Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World

[clearspira]

I'm going to start the ball rolling here on the inevitable BS Old vs BS Reboot discussion and say that I thought the Reboot was superior for the first two seasons - and then it went completely off the rails with out of place discussions about God, the inevitable realization that there was NEVER ''a plan'', the wrong characters becoming the final cylons and an out of place luddite ending that retroactively ruined the whole series for me.

BS Old however was an inconsistent series; some episodes were great, some were stupid, some were straight up crap. But it never blew as much potential as Reboot and as such, I now enjoy it far more than I did at the time. I also preferred this version of Starbuck and Baltar, but didn't prefer this Adama and Ty. Its like coming back to early Dr Who - its a bit crappy but I still like it. It has a quaint charm about it.

[Worffan101]

This should be interesting, I've only ever seen bits and pieces of Old!BSG.

I'm going to start the ball rolling here on the inevitable BS Old vs BS Reboot discussion and say that I thought the Reboot was superior for the first two seasons - and then it went completely off the rails with out of place discussions about God, the inevitable realization that there was NEVER ''a plan'', the wrong characters becoming the final cylons and an out of place luddite ending that retroactively ruined the whole series for me.

BS Old however was an inconsistent series; some episodes were great, some were stupid, some were straight up crap. But it never blew as much potential as Reboot and as such, I now enjoy it far more than I did at the time. I also preferred this version of Starbuck and Baltar, but didn't prefer this Adama and Ty. Its like coming back to early Dr Who - its a bit crappy but I still like it. It has a quaint charm about it.

Definitely agree about NuBSG. Seasons 1-2 were some fantastic hard SF, the Admiral Cain arc was probably the high point. But the studio-mandated "THE CYLONS HAVE A PLAN!!!" thing and the inconsistency on the Cylons' physical nature rabbitholing into the weird religious stuff ruined it in the later seasons.

[clearspira]

This should be interesting, I've only ever seen bits and pieces of Old!BSG.

I'm going to start the ball rolling here on the inevitable BS Old vs BS Reboot discussion and say that I thought the Reboot was superior for the first two seasons - and then it went completely off the rails with out of place discussions about God, the inevitable realization that there was NEVER ''a plan'', the wrong characters becoming the final cylons and an out of place luddite ending that retroactively ruined the whole series for me.

BS Old however was an inconsistent series; some episodes were great, some were stupid, some were straight up crap. But it never blew as much potential as Reboot and as such, I now enjoy it far more than I did at the time. I also preferred this version of Starbuck and Baltar, but didn't prefer this Adama and Ty. Its like coming back to early Dr Who - its a bit crappy but I still like it. It has a quaint charm about it.

Definitely agree about NuBSG. Seasons 1-2 were some fantastic hard SF, the Admiral Cain arc was probably the high point. But the studio-mandated "THE CYLONS HAVE A PLAN!!!" thing and the inconsistency on the Cylons' physical nature rabbitholing into the weird religious stuff ruined it in the later seasons.

Cain was awesome, and we also saw some truly badass moments from Adama thanks to her.
''I want my men.'' Cue a fleet a Vipers cruising against one another.

[CharlesPhipps]

I'm confused at why the writers had an issue with the Cylons having a plan.

Isn't the Plan an easy one?

"We track the Battlestar Galactica to Earth so we can wipe out all humans everywhere."

[Alinis]

I have to admit I honestly prefer the original series over the remake even before the remake went off the rails.

I think it partly had to do with the series aesthetics which I always liked and among other things I vastly preferred the original series versions of Commander Adama, Colonel Tigh and Baltar.

Also from the original series I have to admit I also greatly liked Count Baltar's second Lucifer And of course even if he was only in living legend the insane glory that was Commander Cain who I like to think that if ABC hadn't canceled the show would have appeared again.

[Fianna]

I do have to echo the love for the original's aesthetic. The look of the remake is perfect for the extremely grim tone they were going for, but there is something just so charming about the 70's sci-fi aesthetic. Even the robot dog and the three-faced women, as much as Chuck complained about them, have this oddly appealing mix of completely ridiculous yet oddly real-seeming.


Now, "Saga of a Star World" is the only piece of the original BSG I've seen, so I don't know how the series holds up overall. But as for the remake, while it was pretty darn awesome in places (the Pegasus arc is probably the highlight), I feel like, even at the very beginning, it took itself a bit too seriously. Outside of Starbuck and Baltar, the characters were all so stoic, I often had a hard time relating to them.


Plus, those first two seasons that everyone loves? Those still contain the absolutely ridiculous (and not in a fun, charming way) episode "Black Market".

[ninjadeadbeard]

I'm a huge fan of the re-imagined series, but I am super impressed with the quality of the original.

[Beastro]

BS Old however was an inconsistent series; some episodes were great, some were stupid, some were straight up crap. But it never blew as much potential as Reboot and as such, I now enjoy it far more than I did at the time. I also preferred this version of Starbuck and Baltar, but didn't prefer this Adama and Ty. Its like coming back to early Dr Who - its a bit crappy but I still like it. It has a quaint charm about it.

I haven't wathed Chucks video yet, but what really torpedoed it before it had a chance was that the original idea comissioned was it being a series of 2 hours movies in the same format as many American 70s murder mysteries like Colombo and Macloud, but once the pilot was done ABC suddenly wanted it to be a weekly series.

That then resulted in the rush to produce anything to fill in the first sucessive episodes, the terrible Western-styled "Apollo or Starbuck crash on a lost colony" until the next 2 hour movie, now a two parter could be done alongside some planned hour long episodes.

From what I've seen ratings didn't recover after the pilot because of this and the ABC used it as an excuse to cancel it.

Watching the series earlier this year (Though I keep missing the pilot, even when I PVR it, like I'm fated never to see it), it was a very rough first season, but I feel they could have pulled things together had a second season been granted.

OTOH, had the original BSG survived that would mean Bellisario and Larson would never have gone on to create Magnum PI, so it all ended for the best, IMO.

I do have to echo the love for the original's aesthetic. The look of the remake is perfect for the extremely grim tone they were going for, but there is something just so charming about the 70's sci-fi aesthetic. Even the robot dog and the three-faced women, as much as Chuck complained about them, have this oddly appealing mix of completely ridiculous yet oddly real-seeming.

Late 70s/early 80s Sci-Fi aethetics are the apex of em all. Nothing beats that look from Alien, to Star Wars, to BSG, Outland, even to something awful like Saturn 3 still had the right look.

I wish Sci-Fi would go back to it and play a little game with making retro stuff come off advanced now that it's so buried in time, like filling starship bridges again with CRTs and stuff.

[Alinis]

It should also be noted that CBS in response to the show had moved its insanely popular show All in the Family a hour earlier to the same time slot as a counter to Battlestar Galactica with another very popular show of the time Alice apparently as insurance.

All in the family alone even towards the end of its run accounted for over 40 percent of viewship in its time slot apparently which was pretty much a death sentence for any show forced to go against it, especially a show as expensive as Battlestar Galactica to produce.

Not that cancelling the show was exactly popular with viewers at the time as it apparently led outrage and actual protests outside of ABC Studios.

[Wolf359]

Was it me, or was Chuck calling Vipers ‘Starfuries’ part way through? Got some B5 reviews on the way have we!?