimes gets overdone to the point of tedium in the new series. I prefer a simpler human plot, with genuine old-fashioned drama. It's not that I don't appreciate sophistication and complex plotlines --far from it!-- if they'd done an "I, Claudius" in space, I'd eat it up, but all the scenes with Balthazar's weird now-he-sees-it, now-they-don't blonde bombshell psycho-Cylon got tedious! :nono:

I much prefer the "Toasters", as slow and awkward as they looked --being human actors in costumes-- to the regular human actors pretending to be modern Cylons that are indistinguishable from humans. I'd rather see chrome bad guys with evil red eye-scanning thingies than just more actors and actresses (even if sometimes they are cute! :D).

Overall, I can still enjoy the modern series, but I really like the old/original one, even with its period weaknesses. Just better story-telling, without the "modernist crap" layered thickly and un-necessarily over it.
 
As far as the original show goes, the original mini-series/pilot wasn't bad. The last couple of episodes were pretty good culminating in the receiving "The Eagle has landed" transmission. Everything in between was pretty much crap and didn't do much (if at all) to advance the premise or mythology.
The newer series did have pretty much better everything: acting, writing, directing, drama, visuals. The first few episodes like "33" were more like being on a real Navy ship (in particular a carrier and especially in CIC), even down to the bitch boxes, than anything I've seen, especially as the Galactica was a "museum piece."
 
Alright I'm going to chime in with some insider info! Glen Larson is my mothers cousin. He invited us a long time ago to his place in Beverly Hills while we were on vacation touring the west coast. He had some amazing stuff in his mansion. Anyways back on topic! Glen had an agreement to use Lucas studios for special effects and such for Battlestar Galactica. When Lucas found out about what Glen was doing he put a stop to it. Which only left Glen with a few special effects shots you know the ones that were repeated in like every episode. I really think if Glen had gotten his way he and his show would be much better known and I do believe he was ahead of his time for a lot of his work(IMHO), although I am family and may be somewhat bias. Its funny that Lucas not too long after came out with Star Wars. Not really implying anything here just a statement of truth. Who can argue with the fame of Knight rider! Glen has been playing a part in writing for the new series, although I don't know how much. Ken his brother who was one of the property masters for Avatar, came to my grandparents this last Christmas for a get together and to spend time with the family. What a cool guy and man does he talk fast. The stories and pix from his work on Avatar were really cool. I kind of wish I could do the fun stuff he gets to do.

Anyway my 2 cents!

Mark K.
 
Last edited:
Alright I'm going to chime in with some insider info! Glen Larson is my mothers cousin. He invited us a long time ago to his place in Beverly Hills while we were on vacation touring the west coast. He had some amazing stuff in his mansion. Anyways back on topic! Glen had an agreement to use Lucas studios for special effects and such for Battlestar Galactica. When Lucas found out about what Glen was doing he put a stop to it. Which only left Glen with a few special effects shots you know the ones that were repeated in like every episode. I really think if Glen had gotten his way he and his show would be much better known and I do believe he was ahead of his time for a lot of his work(IMHO), although I am family and may be somewhat bias. Its funny that Lucas not too long after came out with Star Wars.

Mark K.

I think BSG came after Star Wars, at least that is how I remember it. IMDB seems to have BSG as 1978, and Star Wars as 1977.
 
You are right on the dates, although Glen was working on it before the first episodes aired and had trouble with special effects which was part of the delay. It may have been that Lucas didn't want any competition with Star Wars?
 
I can understand lucas not wanting to give the competition a hand.

This made me think of all the sci-fi shows that came out, in that decade. I had forgotten that Space 1999 beat them all out of the gate, by debuting in 1975.

Then there was buck Rogers, STTMP, Black Hole, to name some.
 
You are right on the dates, although Glen was working on it before the first episodes aired and had trouble with special effects which was part of the delay. It may have been that Lucas didn't want any competition with Star Wars?

I think the original BSG was an obvious attempt to capitalize on the success of Star Wars. Nothing wrong with that- Stars Wars borrowed liberally from multiple sources.

I have read that the same guy designed both the SW Stormtroopers and the BSG Centurions. Vipers are obviously stand ins for the X-Wings while the Cylon ships are that for the TIE fighters. BSG was also using Erik Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods" (somewhat popular in the mid 1970s) as well as Exodus for sources.

That's cool you are connected with Glen Larson. I am a big fan of his work.:thmbsp:
 
I think the original BSG was an obvious attempt to capitalize on the success of Star Wars. Nothing wrong with that- Stars Wars borrowed liberally from multiple sources.

I have read that the same guy designed both the SW Stormtroopers and the BSG Centurions. Vipers are obviously stand ins for the X-Wings while the Cylon ships are that for the TIE fighters. BSG was also using Erik Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods" (somewhat popular in the mid 1970s) as well as Exodus for sources.

That's cool you are connected with Glen Larson. I am a big fan of his work.:thmbsp:

Don't forget the Mormon influences...

I have to agree with the poster who liked the miniseries and the linked final sequence of episodes from the original series. While it was still 70s TV cheesy, at least it was pretty well done.

The new version still takes it out behind the woodshed, though.
 
Back
Top Bottom