Battlestar Galactica [2004] - General Discussion

[Anduin]

39 minutes ago, SparedTurkey said:

Has anyone heard any details about this sequel that isn't a sequel that James Callis is spearheading? It has the whole cast (those who can be there that is) involved - including Helfer, McDonnell, Sackoff, Olmos, Bamber, Park etc.

A third project? No, I hadn't heard anything. Do you have any more details?

[Bastet]

I haven't heard anything about it (I didn't even know it was about BSG, just that he got most of the BSG cast to do a project with him) other than it exists:

 

[Anduin]

39 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I haven't heard anything about it (I didn't even know it was about BSG, just that he got most of the BSG cast to do a project with him) other than it exists:

Interesting. News to me. Thanks.

[TVSpectator]

On 1/24/2022 at 4:12 AM, SparedTurkey said:

Has anyone heard any details about this sequel that isn't a sequel that James Callis is spearheading? It has the whole cast (those who can be there that is) involved - including Helfer, McDonnell, Sackoff, Olmos, Bamber, Park etc.

I heard (not to long ago) about a possible reboot that will combine both RDM and Glen Larson's versions into one. 

[Anduin]

7 hours ago, TVSpectator said:

I heard (not to long ago) about a possible reboot that will combine both RDM and Glen Larson's versions into one. 

How many new takes do we need? The new movie, the new series, the James Callis one, and now this? I gather the new movie and series may be coordinating behind the scenes, but it's still a lot of upcoming BSG content.

[SmithW6079]

Is this one one of those "prequels" where everyone somehow looks 20 years older?

Aren't most of those characters dead? (Although to be fair, every original character had been long dead by the final scene of the series finale.)

[Anduin]

48 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

Is this one one of those "prequels" where everyone somehow looks 20 years older?

Aren't most of those characters dead? (Although to be fair, every original character had been long dead by the final scene of the series finale.)

Maybe it's a kind of insert piece. Between the last two scenes. Lee is lamenting getting rid of all technology, wondering why everyone listened to him. Where the rest come into it, I dunno.

Okay, it won't be that kind of thing. But damn, it should be.

[Bastet]

We don't know anything about the James Callis thing other than he got most of the cast to participate; it's some digital media passion project of his, not anything the studio/network is putting out, so we don't even know how it relates to BSG other than that.  Here's the latest:

 

[Anduin]

So this is pretty cool.

Can't say I'd like to watch BSG if I was ever up there. A little too grim and tense. TNG would be more the right tone. Still, it's a very good poster!

[Anduin]

Another random twitter discovery. Cylon raider design by Ralph McQuarrie. If that name sounds familiar but you can't place it, he's best known for his Star Wars concept art. Though obviously, he did other stuff too.

 

[Affogato]

On 4/23/2020 at 1:54 PM, Danny Franks said:

Honestly, once they brought Starbuck back from the dead, they should have just bitten the bullet and admitted she was the twelfth model. It didn't make her a bad guy, because like the other four, she didn't know. Was it expected by viewers? Sure. But that's because it's the only explanation that made sense.

The cop-out of just never explaining how she was alive, then having her just disappear and leave poor Lee all alone was absolutely crap. It seemed like they just didn't plan it properly - killed Starbuck to shock the audience, brought her back (seemingly as a Cylon) to shock the audience, then never explain what she was because they didn't know.

Starbuck was an angel, same as head six and head baltar. I seem to remember this ties into the original show, too, although it has been way too long since I've seen it. I don't think the ending would have made sense without that detail.

Like Dee, she stayed around long enough to make sure Lee would be all right. While she was there, she was Starbuck in all the ways that mattered.

I just watched the last three episodes again, I like them better this time around.

[SmithW6079]

If Starbuck was an angel, she was the shittiest angel in heaven. Why was Lee so special that both Dee and Starbuck had to make sure he was OK? Dee blows her own brains out before they find the second Earth.

[Bastet]

I took it as them never explaining what Starbuck was, and I had to ponder how I felt about that before deciding I kind of liked it.

I don't think I'd have gotten into the show if not for Laura Roslin, but I do like it as a whole.  My favorite Starbuck scene is when she finds her own dead body in the crashed viper and asks a freaked-out Leoben "If that's me, then what am I?  What am I?!"  Katee Sackhoff played that desperate confusion perfectly.  Starbuck making her own funeral pyre was intense.

[Anduin]

Yep, another twitter discovery. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti once cosplayed on the ISS as Captain Janeway. This time, she's got the BSG double tank top and dog tags! She's one of us for sure!

Maybe next time, a heap of eyeliner and a spiffy blue outfit, she'll try her hand at Drummer from The Expanse. :)

[TVSpectator]

On 6/12/2017 at 10:18 PM, supposebly said:

Shocker. :-) 

It's ok. It's still one of the best SciFi I've ever watched. Even without a Cylon plan and a nonsense ending.

I know that this is a bit old news but it was obvious for me around Season 3 (right around the part where they leave New Caprica and they were just throwing things on the wall to see what sticks. All that came out of it was (I guess) Starbucks dies 9for shock value) and comes back (for shock value), Lee gain a lot of weight, quite, then rejoin the army, then quite (finally) to become a lawyer, Lee learns that his grandfather is (surprised to no one) a shady lawyer and somehow his old colleague was the few 0.0000001% that survived the destroying of the 12 Colonies, Baltar becomes a cult leader because. reasons..., the Cylons have no plan other than to kill all humans (and honestly that was a much simpler plan than to find a way to reproduce with them), etc... But yeah, it was obvious that their was no plan and I swear they already said this years ago. 

On 6/14/2017 at 4:01 PM, benteen said:

And this is why I no longer consider the show to be great.  To me, it's become a lot like Lost.  A show I loved that I have no desire to rewatch.  I wouldn't recommend either of those shows to anyone because they were a collective circle jerk.

They had revealed this in the commentary of BSG The Plan, so this isn't a surprise.  But Moore wanted to write about issues and had absolutely no clue what he wanted to do for a story and it really shows, particularly in regards to the Cylon motivations.  Reveals became about shock value and then he had to explain the plot holes that if left behind (Tyrol and Cally's kid for one).    Moore and his writers apparently weren't interesting in crafting a story, only writing about topical issues.  Promoting the Cylons as having "a plan" solely because it sounded cool shows you how little his commitment was to the story he was telling...

I would say that the show (for a decent part of it) was written decently enough (compared to some other shows that came afterwards) but the fact that they didn't have a plan, from the start, wasn't superseding, in my opinion. RDM seems to be more about shock value and grimdark (and I wonder if that is why he and Braga wrote that Picard's brother and his family all died in that fire...), in my opinion. He is a good writer but I feel like he just goes all way to grimdark as a basic feature. At least we know he can write Klingons very well. 

[Paloma]

On 5/25/2016 at 8:42 AM, AndySmith said:

I guess I'm the only one here who liked and enjoyed season 4?

Not the only one! After seeing all the criticisms (which I understand and agree with to a point), I'm almost embarrassed to admit that season 4 and especially the finale had a big emotional impact on me. Maybe it's partly because I was rooting for Helo, Athena, and Hera to have a happily ever after and partly because I love both origin and post-apocalyptic stories. I know there were a lot of things throughout the fourth season (maybe even some of the third season) that did not make sense, but I decided to go with it because I cared about many of the characters and liked the concept of keeping up hope for humanity in the face of events that would result in most people losing hope. 

On a more trivial note, I am also in the minority of enjoying the use of All Along the Watchtower. It's another thing that didn't really make sense but still had an emotional impact on me, probably because the Hendrix version was released the year I started college (1968) in Washington, DC, and had my eyes opened to some of the big social and political issues that I had been sheltered from while growing up in my small town. The lyrics used in BSG (the first stanza of the song) reflected my feelings from that time and made sense to me as the way the newly aware Final Five might feel. And when the reveal came that all of this had happened in our past, it seemed like a cool idea that elements of an ancient song could echo through generations until it was re-created in a modern society.

[Paloma]

After I wrote the comment above, I decided to rewatch (3rd viewing) the final episode to see if, in light of the critical comments, I felt differently than when I last watched it earlier this year. I just finished the episode and cried most of the way through it, the same way I did before. Especially moving were the goodbye scenes, as the characters who had become so real to me over the years expressed their feelings for each other and looked toward the future on this beautiful Earth. (However, I really did not like the flashbacks to Lee and Kara almost having sex while his brother and her fiance were passed out on the couch--only stopped by his waking up for a moment when a glass was knocked over. I'm not sure if this was meant to show that they had evolved from their more immature and selfish selves, but these flashbacks did not seem necessary at this point.)

The "150,000 years later" scenes were not really necessary, but I still liked the transition from the child Hera looking up at the sky to the various landscapes of Earth to the article about mitochondrial Eve in present day. Obviously these scenes did not have the shock value they had on first watch, but I still thought it was an interesting way to end the series. And when the song started playing, I started crying again--I'm not sure why, it just gets to me.

[Bastet]

18 hours ago, Paloma said:

The "150,000 years later" scenes were not really necessary, but I still liked the transition from the child Hera looking up at the sky to the various landscapes of Earth to the article about mitochondrial Eve in present day. Obviously these scenes did not have the shock value they had on first watch, but I still thought it was an interesting way to end the series.

I agree.  With humans seemingly hellbent on destroying ourselves and the planet via selfishness, apathy, hubris, and abuse of technology, I thought it was interesting to reveal this didn't all take place in some alternate future universe, but in our own distant past, in order to ask "All of this has happened before -- does it really have to happen again?"

18 hours ago, Paloma said:

I just finished the episode and cried most of the way through it, the same way I did before. Especially moving were the goodbye scenes, as the characters who had become so real to me over the years expressed their feelings for each other and looked toward the future on this beautiful Earth.

Yeah, it's quite an emotional piece.  Ron Moore said when he finished it, he collapsed into a friend's arms from the weight of the experience.  And the actors all still talk of how moving their characters' final scenes were to shoot.  (Especially MM and EJO, of course; I love the story about how hard it was for her to stay dead because his tears were hitting her hand.  And when she walked out of that raptor after final cut was called, she collapsed into her son's arms as they walked off, and that totally broke EJO again.)

I was rather overwhelmed when I first saw it, though of course I had some quibbles (the biggest of which were the ready acceptance of Lee's proposal to abandon all technology and ultimately proclaiming some sort of metaphysical power exists [although at least Baltar referred to it as indeed an "it" who doesn't like when Caprica refers to it as "God").  I liked it even more the second time, because I was more relaxed (the first time, I didn't want it to end, but I also really really wanted to find out what happened next) and could better take it in. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm going to jump in and be shallow. When Balthar and Six see the 'Head' versions and doubletake 'you can see them?!' always can make be laugh. The whole ending was kind of bonkers so throwing that in there.

I also knew there was no 'plan' because I watch tv like everyone else, but I thought the finale was clever, and they stuck the landing. 

[Anduin]

It's been 14 years since Caprica started. The Spaceshipper says it was yesterday, 22 January, IMDB says it was 2 February. Either way, I watched it, I thought there were some great bits, but the whole thing didn't really come together. There was turmoil behind the scenes, wasn't there? The show was on its third showrunner by the time the first episode actually aired? Jane Espenson was a surprising choice, she's always been more of a comedy person to me. Something as serious as BSG/Caprica seemed like a bad fit.

Anyway, 14 years. Wow.

[DoctorAtomic]

I know I watched the first season, but I don't know if I got to close out the series. 

[Bastet]

10 hours ago, Anduin said:

Jane Espenson was a surprising choice, she's always been more of a comedy person to me. Something as serious as BSG/Caprica seemed like a bad fit.

I didn't watch BSG until several years ago, and didn't have any interest in tracking down Caprica as I don't care about a BSG universe that doesn't have Laura Roslin in it (I still haven't even watched my recording of The Plan [it's not included in the Blu-Ray boxed set, but it aired during the 2020 SyFy marathon so I was able to capture it there], because I mixed it in with other discs and haven't yet taken the time to find it).  But I liked Espenson's BSG episodes; I could always tell when the female characters were being written by a woman, and it was a relief.

[Anduin]

4 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I know I watched the first season, but I don't know if I got to close out the series. 

There was only one season. The last episode was rushed, because the show was cancelled.

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I didn't watch BSG until several years ago, and didn't have any interest in tracking down Caprica as I don't care about a BSG universe that doesn't have Laura Roslin in it (I still haven't even watched my recording of The Plan [it's not included in the Blu-Ray boxed set, but it aired during the 2020 SyFy marathon so I was able to capture it there], because I mixed it in with other discs and haven't yet taken the time to find it).  But I liked Espenson's BSG episodes; I could always tell when the female characters were being written by a woman, and it was a relief.

Yeah, I agree that Espenson is goo, just an unlikely pick given her normal field. Still, people need to work. :)

[Anela]

This is back on Amazon.  I was just thinking about it last week, and how I didn’t get far with my re-watch, early 2018.

[Bastet]

On 5/6/2024 at 4:39 PM, Anela said:

This is back on Amazon.

Thanks for the heads-up.  I have the series on Blu-Ray, but my player has decided it no longer wants to play Blu-Rays, only DVDs, and I haven't had time to mess with it.  Now I can access the show via Prime when I need a Laura Roslin fix.

They don't seem to have the pilot/miniseries, though -- unless it's listed separately from season one.

[Anela]

35 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Thanks for the heads-up.  I have the series on Blu-Ray, but my player has decided it no longer wants to play Blu-Rays, only DVDs, and I haven't had time to mess with it.  Now I can access the show via Prime when I need a Laura Roslin fix.

They don't seem to have the pilot/miniseries, though -- unless it's listed separately from season one.

They do have it. I had to search for it.  You should find it if you add “mini-series” to the search.  

[tv echo]

FYI...

Creation Entertainment's Salute to Battlestar Galactica 20th Anniversary Convention, October 25-27, 2024 (Westin O'Hare Hotel in Chicago Area, IL)
Guests: Ron D. Moore, Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Jamie Bamber, Michael Trucco, Rekha Sharma, Kate Vernon, Kandyse McClure and Tahmoh Penikett
https://www.creationent.com/cal/bsg_chi/index.htm  

 
 

Edited May 9 by tv echo

[DoctorAtomic]

I still can crack up when Six and Balthar look at the angels then each other - "You can see them?!" Those two actors had fantastic timing. 

[Chaos Theory]

I LOVED Caprica and thought it had a lot of potential to be a really good show but there were problems behind the scenes and a bunch of things just didn’t jell for people.   I am still sorry it ended because it was fun idea that just missed its moment.  
 

Even with all its issues and an iffy finale (although not iffy enough to put it in my bad finale list) BSG rates among my favorite science fiction shows ever made.  Laura Roslin is one of my favorite science fiction characters ever written.    

[Bastet]

20 hours ago, Anela said:

They do have it. I had to search for it.  You should find it if you add “mini-series” to the search.

Thanks.  I added it to my list last night, and promptly decided to go ahead and watch it.  Laura being sworn in never fails to get me; the enormity of what's happening is so brilliantly played by Mary McDonnell.

It was a bummer not to be watching on Blu-Ray so I could watch all the deleted scenes; they cut so much for time.

[supposebly]

On 5/6/2024 at 5:39 PM, Anela said:

This is back on Amazon.  I was just thinking about it last week, and how I didn’t get far with my re-watch, early 2018.

Damn you got my hopes up. Not in Canada. Not even the miniseries is still on Amazon. I'm starting to think this is one series I should buy.

[tv echo]

From the programming schedule for SDCC 2024, July 25-28...

https://comiccon2024.sched.com/event/1gAG7/a-conversation-with-ronald-d-moore 

Quote

A Conversation with Ronald D. Moore
Thursday July 25, 2024 3:15pm - 4:15pm PDT
Room 6DE
The legendary Ronald D. Moore delves into the ins and outs of his career, from his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica to his current projects Outlander and For All Mankind and their respective upcoming spinoffs, Blood of My Blood and Star City.

[BetterButter]

Sam Esmail's Battlestar Galactica reboot has been ditched by Peacock

[Anduin]

For those interested, Adam Whitehead has written a complete in-universe timeline. Interesting stuff. Some of the extended material makes sense. Having not played Deadlock, I had no idea about a Cylon faction aiding the colonies during the war. And so on.

[Anduin]

Michael Hogan returns! He had a bad fall several years ago, this is his first con since that time. I'm glad he's doing better.

[tv echo]

Creation Entertainment posted on its twitter x account a bunch of pics from its Salute to Battlestar Galactica 20th Anniversary con this past weekend - here are some of those pics...

 

Battlestar Galactica James Olmos speech to Michael Hogan
Charlene Cross   posted Oct 28, 2024

Edited October 28 by tv echo

[tv echo]

In addition to Salute to Battlestar Galactica 20th Anniversary, Katee Sackhoff also participated in SpaceCon San Antonio this weekend...

Katee Sackhoff on Battlestar Galactica & The Mandalorian Warrior’s Legacy Q&A
Tales From The Collection: Autographs & Fan Mail   posted Oct 28, 2024

[tv echo]

Edward James Olmos will be honored with the Prism Award on Oct. 16 (Battlestar Galactica will also be celebrated)...

EagleCon 2024
https://www.calstatela.edu/calendar/eaglecon-2024 

Quote

Date and time
Tuesday, October 15, 2024 (All day) to Wednesday, October 16, 2024 (All day)

Location
Cal State LA University-Student Union, Los Angeles Rooms (third floor)

Description
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Battlestar Galactica, the 25th anniversary of The Matrix, and the 40th anniversary of The Terminator, the EagleCon programming will emphasize how speculative genres have been used to find hope in the face of catastrophe, and the role that diversity has played in imagining better futures during times of crisis. Exhibits will be on display at the University Library until Dec. 1.
*  *  *
Oct. 16: Actor and producer Edward James Olmos will be honored with the Prism Award at 4:35 p.m.

Edited November 8 by tv echo