posted
I feel that the most enjoyable way to get into a show is to watch an extremely unhealthy amount of it in a very short time. I was finally turned onto this recently and have made it the majority of the way through the first season in a few days.
My question is about the original series this new one is based on.
What was that series about? When did it take place? How do the two relate?
I look forward to a long and productivity destroying addiction while catching up with this show. I curse everyone who ever recommended this show to me.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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The basic premise was the same, but the new show has taken it in a very different direction. They aren't really related much else, although there are apparently a lot of small cameos if you know where to look (I never really watched the original, so I don't know firsthand).
Just to make sure, you did watch the 2003 miniseries first, right?
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Battlestar gets pretty intense. We've been catching up on it as well (just started season 3). We can't watch more than a disc a week. It's compelling and entertaining as hell, but too much at once is hard to enjoy.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Strider: I feel that the most enjoyable way to get into a show is to watch an extremely unhealthy amount of it in a very short time. I was finally turned onto this recently and have made it the majority of the way through the first season in a few days.
My question is about the original series this new one is based on.
What was that series about? When did it take place? How do the two relate?
I look forward to a long and productivity destroying addiction while catching up with this show. I curse everyone who ever recommended this show to me.
Welcome to the maddess!!!
The original series was about the same thing... an age long war with the Cylons ended in a Cylon betrayel of a peace accord...they drew out all the Battlestars away from the 12 Colonies to a fake peace treaty signing. Baltar was Humanity's ambassador, but he was an overt traitor, selling out the 12 Worlds to the Cylons with a promise that the Cylons wouldn't lay waste to his Colony (a promise they broke at once). Baltar was forced to join the Cylons and chace down the Rag Tag Fleet with his own Basestar.
The survivors ran and had many adventures... finding Kobol and all that... eventually becoming emboiled in a huge, ancient war between the Gods and the Prince of Darkness. On one world they found a mysterious man... calling himself Count Iblis (Iblis being the arab name for Satan). Iblis truly is Satan and is at war with the Beings of Light. Eventually the Humans are able to reject Iblis and continue on their way.
The series was canceled, only to be revived for an extra season (poorly done) dealing with their arrival at Earth in the year 1980. They don't want to cause culture shock so they hide themselves and try to keep the Cylons away. Though during this season we are shown the first Cylon to take Human form.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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The new one doesn't really have anything to do with the original, as far as production goes. It's being made by a completely new set of people, with a completely difference agenda. There are some occasional shout-outs to the original show- for example, the ships and robot models from the "First Cylon War" are in fact the ones from the original series, and the actor who played Apollo in the original now plays the politician Tom Zarek in the new show.
The differences between the original and the "reimagining" are, I think, threefold: first in tone, second in ambition, and third in plot.
Tone: The original was campy and silly, a clear child of "Star Wars," complete with "pew pew" lasers and knockoff characters of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (Apollo and Starbuck, respectively). There are laser blasters, lots of loud explosions in space, and monster-of-the-week plots involving casino planets and flying motorcycles. Oh yeah, and the Cylons are guys in robot suits that feature a prominent skirt. As you've no doubt already come to realize, the new BSG is altogether different animal- dark, morally ambiguous, political, complex. In the original, Galactica is one of the best ships in the fleet, and Adama a decorated war hero. In the new BSG, Galactica is close to being mothballed, and Adama is a near-retiree who is widely considered a paranoiac. Both series are in many ways a perfect reflection of the popular media of their respective time.
Ambition: The original series was a low-budget affair, in which most special effects shots were reused repeatedly. The acting was very hammy and the writing was cheesy- the pilot actually has the President of the Colonies cry, "What... have I done?!" right before his ship is blown up (in slow-motion) by the Cylon invaders. It made no pretense at being anything more than escapist fun, despite the implied horror of the series' premise. The new BSG aggressively confronts the political issues of our time- terrorism, torture, social justice, the ethics of war. It delves into some pretty complex philosophical issues as well: identity (what makes us who we are? what actually constitutes "me"?), religion (polytheism vs. monotheism), etc. Whereas BSG 1978 used sci-fi as a means for entertaining the audience, BSG 2003-2008 uses it as a means for exploring Big Issues that would be impossible to explore on a normal show, due to their sensitive nature. Ron Moore has noted that the show can only get away with some of the stuff they pull because advertisers think, "oh, it's just science fiction." Never mind that they just did an episode in which
SPOILER ALERT . . . the protagonists torture and then calmly execute a captured prisoner. Or an episode in which the protagonists engage in suicide bombing attacks against their aggressors. . . . END SPOILER
Plot: Considering how other re-envisionings of old franchises (and I include here George Lucas's Star Wars prequels, since they bear little resemblence to the original Star Wars trilogy) have gone, it's pretty shocking how little Moore et al. have changed from the original premise. The Cylons are still robots who unleash an apocalyptic attack upon humanity's twelve colonies, forcing only the few survivors to flee in a ragtag fleet lead by the Battlestar Galactica. The commander is still named Adama and the lead pilot is still named Apollo, although, like the other pilots, "Apollo" is now his callsign rather than his actual name. The brash, cocky pilot is still Starbuck. Baltar is still the betrayer of humanity. Other characters, such as Boomer and Colonel Tigh, are still around. Moore's genius, I think, is in tweaking these characters just enough so that even from the start, they're fresh. He then takes their basic personalities and fleshes them out in a way the original series never could. Apollo and Adama now have an adversarial father/son relationship. Boomer and Starbuck are now strong women (and Boomer a Cylon to boot!). Whereas Count Baltar was a one-dimensional Evil Guy who worked directly with the Cylons to be Evil, Gaius Baltar is a terrified genius who betrayed humanity because of his own very human foibles, and whose constant goal is not to Kill All The Humans, but simply to survive in a universe that seems permanently out to get him.
The first big change to the series' plot, then, is the nature of the Cylons. In the original series, they were robots built by some reptilian aliens, and serve as little more than the Evil Bad Guys of Evil Evilness. In the reimagining, they were built by humanity and rebelled. More importantly, they now "look like us," which adds an extraordinary sense of paranoia and mystery. Finally, they've been given a religion of their own, and the contrast between the monotheistic Cylons and polytheistic humans becomes more and more important as the series continues. Over the four seasons of the new show, the story has taken many more twists and turns away from the original (with some minor exceptions). So despite having a similar starting point, the two shows have diverged significantly in their long-term plot arcs- admittedly, partly because the original show barely had one, whereas the new show is tightly continuous from one episode to the next.
quote: Oh yeah, and the Cylons are guys in robot suits that feature a prominent skirt.
Hey! That's a shout out to the Roman soldiers of yore!
Another point, the original Cylons having been built by some mysterious aliens rebelled and killed their masters...see the resemblance? (And later Baltar is the first to realize that the voice of the Cylon Supreme Leader is a copy of Iblis' voice...a connection to the Cylon God?)
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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cool, thanks for the info guys. I was wondering whether knowledge of the original series would help my appreciation of this one at all, but it looks like the answer is no.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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While not required, I think it is good to see none the less...if nothing more than to see how they take themes and stories and make them 100,000 times better.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I've never seen the original series but for those up to date with the current one, is it possible that the humans are arriving on erath after the 1980 humans and the Cylons destroyed earth and that's why it was a wreck when the humans of the current series come (where the season left off)?
END SPOILER
Just wondering for people that have seen the original. Sorry that that sentence was such an incredible run-on.
Posts: 12 | Registered: Jul 2008
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I guess I should mention that I'm completely caught up on the series now. Those few weeks were very bad for work, sleep, and social life. As frustrating as it is to not have any more new episodes to watch, I'm happy to have my life back!
What a great show. I've been meaning to go read the season 4 thread and catch up with theories that aren't my own.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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i think i saw all of the seasons in about two weeks. i was completely sleep deprived but I can't wait till it starts up again!
Posts: 12 | Registered: Jul 2008
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