Battlestar Galactica (2003) - My Review

Brikar · 12-09-2003, 06:22 AM

The new "Battlestar Galactica" (Part 1) is very much OF THE NOW. While the 1970s BSG was a shoddy space opera too cheesy and too expensive for its own good, the new mini-series actually takes itself seriously - very seriously. Once the plot really starts going, there isn't much humor. But then, what would one expect?

We are introduced to a large cast of characters, all of which are very distinct from each other (and one who very much wants to be). Commander Adama is tired, old, and on the verge of retirement, much like the Galactica herself. Apollo, his son, is angry at him, and wants nothing more than to get away from any association with him. Starbuck doesn't take shit from anyone, including the ship's XO. Boomer is a Rook involved with a deck engineer. Gaius Baltar is an egotistical BASTARD who doesn't realize what he's doing. Over the course of the next couple of days, everything that these people know and love is destroyed.

What makes it worse is that, except for Baltar, they have no idea how or why. This makes a very, very important distinction for 2003 that 1978 didn't have: September 11, 2001. How many of us just heard that "something" had happened, and we rushed to the nearest television or radio to find out? Those moments of panicked fear are what drives this new "Battlestar Galactica." The characters are people with problems, just like the people of the United States today.

The panicking government characters on Laura Roslin's government transport are a perfect example. When she delivers the news that several of the 12 Colonies have been nuked, people start asking, "What about ____?" or "I have children on ____!"

The new "Galactica" is not about Starbuck trying to score with a different chick every week, or lighting a match off the chrome-plated chest of a Cylon guard. It has no robot dogs, or random prengancies. What it has is a group of people that doesn't quite get along being forced together to survive (Hm, "Voyager" maybe?). What it has is the realism that Ronald D. Moore said he was striving for when he conceived his new "Battletar Galactica".

That realism extends a bit into the special effects, which are quite good for a TV production. Sounds in space here are minimal, and space is DARK, something which the original BSG forgot about when it decided to rip off Buck Rogers and Star Wars in one fell swoop. In the original BSG, everything is brightly lit, there are hardly any shadows at all, and everything is a stark WHITE. In the new BSG, there are shadows. The hulls of the new Cylon raiders are dark, and ominously shaped. And, as another plus, the Cylon raiders don't have cockpits, and don't have pilots. They are Cylons themselves. The original BSG had robots flying fighters in space, which, frankly, is really kind of stupid.

The new Galactica itself is a dark, angry-looking ship - which fits the mood. Decidedly low-tech on purpose, the ship seems designed to not only deflect Cylon hacking attacks, but to be a hard target see. The ship might be huge, but it doesn't look as big as it is because of all the shadows and recessed areas.

Fans of the original should be happy to know that the original Viper actually saves the day, here. The new Vipers, while sleeker and angrier, are actually more susceptible to Cylon attacks, and the Galactica crew must dust off its squadron of relics from the museum to combat the new raiders. Excellent stuff, really.

Overall, this new BSG is pretty good. The only thing that really brings it down is a bit of the pacing in the first forty minutes. It starts off slow, and you've got to make it through that before it starts to ramp up. But remember that this movie is actually FOUR HOURS LONG, so don't expect it to jump right into the slam-bang effects. So I can forgive it for that.

Here's hoping for Part 2.

Stag · 12-09-2003, 12:10 PM

Well I watched it and Ithought, as you, the pacing was a little slow too. Overall though, I liked it.

Here's what I liked --

The drum theme music
The fact that the colonial ships don;t make jet noise ins pace and have directional retro rockets, a nice touch of reality
The original Galactica theme played by the band in the ceremonial flyover
The subtle references to the original series - Museum having an original basestar, the paper showing the original cylons, the reference to walking chrome toasters, someone calling out for a Mr. Hatch
The new Starbuck, she kicks ass and is a totally believable character I could root for
The conflict between Apollo and Adama
The loyalty between Adama and Tigh, came across nicely at the end when Tigh comforted Adama
Nukes and missles instead of lasers... and oh my gosh... a nuclear blast causing an EM pulse which fries electronics just like in real life.
Cylon fighters
They actually showed casualties of war.

What I didn't like --

The pacing

NortheastOfMostOfYa · 12-09-2003, 05:48 PM

I liked it too. I stopped at Trekweb first, and seeing that it's become a haven for all those negative, I'm glad to see that here it seems not all is gloom and doom. (What bothered me most is fans of the original trashing not just the new version but people who like the new version, as fans of "low art" - like the original BSG was high art??? :censor: )

I think the first 40 minutes ( By the way, I counted 4 sexual encounters either seen or just missed in the first 40 minutes, that's 1 every 10 minutes, which is slightly below average for a porn film, having done the research

) had to be a bit slow to lay the groundwork for the rest of the series. I think that you'll often see the pacing is a bit slower in the first episode or movie in a multipart series - the first Superman movie, the first Star Wars (oops, I mean episode 4), even the first LOTR movie, all had a lot of ground to establish at the beginning. My guess is things will heat up a bit more in the second part.

I very much liked the more "realistic" angle Moore takes, making it easier to relate to the characters. You couldn't watch the new President get sworn in on the transport without recalling LBJ getting sworn in on the plane after JFK was shot; the scenes of mushroom clouds blooming on the planet below was pretty chilling. Though maybe they got carried away with the "Colonial 769 heavy" type air traffic controller jargon. There was no doubt that they were modelling the Galactica on a Navy ship (particularly an aircraft carrier) either.

But I think the characters and actors are really what made this work.

Trivia: did you know that Apollo's younger brother Zak was played by Rick Springfield on the original BG (my wife did!)? So you see, there's improvement already! :tooth:

Stag · 12-09-2003, 06:29 PM

Maybe if the new BSG becomes a series, they can get Rick Springfield to sing the theme song...I'll nominate "The Human Touch" as the song.

But to your point, I swear the scene with the President was sworn in looked exactly like the LBJ scene you mentioned and I think that gave the scene an added sense of reality.

Also, considering the events of 9/11, I think the surprise attack and how people reacted to it was also particularly effective.

The only thin that kind of disturbed me was the baby killing, I guess because I am a father.

I think part 2 will be more action packed.

NortheastOfMostOfYa · 12-09-2003, 08:21 PM

Oh yeah, the baby killing freaked my wife and I out too. It also made me wonder whether, as Adama asked, the humans were worth saving, because here's this baby killer just walking off in the crowd and NOBODY steps in to stop her (and I guess they could use a few more cops on the street too). It could be that the baby killing was put in there just to emphasise Adama's point about the crimes humans still inflicted on each other (given that nobody would have know she was a Cylon) and, by his lights, how people had stopped caring for each other - another parallel to our modern, "I don't want to get involved" world, by the way.

Bean · 12-11-2003, 01:12 AM

The baby killing really upset me to be quite honest. I have a seven month old boy as well as a three year old, and when that happened, I actually had to turn the show off and walk away for a little while.

I can't remember the last time a televsion show or movie evoked that strong of a response from me, positive or negative. I was apalled at the very thought of it.

Not that I condemn Moore for using the scene, actually tha scene is what made me sit up and stop comparing this show to the original.
In all the original episodes, we were always told that the Cylons were evil incarnate. That they were ruthless, uncaring, cold and calculated, but it never really hit home that they were anything more than the stereotypical "bad guys". With that one short anti-climactic scene, the new Cylons have forever been burned into my mind as one of the most evil TV villains of all time.

Arik · 12-11-2003, 01:35 AM

The baby-killing scene worked for me for one reason; it put a face to the Cylon's evil. I mean, they destroyed the 12 colonies, killing hundreds or millions of babies. We, as viewers, don't have an emotional connection with these people, so we don't have a connection with the destruction. By killing that child, Cylon babe provided us a connection with the Cylon's evil.

The scene could also be seen as a figurative killing of humanity's innocence.

The thing that I thought was over the top was in the second part, when the non-FTL ships were left behind, and we watched the little girl until the screen faded to white. We knew she was there. Watching her last moments were excessive.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. I hope they pick it up for at least a season so they can at least end it.

Cujo · 12-11-2003, 01:47 AM

Damn... I'm still downloading part 2... yet I still haven't watched part 1 yet. Not enough time in the day sometimes. I won't be able to watch til Sat. but this discussion has made me fairly interested.

NortheastOfMostOfYa · 12-11-2003, 07:48 PM

Overall they did a great job. I did realize more as the series went on that it had some resemblances to Babylon 5 as well - the darkness of the battle scenes, the CGI style used, the UNIFORMS in a big way. I'm not sure if they should make it a series, however. It might be hard to stretch this story into weekly, episodic TV. It might be better as a series of miniseries.

The Lensman · 12-12-2003, 06:35 AM

Well I didn't care for the first hour, and fell asleep after about forty minutes. Of course I was sick and doped on weed and Nyquil, but that's beside the...uh...point.
Anyway, thanks to those factors, I almost didn't tune in the next day. But I was at home, and the dude with the big t.v. (and internet connection) was busy that night, so I hung out with my part time female roomate (an attractive but married ex-housemate) and rewatched part one and then part two. Part one was better (except for all the lame sex shit) the second time around.

The baby killing thing was indeed repulsive, but at the same time very bold and effective. I kept thinking "surely they won't have her kill the baby. She'll just make some speech, give the mother a spooky or evil look and move on". To my shocked surprise...they didn't. As has been noted by others, it really did put a face to the evil, because the rest of the death and misery was a numbers game with no face.

I loved the FX and the filming style, which has been taking heat from Trekkies (no surprise...god forbid we should use a style differently from Trek). Loved that they used a sort of refit classic Viper that retained all the coolness of design from the original. The new Cylon ships were cool, except the Base Stars. They were a little too "Shadow" like for me, and lacked the spartan qualities the originals had. Plus they didn't seem like something a machine race would design, IMO, as opposed to the originals.

I'm suprised they didn't hint that the Base Stars were robotic creatures, much like the fighters, and I found it odd that the Base Stars had windows. Or at least as many as it had. The new design just didn't convey the size right.

While there isn't much about the original BSG that I like these days, I do love the design of the original BSG. The new one was okay, but didn't seem as big, although that could be for the reasons also stated above.

Didn't care for the chick that played Starbuck, but didn't have a big problem with Starbuck being a female. The actress and character just tried too hard to be tough.

Some of the writing was cliche'. The Tigh\Starbuck card game......as it started I pretty much told my friend EXACTLY what was going to happen. A few minutes later....it did.

What this show did suceed well at, was conveying the true weight of the situation. The true horrors and horrible decisions that would be made in such a catastrophic situation. I hope it continues in some form.

12-09-2003, 06:22 AM	#1 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	The new "Battlestar Galactica" (Part 1) is very much OF THE NOW. While the 1970s BSG was a shoddy space opera too cheesy and too expensive for its own good, the new mini-series actually takes itself seriously - very seriously. Once the plot really starts going, there isn't much humor. But then, what would one expect? We are introduced to a large cast of characters, all of which are very distinct from each other (and one who very much wants to be). Commander Adama is tired, old, and on the verge of retirement, much like the Galactica herself. Apollo, his son, is angry at him, and wants nothing more than to get away from any association with him. Starbuck doesn't take shit from anyone, including the ship's XO. Boomer is a Rook involved with a deck engineer. Gaius Baltar is an egotistical BASTARD who doesn't realize what he's doing. Over the course of the next couple of days, everything that these people know and love is destroyed. What makes it worse is that, except for Baltar, they have no idea how or why. This makes a very, very important distinction for 2003 that 1978 didn't have: September 11, 2001. How many of us just heard that "something" had happened, and we rushed to the nearest television or radio to find out? Those moments of panicked fear are what drives this new "Battlestar Galactica." The characters are people with problems, just like the people of the United States today. The panicking government characters on Laura Roslin's government transport are a perfect example. When she delivers the news that several of the 12 Colonies have been nuked, people start asking, "What about ____?" or "I have children on ____!" The new "Galactica" is not about Starbuck trying to score with a different chick every week, or lighting a match off the chrome-plated chest of a Cylon guard. It has no robot dogs, or random prengancies. What it has is a group of people that doesn't quite get along being forced together to survive (Hm, "Voyager" maybe?). What it has is the realism that Ronald D. Moore said he was striving for when he conceived his new "Battletar Galactica". That realism extends a bit into the special effects, which are quite good for a TV production. Sounds in space here are minimal, and space is DARK, something which the original BSG forgot about when it decided to rip off Buck Rogers and Star Wars in one fell swoop. In the original BSG, everything is brightly lit, there are hardly any shadows at all, and everything is a stark WHITE. In the new BSG, there are shadows. The hulls of the new Cylon raiders are dark, and ominously shaped. And, as another plus, the Cylon raiders don't have cockpits, and don't have pilots. They are Cylons themselves. The original BSG had robots flying fighters in space, which, frankly, is really kind of stupid. The new Galactica itself is a dark, angry-looking ship - which fits the mood. Decidedly low-tech on purpose, the ship seems designed to not only deflect Cylon hacking attacks, but to be a hard target see. The ship might be huge, but it doesn't look as big as it is because of all the shadows and recessed areas. Fans of the original should be happy to know that the original Viper actually saves the day, here. The new Vipers, while sleeker and angrier, are actually more susceptible to Cylon attacks, and the Galactica crew must dust off its squadron of relics from the museum to combat the new raiders. Excellent stuff, really. Overall, this new BSG is pretty good. The only thing that really brings it down is a bit of the pacing in the first forty minutes. It starts off slow, and you've got to make it through that before it starts to ramp up. But remember that this movie is actually FOUR HOURS LONG, so don't expect it to jump right into the slam-bang effects. So I can forgive it for that. Here's hoping for Part 2. __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

12-09-2003, 12:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
Stag It's me again Join Date: Jan 1970 Location: Florida Posts: 3,286	Well I watched it and Ithought, as you, the pacing was a little slow too. Overall though, I liked it. Here's what I liked -- The drum theme music The fact that the colonial ships don;t make jet noise ins pace and have directional retro rockets, a nice touch of reality The original Galactica theme played by the band in the ceremonial flyover The subtle references to the original series - Museum having an original basestar, the paper showing the original cylons, the reference to walking chrome toasters, someone calling out for a Mr. Hatch The new Starbuck, she kicks ass and is a totally believable character I could root for The conflict between Apollo and Adama The loyalty between Adama and Tigh, came across nicely at the end when Tigh comforted Adama Nukes and missles instead of lasers... and oh my gosh... a nuclear blast causing an EM pulse which fries electronics just like in real life. Cylon fighters They actually showed casualties of war. What I didn't like -- The pacing __________________ "I want to do a motorboat on Shatner's manboobs" - Sam Cogley

12-09-2003, 05:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
NortheastOfMostOfYa Senior Member Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: New Hamster Posts: 162	I liked it too. I stopped at Trekweb first, and seeing that it's become a haven for all those negative, I'm glad to see that here it seems not all is gloom and doom. (What bothered me most is fans of the original trashing not just the new version but people who like the new version, as fans of "low art" - like the original BSG was high art??? :censor: ) I think the first 40 minutes ( By the way, I counted 4 sexual encounters either seen or just missed in the first 40 minutes, that's 1 every 10 minutes, which is slightly below average for a porn film, having done the research ) had to be a bit slow to lay the groundwork for the rest of the series. I think that you'll often see the pacing is a bit slower in the first episode or movie in a multipart series - the first Superman movie, the first Star Wars (oops, I mean episode 4), even the first LOTR movie, all had a lot of ground to establish at the beginning. My guess is things will heat up a bit more in the second part. I very much liked the more "realistic" angle Moore takes, making it easier to relate to the characters. You couldn't watch the new President get sworn in on the transport without recalling LBJ getting sworn in on the plane after JFK was shot; the scenes of mushroom clouds blooming on the planet below was pretty chilling. Though maybe they got carried away with the "Colonial 769 heavy" type air traffic controller jargon. There was no doubt that they were modelling the Galactica on a Navy ship (particularly an aircraft carrier) either. But I think the characters and actors are really what made this work. Trivia: did you know that Apollo's younger brother Zak was played by Rick Springfield on the original BG (my wife did!)? So you see, there's improvement already! :tooth: __________________ From the state where death is mentioned on its license plate "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!"

12-09-2003, 06:29 PM	#4 (permalink)
Stag It's me again Join Date: Jan 1970 Location: Florida Posts: 3,286	Maybe if the new BSG becomes a series, they can get Rick Springfield to sing the theme song...I'll nominate "The Human Touch" as the song. But to your point, I swear the scene with the President was sworn in looked exactly like the LBJ scene you mentioned and I think that gave the scene an added sense of reality. Also, considering the events of 9/11, I think the surprise attack and how people reacted to it was also particularly effective. The only thin that kind of disturbed me was the baby killing, I guess because I am a father. I think part 2 will be more action packed. __________________ "I want to do a motorboat on Shatner's manboobs" - Sam Cogley

12-09-2003, 08:21 PM	#5 (permalink)
NortheastOfMostOfYa Senior Member Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: New Hamster Posts: 162	Oh yeah, the baby killing freaked my wife and I out too. It also made me wonder whether, as Adama asked, the humans were worth saving, because here's this baby killer just walking off in the crowd and NOBODY steps in to stop her (and I guess they could use a few more cops on the street too). It could be that the baby killing was put in there just to emphasise Adama's point about the crimes humans still inflicted on each other (given that nobody would have know she was a Cylon) and, by his lights, how people had stopped caring for each other - another parallel to our modern, "I don't want to get involved" world, by the way. __________________ From the state where death is mentioned on its license plate "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!"

12-11-2003, 01:12 AM	#6 (permalink)
Bean The Awesome One Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Canada eh! Posts: 5,055	The baby killing really upset me to be quite honest. I have a seven month old boy as well as a three year old, and when that happened, I actually had to turn the show off and walk away for a little while. I can't remember the last time a televsion show or movie evoked that strong of a response from me, positive or negative. I was apalled at the very thought of it. Not that I condemn Moore for using the scene, actually tha scene is what made me sit up and stop comparing this show to the original. In all the original episodes, we were always told that the Cylons were evil incarnate. That they were ruthless, uncaring, cold and calculated, but it never really hit home that they were anything more than the stereotypical "bad guys". With that one short anti-climactic scene, the new Cylons have forever been burned into my mind as one of the most evil TV villains of all time. __________________ "I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing." --James T. Kirk

12-11-2003, 01:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
Arik Astro-Monkey Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Here, dumbfuck! Posts: 2,304	The baby-killing scene worked for me for one reason; it put a face to the Cylon's evil. I mean, they destroyed the 12 colonies, killing hundreds or millions of babies. We, as viewers, don't have an emotional connection with these people, so we don't have a connection with the destruction. By killing that child, Cylon babe provided us a connection with the Cylon's evil. The scene could also be seen as a figurative killing of humanity's innocence. The thing that I thought was over the top was in the second part, when the non-FTL ships were left behind, and we watched the little girl until the screen faded to white. We knew she was there. Watching her last moments were excessive. Overall, I really enjoyed the show. I hope they pick it up for at least a season so they can at least end it. __________________ The writers of this post apologize for you being too stupid to understand it.

12-11-2003, 01:47 AM	#8 (permalink)
Cujo Lover AND a Fighter Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Canada eh! Posts: 758	Damn... I'm still downloading part 2... yet I still haven't watched part 1 yet. Not enough time in the day sometimes. I won't be able to watch til Sat. but this discussion has made me fairly interested. __________________

12-11-2003, 07:48 PM	#9 (permalink)
NortheastOfMostOfYa Senior Member Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: New Hamster Posts: 162	Overall they did a great job. I did realize more as the series went on that it had some resemblances to Babylon 5 as well - the darkness of the battle scenes, the CGI style used, the UNIFORMS in a big way. I'm not sure if they should make it a series, however. It might be hard to stretch this story into weekly, episodic TV. It might be better as a series of miniseries. __________________ From the state where death is mentioned on its license plate "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!"

12-12-2003, 06:35 AM	#10 (permalink)
The Lensman The Original Patron Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Earth, Sol, Milky Way Posts: 269	Well I didn't care for the first hour, and fell asleep after about forty minutes. Of course I was sick and doped on weed and Nyquil, but that's beside the...uh...point. Anyway, thanks to those factors, I almost didn't tune in the next day. But I was at home, and the dude with the big t.v. (and internet connection) was busy that night, so I hung out with my part time female roomate (an attractive but married ex-housemate) and rewatched part one and then part two. Part one was better (except for all the lame sex shit) the second time around. The baby killing thing was indeed repulsive, but at the same time very bold and effective. I kept thinking "surely they won't have her kill the baby. She'll just make some speech, give the mother a spooky or evil look and move on". To my shocked surprise...they didn't. As has been noted by others, it really did put a face to the evil, because the rest of the death and misery was a numbers game with no face. I loved the FX and the filming style, which has been taking heat from Trekkies (no surprise...god forbid we should use a style differently from Trek). Loved that they used a sort of refit classic Viper that retained all the coolness of design from the original. The new Cylon ships were cool, except the Base Stars. They were a little too "Shadow" like for me, and lacked the spartan qualities the originals had. Plus they didn't seem like something a machine race would design, IMO, as opposed to the originals. I'm suprised they didn't hint that the Base Stars were robotic creatures, much like the fighters, and I found it odd that the Base Stars had windows. Or at least as many as it had. The new design just didn't convey the size right. While there isn't much about the original BSG that I like these days, I do love the design of the original BSG. The new one was okay, but didn't seem as big, although that could be for the reasons also stated above. Didn't care for the chick that played Starbuck, but didn't have a big problem with Starbuck being a female. The actress and character just tried too hard to be tough. Some of the writing was cliche'. The Tigh\Starbuck card game......as it started I pretty much told my friend EXACTLY what was going to happen. A few minutes later....it did. What this show did suceed well at, was conveying the true weight of the situation. The true horrors and horrible decisions that would be made in such a catastrophic situation. I hope it continues in some form. __________________ Everyone Booze Up And Riot!!! Milk and Cheese

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode