A Continuation-So Simple.

kingfish · February 12th, 2004, 05:55 AM

Yes we could have had one and the new show could have paved the way for it so easily. If they had included Larson and wrote a true remake with all of the characters and ships intact the road to the movie version would have been like the "Yellow Brick Road." We would have seen a new Starbuck, Apollo, Adama, Boomer and so on. TOS could have been like a guide of how to improve on an outstanding premise without destroying it. However this new show wouldn't feature any of the originals for the simple reason to include them would ruin the REAL prize ahead. Now with a new redone Battlestar Galactica series larson could head for any studio and say, " I have an idea for a movie based on my sci fi BG series which was a true remake of my original project. Let's say we would be look AHEAD 25 Yahrens to see what has happened to these wonderful characters. Of course we will need to get older actors to portray their younger counterparts like say Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and any of the other cast that want to participate."

shiningstar · February 12th, 2004, 12:06 PM

Good post as ALWAYS Kingfish

bsg1fan1975 · February 12th, 2004, 12:10 PM

Ditto on the post Kingfish!

Boomer65 · February 12th, 2004, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfish

If they had included Larson and wrote a true remake with all of the characters and ships intact the road to the movie version would have been like the "Yellow Brick Road."

I don’t know if it would have been THAT easy, especially if the Larson series had done really well. Wouldn’t movie-goers go into the movie expecting to see characters from the new series and start saying, “Who the heck are THESE guys? Dirk who?”?

Question: Has something like this ever been done before? That is, you have a successful TV series that you convert to the big screen only the movie is set 25 years beyond the TV series and uses different characters like you’re proposing. Usually there seems to be at least a decade separating the two so there’s not so much of a shock for the audience.

shiningstar · February 12th, 2004, 12:38 PM

Actually Boomer ........it's because of the fans that BSG survived even
though it ran only one season. And yes inspite of the different
characters ......... the movie can and most likely will succeed.

bsg1fan1975 · February 12th, 2004, 01:19 PM

It certainly would have a better chance among the fans of the original to see the familiar faces we bonded with all those yahren ago!

shiningstar · February 12th, 2004, 01:22 PM

I think so too Bsg!

February 12th, 2004, 01:41 PM

I know this isn't popular but the only reason this show or any similar show was remade was because the cost of special effects have dropped dramatically in the past 25 years, the amount of money you can make in syndication on reruns has risen dramatically since 1978, and the wages of actors on cable today is lower in real dollars than actors on prime time on the only three networks 25 years ago. Also there have been successful Scifi space operas on cable that started with 0 fan base (Babylon 5 is the best example).

As such Battlestar was not that risky since it has a known fan base and I don't mean the hard core web posters like ourselves. The biggest issue Battlestar has is that it's last incarnation, BSG1980 (the first "continuation") was a financial disaster and makes no money in syndication.

If you are willing to be a little open minded and not get hung up on names a case can be made that we are getting a real TOS continuation with the new Moore series. Think about how TOS ended (and a few good things from BSG1980) and then consider this:

TOS Adama = Moore Adama
TOS Siress Tinia = Moore President Roslin
TOS Apollo = Moore Apollo
TOS Starbuck = Moore Tyrol or BSG1980 Marooned Starbuck = No Moore Starbuck
TOS Sheba = Moore Starbuck
TOS Athena = Moore Boomer
TOS Cassiopeia = Moore Callie
TOS Rigel = Moore Duella
TOS Boomer = Moore Roslin's Secretary
TOS Tigh = Moore Tigh
TOS Boxey (Serena dead) = Moore Boxey (mother dead)

Moore's series potential that are end of season TOS plots:

Starbuck/Cassie/Athena love triangle (winding down with Athena losing lines and camara time) = Tyrol/Boomer/Callie love triangle (The spice is back!)
Adama/Tinia relationship = Adama/Roslin relationship
Apollo/Sheba relationship = Apollo/Starbuck relationship
TOS Boomer/Rigel were both undeveloped supporting characters = Duella/President Secretary both may get their own story lines this time.

Human-cylons: This comes straight out of BSG1980 and was among the few story ideas that seemed interesting.

Baltar: At the end of TOS there was little ability to use his character because he was on the prison barge. In the current version the mini "freed" his character for use in a new series.

Cylon 6 is a feminized version of Baltars cylon sidekick Lucifer in TOS.

No male roles were changed to females! They changed the names as a marketing ploy to enrage the hard core purist (1% or less of the target market) and guarantee word of mouth advertising. It worked brillantly! No racial minority roles were lost. TOS had 2 supporting actors that were minorities both African Americans. Moore has two racial minorities one African American and one Asian both of whom probably will get more notice and plot developement than the minorities in TOS.

We have the continuation but many fans just can't let go of Hatch, Desanto, or the "female" Starbuck to see it.

If they would have made an exact duplicate of Saga of a Star World we would have had little to look forward to because you know how it turned out. In addition although Saga was good for the first half even most TOS only fans did not like the whole casino planet, Carillon part which is almost a third of the original. That part had to be remade.

What did we get in the mini: The first half of Saga of A Star World with major character developement taken from "In Harm's Way" and the Carillon part eliminated and replaced with the Gavavutu engagement that ended "In Harm's Way". As a stand alone alone movie I would pick the mini over Saga of A Star World. If I was the writer however I would have spliced Saga of A Star World right up until after Adama was on Caprica and then attached on the mini jump to Ragnar until the So Say We All Ending. The best of both!

We are not at a wake but a birth!

Boomer65 · February 12th, 2004, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsg1fan1975

It certainly would have a better chance among the fans of the original to see the familiar faces we bonded with all those yahren ago!

But guys, they can’t make a movie *just* for TOS fans. I don’t know, maybe (big maybe) Star Trek fans alone can sustain another NextGen movie but that’s the only scifi or fantasy universe that I can think of. I’m not arguing that BSG fans helped keep it alive but you can’t make a movie with today’s multi-million dollar budgets and shoot solely for the diehard fanbase.

cobrastrikelead · February 12th, 2004, 04:38 PM

Kingfish, remind me sometime after I make a couple billion bucks; to buy you a movie studio.

Boomer65 · February 12th, 2004, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antelope526

As such Battlestar was not that risky since it has a known fan base and I don't mean the hard core web posters like ourselves.

Not as risky but still risky. Yes, CGI allows you to do things much cheaper but you’re still talking about a niche audience. I’ll be honest, if it were *my* money on the line I’d put it on the next Survivor-clone over a space-scifi series. And your return on investment is much higher on your average Friends episode (with what…3 sets?) than an equally popular space-scifi episode (okay, there *is* no equally popular space-scifi).

Quote:

We have the continuation but many fans just can't let go of Hatch, Desanto, or the "female" Starbuck to see it.

I absolutely disagree here, and I’m pro-mini. TOS was kind of lighthearted and campy (I don’t mean campy in a bad way). The mini was dark, overly sexual, and made very little effort (if any) to please the existing fanbase.

Even Ron Moore called it a “re-imagining”. To me, "re-imagining" doesn’t equate to “continuation”.

February 12th, 2004, 05:25 PM

The first half of Saga of A Star World was dark. The humans were annihilated. Apollo's brother was killed and he couldn't help him. The President held back Adama when Adama knew what needed to be done. The bridge crew openly cried. The tone of the mini reflects the tone of the first half of Saga of A Star world.

The mini however didn't turn on a dime and head off to Space Las Vegas. I think in this sense the mini was more realistic.

The jury is out on the series but with the cylons on your ass and death still a day away I think dark is what I would expect until they have some breathing space.

kingfish · February 12th, 2004, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antelope526

The first half of Saga of A Star World was dark. The humans were annihilated. Apollo's brother was killed and he couldn't help him. The President held back Adama when Adama knew what needed to be done. The bridge crew openly cried. The tone of the mini reflects the tone of the first half of Saga of A Star world.

The mini however didn't turn on a dime and head off to Space Las Vegas. I think in this sense the mini was more realistic.

The jury is out on the series but with the cylons on your ass and death still a day away I think dark is what I would expect until they have some breathing space.

On Realism:

In retrospect tos showed how flawed the humans still were. Uri was so sure that if they destroyed there defenses that the Cylons would let them go in peace. Adama was the wiser realizing that the reason they were in this situation was because of human fraility.

shiningstar · February 12th, 2004, 05:40 PM

Excellent post Kingfish ........as always.

kingfish · February 12th, 2004, 05:42 PM

Thanks Shiningstar.

shiningstar · February 12th, 2004, 06:00 PM

bsg1fan1975 · February 13th, 2004, 12:58 PM

Well said. The original brought out the the best and worst in humanity. The 'reimaging" was a farce if there ever was one. Sure the special effects were more costly back then but think of how much better a resolution would have been instead of taking it off in another direction as Moore did. I'm sorry but I will never agree with the mini!

shiningstar · February 13th, 2004, 01:01 PM

shiningstar · February 13th, 2004, 01:03 PM

bsg1fan1975 · February 13th, 2004, 01:04 PM

Moore just didn't get what an already established fanbase was looking for. We were left hanging all these years and we still are today!

shiningstar · February 13th, 2004, 01:10 PM

Bsg1fan ............. Moore knew exactly what the fans wanted ..........
he just didn't care to give it to us ..........he wanted to do his own
thing and THAT as we say was THAT.

He knew what the fans were looking for ........he didn't care.

bsg1fan1975 · February 13th, 2004, 01:13 PM

you got it! We were duped badly.

February 13th, 2004, 01:51 PM

In a perfect world where we could turn back the clock there would be only a marginal difference between the possibilities of TOS season 2 and the clean slate Moore has for his season 1. I am hoping for the best. Human-cylons: In Battlestar 1980, so who knows, they may have appeared in a hypothetical TOS season 2 or 3. The concept is a Larson creation!

This can be a continuation of TOS if you want it to be and can get past the character names. Time will tell. BSG 1980 was a continuation but that didn't make it any good.

Boomer65 · February 13th, 2004, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antelope526

I am willing to bet we get a Tyrol/Boomer/Callie love triangle in the Moore series. Once Boomer is discovered as a cylon her character will be killed off in a dramatic fashion

Has anyone considered that maybe the human-like cylons are modeled after actual humans and that Boomer is actually human? I say this only because I liked her character and…okay she’s really cute.

Darth Marley · February 13th, 2004, 02:11 PM

I think RDM has stated for the record that she is in fact Cylon.

Boomer65 · February 13th, 2004, 02:21 PM

shiningstar · February 13th, 2004, 02:21 PM

and a spy at that ............right Darth Marley? At least according to the
script unless of course they change that in the mini series.

Darth Marley · February 13th, 2004, 02:23 PM

I would have to check the latest interview.
I think he mentioned that she does not know she is Cylon now.
I did not see the leaked scripts, in fact, I was not involved in the online fandom until the mini aired, or maybe slightly before at Scifi.com.

shiningstar · February 13th, 2004, 02:26 PM

If that's true then she may well be a wild card in the series ........... hmmmmmmmmmm
something to think about

Dawg · February 13th, 2004, 02:29 PM

In the script, the Sharon Valeri on the ship apparently did not know she was a Cylon (I did read the leaked script and saw a couple of following interviews with RDM).

I beleive one of the subplots for any upcoming series would include the possibility of her becoming aware she was actually Cylon, and have a conflict with her human attachments and feelings and what she suddenly discovers she was. Formula stuff, I think; but it might be interesting to see if they can pull it off without resorting to cliche'.

I am
Dawg