Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi
For those who don’t know, they’re gonna show the “new” Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi channel on Monday. It’s gonna be a four-hour miniseries and is considered a “re-imagining” of Galactica rather than a sequel or a revival.
To be honest, I have a bad feeling about how this version is gonna pan out. First of all, they changed almost the entire plotline, and the only thing they retained, aside from show’s title, are the names of the characters. There is no “rag tag fleet” here, nor is there a quest to go to “that shining planet known as Earth” …
Battlestar Galactica - Reimagined
All ships are redesigned, except for the Colonial Viper, and they probably added something to the technology that wasn’t present in the original series – jump engines! Speaking of changes to technology, the Cylons are no longer the silver-plated robotic soldiers with the moving red “eye” … they now look like humans (more android than robot now).
Perhaps the biggest change that caused an uproar among the Galactica fans? Starbuck and Boomer are now played by women… In my honest opinion, this can work both ways. Passing those somewhat critical roles onto female personages will update the Galactica canon to recognize the growing importance of women. But although it would please those who seek political correctness, it has undoubtedly changed the characters drastically from the originals. Those who remembered Starbuck as the cigar-smoking womanizer/smart ass will not see that in the new Starbuck. It is no longer the same character.
(Most people will say “so what?” but if someone made a revival of Star Wars and recast Han Solo and Chewbacca to be played by women, or did the same with Spock and Bones for Star Trek, would it be okay with you? Thought so…)
The motivations of the characters themselves have also been changed. The world seems to be grim and desperate in this new version of Galactica. There is almost no humor – a quality that the original Galactica has been known to have that balances with the desperation and determination of its crew. The scene where Starbuck lights his match on the Cylon’s armor to fire up a cigar was priceless. I don’t think we can expect that much in this new Galactica.
The absence of the music from the original series already diminishes this new version by half … Imagine Star Wars without its glorious musical score. The Galactica anthem gave the original series its epic feel, and tells the story in notes. The music was the movie’s trademark – once you hear it you can already remember the rag tag fleet making its lonely journey into space…
All in all, I find it hard to look forward to this new series with excitement. Just anxiety – hoping that they won’t ruin a classic franchise. I have to admit that the original Galactica was great, cheesy campiness, but that’s one of the reasons that endeared it to fans. Converting the story into a Wing Commander meets Titan A.E. meets First Contact makes it just another drama series set in space.
But who knows, maybe they can pull this “re-imagining” off. Maybe. Two things I can look forward to in this series is 1) the awesome space battles and 2) the amount of gratuitous sex…